WASHINGTON -- U.S.-led troop deaths from makeshift bombs in Afghanistan are dropping sharply even though the number of improvised bombs (IEDs) planted by forces of Evil are near record levels, Pentagon data show.
Now, less than half of troop deaths come from the bombs, although there has been a 5% spike in homemade bomb incidents since March, according to the Pentagon. The high number of incidents highlights continuing problems choking off the supply of bomb parts from Pakistain and a resilient Taliban, according to a senator and military analyst.
Part of the decline in deaths can be traced to the changing nature of combat there. Attacks have shifted from southern to eastern Afghanistan where allied forces are focusing on forces of Evil in rugged, mountainous terrain. Troops in the east tend to travel in armored vehicles, which have experienced a 17% increase in attacks over the last three months, according to the Pentagon's Joint IED Defeat Organization. In the south, troops tend to touch off bombs while on foot.
(Sh.M.Network)- Give Somalia the funds and they will eliminate piracy within a year, their interim president has claimed.
Speaking today at the second UAE Counter-Piracy Conference inDubai, the president of Somalia's transitional federal government Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed called on the international community to spend money arming and organizing their naval forces.
"These pirates do not live at sea, they live in Somalia. Who better to battle them than the people of the land," he told delegates.
"We are completely ready to combat this problem. Despite our limited funds we are ready to train and set up a marine force that would attack and dispel all pirate activities."
Piracy off the coast ofSomaliais affecting an area of 2.5 million sq km, he said.
"We have between 5,000 and 6,000 men ready, and we want the international community to provide them with arms, materials and equipment," he said.
The request, Mr Sharif said, would cost a third of what has been paid in ransom by shipping companies. Between 2008 and 2012, he said, profits worth US$700 million were made from piracy.
The international community should also help to protect Somalia's maritime rights, he said. "Ships fishing in our water and companies dumping chemical waste on our shores have to be stopped.
They have been taking advantage of our situation and the international community should help us stop them."
To achieve that goal, he said the police force inSomalianeeded upgrading, the judicial system need reform and infrastructure for jails needed to be developed.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
5 too 6000 men are gonna patrol 2.5 million sq. miles? Get on your fishing boats and start as a good will measure.
Posted by: chris ||
06/28/2012 0:27 Comments ||
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#2
Yes, let's give Somalis boats and guns. That will solve the problem.
Posted by: Grunter in Sydney ||
06/28/2012 2:26 Comments ||
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#3
Isn't the implied threat to produce said giving a kind of piracy?
Posted by: no mo uro ||
06/28/2012 5:52 Comments ||
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#4
Yes, let's give Somalis boats and guns. That will solve the problem.
From your lips to Eric Holder's ear, Grunt. What can this one be called, "Slow and Seething"?
Posted by: BA ||
06/28/2012 11:25 Comments ||
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#5
Take out the villages connected to the piracy and the piracy is over. That is something the west won't do that Somalia's government could for the price.
#7
You know, despite the terrific recoil, a WW II PT boat could support a single 40mm Bofors.
If a boat such as that, with sufficient ammo, wandered into a pirate port, the pirates would be land-bound in about fifteen minutes.
Which is to say, this is not a big deal, if anybody were interested.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
06/28/2012 20:44 Comments ||
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(Sh. M. Network)-Some local residents in the town of Bal'ad, some 37 kilometers northeast of Somali capital Mogadishu, tale their life after Somali and AMISOM forces took control the town from Al shabab on Tuesday.
A resident in Bal'ad district, who spoke with Shabelle Media by phone on condition of anonymity, because of his security, say they are living an appalling life after they were denied access to receive the international humanitarian aid during Al shabab control in the past three years.
Last year, a sever Drought has swept swathes in south and central Somalia, where locals are largely dependent on crop growing and livestock and both of them had been affected by the drought.
Bal'ad residents asked Somali government and the international aid agencies for help.The army is now in full control of the town and soon restored the calm.
Allied forces from Somali and AMISOM, entered the town of Balad, 37km northeast of Mogadishu at around midday with no resistance from the Al Qaeda affiliated Shebaab rebels.
"They [Somali and AU forces], set up bases inside and around the town of Bal'ad," said witness who declined to be named, adding that he saw troops raid houses and businesses, to secure the overall security."
Locals said on Wednesday the security situation has returned into normal amid the forces are conducting search operations to find out Al shabab remnants and illegal weapons.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
back too chewing khat and waiting for the next handout huh.
Posted by: chris ||
06/28/2012 9:21 Comments ||
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(Sh. M. Network)-Abdiweli Mohammed Ali, The prime minister ofSomalia, declared that his government is willing to end the reign of Al shabab bully boyz in the country before 20 August, the ending point of the Transitional period.
Speaking with Shabelle Media Network based in Mogadishu, Somali PM said TFG troops and the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) forces will continue fighting against Al shabab fighters until peace and stability is restored throughout the nation.
"Our plan is to eradicate the Islamist a-style:dotted;border-bottom-color:gray;' title='l-Shabaab'>l-Shabaab ... the Islamic version of the old Somali warlord... myrmidons-linked with Al Qaeda out of their last stronghold in Somalia before next August and set a local administrations under Somalia's Transitional Fedaral Government TFG," Somali PM, told Shabelle Media Network.
When asked a report issued by the World Bank on Wednesday says the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia TFG has not accounted for most of the revenues and donations it received in 2009 and 2010, he answered that accusations are baseless, adding that he is unlikely to embezzle a financial support intended to Somali people.
