An Afghan civilian was killed and an army officer injured in a suicide attack on a Nato-led convoy in southern Afghanistan, police say. The convoy, travelling near the city of Kandahar, narrowly escaped being hit by the car bomber. The attack comes a day after a bomb at a market left 17 people dead and 47 wounded in Helmand province.
An Afghan army officer who was travelling with the convoy said none of the Nato soldiers was injured. He said the civilian who died happened to be passing by when the attacker struck. The bomber hit the convoy on the main road linking Kandahar with the city's airport, the Associated Press news agency quotes Colonel Sher Shah as saying.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/29/2006 08:31 ||
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ISLAMABAD - Britain has asked Pakistan to extradite transatlantic airline bomb plot suspect Rashid Rauf, the Pakistan foreign ministry said on Monday.
Like they've been talking about this for a couple weeks. C'mon already.
Rauf has been detained in Pakistan since his arrest early this month, when Pakistani security officials described him as a key man in the bombing conspiracy with links to Al-Qaeda. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Monday that Rauf, a 25-year-old Briton, was being investigated for possible extremist activities in Pakistan and Britain as well as for links to the outlawed network. Asked if Britain had requested his extradition, Aslam said: Yes, they have sought his extradition and the matter is under consideration.
Shouldn't take too long to 'consider' it if you're a 'partner' with us in the WoT.
Pakistani officials have previously said that his arrest allegedly led to the uncovering of the bombing conspiracy. Aslam said information learned since his arrest was being shared with British authorities. The information is being shared with United Kingdom through appropriate channels, she said.
Rauf fled to Pakistan in 2002 and is wanted for questioning by police in Britain after his uncle was stabbed to death, security officials have said. While living in Pakistan, Rashid married a woman related to the chief ofbanned militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed and had two children, although some officials have said he is not a member of the group.
"Oh Dad, you'll be so thrilled with my new husband, he's just like you!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Pro-Russian forces have allegedly kidnapped a young woman who secretly married Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord who was killed last month. Elina Ersenoyeva, 26, was seized in Chechnya's capital, Grozny, on August 17 by masked gunmen - thought to be loyal to the Kremlin - in an apparent attempt to extract information about her husband's accomplices and finances.
I don't approve of this, but Elina should have been a little more finicky about her choice in husband material.
Tatyana Lokshina, of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights office in Moscow, described the abduction as "monstrous". "No one has any idea where she is," Ms Lokshina said. "Being the relative of a fighter, even if he was considered public enemy No 1, is no reason to kidnap someone. If she is guilty of a crime, she should be prosecuted in a court."
Her mother, Margarita, told human rights activists that Ms Ersenoyeva, a journalist and aid worker, had agreed to marry in November "under duress". "She didn't know who her husband was until she met him," said her mother.
"Why yes, I'll marry you! Umm, what was your name again?"
Mrs Lokshina said she suspected her daughter was seized by the Kadyrovtsi - former rebels controlled by Chechnya's prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin's placeman in the turbulent republic in Russia's north Caucasus. Russian media speculated that the Kadyrovtsi aimed to use the young woman to help retrieve $7m (£3.7m) in cash hidden by Basayev, and to track down his guerrilla accomplices.
Mrs Ersenoyeva said her daughter had accepted an anonymous marriage proposal after the wife of a senior rebel told her there would be "big problems" if she refused. Elina had spent a week with Basayev after the wedding and visited him in hiding on two other occasions.
I don't suppose the HR people tried to help her get away from the brute.
Two days before she was abducted, she wrote a letter to rights activists saying she was being harassed by law enforcement agencies. Chechen prosecutors said they were investigating the kidnap.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/29/2006 00:01 ||
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#1
"Widow" is such a strong word to Madonna fans. The Russkis are after Madonna and now Basey's babe, eh, and Osama is allegedly "obsessed" wid Whitney Huston - Whitney's "Lets Dance/Dance with Me" vs Madonna's "Open Your Heart", in 1968 NOT starring Ollie Stone, AEROSMITH, SLASH as VAL KILMER, and of course a Texas-sized asteroid, etal. Now add "THREE MOONS OVER MILFORD", D *** It.
WASHINGTON The financial noose is tightening around North Korea as international banks sever ties with the nation _ a move championed by the United States, a top Treasury Department official says. The United States has accused Pyongyang of spreading weapons and missile technology to other countries, counterfeiting U.S. currency and trafficking drugs. It wants to see the reclusive, communist-led regime financially incapacitated.
"There is sort of a voluntary coalition of financial institutions saying that they don't want to handle this business anymore and that is causing financial isolation for the government of North Korea," Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in an interview Monday with The Associated Press. "They don't want to be the banker for someone who's engaged in crime, as the North Korean government is," he said.
Banks in Singapore, Vietnam, China, Hong Kong and Mongolia are opting not to do business with North Korea, Levey said. "Is there a complete cutoff, so that they can't get banking anywhere? No, that's not the case, but they're having a very difficult time finding banking services," he said. "You're seeing a near complete isolation." Ignoring warnings from the United States and other countries, North Korea test-fired seven missiles last month, raising tensions in the region. The United States is considering tightening economic sanctions against North Korea, although Levey avoided specifics.
Last year, the Treasury department took action against a bank, Banco Delta Asia SARL, in Macau, a special administrative district of China, for what it said were lax money-laundering controls, alleging the bank helped North Korea distribute counterfeit currency and engage in other illicit activities. The department also has moved against other companies, claiming they were helping North Korea spread weapons of mass destruction. Because of the financial clampdown, North Korea has refused to resume six-nation talks meant to persuade it to abandon its nuclear weapons program.
Some analysts worry that the financial restrictions are only deepening the North's isolation. This, they argue, has allowed North Korea to push ahead with its weapons programs. North Korea accused the United States of tracing North Korean accounts in banks in at least 10 countries and called this "a gangster-like act."
Posted by: Steve ||
08/29/2006 11:45 ||
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#3
Eh, North Korea's main export are three-dollar bills. It's actively hostile to the international market, in that its exports undermine the core currencies. There's no business to speak of, by banker standards, and some advantage in being seen to have helped combat a notorious source of funny money.
Iran, on the other hand, is sitting on a pool of liquid money. It's easy to make Uncle Sam happy when there's nothing in it for you otherwise - when there's legit money to be made, well. That's another story.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/29/2006 12:54 Comments ||
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so we should let em have limited counterfeiting ability? Jeebus. What assholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 13:56 Comments ||
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I wish it were a model for Iran, but financially disconnecting with Iran would be a much bigger sacrifice than doing it with North Korea. Remember all the cheating on the Iraq embargo? It would be even worse in the case of Iran. We'd be undercut by all the big commercial nations.
One possible solution to that would be that once we find out about the money going into Iran from (Fill In The Country) - and we will - simply send a note to that nation's leadership saying that as of NOW any and all US funds for trade, defense, cultural, or any other cause stop until the money to Iran gets cut off. For example, let's say German companies keep violating any banking embargo. Fine - let's send the German workers on US Military bases home and keep 'em there until it stops. Once they've had a week or three of an enforced vacation, the German government might be willing to lean on some people. Might not be the best example but it'll suffice.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
08/29/2006 14:35 Comments ||
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Some analysts worry that the financial restrictions are only deepening the North's isolation. This, they argue, has allowed North Korea to push ahead with its weapons programs.
Again more hand wringing. These people are paralyzed! It's easy to second guess. What are you going to do? The problem won't wait forever. Life is made up of solutions, not problems.
North Korea accused the United States of tracing North Korean accounts in banks in at least 10 countries and called this "a gangster-like act."
Don't like that, eh? Good. Must mean we're onto something.
The counterfeit "supernote" thingies have only been around SINCE 1990! North Korea has only been starving their people to death and into cannibalism since, like, FOREVAH!
The collective international banking community needs a gigantic boot up their ass for overlooking these "character flaws" in the North Korean regime.
#11
Maybe Kimmie wants to follow NOLA's example - on FOX NEWS in afternoon > "For every Milyuhn?/Bilyuhn? dollars the Federal govt. spends, 40,000 "high-paying local jobs" are created". YOU KNOW, THE REASON WHY NOLA/KATRINA-GATE IS ABOUT "HELPING PEOPLE", NOT SOCIALISM. DITTO FOR THE WOT. Being a good Politician, no word was mentioned on SSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHHH how TEMPORARY vs PERMANENT these alleged "high-paying local jobs" are.
The new head of the Turkish army, Gen Yasar Buyukanit, has said that defeating Kurdish separatism is one of his main priorities. Gen Buyukanit was speaking at a handover ceremony on Monday, where he succeeded Gen Hilmi Ozkok. It coincided with bomb blasts at two resorts. He described the Kurdish rebels as "terrorists" who used democracy and human rights as a shield. Gen Buyukanit also said Turkey was threatened by radical Islamism. He holds strongly nationalist and secular views and is expected to advocate a tougher line against the growing Kurdish insurgency than his predecessor.
As he was taking up his post three bomb attacks hit Turkey. Three people died in the southern resort of Antalya and dozens were injured. Two of the attacks - in Istanbul and the coastal resort of Marmaris on Sunday - were claimed by a militant group called the Kurdistan Freedom Falcons (Tak), linked to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
The government in Ankara is under pressure to conduct a cross-border operation against PKK bases in northern Iraq, the BBC's Turkey analyst Pam O'Toole says.
