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Area: WoT Operations    Non-WoT    Opinion        Politix   
Iran invites American investigators to take part in the probe into PS752 plane incident that killed 176 people on board
Today's Headlines
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Page 6: Politix
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Afghanistan
Ex-Daesh Women and Children Transferred Across Durand Line
[ToloNews] One hundred and thirty women and kiddies separated from surrendered ISIS fighters were transferred to Pak tribal elders in Nangarhar
The unfortunate Afghan province located adjacent to Mohmand, Kurram, and Khyber Agencies. The capital is Jalalabad. The province was the fief of Younus Khalis after the Soviets departed and one of his sons is the current provincial Taliban commander. Nangarhar is Haqqani country..
province on Wednesday.

Nangarhar governor Shah Mahmood Miakhel said that these women and kiddies, along with hundreds of ISIS fighters, had surrendered to security forces in Nangarhar in recent months.

"Nearly 50 women and 80 children, after being identified by their relatives‐and, of course, after the women confirm--will be handed over to their relatives," said Miakhel, governor.

"These women are the Pashtun’s dignity. They are not criminals and the Afghan people should not consider them criminals," said Malik Osman, a tribal elder across the Durand Line.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Council of Boskone, Helmuth ordered the space pirate fleet to attack Zemblonia...
some rustics accused the Pak military intelligence service of supporting terror groups in Afghanistan.

Pakistain has denied the allegation.

"The savage Pak military‐ISI-- has wreaked havoc on us, and now they have started here (Afghanistan). Let's stop these evil people together," said Malik Saboori Afridi, a tribal elder across the Durand Line.

"We are very pleased with you (Afghan government). These people (ISIS fighters) have committed more crimes in our country than they ever did in your country," said Asmatullah Orakzai, a tribal elder from across the Durand Line.

Local government officials in Nangarhar said the defeat of ISIS in the province late last year resulted in one thousand and one hundred ISIS fighters, many of them Paks, surrendering to security forces with their children and spouses.

Last year in November 2019 President Ghani, visiting Nangarhar province, said the "elimination "of ISIS in the province is a major achievement for Afghanistan, the region and the world.

In recent years, Nangarhar has been named a key ISIS base in Afghanistan.

During his visit to Nangarhar province President Ghani also considered what to do with the ISIS members and their families who have surrendered.

"My request, Mr. Governor, is to speak to the elders as soon as possible in order to deal in an Afghan and Islamic way with the women and kiddies of ISIS fighters and to prepare a plan to transfer them to the other tribes-- of Wazoo or Khyber Agency
... the place to go if you've got an Indiana Jones hat and whip. Chock full of high adventure and treacherous Pathans. You should really train up to it, though...
. I don't want to hand them over to Pakistain," Ghani said.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State


Africa North
Erdogan: We are in #Libya to end injustice
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
And who are we to doubt him?
Define "injustice"
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  And I have a bridge over the Bosporus to sell you.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 7:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Of course he’s propping up the Islamic fanatics and militias
Haftar is not an Islamist or a moslem brotherhood minion and the would be sultan see a nonsecular government in Libya as a threat to his megalomania
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 01/10/2020 8:37 Comments || Top||

#3  There are Gulenists and Kurds to be exterminated everywhere!
Posted by: magpie || 01/10/2020 10:51 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 - I think you mean secular?
Posted by: Frank G || 01/10/2020 10:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Diverting attention away from his problems at home.
Posted by: Mullah Richard || 01/10/2020 11:36 Comments || Top||

#6  Jimmy Carter's translator.

He said "We are in Libya to endjustice,"
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 17:09 Comments || Top||


Di Maio: Consensus in Brussels, Istanbul, Algiers and Cairo on a ceasefire in #Libya
[PUBLISH.TWITTER] But the concensus doesn't extend to Benghazi or Tobruk.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Commander of the Libyan Army (Haftar) has officially refused any cease-fire
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
"No hudna for you!"

Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Egypt, Algeria agreed to reject the foreign presence in #Libya
[TWITTER]
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte


Costumer feed back on the #Turkish #BMC
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
Gulenist Yelp?

Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Sublime Porte

#1  All good 'features'.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 17:10 Comments || Top||


Europe
Italian politician says Sarraj rejection to meet Conte is "a slap on the face"
[Libya Observer] An opposition Italian senator has said that the head of the Presidential Council, Fayez al-Sarraj, evaded meeting with Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte in Rome, saying that it was a "slap on the face" for Conte and confirms the ultimate failure of the Italian Government.

The head of the Forza Italia bloc in the Italian Senate, Anna Maria Bernini, added "Unprecedented diplomatic chaos has already occurred,".

"Calling a prime minister without informing him that his enemy will be present in Rome is either an overestimate of the Italian position as an international mediator, or our politicians are just amateurs," she added, underscoring that both are devastating, in the midst of an international crisis of such magnitude.

