A top Taliban commander said Wednesday the group has 4,000 fighters bracing to rebuff NATO's largest-ever offensive in northern Afghanistan, now in its second day. Suicide bombers are ready, land mines have been planted and helicopters will be targeted, Mullah Abdul Qassim, the top Taliban commander in Helmand province told The Associated Press. Speaking by satellite telephone from Quetta an undisclosed location, Qassim said the Taliban has 8,000 to 9,000 fighters in Helmand province, including some 4,000 in the north, where NATO launched its largest-ever offensive Tuesday. He said all the fighters were Afghan, denying reports of hundreds of foreign fighters in the region. "All of them are well-equipped and we have the weapons to target helicopters," Qassim said. "The Taliban are able to fight for 15 or 20 years against NATO and the Americans." New mines have been planted, and suicide bombers a growing threat in Afghanistan are ready to attack, said Qassim, whose voice was recognized by an AP reporter who has spoken with him before.
Operation Achilles, comprising some 4,500 NATO and 1,000 Afghan troops, is focused on securing lawless regions of northern Helmand the world's biggest poppy-growing region. The offensive follows a mission last fall that wiped out hundreds of militants who fought in formation in neighboring Kandahar province, prompting NATO spokesman Col. Tom Collins to say this week the military would welcome a repeat of those tactics.
Qassim said the Taliban would adapt to conditions on the ground this time around. "The Taliban know traditional fighting," he said. "If we need to fight in a group, we will. If we need a suicide attack, we will do that. If we need ambushes and guerrilla fighting, we will do that."
Collins said Wednesday that NATO was confident it would succeed in helping the government move into the region, though he said it would "take a while to get there."
"We've established a presence and in some areas it's a heavy presence, and we're trying to disrupt the Taliban's senior leadership in the area and try to separate them from trying to rally" the Taliban's locally recruited soldiers, said Collins.
Helmand is the world's largest poppy-growing region, and U.N. officials say the Taliban derives tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars from the crop. NATO also says the Taliban is deeply involved in the drug trade, though Qassim denied that, saying the Taliban had eradicated opium poppies when it ruled Afghanistan from 1996-2001. The Taliban leader said the militants control all of Helmand, and said the provincial governor hasn't been to the region in weeks, instead choosing to operate from Kabul, the capital. "Every day we have been firing rockets at the British bases, but soldiers are not coming out," he said. "They're not fighting with us. We are ready, but they are staying inside."
This article starring:
MULLAH ABDUL QASIM
Taliban
NATO spokesman Col. Tom Collins
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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Tallybunnies you haven't been doing too well in the battle. Better leave it alone unless you want your sorry asses kicked some more.
#2
Spring has sprung - time to ramp it back up to 50 Talebs KIA per day. Singed beards ahoy.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
03/08/2007 4:50 Comments ||
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Several towns in Helmand, Afghanistan are already surrounded. NATO planned a rendering operation, and they are already well on the way to crushing the Taliban. By May, they won't have a single terror staging ground.
As long our UN dues keep paying for phony Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan, the terror will continue. Think of all the new Midtown housing that could be built on what is now UN land. The UN was put on US soil because of the devastation in post war Europe. Let the Euros have it.
#6
And then Mullah Abdullah said, "I'll huff and puff and blooow your house down." And then the three little pigs started down the road with 46 Canadian tanks and full air support and lots of fully trained soldiers. And then Mullah Abdullah told his 16 year old, poorly trained, poorly equipped kids, "I'll huff and puff and blooow their house down, so stand your ground, and I'll supervise with my cell phone in Quetta."
#13
The Taliban is trying to pull a Tet in Afghanistan, since they do NOT have a military chance in Hell of winning. Tet was a military disaster of the first order for the VC/NVA but it served as a major political victory because of Walter Cronkite; the Taliban is trying for the same type of victory. Not going to happen this time around.
On a serious note: why not drop a load of Agent Orange on the poppy fields when the Taliwahackers are hiding in there? I am sure we still have some left over and this would give us a place to dispose of it and save a bundle on the enviromentally friendly way of breaking it down. Removes the coverage for the NATO guys and then in 20 years or so, when the bad guys start coughing up lungs or whatever, we can then place them there and they will not be able to deny it. As for the 'innocent farmers', give then 24 hour notice to shag ass outa town.
just a thought.
Afghanistan's highest body of Islamic clerics ruled Wednesday against the parliament's calls for an amnesty for Afghans suspected of war crimes during a quarter-century of fighting. The religious scholars said the rights of victims are enshrined in Islamic law and should be respected. Fazel Ahmad Mahnavi, a member of the Islamic council, said scholars ruled that the parliament cannot issue a blanket amnesty because only the victims of crimes can forgive the perpetrators.
The ruling comes after both houses of the parliament passed a highly controversial resolution calling for an amnesty for Afghans suspected of war crimes during the 1980s anti-Soviet resistance, and the 1990s Afghan civil war.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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Let's gues if this denial of amnesty also aplies to, say, the Taliban massacres of Hazara (guilty of the double crime of being Shiah and of Mongolic descent).
#5
Actually, Ethiopia has NO coastline anymore : lost that when Eritrea split off. The Ethiopians now use the ports in Djibouti and Somaliland for their needs, and have been invested in the rail line that runs from Djibouti to Addis Ababa for the past couple of years.
The Jewish population in Ethiopia is almost nil today, the Israelis pulled out the Falashas during Operations Moses and Joshua.
Also, asking if Ethiopia is the "new Afghanistan" because it has problem neighbors contains the same internal logic defect as asking if Turkey is the "new Afghanistan" because it has problem neighbors : both countries are regional military powers and in Ethiopia's case anyway, its military has demonstrated that power in recent operations in one of its neighbors.
Washington issued a damning human rights report on Sudan, saying genocide in Darfur continued and blaming both government and rebel forces for attacks in the remote region. It said there was widespread impunity for crimes including torture and that thousands more people had been killed by government forces and its allied militias, known locally as Janjaweed, in Darfur in 2006.