The US Ambassador to Turkey, Ross Wilson, told BBC Radio 4's Today programme on Tuesday that the United States, Turkey and Iraq had to deal with the problem of PKK militants together. He said US Gen Joseph Ralston, especially appointed for this mission, would represent the Americans at tri-lateral talks. "He will also co-ordinate US efforts to counter the PKK and to eliminate the threat of the PKK operating out of northern Iraq and across the border into Turkey," the ambassador said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/29/2006 08:24 ||
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A suspected member of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was detained yesterday following five bomb attacks in 24 hours in Turkey that killed three people and injured scores of people, state news agency Anatolian reported. The suspect was planning an attack in the major port city of Izmir, the agency said. Other people were detained for helping the suspect, and police also seized plastic explosives in the operation, it said.
Yesterday's blast in the coastal city of Antalya, which killed three people and wounded dozens, came less than 24 hours after three bombs in Marmaris injured 21 people and a device in Istanbul wounded six people. The attacks may well be a concerted campaign by Kurdish militants to damage the country's multimillion euro tourist industry. The first bomb blew up just before midnight on Sunday in a crowded minibus in Marmaris.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Putting this in WOT for the moment because I'm profiling based on the odd name bolded below.
As many as 14 people were injured this afternoon by a motorist who drove around San Francisco running them down before he was arrested, authorities said. Seven of those injured were in critical condition, police and firefighters said.
Authorities have identified the man who was arrested as Ohmeed Aziz Popal, who has addresses in Ceres (Stanislaus County) and Fremont. So, odd name that.
Authorities said they believe Popal was the same driver who ran over and killed a 55-year-old man walking in a bicycle lane in Fremont, at Fremont Boulevard near Ferry Lane, just after noon. That crash scene is just blocks from Popal's Fremont address, where he had most recently been living.
Popal was arrested at a Walgreens at Spruce and California streets. In San Francisco, the attacks began around 1 p.m., but it was unclear in what order:
Two people, one of them a child, were critically injured around by a sport-utility vehicle on the 3500 block of California Street in Laurel Heights.
Three people were hit at California and Fillmore streets. Witnesses said they included a man with a broken hip and a woman with a gashed head.
Two people were seriously hurt at Bush and Pierce streets and one person was seriously injured at Bush and Buchanan streets, police said. One person suffered minor injuries in an incident at 1850 Fillmore Street.
Two other people suffered minor injuries when they were hit at Pine at Divisadero streets, and another two were hit and suffered minor injuries at Divisadero and Bush Street.
"It was like 'Death Race 2000,' " firefighter Danny Bright said at California and Fillmore streets, as an ambulance stood nearby. "Guys were walking down the sidewalk and the guy just came up and ran them over. The guy went crazy.''
Fire Lt. Mindy Talmadge said Mayor Gavin Newsom had been notified and was coordinating the response with the command post at Spruce and California streets. This afternoon, Newsom left City Hall saying he was en route to a hospital -- presumably San Francisco General, where seven people had been admitted.
"Eleven people were hurt in the field, and police are still finding others," said Lann Wilder, a spokeswoman for San Francisco General Hospital.
Of those, six adults and one child were being treated for blunt trauma at S.F. General, she said. Wilder did not comment on the patients' conditions, but said she would provide further details later this afternoon.
One victim, Pedro Aglugov, 70, was sitting at a table at a sidewalk cafe at California and Fillmore with his head bandaged with gauze, holding an ice pack to one elbow. "He was going real fast," Aglugov said of the driver. "I was lucky I wasn't hurt more.''
Eliseo Billones Jr., 24, a canvasser for Greenpeace, was standing on the corner when Aglugov was hit. "He was going berserk," Billones said of the driver. "It was a red light and he just ran the red light. I saw him (Aglugov) hit the corner of the bumper and tumble.''
Barclay Lynn, 39, of San Francisco, said she and a friend were driving east on Bush when they saw a black SUV driving away and saw a motorcyclist who had been hit.
"The motorcyclist stood in the intersection trying to signal the driver to stop,'' Lynn said. The SUV then "went speeding in reverse on Bush heading west, weaving in and out of traffic. The whole right side of his SUV was smashed in.''
At Frankie's Bohemian Cafe at Divisadero and Pine, a man named William, who asked that his last name not be used, said he was walking south on Divisadero when "we heard the thump, turned around, saw bodies flying. He described the vehicle as a black Honda Pilot SUV that looked new and had a windshield that was shattered on the right side.
The driver went down Pine and Bush, "stood on the gas, then a couple of minutes later "came flying up through the bus lane'' headed north on Divisadero. After hearing that the driver had been arrested, William said, "Unfortunately, they didn't shoot him right on the spot.
Another man at the cafe, Max Bran, said, "We thought he was going to stop and give up, but instead he just stepped on the gas. It didn't matter, regardless of the lights. He saw a woman knocked down. "She was just crossing the street, just crossing the street," he said. "In fact, I had just crossed the street.
The two men said someone who had been at the cafe earlier picked up a license plate from the SUV.
Authorities believe the same suspect struck and killed a pedestrian in Fremont earlier today. That victim was walking north on Fremont Boulevard in the bicycle lane when he was struck from behind and knocked several feet into a field, Fremont Officer Alan Zambonin said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. The black SUV, a Honda described as a Pilot or a CRV, made no attempt to stop or help the victim, police said.
The vehicle had right front end damage and a shattered windshield.
Zambonin said one witness saw the collision from about 1,000 feet away, then stopped to try to help the man, who was already dead. Zambonin estimated the SUV was going as fast as 50 mph and sped away with a blown out windshield.
"It's a good possibility (the incidents) are all connected,'' Zambonin said.
Remember the wannabe jihadi with the rented SUV in Chapel Hill a while back? This one was more effective, IF that was his motive.
Posted by: Lawrence of the Rats ||
08/29/2006 19:06 ||
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#1
One of the attacks took place in front of a Jewish Community Center at California and Presidio
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/29/2006 19:23 Comments ||
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Laurence of the Rats - That was me posting the story. Putting it here again in case the cookie monster ain't done with me.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
08/29/2006 19:30 Comments ||
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#9
I keep thinking of that little kid that's critically injured and may not make it, tho.
In light of the serial nature of these crimes, charges of pre-meditation should apply to all but, perhaps, the first collision. This should trigger special circumstances and a chance for shaheed Popal to buddy up with Mr. Needle.
#11
Pelican Bay is for those in normal prisons who can't get along/high risk. This fuck needs a shank in the neck in one of the lesser supervised hellholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 20:21 Comments ||
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#12
One caution -- although from name and likely origin we can guess, we really don't know this guy's motive. It is possible he's truly mentally ill, acting under psychosis.
#17
although from name and likely origin we can guess, we really don't know this guy's motive. It is possible he's truly mentally ill, acting under psychosis.
It was based on his name that I assumed he was psycotic.
#19
For guys like these we need to let the victims do some skeet shooting like in History of the World.
""...Violence, I hate violence, it's the one thing I detest!". Ironically while giving his discourse on violence he is skeet shooting using peasants in lieu of clay pigeons"
#20
Projection - some people need killing based on their actions. Or do you want to host him after "rehabilitation"? Sorry to be so preachy, but I have no sympathy for those who take lives deliberately. Psychosis doesn't cause them to hit-n-run. Same as car chases - how many people were (and will in the future) be endangered by the continued existence of this obvious danger. RAB
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 21:06 Comments ||
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The driver was arrested at the intersection of California and Laurel after a short chase on foot. A witness to the arrest said on KCBS that a police officer on the scene reported the man wanted to "kill his family next."
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 21:07 Comments ||
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#23
or a disagreement about money, or marriage, or who knows what?
Frank, I never said I want to be easy on the guy.
I'm just saying that the assumption this is a jihad spree isn't the only possible explanation for the guy's actions. Violent psychosis doesn't get rehabilitated - such people need to be kept from society for the rest of their lives. But if he was sane enough to be held responsible, he should bear all the consequences of this horrendous attack.
psychosis doesn't cause them to hit-and-run
disagree on that - psychosis can cause a whole range of violent acts.
#27
From the link in #25: In brief, Mr. Taheri-azar represents the ultimate Islamist nightmare: a seemingly well-adjusted Muslim whose religion inspires him, out of the blue, to murder non-Muslims. Mr. Taheri-azar acknowledged planning his jihad for more than two years, or during his university sojourn. It's not hard to imagine how his ideas developed, given the coherence of Islamist ideology, its immense reach (including a Muslim Student Association at UNC), and its resonance among many Muslims.
Were Mr. Taheri-azar unique in his surreptitious adoption of radical Islam, one could ignore his case, but he fits into a widespread pattern of Muslims who lead quiet lives before turning to terrorism. Their number includes the hijackers responsible for the attacks of September 11, the London transport bombers, and the Intel engineer arrested before he could join the Taliban in Afghanistan, Maher Hawash.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 21:41 Comments ||
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#28
Rex Mundi, I worked in the city today and heard two employees of the Jewish Community Center were hit.
Very easy to hit someone because the center opens to the street..was a member in the past for many years.
The Local media are lying scum bags and are explicitly saying it wasn't related to Muslim terrorism.
BULL SHIT
JCC: 3500 block of California Street in Laurel Heights
#29
SUV not a rental this time. From another report: Department of Motor Vehicles records show the license plate on the SUV registered to Omeed A. Popal of Fremont
#31
Don't assume Jihad until all the facts are in. I don't like knee jerk libtards, and I don't like knee-jerk conservatives either.
If he went on a Jew hitting spree like that asstard in Seattle did several weeks ago, then it might be safe to presume. If it was random, then we should probably wait for all the facts to come in.
#32
I don't assume Jihad - I assume non-societal asshole, who should be incarcerated on meds for life or shot dead. Fuck his civil liberties. He's a danger to the public, and should be put away (if he's demented) or killed if he intended killing the people he hit. Time to piss around is over
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 22:31 Comments ||
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#33
Thoth,
Are you insinuating that if Popal was trying to kill Jews, it is jihad. If Popal was trying to kill run of the mill Americans, then it it is something less?
