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At Least 25 Die in Nuevo Leon in Shootout
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 6: Politix
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Africa Horn
China sends "Hope" like med ship to support Anti-piracy ops
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/02/2010 09:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Suez Canal Authority - no longer allows transit of commercial vessels with small arms

Are the ships chartered to bring home US Army equipment from Iraq - with tanks, vehicles, etc... having their security personnel disarmed when passing the Suez canal? YES.

"The real ridiculous part of this is we're on some ships that have military hardware and we have to take our little M-4s and 9 mms off," Rothrauff said, referring to the rifles and pistols stored on board the cargo vessels.
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/02/2010 09:08 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I get the impression that they mean this for ships going the other direction, through the Gulf of Aden.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/02/2010 10:15 Comments || Top||

#2  It seems to me that they're getting a cut from the pirates.
(Whisper) now you report these particular ships with big profitsble cargos disarmed we'll Take them, And You'll get a hefty, untracable cut deposied in your bank account.Got it?(Smarmy smile)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/02/2010 11:12 Comments || Top||

#3  It seems to me that they're getting a cut from the pirates.

Or are just voluntarily chipping in to help with their co-religionists' and their theater of the jihad.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/02/2010 12:43 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't see how it helps the pirates if the ship's guns are locked in the arms locker while traversing the Suez Canal. It's not like the guns won't come out again as soon as the ship leaves the far end, after all.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/02/2010 15:24 Comments || Top||

#5  No good hiding places on a 30,000 ton cargo carrier, of course...
Posted by: mojo || 09/02/2010 16:45 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
BREAKING NEWS: At Least 25 Die in Nuevo Leon in Shootout
Google Translate

For a map, click here

More in Friday's Rantburg.


The Mexican Secretaria Defensa Nacional says at least 25 individuals have died in an armed confrontation with the army in General Trevino, Nuevo Leon this morning,say Mexican new report.

General Trevino is about 40 kilometers northeast of Monterrey.

No information has been released about the composition of the casualties.
Posted by: badanov || 09/02/2010 17:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hopefully it is only drug scum dying, not the army.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/02/2010 18:07 Comments || Top||


Tx Ranger Analysis of Mexican Cartel Battle - (ugly scenes)
Useful analysis. These are definitely not nice people.
Rantburg's report on the battle here
Posted by: Mercutio || 09/02/2010 16:51 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A good find, Mercutio. Thank you.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/02/2010 17:41 Comments || Top||

#2  What the photo set doesn't show is that the Ford Lobo and the bus are part of a "narcoblocqueo" set by Los Zetas. To the immediate right ( and not shown ) is a Conway tractor trailer rig which was set to block the road. The likely situation is that los Zetas hijacked the three vehicles ( two of which are shown) then did all they could to prevent anyone from moving the block. The story was at the time that not even local police would attempt to unblock the roads because counterfire from Los Zetas was too intense.

The two dead individuals are probably Gulf cartel people in pursuit of Los Zetas and they got caught by the folks maintaining the roadblock.

I've seen this before. The head shot looks like from a Barrett-armed sniper. The attempt to pursue Los Zetas probably evaporated not too long after that shot.
Posted by: badanov || 09/02/2010 18:26 Comments || Top||

#3  One thing I haven't seen are attempts to armor vehicles for short distance hits. You would think they would try something like that out, though it likely wouldn't work.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/02/2010 18:56 Comments || Top||

#4  those bastards! Look what they did to that F-150!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2010 19:34 Comments || Top||

#5  Woah!
Who's the guy with Excederin Headache Numbah One Fuckin Thousand?
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 20:10 Comments || Top||

#6  NOTE: Texas Law enforcement analysis. Obama Federal Government is not interested in our safety. They are fighting states who are trying to protect themselves from this violence.
Posted by: Hupusosing Bucket8370 || 09/02/2010 21:27 Comments || Top||


Villareal Bought his Cocaine Supplies from FARC in Columbia
Google Translate. For a map, click here
Captured Sinaloa drug kingpin Edgar Valdez Villareal routinely dealt with Columbia's leftist Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) for the cocaine he sold in the US, according to Mexican news reports.