"Genocide continued to ravage the Darfur region of Sudan," the report released on Tuesday said. "The Sudanese government and government-backed Janjaweed militia bear the responsibility for the genocide in Darfur and all parties to the conflagration committed serious abuses."
Khartoum denies genocide and blames the Western media for exaggerating the four-year-old Darfur conflict. European governments are reluctant to use the term. The International Criminal Court said last week it had reason to believe war crimes had been committed in Darfur by a junior government minister and a pro-government militia leader. "During the year, the government resumed aerial bombardment of civilian targets, including homes, school and markets," the US report said.
President Omar Hassan al-Bashir has admitted bombing Darfur, but says his forces targeted rebel bases in self defence.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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It's a couple of years since I pointed out that an ArcLight mission over Khartoum would fix Darfur PDQ.
#3
It's all good, though, because it was reported Tuesday that we're NOT going to join the UN Human Rights Commission, lol! I feel for the Sudanese stuck in this quagmire, but nothing will get done now.
Posted by: BA ||
03/08/2007 9:16 Comments ||
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Has the UN made the official genocide call yet, or are they still too booked up trying to figure out what a terrorist is?
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - The head of Congo's atomic energy commission has been arrested on suspicion of illegally selling uranium found in the Central African mineral giant, officials said Wednesday.
Patrick Fitzgerald, white courtesy phone.
Fortunat Lumu, the director of the country's only nuclear center, and one of his aides were arrested Tuesday ``because they were accused of having illicitly sold a quantity of uranium,'' Attorney General Tshimanga Mukendi said.
He's not as fortunate as he thought.
Mukendi refused to give information on the amount of uranium or the alleged buyer, saying those details were part of an investigation. He added only that they were accused of orchestrating illicit contracts to produce and sell uranium.
In August, Congo's government emphatically denied a report in The Sunday Times of London that a uranium shipment left its territory in 2005 bound for Iran, saying the dangerous element was tightly controlled by international agencies. Officials declined to say if there was any connection between the arrest and the alleged 2005 shipment.
So once again we have a Middle Eastern country trying to buy uranium from Africa. I think I can say at least sixteen words about this one.
The Sunday Times said the uranium was suspected of being extracted illegally from Congo's southeastern Shinkolobwe mine, which was closed in 1961. Lumu, as head of Congo's small nuclear reactor built for research just before Congo's 1960 independence, would likely have had access to the uranium, but it was unclear if in any large quantities.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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Mid-day, Pacific time, the day the preposterous Wilson op-ed ran, I was talking with a friend back east on the phone about it. We eviscerated it in 5 minutes (no special info or knowledge required) - including the obvious point that "Africa" included more than one established or potential uranium exporter. We expected the WH to pound the silly op-ed to pieces on this and other substantive points - and also expected that someone there would think to make two phone calls (one to the UK, one to Langley) to confirm and clarify, respectively, where things stood. A humiliation of Wilson would have been in order to emphasize how silly it all was, as well as some rolling heads or lash-marks at CIA.
Instead we got the bizarre spectacle that began with the ridiculous retraction of the Sixteen Words, and culminated with this week's verdict. It's easily the one chapter of Dubya's reign that is simply inexplicable.
From East Asia Intel, subscription.
The first details about U.S. intelligence on North Koreas covert uranium enrichment program were revealed in congressional testimony last week.
Joseph DeTrani, Director of National Intelligence mission manager for Korea, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that North Korea has purchased uranium enrichment technology and has several dozen centrifuges that need to be accounted for as part of the six-nation accord reached in Beijing on Feb. 13.
On the uranium enrichment program, in 2002 October we confronted the North Koreans in Pyongyang with information they were acquiring material sufficient for a production-scale capability of enriching uranium, which was in violation of the North-South denuclearization, the NPT, and also the spirit of the Agreed Framework, DeTrani said. Spirit of the Agreed Framework? Surely you jest, Mr. DeTrani. The NORKS violating the spirit of the agreement? It, just can't be. Better ask HalfBright about it. She knows everything.
North Korea was confronted with the information and admitted to having such a program, he said, noting that immediately afterwards Pyongyang withdrew from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty and asked international inspectors to leave. "Yep, you caught us. We're outta here. What you gonna do about it, Mac?"
The U.S. persists in our negotiations with them, saying that we need a declaration that speaks to your acquisitions, that spoke to a production-scale uranium-enrichment capability, DeTrani said.
DeTrani said North Korea must declare all nuclear programs, including their acquisitions of materials necessary for a production-scale uranium-enrichment program, indeed, which they were making in the late '90s through the early 2000s. And what will we do if the Norks don't declare? Are we a paper tiger or what? That is what we all want to know---Rantburgers and Norks.
And we still see elements of that program, he said.
DeTrani quoted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf as writing in his book that North Korea obtained a few dozen centrifuges, P1 and 2s, that were in violation of all those agreements.
North Korea was a consumer of the Pakistani covert nuclear supplier network headed by A.Q. Khan, and also had purchased uranium enrichment equipment, including specialty metal tubes from Germany in the early 2000s.
Asked if the program existed or was just aspirations for uranium enrichment, DeTrani stated: We had high confidence. The assessment was with high confidence that, indeed, they were making acquisitions necessary for, if you will, a production-scale program. And we still have confidence that the program is in existence, at the mid-confidence level.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/08/2007 16:22 ||
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CAVUTO Guest > America can't afford to fail in Iraq and ME. Methinks its also safe to say by extens Amer can afford to fail anywhere else either, as the WOT > WAR FOR THE WORLD = SUBSTITUTION OF NATIONS-POWERS, etal. The "Status Quo" = Cold War-style USA-USSR/Commie Bloc competition and detente is no longer tolerable.
President Bush ordered a review of all U.S. military and veterans hospitals on Tuesday following testimony about unsanitary conditions and bureaucratic red tape that has hindered treatment of soldiers returning from Iraq. Bush tapped former Sen. Bob Dole and Donna Shalala, the former Health and Human Services Department secretary, to head a bipartisan panel to review the hospitals and complaints from veterans and active-duty military personnel.