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 22:32 Comments ||
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#34
Well, I won't argue with you on that Frank. This guy deserves no mercy, regardless of his reason why. I'm just saying we can't always jump to Jihad as the reason. I'm sure there are Arabs/Persians/Muslims that are capable of going nuts and trying to kill others out there without always having the reason why being religion. If that wasn't what you were implying, then I apologize for MY presumption.
#35
Hey everyone. I just thought I'd check, but has anyone seen Muck4doo around? I was wondering how things were going with him.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/29/2006 22:42 Comments ||
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#36
Ed. The asshat in Seattle went and specificaly targeted Jews. Are you denying this? If it was run of the mill Americans, well, that describes just about everyone doesn't it? I think if you look at most mass murderers in this countries history, they purdy much targeted run of the mill Americans, didn't they? Did that make them Jihadis? You know the answer to that. Arabs are just as capable of being lunatic mass murderers without a religious agenda as white, black, or any other race for that matter. Let's see how this plays out.
#37
And I think I lost his last email address. Mine's changed since I last sent him a message too...
Posted by: Phil ||
08/29/2006 22:43 Comments ||
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#38
Thoth, I would be more apt to discount the jihadi aspect if Popal attacked in his community. Instead he drove quite a ways to attack. I will also make a bet he picked out his victims with religious and racial discrimination in mind.
BTW, how does one in the US, except for Hassidics in a few select cities, pick out Jewish pedestrians from the rest of the population?
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 22:56 Comments ||
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#39
Phil, try http://meatismurder.blogspot.com/
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 22:58 Comments ||
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#40
BTW, I don't discount that Popal may have been under mental stress or some life setback, but so was the Seattle Jewish community center killer you referenced.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 23:01 Comments ||
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#41
Don't assume Jihad until all the facts are in. I don't like knee jerk libtards, and I don't like knee-jerk conservatives either.
#42
I'm sure there are Arabs/Persians/Muslims that are capable of going nuts and trying to kill others out there without always having the reason why being religion.
The problem is, that it's so hard to tell the difference. Remember the old taqiyaa thingie. After killing however many Jews, infidels, random warm-blooded mammals or whatever, they can always claim the usual momentary lapse of reason.
Until Muslims abandon shit like violent jihad, taqiyaa and all their other protective coloration (known in the West as "marching under false colors"), we are allowed to think the worst whenever they try to kill us.
I'm also obliged to add that so much of Islamic doctrine preaches the absolute worthlessness of us kufirs and how glorious violence and martyrdom are supposed to be, that it is tantamount to inducing psychotic behavior as a normative. Which, I believe, is Frank's point as well. Please correct me if I'm wrong, Frank.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 23:29 Comments ||
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#45
Phil, I have the same e-mail address. This is my other persona. :)
ed, You are right in that he drove quite a ways, but San Francisco pedestrian traffic is alot more heavier than Fremont pedestrian traffic. Could that be the reason?
Look, I'm not saying he wasn't a Jihadi, and in all likelyhood, chances are he is. All I'm saying is let's not be too quick to jump the gun until more details come out.
I consider you a great blogger and a friend over the last couple of years. I think you are missing my point. I'm not personally attacking anyone here. Frank knows he's one of my favorite bloggers here. I'm saying let's not rush to judgement until more is known.
The point was I hate knee-jerk reactions on anything when little is known at the time, no matter the political leaning.
#47
Thoth,
Let's agree on the 24 hour rule and take it up tomorrow when more is known.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 23:34 Comments ||
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#48
Thoth: I didn't know if that was supposed to be something everyone knew. Anyway, the email's sent.
Posted by: Phil ||
08/29/2006 23:38 Comments ||
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#49
Zenster, I have no sympathies for muslim "extremists", or really for the religion in general. I think it's a warped religion, and I've read the Quran and some of the Hadiths, so I think my point of view on the topic is not without reason. I know you have as well, as have others. That is why I like Rantburg. Yall's all actually know what you're talking about when it comes to the subject.
I also think it's not a good idea to jump to conclusions whenever there's an Arabic name that floats around. That doesn't help, and gives your opposition ammunition if the assumptions turn out to be wrong.
#55
All I'm saying is let's not be too quick to jump the gun until more details come out.
So, when we profile, do we "jump the gun"? As I said in my previous post. Muslims employ every imaginable form of dissembling to where there is almost no choice but to consider their motive to be that of violent jihad. Cross a Stalinist with a Nazi and then add in a jihadist, would you trust a single thing that person had to tell you?
Guess what? Islamists want the same sort of mass-murder Stalinists rejoiced in, the same sort of genocide Nazi's dreamed of and the business-as-usual terrorist slaughter Islamists squirt over. Now, who[m] do you believe?
Fort Greely, Alaska: The US military will test its missile defence system on Thursday, the fullest demonstration since a pair of tests grounded the programme 18 months ago. Military officials sought to lower expectations, though. Although a target missile will be fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska, and an interceptor rocket topped with a "kill vehicle" will launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, both military and industry officials say they are not actually trying to shoot down the missile. "We are not going to try to hit the target," said Scott Fancher, head of Boeing Corp's ground-based missile defence programme. "It is not a primary or secondary test objective to hit the target."
After a tour of the missile interceptor silos on Sunday, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said that although he wanted to see a "full end-to-end test,'' he was patient and rejected suggestions that the system should try to hit the target this time. "Why not proceed in an orderly way with the kind of the test expert people want to do?" Rumsfeld told reporters. "They do not have to do it to demonstrate to you."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Iff the tests around and over Guam + PACOA is any meausure, the USA does not have to do it, i.e. hit the target, becuz they already know the answer, which is THEY CAN HIT IT. HIT IT, AND HIT IT GOOD.
#7
An overview of the test objectives would reveal rather too much about engineering design and performance specs, I think.
Funny as it sounds, there really are intermediate tests that require ramping up a system in order to do certain measurements. When you do that, the naysayers watching from outside say the test "failed". I read Rummie's comment to mean this is one of those tests, designed to establish important parameters or test intermediate performance of critical subsystems.
#8
Air Force Lt Gen Henry "Trey" Obering III, director of the Missile Defence Agency, said although it is not one of the goals of the test, it is "possible'' that the kill vehicle will take out the missile. But the military, he said, is focused on making sure a redesigned kill vehicle is able to spot the target missile, distinguish between its booster stage and warhead, and communicate with the control centres on the ground.
Makes sense to me. But it'd be nice if it also hit (or destroyed)the incoming missile.... Unless this test will not have a 'warhead'.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/29/2006 11:09 Comments ||
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#9
Wouldn't controlled nuclear fusion be nice too? That's why it was called Project Sherwood.
#10
Funny as it sounds, there really are intermediate tests that require ramping up a system in order to do certain measurements.
Quite correct, lotp. Telemetry tests, target acquisition and verification, end-path guidance stability, clean stage separations and kill-vehicle deployment must all occur successfully before testing for the final objective of crippling an incoming warhead.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 15:48 Comments ||
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#13
Thank you, Frank. Actually, fusion and missile defense both have decent prospects for success. The only difference is that progress in fusion has been largely driven by advances in materials science (e.g., preventing hydrogen embrittlement and improved magnetic bottling), while missile defence benefits more from increased computing power (e.g., vehicle guidance and target acquisition)
In early May, seven months after an earthquake killed more than 70,000 people and left 3 million homeless, the Pakistani army pushed out almost all remaining foreign relief workers from the still-devastated region of Azad Kashmir, the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir.
Then, between May 13 and 16, a series of 38 throat slittings and beheadings occurred in villages of southern Azad Kashmir. The youngest victim was four months old.
The army immediately blamed infiltrators from India.
But on the morning of May 17, two men said to be armed with Sten guns and daggers accosted girls on their way to school in the village of Sanghola. Alerted by the girls' screams, villagers armed themselves with whatever weapons were at hand and surrounded the school.
The two men ran to the nearby forest where they were captured by villagers. The men claimed to be road workers but a body search revealed ID cards of the kind carried by the Pakistan Army's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Villagers identified both as Punjabi by their accents.
Around noon, an estimated 100 villagers escorted the two men, on foot, to local police at Rawalakot. At 11:30 pm, six army officers, including a colonel and a brigadier, took the captured men from the police at gunpoint.
Whereas most local police are Kashmiri, most army personnel at the ISI headquarters, down the road from Rawalakot, are Punjabi.
Posted by: john ||
08/29/2006 07:35 ||
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#1
The last killing I am aware of occurred on June 10 in Gulpur. I was compelled to cut short my investigation when ISI agents began following me and interrogated my hosts about any interest I might have in the chura ("daggers" - meaning the recent killings) and "camps" (meaning jihadi activities).
While no direct evidence links ISI to the killings, many native Kashmiris I talked to and most nationalists (banned from elections as they advocate a Kashmir independent from Pakistan and India) believe ISI is behind the killings.
I'm f*cking pissed at the brazen, wilfull cluelessness of this hack. He goes to investigate murders, gets trailed by ISI, he and his sources are threatened, AND he says there's NO PROOF of ISI involvement??? Lemmie give you some advice, f*ckass: use the same g*dd*med standard on these people, and in your own morally vacuous life that you impose on Americans and George W. Bush.
And NO, you DO NOT have the moral authority to CHOOSE to use a different standard for different people: THAT PROVES you're a hypocrite with a vicious agenda.
Although banned, jihadists were omnipresent at the start of the relief effort, riding in vehicles supplied by the army, brandishing guns and promising relief to those people who understood the earthquake was God's punishment for neglecting a very particular, radical view of Islam.
American security forces at present teamed with ISI in the hunt for Osama bin Laden have been shocked by the Islamist sentiments of some officers. The former head of ISI, Hamid Gul, has become openly Islamist and anti-American, and continues to enjoy influence in ISI.
