Hi there, !
Today Wed 08/15/2007 Tue 08/14/2007 Mon 08/13/2007 Sun 08/12/2007 Sat 08/11/2007 Fri 08/10/2007 Thu 08/09/2007 Archives
Rantburg
532859 articles and 1859496 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 56 articles and 212 comments as of 3:01.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion    Local News       
Taliban: 2 sick S. Korean hostages to be freed
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
6 00:00 Red Dawg [4] 
0 [3] 
4 00:00 Frank G [4] 
12 00:00 BA [4] 
4 00:00 john frum [3] 
19 00:00 Zenster [6] 
7 00:00 BA [5] 
1 00:00 Pancho Jamble1384 [3] 
6 00:00 BA [5] 
8 00:00 siriuslek [3] 
1 00:00 Frank G [3] 
0 [3] 
0 [3] 
2 00:00 Bobby [3] 
1 00:00 Old Patriot [4] 
9 00:00 Zenster [7] 
8 00:00 BA [6] 
0 [3] 
0 [4] 
0 [3] 
1 00:00 WTF [3] 
0 [3] 
0 [3] 
7 00:00 Old Patriot [3] 
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [4] 
0 [4] 
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [9] 
Page 2: WoT Background
0 [7]
0 [4]
9 00:00 Halliburton - Goat-related STDs Division [6]
5 00:00 BA [6]
5 00:00 Cyber Sarge [3]
1 00:00 M. Murcek [3]
1 00:00 Redneck Jim [3]
1 00:00 doc [7]
0 [9]
3 00:00 Zenster [3]
7 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [5]
0 [3]
Page 3: Non-WoT
3 00:00 Pappy [3]
8 00:00 BA [6]
0 [3]
3 00:00 rhodesiafever [3]
2 00:00 rhodesiafever [3]
5 00:00 Bright Pebbles [3]
3 00:00 rhodesiafever [3]
2 00:00 Valentine [3]
Page 4: Opinion
18 00:00 Angie Schultz [4]
1 00:00 Frank G [4]
6 00:00 BA [6]
3 00:00 McZoid [7]
10 00:00 Zenster [5]
2 00:00 Grumenk Philalzabod0723 [3]
Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
1 00:00 john frum [4]
9 00:00 BA [6]
6 00:00 jds [3]
Afghanistan
Taliban: 2 sick S. Korean hostages to be freed
A Taliban spokesman said Saturday that two sick, female South Korean hostages would be released "soon" for the sake of good relations between the Taliban and South Korea. Neither the international Red Cross or the Afghan government could confirm the claim.

The spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said the two women would be freed because they are sick. He said the decision had been made by the Taliban's high commanders, but he added that they had yet to decided when the women would be freed. Two Taliban leaders and four South Korean officials met Saturday for the second day of face-to-face talks over the fate of 21 South Korean hostages being held by the militants.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  We don't wanna doctor them, too much trouble, here, take them.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/12/2007 10:33 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Two prominent media managers killed in Mogadishu
One of the owners of HornAfrik Media, a local independent Radio and TV station based in Mogadishu has been killed and two other journalists of the station were wounded when a bomb exploded on their car on Saturday - amid growing threat on the local journalists over the current events.

Ali Iman Sharmarke, in his 40s died while Sahal of Reuters was wounded in a roadside bomb explosion that ripped off their car around 2:30pm as they were returning from the funeral of Mahad Ahmed Elmi who was earlier this morning killed in near Horn Afrik headquarter. Falastiin Ahmed, the wife of one of HornAfrik owners, Ahmed Abdisalan was also wounded.

One of the journalists that was following the convoy confirmed Somalinet the death of Ali Sharmarke who was also the general director of Horn Afrik Radio and TV in Mogadishu.

Meanwhile, The head of the Capital Voice radio FM belonging to the independent HornAfrik Media was shot dead in the Somalia capital Mogadishu on Saturday. Mahad Ahmed Elmi in his 30s was gunned down by two men armed with pistols around 7:40am local time as he was on his way to the station early this morning.