The president ordered the probe into allegations of shabby treatment at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and to determine whether similar conditions exist at other hospitals. I am as concerned as you are about the conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center, Bush told an American Legion conference. It's unacceptable to me, it's unacceptable to you, it's unacceptable to our country, and it's not going to continue.
The announcement comes as Congress continues its probe into conditions at Walter Reed Medical Center following Washington Post reports that detailed lack of maintenance in hospital rooms and poor handling of patients. A comprehensive review of all military and veterans' hospitals would be undertaken to improve service to combat veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as treatment of those who served in the armed services, Bush said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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WTF?
Haven't we had enough of this "bi-partisan" undermining of the administration yet?
There is no such animal more mythological than a "bi-partisan" democrat.
Nothing but trouble will ensue from giving another energetic left wing mouth air time in front of TV cameras.
At least they should have held out for some democrat who might have served in the military, not a political hack like Shalala.
Posted by: DanNY ||
03/08/2007 3:02 Comments ||
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Shalala will have to defer to Dole on this one; Dole's been in enough military hospitals that he will have "unquestioned authority".
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
03/08/2007 7:14 Comments ||
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Shalala is a member of the sensitive party, the party who cares about the people, including the soldiers. Dole's a member of the party that caused all the problems, by starting all those illegal wars, so he can't have authority, unquestioned or otherwise. This should be reported shortly in the MSM so you'll know it's true.
#5
There is no dispute that actual medical treatment at WR is nothing short of top-notch. The problems that plague the military outpatient and aftercare services are the result of bureaucratic red tape from a bloated government run program. Should be interesting how the Democrats square that with their sales pitch to have a government run socialized Universal Health Care.
#6
Shalalalala didn't review the Miami Hurricane football team when they rioted at one of their games this year. How's she a value added in this process?
Why would President Bush tap a useless c**t like Shalalalala. The bloom is really coming of the rose with our President.
Shot across the bow
The Navy is considering terminating the construction of a shore-hugging ship being built by Lockheed Martin Corp. due to cost overruns, Navy chief Adm. Mike Mullen said Thursday.
In January, the Navy took the unusual step of ordering Lockheed to halt work for 90 days on the littoral combat ship (LCS) because of soaring costs. Mullen said Navy Secretary Donald Winter would decide in the next couple of weeks on a plan for the ship, known as LCS-3 as it is the third in line to be constructed.
Lockheed was ordered to stop work because of cost overruns on the first of the new ships, LCS-1, which the company is also building. General Dynamics Corp. is building the second and fourth ships.
We've got to sort out where we are before we make a decision on whether or not we continue LCS-3, Mullen, the Navy's top military officer, said at a breakfast meeting with defense reporters. In the next couple of weeks Secretary Winter will make a decision on how to proceed with respect to the program, including ... whether to move to a termination or to continue the program for LCS-3, he said.
Asked how seriously the Navy was considering termination, Mullen said, All options are on the table right now. He added, I couldn't tell you which way it's going to go at this point. I really don't know.
The Navy has said the first Lockheed LCS ship will cost $350 million to $375 million, far above initial estimates of $220 million for each of the new ships.
Lockheed spokesman Craig Quigley said the company was working closely with the Navy to help analyze the cost overruns on LCS-1 and was hopeful of resuming work on LCS-3. We want to get back to work, Quigley said. We're sure hopeful that we can.
The Navy eventually wants to buy about 55 of the ships, designed to operate in shallow waters to hunt for submarines and destroy underwater mines.
The Navy said last week that the LCS being built by General Dynamics is also expected to face cost overruns, although the scope of the overruns is not yet clear.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/08/2007 16:42 ||
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WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a direct challenge to every knowledgeable Military commander President Bush, House Democrats unveiled legislation Thursday requiring the withdrawal of U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the fall of next year. Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the deadline would be added to legislation providing nearly $100 billion the Bush administration has requested for fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
She told reporters the measure would mark the first time the new Democratic-controlled Congress has established a "date certain" for the end of U.S. combat in the four-year-old war that has claimed the lives of more than 3,100 U.S. troops.
Rep. David Obey, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said the proposal would bring an "orderly and responsible close" to American participation in what he called an Iraqi "civil war." Kinda like that Fall of Saigon thingey.
According to an explanation of the measure distributed by Democratic aides, the timetable for withdrawal would be accelerated if the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not meet goals for providing for Iraq's security.
#1
let's see how that vote goes in the house, then Senate, Nancy
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/08/2007 13:57 Comments ||
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If I was Bush I would call her and the pansie a*s dums out. I would get on National TV and demand a National Vote ASAP with two options
1) We do WHATEVER it takes to win the WOT HOWEVER LONG it may take VICTORY only.
2) We cut our loses accept we don't have the stomach for WAR anymore as a nation and request from the Islamist the terms they require to halt thier attacks on US.
I would demand that vote and also I would publicly announce my resignation if option two is actually victorious. And if option one is chosen I would demand the end to all talk that doesn't help option ones goal victory.
Let the poeple SPEAK! If we as a people have become so weak and pitifull that we vote willing for defeat so be it the US is just not deserviing of Life as a nation anymore.
Don't anyone try to say the midterms was that vote either, that is utter BS, the Repubs lost becuase they allowed thier ranks to be infiltrated by perverts and thieves, along with widespread buisness as usual graft earmarks a protest vote is not a vote for mass suicide surrender.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/08/2007 16:03 Comments ||
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said the proposal would bring an "orderly and responsible close" to American participation in what he called an Iraqi "civil war."
And her objections to continued American participation in the civil war involving the country formerly known as Yugoslavia were made when? And what legislation did she push to end our involvement? [NB that the then President (D) said they'd be home before the leaves fall in a year, which was up about a decade ago.]
#7
She hasta speak soon, because the bad guyz are unravelling - first the Iranian Reza whatizface defects, and now Hek is coming in from the cold. If Nancy can't steal the headlines soon, the good news might overwhelm her!