On Tuesday Somali Prime Minister Abdiweli Mohammed Ali, toured in Bal'ad, a town located just 37 Kilometers northeast Mogadishu, where Somali and AU forces seized from Al shabab bully boyz peacefully.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Egypt's ailing former strongman Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... is slipping in and out of a coma and his morale has plunged after news of Mohamed Morsi's victory in the presidential polls, officials told AFP on Wednesday.
"The former president has been greatly affected by the news of Morsi's presidential victory," said one of the officials at a Cairo military where Mubarak was transferred last week.
"According to medical reports, Mubarak's morale has worsened. He is in depression and slips in and out of coma," the official who declined to be named told AFP.
"His medical team is carrying out all sorts of tests on his brain and heart," the source added.
Morsi, candidate of the formerly banned Moslem Brüderbund in the June 16-17 election, was confirmed as Egypt's first democratically elected civilian president on Sunday, succeeding Mubarak.
Last week Mubarak was moved from jail, where he is serving a life sentence, to a military hospital in Cairo amid uncertainty over his health.
On June 20, a medical source told AFP that the 84-year-old former president was "in a coma and the doctors are trying to revive him."
"He has been placed on an artificial respirator," the source added, in an account confirmed by a member of Egypt's ruling military council, who spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
Mubarak was taken to a Cairo prison on June 2, after a court handed down a life sentence against him over his involvement in the deaths of protesters during the 2011 uprising that ousted him from power.
His health deteriorated after the transfer, with doctors defibrillating him twice earlier this month, and reports saying he was suffering from bouts of depression, high blood pressure and shortness of breath.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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Confusing American lawyer shows with his own reality. He'll be demanding someone be Mirandized next.
CAIRO - The office of Egyptian president-elect Mohamed Mursi will file a lawsuit against the Iranian news agency Fars for making up an interview with him which said he promised to improve ties between the two countries, Mursi's front man said on Wednesday.
"President Mursi was never interviewed by Iran's Fars news agency. The interview was fabricated and his presidential office has begun taking legal action against the news agency," Yasser Ali told Rooters.
Iran has hailed Mursi's victory over former air force commander Ahmed Shafik in Egypt's first free presidential election as a "splendid vision of democracy" that marked the country's "Islamic Awakening".
Since Egypt's Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... was toppled in one of those uprisings, both Cairo and Tehran have signaled interest in renewing ties severed more than 30 years ago.
Mursi, however, is striving to reassure Egypt's Western allies wary at the prospect of Islamist rule, and Gulf states that are deeply suspicious of Iranian influence, and is unlikely to stage major foreign policy reversals so soon after taking office.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Yemen has asked for U.S. drones to be used "in some cases" to target al-Qaeda leaders in the country, its foreign minister told AFP on Wednesday.
"Drones were used upon Yemen's request in some cases against fleeing al-Qaeda leaders," Abu Bakr al-Kurbi told AFP on the sidelines of a counter-piracy conference in Dubai, in a first official Yemeni confirmation.
Yemeni troops have this month recaptured a string of towns which al-Qaeda Death Eaters overran last year across the province of Abyan ...a governorate of Yemen. The region was a base to the Aden-Abyan Islamic Army terrorist group until it dropped the name and joined al-Qaeda. Its capital is Zinjibar. In March 2011, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula declared the governate an Islamic Emirate after seizing control of the region. The New York Times fastidiously reported that those in control, while Islamic hard boyz, are not in fact al-Qaeda, but something else that looks, tastes, smells, and acts the same. Yemeni government forces launched an effort to re-establish control of the region when President-for-Life Saleh was tossed and the carnage continues... In an interview with ABC television's "This Week," U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... defended in May the use of drones as "the most precise weapons we have" in the campaign against the jihad boy group.
His comments were the first time the U.S. formally acknowledged the use of unmanned drones against al-Qaeda suspects in Yemen, where such reports had not been confirmed.
"The fear lies in the infiltration of bully boyz and faceless myrmidons into Yemen" from Somalia, said Kurbi. "It is very difficult for us to tell the difference between someone displaced for humanitarian reasons and a terrorist."
In February, the commander of the African Union ...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful... forces in Mogadishu, Major General Fred Mugisha, said Somalia's al-Qaeda allied Shebab fighters, close to collapse, were fleeing the war-torn country in large numbers for Yemen.
Earlier this month, a Somali jacket wallah killed the army commander for southern Yemen, General Salem Ali Qoton, who had led a five-week-long offensive against the jihadists.
Last year a record 103,000 refugees, asylum seekers and migrants crossed the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea from the Horn of Africa -- mainly Somalis and Æthiopians.
Kurbi said al-Qaeda Death Eaters had "developed their capabilities to move from one place to another," adding that "it is not unlikely" that jihadists in Yemen might have in turn fled to neighboring Oman.
Omani media on Tuesday quoted foreign ministry official Saeed Badr bin Hamad al-Busaidi as saying his country was investigating reports that al-Qaeda Death Eaters had infiltrated the Gulf sultanate.
His remarks came after a security official in Sanaa said five al-Qaeda Death Eaters had beat feet from a prison in the western Yemeni city of Hudaydah.
Yemen and Oman share a long border through desert and mountainous regions.
On Saturday, the army took control of the southeastern town of Azzan, an al-Qaeda bastion deserted by the Death Eaters a week earlier.
According to several sources, the fighters who fled Azzan, in the southeastern Shabwa province, have sought refuge in an eastern region of Yemen close to the border with Oman.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] The US ambassador to Sana'a Gerald Feierstein said on Wednesday that the Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America™", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ... Movement's slogans are ridiculous and silly, asserting that Washington is not their enemy.
The Houthis' slogans show great animosity to the United States as they read: God is great; Death to America™; Death to Israel; and victory to Islam.