Villareal was captured only a few days ago in a police operation in the Mexican state of Mexico. His arrest has sparked a number of police and counternarcotics operations both in Mexico and in Columbia.

Columbia National Police announced the arrest of 11 individuals they say are related to the drug operations that supplied Mexican drug cartels with cocaine. Police operations spanned the cities of Bogota, Medellin, Pereira, Cali and Buenaventura.
The police are allowed to operate in Medellin? Wonders truly never cease!
Among those arrested were Denis Alvarino Gómez Urrutia, leader of FARC's Frente 30, an sub group police say was responsible for most of the cocaine shipped under the auspices of FARC.

Police say Frente 30 averaged 3 tons of cocaine a month shipped. Much of that supply went through nearly every Mexican drug cartel.

The police operations dubbed Operation Gulf began in 2008 beginning with the capture in Costa Rica of Walberto Leather Salazar, who police said conducted narcotic operations with Panamanian guerrillas. Information gained from the capture led to police connecting FARC narcotic operations with Mexican drug gangs.

Mexican gangs' drug purchases also went to Europe as well.
Posted by: badanov || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Aw, don't make us guess - what was the transport route? Possibly Columbia->Venezuela->Mexico?
Posted by: mojo || 09/02/2010 11:06 Comments || Top||


More Mexican Mayhem
13 Die in Northern Mexico

A total of 13 individuals were murdered in drug and gang related violence in northern Mexican states including a Juarez CIPOL detective shot to death Wednesday morning and a top Los Zetas operative shanked in a Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas prison Tuesday evening.
For a map, click here.
  • Three unidentified men were shot to death in Juarez Tuesday afternoon, according to the Mexican daily La Polaka. The first crime involved a group of armed suspects riding aboard a grey sedan who shot two bicycling individuals near the intersection of Eje Juan Gabriel and Carretera Casas Grandes. The pair were stopped and watering when they were attacked. In the second crime, an unidentified 35 year old man as found shot to death near the intersection of calles Cholultecas and Acoluhas in the Azteca district.

  • Five unidentified individuals were murdered in two separate incidents in Juarez Tuesday night, according to the Mexican daily La Polaka. The first crime was a discovery of two corpses near the intersection of Avenida Ejercito Nacional and Calle Camino Viejo a San Jose behind the Universidad Pedagogica Nacional. The victims were found gagged with a plastic bag and tape with their hands bound. The second crime was a shooting near the intersection of calles Emilio Carranza and Antimonio in the Aldama district where three victims were shot to death by a lone armed suspect. The victims were a couple in their 50s and a 20 year old.

  • Two armed suspects shot an individual to death at a Juarez movie theater Tuesday night, say Mexican press reports. The shooting took place near the intersection of Bulevar Oscar Flores and Bulevar Zaragoza at the Cinepolis movie complex at the Gran Patio Zaragoza mall in theater nine. The victim was a young woman.

  • A Chihuahua, Chihuahua CIPOL agent was shot to death and another was wounded in an attack in Chihuahua city early Wednesday morning, say Mexican news reports. Rene Portillo Marquez, 35, died at the scene near the intersection of calles Garcilaso de la Vega and la Roberto Nuñez in the Chihuahua district, while the other unidentified agent was transported for medical attention. Seven spent cartridge casings for an AK-47 assault rifle were found at the scene. CIPOL is similar to a detective bureau.

  • An unidentified man was found shot to death at a park in central Juarez, say Mexican news reports. The man was found near the intersection of 20 de Noviembre and Juan de la Barrera near the Parque Borunda. Eleven 9mm spent cartridge casings were found at the scene. Witnesses say armed suspects riding a red Dodge Neon shot and killed the victim.