It is noteworthy that warlord Khalifa Haftar
...Self-proclaimed Field Marshal, served in the Libyan army under Muammar Qadaffy, and took part in the coup that brought Qadaffy to power in 1969. He became a prisoner of war in Chad in 1987. While held prisoner, he and his fellow officers formed a group hoping to overthrow Qadaffy, so it's kind of hard to describe him as a Qadaffy holdover. He was released around 1990 in a deal with the United States government and spent nearly two decades in the United States, gaining US citizenship. In 1993, while living in the United States, he was convicted in absentia of crimes against the Jamahiriya and sentenced to death. Haftar held a senior position in the anti-Qadaffy forces in the 2011 Libyan Civil War. In 2014 he was commander of the Libyan Army when the General National Congress (GNC) refused to give up power in accordance with its term of office. Haftar launched a campaign against the GNC and its Islamic fundamentalist allies. His campaign allowed elections to take place to replace the GNC, but then developed into a civil war. Guess you can't win them all...
arrived on Wednesday in Rome to meet Prime Ministers, Giuseppe Conte. At the same time, Conte extended a similar invitation to Sarraj - who was on a visit to the EU in Brussels.

A source close to the Presidential Council confirmed to the Libya Observer that al-Sarraj was unaware of Haftar's presence in Italia. Sarraj cancelled his trip to Rome and returned from Brussels to Tripoli
...a confusing city, one end of which is located in Lebanon and the other end of which is the capital of Libya. Its chief distinction is being mentioned in the Marine Hymn...
as soon as he was informed of Haftar's presence in Rome, according to the source.

Libyan government officials have denied any plans of a meeting between the Presidential Council head Sarraj and warlord Haftar, neither in Italia nor elsewhere.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring


Fifth Column
Islamist Michigan Imam Eulogizes Dead Iranian Who Killed American. video
[MEMRI] Dearborn imam eulogizes Soleimani, calls his killing a cowardly and heinous act.

Imam Ibrahim Kazerooni prays for the soul of Qassem Soleimani; tells congregants that "he brought hope to the marginalized and fear to the enemies of Islam, particularly the U.S."

He cited several examples from Islam. "The verse is clear: 'There are two good alternatives for us, and two equally bad and cursed alternatives for you. For us, there is either martyrdom or victory. For you, [there is either] punishment from Allah or defeat in our hands."

'Let's wait and see what happens next."
Perhaps the Iman's political position should lose his Mosque’s tax exemption and his immigration status reviewed. If he is not a naturalized citizen his rhetoric should get him deported.
Broadcast live from the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan — the video can be seen at the link.
The Times of Israel points out a related MEMRI post:
While Kazerooni praised Soleimani for his backing of Syria, an Afghani lawmaker said the Iranian general was responsible for the deaths of thousands of her countrymen there who were fighting in Iran-backed militias.

“It is clear to everybody that Soleimani was a man who committed numerous crimes in Afghanistan. He brought about the deaths of at least 5,500 young Afghans, in the framework of the so-called Fatemiyoun Division in Syria. 1,200 men are still missing,” MP Belquis Roshan said in a video posted to Facebook, according to MEMRI.

She also said she was “ashamed” that Hamid Karzai, the former president of Afghanistan, condemned the killing of “such people.”
Posted by: Woodrow || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Moslem Colonists

#1  Ratshita's base.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 0:45 Comments || Top||

#2  That picture ... is he screwing a goat?
Posted by: Beau || 01/10/2020 1:56 Comments || Top||

#3  one of 'Erb's Goat-Hurters
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 2:20 Comments || Top||


Home Front: Politix
House approves non-binding resolution aimed at limiting Trump's military action against Iran
Golly. They sure showed him.
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
And courtesy of Woodrow:
Obama CIA Iran cash stooge Rep Slotkin introduced the War Powers legislation

[CBSNews] This week Slotkin introduced the War Powers legislation to limit President Trump's powers on confronting Iran. Elissa Slotkin was a CIA analyst who supported the Obama Iranian deal.

Many suspect her role in the billions in bribes and pallets of cash that were hand delivered to the Iranian regime.

In November when facing constituents Slotkin refused to answer questions about her involvement in Obama's secret payments to Iran. Why is that? And why is Slotkin leading the charge against President Trump in favor of the Iranian regime?





File under WTF. She seems to have a bad attitude about even being questioned...several of her townhalls have been interrupted by legitimate questions she won't answer...



Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Shitshow, Wannabe Edition. Part Gazillion.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 1:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Do they say "kish myr in tuches" in Queens?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/10/2020 3:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Last night I asked Google "number of conflicts America has been in?" I stopped counting at 93. Number of times Congress has Declared War? 5...well actually in WWII there was a separate declaration for each of the Axis nations, so that pushes the number up to 10.
Posted by: Sonny Black || 01/10/2020 7:38 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Trump says new Iran sanctions have come into effect
[IsraelTimes] ’It’s already been done. We’ve increased them. They were very severe, but now it’s increased substantially,’ Trump says, without offering any specifics.
Mnuchin and Pompeo confirming just now
US President Donald Trump
...the Nailer of NAFTA...
said Thursday the United States had imposed new sanctions on Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
following missile strikes on bases housing US troops in Iraq that resulted in no American or Iraqi deaths.

