At least five people were killed and dozens wounded in clashes between members of Afghanistan's Shi'ite Muslim minority and Sunnis at a gathering to mark the main event in the Shi'ite calendar, a doctor said.
About 80 per cent of Afghans are Sunni Muslim, with most of the remainder Shi'ite, but there has been no serious trouble between members of the different sects in recent years.
The violence started with a brawl in the western city of Herat at a gathering for the Ashura commemoration after a group of Sunnis accused Shi'ites of tearing up a sacred flag, said police official Nisar Ahmad Paikar.
The fighting quickly escalated and soon hundreds of people were involved. Grenades were thrown and vehicles, shops and at least one mosque were torched, security officials said.
"Somebody threw a grenade into the crowd. Where was the government to stop that?" asked one angry Shi'ite Muslim in the city, Sayed Zaman.
"There is no law and no government in this country to stop the violence."
In neighbouring Pakistan, at least 33 people, mostly Shi'ites, were killed in violence on the holy day.
The latest Afghan violence came after 10 people were killed in protests over cartoons of Islam's Prophet Mohammed published in European newspapers, but police said the clashes in Herat had nothing to do with that controversy.
The trouble, which was later brought under control, will be one more worry for NATO countries preparing to expand their Afghan peacekeeping mission.
A wave of bomb attacks on foreign and Afghan forces and civilian targets in recent months has already raised concerns among some NATO members preparing to send troops.
Taliban insurgents, who have claimed responsibility for most of the recent bombings in the south and east, are fighting to expel foreign forces and defeat the US-backed government.
Authorities in Herat had not asked for help from NATO peacekeepers in the city, an officer with the NATO force said.
A doctor at Herat's main hospital said some of the wounded were being treated for gunshots and some had been beaten.
"We have some five or six dead bodies lying outside the hospital. They have been brought here, and inside the hospital we have 27 wounded," said the doctor, Sayed Ahmad Alemi.
Police fired repeatedly into the air to break up the clashes, residents said.
An army officer in Herat, Fazl Ahmad Sayar, said four people had been killed and 51 wounded. Several vehicles, about 30 shops and at last one mosque had been set ablaze, he said.
Minister of Energy Ismail Khan, a former governor of Herat province, said he was leading a central government team to the city to investigate the violence.
An officer in the NATO-led force in Herat said heavy firing had been heard in the morning but things had eased by the afternoon.
"We can see smoke over the city but at the moment it's calm," said the officer who declined to be identified...
KABUL - Afghan authorities have arrested more than 40 Pakistani workers for inciting violence during a protest against cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in which four people were killed, an official said on Thursday.
Ya mean the protests aren't a spontanous eruption of outrage by Afghans? What a surprise!
The men were arrested with their Arab boss in Qalat in southern Zabul province where police opened fire to quell rampaging demonstrators Wednesday.
An Arab, ya say? Leading a bunch of Pakistanis?
The protests were supposed to be peaceful. But we have proof that these men were involved in turning it to violence, provincial spokesman Gulab Shah Alikhil told AFP. Alikhil said 16 of the 41 arrested men had confessed to having had a hand in violating the protests. All would go on trial, he said. The Arab boss was a Saudi national, he said.
Gee, who would have thunk it?
Authorities in Qalat also planned to expel more than 100 Pakistani workers in coming days, Alikhil said. Well not allow even a single Pakistani worker to work in Zabul any more, he said. This included workers who entered Afghanistan with a visa.
Good idea
The deaths in Qalat took to 11 the death toll from five days of protests in Afghanistan against the cartoons, which have appeared in several international newspapers, most of them European. Protestors in the city pelted police and US-led coalition soldiers with stones and set alight several vehicles and a school, witnesses said. Four protestors were killed in police shootouts and several people wounded. Defence ministry spokesman General Mohammed Zahir Azimi said Wednesday Pakistani workers had played a role in sabotaging the Qalat demonstration. A police spokesman said however that the cartoon protest had turned violent after being joined by Afghans who had been at a separate demonstration about jobs in the town going to nationals from neighbouring Pakistan.
#1
"A police spokesman said however that the cartoon protest had turned violent after being joined by Afghans who had been at a separate demonstration about jobs in the town going to nationals from neighbouring Pakistan."
"Kill the Paki immigrants stealing our jobs"
"hey there are some more guys marching"
"down with Denmark, down with the USA
"wimps" bash, smash
A top Taliban commander on Wednesday offered a reward of 100 kilogrammes of gold to anyone who kills the artist responsible for cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI peace be upon him), the Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported.
If someone killed the cartoonist responsible for the cartoons in Denmark, the "Taliban will give 100 kilogrammes of gold," Mullah Dadullah said in a telephone call to AIP from an unknown location. Dadullah also said that the Taliban would give five kilogrammes of gold to anyone who killed a Danish, Norwegian or German soldier, AIP said. AIP said that Dadullah was operating as chief commander of the Taliban waging an anti-government insurgency in Afghanistan. The agency quoted Dadullah as saying that the Taliban's list of would-be suicide bombers had grown since the publication of the cartoons.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Mkay. 100 kg of gold One kilogram equals 32.15 troy ounces. Spot price is currently $557.40. Or, $1,790,755.00.
#6
Seventh Century thinking, displayed yet again. The rest of the world would have that amount of money in US dollars or Euros or some other easily exchanged currency. 100 kg of gold is entirely too much to be made into ornaments for one's women, entirely too heavy to carry around, and entirely too bulky to conceal from thieves. Clearly all that hiding has affected the workings of Mr. Dadullah's brain.
#7
100 kg of gold is entirely too much to be made into ornaments for one's women, entirely too heavy to carry around, and entirely too bulky to conceal from thieves
Actually not. Density of gold is 19kg per liter so the volume is about 5.25 liters ie slightly more than a gallon. Or if you prefer it is roghly a cube of 7 inches side. And that it is easy to hide.
#9
I'll bet they have absolutely no intention of ever paying off.
Did they provide an address where to go to collect?
If not, it's phony, if so finding them and jailing them for contract murder would be easy.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/09/2006 8:37 Comments ||
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#13
Immunity from prosecution and a nice .30 cal rifle, and I'll do it for free. Oh, and a decent address where I can find either jerk. I consider them both deranged. Killing them would be like killing mad dogs or rabid wolves.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2006 9:51 Comments ||
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#14
JFM, thanks for correcting the math I neglected to do. Darn it -- it was a really clever point except for being totally wrong. :-( Still 7th century, though.
I thank you and Mr. 6 for your kind words, and for being amongst my many teachers here at the 'Burg.
Appeals for calm in the furore over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (PTUI peace be upon him) went unheeded Wednesday as police shot dead four more protestors during rioting in Afghanistan, bringing the worldwide death toll to 13. Eleven demonstrators have been killed since Friday in Afghanistan, and one each in Somalia and Lebanon.
About 400 Afghan protestors hurled stones as they tried to storm the police headquarters in Qalat, the capital of Zabul province, before moving to a US military base where they torched four fuel tankers, witnesses and an army commander said. A provincial official said police had opened fire to control the crowd while witnesses said coalition troops had fired into the air.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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I bought a bottle of Aalborg aquavit this afternoon in the spirit of "buy Danish". The Palestinian clerk who sold it to me asked very coldly if I were Danish and got even colder when I told him that, no, my family had been Americans for almost 300 years.
Chad and Sudan have signed a peace deal aimed at ending their dispute at the end of a mini-summit in Tripoli hosted by Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi. The agreement, signed on Wednesday, by Omar al-Beshir, the Sudanese president and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby, provides for the re-establishment of relations and the opening of consulates. It calls for a ban on the use of the territory of either for hostile activity directed against the other and on accepting rebels from the other. It also envisages "the creation of a peace force" between the two countries and the establishment of "an African ministerial committee presided over by Libya to oversee the application of the ageeement, and the end of hostile press campaigns and of support to armed groups of the two countries".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated five individuals and four entities for their role in financing the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), an al Qaida affiliate known for engaging in terrorist activity in Libya and cooperating with al Qaida worldwide. "The Libyan Islamic Fighting Group threatens global safety and stability through the use of violence and its ideological alliance with al Qaida and other brutal terrorist organizations," said Patrick O'Brien, the Treasury's Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crime. "Through a sophisticated charitable front operation and other companies, the individuals designated today have financially supported LIFG's activities."
Today's designation, which is carried out by the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC), was executed under Executive Order 13224, an authority that targets the assets of terrorists and their financiers. The individuals and entities supported the LIFG through various financial means, primarily in the United Kingdom. The LIFG was formed in the early 1990s in Afghanistan, and formally announced its existence in 1995. The group relocated to Libya where it sought to overthrow Muammar Qadhafi and replace his regime with a hard-line Islamic state. The LIFG mounted several operations inside Libya including a 1996 attempt to assassinate Qadhafi, but these failed to topple the regime. Following a Libyan government security campaign against LIFG in the mid- to late 1990s, the group abandoned Libya and continued its activities in exile.
The group is part of the wider al Qaida-associated movement that continues to threaten global peace and security. Accordingly, LIFG was designated pursuant to Executive Order 13224 on September 23, 2001. On October 6, 2001, the United Nations Security Council also added LIFG to its consolidated list of entities associated with al Qaida.
A U.S. citizen with a $5 million bounty on his head for alleged links to an al Qaeda cell in New York state was among 23 prisoners who escaped from a Yemeni prison last week, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. "Jaber Elbaneh was a member of the cell and was among those who escaped from prison in Yemen," the official told Reuters.
In May 2003, U.S. prosecutors charged Elbaneh with conspiring with six other Yemeni-American men who admitted they were trained in April 2001 at a camp in Afghanistan run by Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. The cell was dubbed "Lackawanna 6" after their home town in New York. Elbaneh, 39, was charged with providing material support to a terrorist organization and conspiring to provide such support specifically to al Qaeda.
"There were seven U.S. citizens of Yemeni origin who grew up in Lackawanna, New York, and Elbaneh was one of them. All seven of them reportedly traveled an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan in the summer of 2001," the official said.
"Elbaneh never returned to the U.S. after his training in Afghanistan. The other six of the Lackawanna cell were arrested when they returned to the U.S."
Elbaneh was arrested in late 2003 in his native Yemen, which is bin Laden's ancestral homeland.
His current whereabouts are unknown, but Yemen has launched an intensive manhunt for the group of 23 prisoners, including at least 13 convicted al Qaeda members, who tunneled their way out of a jail in the capital Sanaa. Interpol issued a global security alert on Sunday, calling the escaped militants a "danger to all countries." The jailbreak was a major embarrassment for Yemen, which has cracked down on militants and has sought to position itself as an ally of the United States.
The escapees included Jamal Badawi, mastermind of the bombing of the U.S. destroyer Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000, which killed 17 U.S. sailors. Another is Fawaz al-Rabe'ie, who led the group convicted of bombing the French oil tanker Limburg off the Yemeni coast in 2002, killing a crewman.
According to the U.S. government's Rewards For Justice Web site, which details the rewards for helping track down wanted militants, Elbaneh is about 5 feet 8 inches (1.73 meters) tall, weighs 200 pounds (90 kg) and has brown hair and eyes. He is pictured with a mustache and beard.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/09/2006 02:18 ||
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#1
Yemen is beyond embarrassment. It is a disgrace to the human race.
DUBAI: An American professor who taught at a university in the United Arab Emirates was fired for distributing copies of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to her students, a colleague said on Wednesday. "She had distributed copies of the cartoons to her students so they could debate it, but that led to a complaint and she was fired," a colleague of Claudia Kiburz told Reuters.
Don't worry, Claudia, I hear the madrassahs are hiring ...
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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A boat carrying 725 Pakistanis deported from Muscat, arrived at Ghas Bander, Keamari on Wednesday. Exhausted by hunger and thirst, the deportees were welcomed by the Ansar Burney Trust, who provided them drinking water, tea and good food. They were released one by one after FIA immigration checked their traveling documents issued by the Pakistan Embassy at Muscat. The job seekers, most of them illiterate, had been trafficked to the Gulf States through Taftan, illegally crossing the Pakistan-Iran border near Mand Ballu. According to sources, thousands of people are still on the Pakistan-Iran border and their ultimate destination is Muscat and after entering illegally, they would travel to UAE and other countries in the Middle East by road. Over 100,000 Pakistanis were deported during the last two years.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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It's not clear form the article, but their routing requires they be smuggled from Iran by boat.