  • A top operative for Los Zetas criminal gang serving time for murder was murdered in a Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas prison Tuesday according to Mexican press sources. Jose Luis Carrizales Coronado was killed in a prison bathroom by an unidentified inmate who used an improvised weapon using a nail. Jose Luis Carrizales Coronado was arrested in 2005, and has recently been transferred from a prison in Jalisco.
Posted by: badanov || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  i write so people that read this can know that Jose Luis Carrizales was a good man. yes, maybe he wasnt doing the right way of living, but he wasnt a murdered, or torture people, he was kind to people only f*** with ppl that messed with him. his killing was a a plan where judge, soldiers, from both jalisco and nuevo laredo were involved to make sure he was transfer to nuevo laredo where they can kill him. if you see his hand is at the back, he was still in handcuffs! all the stabs where around the heart, accident? fight? no people MIGUEL TREVINO (Z40) planned all of this and bought all of this authorities to kill him because he was afraid of Luis Carrizales. Mexico has no law, its a city where you smell murder all over =(
Posted by: nuevo laredo group || 09/02/2010 22:11 Comments || Top||

#2  interesting. If you have more information, please post
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2010 22:58 Comments || Top||


Economy
Gulf Oil Platform Explodes Off LA Coast -- Update
[AP story] Offshore platform explodes 80 miles off Louisiana coast. No one killed, according to Coast Guard. All 13 people aboard the rig accounted for, with one injury. Coast Guard helis, planes, and cutters were dispatched to the site. No word on whether there is an oil leak.

Platform is in about 2500 feet of water, not in production. Owner is Mariner Energy of Houston.


1:04 CST: Fox reporting, Mile-long oil sheen spreading from site of new rig explosion in Gulf of Mexico
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2010 12:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Once an accident. Twice suspicious..
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/02/2010 12:41 Comments || Top||

#2  That's why I put it on Page 1.
Posted by: Fred || 09/02/2010 12:49 Comments || Top||

#3  I've been following it from here. They update about every half hour.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 12:53 Comments || Top||

#4  I have it on good reports that Salazar was seen laughing and rowing away from the rig some 13 hours before it exploded.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/02/2010 12:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Time for a complete ban on all forms oil drilling. Another oil rig explosion is straight out of President's fantasy dreams.
Posted by: Bulldog Carney || 09/02/2010 13:19 Comments || Top||

#6  Apparently it was a production platform and not a drilling platform.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/02/2010 13:20 Comments || Top||

#7  Sabotage?
Posted by: No I am The Other Beldar || 09/02/2010 14:03 Comments || Top||

#8  Today they lifted the ban on drilling. This is no accident.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 09/02/2010 14:48 Comments || Top||

#9  From CNN...

Mariner indicated that the fire -- which was first reported to the Coast Guard by workers on a nearby rig around 9:20 a.m. (10:20 a.m. ET) -- was not sparked by an explosion. It started at one of the platform's seven active wells, the company said, though its cause is under investigation.

The company said an initial flyover of the site indicated "no hydrocarbon spill." However, Coast Guard Petty Officer Elizabeth Bordelon said there is a sheen on the water at the site of the platform, measuring about 100-feet wide and stretching for one mile.

The fire at the platform is not out yet, but it has been contained, she said. Jindal said that Mariner has told him that all seven wells have been closed off and that what is burning now is from fuel in storage, and not from an active leak.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 15:25 Comments || Top||

#10  Looks like the fire's out.

Also, they're now saying it's in 340 feet of water.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 16:12 Comments || Top||

#11  Coasties now saying no signs of oil sheen.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 17:18 Comments || Top||

#12  Coasties now saying no signs of oil sheen.

Those oil-eating bacteria we discovered during that last little oil leak sure do work fast!
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/02/2010 18:05 Comments || Top||

#13  Perhaps Coast Guard Petty Officer Elizabeth Bordelon will get the new view from National Incident Commander Retired Admiral Seaman Thom 'lifejacket inspector' Allan to explain the sheen was sunlight on the shrimp?
Posted by: Muggsy Glink || 09/02/2010 18:54 Comments || Top||

#14  TW, those little oil-eating bacterias have probably been around for a few eons or so. The little organisms probably started to live on oil seepage (naturally occurring in both above-ground and undersea oil fields) some time before the dinosaurs were around.