"It’s already been done. We’ve increased them. They were very severe, but now it’s increased substantially," Trump said, without offering any specifics.

Trump had promised the "additional punishing sanctions" in an address to the nation Wednesday in retaliation for the attack ‐ seen by experts as a measured first response by Tehran to the killing of Iran’s top general, Qassem Soleimani
, in an American dronezap in Baghdad.

The Trump administration has already reinstated all the US sanctions that were eased under the 2015 nuclear deal. But it still has room to boost the penalties and step up its "maximum pressure campaign" on Iran. Some argue that he could call for the reimposition, or "snapback," of all international sanctions at the United Nations
...where theory meets practice and practice loses...
The primary agencies involved in implementing sanctions ‐ the departments of Commerce, State and Treasury ‐ do not disclose any actions in advance to prevent targets from taking steps to evade them.

Yet, the administration retains broad authority to expand existing US sanctions on Iran’s financial, energy, shipping and military sectors and it can target individual Iranian officials and their families with penalties, including asset freezes and travel bans.

It can also raise the pressure by threatening foreign individuals and companies with US civil and criminal penalties if they do business with designated Iranians, under so-called secondary sanctions authority.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 08:51 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Time to sanction companies and countries seeking to evade the sanctions. A good start would be "any infraction incurs a 90 day embargo on the offending company / country importing goods or services to the USA." The eurines won't be able to help themselves.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 9:31 Comments || Top||


AP article blames US for Iran airliner shootdown
This kind of crap makes me so goddamn angry, but what are you going to do? The media is completely biased. They can only see one side - the left side.
TORONTO (AP) ‐ The worst had passed, it seemed, and the United States and Iran no longer appeared poised at the edge of war.

"All is well!" President Donald Trump tweeted Tuesday night, days after a U.S. drone strike killed Iran’s most powerful general, and Iran, after a barrage of missiles, had signaled it was stepping back from further escalation.

But 27 seconds before Trump’s tweet, commercial flight trackers had lost contact with a Ukrainian International Airlines jet that had just taken off from Tehran’s main airport. On board were 176 people, including 138 passengers on their way to Canada and at least 63 Canadian citizens and 11 Ukrainians. The plane, which never made a mayday call, slammed moments later into the ground.

Everyone on board died. They were students, newlyweds, doctors and parents. The youngest was a 1-year-old girl, Kurdia Molani, who was flying back home with her parents to the Toronto suburb of Ajax.

By late Thursday, Western leaders said that Iran had most likely shot down the jetliner with a surface-to-air missile ‐ probably by accident. The loss of so many lives transformed the U.S.-Iran confrontation, which had seemed to conclude with limited bloodshed.

Instead, what had begun with a drone attack on Gen. Qassem Soleimani’s motorcade at the Baghdad airport had suddenly rippled outward until dozens of Iranian-Canadians, dozens of Iranian students studying in Canada, were dead.
Naturally the AP leaves out that Solemani was the man responsible for more US deaths in the 2010s than anyone else. And they draw a false chain of causality, just so they can blame Trump.
Posted by: Herb McCoy || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Vile. Disgusting. Criminal.
How does this garbage even get published?
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 0:47 Comments || Top||

#2  Hey Lex, you should be used to this by now.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/10/2020 3:41 Comments || Top||

#3  An expected consequence of foreigners bringing you the news. Foreign news bureaus staffed by Americans are long dead. Lowest dollar salary is the lowest common denominator in an increasingly leftist and third world dominated field.
Posted by: Gomez Ominter3435 || 01/10/2020 3:45 Comments || Top||

#4  One reason Fred encourages reporting from elsewhere, however biased. So you can read what the locals/furriners are being told. Only slightly worse than our own domestic agitprop
Posted by: Frank G || 01/10/2020 5:54 Comments || Top||

#5  And they wonder why we hate them.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 6:57 Comments || Top||

#6  If you aim at it and hit it, it's not an accident. Best they can try for is "negligent discharge". Still culpable.
Posted by: Mercutio || 01/10/2020 7:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Their industry is slowly disappearing; about 1,000 jobs lost each month in TV & print in the US. I can live with that, and they can learn to code.
Posted by: Raj || 01/10/2020 9:51 Comments || Top||

#8  I remember back I think in the first Gulf war, some well known talking head admitted that if he had knowledge of an enemy ambush on American troops being planned, he'd feel no need to alert the US forces. Things have only gotten worse since then...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 10:18 Comments || Top||

#9  /\ #8, Are you recalling: " PBS journalism panel presses Mike Wallace, Peter Jennings to agree they would need to sell out American troops to maintain journalistic integrity (1989)"...?
Posted by: magpie || 01/10/2020 10:42 Comments || Top||

#10  I remember that show vividly and how sanctimonious Wallace was about not warning Americans about the ambush. But the best part was the USMC Colonel’s reaction:

“Later, Ogletree noted the “venomous reaction” from George Connell, a Marine Corps colonel, who angrily declared: “I feel utter contempt. Two days later they’re both walking off my hilltop, they’re 200 yards away and they get ambushed. And they’re lying there wounded. And they’re going to expect I’m going to send Marines up there to get them. They’re just journalists, they’re not Americans....And Marines will die, going to get a couple of journalists.”
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 01/10/2020 11:35 Comments || Top||

#11  "Journalistic integrity"? What's that? What's the frequency, Kenneth?
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 11:54 Comments || Top||


Council of Islamic Ideology terms certain sections of NAB law 'un-Islamic'
[DAWN] The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) on Thursday termed some sections of the National Accountability Ordinance, 1999, as going against the Shariah.