#2
It's not clear form the article, but their routing requires they be smuggled from Iran by boat.
It's just a short trip across the Straits of Hormuz from Bandar Abbas, Iran, to Muscat, Oman. I just wonder how they get from the Iran/Pakistan border to Bandar Abbas - possibly by bus, provided by the Iranian government? Pakistanis seem to be the nationality of choice for stirring up trouble in other people's countries.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2006 10:01 Comments ||
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#3
This is the route I think Bin Laden and others may have used. UBL's father was a dockworker in Yemen before making his construction business fortune, and his vacations spent on the Syrian beach. Also reportedly had investments in his own ships, so he is not exclusively the desert cave dweller he portrays himself as. Crossing into the Arabian desert from there unnoticed is relatively easy, too.
A mass demonstration of 100,000 Muslims will take place in London next weekend as anger continues over publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The Muslim Action Committee, an umbrella group which claims to represent more than a million Muslims, said it would do as much as it could to prevent the ugly scenes seen last week when protesters carried placards issuing death threats and one man dressed as a suicide bomber.
"So if somebody gets out of line, it ain't our fault"
But they said they needed to "channel" growing anger felt by communities across Britain that Muslims were being persecuted and made to feel like "second class citizens".
Faiz Saddiqi, the committee convener, said: "It is a peaceful protest. We will not let it be hijacked by the fringe elements. "It is a way of showing the depth of anger that Muslim communities feel about being continually insulted by the publication of these images." The march, on Feb 18, will go from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park. Mr Saddiqi said that only banners and placards issued by the committee would be allowed.
It will be the fifth demonstration in three weeks. Around 3,000 members from Britain's Shia Muslim community will congregate in London today for the Ashura Festival, while several thousand Muslims are expected in London on Saturday for a rally. The Metropolitan Police will patrol the events as normal but said they "had plans" in place should trouble break out. The Muslim Action Committee was convened specifically to co-ordinate a response to the growing crisis over the publication, initially in Denmark, of cartoons depicting Mohammed, which have led to worldwide protests. Mr Saddiqi said they wanted to make clear that their fight was not a political one, but a religious one. He said: "The whole thing is beginning to gain momentum and we felt we had to get together not only to appeal for calm but also to channel people's feelings."
#1
But they said they needed to "channel" growing anger felt by communities across Britain that Muslims were being persecuted and made to feel like "second class citizens".
Hang on, no British newspaper has published these cartoons. Last week's rabidly anti-western protest was against the Danes and Norweigans - no arrests were made. Looks like UK muslims are doing a pretty good job of shitting up their own patch without any interference from anyone else..
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/09/2006 9:00 Comments ||
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#2
100,000 - laughably optimistic unless the green combat jackets of the Socialist Worker should join their fascist brethren.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/09/2006 9:02 Comments ||
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#3
How many MOABs would it take to get rid of 100 000?
#5
Ironic, coming on the heels of the trial of dr hook who spewed filth about Jews and Christians. I would say that's a bit more inciting than cartoons.
#6
But they said they needed to "channel" growing anger felt by communities across Britain that Muslims were being persecuted and made to feel like "second class citizens".
NB: "Persecution" and "second class" means the kaffir aren't showing proper respect to their Muslim masters. They don't want equality, they want submission.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/09/2006 9:32 Comments ||
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#7
Bet the Britts handle any riot a little different than the French did. This could be fun with a mass deportation in the works.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/09/2006 9:45 Comments ||
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#8
Yep, the British police will handle it differently than the French. They'll crack the skull of anyone within a mile of the protest found in possession of a cartoon of Mo or a British/Danish flag.
#10
Can we lend the UK a couple of A-10s for a week or so? Seeing them patrol the skies of Britain may help keep this demonstration from getting out of hand, or allowing the UK to END it on their terms.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2006 10:14 Comments ||
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#11
Seems like the best strategy to win the this war might be to: 1) publish cartoons of Mohammed, then 2) napalm the resulting demonstrations.
#13
Wonder if they will ever figure out, in the West, the more you complain about something, the more people that want to see it. Maybe they have the rights to the cartoons and are using this to drive up thier value.
#14
Photograph all people attending the protests. THESE ARE NOT "MODERATE MUSLIMS"! These are the people who want to restrict our rights to self expression. These are the candidates for further terrorist action against us. Let them know that protesting against the ordinary operation of a free society on its most basic level equates to advocating oppression. Treat these maggots like the repressive conspirators they are.
#16
I think one day, people should print some REALLY offensive pictures of Mohammed, put them on posters on walls.
Then next week put up posters of a 'revenge protest' down at some landmark near a dock on the Thames.
Position a large cargo boat, with plank down on the dock. When the Muzzies roll up to burn flags and chant, round them up into the boat, lock the doors.
Take the boat 20km offshore over a deep deep trench, disable GPS, burn and sink. You'd only need maybe 2 people to drive the boat. They can escape via smaller boat on deck. The activist muzzies would simply disappear, never to be found.
#18
Yeah, why not gather up all the Muslims world wide and exterminate them. THAT'S the ticket.
Posted by: Common Sense ||
02/09/2006 13:02 Comments ||
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#19
it doesn't matter if they are "only" protesting the Danish and the Norwegians. Our newspapers could've easily been the ones to publish this cartoon and they would be protesting against us (but what else is new). I say one for all and all for one when it comes to the basic Western freedom of publishing whatever it is you damn well want to say. And if any muslims are reading, riddle me this...how is it in the koran, Christians are infidels because they join Jesus with God and yet you are not infidels though you join muhammad with God as well?
#22
Howard, un-Common Sense intentionally withholds the irony tags, because he/she actually believes that stuff. Just another troll.
Posted by: BA ||
02/09/2006 13:56 Comments ||
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#23
As I always say if you don't like it leave. This is after Londinistan.
I hope the police are monitoring Friday sermons but I bet they are not. The UK police have been shown to be completely inept when not working with the islamo-fascists hand in hand to keep them out of trouble. The UK justice system will not extradite islamo-fascist criminals to the US. The UK has yet to deport one islamo-fascist adfter declairing that it would do so and arresting many. The UK is dropping hints of it's imminent withdrawal from Iraq in the media. Jack Straw says there is no military option on the table agaist Iran. I would say things are pretty much going to hell in a hand basket UK wise.
#29
from what i understand london is full of street cams. This actually shouldnt be all that hard to do. Nothing like having some info on file.
What really needs to happen is a military deployment of troops to cordon off the entire gathering in process and then systematically established a photo, fingerprint and biometrics record for each one of the protesters. Easily 50% of those in attendance probably have some ill intentions and need to be stopped. At the very least, the data base of addresses could be correlated to reveal which mosques featured most prominently in terms of rallying protestors.
A solid show of force like this might go a long way towards discouraging future festivities.
#30
You guys are too radical, just have a nice pig roast and wet t-shirt contest nearby ;)
Posted by: Gir ||
02/09/2006 17:43 Comments ||
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#31
I think in the earlier protests they all wore masks. I suspect that the guy who dressed as a splodeydope to protest a cartoon of Mohammed with a det-cord turban may possess an extra chromosome. The death threat placards are like something that Protest Warrior would do in a parody. Too bad their religious convictions prevent them from displaying puppets.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/09/2006 17:44 Comments ||
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#32
lol! I like Gir's idea. Hire a bunch of strippers to dance on lamposts along the route and have pig roasts and title it "A Taste of Freedom".
AMERICA will use phone tap evidence gathered by Britain seven years ago to try to jail Abu Hamza al-Masri for life on terrorist offences.
Bugged conversations between the radical imam and the leader of a gang that kidnapped 16 Western tourists in Yemen are banned in the British courts. Yet the same wiretap material, amassed by British Intelligence, will be central to the case against Abu Hamza if he is extradited to America, The Times has been told.
Scotland Yard and the Crown Prosecution Service faced mounting criticism yesterday for delaying action against Abu Hamza, who was jailed for seven years on Tuesday for soliciting murder and inciting racial hatred.
Last night David Blunkett, the former Home Secretary, suggested that the police, MI5 and the CPS could have acted earlier to seize the cleric. He claimed that they rejected his warnings because they feared it would trigger a race crisis.
Writing in The Sun, Mr Blunkett said: So much for those in the security services who told me when I was Home Secretary that I was exaggerating the threat and the closure of the Finsbury Park mosque where he preached his evil message would be a massive overreaction.
There was a deep reluctance to act on the information coming out of Abu Hamzas own mouth. And some in the police and security services did not want to believe how serious it all was.
Mr Blunkett is understood to have told the police, security chiefs and the CPS that they would have political backing if they raided the mosque and arrested Abu Hamza. The revelation that Britain had detailed evidence alleging Abu Hamzas direct involvement in terrorist kidnapping and murder, but was prevented from using it, will reignite the debate on intercept evidence. The Times has also been told that Mr Blunkett argued strongly for such evidence to be used in serious cases but was again rebuffed by the security services.
Michael Howard, the former Conservative Home Secretary, also told The Times last night that he backed the use of intercept evidence.
A senior counterterrorist source told The Times that the phone taps strongly suggested that Abu Hamza was involved in operational terrorist activity.
But when Britain tried to move against the cleric in the spring of 1999 the case had to be abandoned because the evidence was deemed inadmissible. The FBI stepped in and said that if Britain could not use the material, it would.
The US indictment against Abu Hamza alleges that he bought and supplied a £2,000 satellite phone for the kidnappers and purchased £500 worth of air time for the device. It also states that Abu Hamza received telephone calls from the gang leader before and during the kidnap drama in which four hostages were shot dead. He is also charged with sending recruits to al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan and trying to train terrorists in America.
British detectives are still investigating Abu Hamzas alleged links with other terrorist incidents including the July 7 London bombings.
An uncle of one of the 7/7 suicide bombers blamed the cleric for brainwashing his nephew Shehzad Tanweer, 22, who visited Finsbury Park mosque.
Bashir Ahmed said: No child could have thought of doing something like 7/7 by themselves.
British intelligence has admitted eavesdropping on conversations between Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan, the leader of the 7/7 bomb cell.
Charles Clarke, the Home Secretary, rejected any change to make intercept evidence admissible a year ago. But the Home Office said the issue was kept under review. Recordings of Abu Hamzas conversations with the Yemeni kidnapper in December 1998 were made by experts from GCHQ, the intelligence listening post. They were made available to British security services and police in early 1999. At the same time a dossier on Abu Hamza was sent by the President of Yemen to Tony Blair.
Abu Hamza was arrested in March that year and questioned at Charing Cross police station about the kidnapping and killing of the hostages.
The former imam of Finsbury Park mosque admitted that he supplied the satellite phone and spoke to the hostage-taker, Abu Hassan. He told the BBC in 2002: When they phoned they were actually phoning how to release them.
The gang had demanded the release of ten Britons who had been arrested in Yemen on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks. The group, including Abu Hamzas son and stepson, were sent to Yemen from Finsbury Park mosque.
#2
Not America's fault at all. It's all our own making, this one. Time to make wire-tap evidence submissible in a UK court methinks.
It's nice to know that they didn't arrest him for fear of offending muslim sensibilities and sparking a 'race war' in the UK. Instead, they let him carry on until his ilk murder 50 people on the tube. Fantastic.
Ok - here's a test: on Saturday we have a demonstration by muslims in Trafalgar Square about these bloody cartoons. Although I thought the police did the right thing in not making arrests in London last Friday - i.e. let the muslims show themselves up for the fascists they are. This will be an organised meeting with organised speakers in a public place. We have to see decisive action taken against any speaker soliciting murder or inciting hatred. If that means the police have to drag people from the stage then let them do it. Seemingly few in this country appear to see what these fascists are trying to get away with: muslims elevated to a protected status within British society -what next? Beefed-up blasphemy laws as a balm for muslim paranoia? Fridays off for all Muslims? No pork on school menus? A mosque on every corner?