Given this Islamist tendency, there is perhaps cause to worry more about America's "great ally" in the war on terror than, say, Iraq.
..and Amen...and something RBees recognized long ago.
#3
American security forces at present teamed with ISI in the hunt for Osama bin Laden
Teamed my ass. The ISI is playing the US for fools. They're another state-within-a-state like hezbollah.
#4
People have a natural response when government no longer protects them. Vigilantism. Any ISI personnel found in their area after this should disappear, turn up missing.
Miran Shah: Suspected militants shot dead an Afghan refugee in a northwestern Pakistani tribal region for allegedly being a US spy, officials said yesterday. The victim, identified as Humayun Khan, was kidnapped about five days ago from a North Waziristan refugee camp and shot three times in the head before being found yesterday, a security official said. Local tribespeople found Khan's body on a road between the village where he was kidnapped, Nawab Ada, and Miran Shah, North Waziristan's main town. A note written in the locally spoken Pashtu language attached to his body said Khan "had spied for America," the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Violence flared in number of towns and cities of Balochistan, including provincial capital Quetta, for the second consecutive day yesterday as hundreds of Baloch nationalists protested the killing of a powerful tribal chief by the security forces over the weekend. Protesters also resorted to violence in various parts of Karachi, including the low-income locality of Lyari, dominated by the Balochi people. They were furious over the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in a fierce battle with the Pakistan army on Saturday in the remote mountainous area of Bhambore in Balochistan.
A barber from Punjab province was killed when protesters attacked his shop in a small town, police said. Nine people were wounded in an exchange of fire with police elsewhere. "Violence has continued throughout the province, especially in Baloch-populated areas. Protesters have burnt government offices, shops and vehicles," provincial interior minister Shoaib Nausherwani said. "We're trying to control the situation peacefully but there have been clashes," he said.
Raziq Bugti, the spokesman of the Balochistan provincial government, said that rescue workers were trying to dig out the body of Bugti, 79, from the rubble. "The work has to be done very carefully because there is a fear of explosives in the cave, which collapsed when insurgents hiding in it attacked the security personnel who went inside to ask them to surrender," he told Gulf News over telephone from Quetta. However, we have sent heavy machines including bulldozers to remove the debris, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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The detention of a former leader of a banned Islamist militant group was declared illegal by a Pakistan court yesterday and his release ordered, the court and his lawyer said. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder and former leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, was placed under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore on August 10. Authorities said he was detained because of fears his activities could disrupt law and order. The decision to hold him had nothing to do with an investigation into a plot foiled in London this month to blow up airliners over the Atlantic, Pakistan said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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CentCom just released this today but the kidnap victims were freed almost a week ago. There's more to this story than we know, I think.
1st Sqdn., 61ST CAV. REGT. SOLDIERS FREE TWO KIDNAPS VICTIMS IN ADHAMIYAH
FOB LOYALTY, Iraq Two kidnap victims were freed Wednesday by Soldiers from the 1st Squadron, 61st Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Multi-National Division Baghdad, in the Adhamiyah district of eastern Baghdad.
Soldiers from Troop B, 1st Sqdn., 61st Cav. Regt., observed an Iraqi citizen running from a nearby house; when they caught up to him, he said he and his friend were being held against their will.
The victim said he had escaped when the kidnappers, hearing the sound of Coalition humvees nearby, fled to the roof of the building where he was being held.
The guy was running away, and we actually had to catch up to him, said Spc. Kenneth Correa, a member the Troop B commanders personal security detail. We got him, and he said that his friend was still in the house.
MND-B Soldiers surrounded the home. Inside they found the second victim, whose hands and feet were bound.
The criminals fled the scene before MND-B Soldiers were able to cordon off the building.
The victims, a Shiite and a Sunni, told the Soldiers that they had been riding motorcycles and had just crossed the A Iamma bridge going into Adhamiyah when they were surrounded by the four armed kidnappers, who were also on motorcycles. Inter-gang rivalry?
The criminals took them to a transfer point south of the Abu Hanifa Mosque. At that point, the victims were forced into the back of a vehicle and taken to the home where Soldiers found them.
Soldiers from 1st Sqdn., 61st Cav. Regt., have located and freed 10 kidnap victims in the past two weeks.
Over the last couple of months, (kidnapping) has been one of the focuses, said Lt. Col. Brian Winski, commander, 1st Sqdn., 61st Cav. Regt. He said both Col. Thomas Vail, the 4th BCT commander and Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, commanding general, MND-B, have increased measures to stop the sectarian violence in east Baghdad.
Although many kidnappings are motivated by sectarian tensions in the area, it is unlikely this particular incident falls into that category, Winski said.
Soldiers questioned civilians living nearby about the incident and an investigation is ongoing.
The victims were released to Iraqi police Another suggestion that the 'victims' may not have been strictly victims.
in their home neighborhood of Khadamiyah.
#1
Although many kidnappings are motivated by sectarian tensions in the area, it is unlikely this particular incident falls into that category, Winski said.
#2
Especially given that the two were respectively a Shia & a Sunni. That itself is kind of peculiar, if they're members of the underground economy. As S.M. Stirling loves to point out, the multi-ethnic gang is a creature rarely encountered outside of a movie theatre.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
08/29/2006 12:59 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD - An alleged Al-Qaeda militant suspected of bombing the office of President Jalal Talabanis party in northern Iraq has been arrested near the oil hub of Kirkuk, the US military said.
US military spokesman Major General William Caldwell said the militant, an Iraqi Kurd, was arrested on August 19 and is a bombmaker suspected of orchestrating some of the most horrific bomb attacks in Iraq. Caldwell said he is considered an explosive expert producing suicide vests, improvised-explosive-devices and detonation devices and is known to have facilitated the movement of high level leaders of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.
He said the captured individual was also close to the Abu Ayyub al-Masri, who allegedly took charged of Al-Qaedas Iraqi subsididary following the June 7 death of Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
During the operation, five suspected terrorists were killed and another five detained, he told reporters.
Excellent! Got the bombmaker and his minions, protectors and gophers.
Intelligence does indicate that the captured terrorist was also involved in the bombing of a Kurdish political party headquarters in Mosul on August 15, Caldwell said, referring to the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK). On August 15 a truck bomber detonated his load of explosives near the PUK office and killed eight Kurdish peshmerga militiamen and wounded 51 others.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I read here a few days ago - get the bomb-makers and the booming stops.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/29/2006 6:18 Comments ||
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Why was this guy arrested? Didn't he resist in the least?
DIWANIYAH: Iraqs hard-pressed security forces fought fierce street battles with Shia militia fighters in the central town of Diwaniyah on Monday, amid a massive surge in violence across the country. Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Askari said that 20 soldiers and 50 militiamen had been killed in the fighting, which began on Sunday.
The head of Diwaniyahs Health Department, Hamid Taathi, said hospitals had received bodies of 19 soldiers and seven civilians after two days of clashes, while 43 people had been treated for injuries. A security official in Baghdad said several soldiers had been executed after being captured by militiamen, and government forces had lost control of some city districts. He said that around 10 militiamen had been killed in the clashes, and security forces were setting up a cordon around Diwaniyah after rogue elements of the Mahdi Army seized complete control of two neighbourhoods. The militia has set up its own checkpoints and there are improvised explosive devices everywhere. Diwaniyah is too hot right now, but the Iraqi army is working to stop more militia arriving in the area, he added. An Iraqi Army Captain in Diwaniyah said, We have also asked for more troops from other provinces because a big military operation has been planned.
Large numbers of Iraqi Army soldiers arrived in the area, and surrounded the Nahda and Jimhuriyah neighbourhoods, which are apparently in the hands of militiamen. The Mahdi Army is a loosely organised force nominally loyal to Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr, whose movement has ministers in Iraqs coalition government. Local leaders from Diwaniyah said the militiamen were rogue elements and had earlier rejected a call from Sadr for them to put aside their weapons to take part in Iraqs political process.
What is going on is an attempt by the government to get rid of an element which is trying to disturb the security of the town, said Abdumunaam Abu Tibikh of the provincial council of Qadisiyah. A senior Sadr supporter in the nearby holy Shia city of Najaf, Sahab Al Ameri, also disowned the fighters. He blamed infiltrators for carrying out the killings. He nonetheless accused US occupation forces of provoking the fighting.
The battle in Diwaniyah came as a suicide car bomber attacked the Interior Ministry in Baghdad, killing 14 people and injuring 45. The bomber struck as Interior Minister Jawad Bolani was to hold a meeting with police chiefs, capping a torrid 24 hours of carnage in which more than 60 Iraqis and eight American soldiers had already been killed. An official said eight police commandos were among the people killed when the bomber detonated explosives near a checkpoint outside the Interior Ministrys tightly guarded compound.
The blast and the carnage in Diwaniyah were the latest blow to Prime Minister Nuri Al Malikis campaign to the world that his government and security forces were up to the task of restoring order in Iraq. On Sunday, eight US soldiers were killed as a result of a series of insurgent attacks in and around Baghdad, the US military announced. In the deadliest single incident, four soldiers died when their vehicle was hit by a bomb north of Baghdad, the military said on Monday. Another soldier was killed in a roadside bombing in west Baghdad, the military said, and another later died of wounds sustained in the attack. A sixth soldier died in a similar attack south of the capital. The military had already announced on Sunday the death of another soldier killed in east Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Like I was saying ... pretty hard to figure out the parties over there.... makes all sorts of openings possible
#7
I am all for putting 3dc in over all charge or dealing Iraq and Iran he has some good workable ideas that others could implement. Iraq and Iran are now intertwined. Iran has totally penetrated Iran and is causing lots of the problems sectarian and otherwise. When life gives you lemons make lemonade.