Addressing a press conference on Thursday, chairman of the CII, Dr Qibla Ayaz, said the council held a two-day-long meeting during which it concluded that sections 14-D, 15-A and 26 of the NAO were un-Islamic.

Section 14 of the law pertains to presumption against accused accepting illegal gratification, Section 15 pertains to disqualification to contest elections (or to hold public office) and Section 26 pertains to the tender of pardon.

Ayaz said that according to the council, handcuffing suspects and airing footage of the arrest on media is un-Islamic. Additionally, the council said that it was not the suspects' responsibility to prove their guilt and keeping a suspect in custody for long periods without a case also went against Islamic principles.

As per the CII, plea bargains and turning of suspects into approvers is also against the Shariah.

Ayaz said with the National Accountability (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019, the accountability law will become further discriminatory.

"NAB law is not compatible with Islamic laws on crime and punishment," Dr Ayaz said, adding that the council will also review amendments to the law.

Last month, through a presidential ordinance, the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government made drastic changes in the country’s accountability law.

After smooth sailing of the three key bills on the tenure of the services chiefs through the parliament, the government and the opposition on Wednesday agreed to discuss and build consensus for legislation on other important matters including the powers of NAB.

Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [8 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  14 centuries into it and they still can't figure out what in the merry H they're doing.
Posted by: Cesare || 01/10/2020 8:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, when your original document (the Quran) is full of contradictions, it's hard to keep things straight. Very hard.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 01/10/2020 18:24 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Six new cases of wild polio virus detected across country bringing 2019 tally to 134
[DAWN] Six new polio
...Poliomyelitis is a disease caused by infection with the poliovirus. Between 1840 and the 1950s, polio was a worldwide epidemic. Since the development of polio vaccines the disease has been largely wiped out in the civilized world. However, since the vaccine is known to make Moslem pee-pees shrink and renders females sterile, bookish, and unsubmissive it is not widely used by the turban and automatic weapons set. Currently the disease is only found in Pakistain and Afghanistain...
virus cases have emerged from different parts of Pakistain, increasing the overall tally for 2019 to 134.

According to statistics shared by the Regional Reference Laboratory (RRL) for polio eradication, two cases have emerged from Dera Ghazi Khan and one each from Lakki Marwat, Dera Ismail Khan
... the Pearl of Pashtunistan ...
, Jamshoro and Kambar.

The two cases found in Dera Ghazi Khan include female infants ‐ aged six months and 12 months. In Dera Ismail Khan, the virus was detected in a two-year-old boy; in Lakki Marwat, a nine-month-old female tested positive. In Kambar, a three-year-old boy, while in Jamshoro a 12-year-old boy was infected.

These cases fall in last year's tally based on the date of detection of the virus in the children.

Pakistain is one of only three countries where the crippling virus is endemic. The other two countries are Nigeria and Afghanistan.

Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  Oh, thought it was Marin County & Santa Barbara.
(Anti-Vaxxer Central.)
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  They have domesticated polio virus in Pakistan?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/10/2020 3:49 Comments || Top||

#3  part of their Culture™, so to speak
Posted by: Frank G || 01/10/2020 5:57 Comments || Top||

#4  At least the mullahs say their peepees won't fall off. OTOH, they are too paralyzed to make any use of it.
Posted by: Gomez Ominter3435 || 01/10/2020 7:56 Comments || Top||

#5  Frank, if I said that my wife would say "Go to your room."

I snorted
Posted by: AlanC || 01/10/2020 8:43 Comments || Top||


ATC summons Hafiz Saeed for closing statements in two terror financing cases
[DAWN] An Anti-Terrorism Court has summoned Jamaat-ud-Dawa
...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba...
(JuD) leader Hafiz Saeed
...founder of Lashkar-e-Taiba and its false-mustache offshoot Jamaat-ud-Dawa. The United Nations declared the JuD a terrorist organization in 2008 and Hafiz Saeed a terrorist as its leader. Hafiz, JuD and LeT are wholly-owned subsidiaries of the Pak intel apparatus, so that amounted to squat. He is periodically placed under house arrest so it looks like the govt is doing something. Once the heat is off they let him go....
to record his closing statement on Friday after it wrapped up the trial of two terror financing cases against him.

Trials of both the cases against the JuD leader wrapped up on Thursday. The cases, heard by ATC judge Malik Arshad Bhutt, were registered by the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) over charges of accumulating illegal funding.

Deputy Prosecutor General Abdul Rauf Wattu represented the state in the case where statements of 23 witnesses were recorded.