It's about time we got the remainder of the Python team to film a life and times of Mohammed. Humourless fuckers.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/09/2006 4:07 Comments ||
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#3
Well said Howard . My forefathers would be turning in their graves right now .
#5
Yes and what about all the other Hamzas that are infesting this country, psyching up the soldiers of Allan for future attacks? Blair said he was going to deport 500 of them, and so far he's on zero. So where did the figure of 500 come from? From MI5? Or did God™ speak to him?
#6
Have a look in today's Sun - a list of Imams who'd put Goebbels to shame.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/09/2006 4:36 Comments ||
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#7
AMERICA will use phone tap evidence gathered by Britain seven years ago to try to jail Abu Hamza al-Masri for life on terrorist offences.
Different countries, different laws. Key is that after the Brits are done with him, America will take her shot -- and the plan here is to put him away for good. So between us we've got him covered.
#8
I wouldn't put any eggs in that basket. We are talking about a trial here, aren't we ?
Trial by theater. The American judicial system will remain flawed until jurors are required to pass an IQ test above 110, and attornys have nothing to do with picking jurors.
#9
TW-I was out yesterday and finally read your post! Your amazing and a wonderful asset to us minions her at RB. I hope you don't mind but I copied it and posted it at the office, credited to you of course. I'll bet Mr. TW holds his tongue before debating you! Thanks
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/09/2006 10:30 Comments ||
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#10
He claimed that they rejected his warnings because they feared it would trigger a race crisis.
Hokay, so long as us infidels are the only ones being blown to bits by these twisted f&cks, it's all just ducky. But let a single Muslim so much as peek at an off-color cartoon and everybody's scrambling to make amends.
How long does this sh!t have to go on before people realize they're empowering those who wish to be above the rule of law? I want a daily comic strip about Mohammed. I want cocktail napkins printed with these cartoons so I can set my beer on them. I want there to be a continuous stream of this stuff in all non-Muslim nations so they can boycott themselves out of existence. These morons can all trample themselves to death in their fury and ire for all I care.
#11
49 Pan, I am highly flattered that you would print up what is actually just a synthesis of the posts and comments I've read here. But if it encourages your colleagues, who are doing the heavy lifting in this Long War against Islamofascism while I pour tea, to know that even a Midwestern soccermom can see what's been going on, you've my blessing -- although they must promise to ignore typos and the place where I wrote Sunni when I clearly meant Shiite. ;-) And please pass on my gratitude to them all, 'k?
(Actually, I only just hold my own in discussions with Mr. Wife -- a great deal of what I know about the great big world out there derives from stories he tells when he gets back home. Besides, what fun is a husband who never even utters a peep?)
Russian security forces on Wednesday detained a suspect accused of involvement in an alleged plan to attack a second school if the Beslan raid had been foiled, the prosecutor's office for southern Russia said. The detainee, identified as Israpil Khaikharoyev, had long been on a wanted list, said Sergei Propokov, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office. Khaikharoyev was detained in the southern region of Ingushetia.
Authorities last year arrested what they said were four of 11 people allegedly meant to carry out the attack. A southern Russian court last week acquitted the four men of involvement in the alleged Beslan backup plan but convicted them on other charges and sentenced them to 17 years in prison, reports AP.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/09/2006 02:34 ||
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Twelve people have been killed and 22 injured in an explosion at a military barracks in Chechnya.
The explosion is believed to have been caused by a gas leak, but other causes have not been ruled out, officials say.
The blast ripped through the barracks of a special battalion of the Russian army at Kurchaloi, 30km (18 miles) south-east of the capital, Grozny.
It destroyed two storeys of the building and started a fire. A criminal investigation has been started.
The chief prosecutor for Chechnya, Valery Kuznetsov, told NTV television that an accidental gas explosion was the "main reason" under consideration - "but we are looking at various versions, including a terrorist act".
Military officials say the blast could also have been caused by explosives accidentally detonating.
A criminal case has been opened to investigate possible negligence and the violation of fire safety regulations.
Following the incident, Chechnya's acting prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov, cut short his visit to Moscow and returned to the republic.
The military unit affected by the blast is called Vostok - part of the Russian defence ministry but composed of Chechen recruits and commanded by a former rebel warlord, Sulim Yamadayev.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/09/2006 02:33 ||
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Hummm. Send money and aid to Iran. Help Iran bother the US. Iran return the favor by supplying ideas and logistics and weapons to rebel's who attack you.
Working perfectley so far.
ISTANBUL - Istanbuls police chief said a bomb blast on Thursday at an Internet cafe in the city had wounded 14 people. Police had said earlier that it was a gas explosion. Its a bomb explosion, there are 14 injured. One of them is seriously injured, Celalettin Cerrah told reporters after visiting the Internet cafe where the blast occurred. Six of the injured were police officers, he said.
I'd wager if almost 50% of your victims are cops, they were the target. Cafe must have good doughnuts
The blast rocked the Bayrampasa district, not far from the airport on the European side of Turkeys largest city.
Militant Islamists carried out a series of devastating explosions in Istanbul in November 2003 that targeted British and Jewish sites and killed more than 60 people. Other radical groups including Kurdish separatists also operate in Turkey and have in the past carried out violent attacks on both civilian and military targets.
Technically correct, suspected site of city of Troy is located in Turkey. Greeks built Trojan Horse on site, no-bid short notice contract. Most likely Haliburton had a hand in it.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/09/2006 17:09 Comments ||
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Okay, just checking. I knew that, of couse. Asia Minor and All That.
Hackers have attacked hundreds of Danish websites in recent days to protest against the publication in Denmark of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, Internet security officials said. The hackers have defaced home pages and websites by replacing them with messages hailing Islam and condemning the cartoons, security and virus analyst Peter Kruse of Danish internet security firm CSIS told AFP. "About 500 Danish websites have been targetted that we know of because of the Mohammed cartoons ... (and) the number continues to rise dramatically," Kruse said.
He said the hackers were primarily based in the Middle East and were strategically coordinating their attacks to make them more effective. Small websites with poor security were the primary targets. "These are not skilled hackers, they are what we call scriptkiddies who attack websites with weak security," he said.
Instead of seeing the real home page, visitors to the sites would see a message criticizing Denmark and condemning the publication of the cartoons. Some showed images of Danish flags being burned. One website that was attacked had a message that read: "Respect Our Prophet Mohammed (Peace Be Upon Him) Or U Will See True Muslims Anger."
The problem was relatively easy for the owners of the websites to rectify, though many were being hacked again as soon as they had removed the defacement, Kruse said. Major sites, such as the government website and the site of the Jyllands-Posten newspaper which first printed the cartoons in September, had been under attack but their security was strong enough to ward off any severe problems. "This clearly shows that security on small websites could be better," Kruse said. He said he expected the attacks to continue for two or three weeks, or "until the dispute dies down."
#3
I friend always wanted to replace ip addresses with GPS and altitude coordinates. The IETF would never listen to him. This just proves the correctness of his idea. One could have instant target coordinates with his method for all hackers.
A federal grand jury in the United States formally charged a Canadian citizen on Wednesday with conspiracy to murder Americans outside the country and of buying weapons for groups linked to al Qaeda.
Abdullah Khadr, who is being held in Canada on an extradition warrant from the United States, was charged with four counts involving procurement of weapons for al Qaeda and could face a life sentence.
The 24-year-old is the eldest son of Ahmed Said Khadr, an alleged al Qaeda financier and close friend of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. His brother Omar Ahmed Khadr is the only Canadian held at the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Michael Sullivan, the U.S. attorney in Boston where Khadr was charged, said in a statement he wants to extradite the Canadian to stand trial in the United States, where he could also face a $1 million fine if convicted.
"The indictment of Abdullah Khadr demonstrates the commitment of the United States to aggressively investigate and prosecute those who seek to kill Americans here or abroad," Sullivan said.
The indictment accuses Khadr of assisting his late father, Egyptian-born Canadian Ahmed Said Khadr, of supplying rockets, grenades, mines and other weapons to al Qaeda in 2003 for attacks against U.S. forces in Afghanistan.
The son was arrested on December 17 in Canada after he returned from Pakistan, the U.S. attorney's office in Boston said.
Khadr has said he was tortured in a Pakistani prison where he was detained without charges from October 2004. His teenage brother Omar has been a prisoner at Guantanamo since 2002 and will face a trial by a U.S. military tribunal for murder.
Another brother, Abdurahman Khadr, was also a prisoner at Guantanamo, but was freed. He told Canadian media he had been asked to work for the CIA.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/09/2006 02:08 ||
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US President George W. Bush unveiled new details about an alleged September 11th-style Al-Qaeda plot to crash a hijacked airliner into the tallest building in Los Angeles in 2002. Bush credited robust cooperation between the United States and its allies in Southeast Asia for dismantling the operation, and said global pressure had left Osama bin Laden's terrorism network "weakened and fractured" and short of cash.
The White House had described the plot -- which targeted the 310-meter (1,017-foot) US Bank Tower, also known as Library Tower -- in October 2005, but Bush disclosed an unprecedented amount of newly declassified information. Bush said Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- sometimes called the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks -- planned to have terrorists hijack an airplane, use shoe bombs to breach the cockpit doors and fly the jet into the building. Bush said that instead of using Arab hijackers, as in the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the plot called for "young men from Southeast Asia whom he believed would not arouse as much suspicion."
The operatives met with bin Laden before beginning their preparations for the attack, which started to unravel in early 2002 when "a Southeast Asian nation" caught a key Al-Qaeda operative, said Bush. The president did not name the operative or the country. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's key co-conspirator was Hambali, a leader of the Al-Qaeda affiliate Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), said Bush. The plotters were captured in 2003 in Pakistan and Thailand, respectively.
White House counterterrorism adviser Frances Townsend said that all four members of the cell have been caught, but declined to name the two South Asian countries and two Southeast Asian countries that helped foil the plot. She told reporters on a conference call that the four traveled to Afghanistan, where they swore an oath of loyalty to bin Laden, but declined to spell out how far along the plot had gone before being disrupted. Bush said that "subsequent debriefings and other intelligence operations made clear the intended target and how Al-Qaeda hoped to execute it" and led the United States and its partners to catch the conspirators.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan denied any linkage between the new details and Bush's aggressive campaign to defend his secret domestic spying program, which some lawmakers have called illegal. But McClellan said the administration had worked to declassify the new material "probably at least three weeks" -- right as the controversy over the warrantless surveillance mushroomed.
The president said the plot and the way it was thwarted highlighted the nature of the global war on terrorism and especially the importance of robust international cooperation. "From the vantage point of a terrorist sitting in a cave, the future seems increasingly bleak," Bush said. "Across the world, our coalition is pursuing the enemy with relentless determination. And because of these efforts, the terrorists are weakened and fractured. "Yet they're still lethal," he said.
The official investigation into the 2001 attacks also alluded to the skyscraper, saying that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had originally hoped to fly jets into "the tallest buildings in California and the state of Washington."
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2006 18:30 ||
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I just got in from eating. The restaurant had a TV showing Fox News with the sound turned off, but according to the bottom scroll LA officials were complaining that they had been kept in the dark about the whole operation.
Posted by: Phil ||
02/09/2006 20:00 Comments ||
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#2
Fox had a later report that yes, they (LA officials) were told yesterday (new Donk Mayor in office) that W was gonna talk about this
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2006 20:02 Comments ||
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Knew it - the Terrorists are "still lethal" because the brave macho "samurai/warriors of the desert sun", like good Commies andor Mafiacrats, aka Rampaging Barbarians, Warlords, and Bandit-Slaver Hordes gone legal, HIDE AND DISGUISE THEMSELVES + INTENTIONS AMONGST THE INNNOCENT, UNSUSPECTING MASSES.
Ever wonder why the All (too) Important 9/11 Commission folks are being so uncharacteristically silent about the Terrorist Spying Program?