In a presser held on Wednesday, the American diplomat said that" if the goal of carrying such slogans is to rally support from the public in some areas then that would not help the people of that areas, nor will it serve the Hothis."
Asked about American position with regard to the Shiite movement, Feierstein replied that the US position has not changed; welcoming their recent indications sent to the Liaison Committee that they would take part in the upcoming national dialogue.
He said his country believes the Houthis should bring up their grievances to the dialogue table, and showed his concerns over the Houthis' drive to achieve their demands by force.
"We are against any movement--whether it was the Shiite movement or any other organization--that tries to realize its aims by militancy or force," said the diplomat.
Feierstein further showed his country's concerns about some reports indicating that the pro-Iranian movement is carrying out and supporting Iran's agenda in Yemen, stressing that Iran does not seek Yemen's best interest; rather its role only helps to put oil on fire.
Speaking about Tehran's drive to establish a good relationship with some cut-thoat and myrmidon groups other than the Houthis such as the Southern Movement, which calls for the independence of the south, he said that Iran aims through such alliances to fail stability in the country.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Senior Yemeni intelligence officials told Yemen Post that the Yemeni government has not been given any foreign intelligence information regarding the latest al-Qaeda planned attack in Europe using a Norweignan convert to Islam to conduct the attacks.
Two officials blamed the latest miscommunication on the that lack of cooperation between foriegn and Yemeni intelligence is helping al-Qaeda in expanding its wings of attacks. "We need to cooperate. Yemen cannot help if they are not given information," the official said on condition of anonymity.
On Tuesday, AP reported that a Norwegian man has received terrorist training from al-Qaeda's in Yemen and is awaiting orders to carry out an attack on the West sourcing officials from three European security agencies.
Yemen Post continues to investigate this case in search for more details.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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Treasury Department also accused four Lebanese and Venezuelan men of playing role in money laundering to help benefit criminals, Hezbollah
The US Treasury Department on Wednesday banned Americans from doing business with four Lebanese and Venezuelan men it accused of helping to smuggle narcotics and oversee fundraising for the Leb-based Hezbollah terror group.
The four men are: Abbas Hussein Harb, who holds citizenship in Leb and Venezuela; Ibrahim Chibl, a Lebanese citizen; Ali Houssein Harb and Kassem Mohamad Saleh, both duel citizens of Leb and Venezuela.
The US Treasury Department said the group of men are linked to Lebanese drug kingpin Ayman Joumaa, who was indicted last December by a US federal grand jury in Virginia on charges of aiding Mexican narco mobs. The department said Harb and Chibl conspired with others to help ship millions of dollars in narcotics.
Harb and Chibl, using a Colombia- and Venezuela-based organization, laundered money through the Lebanese financial sector, the Treasury Department said.
The group of men were also accused of playing a role in money laundering to help benefit criminals and Hezbollah.
The US Treasury said Americans are now banned from doing any business with the four men under the terms of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.
Separately, the United States named Ali Mohamad Saleh, who holds citizenship in Leb and Colombia, as a global terrorist for his association with Hezbollah.
Not surprisingly, a shoddy piece of journalism appeared in a Fortune magazine blog which distorted and lied about the issues involving Fast and Furious, oddly enough published on the eve of the Contempt of Congress vote against the execrable Eric Holder.
The basic thrust of the piece was that Fast and Furious was a story ginned up by right wing blogs based on false allegations.
I wonder how much advertising Fortune was promised in exchange for this piss poor example of investigative reporting by a former healthcare reporter, Katherine Eban. Eban was also a Journolist member, fancy that.
[Dawn] A national nongovernmental organization helping the government mobilise support for anti-polio ...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set... vaccination in North and South Wazoo agencies has appealed to the US to stop drone attacks in the tribal areas, saying it will pave the way for immunisation campaigns meant for better child health.
The appeal comes as the Taliban ban the administration of oral polio vaccine to children in North and South Waziristan.
"The ban will adversely affect 318,000 children in the two agencies," Tehseenullah Khan, coordinator of National Research and Development Foundation (NRDF), told Dawn on Tuesday.
Mr Tehseenullah said NRDF, which had Islamic scholars as members, had been promoting the government's efforts for promotion of vaccination in North and South Waziristan for over one year.
"Local members of NRDF had addressed more than 6,000 immunisation refusal cases in both the agencies but this time, the situation could go out of hand. The spillover affects will soon be felt in FR Bannu, Tank and Dera Ismail Khan," ... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ... he said.
He said drone attacks in tribal areas cost local children dearly and therefore, the US should stop conducting such strikes on humanitarian grounds to save children from disabilities.
The NRDF coordinator said on June 15, the North Waziristan Taliban banned vaccination denying administration of polio vaccine to 1, 61,000 children. He said the two agencies had so far recorded one confirmed case of polio each this year suggesting that the virus was in circulation and could cause an epidemic.
Mr Tehseenullah said the situation could slip away if urgent measures were not taken.
"Stoppage of drone strikes by the US could safeguard children against host of diseases. Fata is the only active hub of active polio virus transmission in the country that has contributed more than 50 per cent of the total polio cases this year," he said.
He said 11 of this year's nationwide 22 polio cases were reported in Fata.
An official of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas health directorate claimed that great success in polio eradication efforts had been achieved over the last one year.
He said the country had reported a reduction of 73.4 per cent in polio incidence this year compared with that of the last year.
"Sixty-six fresh cases of polio were reported until June 26 last year but the number decreased to 22 only during the corresponding period of this year," he said.
The official said the Taliban ban on vaccination was a serious blow to anti-polio efforts and thus, exposing children to disability.
"We have had troubles in Khyber Agency, but as we were getting closer to resolve security crisis in Khyber, this new blow to the programme from North and South Waziristan may bring our worst fears come true," he said.