His death shocked all the local journalists in Somalia. Horn Afrik went off air after the news of the death arrived.

One of the armed men picked up a pistol and shot two bullets on his head and few minutes after Mahad died before reaching to the hospital.
Can someone translate that sentence for me?
Also, unknown gunmen seriously wounded a Somali journalist in Mogadishu, the Somali capital, last night. Abdihakim Omar Jimale, was attacked at his home in Yaqshid neighborhood, north of the capital.

It is not yet clear who were behind the latest acts of killings and wounding the journalists and no group has claimed the responsibility.
Esquimaux? Lutherans? Lapplanders?
Posted by: Steve White || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts

#1  One of the armed men picked up a pistol and shot two bullets on his head and few minutes after Mahad died before reaching to the hospital

i.e.: another night out clubbing for PacMan Jones and his Crew™
Posted by: Frank G || 08/12/2007 0:38 Comments || Top||

#2  "Mogadishu is gettin likes da Hood!"

Big L, was shot multiple times in the head and chest and killed just blocks away from his Harlem home

King Tubby, who invented the dubbing process that was popularized by rappers, was murdered in 1989 when he was 58 years old.

Rapper Michael Menson, of the group Double Trouble died in 1989 at age 29 when a gang soaked him in gasoline and set him afire. Double Trouble had a hit that same year titled “Street Tuff.”

MC Rock, rapper with The Almighty RSO, was stabbed to death in 1990 at roughly age 28.

Brandon Mitchell, rapper with Wreckx-N-Effect, was shot to death in 1990 at about age 20 during an argument over a woman.

Charizma, rapper with Peanut Butter Wolf, was shot to death in 1993 at age 20.

Mr. Cee, rapper with R.B.L. Posse (Ruthless By Law), was murdered in 1995.

Tupac Shakur (2Pac), a gangsta rap superstar, was shot to death in 1996 at age 25.

Rapper Seagram Miller was shot to death in Oakland, California, in August 1996. He was 26.

Notorious B.I.G., gangsta rap star, Shot to death leaving a ParTé in 1997 at age 24. This was only three years after the release of his successful album “Ready to Die.” This album was filled with cursing, violence, and immorality. One cut was titled “Suicidal Thoughts,” and Notorious B.I.G. sang, “When I die, -----, I wanna go to hell.”

Fat Pat (Patrick Hawkins), rapper who recorded immoral songs, was shot to death in 1998 at age 26.

Luis “Papo” Deschamps, rapper with Sandy y Papo, died in a car crash in 1999 at age 23.

Malcolm Howard, rapper with 4 Black Faces, was shot to death execution style in 1999 at roughly age 30.

MC Big L (Lamont Coleman), rapper with Diggin’ In the Crates Crew, was shot to death outside his home in 1999 at age 23.

Rapper MC Ant was shot to death in 1999 at roughly age 35.

Bugz, an original member of Eminem’s D12 hip-hop collective, was shot and killed in 1999 at a picnic in Detroit’s Belle Isle Park.

Q-Don (Raeneal Quann), rapper, was shot to death outside a Philadelphia nightclub in April 2000 at roughly age 30.

Yusef Afloat Muhammad, rapper with The Nonce, was found dead alongside a Los Angeles freeway in May 2000 at roughly age 28.

Bruce Mayfield (aka Chip Banks and Bankie), rapper with The American Cream Team, was shot to death over a money dispute in November 2000 at age 30.

Lloyd “Mooseman” Roberts, rapper who worked with Iggy Pop, Ice-T, and Body Count, died in a drive by shooting in February 2001 at roughly age 28.

Tonnie Sheppard, rapper and cousin of rapper Haf-A-Mil, was stabbed to death in a recording studio during a fight with studio executives in May 2001 at age 38 or 39.

Jam Master Jay, rapper with the popular group Run-DMC, was shot to death in his recording studio in October 2002 at age 37 by an unknown assailant. This is the latest in a long string of violence associated with rappers, who produce a style of music that is infamously violent in nature (though Jam Master Jay himself was more positive than most).