9/11 Commission Report clearly states:
"The FISA application process continues to be long and slow. Requests for approvals are overwhelming the ability of the system to process them and to conduct a surveillance.
In a passage not noted by Mr. York, the Commission blasts the FISA process even more harshly, complaining:
"The 'wall' between criminal and intelligence investigations apparently caused agents to be less aggressive than they might otherwise have been in pursuing Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) surveillance powers in counterterrorism investigations.
"Moreover, the FISA approval process involved multiple levels of review, which also discouraged agents from using such surveillance. Many agents also told us that the process for getting FISA packages approved at FBI Headquarters and the Department of Justice was incredibly lengthy and inefficient.
"Several FBI agents added that, prior to 9/11, FISA-derived intelligence information was not fully exploited but was collected primarily to justify continuing the surveillance."
Since the media generally regards the 9/11 Commission as the ultimate authority on such matters, we trust reporters will now stop insisting that the FISA process was wholly adequate to keep America safe from terrorists.
Posted by: Captain America ||
02/09/2006 17:42 ||
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I wonder what grade the 9-11 commission would give the NSA program?
Wonder why only four are engaged in hunger strikes, per the previous article? Here's why.
United States military authorities have taken tougher measures to force-feed detainees engaged in hunger strikes at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, after concluding that some were determined to commit suicide to protest their indefinite confinement, military officials have said.
In recent weeks, the officials said, guards have begun strapping recalcitrant detainees into "restraint chairs," sometimes for hours a day, to feed them through tubes and prevent them from deliberately vomiting afterward. Detainees who refuse to eat have also been placed in isolation for extended periods in what the officials said was an effort to keep them from being encouraged by other hunger strikers. The measures appear to have had drastic effects. The chief military spokesman at Guantánamo, Lt. Col. Jeremy M. Martin, said yesterday that the number of detainees on hunger strike had dropped to 4 from 84 at the end of December.
Some officials said the new actions reflected concern at Guantánamo and the Pentagon that the protests were becoming difficult to control and that the death of one or more prisoners could intensify international criticism of the detention center. Colonel Martin said force-feeding was carried out "in a humane and compassionate manner" and only when necessary to keep the prisoners alive. He said in a statement that "a restraint system to aid detainee feeding" was being used but refused to answer questions about the restraint chairs.
He could have pointed out that Stalin never really cared if a hunger striker died.
Lawyers who have visited clients in recent weeks criticized the latest measures, particularly the use of the restraint chair, as abusive. "It is clear that the government has ended the hunger strike through the use of force and through the most brutal and inhumane types of treatment," said Thomas B. Wilner, a lawyer at Shearman & Sterling in Washington, who last week visited the six Kuwaiti detainees he represents. "It is a disgrace."
A nasogastric feeding tube is not brutal, nor is it inhumane. It is not brutal to insert, and it isn't inhumane to pump a few hundred ml's of feeding solution into a prisoner.
The lawyers said other measures used to dissuade the hunger strikers included placing them in uncomfortably cold air-conditioned isolation cells, depriving them of "comfort items" like blankets and books and sometimes using riot-control soldiers to compel the prisoners to sit still while long slender plastic tubes were threaded down their nasal passages and into their stomachs.
Officials of the military and the Defense Department strongly disputed that they were taking punitive measures to break the strike. They said that they were sensitive to the ethical issues raised by feeding the detainees involuntarily and that their procedures were consistent with those of federal prisons in the United States. Those prisons authorize the involuntary treatment of hunger strikers when there is a threat to an inmate's life or health. "There is a moral question," the assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, Dr. William Winkenwerder Jr., said in an interview. "Do you allow a person to commit suicide? Or do you take steps to protect their health and preserve their life?"
Dr. Winkenwerder said that after a review of the policy on involuntary feeding last summer Pentagon officials came to the basic conclusion that it was ethical to stop the inmates from killing themselves. "The objective in any circumstance is to protect and sustain a person's life," he said.
Correct.
Some international medical associations and human rights groups, including the World Medical Association, oppose the involuntary feeding of hunger strikers as coercive.
They also don't want the lil' darlings to die, which means, according to them, the only choice we have is to cave completely.
Lawyers for the detainees, although troubled by what they said were earlier reports of harsh treatment of the hunger strikers, have generally not objected to such actions when necessary to save their clients.
After dozens of detainees began joining a hunger strike last June, military doctors at Guantánamo asked Pentagon officials to review their policy for such feeding. Around that time, officials said, the Defense Department also began working out procedures to deal with the eventual suicide of one or more detainees, including how and where to bury them if their native countries refused to accept their remains. "This is just a reality of long-term detention," a Pentagon official said. "It doesn't matter whether you're at Leavenworth or some other military prison. You are going to have to deal with this kind of thing."
Colonel Martin said the number of hunger strikers peaked around Sept. 11 at 131, but added that he could not speculate about why other than to note that "hunger striking is an Al Qaeda tactic used to elicit media attention and also to bring pressure on the U.S. government."
Until yesterday, Guantánamo officials had acknowledged only having forcibly restrained detainees to feed them a handful of times. In those cases, the officials said, doctors had restrained detainees on hospital beds using Velcro straps.
Two military officials, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the question, said that the use of restraint chairs started after it was found that some hunger strikers were deliberately vomiting in their cells after having been tube-fed and that their health was growing precarious.
In a telephone interview yesterday, the manufacturer of the so-called Emergency Restraint Chair, Tom Hogan, said his small Iowa company shipped five $1,150 chairs to Guantánamo on Dec. 5 and 20 additional chairs on Jan. 10, using a military postal address in Virginia. Mr. Hogan said the chairs were typically used in jails, prisons and psychiatric hospitals to deal with violent inmates or patients. Mr. Hogan said that he did not know how they were used at Guantánamo and that had not been asked how to use them by military representatives.
Detainees' lawyers said they believed that the tougher approach to the hunger strikes was related to the passage in Congress of measure intended to curtail the detainees' access to United States courts.
Federal district courts have put aside most lawyers' motions on the detainees' treatment until questions about applying the measure have been litigated.
"Because of the actions in Congress, the military feels emboldened to take more extreme measures vis-à-vis the hunger strikers," said one lawyer, Sarah Havens of Allen & Overy. "The courts are going to stay out of it now."
Except that they haven't become more extreme, they're just using the tools they already had.
Mr. Wilner, who was among the first lawyers to accept clients at Guantánamo and represented them in a case in 2004 before the Supreme Court, said a Kuwaiti detainee, Fawzi al-Odah, told him last week that around Dec. 20, guards began taking away items like shoes, towels and blankets from the hunger strikers.
Mr. Odah also said that lozenges that had been distributed to soothe the hunger strikers' throats had disappeared and that the liquid formula they were given was mixed with other ingredients to cause diarrhea, Mr. Wilner said.
That would defeat the purpose of feeding, so I doubt that's true.
On Jan. 9, Mr. Odah told his lawyers, an officer read him what he described as an order from the Guantánamo commander, Brig. Gen. Jay W. Hood of the Army, saying hunger strikers who refused to drink their liquid formula voluntarily would be strapped into metal chairs and tube-fed.
Mr. Odah said he heard "screams of pain" from a hunger striker in the next cell as a thick tube was inserted into his nose. At the other detainee's urging, Mr. Odah told his lawyers that he planned to end his hunger strike the next day.
"Okay, Tyrone, turn off the 'scream tape'. He's cooperating now."
Another lawyer, Joshua Colangelo-Bryan, said one of his three Bahraini clients, Jum'ah al-Dossari, told him about 10 days ago that more than half of a group of 34 long-term hunger strikers had abandoned their protest after being strapped in restraint chairs and having their feeding tubes inserted and removed so violently that some bled or fainted. "He said that during these force feedings too much food was given deliberately, which caused diarrhea and in some cases caused detainees to defecate on themselves," Mr. Colangelo-Bryan added. "Jum'ah understands that officers told the hunger strikers that if they challenged the United States, the United States would challenge them back using these tactics."
Wotta buncha wussies.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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Emergency Restraint Chair, Tom Hogan, said his small Iowa company shipped five $1,150 chairs to Guantánamo on Dec. 5 and 20 additional chairs on Jan. 10
Be happy to make 100 chairs out of form lumber, I'll even throw in a pneumatic framing nailer and a couple cases of #16.
bid: cost only, gov supply air-fare and air-freight.
#2
2 large pieces heavily varnished 3/4" plywood, shaped like paramedic's backboards and clamped together with nylon webbing (with the "patient" in between the sheets) would work if you didn't want to invest in needlessly expensive hardware. Call a Gitmo sandwich.
#6
Save the sharks: the waters around Gauntanamo hhave become depleted of food due to pollution and global warming caused by Boooosh and Haliburton. Sharks are starving and rare species are endangered. We must feed them.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 9:43 Comments ||
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Someone needs to smack these "lawyers" in the head with a clue-by-four. These people are unlawful combattants(terrorists), not uniformed, disciplined soldiers. They are less than common criminals. They deserve NOTHING. Shooting them on sight is acceptable behavior under the Geneva Convention. We could legally take them all out and hang them tomorrow. Throw the lawyers out, shoot the judges that demand they receive "fair" treatment, and start acting like we're in the middle of a war, not a jaywalking incident.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2006 10:22 Comments ||
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I'll bet Pappy could find a use for one of these.
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - Four detainees remain on hunger strike at the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, the fewest since the protest began last summer, the military said Wednesday.
Three are being force-fed with nasal tubes, said Lt. Col. Jeremy Martin, a spokesman for the detention center at a U.S. base in eastern Cuba. All four are in stable condition, according to Martin, who did not speculate about why detainees dropped out of the protest. "We haven't changed anything. Our processes and procedures are the same," he said. "But the numbers have fluctuated."
The military said the strike began with 76 detainees protesting their confinement at the remote, high-security prison and that the number joining the protest reached 131 in mid-September. Defense lawyers say the figures have been higher.
Lawyer Julia Tarver Mason, whose firm represents 13 Saudi detainees, said many more than four men may be skipping meals in protest but eating just enough to avoid what the military counts as a hunger strike - missing nine consecutive meals - so they won't be force-fed. "It's not about the numbers," she said. "I don't think it's a situation in which some people have gone off the strike because they believe conditions have improved at Guantanamo."
"It's just that my clients are cowardly and lack the courage of their convictions," she added.
Mason said the four listed as part of the strike are protesting on behalf of other detainees at Guantanamo, where the United States holds some 500 people on suspicion of links to al-Qaida or Afghanistan's ousted Taliban government.
Martin, who called the protest an "al-Qaida tactic" to elicit media attention and to pressure the U.S. government, said that the strikers have access to the International Committee of the Red Cross and are permitted to send and receive mail.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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That's what you get for listening to the [Anti]American lawyers who visited you. You are just more cannon fodder in their AIDS-like behavior in the US. Useable, expendable. Tools of the Stalinists.
Fifty-one Pakistanis deported from the United States for violating various laws reached Islamabad by a chartered flight on Wednesday. The US embassy spokesman in Pakistan told Daily Times that the deportees were involved in several cases including fraud, forgery, burglary, drug smuggling, murder, illegal immigration, sexual assault, rape and possession of illegal weapons.
I feel cleaner, and I haven't even had a shower.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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Ok, this is just the first group, right? There will be more, like another 20,000 to 30,000, plus an equal number of Syrians, Jordanians, Saudis, Yemenis, Sudanese, Bangladeshi, Indonesians, Algerians, and other assorted muzzie madmen? Please, please let it be so!
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2006 10:27 Comments ||
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What Northern European countries SHOULD be doing to muslim criminals!!!
#3
We should 1) immediately ban any immigration of Muslims to the U.S.; 2) immediately deport any Muslim who is serving time in a U.S. prison; 3) make any felony crime committed by a Muslim an immediate cause for deportation and loss of citizenship. Overall intent: get rid of as many of these people as possible. If their religion calls on them to act violently in defense of values that contradict the values of our nation, ship them out and let them practice it someplace else.