When there's lots of 'food', they probably multiply like crazy and the BP rig leak was a feast to behold.

After the leak subsided to a dribble, the mass numbers of organisms died off to a level sustainable by the naturally occurring 'leaks'. Of course this 'die-off' adds more nutrients to the waters of the Gulf. It's just another cycle that's definitely not man-made.

The Almighty has a lot of 'contingency' plans, and a few we weren't (and aren't) aware of. That's all.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 09/02/2010 21:40 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
AZ got 30 of the 3000 NG troops requested, but got 15 signs to help make up the shortfall
President OBean fulfilling another promise, it seems.
Posted by: gorb || 09/02/2010 01:38 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  POTUS BAMMER

VERSIES

* CHINESE MIL FORUM > MEXICAN CARTELS NOW CONTROL PARTS OF SOUTHERN ARIZONA, USA [Casa Grande to Gila Bend, 100 miles north of the US-Mahico border].

ARTIC = proclaims that the US Govt has all but absolutely relinquished de facto sovereignty + control to Mexican crime syndicates, as illustarted by Mexi crime members oper wid impunity wid little to no interference from LOCAL POLICE, ETC. LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES, INCLUD US GOVT???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/02/2010 2:21 Comments || Top||

#2  WAFF > [ADM Mullen]CHAIRMAN OF US JOINT CHIEFS SAYS NATIONAL DEBT IS BIGGEST THREAT TO US NATIONAL SECURITY.

versus

* WND > {Retired USAF LTG] GENERAL: OBAMA RECORDS [Birth, Etc.] VITAL TO OUR REPUBLIC.

A "PERFECT STORM"???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/02/2010 2:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Needs to say trespassers will be shot on site, although I do agree that the national debt is the bigger threat.
Posted by: hairofthedawg || 09/02/2010 3:04 Comments || Top||

#4  OOOOPSIES, forgot TOPIX > DER SPEIGEL > Think-tank] SECRET GERMAN MILITARY REPORT: OIL SHORTAGES COULD LEAD TO THE COLLAPSE OF DEMOCRACIES. in 15-30 Years = circa 2025-2040???

which may explain

OLD DREAM/VISION > CHINA desperate to buy OBSOLETE US INDUSTRIAL PARTS just to keep Semblance = POTEMKIN-IST FACADE of a modern economy???

But I digress ....
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/02/2010 3:06 Comments || Top||

#5  related: A new demographic study by the Pew Hispanic Center puts Arizona's undocumented population at 375,000 in March 2009. That's a drop of 100,000 or 21% in one year. The study was conducted before the state adopted SB 1070.

It took them a year and a half to release the results of their survey. The data is probably now so out of date as to be meaningless. I think that was the point.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/02/2010 8:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Warning signs? The warning signs ought to be warning illegals and drug cartels that they are at risk of being shot on sight.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/02/2010 9:06 Comments || Top||

#7  We Arizonans don't need no stinkin warning signs!"
_____
We need troops on the ground!



Posted by: borgboy || 09/02/2010 15:22 Comments || Top||


As U.S. deaths in Afghanistan rise, military families grow critical
EFL to essential points.
Bill and Beverly Osborn still can't bring themselves to erase the phone message from their son Ben. He had called from Afghanistan in June to assure them that he was safe. Four days later, he was killed in a Taliban ambush. The Osborns long ago accepted the risks faced by their son, an Army specialist. But what they can't accept now are the military rules of engagement, which they contend made it possible for the Taliban to kill him.

They don't want to end the war, but to change the way it's being fought.
"We let the enemy fire first, and they took my son from us," Beverly Osborn said of the rules, which in most instances require U.S. forces to identify an enemy threat before firing, and to withhold fire if civilians are close by. The rules also place restrictions on close air support and artillery, prompting complaints from some service members that their lives are put at risk against an enemy that fights by no rules at all.