In November 2003, Anthony “Wolf” Jones,” 38-year-old former bodyguard for “P. Diddy” Combs, was shot to death in a gunfight outside an Atlanta nightclub. $7,000 was found on Jones’ body. Jones and Combs had been acquitted of gun possession and bribery charges stemming from a 1999 shooting inside a New York nightclub.

In December 2003, federal prosecutor Jonathan Luna was gunned down during the trial of rapper Deon Lionnel Smith, who was accused of running a violent drug ring.

Rapper Juston Potts (nicknamed “Kanyva”) murdered his promoter on June 7, 2004, because “she told him he didn’t have the talent to sell records” (“Aspiring rapper arrested in killing,” San Francisco Chronicle, June 8, 2004).

In April 2006 Proof of the rap group D12 was shot to death at a bar in Detroit. The 32-year-old rapper, whose real name was Deshaun Holton, was the best man at Eminem’s wedding to his former wife Kim four months earlier. Proof first shot 35-year-old Keith Bender in the head and then was shot by an unknown third party. Eminem said, “Not a day will go by without his spirit and influence around us all,” and called the deceased rapper “both the heart and ambassador of Detroit hip-hop.”
Posted by: Tupac Shakur || 08/12/2007 13:47 Comments || Top||

#3  "stabbed to death in a recording studio during a fight with studio executives"

These folks sound like real model citizens, don't they?

Al
Posted by: Frozen Al || 08/12/2007 13:59 Comments || Top||

#4  I knew rap was dying, I didn't know that was literally the way they were going (Dying)good riddance.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/12/2007 18:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Wonder if Notorious got his wish?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/12/2007 21:01 Comments || Top||

#6  To get back to the story at hand (da Mog), is that a real car bomb pic, or just another *sad* ending for another Renault?
Posted by: BA || 08/12/2007 22:49 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Guantanamo prisoner released
The last remaining Bahraini prisoner at the US celebrated notorious detention camp at the Guantanamo Bay has returned home after being released.

The 41-year-old captive, who has been held without charge or trial for more than five years, is married and has five children, aged from seven to 18, Bahraini media reported. Bahrain Foreign Minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, named the Bahraini national as Isa al-Murbati and said the release of the detainees had been among the country's top priorities in contacts with US officials, a state news agency was reported as saying.

Three other Bahrainis, Adel Kamel Hajee, Abdulla Al Nuaimi and Shaikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa, were all released from Guantanamo in November 2005, while Salah Al Blooshi was freed and returned to Bahrain in October last year. Some 800 detainees have actually passed through the camp since it opened, and several hundred are still held there.
This article starring:
Isa al-Murbati
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is that the one who fought clear up to thr supreme court to be allowed to stay at Gitmo?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/12/2007 10:28 Comments || Top||


Britain
Terror alert on to-be-freed UK Gitmo guys
THE Pentagon has claimed that five terror suspects whom Britain wants back from Guantanamo Bay have close ties to some of Al-Qaeda’s most high-ranking leaders.

Only days after Gordon Brown took the surprise decision to call for their release, a senior American official this weekend disclosed previously classified evidence to show that the men are “extremely dangerous individuals”. Sandra Hodgkinson, who is in charge of US detention policy, warned that the suspects may seek to rejoin the war on terror and could pose a risk to the UK if not kept under close scrutiny.

In a fresh series of allegations against the men, Hodgkinson claimed that:
— One of them had been an interpreter for Osama Bin Laden and was funded by the Al-Qaeda chief while living in Afghanistan.

— Another detainee had “a long-term association” with Abu Musab al-Zar-qawi, the ex-leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

— A third suspect is a “jihadi veteran” with links to a Moroccan terrorist jailed for 18 years over the 2003 Casablanca bombings.
Britain originally refused to take back the men, none of whom are British, but who have residency rights. The U-turn has prompted criticism and the new claims will increase pressure on ministers to enforce a tough security regime when the men return.
Blair = 'no way do we want them tarbabies'. Brown = 'how dare you traumatize those poor men who have graced our shores in the past'
The suspects’ lawyers have dismissed many of the allegations as “fantasy” and claim the Pentagon is smearing their clients to justify their incarceration at Guantanamo.
"Lies! All lies!"
Hodgkinson, deputy assistant secretary of defence for detainee affairs, said: “Among these men are some extremely dangerous individuals . . . if they are sent back to the United Kingdom they could pose a risk.