Posted by: mac ||
02/09/2006 17:46 Comments ||
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At least 22 people have been killed and many injured in a suspected suicide bomb that struck a religious procession in north-west Pakistan. The explosion tore through a crowd of Shia Muslims marking the festival of Ashura in the town of Hangu. No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has a history of tension between Shia and Sunni Muslims. Troops were sent to maintain a curfew after pilgrims responded to the attack by torching shops and cars.
The explosion erupted in a bazaar as hundreds of people walked in a procession from the main Shia mosque in the town, in North-West Frontier Province. "We thought the bomb was detonated by remote control, but now it appears to be a suicide attack," local police chief Ayub Khan told the Associated Press news agency. One report said the devotees were also sprayed with gunfire. Maulana Khurshid Anwar, a leader of the Shia procession, told AP the explosion happened just as he was about to address the crowd. District administrator Ghani ur-Rehman said the ensuing violence destroyed 60% of the town's bazaar. A judicial inquiry into the attack has been ordered, officials said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
02/09/2006 05:59 ||
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Happy Ashura everybody!
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/09/2006 6:22 Comments ||
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Indeed , remember to pack the pic-nic hamper Howard ?
a good ol' pilgrimage to murder , burn and loot , how religiously devote , scum one and all , sunni , shia et all . All willingly backed and stirred by Pak security forces , be it ISI , MI , or IB ...
#3
Black Cadillacs, chanting, AK moon shooting, and flags & banners are a dead giveaways. Please consider smaller, private events, rental cars, cabs and processional dispercements via alternate routes possibly through industrial zones and away from market places and residential areas. Did I say.... industrial zones, whahahahahahaa.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
02/09/2006 8:31 Comments ||
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The earlier article mention 5,000+ troops deployed in Quetta to keep the peace. Any reason for no huge deployment in Hangu? (Hang You? What a name!)
#7
Now we know what day to attack and overwhelm the shia, the day after Ashura. The day when they are all in bed with open wounds over their backs and their wives are applyimg linament ans salve. We can also determine which ones don't really believe too strongly.
#8
How very hygienic. I remember seeing video footage of some Shia freakoids whacking themselves in a square in Pakistan, and the camera lens got splattered with blood, even though though it was several metres away from the action.
#9
I enjoyed Ashura. Last night I celebrated with several hundred soldiers for many hours. You see Ashura has been publically suppressed and forbidden in the army by Saddam. The new Iraqi army sponsored this celebration...the Shiite celebrated and the Sunni, Kurds and Chaldean Christian cooked, brought water, poured chai, stoked fires and by the way a whole bunch of us Americans were there joining the celebration, stirring the vats of food and the serving line and the religious dance. I can't tell you how many battle hardened veterans broke down a cried because they could now openly worship in public and without fear or reprecussion, and I lost count of how many thanked us for giving them this opportunity...I got hugged by 4 of the 5 prayer leaders...Maybe my view is jaded because I live and fight with these guys...but I think maybe we do homework on what we are talking about before we shotgun blast all muslims and make fun of something very important.
#10
TopMac, if the US goes into Iran in a big way, what do you think are the chances Iraqi army stay neutral, support the US or turn guns toward the US and coalition forces?
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2006 13:37 Comments ||
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This must've been in South-Central Hangu. I mean no-where else in Paki-Waki do you have Sunni on Shia violence, eh? Actually, seeing the festivities in Iraq for Ashura, it looked more like an American parade (think a calm version of Mardi Gras, all the color/pomp, but none of the Girls gone Wild or booze) than what I associate with Ashura in the other Muslim lands. I think Top Mac's onto something there. Now, if the rest of the ME and SE Asian majority Muslim countries could act the way Iraq does, we'd be getting somewhere!
Posted by: BA ||
02/09/2006 13:41 Comments ||
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I can only speak for the guys around me and they are committed to supporting a democratic government. The old way of doing business is gone. I have met many veterans of the Iraq-Iran war and for the most part they know it was not a soldier's choosing for them to have gone there when they did. That all being said, the men who have stepped up to the plate and joined are in for the long haul, they do not have a choice. I have lost more soldiers killed by the bad guys while they are at home on leave than in direct action. They are marked men, so they and their families depend on the success of the government. My call is they would stand by us, but there will be some internal problems.
I think Iran has more internal problems than everybody knows. UN sanctions would put a whole bunch of pressure on an already unstable government and they are boxed in by allies. Karzai is in the same boat of making it work and Turkey however fickle, isn't a big fan of their neighbor...the only direct action would be if they shoot first and I think then it would be a heavy dose of precision fires they cannot do anything about.
#13
Thanks TopMac. Your on the ground perspective is many more times valuable than pundit or my speculation. It's good to know you think our rear will be covered in the event of any Iran conflict.
I think the Iranian regime is immune from sanctions. China will buy their oil and supply them with consumer goods. In addition, China and Russia will supply them with medium end arms as well as help them with their missile and nuclear bomb production. There is little or nothing Iran must have from the west, other than time to complete their arsenal. They won't shoot first. Instead they will play cheat and retreat.
While Iran may be restive, I see no hope of an internal revolution. While the Islamic conservatives are supposedly only 20% of the population, they control all the power levers and guns. I have no doubt they will gun down any opposition.
Posted by: ed ||
02/09/2006 14:17 Comments ||
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How ever strange this may seem the Shia are entitled to this expression of thier faith. Their fore in the fundimentalist Sunni sect are the ones responsible for teh carnage here there can be no doubt.
The Christian faith has had similar sects. Flagellants are pretty common we are just not used to it in what we consider the modern world.
#15
similar to the Filipino catholics who like to reenact the procession of the cross and the crucifixion..
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2006 15:13 Comments ||
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TopMac, thanks for your work, which we deeply appreciate.
I would join in saying, whatever you like or dont like about the Shia customs, this was an atrocity by Sunni Jihadists against people they brand as heretics.
Around 5,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the provincial capital to maintain peace during the Ashura procession today (Thursday). Balochistan Police Chief Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqub said that the army has also been alerted to help the administration if necessary. He said that 3,500 police and 1,500 paramilitary personnel had been stationed in sensitive areas of Quetta.
Roads connected to the route of the main procession have been sealed while close circuit cameras have been installed at several points along the route, he said. All entry points to the city were also under tight scrutiny to prevent infiltration of terrorists. Police and Frontier Corps personnel would accompany the procession, and a few security personnel would also be posted on adjacent rooftops, he said
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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Tribal militants are suspected of planting a bomb last Sunday that killed 13 people on a bus, in retaliation for an ongoing military operation against them in Balochistan. The security situation in Balochistan has been deteriorating for the past year, and worsened further after a rocket attack in December during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf to Kohlu town on December 14.
That wasn't really bright, was it?
Baloch nationalists say hundreds of people have been killed during a subsequent crackdown said to have involved helicopter gunships, though analysts say this could be an exaggeration. Balochistan IG Chaudhary Mohammad Yaqoob told Reuters in Quetta that militant camps had been destroyed, but more were being established across the border in Iran, although it is on the opposite side of the province from where the tribes suspected of causing most trouble operate.
If the Iranian government's supporting them that's in the same category of bright as rocketing Perv...
We have destroyed over a dozen of their camps inside Pakistan, but we have information that they have set up two new camps in the hills on Iranian territory, he said. We will soon inform the Iranian government.
Their reaction should be instructive, one way or the other...
Sundays bus bomb, if it was carried out by tribals, would mark a change in tactics, as previously militants have targeted military bases, train lines and gas pipelines as part of their long-running, low-level insurgency.
That's true. My guess as to who did the bus bombing involved Lashkar-e-Jhangvi or the Wazir Taliban...
Yaqoob said 25 suspects had been detained in an investigation focused on supporters of Nawab Akbar Bugti, a tribal chieftain who wants the government to pay more for exploiting gas fields in his area. We are interrogating them, and we have evidence that they have carried out the attack, Yaqoob said on Wednesday. Photographs of Bugti outside a cave hideout were published in Pakistani newspapers last month. Yaqoob said Bugtis group has forged links with the Baloch Liberation Army (BLA), whose fighters are drawn from the Marri tribe based around Kohlu. Bugti has in the past denied any links with the BLA. The (bus) attack was a fallout from the ongoing operation in Dera Bugti. They are desperate and they are targeting people belonging to Punjab, said Yaqoob. The bus, bound for Lahore had travelled 60 km from Quetta when the bomb exploded. Eight more people were killed last weekend in rocket attacks around Dera Bugti and Sui, 290 km southeast of Quetta.
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02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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At least 75 people have died and 242 injured and 85 percent of the residents of Dera Bugti have migrated because of the military operation in Balochistan, Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) Deputy Secretary General Abdul Rauf Khan Sasoli told reporters on Wednesday. He said 62 security personnel had also been killed. Sasoli said the security forces had occupied the deserted fort of tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti. He urged foreign envoys to visit the area to see what was going on for themselves.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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Security forces arrested seven tribesmen suspected in land mine explosions and rocket attacks on state-run gas fields in Balochistan on Wednesday, AP reported. The suspects were apprehended after a shootout in Sui, where Pakistan's main gas fields are located, local police official Pir Bakhsh said. Troops also seized three rocket launchers, 11 rockets and seven machine guns from the men, he said. Bakhsh gave no detail about the suspects' alleged involvement in attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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A headless body was found on Wednesday, along with a message saying that spying for America and Pakistan will result in this. This discovery came as two explosions and a rocket attack on paramilitary force rocked South Waziristan, a security official said. The body of Kismat Khan, aged between 30 and 35 years, was found in Dabkot, near Azam Warsak Road, west of Wana, and a letter in Pushto was also left with his body saying his death was justified. The letter read: This man was a spy and he was passing information to Pakistani and American intelligence networks.
Militants, meanwhile, fired eight rockets on a paramilitary force-manned checkpoint north of Wana. The rocket attack, however, caused no casualties or damage to the check-post, said the official. Paramilitary forces returned fire, the official said. However, there were no reports of casualties during the exchange of fire. Two explosions rocked Wana on Wednesday and the political administration arrested three tribal cops for negligence of duty. Unknown men attacked a night watchman in Wana bazaar but he escaped unhurt and the attackers fled after they were challenged. The second blast took place near the Agency Headquarters Hospital check-post damaging the boundary-wall.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Dont forget lads , aim true and straight , above their heads as not to hurt your inbred brothers
"The rocket attack, however, caused no casualties or damage to the check-post"
"there were no reports of casualties during the exchange of fire"
negligence of duty.
KIRKUK - Iraqi army units are searching for Al-Qaeda members in a remote hilly area where they are believed to have fled after falling out of favor with tribal leaders in former strongholds.
For the past two days, Iraqi Army units, with US air support, have been moving through the Hamreen region, southwest of the city of Kirkuk, which they say has become a major insurgent stronghold.
"Our plan is to eliminate all pockets of the insurgency and this will go on for the next month to search out their bases," said Major General Anwar Hama Amin, leader of the Kirkuk-based division of the Iraqi Army.
"These operations are being conducted according to intelligence we have received, though we have yet to clash with the insurgents because they keep fleeing our forces."
Ministry of defense spokesman Mohammed al-Askari acknowledged that low-key reconnaissance operations were currently underway in the area on suspicion that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and his followers might be hiding out there.
Should any evidence be discovered to back this information up, he added, larger numbers of troops would be deployed.
The remote and inaccessible region borders several insurgent hotspots, including the oil-refining town of Baiji in the northwest, the town of Samarra in the southwest, Kirkuk to the northeast and Baquba to the southeast.
The areas bordering this region have seen a high incidence of attacks on US and Iraqi security forces as well as assassinations of prominent figures and kidnappings.
The Iraqi army believes that as relations between Jordanian-born Al-Qaeda leader Zarqawi and local tribes in Anbar and Salaheddin provinces have deteriorated, the organization has had to find a new headquarters.
"The tribes have been giving us information on the location of the Zarqawi people in these areas," said a high ranking army officer based in Tikrit who preferred to remain anonymous.