As American combat deaths have reached record levels this summer, public support is eroding for the 9-year-old conflict. Several recent opinion polls found that more than half of those surveyed oppose the war, with the high casualty rate among concerns most often cited. American combat deaths reached 60 in June, 65 in July, and 55 in August, according to icasualties.org. That is by far the highest three-month total of the war.

Criticism is mounting among military families too. An antiwar group of families of service members in Afghanistan and Iraq has called for an end to the Afghanistan war. At the same time, families like the Osborns, who describe themselves as conservative, are questioning the way the war is being waged.

After Bill Osborn publicly criticized the rules of engagement just before his son's wake, he said, other families of service members killed or serving in Afghanistan contacted him to express similar concerns. They don't want to end the war, Osborn said, but to change the way it's being fought.

On June 27, the Osborns wrote an impassioned e-mail to Gen. David H. Petraeus, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan. They described how Ben, 27, volunteered to man the machine gun on an armored vehicle headed out on a patrol in Kunar province on June 15. Their son's unit of 20 men was ambushed by a Taliban force of 70 to 100 fighters, the e-mail said. According to the Osborns, who said they talked with members of their son's unit, Ben had to wait to return fire until ordered to do so. He got off 10 rounds before he was shot and killed, they said.

The rules of engagement "led to the demise of our son ... and other warriors like him," the e-mail said. The Osborns asked Petraeus to revise the rules and lift restrictions.

"Winning the hearts and minds of the Afghans is not what's best for America," they wrote. "We are at war. The rules of engagement must be to empower our soldiers, not to give aid and comfort to the enemy."

Petraeus responded within minutes, the Osborns said. His e-mail offered condolences, and noted that "commanders have a moral imperative to ensure that we provide every possible element of support to our troopers when they get into a tight spot."

The general added: "And I will ensure that we meet that imperative."
Posted by: Steve White || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't we just bring them home already? Why are we there? To stop the Muslims flying planes into buildings.... let's just nuke Mecca instead next time. I don't want any more beautiful Americans dying. Screw the locals if they can't be dragged into the 21st Century then leave them in the stone age to fend for themselves
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 4:04 Comments || Top||

#2  To achieve victory and eventually move on, you must control and hold the battlespace. Holding ground takes a very significant number of men and resources. While it looks and sounds impressive, patrolling the roads and surgical Pred strikes are simply not going to be enough. The strategy of our enemy is sadly, quite effective, ie, pin us to our FOBS and outposts, make patrolling costly and wait us out. We've already announced our departure date. There's is a waiting game and one they know quite well.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/02/2010 4:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Besoeker, you are right.... that means this is unwinnable, so why waste any more lives and treasure? We went there for the best of reasons.... it was NOT a war for oil or any of that claptrap that the loonie left whinged about. But we really couldn't win it without defeating the people. Not just cutting off the leadership but massive cultural transformation of a defeated and occupied people, and the home-front wouldn't let us do what was necessary.

The fifth column has prevented victory and a remaking of the middle east.
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 9:39 Comments || Top||

#4  General Petraeus has already said, repeatedly, that President Obama's "fixed pullout date" is not fixed at all. The good general managed to win in Iraq, let's give him time to do the same in Afghanistan, before taking our ball and going home... to wait for the next 9/11 attack.

And the critical military families are correct: the rules of engagement are killing our guys.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/02/2010 10:23 Comments || Top||

#5  'You', the US, 'we' NATO are in Afghanistan because of the 9/11 attack. 9/11 was a mass fatality attack on the continental US unprecedented by anything since Pearl Harbor, a fact that even the liberal MSM acknowledged on 9/11.

At first the consensus was that "no distinction" would be made "between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them" as President Bush said.

The Taliban were to "hand over the terrorists" or they would "share in their fate."

The objective was to mete out exemplary punishment to at least the Taliban in order to restore US and western deterrence.

But this policy wasn't maintained for more than a few days after 9/11 2001.

In October of 2001 Powell endorsed a future Afghan government with "moderate Taliban" participation.