There. I finished my Dreamsicle.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/08/2007 16:29 Comments ||
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This is politics, plain and simple. Someone needs to get up and tell her about the millions of Cambodians and Vietnamese that were murdered because her stinking Congress prohibited funding. That's lives on their self-righteous heads.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/08/2007 16:45 Comments ||
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Someone needs to get up and tell her about the millions of Cambodians and Vietnamese that were murdered because her stinking Congress prohibited funding. That's lives on their self-righteous heads.
Howzabout sending it to Nancy - with a copy to the Washington Post (for form's sake) and the New York Post (so it will actually get published)?
You go, girl! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/08/2007 19:17 Comments ||
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She, and her cronies like Mumra Murtha (and Kerry and Kennedy) want to return to the glory days of the Democratic Party - back when they betrayed a ally and cut funding and support to South Vietnam.
A few million dead Vietnamese and Cambodians (and now Iraqi's) is a small price to pay (particulary since the DNC won't have to pay it!) for the advancement of the DNC!
They makes me sick! That a disgusting bunch of people!
#17
I know in a country where miniscule changes in gasoline prices are considered an issue worthy of public figures strutting their economic illiteracy we are most unlikely to be treated to a debate that is the least serious or educational, but ....
Would someone on the Hill, finally, get up and eviscerate the nonsense about "civil wars" being magically bad or insoluble? Or not being suitable problems for our intervention, if their outcome affects our vital interests?
Civil war, shm-ivil war. If it's in our interest to settle, or influence, a civil war anywhere on Earth, or a war on Mars, or a war between Iceland and Burundi, then we f***ing do it. Or we don't. There's nothing magical or impossible about a "civil war". The threshhold questions are: are our vital interests engaged, and if so is intervention the best (or least worst) way of protecting those interests. Period. Whether something is a civil war or something else is of absolutely no significance.
We should have, long ago, settled this one by crushing the Sunni side. Nothing personal against the Sunnis, but if they want to discuss it they can go talk with Germans in east Prussia - oops, there aren't any - because WARS HAVE CONSEQUENCES. Even internal ones.
A staple platitude of our embassy statements was (probably still is) that "all sects in Iraq suffered under Saddam". Undoubtedly true - and obviously irrelevant. Only one sect prevented Iraq from exploiting its liberation to at least take a few big steps toward becoming a modern and relatively open society. They did so by undertaking or abetting a horrific campaign of terrorism without equal in modern history.
Tragically, we'll never see how the American public could get much smarter, real quick, on several topics if only the adults in government would speak up and correct all the nonsense that passes unchallenged.
A delegation from North Waziristan left for Wana on Wednesday to try and broker peace between a local tribe and foreign militants, a day after clashes between the two left at least 18 dead. A tribal source in Miranshah, regional headquarters of North Waziristan, said that Maulana Noor Alam was leading the jirga to broker a peace deal. The source did not say how many people the jirga included.
The bloody clash on Tuesday in Azam Warsak near Wana, regional headquarters of South Waziristan, between the foreign militants and Zalikhel sub-tribe members resulted in 18 casualties - 15 foreigners and three locals, according to unofficial sources. Arbab Arif, security chief in the tribal areas, confirmed the death toll in the fighting, the first reported clash between foreign militants and local tribesmen since Al Qaeda and Taliban militants crossed into Pakistan from Afghanistan following the US-led invasion of 2001.
The clash appeared to underline a change in behaviour of the local tribal populace against militants, he told Daily Times. Malik Saeedullah, chieftain of the Zalikhel sub-tribe, heads a local peace committee and has survived two assassination attempts from Uzbek and Tajik militants, whose stay in the area he opposes. Maulana Noor Alam was a member of the jirga that successfully brokered a peace deal between pro-Taliban militants and the government in September last year and he is believed "to hold sway" over militants in the area.
Agencies add: A security official told AFP the death toll had risen to 19. "The dead include 12 Uzbek militants and three local supporters, three members of local peace committee and one Afghan shopkeeper," he said. Information Minister Mohammed Ali Durrani said the incident was a "vital development" because it suggested that elders in the semi-autonomous border zone were growing more hostile to foreign fighters who have found refuge in their midst. The Uzbeks "obviously" belong to Al Qaeda, Durrani said in a telephone interview with AP. "They were welcome before, but their behaviour has become more aggressive and this is the reaction of the local tribes," he said. An intelligence official said efforts were also being made for the release of three tribesmen captured by Uzbek militants during the fighting.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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I saw a program on the History Channel last night about some of the Barbarian wars fighting over the remains of Rome (Visgoths, Francs, Lombards, etc.)
The constant backstabbing, treaty breaking, temporary cease fires they spoke of all sounded so damn familiar.
Suspected militants on Wednesday distributed pamphlets asking barbers not to shave peoples beards in Lower Dir, sources said. Following the distribution of pamphlets, which also mentioned Rs 3,000 fine for barbers who violate the ban, barbers in Munda Bazaar have refused to shave beards and have also put up notices at their shops to inform customers. Sources said that the suspected militants had also asked a prayer leader, Maulana Safiullah, to announce the ban on shaving through his mosques loudspeaker.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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Memo to myself: Don't date women from Lower Dir.
#3
Attention! Attention! This is Maulana Safiullah. Until further notice, no shaves in the barber shops. Also...I'm not wearing any pants.
That is all.
#6
Ima trying to picure just how can one, as quoted in the atricle, "...shav(e)...through his mosque's loudspeaker"? Aren't there electrical thingies inside that would get in the way???
A Pakistani official has denied that there is a link between the Musharraf government and the Taliban, as asserted by an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. Shafqat Jalil, the press counsellor at Pakistans permanent mission to the UN, wrote in a letter published by the newspaper on Wednesday that the attempt to link the Taliban to Pakistans domestic political situation was based on incorrect information.
Then his lips fell off.
He wrote, President Gen Pervez Musharraf is known for his moderate disposition, and has time and again rejected extremism and fundamentalism. Measures such as representation and empowerment of women and unprecedented freedom of press bear testimony to his liberal policies. There is no alliance with pro-Taliban forces in parliament. The ruling coalition government led by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz represents moderate political forces.