"They (Al-Qaeda) started killing religious and tribal leaders, as well as their children working in the army," he said, explaining the falling-out.
A number of prominent tribal leaders in Kirkuk, Tikrit and Fallujah known for their opposition to attacks on Iraqis, including the security forces, have been assassinated in recent months.
"We are for expelling the occupier, for an honest resistance, not one that kills innocent Iraqis who are sons of the country," said Jassem Mumtaz, who became sheikh of the Al Bu Baz tribe in Samarra, after his brother Hekmet was killed by Al-Qaeda supporters in October.
Similar developments took place in Al-Anbar province when a council of tribal leaders told Al-Qaeda to cease targeting security forces since they had been telling their followers to join police and army.
In early January there was a devastating suicide attack on a police recruiting center in Ramadi that killed 70 young men from the city.
They also told Al-Qaeda to restrict their activities to areas outside major population centers.
On Tuesday, city council leader Sheikh Kamal Shakur of Fallujah in Anbar province was assassinated. The next day, Ahmed Abdel Wahab al-Juburi, a member of the Hawija city council near Kirkuk, was also killed.
US forces have also noted the deterioration in relations between Anbar's tribes and Al-Qaeda.
"What we're finding is indeed the people of Al-Anbar, Fallujah and Ramadi specifically, have decided to turn against terrorist and foreign fighters," US military spokesman Major General Rick Lynch told reporters Thursday.
"The tribal leaders, if you will, said 'that's enough; let's take out Zarqawi and his network and get him out of our cities,'" he added. "We have found in Ramadi and Fallujah the locals establishing checkpoints to keep the terrorists and foreign fighters out of their area."
Iraqi police, meanwhile, have beefed up their security checkpoints between the area of Tikrit and Hamreen. Where there were once just three police checkpoints, authorities have put in place 10 fixed ones and another 30 mobile ones.
There have been a number of incidents of violence on Thursday in this region, including an attack on an Iraqi army convoy in Dhiluya just east of Samarra by insurgents, killing one soldier. One insurgent also died.
In Samarra itself, a children's hospital being constructed with money from foreign donors, was blown to pieces, according to police Thursday.
Iraqi Shi'i cleric Moqtada Sadr, whose militia has battled US troops, vowed to help defend Syria and Iran after a meeting in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad. I am at the service of Syria and Iran. I will defend all Muslim countries with all means, he told reporters. I am at the service of all those whose aim is to rebuild Iraq, the Middle East, and Muslim and Arab states.
Washington accuses Syria and Iran of supporting "terrorism," while Tehran is under international pressure over its nuclear program and Syria faces charges of involvement in the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Premier Rafik Hariri. Sadr accused Israel, the United States and Britain, which are enemies of Iraq and Syria, of sowing dissent between the Syrian and Iraqi peoples.
His talks with Assad focused on the political process in Iraq and the consultations underway to form a new government following general elections held in mid-December, the state news agency SANA said. Sadr, who arrived on Sunday and also met with Foreign Minister Farouk Shara'a, paid tribute to Syrias support for the Iraqi people and vowed to maintain coordination with Damascus.
Meanwhile in Iraq, Sunni Arabs have formed their own militia to counter Shi'i and Kurdish forces as part of an attempt to regain influence they lost after Saddam Hussein was toppled. The so-called Anbar Revolutionaries have emerged from a split in the anti-US resistance, which included Al-Qaeda. They are a new addition to a network of militias that have thrived in Iraqs bloody chaos and are tied to the countrys leading ethnic and political parties, now negotiating the formation of a coalition government after the Dec. 15 election, the second such polls since the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
The newly organized militia is made up mostly of Saddam loyalists, Iraqi Islamists and other nationalists leading resistance against US and Iraqi government forces. Sunni officials said Sunni fighters first decided to reorganize their forces into a militia after their tactical alliance with Al-Qaeda, who are also Sunnis, unraveled when Al-Qaeda bombs began killing fellow Sunnis in recent months.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/09/2006 02:23 ||
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#7
That is clearly treason to Iraq, and there are many Iraqis who will, and should, see it as such. It is important who actually executes him, though. It should be done by SCIRI or the Badr organization, as this will doubly show that it is non-sectarian and as a demonstration of their loyalty to the government.
#8
It is always sad when a son tries so hard to be his father and fails so publicly and completely. Face it, the Tater tot just doesn't have what it takes.
#10
This MFs death is long overdue. He, Pencilneck Assad and Ahmedinejad deserve the same treatment the Israelis give Hamas leaders: Hellfire from above. Faster, please.
Posted by: mac ||
02/09/2006 17:50 Comments ||
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#3
I don't recall any Spanish cavalry charges against armor. Not too bright, perhaps, but ballsy. And when you think about it, the same can be said for living between the Germans and Russians.
#4
bgrebel
Study your history. Poles have had big balls for centuries and have been great fighters for
freedom .
POLISH ARMY SAVES VIENNA FROM INVASION
The massive contribution of the Polish army, which combined with a German army, but under the overall command of the Polish general Jan III Sobieski, to the defeat of the invading Turkish hordes outside the gates of Vienna in 1683, cannot be overstated - it was crucial and very possibly without the Polish intervention, Vienna would have fallen to the Turks, which would have then opened the way for the final Turkish conquest and Islamification of all of Europe.
A car bomb exploded in central Baghdad as the Iraqi higher education minister's convoy passed by on Wednesday but he escaped injury, Interior Ministry sources said. Two of Sami Al-Mudhafer's bodyguards were wounded and a civilian was killed in the attack. Interior Ministry sources earlier said it was the education minister, Abdul Falah Hassan, who had escaped the bombing. It was not clear whether Mudhafer himself was the target of the attack as bombings are sometimes directed at any convoy. Meanwhile, an unmanned US aircraft went down near Sadr City, but the cause was not immediately known, the military said on Wednesday. The aircraft belonged to Multi-National Division-Baghdad forces and made a 'controlled parachute landing' on Tuesday, a military statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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A militant group said it has executed an Iraqi special forces lieutenant general and posted a video of the captive on the Internet on Tuesday. The Army of Ansar al-Sunna video showed the man in military uniform identifying himself as Dera Mohammad Mahrous. "I work at the command of the special forces," he told an off-camera militant, adding that he lived in the northern city of Kirkuk.
The middle-aged man held up what appeared to be identity cards as masked insurgents stood by with assault rifles. "Our sharia (Islamic law) panel has sentenced him to death by shooting and the sentence was carried out so that he can be an example to others," the group said on the video, which did not show him being killed. The video's authenticity could not be verified. It was posted on a main Web site often used by insurgents.
Army of Ansar al-Sunna, one of the main Sunni Muslim insurgent groups, has claimed responsibility for attacks against U.S. forces and the Iraqi government and killed several hostages.
DEBKAfile reveals: Fatah gunmen abducted the Egyptian naval attaché to put Hamas leaders on the spot and derail their Cairo talks for a new government. The kidnapped envoy, Husam al-Musali, is liaison officer between the Egyptian Embassy and armed Palestinian groups.
In Cairo, Egyptian intelligence minister Omar Suleiman is conducting intensive negotiations with Hamas leader on an acceptable format for the next Palestinian government. He will no doubt demand Hamas show its authority by obtaining the captured Egyptian officers release. This Hamas is in no position to do.
The Hebrew daily Ma'ariv reported Thursday, Feb. 9, that Cairo had withdrawn the large Egyptian military mission stationed in the Gaza Strip since late last year. This is partly confirmed. The day after the Hamas election victory last month, 50 Egyptian military instructors departed the Gaza Strip as a safety precaution and because they judged hopeless any chance of training or setting up any Palestinian unit that they could control. Left in place were only three Egyptian generals and security guards to protect them and the Egyptian Embassy staff.
#5
An Egyptian naval attache must be the guy who organizes the tug boat service through the Suez. Tip: don't send over a high quality mooring line to an Egyptian tug as you won't be receiving it back intact.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
02/09/2006 18:10 Comments ||
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DEBKAfile Exclusive: Palestinian Authority Chairman Abu Mazen has suddenly thrown open the Jericho lock-up and released 56 convicted terrorists from jail.
Among the men freed without prior notice are 26 Islamic Jihad members from northern and central Samaria, who plotted and masterminded suicide bombings in Hadera, Netanya, and Kfar Saba in 2005. Also released were 13 members of the PA General Intelligence Service, loyal to Col. Tewfik Tirawri, and 17 members of the PA Military Police all of whom participated in terrorist attacks.
Guess this is part of the deal he made to keep breathing
Abu Mazen thus renews Yasser Arafat's revolving-door policy for terrorists, while Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni call Hamas a terrorist organization and speak about the need to call Hamas a terrorist organization and fight terrorism.
ADDITIONAL: JERICHO, West Bank - Forty-six Palestinian militants who were wanted by Israel have been released from a Palestinian prison in Jericho, a Palestinian security source said on Thursday. Thirty-nine of them were affiliated with the radical movement Islamic Jihad, and had been sought by Israel for alleged involvement in attacks against the Jewish state. They walked free Thursday after spending between four months and two years behind bars, the source said.
Some had been arrested by Palestinian security forces after seeking refuge in the West Bank town of Jericho, while others were arrested elsewhere in the West Bank after they allegedly participated in attacks against the Jewish state.
Seven members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, loosely linked to Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbass Fatah faction, were also released from the Jericho prison late Wednesday, the source said. The chief of Palestinian security services in Jericho, General Kamal Al Qaddumi, told AFP the prisoners had been released on the orders of Abbas and interior minister Nasser Yussef. Around 20 Al Aqsa militants remain in the Jericho prison.
#2
Just another argument for the wall. Build it high. Create a defensible border. Leave the paleos to their own devices so they can create an islamic utopia.
Install early warning systems and ensure a sound intelligence-gathering process. Separate, then celebrate.
#4
The prisoner release should buy Abu Mudhen another five or ten minutes. This sucker had better be packing and setting up his Swiss accounts. I give him a week or two at best.
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) - In the most violent Palestinian protest yet against cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, crowds smashed windows and threw stones Wednesday at the headquarters of international observers, prompting them to quit this volatile West Bank city.
The hundreds of rioters in Hebron, most of them youths, overpowered a Palestinian police detail at the compound of the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, or TIPH. The police were stationed at the building after the Danish cartoons began sparking protests across the Muslim world more than a week ago.
Just overpowered them, they did, the police were helpless.
Protesters threw bottles and stones at TIPH's office building and tried to set it on fire. A few forced themselves inside, where observers waved clubs in an attempt to drive them off.
The notion of fixing bayonets never occurred to them ...
The protesters had smashed nearly all of the windows in the mission's three-story office building, and damaged three TIPH cars.
Eleven Danish members of TIPH left Hebron more than a week ago, but after the attack Wednesday, all 60 members of the mission's foreign staff who were inside the building decided to leave for their own safety, mission spokeswoman Gunhild Forselv said. Departing mission staff hugged and kissed Palestinian staffers as they took leave. "It is a very sad day, and we hope to return as soon as possible," Forselv said.
Call us when the coast is clear!"
TIPH's mandate is to observe and report on tensions between Palestinians and a small group of Jewish settlers in the city, protected by the Israeli military.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/09/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
TIPH's mandate is to observe and report on tensions between Palestinians and a small group of Jewish settlers in the city
And that requires over 70 people plus Paleo staff. Unbelievable!
Raytheon has tested a small vehicle-mounted missile that intercepted a rocket-propelled grenade in a simulation of an ambush on the streets of Iraq.
The test of the Quick Kill "hit avoidance system" could lead to a deployable counterpunch to the ubiquitous weapon employed against U.S. troops before the end of the year.
"Quick Kill's speed, precision and effectiveness are truly amazing," boasted Raytheon Combat Systems Vice President Glynn Raymer. "It offers our current force a level of battlefield protection that no one has ever seen before."
The Feb. 7 test carried out at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology test range involved an RPG fired at close range against a Stryker combat vehicle equipped with the Quick Kill system. The Stryker is a wheeled armored car that is projected as a mainstay of the Army's future order of battle; Stryker brigades have already been deployed to Iraq.