#9
Yes, if the whole story is being told and if accuracy by the dimwit reporters can be held at bay...
Remember, the Defense Minister is a Sunni - he will be using "regular" Iraqi Army forces - no matter what the idiot reporter calls them - and seems to be prosecuting the "rogue" militia in Sadr's back yard. That's actually pretty funny, IMO. Note he (the DM) is calling for troops from other locales - i.e. not predominately Shia, I'd bet, probably Kurds are his best bet - though they don't have a dog in this fight, actually. This is sectarian BS, so the Kurds should get a pass and let the Arabs kill each other if that's what they're determined to do.
Sadr is a Shia, of course, and has the support of the PM and Interior Minister, both Shia. The IM controls the "security forces" - recall the previous Shia IM under Jaafari had "rogue" security forces who were detaining people illegally and forming quaint Shia Death Squads. The NEW IM may be "better", but let's not get gushy quite yet. I am certain that the PM and IM, pals of Sadr who pretend that he's all "political" and legit, are not too happy with this, unless they've suddenly decided to be real Iraqis - rising above the sectarian thing - and not stooge agents of Iran, which is their normal gig.
So much fun, so many possibilities, so many centuries of sectarian hatred to overcome. We and the Kurds should set up a picnic on the bluff and just watch, not get caught in the middle. It has been going on for 1400 years and won't be solved in this decade, I'm certain. Declarations and confabs by Sheikhs notwithstanding. Only if this shit cuts into their income in a serious way will a solution be seriously considered, I think. Right now, it is not affecting the Shia pilgrim game much, since most of the Shia Holy Places are south of where the action's taking place up in and around Baghdad.
#12
Both the US and Iraqi forces know where Al-Sadr is. He doesn't make his location too much of a secret and appears in public often. Truth is, we are not willing to take the steps necessary for victory over these thugs. Our military and our executive has a massive PC infection. Taking out tater would VASTLY improve the outlook for Baghdad. To hell with fears it will spark 'sectarian violence'. What do they think they have now?
#13
1. Sadr claimed these are "rogue" elements, but they seemed strong enough to take over half the town. I have a difficulty believing this wasnt all the Mahdi Army "militants" in Diwaniyah. Sounds to me like the govt decided, while not going after Sadr directly, to keep him from expanding his base to Diwaniyah, and he conveniently decided his guys there were "rogue" to avoid a loss of face. Maybe. Seems like Maliki and the Iraqi Army are willing to fight to contain Sadr, but dont feel ready to take him on directly. Hes betting they never will be ready.
2. Sistani - his ability to effectively call for restraint has declined drastically with the sectarian horrors in Baghdad. At some point it was simply too much for ordinary Shia. The Americans and the moderates hadnt protected them, time to give Tater a chance. Of course we know hes making the situation worse, but if someone comes to kill you, arent you inclined to go with the kind of guy who wants to hit back hard? Consider Tater a Shiite "Jacksonian" Sistani is the Shiite Clinton, or Powell. Whod you go with if you were a Shiite? Id go with Sistani of course, but im not a "jacksonian"
3. Now it seems like theres a deal to end the fighting, with the prov governor paying a visit to Sadr. Does this mean Sadrs won - the army was losing, and they needed Sadr to end it? Or saving face for Sadr after his boys lost? I dont know.
#14
"Taking out tater would VASTLY improve the outlook for Baghdad. To hell with fears it will spark 'sectarian violence'. What do they think they have now?"
Right now we have open supply lines for US forces from Kuwait to Baghdad. Im not sure its guaranteed wed have that if offed Sadr at this time.
Note - Diwaniya, IIUC, is one of the southern towns that sits on said supply lines. Preparing the battlefield?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 9:48 Comments ||
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#16
Tater won't be taken out till we take out Ahmedinajihad. And they will probably be taken out concurrently. This may have been a live fire training exercise.
#19
This is sectarian BS, so the Kurds should get a pass and let the Arabs kill each other if that's what they're determined to do.
That depends on if you prefer to see Iraq united or partitioned, Threatch Unons6270. At present, I still advocate a united Iraq. To somehow coordinate all three factions into a sort of viable federation is ultimately desirable, in that it will serve as a model for other potential Middle East Arab democracies as they come on line (and they will). Therefore, the Kurds, despite their admirable eschewal of revenge games in post-Saddam Iraq, must be brought in as third-party arbitrators to nail subversive shia and sunni factions. At least to some extent. The addage, "Freedom is not free", springs to mind.
The NEW IM may be "better", but let's not get gushy quite yet. I am certain that the PM and IM, pals of Sadr who pretend that he's all "political" and legit, are not too happy with this, unless they've suddenly decided to be real Iraqis - rising above the sectarian thing - and not stooge agents of Iran, which is their normal gig.
Don't count on anyone "rising above the sectarian thing" anytime soon. There has been little indiciation of such and it is precisely what needs to be eradicated for Iraq to become prosperous. This is why I only half-jokingly suggested blowing to hell that whole confab of tribal leaders gathered for that cooperation pact thingie. It is the senior echalon of the tribes that are most connected to ongoing strife and the least likely to abandon centuries of hatred. A younger generation of leadership is one of our only hopes.
Our military and our executive has a massive PC infection.
You are so right, mcsegeek1. I still maintain that this, at least partially, is attributable to Bush's perpetual overemphasis upon religiosity. His own theistic leanings prevent him from being overly critical of another religion. Look at how long it took him to finally begin outing "Islamic Fascism".
Taking out tater would VASTLY improve the outlook for Baghdad. To hell with fears it will spark 'sectarian violence'. What do they think they have now?
You are, again, exactly right. Much like Iran [irony meter pegging!], taking out their top leadership could not possibly make the situation any worse. Whomever steps into the power vacuum, be it in Iran or sectarian Iraq can only be less influential and therefore less of a threat. Sadr has much to answer for (or have we all forgotten the burnt bodies on the bridge thingie?), and bringing him to account will finally usher in an era of making examples out of those who encourage constant strife.
This is simply a mirror of how we need to begin targeting violent jihadist clergy all over the world. The sectarian warlords of Iraq are merely the same on a smaller scale and represent a fine starting point for a campaign of sorting out pro-violence Muslims.
Israel has appointed a top general to oversee a war against Iran, prompting speculation that it is preparing for possible military action against Tehran's nuclear program. Maj. Gen. Elyezer Shkedy, Israel's air force chief, will be overall commander for the "Iran front," military sources told the London Sunday Telegraph.
News of the appointment comes just days before a United Nations deadline expires for Iran to give up its nuclear program, which Western governments fear will be used to produce atomic weapons. Despite Iran's offer last week to engage in "serious talks" on the matter, Israel fears even more than other Western nations that the offer is simply to buy time for Tehran to secure all the technology it needs to build the bomb.
"Israel is becoming extremely concerned now with what they see as Iran's delaying tactics," said Israeli Iran analyst Meir Javedanfar. "[The planners] think negotiations are going nowhere, and Iran is becoming a major danger for Israel. Now they are getting ready for living with a nuclear Iran or letting the military take care of it."
The prospect of Israel "living with" a nuclear Iran appears remote. Last week, Giora Eiland, Israel's former national security adviser, told reporters that Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would "sacrifice half of Iran for the sake of eliminating Israel."
#2
Israel can not do the job alone. They will be backed by the United States. The options have already been conferred and discussed. Israel will move, and we will cover. It will escalate quickly and we will finish the job. A strike on Iran requires United States bases in Iraq, it requires logistics and followup. Israel will not be acting alone.
Iran will counter and we will take Bandar Abbas and cut off their capacity to close the Straites of Hormuz. We will detach Khuzestan from Iran and it will never be returned to Iranian sovereignty nor will Bandar Abbas.
The Iranian military will be decimated and their nuclear plants will vanish. They will not be able to rebuild them for decades. The war will get very nasty and be a lot worse than anyone imagines.
Bush is already aware of the situation. It will all come to a head over the next two years. Iran will be boxed and shipped.
In a war someone wins and someone loses. There will not be a rematch. With Iran gone Syria will be no problem. We are going to finish anybody who wears a funny hat.
#4
That sounds perfect, Angleton 9. Would that I had the power to say, "Make it so," but I'll trust you and President Bush to handle the US end of things. ;-)
And after that the Saudi princelings can be dealt with at leisure.
#5
A good plan, it seem, Angleton 9, but you forgot one thing:
The vaunted United Nations will shirley not allow such aggression to stand.
Or Shirley won't, one of the two. {snigger}
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/29/2006 14:10 Comments ||
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#6
For the umpteenth time...any war with Iran need only start and finish with the complete destruction of Iranian gasoline refineries, and gasoline terminals. Iran imports almost 75% of their gasoline. Elimination of gasoline import and production would bring the entire country to a complete halt for months...including construction of any nuclear infrastructure.
More than anything. Israel must not be obliged to do the job alone. Doing so will focus upon Israel even more unwarranted hatred by other Arab states. The justifications for Jewish genocide will gain even more momentum and the endless Arab-Zionist antagonism will be ratcheted up several more notches.
As this world's sole remaining superpower, it is incumbent upon America to police Iran's flagrant escalation of hostilities. With the glaring publicity given Iran's recent sponsorship of Hezbollah's atrocities against the Lebanese people and its meddling in Iraq, the window of opportunity has been flung wide open for retaliation against Iran.
Now is the time, like no other, for crippling Iran. Their accession to nuclear weapons would trigger a spate of proliferation throughout the Middle East which can only be prevented by an immediate and dramatic intercession in Iran.
#8
What objectively prevents us from taking down Iran? They are wide open to being gutted. We have the power, we have the means. What we dont have is the ruthless nerve to murder. Wars are murders. They can be done in the name of high sounding terms and rationalized with the cloaks of glorious deeds. It is still one man killing another. One in the head and one in the chest. It is sometimes necessary, and someone has to do it.