“Because of some of the extensive ties these individuals have with well-known Al-Qaeda [leaders], we have concerns that they will try to reconnect with some of their old counterparts and return to the fight in the sense that they will try to carry out attacks, whether it’s in England or elsewhere.”

Although ministers may place the men on control orders - a form of house arrest - an initial US request to watch them round-the-clock is believed to have been rejected as too costly.
Well, we all know how effective control orders have been. Sleep well, Britain.
Yup, costs too much to watch 'em, may as well just let 'em go. Somehow they'll fund the special appropriation to rebuild London after the next bombing.
lots of details at the link
Posted by: lotp || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Implant the GPS trackers and microphones now!
And for safety a little pre-frontal...
Posted by: 3dc || 08/12/2007 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Send a wet work team and off them right under the noses of "scotland yard" If we can't keep vermin like this off them.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/12/2007 6:38 Comments || Top||

#3  i hate too say this, but let them go back too britain. let the british see how bad these boys really are and then maybe they will see how big a dumbass brown is and wake up to the threat that is about too hit home really hard
Posted by: sinse || 08/12/2007 7:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Abu Musab al-Zar-qawi, the ex-leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

Ex-leader? Why not former leader? Retired leader? Fearless leader?

Or how about 'former leader, killed last year'?
Posted by: Bobby || 08/12/2007 9:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Feckless pols trying to appease their burgeoning 'slamer' population, unable to account for terrorists they let run free -- haven't we seen this movie before? Doesn't have happy ending if I recall.
Posted by: regular joe || 08/12/2007 11:07 Comments || Top||

#6  Fly them back to Britain in a plane that just happens to catch fire over the Atlantic leaving only the pilot and co-pilot time to eject.

Britain's "bend-over-and-spread" posture is tiresome for all save her enemies.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 13:23 Comments || Top||

#7  So Britain will fight to bring in terrorists but can't be bothered to take in the Iraqi translators who helped them in Basra?
Posted by: Cromert || 08/12/2007 17:16 Comments || Top||

#8  LOL, Zen! Give 'em a taste of their own medicine. I'd be with you, except that I'd rather save our tax dollars (not pay for that plane) and just put a bullet in 'em, as per the Geneva Conventions.

NO MORE DETAINEES, only dead jihadis!
Posted by: BA || 08/12/2007 22:40 Comments || Top||

#9  NO MORE DETAINEES, only dead jihadis!

Works for me. Oughta be our military's slogan. Live capture strictly optional.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 23:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
Italy: Probe unearths $40 million "black channel" Iraq arms deal
Jordanians, Iraqi Interior Ministry officials, Italian anti-Mafia prosecutors, Bulgarian arms merchants ...

Much more at the link

In a hidden corner of Rome's busy Fiumicino Airport, police dug quietly through a traveler's checked baggage, looking for smuggled drugs. What they found instead was a catalog of weapons, a clue to something bigger.

Their discovery led anti-Mafia investigators down a monthslong trail of telephone and e-mail intercepts, into the midst of a huge black-market transaction, as Iraqi and Italian partners haggled over shipping more than 100,000 Russian-made automatic weapons into the bloodbath of Iraq.

As the secretive, $40 million deal neared completion, Italian authorities moved in, making arrests and breaking it up. But key questions remain unanswered.

For one thing, The Associated Press has learned that Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command — a departure from the usual pattern of U.S.-overseen arms purchases.

Why these officials resorted to "black" channels and where the weapons were headed is unclear.

The purchase would merely have been the most spectacular example of how Iraq has become a magnet for arms traffickers and a place of vanishing weapons stockpiles and uncontrolled gun markets since the 2003 U.S. invasion and the onset of civil war.