According to him, the ban on vaccination was first slapped in North Waziristan but was later extended to South Waziristan.
"It means that 157,000 children needing immunisation will not receive vaccination against eight preventable childhood diseases," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
"no"
this is, as someone else suggested, the Sheriff in Blazing Saddles holding the gun to his own head, on a national scale.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/28/2012 13:53 Comments ||
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#2
This is an easy one: keep the big drones armed with high explosive warheads for whacking the Talibunnies, but also send out swarms of baby drones armed with little flechettes inoculated with polio vaccine. Do it for the children.
[Dawn] Chairman of his own faction of Pakistain People's Party Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Tuesday warned that cross border attacks from Afghanistan would frequently occur unless the two neighbouring countries sorted out a joint strategy to tackle militancy.
Addressing a public meeting in Shamozai here, he said it was high time to formulate an effective strategy for regional peace.
"The two countries should sense the sensitivity of the situation and join hands to bring militancy to its logical end once and for all," he said.
The PPP-S chief stressed the need for development of a comprehensive plan for the 2014 NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... and US withdrawal from Afghanistan and said Pakistain must seriously and wisely act for chalking out a policy to protect the interest of the country that could also guard the interests of Pakhtuns on both sides of the border.
He condemned the cold-blooded murder of 17 Pak troops by hard boyz in Upper Dir.
He opposed military operation in North Wazoo Agency and such an offensive would have devastating consequences for the entire region.
Referring to the growing power crisis, Mr Sherpao said the government never took the issue seriously otherwise there would have been no power crisis in the country.
"The lingering power crisis shows the government's unconcerned and indifferent attitude towards one of most painful problems that the people of the country have been facing for the last five years," he said.
The PPP-S chief asked the government to announce fresh elections without delay so that people could elect new leadership to take the country out of the current political crisis.
He blamed anti-Pakhtun forces for a well-orchestrated genocide of innocent civilians in the country.
"The anti-Pakhtun elements are hell-bent on pushing innocent civilians to the Stone Age. Hundreds of schools have been destroyed in Malakand Agency and tribal areas, especially of girls," he said.
The PPP-S leader said billions of rupees had been given to the government for reconstruction of flood-hit areas in the province and for compensation to the people affected by militancy and floods, but it couldn't be spent on the people it was intended for.
He said PPP-S would continue raising voice for the rights of Pakhtuns on every platform.
"We had met the longstanding demand of the people of Malakand Agency by implementing Shariah law in the area," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship and was thinking of changing his name to Nigel. said that Surjeet Singh has completed his sentence. He reiterated that Surjeet and Sarabjeet were two different Indian prisoners, DawnNews reported.
Speaking to the media representatives, Malik said that Indian fishermen were released on the principle of reconciliation.
Summary pertaining to the case of Sarabjeet Singh has not been sent to President Zardari yet, the PM's adviser added.
He said that release of Surjeet Singh will take place within 48 hours.
"Baseless allegations dent the bilateral ties of the two countries," Malik said.
He said that three Indian citizens were involved in the Mumbai attacks. India's information related to Sayed Zabiuddin was incomplete, he added.
The adviser to the PM said "India's speculative allegations against Pakistain have been proven incorrect on several occasions."
Moreover he added "most of the time India puts blame on the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) without even investigating into the matter."
Rehman's Remarks came after India's home minister said that a key suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks had provided information confirming Pak "state support" for the deadly assault.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
"most of the time India puts blame on the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) without even investigating into the matter."
Like the man said, the race is not always to the swift nor the battle to the strong, but it's a good way to bet. If there is mischief afoot, my money is on the ISI.
[Dawn] India's home minister said on Wednesday that a key suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks has provided information confirming Pak "state support" for the deadly assault.
Abu Hamza, also known as Sayed Zabiuddin, an Indian-born member of the Pakistain-based jihad boy group Lashkar-e-Taiba ...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI... , was tossed in the calaboose Please don't kill me! at Delhi international airport on June 21 when he arrived from the Middle East.
Indian police believe he was one of the handlers based in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... , who issued orders by telephone to 10 gunnies as they stormed two luxury hotels, a Jewish centre, a restaurant and a train station in Mumbai.
The November 2008 attacks, which India has blamed on Lashkar-e-Taiba, left 166 people dead and more than 300 maimed.
Home Minister P. Chidambaram, speaking to news hounds in the southern state of Kerala, said police interrogation of Hamza had confirmed Indian accusations that Pak state actors were also involved.
"The argument that non-state actors were behind the massacre is no longer valid. He has confirmed that he was in the control room (and) this has confirmed our suspicion that there was some organised effort," Chidambaram said.
"When I say, state actors, at the moment, I am not pointing my finger at any particular agency.
"But clearly there was state support or state actors' support for the 26/11 massacre," the home minister said.
Pakistain, which has firmly denied such allegations, has indicted seven people for their alleged role in the attacks. Their trial, which began in 2009, has been beset by delays.
Adviser to Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik Pak politician, Interior Minister under the Gilani government. Malik is a former Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) intelligence officer who rose to head the FIA during Benazir Bhutto's second tenure. Malik was tossed from his FIA job in 1998 after documenting the breath-taking corruption of the Sharif family. By unhappy coincidence Nawaz Sharif became PM at just that moment and Malik moved to London one step ahead of the button men. He had to give up the interior ministry job because he held dual Brit citizenship. has denied any state support in the attacks.
"India's speculative allegations against Pakistain have been proven incorrect on several occasions," Malik told news hounds on Wednesday.