On December 11, 2019, Saeed and four other JuD leaders were indicted by the court, six months after they were booked for offences pertaining to terror financing.

The JuD leaders denied the allegations.
No, no! Certainly not!
against them as being baseless and a result of international pressure on the Pakistain government. They claimed that they have been charged in the cases by wrongly attributing them as leaders of the banned Lashkar-e-Taiba
...the Army of the Pure, an Ahl-e-Hadith terror organization founded by Hafiz Saeed. LeT masquerades behind the Jamaat-ud-Dawa facade within Pakistain and periodically blows things up and kills people in India. Despite the fact that it is banned, always an interesting concept in Pakistain, the organization remains an blatant tool and perhaps an arm of the ISI...
(LeT).

They pleaded that it was an admitted fact, supported by the superior courts’ decisions, that they had already quit the LeT before the organization was proscribed in 2002. They argued that the cases against them had been registered on the basis of a link to the defunct al-Nifal Trust which, they claim, was formed to construct mosques in the country. They said the CTD registered cases without any substantive evidence.

Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Iraq
Trump insists no plans to pull US troops out of Iraq, for now
[IsraelTimes] White House and Pentagon deny intention to withdraw forces as Iraq premier says he’s received mystery US letter signalling pullout.

The United States has no plans to withdraw its troops from Iraq, the White House and Pentagon insisted Tuesday, as Iraq premier Adel Abdel Mahdi said he had received a US letter signalling a pullout.

President Donald Trump
...The tack in the backside of the Democratic Party...
said withdrawing the more than 5,000 US troops in Iraq would be the "worst thing" for that country..

Defense Secretary Mark Esper underscored that US policy has not changed, dismissing as a mere "draft" the unsigned letter from a US general to Iraq’s government saying Washington would redeploy troops "in due deference to the illusory sovereignty" of the country.

"At some point we want to get out, but this isn’t the right point," Trump said. "It’s the worst thing that could happen to Iraq."

"Our policy has not changed. We are not leaving Iraq," Esper told news hounds.

"There is no signed letter, to the best of my knowledge," Esper added.

MYSTERY LETTER
But its existence continued to ripple through Iraqi and US politics, with no explanation of why it was circulated.

"It was an official letter written in such a manner," Abdel Mahdi told a televised cabinet meeting Tuesday.

"It’s not a piece of paper that fell off the printer or reached us by coincidence," he said.

The letter discussed "redeploying with an aim to withdraw from the country. The expressions were very clear," he said.

But Trump warned that a US departure would leave a gap that would be filled by Iran, whose powerful political influence in Iraq was spearheaded by Soleimani.

"If we leave, that would mean that Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
would have a much bigger foothold, and the people of Iraq do not want to see Iran run the country. That I can tell you," Trump told news hounds.

"The Iraqi people were not happy when the suggestion was made yesterday that we were thinking about leaving at some point," he said.

"But at some point, we will want to leave."
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli PM Office: The government approved the release of the two Syrian prisoners
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]
The Times of Israel adds:
Israel has announced the release of two prisoners — one of whom was convicted of spying for Syria — as part of a swap deal brokered by Russia.

Sidqi al-Maqt, from the Druze town of Majdal Shams, was sentenced to 14 years behind bars in 2017 for spying on IDF positions on behalf of Syria intelligence. He was arrested in 2015 on suspicion of passing photographs and written reports of IDF positions to Syrian intelligence officials.

He had already spent several years behind bars in Israel for spying.

“Security prisoner Sidqi Al-Maqt will be released tomorrow, January 10, before the scheduled end of his imprisonment,” Israeli prison officials said in a statement late Thursday.

Authorities also announced the early release of another Golan Heights resident, Amal Abu Salah, who was jailed in 2015 for taking part in a deadly mob attack on an ambulance carrying a wounded Syrian rebel into the country for treatment.

He had been due to remain behind bars until 2023 for his role in the violence, which left the wounded Syrian dead and two soldiers transporting him lightly injured.

Abu Salah was released at midnight, according to Hebrew reports.

News of the release raised speculation in Israel that it could be tied to an upcoming visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin later this month and efforts to secure the release of Israeli traveler Naama Issachar, who is serving a 7.5 year sentence in Moscow after marijuana was found in her bag during a layover there.

However, authorities maintained that the early releases are a “gesture of goodwill” after the repatriation to Israel last year of the remains of Zachary Baumel, an Israeli soldier missing since the 1982 Battle of Sultan Yacoub in the Lebanon War.

Baumel’s remains were returned to Israel via Russia last year.

In April, Israel released two other Syrian prisoners back to Syria as a “goodwill gesture” to Damascus following the return of Baumel’s remains.

The two men were identified by Israel as a drug smuggler and a Fatah operative jailed 14 years ago for an attempted attack on IDF soldiers.

According to Israeli media, the release of Sidqi al-Maqt and Amal Abu Salah was delayed because the two men wanted to return to the town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights, rather than to Syria. Israel had demanded they cross the border and only be allowed to apply to return after five years.