The official said that the North Waziristan agreement was part of a policy of squeezing Uncle Sugar for cash-n-arms pursing a comprehensive approach based on military, economic and political measures. The 2,500-kilometre Pak-Afghan border was difficult to monitor and control, he added. He said that Pakistan had taken resolute action to address the cross-border insurgency in Bugtiland and the terrorist threat from those pesky Baluchs Al Qaeda. We have made several proposals for checking cross-border movement, including the return of Afghan refugees, selective mining and fencing of the Pak-Afghan border. Weve also requested equipment for strengthening monitoring on both sides of the border. These proposals unfortunately have not been accepted by the quarters concerned. Defeating Al Qaeda requires foremost that our assessment be acknowledged firmly in sound empirical judgment and not blinded by conjecture, he wrote.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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I wonder what his wife...Morgan Fairchild, is up to these days...
Outgoing US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C Crocker has said that Washington has no warrant to demand the extradition of former Taliban defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who was reportedly arrested from Quetta on February 26. We have no (arrest) warrant against him, the ambassador who has been confirmed as the new envoy to Iraq told Daily Times at a reception at US Consulate Principal Officer Lynne Tracys residence on Tuesday. Islamabad has not officially confirmed or denied media reports yet that Pakistani security forces have captured the deputy to the elusive Taliban chief Mullah Omar. Crocker also distanced himself from confirming the report, saying the arrest had not been notified officially yet, but both Pakistan and the US are in contact on a regular basis.
There is strong conviction among authorities that he has been arrested, and that is what we hear from sources, he added. He said the arrested Taliban leader might be tried in a country where he had committed crimes indicating that Obaidullah could be extradited to Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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I read that to say...We wouldn't need a warrant he's not a "criminal", he's an enemy combatant
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Pentagon has approved a request by the new U.S. commander in Iraq for an extra 2,200 military police to help deal with an anticipated increase in detainees during the Baghdad security crackdown, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday.
Gates told reporters at the Pentagon that the extra MPs are in addition to the 21,500 combat troops that President Bush is sending for the Baghdad security plan and 2,400 other troops designated to support them. ``That's a new requirement by a new commander,'' Gates said of the request for more MPs by Gen. David Petraeus, who assumed command in Baghdad last month.
Gates also said it was not a surprise that Sunni insurgents have launched increased attacks in recent days. ``I think that we expected that there would be in the short term an increase in violence as the surge began to make itself felt,'' Gates said, adding that there were other ``very preliminary positive signs'' that the Baghdad security plan is working.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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I would think this request goes back some way - increased detainee numbers were the one dead certain predictable consequence of resorting to warfare, er, "the surge". Catch-and-release was a result of many things (the weird quasi-judicial aspect with Iraqi courts, capacity limitations, the relentless erring on the side of not upsetting already hostile communities, etc.), and probably other things I don't know about, but clearly the hassle of housing more guests was always a factor.
The US Senate on Tuesday confirmed Ryan Crocker, US ambassador to Pakistan, as the new US ambassador to Iraq. President George W Bush nominated Crocker to succeed the current ambassador in Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, in a shuffle of advisers announced in January ahead of his latest Iraq strategy. Crocker, a career diplomat, has been Washingtons ambassador to Pakistan since November 2004. Previously, he served as the first director of governance for the Coalition Provisional Authority in Baghdad from May to August 2003.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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Verlaine's thoughts on most anything are helpful.
Posted by: Who Gin Now ||
03/08/2007 7:26 Comments ||
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#3
Geez, folks, I am humbled by the comments - and rightly so, as I have no particular insight into Crocker. He obviously is a senior, savvy sort in the mold of Negroponte, who ruled the roost during my first 8 months in the Palace.
Zal was almost impossibly well suited to the task and chosen strategy of his time in Iraq - a savvy guy in the souk, constantly wrangling deals and commitments and walk-backs and forebearance from the rather daunting array of Iraqi political forces he was trying to mold into a new sovereign government. He operated (AFAIK) with extraordinary autonomy - he, much more than Bremer, was a true viceroy.
I guess if I had to collapse all my (inadequately informed or thought-through) analysis of Zal's tenure into one sentence, it would be that while Sunni engagement and pressuring all parties to form a unity govt. was a sound strategy, it was not backed up by the coercion (primarily against Sunnis) needed to make it more meaningful. The noxious mix of support/collaboration/tolerance by the bulk of the Sunni community for barbarous terrorism and insurgency against an elected govt., not seriously checked by MNF-I, both prevented the needed internal shake-out from happening inside the Sunni camp and provided most of the oxygen supporting the growth of Shi'a militias.
Among the many things we wondered about, constantly and openly, was why the one-legged strategy was pursued long after it was clearly shown to be faulty.
If Crocker is like Negroponte, the place is in good hands. For all the problems with the State Dept., there are some senior figures who are "the real thing" - smart, experienced professionals who take their marching orders and do their utmost to see them through.
I was just talking to a buddy (still involved, though not resident in B'dad full-time) today about how the relationship between Petraeus and Crocker might go. Too early to say, of course, but early reviews are that Petraeus is an improvement on his predecessor in areas well beyond the core military strategy.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- A crush of 5,000 Palestinians trying to get through the newly opened Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt on Thursday left an elderly man dead and seven people injured, Palestinian medics said. The Palestinians came to the crossing, which is rarely open, in the morning hoping to cross into Egypt. The crowd quickly became chaotic, witnesses said, and an elderly man on his way to a medical checkup in Egypt died. It was not immediately clear if he was trampled. Its called voting with their feet. Voter turnout was obviously high.
Abdel Hadi Salama, who was traveling to Egypt to visit relatives, said Palestinian security personnel rapidly lost control of the crowd, which began pushing toward the terminal and throwing stones at the entrance gate. Security officers fired in the air, he said. Medics said two of the wounded were hit by gunfire. An unruly crowd, chaos and injuries, seething crowd lobbing rocks, security loses control and shoots wildly wounding several in the crowd. In Gaza whouda thunkit?