The United States has offered a $10 million reward for information leading to the conviction of Lashkar founder Hafiz Muhammad Saeed ...who would be wearing a canvas jacket with very long sleeves anyplace but Pakistain... who lives openly in Pakistain and is accused of criminal masterminding the Mumbai attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Gosh, I sure hope the Hindoos didn't make him uncomfortable while asking their questions...
[Dawn] The Pak Army chief has expressed his reservations to Isaf commander Gen John Allen over cross border incursions by faceless myrmidons based in Afghanistan, DawnNews reported.
Gen Allen, the top commander of American and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A collection of multinational and multilingual and multicultural armed forces, all of differing capabilities, working toward a common goal by pulling in different directions... forces in Afghanistan was visiting Pakistain amid heightened tensions between the two countries.
The US accuses Pakistain of not acting against cut-thoat networks allegedly based on Pak soil. The two countries have also been at loggerheads over still-closed NATO supply lines.
Pakistain, on the other hand, blames NATO and Afghan forces of failing to act against cut-thoat safe havens in Afghanistan, and repeated border violations and attacks by hard boys.
The Isaf commander's visit follows a similar cross-border attack by Talibs on Sunday, resulting in the deaths of 13 Pak soldiers.
Sources told DawnNews that General Kayani ... four star general, current Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army. Kayani is the former Director General of ISI... has raised the issue of border violations and cross-border attacks in his meeting with the US General in Rawalpindi, adding that such incidents will not be tolerated in the future.
Sources added that the US general has assured Gen Kayani that he will raise the issue with the Afghan National Army.
The Pak military had said on Monday that US Marine Gen John Allen's visit was to focus on reviewing the "progress made in the implementation of recently evolved border coordination measures and standing operating procedures."
Relations between Pakistain and the US have plunged since Pakistain's closure of supply lines to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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The Taliban released a video Wednesday that they say shows the heads of 17 Pak soldiers captured in a cross-border raid from Afghanistan this week and beheaded.
An anti-terrorist judge in La Belle France has thrown weight behind claims that the murder of American journalist Daniel Pearl and the bombing of French engineers in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... both had their roots in murky arms deals with Pak officials.
In 2002, two brutal terrorist attacks targeting westerners in the Pak city of Bloody Karachi shocked the world.
In January that year, the American journalist Daniel Pearl was kidnapped before being beheaded in cold blood by his captors. A video was later released showing his execution.
Three months later, on May 8, a bomber targeted a bus carrying French naval engineers working for the majority state owned Direction of Naval Construction (DCN). The blast left 11 engineers dead.
Apart from being carried out in the same city, the two attacks appeared at first to have little in common.
On Monday, Judge Marc Trevidic, who is charged with investigating the kaboom on the French engineers, met with the families of the 11 victims in Gay Paree.
Trevidic told them of his latest findings, which support a theory first put forward in a 2008 internal report by DCN titled 'Nautilus' that suggested both attacks were linked to a breakdown in arms deals with Pakistain.
"It was a rumour, now it has become a certainty" wrote French daily Le Gay Pareeien, which broke the story of Trevidic's findings on Monday.
The implication of Pakistain's secret services (ISI) in both cases is "no longer in doubt" added Le Gay Pareeien.
Speaking after the meeting, Sandrine Leclerc, whose father died in the Bloody Karachi attack, told news hounds: "The parallel between the case of the murder of Daniel Pearl and that involving the deaths of our loved ones is obvious. They are linked to arms contracts."
Oliver Morice, a lawyer for the victims' families, said "the findings of the investigating Judge Trevidic have given very significant credibility to the 'Nautilus' report."
Breach of arms deals
The killing of the French engineers, who were working on a submarine construction project, sparked outrage in La Belle France.
Pak police immediately placed the blame at the door of Islamic fundamentalists, but the cut-throats initially condemned to death for the attack were found not guilty on appeal.
Nevertheless, Jean-Louis Brugière, the French judge in charge of the case at the time, continued to pursue the line that Islamic cut-throats were to blame.
But when Trevidic took over the case in 2007, he began examining the theory that the bombing was linked to deals Pakistain made with La Belle France to purchase submarines.
Trevidic investigated whether the attack was Dire Revenge™ by Pak officials who were angry that then-president Jacques Chirac blocked the payment of kickbacks linked to the deal.
"We know that there may have been retaliatory operations related to the breaching of arms contracts. It is for the judge to now consolidate the findings of the 'Nautilus' report," said the lawyer Morice.
The "Bloody Karachi affair," as it has been named in La Belle France, has even ensnared members of the French ruling class with Sherlocks looking into allegations that kickbacks from the arms sales to Pakistain helped fund the failed 1995 presidential primary campaign of Edouard Balladur.
Balladur's campaign spokesperson at the time was none other than recently-departed president Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... Parallel with Pearl's murder
The murder of Daniel Pearl, just three months before the bus bombing, was also initially attributed to Islamic fundamentalists linked to al Qaeda.
But one of the demands made by his kidnappers after his abduction also pointed to a possible ulterior motive.
In two emails sent just after his kidnapping, his captors listed a number of conditions for the release of their hostage, one of which was for the United States to deliver the F-16 fighter jets that Pakistain had paid for but never received due to a diplomatic wrangle.
During his trip to the United States in February, Trevidic requested access to past hearings of Sheikh Omar, the British-born bad turban of Pak descent who was considered to be the criminal mastermind behind Pearl's murder and is currently in prison in Pakistain.
The evidence subsequently confirmed the emails' authenticity.
"The two authenticated emails indicate that it was not al Qaeda behind the kidnapping, but Pak nationals, because of the F-16 deal," Marie Dose, lawyer for the families told AFP news agency.
However, a good lie finds more believers than a bad truth... some give little credence to the view that both cases are linked to a breach in arms contracts, including Sarkozy, who labelled the allegations a "grotesque fairy tale".