What is the lesser of two evils when we kill one another? You kill today so you wont have to kill more tomorrow. You remove a life now so you wont be threatened yourself when you are at a more obvious disadvantage.
You take the burden of blood on yourself so that others dont have to take it or risk it. You wont ever wash it off, but its better than waiting for the other bastard to hold a nuke up to your family's head and say convert to Islam and kiss my ass.
#10
You take the burden of blood on yourself so that others dont have to take it or risk it. You wont ever wash it off, but its better than waiting for the other bastard to hold a nuke up to your family's head and say convert to Islam and kiss my ass.
Word, Angleton 9.
lotp, what's to prevent us from taking out the stockpiles as well? Large quantities of gasoline lend themselves quite readily to prompt destruction.
#14
lotp...appreciate the comment. But, I kinda find it hard to believe they could stockpile 2-3 years of gasoline/diesel fuel for a population of almost 70 million people. Even if they could...it would be a target rich environment for 200-300 TLAMs.
#16
I kinda find it hard to believe they could stockpile 2-3 years of gasoline/diesel fuel for a population of almost 70 million people.
Who said anything about the great unwashed 70 million Iranian people? No need to store up very large quantities when those Iranian gas reserves are just that; Reserved for the mullahs' limousines.
#17
I don't buy that 2-3 yrs either, sorry LOTP. Iran is a dysfunctional theo/kleptocracy. They may have 2-3 yrs supply of food and nubile boys for the mullahs, but they haven't thought or worried about the civilian population. In fact, the DinnerJacket is volunteering them up (without their permission IIRC) for martyrdom to bring back Timmy in the well the 12th Imam
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 16:49 Comments ||
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#19
The purpose of attacking the gas reserves, to me, is not so much to destroy the reserves per se as to create civil discontent leading to an Iranian led overthrow of the government. Bombing the reserves and creating work accidents at the refineries will reduce the supply of POL on the domestic market and drive up prices substantially. It's a good target, but not a magic bullet. We'll need more. Espeically soft things that make the Iranians feel like a pariah state, like keeping them out of sporting events, limiting tourism, etc.
#20
The UN will change it's name to NSUN (Not So United Nations) when this happens. No Reuters journalist will be able to photoshop the consequences of this kind of event. Oil price will rocket above the 150$ per barrel. Big question will be what Russia and China will do when this happens.
Iran has first strike capability on Israel's power infrastructure. But they couldn't do it without Syrian support. Sunnis have been acting feverishly to detach Syria from the Shiite Axis. I predict that Syria will be secretly neutralized by early next month, and Iran attacked before the beginning of October. Unfortunately, Ahmaninejad's threat to turn the Gulf into a "cauldrin of fire," is real, thus, attackers will have no alternative but to use nuclear weapons. Economic stability ends, will justify mass destruction.
For those who are unaware, Iranian oil fields are mostly in Arab Shiite areas. Minorities could be conditioned to petition to end Persian-Iranian sovereignty, which is a result of de-colonization agreements to which effected peoples were not party. If everything goes well, Iran will be turned into an impoverished shell by October. Then it will be sectioned off piecemeal.
Whatever happens, I hope we all agree that it is not in President Bush's nature to pass on a near certain Iranian ICBM threat to the US Homeland, onto future generations. The President, etc will rely on Reagan style fait accomplis. When the Grenada and Panama operations were over without diplomatic minefields to leap over, recriminations were pointless.
#23
Why not BUY the Russians and the Chinese. We can pay them with parts of the Caspian Reserve. Russia can name a price for allotments of the Reserves. China likewise. They get to develope the Oil and Gas potentials after the sucessful conclusion of the conflict. We also collapse Iran down by half and parcel out the ethnics into autonomous regions.. We all become partners. Nothing like bloody hands and complicit intent. The Iranians can piss up a rope.
They either overthrow the Regime now or they suffer later for sitting there waiting to be run up the pole. Once we are in, we cant afford to play nice.
#24
He's also got 2 years to do it. And he's a lot more concerned about getting a Reupublican in the White House than in dealing with Iran in the next two years, unless he learns something new about Iran. This may not be a problem the people are willing to let him handle. And if he looses the House, he'll have an impeachment taking up all his time. Thus he's also going to be concerned that there be a steady set of hands taking the tiller when he leaves office.
He can't do just one thing. And this may turn out to be one thing he can't do.
#29
Interesting comment about the Russians and Chinese, however, they are very different in a primary respect.
Russia is a producer of oil and benefits from an increase in price, whereas China is an importer of oil and a major price change would decimate their economy. It is not in the interest of China for the 'balloon to go up' on this and they are therefore strongly incented to prevent this from happening.
#30
#9: anymouse, reports are that the mullahs have stockpiled 2-3 years' worth of basic supplies.
Well let's see, I use about three gallons of gasoline a week, times 52 weeks and three years makes a three year stockpile (Just for me alone) equals about 500 gallons, not to mention that's an absolute minimum, just for going to work and some stops on the way at the grocery, not to mention oil changes, occasional tires etc.
That "Three Year Stockpile" they brag about does not in fact exist.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/29/2006 19:53 Comments ||
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#31
basic supplies need not include fuel, if you don't mind throwing the country into an emergency mode where most people don't work -- and are conveniently dependent on the MMs for food and survival in the most direct way.
Certain ethnic and political groups might find themselves missing out, know what I mean?
#32
Destroying the reserves and gas will only delay what we will have to do sooner or later. We must destroy their military and political leadership. Mous is right on the first pass, hitting their econimic structure gas etc..., but unless we want to burdon our kids with fighting them again we must destroy them.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/29/2006 20:27 Comments ||
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#33
49Pan...My feeling is that the "Iranian natives" are restless. Most of the population is under the agae of 25 and have no memory of the fall fo the Shah and the rise of theocracy. Though they are generally persion-nationalists, and shia to boot...they hate the black hats. A series of strikes to knock out gas and diesel supplies would paralize the black hats and limit the ability of the RP's to quell a massive uprising...which is simmering under the surface. Just my 2 cents.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 21:55 Comments ||
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#36
A lot of reports talk about the youth in Iran being restless. I hope your right and wish they would get active and kill the black hats. My concern with your plan is if we let them survive they stand the opportunity to rally the country against us and rally the world opinion. They will do anything they can as a last ditch effort and go after the rest of the middle east. If we do anything we have to strike the military infrastructure in the process.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/29/2006 22:14 Comments ||
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#37
It either won't work, and they fall with the blustering NK, or it does work and they blow themselves up, or it does work and the regional world community shuts them down.
#38
My concern with your plan is if we let them survive they stand the opportunity to rally the country against us and rally the world opinion.
49 Pan, I don't think anyone here is advocating that we take Iran's fuel supplies offline and then slowly back away. That merely would be Phase I of a longer term strategy that includes sequentially crippling more and more of Iran's military/industrial complex until the mullahs and their layers of protection are stripped away. The net result must always be regime change and/or dismantling of their nuclear program, in that order.
#39
Iran = Russia > Govt. officials or personages in the know have claimed that domestic fuel supplies will allegedly end or run out in circa 20-25 years. Besides its oil reserves, Iran is along the strategic direction of attack into southern Russia = READ, RUSSIA'S VITAL FOOD etc. BELTS. Iran is also an end-trail for CHINA's old SILK ROAD - Communist China does not have much of a commercial merchant or air fleet ergo must still depend on ancient land-sea routes, mostly land, for the bulk of domestic trade. IS A MAJOR REASON FOR SO-CALLED "BATTLE FOR INDIA" AND WHY COMMIES-MAOISTS ARE HELPING INDIAN-SPECIFIC SOCIALIST + TERROR + SEPARATIST GROUPS, besides of course NEPAL, PAKISTAN, BURMA, BANGLEDESH, MALAYSIA and former USSR -Stans in CENASIA/SCO. INDIA not only provides China wid major trade routes into the Indian Ocean + Africa but also protects the southern flanks and sub-routes of the old "Silk Road" in Central Asia. As for 2008 the US DemoLeft need more than obscenely criticizing Dubya-GOP and defective Fascist = Hitlerist = well-meaning Limited Communist-Totalitarianist, or female Jihadis blowing themselves up, etal. to win the Oval Office or the Congress.
Undercover IDF troops killed a wanted Palestinian terrorist on Monday in downtown Ramallah, security officials said. The Palestinians identified the dead man as Ala al-Aradi, 25, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who had eluded army troops for four years. The army said al-Aradi was responsible for the murder of Israeli truck driver Moshe Yohai who was shot dead in the village of Beit Rima in 2004.
An IDF soldier was lightly wounded on Monday night by an anti-tank rocket that was fired at his unit operating near the Karni crossing in the Gaza Strip. Earlier, four Palestinians were killed in an IAF airstrike on central Gaza. The four men were standing on a street in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City when a missile hit them, witnesses said. The four were severely burned and dismembered, Palestinian doctors said. The IDF said that troops operating in the area shot and killed the armed Palestinians in an exchange of fire.
Elsewhere, IDF troops shot and killed an apparently unarmed Palestinian civilian in the West Bank city of Jenin, the army and witnesses said Monday. Sabri Halil, 64, was shot late Sunday night by troops on patrol in the city. Witnesses said he was a local guard at a school and was shot in the heart after he aimed his flashlight at a passing car. He died on the spot. The army said its forces noticed a man on a rooftop holding what looked like a weapon when they opened fire at him. The army said the man probably was holding a flashlight and it launched in investigation into the incident.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Earlier, four Palestinians were killed in an IAF airstrike on central Gaza. The four men were standing on a street in the Shajaiyeh neighborhood of Gaza City when a missile hit them, witnesses said. The four were severely burned and dismembered, Palestinian doctors said
that's gonna leave a mark!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/29/2006 10:16 Comments ||
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The Palestinians identified the dead man as Ala al-Aradi, 25, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who had eluded army troops for four years.