"It's like the end of the world," Salama said, speaking by cell phone from inside the crossing terminal.
And who really is to blame? You guessed it
Jose Vericat, a spokesman for the European Union observers in charge of the crossing, said officials temporarily closed the terminal after the crush. "It was impossible for the Palestinian security personnel to keep control," Vericat said. According to the EU observers, the Rafah crossing has only been open less than a fifth of the time since June 2006, when Palestinian militants captured an Israeli soldier in a cross-border raid that provoked an Israeli offensive in Gaza. The fact that the crossing is usually closed leads to massive crowds on the rare occasions it opens. Israel withdrew its troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip in the summer of 2005. The Rafah crossing is essentially the only way out of the crowded coastal strip for its 1.4 million residents.
#1
I am no longer surprised at anything the Paleos do to kill each other. It seems that almost any celebration, disagreement, election, wedding, party, religious holiday or event and now the simple act of going through a gate results in death and it is never their fault!
Posted by: Jim ||
03/08/2007 9:33 Comments ||
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Two Children Wounded by Gunfire in a Wedding Party in Gaza
On Wednesday evening, 7 March 2007, two children from the Khalaf family in al-Daraj neighborhood in Gaza City were wounded, when a number of gunmen fired into the air celebrating a wedding. According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 19:30 on Wednesday, two children, who were wounded by gunshots, were brought into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City:
1)Nour Mohammed Khalaf, 7, seriously wounded by a gunshot to the head; and
2)Alaa Hafez Khalaf, 16, wounded by a gunshot to the left shoulder.
The two children were in the balcony of their house, when they wounded by gunshots as a number of gunmen opened fire into the air celebrating the wedding of a relative.
good grief! 5K for one gate is a crush that they couldn't control???
How the hell many do you think pass through a gate at any major football stadium for a big game?
Geez, Michigan holds 100K or so and you don't hear about gun fights and rock throwing every home game (we're not talking about Ohio State games. That has nothing to do with gates ;^)
PALMACHIM AIR FORCE BASE, Israel (AP) - The Israeli air force unveiled its newest unmanned aircraft Wednesday, saying the plane can fly longer, faster and higher than any other surveillance aircraft. The drone, called the Heron, already saw combat during last summer's war in Lebanon, where Israeli officials said a prototype performed well, seeking out Hezbollah arms and directing airstrikes.
The Heron has a 54-foot wingspan and can fly up to 30 hours at a speed of 140 mph and a height of 30,000 feet. That would give it a range of 4,200 miles and the potential to reach as far as Iran, considered Israel's most serious strategic threat because of its nuclear program and its president's calls to wipe Israel off the map.
Gee, it can fly to Iran, wotta coincidence.
Air force officers said the Heron was Israel's most advanced weapon in the booming field of drone technology. Israel has used drones since the early 1970s, and its fleet has steadily increased. Air force officials say drones have become such an integral part of Israel's air power in recent years that their flight hours now outnumber those of manned fighter planes.
They would seem to be a good, low cost alternative for observation of a lot of Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon and Syria. Even if it forces the bad guyz to pull back and keep their heads down, it is a big time inconvenience to them.
It would also mean that your UAVs could spend more time over the blind spots.
Yelahanka (Bangalore), Feb 10 (ANI)
After the initial induction of eight Searchers and four Herons, the expansion plans of the Indian Navy seem to be on course.
The Heron deal with Israel was signed in January 2006, and the acquired machines, 16 of them, eight each for the 14 and 15 Corps, will be fully functional by the middle of this year. The birds in the Srinagar-based 15 Corps will operate from Manasbal and the Avantipore-based Victor Force. In Leh, the Herons will operate from an IAF runway. Some of the UAVs will also be deployed in the Western sector, and will operate from IAF runways. The Searcher Mach-IIs are now stationed in the Bhatinda-based 10 corps, which finds it difficult to operate from the Bikaner based Mahajan Field Firing Range, owing to the long distances.
The Herons are huge UAVs with a distance of 17 meters between the wings and the fuselage being 8.5 m in length and the machine standing at four feet from the ground.
The price ranges from Rupees 70-80 lakh to two crore for a UAV, depending on sensor capability. (ANI)
#7
For example, it could detect people on the ground and determine whether they were militants or civilians.
The moment they bow towards Mecca, the Heron flags them as "militants".
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
03/08/2007 11:41 Comments ||
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#8
The Specs given sound much like the U-2 that russia finaly shot down, A high slow glider, but unmanned this go-round.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/08/2007 12:18 Comments ||
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#9
BrerRabbit: An artillery FO with good eyes can call in a heck of a lot more hurt than a Maverick. But each have their purpose. Me, I like the price of a 105mm or 155mm HE round.
#10
Anonymoose, what the article doesn't mention is that Herons over Gaza (sounds like a movie title, ain't it?) come equipped with the hair rays projector.
#11
I'd like the US to use the Global Hawk and Predator Mk 2 in the US, guarding the borders. Can you imagine the surprise when a group of illegals cross the border, then get covered with a bright fluorescent orange paint from a low-flying drone? That way, you can either round them up or shoot 'em without a lot of problems. Think that would slow down the infiltration?
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/08/2007 18:45 Comments ||
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#12
OP: I believe that the Border Patrol is using UAVS on the southern borders as well as Aerostats, fancy names for blimps that are primarily involved with anti-drup operations, but are still available for illegal interdiction.
Majority of Israelis no longer have faith in the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and want early elections, according to a poll released on Wednesday by Channel 10 television. 57 per cent respondents favored an early election, 28 per cent were against it while 15 percent of them expressed no opinion, it said.
In response to another question whether Olmert should stay on as prime minister, 72 per cent said he should quit, against 17 percent who said he should stay on. Among the reasons cited by respondents who wanted Olmert to quit were failures in last year's 34-day Lebanon war, when Israeli military was unable to break the resistance of Hezbollah movement, and a series of scandals to which Olmert has been linked.