Under muslim pressure the Bush administration renamed "Infinite Justice" to "Enduring Freedom".
The former name implied punishment for a transgression the latter is unspecific.

The US air force bombarded Afghan civilians, who were still under Taliban control, with food rations, earning condemnation from western pacifists and contempt from Afghan islamofascists.

Things have gotten much worse since then, Obama's election didn't help either.

At present the west is begging the Taliban to enter a peace process and to eventually join an Afghan government ruling over a kinder, gentler but still very much islamofascistic Afghanistan.

Mullah Omar could join the Karzai cabinet today if he wished to, he would be protected by western forces and not be held responsible for 9/11 in any way.

That is not a political objective that makes sense.
Posted by: Snert Grang2025 || 09/02/2010 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  In October of 2001 Powell endorsed a future Afghan government with "moderate Taliban" participation.

Unfortunately, General Powell (ret'd.) did not turn out to be the tower of strength and wisdom as advertised. Your rant is a useful reminder, Snert Grang2025. And we all can be grateful the the good general's distaste for the rough'n'tumble of American politics kept him from running for president.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/02/2010 12:27 Comments || Top||

#7  Not just cutting off the leadership but massive cultural transformation of a defeated and occupied people, and the home-front wouldn't let us do what was necessary.
This is the crux of the Afghan issue. The Home Front wouldn't let us do ...? That question as such was never presented to the electorate. It is not fair to say the Home Front blocked anything. However, had the question been presented to the electorate, I do think that their answer on 9/12/2001 and ever after would have been "HELL NO!" if they were informed of the financial cost and the high probability of losing at least a squad a month for 30 years.
A 'massive cultural transformation of a defeated and occupied people' is way beyond what people in the USA are interested in. We are undergoing our own massive cultural transformation at the moment, and it will take over a decade to resolve. I am not referring to BHO's tilting at his personal windmills, but to the economic changes being forced on the country by the 2nd Great Depression.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 09/02/2010 13:02 Comments || Top||

#8  True, Anguper, the US is struggling with its own transformation and though the media never calls it out, it really is the Second Great Depression. I am wondering when it will hit Australia.

However, I do not think 30 years would have been necessary. Germany/Japan were not occupied for that long before they became functional.

The Home Front lost it for us. There were already mass protests and disinformation campaign that accompanied the "benign" form of warfare wherein it is made clear that the citizens were not the enemy, only the regime would be targetted.

This leaves the citizens unchanged, undefeated in outlook, just with a new head on the snake.

But the problem with AfPak is the culture. so the citizens ARE the enemy.

So what is needed could have been achieved but the Home Front would not tolerate the measures necessary.

The measures necessary would have been:
1) Massive ground invasion, troop garisons in every town. Soldiers on every corner
2) a complete rebuilding of civil society
3) Compulsory education - brainwashing the Islamofascism out of a generation.
4) liberation of women, banning of the burqa by force.

Ie: complete dismantling by force of some of the aspects of Islamic culture.

Close the madrassahs, close the mosques. Reopen only government sanctioned watered down moderate mosques. No freedom of religion for a decade.

Had we been able to do such a thing from day 1, then we might be able to go home now with a vastly different country over there.

All those kids who were 10 years old in 2001 would be 19-20 now and vastly different humans than their parents generation.

but that was totally culturally untenable. No way would the homefront countenance such a thing. Cultural imperialism, invasion

and yet it would have been the greatest thing to happen for that benighted country

and also for us because then we could have had a strategic asset in the middle east and we would have had a cat to throw among the ideological pidgeons of islam. It would have been a nation then to succeed and be a beacon of freedom to the muslim arab world
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 21:05 Comments || Top||

#9  yes and TW is right on both counts. Petraeus is good, maybe he can succeed... though to what end really since we could not change that country.

and yes, the same fifth column on the home front, the bleeding heart brigade, are the reason the rules of engagement are not protecting troops.

forget that hearts and minds crap we need to win. defeat those people, crush their culture and rebuild it from the ground up

or leave and just nuke mecca next time they fly planes into buildings. i prefer that option it's a lot cheaper and simpler.
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 21:10 Comments || Top||


US charges Mehsud in 7 CIA deaths
US prosecutors have charged Hakimullah Mehsud, the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, with organising an attack that killed seven CIA employees at an American base in Afghanistan last December.