The Israeli army killed four Palestinians in Gaza on Monday, keeping up a two-month offensive in the coastal strip aimed at recovering a seized soldier. The four were killed in Gaza City's eastern Shejaya neighbourhood and included two militants from the ruling Islamist Hamas movement and two members of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's presidential guard, security officials said.
Palestinian security officials said the four were killed by an Israeli drone. The Israeli Army said two were killed in exchange of fire with troops and two by an air strike. Medics discovered the body of another Palestinian, Fathi Abu al-Qumbarz, 50, at his home in Shejaya. Abu al-Qumbarz had been wounded by automatic gunfire while inside his home during Israeli operations in the area on Saturday, hospital officials said. A spokesman for the Hamas-led government said that kidnapped Israeli Corporal Gilad Shalit was safe and sound.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Q: How many Palestinian government leaders will Israel have to capture or kill before they release the kidnapped soldiers?
Potential attacks on aircraft could be more easily detected thanks to a new test for hydrogen peroxide, one of the liquids that have sparked dramatic security clampdowns at airports around the world. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, US, say that a test they developed to help diagnose diseases in the human body could be adapted to detect the chemical precursors of homemade explosives.
UK authorities recently uncovered an alleged plot to blow up aircraft using homemade explosives produced on board using chemicals such as hydrogen peroxide. Similar homemade explosives were used in the London subway bombings last year, which killed over 50 people. The explosives triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, (HMTD) can be made using hydrogen peroxide and other chemicals. But airport screening devices are not able to detect hydrogen peroxide directly. In the wake of arrests associated with the recent plot, airport security guards have prevented liquids and gels from being taken on board flights and many airlines have continued the ban.
White powder
The new test uses a class of chemical compounds called "Peroxysensors" which were designed to detect hydrogen peroxide, which is generated in cells that are undergoing oxidative stress from ageing and ageing-related diseases. Christopher Chang, a chemist at UC Berkeley, says his group developed the compounds for basic research into oxidative stress. "When we saw a lot of these terrorist explosive mixtures contain peroxides and other molecules that are similar, we made the link and saw that this technique could be applicable," Chang says.
The new sensors are based on fluorescein, a dye that glows under ultraviolet light. But the fluorescein has been modified by having boronates attached to the molecule. This changes it from a fluorescent dye into a white powder that does not fluoresce. However, when it reacts with hydrogen peroxide the boronates are stripped off and the molecule becomes fluorescent again. It can be made to glow yellow or red. Chang says that paper test strips coated with Peroxysensors could be dipped in suspicious liquids. They could also be made to detect more than one kind of peroxide, so that innocent liquids that might have trace amounts of household hydrogen peroxide could be distinguished from other liquids.
Blue to yellow
Another test using a different chemical was recently developed at by Allen Apblett and other chemists at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, US. In this case, the test is a spin-off from a method they developed to neutralise explosives made with hydrogen peroxide. The researchers made a material called "molybdenum blue" by mixing molybdic oxide with n-butanol and hydrochloric acid. When mixed with a peroxide-based explosive, molybdenum blue breaks it down into its harmless chemical constituents. In the process, molybdenum blue also changes from dark blue to pale yellow.
Apblett says he and his colleagues have developed a test strip using the molybdenum blue that will change colour when dipped in a solution with the high level of peroxides that would be needed for bomb-making.But Ivan Oelrich, head of the Strategic Security Project at the Federation of American Scientists in Washington DC, says that the new techniques will only work once security personnel have found a suspicious substance.
"With any of these schemes, you have to think through how you are going to use them. Airport screeners are not going to be using droppers to put liquids into test tubes. It has to be fast, almost 100% automated, and have a very small false alarm rate," he says.
#1
Right. How to use them. Given what I read above, liquids will be banned for a long time.
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/29/2006 6:14 Comments ||
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#2
The explosives triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and hexamethylene triperoxide diamine, (HMTD) can be made using hydrogen peroxide and other chemicals. But airport screening devices are not able to detect hydrogen peroxide directly.
Hmph. You're not detecting the actual stuff that goes boom, but the stuff that's used to MAKE the stuff that goes boom. NOT the same thing.
This is clearly the suggestion of someone with too little money in their pockets suggesting that those pockets be the end destination of money recklessly thrown at peripheral problems by politicians desperate to appear "INVOLVED".
#3
This is clearly the suggestion of someone with too little money in their pockets suggesting that those pockets be the end destination of money recklessly thrown at peripheral problems by politicians desperate to appear "INVOLVED".
Ptah, read the fine print carefully.
Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, US, say that a test they developed to help diagnose diseases in the human body could be adapted to detect the chemical precursors of homemade explosives.
Another test using a different chemical was recently developed at by Allen Apblett and other chemists at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, US. In this case, the test is a spin-off from a method they developed to neutralise explosives made with hydrogen peroxide.
Both of these detection techniques are side-cars to ongoing research. While the second application does come from investigations into explosives neutralization, both methods evolved as off-shoots of primary research and not the featherbed TSA projects you portray them to be.
#5
zen & Ptah, I think the TATP can be mixed on board the aircraft if the peroxide is brought in separately from the other pre-mixed ingredients. IIUC that is what the plot in Britain was intending to do.
In that case, detecting the stuff that's used to make the stuff that goes boom is a directly useful thing to do.
#7
In that case, detecting the stuff that's used to make the stuff that goes boom is a directly useful thing to do.
Exactly, lotp. Plus, the test specifically identifies high-concentration peroxide, not hair coloring. Additionally, the test is as simple as checking pool water with a strip of litmus paper. This is really important as no baggage inspector can afford to whip out a Junior Meth Lab chemistry kit for every alert.
#9
I wouldn't want to mix any peroxide explosive ingedients on a plane. The flash fire from the runaway thermal reaction will burn the heck out of the mixer, but unlikely to go kaboom.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 23:16 Comments ||
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#10
Skidmark, that is the fear. Two Rusiian airliners were said to have been blown out of the sky with just that tactic.
Posted by: ed ||
08/29/2006 23:18 Comments ||
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Attackers in violence-plagued southern Thailand shot dead a village defense volunteer on Monday before cutting off his ears, the police said, in an attack believed to be a threat to villagers cooperating with authorities. Sama-ae Jeh-ha, a 56-year-old Muslim, was riding his motorcycle to sell fried Chinese bread to coffee shops when he was fatally shot by attackers, said police Lt. Nethiwuth Deekaew of the Sungai Padi district of Narathiwat province.
The attackers then tried to behead him using a machete, but people started to pass on the road nearby, so they cut off his ears and fled the scene with them, Nethiwuth said. Police found Sama-ae's body lying in a pool of blood next to the motorcycle. They believe that there were about two or three assailants, and that the attack could have been a threat to villagers who are cooperating with authorities.
Military and police operatives have arrested three suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Maguindanao who were allegedly found carrying improvised bombs while about to board a Manila-bound ferry, security officials disclosed yesterday. Chief Superintendent Jose Goltiao, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanaos police chief, said the three men were apprehended Sunday afternoon outside the SuperFerry 3 docked in Parang town in Maguindanao. Goltiao identified the alleged members of the MILFs special operations group as Razak Macarimbang, 46; Wahad Sandigan, 34; and Sammy Gampong, 26.
They were allegedly carrying two homemade bombs and claimed they had been ordered to conduct bombings in Metro Manila. The men have been detained by the Philippine Army while police are preparing a complaint for illegal possession of explosives, Goltiao said. Maj. Gen. Rodolfo Obaniana, the newly designated chief of the militarys Eastern Mindanao Command, said the arrests were the result of security forces continuing operations against possible terrorist attacks.
The MILF has denied any involvement in any planned bombings. "They are not MILF members," MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said. He said a ceasefire between the MILF and the government which have been holding peace talks to end decades of Muslim insurgency in the southern Philippines "is very much in place and everybody is trying to ensure that it continues to hold." Goltiao earlier said the men were suspected members of the Abu Sayyaf group, but he later said that investigations showed the men, all from Maguindanao, appeared to be part of the MILF special operations group.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Abu Sayyaf chieftain Khadaffy Janjalani and his two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist allies have reportedly slipped through a military dragnet in Sulu and are now in Basilan, a military source told The STAR yesterday. Janjalani and about 80 of his followers are in Sumisip town en route to Punong Mujahid town, the source said. Janjalani was reportedly able to escape a massive military offensive in Sulu with help from Abu Sayyaf senior leaders Isnilon Hapilon and a certain Solaiman. "Khadaffy Janjalani, Umar Patek and Dulmatin are already in Basilan. They arrived from Jolo only yesterday with more or less 80 followers," the source said.
The STAR tried unsuccessfully to get an immediate comment from military officials. Earlier this month, troops in Sulu launched an offensive to flush Janjalani and his two Jemaah Islamiyah allies out of the jungle. Among the JI members believed to be hiding in Sulu are Dulmatin, who goes by one name, and Umar Patek, both wanted for the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Want to know exactly where he is. Talk to the Govornor of Basilan. Wahib Akbar is a Abu Sayyaf plank holder and provides sanctuary for these three and their group. Akbar is a meth addict and is easy to spot in his white NYC hat, levi jackett, and white nike shoes.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/29/2006 7:58 Comments ||
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Sri Lanka's army launched a new push into Tamil Tiger rebel territory in the east yesterday, while in the besieged north an air force transport plane ferried in munitions and took out the dead. At least 11 soldiers were killed in Monday's fighting. Tiger rebels claimed that 20 civilians died in army artillery strikes.