The Quick Kill includes a scanning radar that can detect an incoming threat and immediately vertically launches a precision-guided missile that pitches over, homes in on the RPG round, and then destroys it in the blink of an eye with minimal concussion and risk to the Stryker crew.
Raytheon called it the "equivalent of firing a weapon around a corner and hitting another weapon, while both speed through the air at hundreds of meters per second."
The company said it developed the system with its own funds and brought it from drawing board to field testing in about six months.
Posted by: Captain America ||
02/09/2006 18:45 ||
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Sweet! Next step - stop the RPG and target the shooter.
The Philippine government could sign a peace deal with Muslim rebels as early as September, Manila's chief negotiator Silvestre Afable said on Wednesday after returning from the latest round of talks in Malaysia.
The Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) has been fighting for an independent state for Muslims on the southern island of Mindanao, although a truce has been holding since July 2003.
Negotiators from the two sides said on Tuesday they had agreed to a preliminary deal on land claims, the key to ending a nearly four-decade revolt that has cost more than 120,000 lives.
Agreement on an ancestral domain for Muslims in the south of the mainly Roman Catholic nation could be reached as soon as March, allowing the first formal talks in three years to begin, a joint statement said.
"We're working towards a peace deal, hopefully by September," Afable told reporters in Manila after a two-day meeting at the Malaysian seaside resort of Port Dickson.
Afable said he could not rule out the possibility of hardline elements breaking away from the rebel group but added there was "a consistent assurance from the MILF that they are negotiating as a consolidated group".
A peace deal with the 12,000-strong MILF would speed development of impoverished but mineral-rich Mindanao and improve the overall investment and security climate in the Philippines, the closest ally of the United States in Southeast Asia.
"The light at the end of the tunnel is not only flickering, but is getting nearer and nearer," Mohaqher Iqbal, head of the MILF delegation, said on Tuesday.
Afable said his confidence was driven by stability on the ground, wide support from the international community and the sincerity of the rebels "who share the aspiration of our government to end this conflict".
His only concern was "the activities of militant groups in Mindanao who continue to try to undermine any agreement".
Afable did not elaborate but security analysts have warned of efforts to scuttle the peace process by Abu Sayyaf, a small but lethal local group, and the regional network Jemaah Islamiah, which is believed to be al Qaeda's link in Southeast Asia.
Manila and the MILF agreed in Malaysia to start an advocacy campaign to explain the concept of a Muslim homeland to Islamic, Christian and tribal communities on Mindanao, Afable said.
The idea of an ancestral domain has been opposed by some landowners, many of them Christian, as well as Muslim clans who fear they will lose their political clout and business interests.
Besides agreeing to determine the scope of the homeland, the negotiators settled on steps to address the grievances of local Muslims, their right to use and develop their land, and economic cooperation measures, officials said.
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02/09/2006 02:06 ||
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#2
"the activities of militant groups in Mindanao who continue to try to undermine any agreement"
you mean the MILF's clandestine comrades : JI
Posted by: bk ||
02/09/2006 9:43 Comments ||
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#3
Afable said he could not rule out the possibility of hardline elements breaking away from the rebel group but added there was
Sounds like the comments made when the MNLF signed a peace treaty, giving birth th the MILF. So whats next, AMLF (Another Morro Lib Front)? I know whatever happens it won't be peace.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
02/09/2006 9:51 Comments ||
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Hundreds of thousands of Lebanese Shiite Muslims turned a religious ceremony on Thursday into a peaceful protest against a series of cartoons in the Western media lampooning the Prophet Mohammad.
The European Union sought to calm tension, calling for a voluntary media code of conduct to avoid further inflaming religious sensibilities, while the United States accused Iran and Syria of deliberately stoking Muslim rage.
The leader of Lebanon's Hizbollah group pledged no compromise until there was a full apology from Denmark, where the cartoons were first appeared, and European countries passed laws prohibiting insults against the prophet. "Today, we are defending the dignity of our prophet with a word, a demonstration, but let [US President] George Bush and the arrogant world know that if we have to... we will defend our prophet with our blood, not our voices," Hizbollah group leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah told the crowd.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 22:23 ||
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Amid the escalating crisis around Iran's nuclear programme, Russia said Thursday that it will still arm Tehran with missiles that can secure nuclear facilities from attack.
'We concluded a contract for the supply of air-defence systems to Iran and there is no reason not to fulfil it,' Mikhail Dmitriyev, the head of Russia's military-technical cooperation agency, told journalists in Moscow.
Worth an estimated 700 million dollars, the deal for up to 30 Tor M-1 surface-to-air missiles is the largest since Russia in 2000 withdrew from an agreement with the United States restricting the supply of military hardware to Iran.
Dmitriyev rejected media reports that talks were underway for the additional supply of heavier S-300 air-defence missiles.
Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov has stressed that the Tor is a defensive system and that the sale does not violate Russia's international obligations.
The weapon is effective against aircraft, cruise missiles and guided bombs.
There was no indication when the systems would be shipped to Iran.
The missiles are expected to be deployed at facilities including the nuclear research centre at Isfahan and the reactor that Russia is completing for Iran at the southern port of Bushehr.
According to Dmitriyev, Russia's overall exports of arms in 2005 were worth a record 6.1 billion U.S. dollars. The sales target for 2006 is seven billion dollars, he added.
The main customers for Russian military hardware are China and India.
Posted by: Captain America ||
02/09/2006 18:48 ||
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#1
tick tock
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/09/2006 19:59 Comments ||
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#2
Hey they paid us 100% up front. Come on. It's just business.
I wonder if Bush regrets some of his earlier Putin comments?
#6
Ahhhhh, our dear friends the Russkis, ala anti-State organ State organ PRAVDA article - ONLY RUSSIA SEEMS DESTINED TO SUPPRESS US GLOBAL DOMINATION. Central premise - ONLY RUSSIA DECIDES WHOM IS ITS EQUAL. Don't tell the Chicoms, PRAVDA, lest intra-Commie - eeeerrrrr, sorry, meant Stalinist Fascists-for-anti-Fascism - trouble starts a'brewin.
Moonbat alert
A top Russian parliamentary leader has told Ekho Moskvy radio station that an attack on Iran is inevitable and that it will occur on March 28th. The leader of the Liberal Democrats Vladimir Zhirinovsky also believes that the Muslim riots were orchestrated by the US to garner European backing for the military strike.
Rhetoric has heated significantly in the past week with Donald Rumsfeld yesterday warning that a military option was on the table, echoing the comments of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist who said that the US was prepared to take military action.
Also, Israeli acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that Iran would pay "a very heavy price" if the Islamic Republic defiantly resumes full-scale uranium enrichment to build nuclear weapons.
Zhirinovsky told the Russian radio station that, "The war is inevitable because the Americans want this war. Any country claiming a leading position in the world will need to wage wars. Otherwise it will simply not be able to retain its leading position."
"The date for the strike is already known it is the election day in Israel (March 28). It is also known how much that war will cost, said Zhirinovsky.
Commenting on the Muslim riots sweeping the Middle East and Europe, Zhirinovsky (pictured above) said that the publication of the offensive cartoons was a planned psyop on the part of the US and aimed to provoke a row between Europe and the Islamic world.
It will all end with European countries thanking the United States and paying, and giving soldiers, said Zhirinovsky.
The possible inorganic manufactured nature of the riots has to be seriously considered. The three most offensive cartoons that caused the outrage were not even printed in the Danish Jyllands-Posten newspaper but were added in and handed out by Danish imams who circulated the images to brethren in Muslim countries, according to the London Telegraph.
It also appears highly suspicious that Muslims in Gaza City and other places had gained access to a plentiful supply of Danish flags to burn in front of the waiting world media as soon as the controversy broke out.
It now comes to light that Merete Eldrup, managing director of JP/Politikens Hus, the company that published the cartoons, is the wife of Anders Eldrup. Anders Eldrup is a Bilderberg member who has attended the last five Bilderberg meetings. The Bilderberg Group is a shadowy organization that meets once a year to steer global policy. It is now widely acknowledged that Bilderberg set the date for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq.
he violent demonstrations, on the back of last November's French riots, are clearly having the effect of hardening European sympathy towards Muslims, even as the governments of major European countries open the floodgates to mass immigration. This greases the skids for an accelerated invasion of Iran who yesterday announced they were cutting trade with Denmark over the offensive cartoons.
Director of the Russian Political Research Institute Sergei Markov previously warned that Israel was likely to conduct air strikes against Iran in the spring.
The window of opportunity seems to be forming for the US and Israel. The White House meeting memo proves that UN consultations and possible sanctions are mere window dressing for a plan of action that has already been decided upon. What remains to be seen is if the US or Israel will attempt to manufacture a staged war provocation to goad the Iranians into signing their own death warrant. The memo, released by QC Philippe Sands, contained details of a discussion between Tony Blair and George Bush where a plan to paint a US spy plane in UN colors and fly it low over Iraq in the hope that Saddam would order it shot down was debated.
#3
It is now widely acknowledged that Bilderberg set the date for the March 2003 invasion of Iraq. Bilderbers done it? First time I heard of it was here. I though the US, the Great Satan had done it.
#4
You've got to keep up on your conspiracy theories. Both Halliburton and the Council on Foreign Relations are wholly-owned subsidiaries of Bilderberg. Everybody knows that.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/09/2006 10:04 Comments ||
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#7
Well, he got ONE thing right - the "controversy" over the cartoons was definitely contrived. I would believe by Iran and Syria, to try to distract the world from other things going on. We're definitely heading for a show-down, as the "Sadr" announcement confirms. Iran WANTS this - they believe they can inflict massive casualties against the US.
One thing to remember: Iran hasn't had a REAL war waged on its soil in several years. The idiocy between them and Iraq was a bloody, stupid farce. If they believe the US fights like the Iraqis did, they're in for a HORRIBLE surprise.
The only thing I can possibly think Zhirinofsky hopes to gain by this obvious bit of insanity is to try to drive a wedge between the US and Europe over the coming confrontation with Iran and Syria. I don't think it's going to get very far. The muzzies are their own worst enemies, and have done more to unite Europe and the US than we or the Russians could have ever done.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
02/09/2006 10:47 Comments ||
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#8
The agreement to attack Iran has finally has come to fruition but no date has been set. Keep in mind the Bilderbergers are a genus branched off from the ancient raptor-type bi-pedal saurian species. This shouldnt come as a surprise since everyone knows that these reptilian humanoids are prone to indecision.
#21
Will say again that all Amer's enemies, Hillaristas and the DemoLefties have left is "brinkmanship", besides of course the MSM. 9-11 and the GWOT is about control of the world and Socialism, which for the Lefties = weak, Sovietized, anti-sovereign Amerika under OWG and SWO/CWO. AYMMETRIC WARFARE [NUCLEARIZED?], eg alleged PEOPLE'S WAR, gener allows WILFUL ANTI-US cannon fodder nations like Iran and North Korea, etc. to militarily engage the Hyperpower+ USA and US Allies without also waging suicidal traditional organz linear warfare, hence preserving for as long as possible their State-specific warfighting manpower and societal-cultural-ethnic national attributes. Amer's enemies have the waffling, stalling/
obstructionist reactionist-happy dialectic Clintons and Dems in Washington with Russia-China, etal. as mil backup in case the Clintons and Dems fail. The Dems prob is NOT free America making war, its a weak AMERIKA SSR NOT being the final outcome; its NOT America warring for newfound Global EMpire, ITS AMERICA GOVERNING AND DOMINATING ITS OWN EMPIRE; its NOT alleged Fascist Americans andor Amer Milfors making war, ITS FREE AMERICANS BEING ALLOWED TO GOVERN OR CONTROL THEIR OWN COUNTRY, ECONOMY, AND DESTINY! To paraphrase our dear friends the Russians this AM, vv PRAVDA and the Russia LeftForums, ONLY RUSSIA DECIDES WHOM IS ITS EQUAL, ONLY RUSSIA DECIDES WHAT AND WHOM IS, OR IS NOT, IN EURASIA.