Some 23,000 Druze still live on the part of the Golan Heights seized from Syria by Israel in 1967 and later annexed.

Part of the Druze population in the Golan still consider themselves Syrian and remained allied with the Assad regime throughout the civil war.
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria


Israel Confident its Laser anti missile system will work
[Jpost] The Defense Ministry has made a technological breakthrough in the development of lasers that can intercept aerial threats, including rockets and anti-tank guided missiles, it announced Wednesday.

New laser technology "makes the security apparatus more lethal, more powerful and more advanced," Defense Minister Naftali Bennett said Wednesday evening.

As a result of the breakthrough, the ministry has launched three programs for the development of high-energy laser demonstration systems in cooperation with the two companies: a ground-based laser system to complement the capabilities of the Iron Dome, development of a maneuverable platform-mounted laser system to defend troops in the field and the development of a laser demo system mounted on an air platform to intercept threats above cloud covers and for the defense of wide areas.

"This is one system with many options – the weapon of the future," Rotem said.

Throughout the year there will be several trials of the demos' capabilities, the ministry said. If effective, they will be deployed to the Gaza border area.
Posted by: lord garth || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Concentrated hair rays
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/10/2020 3:51 Comments || Top||

#2 
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 01/10/2020 5:47 Comments || Top||

#3  That looks like the secondaries when Israel hits a Hezbollah cache, Bright Pebbles — exploding outward from the inside.
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 19:22 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
LTG (Ret) Jerry Boykin says POTUS 'definitely justified' in Suleiman action
[Drudge] Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin (ret.) said that President Donald Trump was definitely justified in eliminating Iranian terrorist Qassem Suleimani, and if he had not done so it would have been an "act of malfeasance."

Boykin, the former head of Delta Force and the U.S. Army Special Operations Command, made his remarks on the Jan. 6 broadcast of Washington Watch with Tony Perkins, hosted by Family Research Council President Tony Perkins.

During the show, Perkins asked, "Now, the president, in taking this action, was he justified?"

Boykin said, "Tony, this is the most insane thing that I think I’ve heard in a long, long time is this questioning whether he should have taken this guy out."

"If he had not taken this guy out, I would consider it to be an act of malfeasance," said the retired lieutenant general.

"This guy was planning more attacks on Americans," said Boykin. "He had killed Americans in the past and maimed thousands of Americans.

"Here he was, in a two-minute window, knowing that he was there to plan more attacks on Americans," said the general. "If the president hadn’t taken him out, it would have been, I think, an irresponsible decision on the president’s part."
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  Thank you general - any hot tips on where the sun will rise tomorrow?
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/10/2020 3:43 Comments || Top||

#2  HA! so did JJ.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 17:05 Comments || Top||


Soleimani, colleagues martyred in struggle against US imperialism: Analyst
[PRESSTV] Iranian Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani
and his colleagues were "martyred in the struggle against US imperialism and subjugation," an analyst says.

Dennis Etler made the remarks in an interview with Press TV when asked about US President Donald Trump
...Perhaps no man has ever had as much fun being president of the US...
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran Proxies

#1  "Liquidation" - giggle. This loon's brain arrested in the 1930's.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 1:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Hopefully to be joined by lots other martyrs soon.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru PB || 01/10/2020 3:45 Comments || Top||

#3  That last paragraph could've been a Herb Macro
Posted by: Frank G || 01/10/2020 5:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Press TV (stylised as PRESSTV) is a 24-hour English- and French-language news and documentary network affiliated with Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting. Press TV is headquartered in Tehran. Etler is an anti-American Marxist Sinophile.
Posted by: b || 01/10/2020 8:24 Comments || Top||

#5  Perhaps Prof Etler ought hurry on to the Teheran Airport, wouldn't want to be late.
Posted by: Cesare || 01/10/2020 8:30 Comments || Top||

#6  anti-American Marxist Sinophile

What they used to call a Maoist in the old days, b? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 01/10/2020 9:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Yeah, remember how the press here oohed and awwwed over the Bath House cartel's Mao Christmas ornaments?
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 10:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Etler is a product of Berkeley ?
Posted by: Dron66046 || 01/10/2020 10:40 Comments || Top||


#10  It is the US that has destabilized the Middle East, not Iran.

Who stormed whose embassy and held them as hostages?
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 14:23 Comments || Top||


Iran says Ukrainian plane was on fire, tried to turn back
[DAWN] The crew of a Ukrainian jetliner that crashed in Iran, killing 176 people, never made a radio call for help and were trying to turn back for the airport when their burning plane went down, an initial Iranian report said on Thursday.

The Iranian report suggests a sudden emergency struck the Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines in the early hours of Wednesday morning, when it crashed, just minutes after taking off from Imam Khomeini International Airport in Tehran. It was the first fatal crash of the country's largest carrier, Ukraine International Airlines.

Investigators from Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation offered no immediate explanation for the disaster, however.

Ukraine, meanwhile, said it considered a missile strike or terrorism as possible theories for the crash, despite Iran's denials.