Hundreds have been killed in violence this month, the worst fighting since a 2002 truce, but so far the front lines have barely moved. But the government says it wants the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) out of the Sampur area overlooking Trincomalee harbour. "We have commenced a small operation to seize the area around Selvanagar, towards Sampur, around our army camp" said an army spokesman. "We don't have any intention of clearing up to Sampur. We have cleared some areas where LTTE were holding the ground."
The hospital in the nearby town of Kantale said the bodies of four dead soldiers had been received along with some 20 wounded. More than 65,000 people have died in two decades of civil war, well over 1,000 in the last year. Most of the fighting has been in the island's north and east, where the minority Tamils mostly live, but there have also been bomb blasts and assassinations in the capital, Colombo. The Tigers have used the Sampur area which includes the southern edge of Trincomalee harbour entrance to shell the naval base and launch attacks on military supply convoys to Jaffna, on the northern tip of the island. The government says it can no longer accept that.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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BEIRUT - Hezbollah has evacuated 14 frontline positions facing the disputed Shebaa Farms border area in southern Lebanon, Lebanese army sources said on Monday. The Lebanese Shiite militia closed all their positions in the Arqub mountain area, using bulldozers to level checkpoints and shut the entrances of tunnels and caves, they said.
I'll believe it when Italian teams comb the area and agree.
The Lebanese army has been deploying in the area, in the first such move into the border region of southern Lebanon in decades.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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As Ronald Reagan (pbuh) once said, "Trust, but verify with extreme prejudice."
#6
Thanks for the AAA graphic with both 'day shift' and 'night shift' crews. (The lad with the beer belly and green shirt must be the trainer / contractor). Yet another missed photo opportunity for Jane Fonda. She must be very angry.
India proposes to keep for the "time being" its existing troops in the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) but would not add any more forces to it, official sources said on Monday. "As of now, the existing Indian troops in UNIFIL will be there for the time being. But there will be no addition to the existing forces," they said when asked about New Delhi's position in view of the change of mandate for UNIFIL.
A feeling is growing here that the role of the 2000-men strong UNIFIL, which includes 672 Indian troops, is more of "peace enforcer" than that of peacekeeper in view of alteration of its mandate on August 11. The sources said the aims, objectives and rules of engagement of the un force were unclear. "We are also not clear about the equation UNIFIL will have with the Israeli forces, the Lebanese Army and the Hezbollah militants," they said, indicating that India did not want its forces to get involved in military operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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The troops there, from the 4th Sikh Regiment, are quite tough with combat experience.
Looks like the Indian Government doesn't fancy its troops going into action under French command?
Posted by: john ||
08/29/2006 7:45 Comments ||
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#2
It's one thing to give the Sikh regimentals R&R in Lebanon wearing blue berets. Quite another to ask them to work under impossible conditions and ultimately the control of Jacques Chirac.
The Italian government gave final approval for sending troops to Lebanon as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission. The first contingent is expected to set sail tomorrow from southern Italy. Italian Navy ship San Giorgio leaving Brindisi military harbor, as part of departure preparations of Italian UN peacekeepers contingent for Lebanon, Monday, August 28, 2006 As was widely expected, an extraordinary Italian Cabinet meeting unanimously approved the deployment of Italian troops in South Lebanon. Twenty-five-hundred Italian troops will take part in the expanded U.N. mission, which must supervise a truce between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas.
Italy has pledged the largest number of troops to the mission. Foreign Minister Massimo d'Alema said Italy's commitment is significant. He also said the U.N. mission was an opportunity for the international community to work toward peace in the region. Italian Foreign Minister D'Alema said the the government also approved more than $30 million for a major aid package for civilian, humanitarian and reconstruction efforts in Lebanon. He said the funding will make Italy one of the major donors in the area. Defense Minister Arturo Parisi said that Italian troops will be deployed in two phases. In the first phase, covering September and October, Italy plans to have 1,000 troops on the ground and the rest on an aircraft carrier and four other ships. The last two months of the year, Italy will have 2,450 troops on the ground, and around 200 on the ships.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/29/2006 00:00 ||
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Meanwhile, at last check concept originator FRANCE is still waffling between 200 vs. 2000. The contemporary Italians may not be the most modern but they are one of Europe's most professional and thorough.
#2
Perhaps it's my cynicism, but this sounds like it's gonna be Trouble.
The Italians are going in without established rules of engagement, or really, even a clearly defined mission.
I've got a feeling this will make the Italian deployment to Iraq look like a training exercise. I hope the Prodi government doesn't leave the troops in the lurch if things go wrong.
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.
ISLAMABAD - Britain has asked Pakistan to extradite transatlantic airline bomb plot suspect 
Pro-Russian forces have allegedly kidnapped a young woman who secretly married Shamil Basayev, the Chechen warlord who was killed last month. 
A suspected member of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was detained yesterday following five bomb attacks in 24 hours in Turkey that killed three people and injured scores of people, state news agency Anatolian reported. The suspect was planning an attack in the major port city of Izmir, the agency said. Other people were detained for helping the suspect, and police also seized plastic explosives in the operation, it said.
Fort Greely, Alaska: The US military will test its missile defence system on Thursday, the fullest demonstration since a pair of tests grounded the programme 18 months ago. Military officials sought to lower expectations, though. Although a target missile will be fired from Kodiak Island, Alaska, and an interceptor rocket topped with a "kill vehicle" will launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base, both military and industry officials say they are not actually trying to shoot down the missile. "We are not going to try to hit the target," said Scott Fancher, head of Boeing Corp's ground-based missile defence programme. "It is not a primary or secondary test objective to hit the target."
Miran Shah: Suspected militants shot dead an Afghan refugee in a northwestern Pakistani tribal region for allegedly being a US spy, officials said yesterday. The victim, identified as Humayun Khan, was kidnapped about five days ago from a North Waziristan refugee camp and shot three times in the head before being found yesterday, a security official said. Local tribespeople found Khan's body on a road between the village where he was kidnapped, Nawab Ada, and Miran Shah, North Waziristan's main town. A note written in the locally spoken Pashtu language attached to his body said Khan "had spied for America," the official said.
Violence flared in number of towns and cities of Balochistan, including provincial capital Quetta, for the second consecutive day yesterday as hundreds of Baloch nationalists protested the killing of a powerful tribal chief by the security forces over the weekend. Protesters also resorted to violence in various parts of Karachi, including the low-income locality of Lyari, dominated by the Balochi people. They were furious over the killing of Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in a fierce battle with the Pakistan army on Saturday in the remote mountainous area of Bhambore in Balochistan.
The detention of a former leader of a banned Islamist militant group was declared illegal by a Pakistan court yesterday and his release ordered, the court and his lawyer said. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder and former leader of the Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, was placed under house arrest in the eastern city of Lahore on August 10. Authorities said he was detained because of fears his activities could disrupt law and order. The decision to hold him had nothing to do with an investigation into a plot foiled in London this month to blow up airliners over the Atlantic, Pakistan said.
BAGHDAD - An alleged Al-Qaeda militant suspected of bombing the office of President Jalal Talabanis party in northern Iraq has been arrested near the oil hub of Kirkuk, the US military said.
DIWANIYAH: Iraqs hard-pressed security forces fought fierce street battles with Shia militia fighters in the central town of Diwaniyah on Monday, amid a massive surge in violence across the country. Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammed Al Askari said that 20 soldiers and 50 militiamen had been killed in the fighting, which began on Sunday. 
Undercover IDF troops killed a wanted Palestinian terrorist on Monday in downtown Ramallah, security officials said. The Palestinians identified the dead man as Ala al-Aradi, 25, a member of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades who had eluded army troops for four years. The army said al-Aradi was responsible for the murder of Israeli truck driver Moshe Yohai who was shot dead in the village of Beit Rima in 2004. 
The Israeli army killed four Palestinians in Gaza on Monday, keeping up a two-month offensive in the coastal strip aimed at recovering a seized soldier. The four were killed in Gaza City's eastern Shejaya neighbourhood and included two militants from the ruling Islamist Hamas movement and two members of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas's presidential guard, security officials said. 
Military and police operatives have arrested three suspected Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels in Maguindanao who were allegedly found carrying improvised bombs while about to board a Manila-bound ferry, security officials disclosed yesterday. Chief Superintendent Jose Goltiao, the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanaos police chief, said the three men were apprehended Sunday afternoon outside the SuperFerry 3 docked in Parang town in Maguindanao. Goltiao identified the alleged members of the MILFs special operations group as Razak Macarimbang, 46; Wahad Sandigan, 34; and Sammy Gampong, 26. 
Sri Lanka's army launched a new push into Tamil Tiger rebel territory in the east yesterday, while in the besieged north an air force transport plane ferried in munitions and took out the dead. At least 11 soldiers were killed in Monday's fighting. Tiger rebels claimed that 20 civilians died in army artillery strikes.
BEIRUT - Hezbollah has evacuated 14 frontline positions facing the disputed Shebaa Farms border area in southern Lebanon, Lebanese army sources said on Monday. The Lebanese Shiite militia closed all their positions in the Arqub mountain area, using bulldozers to level checkpoints and shut the entrances of tunnels and caves, they said.
The Italian government gave final approval for sending troops to Lebanon as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission. The first contingent is expected to set sail tomorrow from southern Italy. Italian Navy ship San Giorgio leaving Brindisi military harbor, as part of departure preparations of Italian UN peacekeepers contingent for Lebanon, Monday, August 28, 2006 As was widely expected, an extraordinary Italian Cabinet meeting unanimously approved the deployment of Italian troops in South Lebanon. Twenty-five-hundred Italian troops will take part in the expanded U.N. mission, which must supervise a truce between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas. 