The US Justice department said on Wednesday that Mehsud, believed to be in the tribal areas of Pakistan, was charged with conspiracy to kill Americans overseas and to use a weapon of mass destruction.

"Criminal charges are meant to deal with Hakimullah if he's captured," a US official told Reuters news agency.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obama and Holder are sending a Chicago Patrol car to arrest Mehsud; right after the next vacation.
Posted by: airandee || 09/02/2010 8:36 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Airstrikes kill 15 Taliban in Kurram, Orakzai
HANGU: At least 15 Taliban fighters were killed and 10 others were injured as jet fighters and gunship helicopters bombed their hideouts in central Kurram and Orakzai agencies on Wednesday, security sources said. Locals and security sources told Daily Times that jet fighters and gunship helicopters pounded Taliban hideouts at Chinark area in Kurram and adjoining areas of Dapar and Bakha in Orakzai Agency, killing 15 terrorists.

Meanwhile, the death toll in Tuesday’s air raids on suspected terrorist hideouts in Teerah Valley in Khyber Agency has risen to 60. Security officials and locals have said that dozens of civilians, including women and children, were also among the dead. “Militants were using civilians and their families as human shields and there could be some civilian casualties but we do not know how many,” a senior security official said.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Triple blasts in Lahore, 29 killed, 243 injured
LAHORE: Terrorists on Wednesday targeted Shias marking Hazrat Ali’s (RA) martyrdom in Lahore, killing 29 people and injuring 243 others in two suicide and one grenade attack.

Banned terrorist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi Al-Alami has accepted responsibility for the three attacks that occurred minutes apart in Lahore’s Bhaati Gate locality. The mourning procession was in its last stages and was about to end at Karbala Gamay Shah, near Data Darbar, when the terrorists stuck.

Eyewitnesses said that the participants had gathered outside Gamay Shah for Iftari, when a terrorist, standing on a nearby rooftop, threw a hand grenade on the crowd. The explosion killed one person and injured dozens others. The ensuing stampede spread to the procession that was stretched on the road from Data Darbar to Anarkali.

The security ring created by police personnel around the procession by blocking roads then collapsed as people started running in every direction. A suicide bomber, who succeeded in penetrating to the middle of the crowd, then exploded himself at Bhatti Gate Chowk, about 100 yards from the site of the grenade attack.

The blast was far more deadly and everywhere people were seen laying in pools of blood, most of whom were later pronounced dead. In the meantime, several small groups of furious people started attacking the nearby police personnel. At that time, another suicide bomber exploded himself at Bhaati Gate Chowk. The third explosion was the deadliest and caused a large number of causalities.

The mob then got out of control and started burning tyers and chanting slogans. Police tried to control the situation by resorting to tear-gassing and baton-charging the protesters. However, this only intensified the protest. The crowd also tried to burn down government and private property, while a small group attacked the Lower Mall and Bhaati Gate police stations. Two police cars and three motorcycles were also set on fire. Rangers personnel were then called in to bring the situation under control.
I guess I don't get it: terrorists attack, and the crowd responds by attacking the police?
Later, Lahore Commissioner Khusro Pervez acknowledged before the media that police negligence was one of the main reasons behind the explosions and the subsequent violence.