ONLY RUSSIA DECIDES.
#22
The leader of the Liberal Democrats Vladimir Zhirinovsky also believes that the Muslim riots were orchestrated by the US to garner European backing for the military strike.
President Bush on Wednesday delivered a lecture to the world's press and a plea to the world's Muslims.
As leader of the most powerful democracy, he defended the rights of newspapers to print what they see fit. But he felt obliged to tell the news media they must be sensitive about their power to offend.
That said, Bush called on foreign governments to bring a halt to the deadly rioting that has burned across the Muslim world in response to the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
Bush's secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, accused Syria and Iran of trying to inflame the situation.
The president spoke out about the controversy for the first time, signaling deepening White House concern about violent protests stemming from the publication of caricatures in Denmark's Jyllands-Posten and reprinted in European media and elsewhere in the past week.
We reject violence as a way to express discontent with what may be printed in a free press, the president said.
At the same time, Bush admonished the press that its freedom comes with the responsibility to be thoughtful about others.
Bush commented alongside King Abdullah II of Jordan at the White House. Abdullah, too, called for protests to be peaceful, but he also spoke against ridicule of Islam's holiest figure.
With all respect to press freedoms, obviously anything that vilifies the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, or attacks Muslim sensibilities, I believe, needs to be condemned, the king said.
In Afghanistan, meanwhile, police killed four people as protesters marched on a U.S. military base.
There was increasing talk, both in the U.S. and abroad, that some foreign governments as well as extremist groups were fanning the violent protests.
At the State Department, Rice said, Iran and Syria have gone out of their way to inflame sentiments and to use this to their own purposes. And the world ought to call them on it.
There is little doubt that there is genuine anger throughout the Muslim world, where images of the revered Prophet Muhammad with a bomb strapped to his head are considered racist and deeply insulting.
In the post-Sept. 11 world, Muslims already feel the brunt of the war on terror and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, said Diaa Rashwan, with the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo, Egypt.
That only further fueled the anger this time around, he said, the cartoons releasing bottled-up anger and frustration.
In Afghanistan, U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said, Other countries are having the same demonstrations, same problems, when he was asked if al-Qaeda and the Taliban may have been involved.
And Zahor Afghan, editor of Erada, Afghanistan's most respected newspaper, said that there are definitely people using this to incite violence against the presence of foreigners in Afghanistan.
On Tuesday, Bush had called Denmark's prime minister to express our support and solidarity in the wake of the violence.
In the midst of a campaign to blunt widespread anti-American sentiment across the Mideast, Bush sought to balance his remarks by urging the media to be sensitive to religious beliefs.
We believe in a free press, the president said. We also recognize that with freedom comes responsibilities. With freedom comes the responsibility to be thoughtful about others.
Sitting alongside him, Jordan's Abdullah said, Islam, like Christianity and Judaism, is a religion of peace, tolerance, moderation.
Bush said the furious reaction to the publication of the cartoons requires a lot of discussion and a lot of sensitive thought.
I first want to make it very clear to people around the world that ours is a nation that believes in tolerance and understanding, the president said. In America we welcome people of all faiths.
One of the great attributes of our country is that you're free to worship however you choose in the United States of America, the president said.
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WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush said the U.S.-led global war on terror has "weakened and fractured" al-Qaida and allied groups, outlining as proof new details about the multinational cooperation that foiled purported terrorist plans to fly a commercial airplane into the tallest skyscraper on the West Coast.
"The terrorists are living under constant pressure and this adds to our security," Bush said. "When terrorists spend their days working to avoid death or capture, it's harder for them to plan and execute new attacks on our country. By striking the terrorists where they live, we're protecting the American homeland."
But the president said the anti-terror battle is far from over.
"The terrorists are weakened and fractured, yet they're still lethal," the president said in a speech at the National Guard Memorial Building. "We cannot let the fact that America hasn't been attacked in 41/2 years since September the 11th lull us into the illusion that the threats to our nation have disappeared. They have not."
Bush has referred to the 2002 plot before. In an address last October, he said the United States and its allies had foiled at least 10 serious plots by the al-Qaida terror network in the last four years, including plans for Sept. 11-like attacks on both U.S. coasts. The White House initially would not give details of the plots but later released a fact sheet with a brief, and vague, description of each.
The president filled in details on Thursday.
He said that Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who was captured in 2003, had already begun planning the West Coast operation in October, just after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. One of Mohammed's key planners was Hambali, the alleged operations chief of the al-Qaida related terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah. Instead of recruiting Arab hijackers, Hambali found Southeast Asian men who would be less likely to arouse suspicion and who were sent to meet with Osama bin Laden, Bush said.
Under the plot, the hijackers were to use shoe bombs to blow open the cockpit door of a commercial jetliner, take control of the plane and crash it into the Library Tower in Los Angeles, since renamed the US Bank Tower, Bush said. In his remarks, Bush inadvertently referred to the site as "Liberty Tower," and immediately afterward, the White House corrected him.
The president said the plot was derailed when a Southeast Asian nation arrested a key al-Qaida operative. Bush did not name the country or the operative.
Frances Fragos Townsend, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, said Mohammed, working with Hambali in Asia, recruited four members of the terrorist cell. She told reporters in a conference call that all four went to Afghanistan where they met and swore their loyalty to bin Laden.
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
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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.
KABUL - Afghan authorities have arrested more than 40 Pakistani workers for inciting violence during a protest against cartoons of Prophet Mohammed in which four people were killed, an official said on Thursday. 
A top Taliban commander on Wednesday offered a reward of 100 kilogrammes of gold to anyone who kills the artist responsible for cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (
Appeals for calm in the furore over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad (
Chad and Sudan have signed a peace deal aimed at ending their dispute at the end of a mini-summit in Tripoli hosted by Libyan leader Muammar al-Qadhafi. The agreement, signed on Wednesday, by Omar al-Beshir, the Sudanese president and his Chadian counterpart Idriss Deby, provides for the re-establishment of relations and the opening of consulates. It calls for a ban on the use of the territory of either for hostile activity directed against the other and on accepting rebels from the other. It also envisages "the creation of a peace force" between the two countries and the establishment of "an African ministerial committee presided over by Libya to oversee the application of the ageeement, and the end of hostile press campaigns and of support to armed groups of the two countries".
The U.S. Department of the Treasury today designated five individuals and four entities for their role in financing the 
A U.S. citizen with a $5 million bounty on his head for alleged links to an al Qaeda cell in New York state was among 23 prisoners who escaped from a Yemeni prison last week, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. "Jaber Elbaneh was a member of the cell and was among those who escaped from prison in Yemen," the official told Reuters. 
DUBAI: An American professor who taught at a university in the United Arab Emirates was fired for distributing copies of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad to her students, a colleague said on Wednesday. "She had distributed copies of the cartoons to her students so they could debate it, but that led to a complaint and she was fired," a colleague of Claudia Kiburz told Reuters. 
A boat carrying 725 Pakistanis deported from Muscat, arrived at Ghas Bander, Keamari on Wednesday. Exhausted by hunger and thirst, the deportees were welcomed by the Ansar Burney Trust, who provided them drinking water, tea and good food. They were released one by one after FIA immigration checked their traveling documents issued by the Pakistan Embassy at Muscat. The job seekers, most of them illiterate, had been trafficked to the Gulf States through Taftan, illegally crossing the Pakistan-Iran border near Mand Ballu. According to sources, thousands of people are still on the Pakistan-Iran border and their ultimate destination is Muscat and after entering illegally, they would travel to UAE and other countries in the Middle East by road. Over 100,000 Pakistanis were deported during the last two years.
A mass demonstration of 100,000 Muslims will take place in London next weekend as anger continues over publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. The Muslim Action Committee, an umbrella group which claims to represent more than a million Muslims, said it would do as much as it could to prevent the ugly scenes seen last week when protesters carried placards issuing death threats and one man dressed as a suicide bomber. 
Russian security forces on Wednesday detained a suspect accused of involvement in an alleged plan to attack a second school if the Beslan raid had been foiled, the prosecutor's office for southern Russia said. The detainee, identified as 
Hackers have attacked hundreds of Danish websites in recent days to protest against the publication in Denmark of cartoons of Prophet Mohammed, Internet security officials said. The hackers have defaced home pages and websites by replacing them with messages hailing Islam and condemning the cartoons, security and virus analyst Peter Kruse of Danish internet security firm CSIS told AFP. "About 500 Danish websites have been targetted that we know of because of the Mohammed cartoons ... (and) the number continues to rise dramatically," Kruse said.
Fifty-one Pakistanis deported from the United States for violating various laws reached Islamabad by a chartered flight on Wednesday. The US embassy spokesman in Pakistan told Daily Times that the deportees were involved in several cases including fraud, forgery, burglary, drug smuggling, murder, illegal immigration, sexual assault, rape and possession of illegal weapons. 
At least 22 people have been killed and many injured in a suspected suicide bomb that struck a religious procession in north-west Pakistan. The explosion tore through a crowd of Shia Muslims marking the festival of Ashura in the town of Hangu. No-one has claimed responsibility for the attack. Pakistan has a history of tension between Shia and Sunni Muslims. Troops were sent to maintain a curfew after pilgrims responded to the attack by torching shops and cars.
Around 5,000 police and paramilitary personnel have been deployed in the provincial capital to maintain peace during the Ashura procession today (Thursday). Balochistan Police Chief Chaudhry Muhammad Yaqub said that the army has also been alerted to help the administration if necessary. He said that 3,500 police and 1,500 paramilitary personnel had been stationed in sensitive areas of Quetta.
Tribal militants are suspected of planting a bomb last Sunday that killed 13 people on a bus, in retaliation for an ongoing military operation against them in Balochistan. The security situation in Balochistan has been deteriorating for the past year, and worsened further after a rocket attack in December during a visit by President Pervez Musharraf to Kohlu town on December 14. 
At least 75 people have died and 242 injured and 85 percent of the residents of Dera Bugti have migrated because of the military operation in Balochistan, Jamhoori Watan Party (JWP) Deputy Secretary General Abdul Rauf Khan Sasoli told reporters on Wednesday. He said 62 security personnel had also been killed. Sasoli said the security forces had occupied the deserted fort of tribal chief Nawab Akbar Bugti. He urged foreign envoys to visit the area to see what was going on for themselves.
Security forces arrested seven tribesmen suspected in land mine explosions and rocket attacks on state-run gas fields in Balochistan on Wednesday, AP reported. The suspects were apprehended after a shootout in Sui, where Pakistan's main gas fields are located, local police official Pir Bakhsh said. Troops also seized three rocket launchers, 11 rockets and seven machine guns from the men, he said. Bakhsh gave no detail about the suspects' alleged involvement in attacks.
A headless body was found on Wednesday, along with a message saying that spying for America and Pakistan will result in this. This discovery came as two explosions and a rocket attack on paramilitary force rocked 
A car bomb exploded in central Baghdad as the Iraqi higher education minister's convoy passed by on Wednesday but he escaped injury, Interior Ministry sources said. Two of Sami Al-Mudhafer's bodyguards were wounded and a civilian was killed in the attack. Interior Ministry sources earlier said it was the education minister, Abdul Falah Hassan, who had escaped the bombing. It was not clear whether Mudhafer himself was the target of the attack as bombings are sometimes directed at any convoy. Meanwhile, an unmanned US aircraft went down near Sadr City, but the cause was not immediately known, the military said on Wednesday. The aircraft belonged to Multi-National Division-Baghdad forces and made a 'controlled parachute landing' on Tuesday, a military statement said.
A militant group said it has executed an Iraqi special forces lieutenant general and posted a video of the captive on the Internet on Tuesday. The Army of Ansar al-Sunna video showed the man in military uniform identifying himself as Dera 
HEBRON, West Bank (AP) - In the most violent Palestinian protest yet against cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad, crowds smashed windows and threw stones Wednesday at the headquarters of international observers, prompting them to quit this volatile West Bank city.