The doubters argue the seven-year time difference between Chirac's decision to stop the payment of kickbacks and the kaboom were too great for them to be linked.
"From now on, Marc Trevidic can quite easily dismiss this argument," argued Le Gay Pareeien.
[An Nahar] Powerful Shiite holy manMoqtada Tater al-Sadr ... the Iranian catspaw holy man who was 22 years old in 2003 and was nearing 40 in 2010. He spends most of his time in Iran, safely out of the line of fire, where he's learning to be an ayatollah... on Wednesday called for the release of an alleged Hizbullah member who is cooled for a few years Please don't kill me! in Iraq.
"He must be released immediately, and the government should do this immediately," Sadr said in a statement, referring to Ali Moussa Daqdouq, who was accused of plotting the murder of five U.S. soldiers in 2007.
He was handed over to Iraqi authorities in December as U.S. forces completed their withdrawal nearly nine years after the invasion of Iraq, but his lawyer said in May that an Iraqi court ordered him released for lack of evidence.
At the time of Daqdouq's detention in 2007, the United States accused Iranian special forces of using Hizbullah to train Iraqi hard boys, and U.S. officials are still keen to have him remain behind bars.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
we should have killed this asshole when we had the chance.
Posted by: chris ||
06/28/2012 0:24 Comments ||
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Turkish convoys including artillery and armor are moving toward the Syrian border. A convoy of 30 vehicles is said to have departed Iskenderun which included missile batteries. Article doesn't specify missile type. In addition, armor is said to be on the move toward Sanliurfa. Article also reports considerable number of individual vehicles headed to Reyhanli.
#4
Do you think they're going to invade with a column of thirty vehicles?
(The Turks of the 50's and 60's coulda probably pulled something off; they were awesome. These guys? I think their turbans are too tight, and have been too tight for a while).
[An Nahar] Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... on Wednesday urged Syrian authorities to end the "indiscriminate" shootings of civilians fleeing to Jordan and other neighboring countries.
"Syrian soldiers on the border with Jordan appear to be shooting indiscriminately at anyone -- including civilian women and kiddies - trying to flee from Syria," the U.S.-based HRW said in a statement.
"Syrian authorities should immediately order its armed forces on the border to end all indiscriminate attacks and take all feasible measures to avoid injuries to civilians crossing into neighboring countries, and to respect their right to leave the country."
Jordan is hosting more than 120,000 Syrians, of whom 20,000 are registered with the United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the sound of artillery... There are another 38,000 refugees in Turkey, 22,000 in Leb and 3,129 in Iraq, according to the U.N. refugee agency and officials in those countries.
"Syria says it is fighting armed terrorists, yet its border forces appear to shoot at everyone crossing the border without distinction, attacking civilian men, women, children and the maimed the same way they attack fighters," said Gerry Simpson, senior refugee researcher and advocate for HRW.
"Syria is forcing its own desperate civilians to crawl out of their country under a hail of bullets," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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#1
Have they figured out how to tell the civilians from the rebels then?
Personally I doubt it, there's little difference between fleeing and retreating.
PS this is not to be seen as an endorsement of any of the actors in this bloody farce.
[An Nahar] Turkey is not going to war with neighboring Syria over the shooting down of a Turkish warplane, its prime minister said Wednesday but analysts expect a higher risk of festivities on the border.
Days after the Phantom F-4 jet was brought down by Syrian defenses, leaving its two crew missing, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey has no hostile intent towards any country.
"As Turkey, the Turkish nation, we have no intention of attacking" Syria, he said during a military ceremony in Ankara.
His declaration came a day after he branded Syria "a clear and imminent threat" and promised a harsher military response to any border violation.
Wednesday's newspapers headlined Ankara's hardening attitude, with the Milliyet daily saying, "Syria is now a de facto enemy."
Analysts dismissed the prospects of a war but warned of escalating tensions on Turkey's 910-kilometre (560-mile) southern border with Syria.
"You can categorize a country as an enemy but this doesn't mean that you are in a hot conflict with that country," said political analyst Professor Sedat Laciner of the Ankara-based think tank USAK.
"Turkey has no intention of translating this tension into a war but it is apparent that the Turkish-Syrian border has turned into a frontier that may see stray attacks in the future," he stressed.
In a much-awaited speech in in parliament Tuesday, Erdogan announced that that the rules of engagement of the Turkish armed forces had changed after what he said was a "hostile act" by Syria testing Turkey's military capability.
Any action by Syria posing a risk on the border will be "considered a threat and treated as a military target," he said.
"Tension is going to rise at the border," said Hugh Pope of the International Crisis Group.
"But I don't think Turkey wants to send troops into Syria. The only option for Turkey is to be part of an international initiative," he noted.
Meeting in Brussels Tuesday at Turkey's request, NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... rallied behind Ankara, condemned Damascus ...The place where Pencilneck hangs his brass hat... for shooting down the Phantom, but made no mention of possible intervention.
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06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Growing numbers of victims of the conflict in Syria are being targeted on account of their religion while gross violations of human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. are occurring on a regular basis, U.N. Sherlocks said Wednesday.
The new report from a commission of inquiry (CoI) said that violence has actually been escalating in Syria since May despite the Assad regime's agreement to implement a peace plan the previous month.
The commission, which delivered its report to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva, also said that it believed many of the victims of a massacre in the central town of Houla last month were killed by the government.
The findings of the report triggered a walkout by the Syrian delegation as it was being read out at the rights council's headquarters in Geneva.
"We will not participate in this flagrantly political meeting," said Syrian ambassador Faisal Khabbaz Hamoui before leaving the hall.