Some guns the U.S. bought for Iraq's police and army are unaccounted for, possibly fallen into the hands of insurgents or sectarian militias. Meanwhile, the planned replacement of the army's AK-47s with U.S.-made M-16s may throw more assault rifles onto the black market. And the weapons free-for-all apparently is spilling over borders: Turkey and Iran complain U.S.-supplied guns are flowing from Iraq to anti-government militants on their soil.

Iraqi middlemen in the Italian deal, in intercepted e-mails, claimed the arrangement had official American approval. A U.S. spokesman in Baghdad denied that.

"Iraqi officials did not make MNSTC-I aware that they were making purchases," Lt. Col. Daniel Williams of the Multi-National Security Transition Command-Iraq (MNSTC-I), which oversees arming and training of the Iraqi police and army, told the AP.

Operation Parabellum, the investigation led by Dario Razzi, anti-Mafia prosecutor in this central Italian city, began in 2005 as a routine investigation into drug trafficking by organized-crime figures, branched out into an inquiry into arms dealing with Libya, and then widened to Iraq.

Court documents obtained by the AP show that Razzi's break came early last year when police monitoring one of the drug suspects covertly opened his luggage as he left on a flight to Libya. Instead of the expected drugs, they found helmets, bulletproof vests and the weapons catalog.

Tapping telephones, monitoring e-mails, Razzi's investigators followed the trail to a group of Italian businessmen, otherwise unrelated to the drug probe, who were working to sell arms to Libya and, by late 2006, to Iraq as well, through offshore companies they set up in Malta and Cyprus.

Four Italians have been arrested and are awaiting court indictment for allegedly creating a criminal association and alleged arms trafficking — trading in weapons without a government license. A fifth Italian is being sought in Africa. In addition, 13 other Italians were arrested on drug charges.

Al-Handal's operations have caught investigators' notice before. In 1996-2003, the company was involved as a broker in the kickback scandal known as Oil for Food, the CIA says.
Posted by: mrp || 08/12/2007 12:25 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here in Italy, Razzi expressed puzzlement at the Iraqi officials' circumvention of U.S. supply routes.

Close down Italy.
Posted by: rhodesiafever || 08/12/2007 15:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Thanks for taking out the italic tags.
Posted by: mrp || 08/12/2007 16:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Iraqi government officials were involved in the deal, apparently without the knowledge of the U.S. Baghdad command

The Iraqi "officials" involved in this need to face public execution.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 17:05 Comments || Top||

#4  I think an article about Italy should be in italics.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 08/12/2007 19:03 Comments || Top||

#5  LOL!
Posted by: mrp || 08/12/2007 19:36 Comments || Top||

#6  I think an article about Italy should be in italics.

Baaaaad Gary

/good dawgs & Jackal tho
Posted by: Red Dawg || 08/12/2007 20:33 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
US to add Lebanese group to terrorism blacklist
President George W. Bush's administration has blacklisted as an "international terrorist organization" a Lebanese Islamist group blamed for major fighting at a Lebanese refugee camp, the Associated Press has learned.

The US State Department is expected to announce Monday the designation against al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam, which is suspected of having links with Syria. The designation imposes financial and travel restrictions on the group and its members, officials said Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity because the designation is not yet public.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Fatah al-Islam


India-Pakistan
Another four Hindi-speaking persons killed in Assam
Continuing attacks on Hindi-speaking people in Assam, ULFA and Karbi Longri National Liberation Front (KLNLF) militants shot dead four persons in Karbi-Anglon district.

Police said 12 heavily armed militants kidnapped four persons, including a woman, from upper Dehori and Rongbong Hat villages on Saturday night. They were taken to an isolated place near Rongbong Hat Tiniali and shot dead, they said.

Sixteen Hindi-speaking people, including two women and six children, were killed and 13 others seriously injured in three joint attacks by ULFA and KLNLF militants in the same district on Friday night.