Iranian officials initially blamed a technical malfunction for the crash, something initially backed by Ukrainian officials before they said they wouldn't speculate amid an ongoing investigation.

The crash came just a few hours after Iran
...a theocratic Shiite state divided among the Medes, the Persians, and the (Arab) Elamites. Formerly a fairly civilized nation ruled by a Shah, it became a victim of Islamic revolution in 1979. The nation is today noted for spontaneously taking over other countries' embassies, maintaining whorehouses run by clergymen, involvement in international drug trafficking, and financing sock puppet militias to extend the regime's influence. The word Iran is a cognate form of Aryan, the abbreviation IRGC is a cognate form of Stürmabteilung (or SA), the term Supreme Guide is a cognate form of either Shah or Führer or maybe both, and they hate Jews Zionists Jews. Their economy is based on the production of oil and vitriol...
launched a ballistic missile attack against Iraqi military bases housing US troops amid a confrontation with Washington over it killing an Iranian Revolutionary Guard general in a dronezap last week.

The Ukrainian International Airlines took off at 6:12am on Wednesday, after nearly an hour's delay at Tehran's Imam Khomeini Airport, the main airport for travellers in Iran. It gained altitude heading west, reaching nearly 8,000 feet, according to both the report and flight-tracking data.

Then something went wrong, though no radio messages were received from the pilot regarding unusual situations, the report said. In emergencies, pilots typically immediately contact air-traffic controllers.

Eyewitnesses, including the crew of another flight passing above it, described seeing the plane engulfed in flames before crashing at 6:18am, the report said.

The crash caused a massive explosion when the plane hit the ground, likely because the aircraft had been fully loaded with fuel for the flight to Kyiv, Ukraine.

The report also confirmed that both of the so-called black boxes that contain data and cockpit communications from the plane had been recovered, though they sustained damage and some parts of their memory was lost.

It also said that Sherlocks have initially ruled out laser or electromagnetic interference as causing the crash.

Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [10 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  A mechanical problem, no doubt. Or maybe sabotage!

Who makes that airplane? Blame Boeing!
Posted by: Bobby || 01/10/2020 9:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Burning. FROM THE MISSILE!
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 17:07 Comments || Top||


Video shows moment Ukrainian airliner is struck by missile over Iran
Technical problems...
[NYPOST] Video apparently shows the moment that a Ukrainian airliner was struck by an Iranian missile shortly after lifting off from an airport in Tehran.

The 19-second clip, obtained by the New York Times

...which still proudly displays Walter Duranty's Pulitzer prize...

, shows a night sky suddenly illuminated by a flash of light, followed by a deafening boom.



By the clip’s close, the sounds of sirens can be heard in the background.

US officials said Thursday that it was "highly likely" the Ukrainian International Airlines flight, which had 176 people aboard, was struck by an Iranian anti-aircraft missile early Wednesday.

There were no survivors.

The crew never made an emergency call before the Kiev-bound plane crashed to the ground in pieces a fiery wreck while trying in vain to steer towards Khomeini International Airport, and away from homes.

Among the dead were 82 Iranians, 63 Canadians, 11 Ukrainians, 10 Swedes, four Afghans, three Germans and three Brits.

Sources in the the Pentagon, as well as both the US and Iraqi intelligence communities, told Newsweek that the Boeing 737-800 was struck by a Russian-built Tor M-1 surface-to-air missile.

The plane’s downing was unintentional, the sources added, collateral damage in the immediate aftermath of Iran’s firing at US forces in Iraq as retribution for an American dronezap that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani
.

Posted by: Fred || 01/10/2020 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Iran

#1  *Dons Turban of Aluminium*

What if the whole point of their Flurry of BMs was to shoot down this plane?
Posted by: swksvolFF || 01/10/2020 16:24 Comments || Top||


Government
Army general refuses to restore Special Forces tab for officer pardoned by Trump
[The Hill] A U.S. Army general refused a request by an officer who was pardoned by President Trump to have his Special Forces tab reinstated.

Lt. Gen. Francis M. Beaudette ‐ commander of U.S. Army Special Operations Command ‐ denied the request by retired Maj. Mathew L. Golsteyn on Dec. 3, The Washington Post reports.

The statement released by the Army on Thursday said that an administrative panel would review whether Golsteyn should have his Special Forces Tab and the Distinguished Service Cross ‐ the military’s second-highest valor award ‐ reinstated. The panel will also review a letter of reprimand Golsteyn received in connection with his case, according to the Post.

Golsteyn was scheduled to go on trial this year for the killing of a Taliban bomb maker in Marja, Afghanistan, in February 2010.

The killing first became known during a CIA polygraph test that Golsteyn took in 2011, as the agency was considering him for a job. He had his Special Forces Tab and valor award stripped in 2014 and was charged with murder by Army officials in 2018.

In November, Trump pardoned both Golsteyn and former Army 1st Lt. Clint Lorance, who had been convicted of murder in Afghanistan. The president also reinstated the rank of Navy SEAL to Chief Petty Officer Edward Gallagher, who was acquitted of murder in 2019, but convicted of posing with the corpse of an ISIS fighter in Iraq.