The poll also showed that Olmert's rating as a potential candidate for premier in a new government has plummeted. Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right-wing opposition Likud Party, was front-runner at 30 percent. Following him in popularity were retired admiral Ami Ayalon and former Prime Minister Ehud Barak, both of the center-left Labor Party, who were seen taking 18 and 12 percent of votes respectively. Olmert garnered only 3 percent and his defense minister, current Labor leader Amir Peretz, came last with 1 percent.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Now all we've to do is to convince MK (especially the Kadima ones who have a zilch chance of being reelected) to vote no confidence. Personally, I put more faith in Paleo ability to reform.
Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu launched fresh attacks against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday, saying the government had failed and calling for new elections. "We need to have elections," he said during a press conference. "Most of the people have lost confidence in this government. The Knesset may not be ready for elections, but that appears to be what the public wants... The government failed in the war and the people want different leadership."
The Likud chairman likened the government to a sinking ship, "moving in circles in stormy waters."
The Likud chairman likened the government to a sinking ship, "moving in circles in stormy waters."
Netanyahu expressed optimism about his party's standing. He said he had been passed information that "a number" of Kadima MKs were interested in returning to the Likud, which they left together with former prime minister Ariel Sharon, but stressed that he was not actively involved in recruiting them. Netanyahu refused to name the Kadima MKs who allegedly expressed interest in joining the Likud.
"Netanyahu has failed the public and has been removed from office twice," a Kadima source said in response.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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OSHKOSH A new combat truck with a V-shaped bottom designed to withstand blasts from roadside bombs is so successful in Iraq that the U.S. military is pressing a Wisconsin company and others to churn out hundreds more in the coming months. About 200 prototypes of the Mine-Resistant Ambush-Protected vehicles have been deployed in Iraq since 2004, said Capt. Jeff Landis, spokesman for the Marine Corps Systems Command in Quantico, Va. No Marine has died while in one of the trucks, Landis added. "This is the best vehicle available for safety and survivability," he said. "The MRAP vehicle supplies troops with the greatest protection we've had."
Force Protections Industries in Ladson, S.C., built the 200 prototypes. Within the past month, the Pentagon awarded about $210 million in contracts to Force Protections, Oshkosh Truck Corp., and three other companies in the U.S. and Canada to manufacture a total of nearly 400 more vehicles. Landis said the military hopes to receive them by the year's end.
The key is the truck's V-shaped steel body, which flares like the hull of a boat, said Oshkosh Truck spokesman Joaquin Salas. "The shape channels the full force of a blast up the sides of the vehicle rather than through the floor," Salas said. "It's all physics. Vehicles with that shape are extremely effective."
Since the war began, more than 3,160 U.S. service members have died in Iraq. Roadside bombs account for 70 percent of U.S. deaths and injuries in Iraq, according to Defense Department records and testimony. The Pentagon has been criticized for supplying insufficient armor for Humvees, the standard vehicles used for transport. The military has since fitted thousands of Humvees with additional armor. But most of the surfaces under a Humvee are flat, creating a large area that catches the force of land mine blasts. The new vehicles also have tires that can be driven even when flat. Despite the new trucks' protective strength, military officials said they will not completely displace lighter, more maneuverable vehicles.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/08/2007 07:52 ||
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#1
adapt and overcome. Well done!
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/08/2007 8:51 Comments ||
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#2
Sounds like a boat hull, good design.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
03/08/2007 12:25 Comments ||
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#3
They only figured this out in South Africa, what, 20 years ago?
Posted by: Steve ||
03/08/2007 13:19 Comments ||
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KFAR SHUBA, Lebanon - Two Belgian peacekeepers were killed on Wednesday and two injured in a road accident in southern Lebanon, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) said. According to preliminary information, two members of the Belgian battalion were killed and two others were seriously injured in a vehicle accident which took place in the general area of Kfarshuba, Liam McDowall said. He declined to provide further details.
An AFP correspondent on the scene said the peacekeepers vehicle fell into a ravine on a road linking the villages of Kfar Shuba and nearby Shebaa.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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Russia wont send workers to complete a much-delayed nuclear power plant in Iran as Tehran has failed to keep up to date with its payments, the Atomstroiexport company said Tuesday. The Iranian sides lack of payment by contract prevents us from sending the required personnel to complete work on the nuclear station, Atomstroiexports spokesman said as quoted by the ITAR-TASS news agency. Fuel deliveries for the Bushehr nuclear station would also be delayed, the spokesman added. Under a deal agreed last September, Russia was to deliver fuel to Iran in March, the power station was to begin working in September and it was to start producing energy in November. An Iranian delegation is due in Moscow Wednesday to discuss the projects financing.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
The Russians got all huffy and indignant when we said it was a bad idea building nuclear power plants for the Iranians, then they get stiffed on the bill. How delightful.
#9
How much does anyone want to bet that the contract payment is to be made in dollars or Euros only? You know, real hard currencies and not the ruble.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad went ballistic on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during a phone conversation, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Siyassah reported on Wednesday. Sources close to the Syrian leader told the newspaper that Assad had called the Iranian president to discuss Ahmadinejads meeting with Saudi Arabias King Abdullah in Riyadh.
However, the conversation reportedly turned ugly when Ahmadinejad voiced support for the establishment of an international tribunal to investigate the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri - a sensitive subject for Syria, which has been suspected of involvement in the Lebanese leaders death. The report said that Assad burst into an angry tirade and even cursed the Iranians at the end of the conversation.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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here is a thought: maybe Ahmadinejad believed baby Assad when the latter said he wasn't involved in the Hariri assassination and then when Ahmadinejad went to Abdullah, the latter convinced the former that since Assad wasn't involved there was no reason to stop the Hariri investigation.
#3
Baker Hamilton said talk to both Syria AND Iran for a grand bargain, which is BS.
You want to turn ONE of them, against the other.
Question is, which?