The walkout came as the commission told the council that the unrest was taking on an increasingly sectarian basis.
"Where previously victims were targeted on the basis of their being pro or anti-government, the CoI has recorded a growing number of incidents where victims appear to have been targeted because of their religious affiliation," said the report.
After Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad The Scourge of Hama... told his cabinet on Tuesday that Syria was in a "real situation of war," the CoI agreed that the 16-month revolt against his rule now bore the hallmarks of an armed conflict.
"Gross violations of human rights are occurring regularly, in the context of increasingly militarized fighting which -- in some areas -- bears the characteristics of a non-international armed conflict," said the report.
At the request of the rights council, the CoI focused on the massacre in Houla where at least 108 people were killed in a 24-hour period on May 25-26.
A Syrian government inquiry has claimed that the victims, many of them women and kiddies shot in their homes, were killed by 600-800 "terrorists" who flooded in from surrounding village.
The commission said it was not able to identify the perpetrators but said it suspected forces loyal to Assad of many of the deaths.
It did not rule out the involvement of anti-government forces seeking to escalate the conflict and punishing non-supporters of the rebellion and also "foreign groups with unknown affiliation."
"The CoI is unable to determine the identity of the perpetrators at this time, nevertheless the CoI considers that forces loyal to the government may have been responsible for many of the deaths."
The panel has not been allowed to travel around Syria or access sites such as Houla, basing its findings on interviews, photos and videos.
The commission chair Paulo Pinheiro did however hold interviews in Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... from June 23-25 with Syria's deputy foreign and deputy justice ministers.
The panel was established last September by the U.N. Human Rights Council and its latest findings cover the period from February up to June 15.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/28/2012 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] International peace envoy Kofi Annan ...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo... said on Wednesday that an action group on Syria would meet this weekend in a new bid to shore up his faltering peace plan, as both the U.S. and La Belle France said talks must focus on the need for political transition in the conflict-torn country.
The former U.N. secretary-general said a ministerial level meeting of the action group would take place in Geneva on Saturday, featuring all five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and other key regional players.
"I look forward to a productive meeting this weekend, where we can all agree on concrete actions to end the cycle of violence and bring peace and stability to the Syrian people," Annan said in a statement.
But while U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as The Woman to Call at 3 a.m. and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another Abel P. Upshur ... -- who is among those due to attend -- gave Annan her full backing, the news that Iran was not among those invited was likely to infuriate Syria's chief ally, Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin ...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile... said on Tuesday that Iran should be invited to any international meeting in Geneva, saying it "would complicate the process" if Tehran were to be shut out.
A six-point peace plan drawn up by Annan came into force in mid-April. But its key provisions, which include a total cessation of violence, have been repeatedly breached since then.
In his statement, Annan said that the action group aimed to "identify steps and measures to secure full implementation of the six-point plan".
But he also said Saturday's meeting would seek agreement "on guidelines and principles for a Syrian-led political transition that meets the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people" as well as "agree on actions that will make these objectives a reality on the ground".
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[YNet News] Expert says Turkey was not aware Syrian forces capable of intercepting enemy planes flying under radar. US officials: Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... beefed up missile defense after Israel bombed reactor Ummm... The aircraft was an F4, which was 1960s (actually late '50s) technology, doing, if I recall, a radar calibration run. If it was shot down with hotshot technology developed by the Medes and the Persians that could be anything from '60s junk on up to whatever's current in Qom. Our guys over Hanoi and similar garden spots used to have enough trouble with SA-2's and SA-3's, which were definitely '50s junk. The F4's were pretty good for shooting down MiG-21s, though...
Syrian news outlets quoted a military expert as saying that the anti-aircraft weapons used to down a Turkish fighter jet last weekend were made in Iran, Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday. ... as opposed to made in the Soviet Union when Khrushchev was the head cheese...
According to the Arabic newspaper, the Syrian expert said Damascus purchased an Iranian-made anti-aircraft gun two years ago. He said the gun can be mounted on armored vehicles. Since the ZSU-23-4 came with its own 'armored' vehicle, that could simply refer to the old standby 14.5mm mounted on most Soviet-era tanks. I was flying in a P2V in 1968 that got holed by a stoopid 37mm that was pre-World War II stuff. The tracking system's the important thing.
The expert said the downed Turkish jet flew at a low altitude so as not to be detected by the Syrian radar. However, alcohol has never solved anybody's problems. But then, neither has milk... the expert said, the Turkish crew was not aware that the Syrian air force was in possession of a weapon capable of intercepting planes flying at such a low altitude. When they shot us we were at 8000 feet. They could see us, fergawdsake.
'Syrian system is much more dense' Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, the radioactive tadpoles grown into frogs. Really big frogs, in fact... the Seattle Times That's where I always go for authoritative stories on miltech, by Gum...
quoted American security officials as saying that Syria's downing of the Turkish jet showed its military is capable of mounting a sophisticated defense against potential enemies, thus "complicating a Libyan-style intervention." At least Libyan-style interventions using antique aircraft. On the other hand, if we took out all the radar sites in Syria there'd probably be some other reason we couldn't possibly stomp the bastards into Hades' back pocket... The US officials said Syria's air defense systems have been beefed up by purchases from Russia following the bombing a Syrian nuclear reactor under construction five years ago. Foreign media said the attack was carried out by Israel. Has Syria ever actually shot down an Israeli aircraft? None spring to mind...
US military officials were quoted as saying that, at least on paper, the Syrian air defenses appear to be far more robust than those encountered by NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... in Libya and stronger than even Iran's. "I can name you worse (systems), but they are in places like China," said an Air Force official. Take that, General Tso! According to the Seattle Times, defense officials and military analysts say defeating Syria's air defenses would require a sustained US military effort that would probably lead to civilian casualties. That's usually the case, especially when the enemy's in the habit of putting AA sites in the vicinity of concentrations of civilians. In the case of Syria I'd expect to see major command posts located in hospitals and kindergartens around Homs and places like that.