"I’m disappointed, but I’m not surprised," Golsteyn told the Post. "I was really hoping they would do the right thing."

Beaudette's move mirrors what the Navy's actions in November, when it decided to convene a board that would determine whether or not to expel Gallagher from the SEALs. This move was blocked by Trump, who eventually pardoned Gallagher. Navy Secretary Richard V. Spencer was ousted from his post, after butting heads with Trump over the matter.
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 08:51 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bust the general to private and send him to Syria. I'm sadly not surprised at how many worthless toadies of Obama remain. Don't let him resign.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 01/10/2020 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps MAJ Golsteyn and the Orange Man should conduct a link-up at Bragg for a special TAB ceremony ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 9:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Tomorrow's headline should read "Lt. Gen. Beaudette announces retirement".
IIRC, Every officer serves at the pleasure of the President. Trump can correct this little problem.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia || 01/10/2020 10:04 Comments || Top||

#4  make him an example like the admiral in the gallagher case
Posted by: Chris || 01/10/2020 10:42 Comments || Top||

#5  For a very long time now the military in this country has lost sight of the fact that they are subservient to the civilian elected officials. From McRaven to Vindman to retired cranks like Stavridis and Hayden, they have the understanding of civics one would expect from a Chicongo or Bawlmr school drop out.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 11:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Looking at the ones I naned above it's easy to see how you wind up with Rapone.
Posted by: M. Murcek || 01/10/2020 11:16 Comments || Top||

#7  "We have good corporals and good sergeants and some good lieutenants and captains, and those are far more important than good generals."
- Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 11:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Busting him, like Silentbrick stated, would be a good place to start. However, we seem to have too many General officers who aren't doing their jobs. Maybe fire them all, clean house, and dump all of the PC bullshit.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 01/10/2020 11:50 Comments || Top||

#9  ^ Agreed. Big broom needed.
Posted by: Lex || 01/10/2020 11:52 Comments || Top||

#10  Pull all of his "love me" medals and kick him out sans full retirement benefits .
Posted by: Thaith Elmeresing6163 || 01/10/2020 12:56 Comments || Top||

#11  The appointment and promotion orders reads -

From: The President of the United States of America
To all who shall see these presents, greeting:
Know Ye, that reposing special trust and confidence in the patriotism, valor, fidelity and abilities of...


Be interesting if someone used the language in public that "I no longer have trust or confidence in..."

Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 13:00 Comments || Top||

#12  Nome welcomes new weather officer.
Posted by: The peanut gallery || 01/10/2020 16:52 Comments || Top||

#13  Rotate O6+ thru 'austere' battlefield conditions.
3 months is good.
Watch the attrition.
Posted by: Skidmark || 01/10/2020 17:02 Comments || Top||

#14  Ref #12: SWO (Staff Weather Officer). Highest ranking SWO in DoD. I love it.

Accompanied tour? Unaccompanied ?
Posted by: Besoeker || 01/10/2020 17:29 Comments || Top||

#15  Chistka time.

Long overdue, actually.
Posted by: charger || 01/10/2020 18:00 Comments || Top||

#16  Lincoln fired a lot of generals. Just saying.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 01/10/2020 20:41 Comments || Top||



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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
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trailing wife
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Two weeks of WOT
Fri 2020-01-10
  Iran invites American investigators to take part in the probe into PS752 plane incident that killed 176 people on board
Thu 2020-01-09
  U.S. Officials Confirm Iran Shot Down Ukrainian Airliner
Wed 2020-01-08
  Iran informs the United Nations and #UNSC that they ''do not seek war and warn of any military adventures"
Tue 2020-01-07
  Iraq Under Missile Attack From Iran
Mon 2020-01-06
  3 Americans Dead, 6 Aircraft Destroyed Or Damaged, Including A Rare Spy Plane, In #Kenya Attack
Sun 2020-01-05
  Iran Puts $80M Bounty on Trump's Head for Soleimani Hit
Sat 2020-01-04
  6 More Iran-Backed Leaders Zapped, incl. Shibl al-Zaidi, commander of Kataib Imam Ali
Fri 2020-01-03
  Lebanon Hizbullah: "It's war!"
Thu 2020-01-02
  Qassim Soleimani, head of Iran's elite Quds force, zapped in Iraq
Wed 2020-01-01
  Hashid Al Shaabi #PMF leader Abo Alaa Al Walae threatens to attack Embassies of #Saudi, #UAE, #Bahrain and others in #Baghdad.
Tue 2019-12-31
  Crowd storms US Embassy compound in Baghdad
Mon 2019-12-30
  Qais al-Khazali was a close associate of Qassem Suleimani - killed by USAF.
Sun 2019-12-29
  Iraq launches new military operation against ISIS 4 provinces
Sat 2019-12-28
  US civilian contractor killed and several US and Iraqi personnel wounded in Kirkuk rocket attack
Fri 2019-12-27
  Libya's Tripoli-based govt makes formal request for Turkish military support, Turkey gets ready to rock


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