President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani have condemned the blasts and said the attackers would not escape justice. They expressed sorrow and grief over the loss of precious lives in the blasts. Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif has also strongly condemned the attack and announced Rs 500,000 each for families of the people who were killed in the attacks. Senator Abbas Kumaili, a prominent Shia scholar, has called for three days of mourning over the attack and lashed out at the bombers.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You would think, what with the floods, they would have other matters to attend to than suicide bombing in the name of Allen

I knew there was a reason I gave my donation money to Fred to fight for freedom of speech, over paying for Pakistan's failure to prepare for flood
Posted by: anon1 || 09/02/2010 9:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Doc, I suspect the crowd attacked the police because it believed the police were in some way complicit in the attack (and it may have been right.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/02/2010 10:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Can you imagine a mob of Islamic Rage Boys™ = a mob of insane psychotics who will believe any rumor and demand: Blood! Allan wills it!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/02/2010 20:18 Comments || Top||


Police had intelligence about attack threat
LAHORE: Intelligence officials on Wednesday blamed the Lahore police of gross negligence, as it had failed to heed warnings that terrorists would try to target mourners on the martyrdom day of Hazrat Ali (RA).

Intelligence officials requesting anonymity told Daily Times that about a week earlier, intelligence agencies had forwarded reports to the Lahore police that warned that terrorists could disturb the law and order situation.

“The Lahore police it seems totally neglected the checking and surveillance of more than 50 small hotels and inns located near Karbala Gamay Shah. The terrorists also seem to have detailed information about the Lahore police’s security arrangements,” the sources said.

The sources said that intelligence personnel believed that the three terrorists who targeted the procession had not come from outside and were already living somewhere inside the security circle. The officials said Lahore police had failed to provide adequate security along the main route of the procession.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Lashkar-e-Islam boys hit by Pak air attack
A Pakistani air raids targeting fighters believed to have been preparing for imminent suicide attacks has killed between 40 to 45 people in a northwestern the country.

"Security forces today carried out a successful operation against militants in the Tirah valley of Khyber Agency," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP news agency on Tuesday."Militant hideouts, a training centre, an illegal FM radio station
OMG! They finally found that illegal radio station!! They've been unsuccessfully searching for that thing for years, while there have been comments here that it could be found by a boy scout with a few pieces of cheap equipment in half a day. Congratulations to the skilled men and women of the Pakistani Air Force on their great success.
and eight vehicles prepared for suicide attack were destroyed in air strikes," he added. "The air strikes were carried out after intelligence information that militants were preparing to launch suicide attacks in Peshawar and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province during the next week."

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ION TOPIX > SOMALIA INSURGENTS PREDICT AIR STRIKES ON MOGADISHU; + UGANDA READY TO SEND 10,000 ARMY TROOPS TO SOMALIA [assist AU + UNO in peacekeeping].

plus

* DAILY TIMES.PK > SOMALI MILITANTS TELL PRESIDENT TO STEP DOWN, for failing to stop the on-going nation-wide violence.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 09/02/2010 2:52 Comments || Top||


Iraq
IED wounds 2 civilians in Baghdad
BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Two civilians were wounded on Wednesday in an improvised explosive device explosion in eastern Baghdad, according to a security source.

“The bomb exploded near al-Awali marketplace in al-Dakhel neighborhood in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad,” the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency. “The blast damaged a number of stores,” he added.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Hamas claims second West Bank drive by
The military wing of Palestinian terrorist group Hamas claimed responsibility for Wednesday night's drive-by shooting near Rimonim Junction in the West Bank that left two Israelis wounded, Israel Radio reported Thursday.

Shots were reportedly fired at a vehicle traveling in the area between the settlement Kochav Yaakov and Rimonim Junction. Magen David Adom rushed the two Israelis to the Hadassah Ein Kerem Medical Center in Jerusalem; a man aged around 30 in moderate to serious condition suffering from a gunshot wound to the knee, and a woman aged around 30 who was injured in the resulting accident. Both are conscious and stable, paramedics said.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/02/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
7th recent pirate attack in South China Sea. - Off Pulau Mangkai
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/02/2010 09:24 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maybe it is time to arm the merchant ships.

You wouldn't need a 3" deck gun, a Javelin shoulder fired Missile or two should do the trick.

Pirates, like any thieves, are looking for easy pickings. You are only on the receiving end of a Javelin once.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey || 09/02/2010 22:58 Comments || Top||



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