That's ok, then. By the time we turn our attention in that direction, everyone in Homs will be dead or fled.
The report said most defense analysts claim the Syrian system is similar to the Iranian air defenses in terms of technology, but they suggested that Syrian version is more effective because it is concentrated in a smaller area. "The Iranians have a huge geographic area to cover, which creates gaps that you can fly through and around," said Jeffrey White, a fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and a former Defense Intelligence Agency analyst. "The Syrian system is much more dense." I used to be an intel analyst. I specialized (once Vietnam was over) in Soviet systems. I wasn't an expert in air defense systems, though. Everything I write on the subject is either opinion or scar tissue. I have no idea what Jeffrey White used to do for a living but I suspect it wasn't air def systems.
The experts said the Syrian air defenses are also more tightly integrated than the Iraqi or the Libyan systems, allowing Syrian military officers at disparate sites to share targeting information gleaned from radar. Whoa! Nobody else can do that... Oh. Wait.
Information minister says Syrian forces may have mistaken Turkish jet they shot down for Israeli plane. Adds: We don't want crisis
A Syrian minister is quoted as saying his country's forces may have mistaken the Turkish plane they shot down for an Israeli one.
Syrian Information Minister Omran al-Zoebi was quoted as telling Turkish news channel A Haber in a telephone interview Wednesday that his country did "not want a crisis between Turkey and Syria."
Al-Zoebi said Turkish and Israeli fighter jets were mostly US-made, which may have led the Syrian forces to mistake it for an Israeli jet.
Turkey warned Syria on Tuesday to keep its troops away from the countries' troubled border or risk an armed response, an angry reply to the downing of the Turkish reconnaissance plane last week.
Syrian news outlets quoted a military expert as saying that the anti-aircraft weapons used to down the Turkish fighter jet last weekend were made in Iran, Al-Quds al-Arabi reported Wednesday.
According to the Arabic newspaper, the Syrian expert said Damascus ...Home to a staggering array of terrorist organizations... purchased an Iranian-made anti-aircraft gun two years ago. He said the gun can be mounted on armored vehicles.
The expert said the downed Turkish jet flew at a low altitude so as not to be detected by the Syrian radar. However, by candlelight every wench is handsome... the expert said, the Turkish crew was not aware that the Syrian air force was in possession of a weapon capable of intercepting planes flying at such a low altitude.
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.
(Sh.M.Network)- Give Somalia the funds and they will eliminate piracy within a year, their interim president has claimed.
(Sh. M. Network)-Some local residents in the town of Bal'ad, some 37 kilometers northeast of Somali capital Mogadishu, tale their life after Somali and AMISOM forces took control the town from Al shabab on Tuesday.
Egypt's ailing former strongman 
The US ambassador to Sana'a Gerald Feierstein said on Wednesday that the 
[Yemen Post] Senior Yemeni intelligence officials told Yemen Post that the Yemeni government has not been given any foreign intelligence information regarding the latest al-Qaeda planned attack in Europe using a Norweignan convert to Islam to conduct the attacks.
A national nongovernmental organization helping the government mobilise support for anti-
Wazoo
Chairman of his own faction of Pakistain People's Party Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao on Tuesday warned that cross border attacks from Afghanistan would frequently occur unless the two neighbouring countries sorted out a joint strategy to tackle militancy.
Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister on Interior 
India's home minister said on Wednesday that a key suspect in the 2008 Mumbai attacks has provided information confirming Pak "state support" for the deadly assault.
The Pak Army chief has expressed his reservations to Isaf commander Gen John Allen over cross border incursions by 
Moqtada 
Turkey is not going to war with neighboring Syria over the shooting down of a Turkish warplane, its prime minister said Wednesday but analysts expect a higher risk of 
Growing numbers of victims of the conflict in Syria are being targeted on account of their religion while gross violations of 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
...Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh and so far the worst Secretary-General of the UN. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize for something or other that probably sounded good at the time. In December 2004, reports surfaced that Kofi's son Kojo received payments from the Swiss company Cotecna, which had won a lucrative contract under the UN Oil-for-Food Program. Kofi Annan called for an investigation to look into the allegations, which stirred up the expected cesspool but couldn't seem to come up with enough evidence to indict Kofi himself, or even Kojo...
...Second President of the Russian Federation and the first to remain sober. Because of constitutionally mandated term limits he is the current Prime Minister of Russia. His sock puppet, Dmitry Medvedev, was installed in the 2008 presidential elections. Putin is credited with bringing political stability and re-establishing something like the rule of law. During his eight years in office Russia's economy bounced back from crisis, seeing GDP increase, poverty decrease and average monthly salaries increase. During his presidency Putin passed into law a series of fundamental reforms, including a flat income tax of 13%, a reduced profits tax, and new land and legal codes. Under Putin, a new group of business magnates controlling significant swathes of Russia's economy has emerged, all of whom have close personal ties to Putin. The old bunch, without close personal ties to Putin, are in jail or in exile...
[YNet News] Expert says Turkey was not aware Syrian forces capable of intercepting enemy planes flying under radar. US officials: 
The US officials said Syria's air defense systems have been beefed up by purchases from Russia following the bombing a Syrian nuclear reactor under construction five years ago. Foreign media said the attack was carried out by Israel.
According to the Seattle Times, defense officials and military analysts say defeating Syria's air defenses would require a sustained US military effort that would probably lead to civilian casualties.