KSA, which is still seething over the Hariri boom, which wants quiet in its eastern prov (which Iran can offer) and which wants to run Leb, and which doesnt care so much about Hamas(which they also support against Israel), is looking for a grand bargain with Iran, and wants Iran to turn against Syria.
Some Israelis, OTOH, be less concerned about Hariri, and more concerned about Irans goals, including Israels destruction, and realizing that Golan is negotiable, and that peace with Syria would make conventional war against Israel almost impossible (freeing resources for strategic war) have considered the possibility of turning Syria.
These two competing attempts, however, actually reinforce each other, by increasing distrust between Teheran and Damascus. Israel has been saying for a while that they are not talking to Syria mainly out of deference to the US. This serves to remind the Iranians that Baby Assad cant be trusted. Which in turn tempts Iran to make a deal with KSA at Syrias expense. Which in turn reminds Assad that Iran cant be trusted, and adds more incentive to cut a deal with the Israelis.
Assistant Secretary General of the Bath Arab Socialist Party Abdullah al-Ahmar reviewed on Wednesday with Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi latest regional and international developments. Talks dealt with up-to-the-minute conditions in Iraq and boosting relations between the two countries in interest of the two sisterly peoples.
From Syrian state media:
BEIJING, (SANA)- People's Daily newspaper spoke on Wednesday about the historical standing relations between Syria and China ,underlining that relations that are dating to silk road are witnessing a very big developments in all domains. The paper indicated in an article the development progress and full modernizing process that Syria is witnessing in all different fields, highlighting the big civilized heritage and unique tourist components. The Editorialist who visited Syria recently spoke about good hospitality of the Chinese delegation visiting Syria ,saying the way of warm welcoming with the visitors reflects the sublime and generosity of the Syrian people.
"A memorandum of understating signed between the Syrian and Chinese governments to organize Chinese tourists entrance into Syria will lead to increase the civilized exchange between the two friendly countries," the paper said.
Al-Qaida has begun to infiltrate fighters in parts of southern Lebanon, replacing Hezbollah militants who were forced out of the area by Israel during last summer's violent clashes, said a well-informed Arab politician who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Still, the source said, this deployment of Islamist militants to south Lebanon is being carried out "with the discreet approval of Iran and Syria." Tehran and Damascus hope this will give them greater bargaining power in negotiating with the West over Iran's nuclear dossier and the ongoing investigation and pending trial into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, in which Syrian officials are prime suspects.
He added that the situation in south Lebanon was very "concerning," and was worrying moderate Arab leaders in the region who fear that with al-Qaida combatants now in striking distance of Israel, the situation in the Middle East could take a turn for the worst at any moment.
This new development is also very worrisome to countries that have contributed large number of troops to the upgraded UNIFIL, the United Nation Interim Force in Lebanon, particularly Italy and France.
One major concern is that the UNIFIL troops could become targets of al-Qaida should either Syria or Iran ever wish to pressure France or Italy or any other contributing nation. France, for example, fears its contingent in southern Lebanon could become the target of attacks as a result of Paris' support for the Lebanese government and the international community to have an international tribunal examine the assassination of Hariri.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
"...France, for example, fears..."
Yup. France fears. That about sums it up, don't it?
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.
A top Taliban commander said Wednesday the group has 4,000 fighters bracing to rebuff NATO's largest-ever offensive in northern Afghanistan, now in its second day. Suicide bombers are ready, land mines have been planted and helicopters will be targeted, 
Afghanistan's highest body of Islamic clerics ruled Wednesday against the parliament's calls for an amnesty for Afghans suspected of war crimes during a quarter-century of fighting. The religious scholars said the rights of victims are enshrined in Islamic law and should be respected. Fazel Ahmad Mahnavi, a member of the Islamic council, said scholars ruled that the parliament cannot issue a blanket amnesty because only the victims of crimes can forgive the perpetrators. 
KINSHASA, Congo (AP) - The head of Congo's atomic energy commission has been arrested on suspicion of illegally selling uranium found in the Central African mineral giant, officials said Wednesday. 
WASHINGTON (AP) -- In a direct challenge to 
A delegation from North Waziristan left for Wana on Wednesday to try and broker peace between a local tribe and foreign militants, a day after clashes between the two left at least 18 dead. A tribal source in Miranshah, regional headquarters of North Waziristan, said that Maulana Noor Alam was leading the jirga to broker a peace deal. The source did not say how many people the jirga included.
A Pakistani official has denied that there is a link between the Musharraf government and the Taliban, as asserted by an editorial in the Wall Street Journal. Shafqat Jalil, the press counsellor at Pakistans permanent mission to the UN, wrote in a letter published by the newspaper on Wednesday that the attempt to link the Taliban to Pakistans domestic political situation was based on incorrect information. 
Outgoing US Ambassador to Pakistan Ryan C Crocker has said that Washington has no warrant to demand the extradition of former Taliban defence minister Mullah Obaidullah Akhund, who was reportedly arrested from Quetta on February 26. We have no (arrest) warrant against him, the ambassador who has been confirmed as the new envoy to Iraq told Daily Times at a reception at US Consulate Principal Officer Lynne Tracys residence on Tuesday. Islamabad has not officially confirmed or denied media reports yet that Pakistani security forces have captured the deputy to the elusive Taliban chief Mullah Omar. Crocker also distanced himself from confirming the report, saying the arrest had not been notified officially yet, but both Pakistan and the US are in contact on a regular basis. 
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) -- A crush of 5,000 Palestinians trying to get through the newly opened Rafah border crossing from the Gaza Strip into Egypt on Thursday left an elderly man dead and seven people injured, Palestinian medics said. The Palestinians came to the crossing, which is rarely open, in the morning hoping to cross into Egypt. The crowd quickly became chaotic, witnesses said, and an elderly man on his way to a medical checkup in Egypt died. It was not immediately clear if he was trampled. 
Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu launched fresh attacks against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday, saying the government had failed and calling for new elections. "We need to have elections," he said during a press conference. "Most of the people have lost confidence in this government. The Knesset may not be ready for elections, but that appears to be what the public wants... The government failed in the war and the people want different leadership." 