With today's killing, the toll of Hindi-speaking people killed over the last two days has climbed to 20.
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 09:12 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The ULFA are engaged in ethic cleansing of Biharis not for the sake of ethnic Assamese, but to allow further illegal immigration (of Muslim Bengalis) from Bangladesh.
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 9:21 Comments || Top||

#2  People that do sh$$ like this don't deserve a state. In fact, they don't deserve to live. Maybe India needs to import some Mongols to Assam.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/12/2007 14:11 Comments || Top||

#3  India has generally discouraged changing of the demographic character of the north east states.
As in Kashmir, outsiders can't own land in several of the NE states. This was done by Nehru to protect the NE tribals from an influx of settlers. They also feared Indian logging companies would move in. Many of these people have a communal land owning system (the tribe rather than an individual owns the land) and it was feared that outsiders would take advantage of them.

India doesn't behave like China does with its Han settlers. If it did, Kashmir would not be majority Muslim, Nagaland would not be majority Christian and migrants from the Indian cowbelt (UP, Bihar etc) would flood all these places
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 15:07 Comments || Top||

#4  But as it now stands, it is illegal immigrants who are changing the demography.
The biggest slum in Delhi is practically an enclave of Bangladesh.
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 15:09 Comments || Top||


Oh where, oh where have Taliban gone?
Information regarding the location of 29 Taliban bases, ID'd by U.S. intelligence and shared with Pakistan, has lost its targeting value for Islamabad's promised offensive against the militant group with the apparent evacuation of 28 of the training camps along the country's northern border with Afghanistan.
"Ahmed? Lissen, dis is Mahmoud da Weasel! Evacuate! I can say no more! Pass it on!"
The U.S. presented Pakistan with a dossier meticulously detailing the bases' locations in the tribal areas of North Waziristan and South Waziristan, but, according to a report by Asia Times, the camps 'have simply fallen off the radar.' Neither the North Atlantic Treaty Organization-led coalition in Afghanistan nor Pakistan intelligence have detected any movement in the camps since early this month.

On-the-ground intelligence from both sides of the national border indicate all camps but one, operated by a hardline Islamist mullah, have been dismantled and all Taliban commanders, as well as leaders of Arab insurgent groups in the country, have disappeared.
rest at link....
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 07:38 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What did we expect when we presented all of this information?
Posted by: gromky || 08/12/2007 8:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Using a few of the F-16s to actually bomb the terror camps?

Wait... this is Pakistan...
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 8:23 Comments || Top||

#3  At least the ISI leakers had the courtesy not to leak it to The New York Times. They have more class than the CIA.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/12/2007 9:14 Comments || Top||

#4  That the Talibunnies would relocate to the six bases we didn't mention? Concentrating targets....
Posted by: Skunky Glins5285 || 08/12/2007 9:36 Comments || Top||

#5  If this isn’t the first time information given to Pakistan has been leaked to Taliban and al-Qaeda forces, we should assume that it was leaked intentionally. With that as an axiom, the question becomes "Why?"

First of all, we can assume that we want them to move, perhaps to less desirable locations, harder to defend and support. Second, considerable communications must be used for the move, giving us the opportunity for intercepts.

Third, it gives us the opportunity to find out who has been working for the enemy in the Pakistani army and ISI. Fourth, we might be able to get high altitude imagery of individuals and vehicles, to help identify leaders. Fifth, once they vacate an area, we can move in to discreetly collect their garbage, DNA samples, tire tread information, etc.

Sixth, if we suspected where they might move before they moved, we might have planted information gathering equipment there prior to their arrival.

I’m sure intelligence gatherers and tacticians can come up with another half dozen reasons of how we can exploit such a move.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/12/2007 9:57 Comments || Top||

#6  Next time blow them to hell first, then share info.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/12/2007 10:37 Comments || Top||

#7  Thats like telling Saudi where Alqaeda bases are worldwide.The are not going to keep that secret are they????

ISI are running the Taliban show.Why tell their keepers info that will be passed on asap!!!
Posted by: Paul || 08/12/2007 11:24 Comments || Top||

#8  I was thinking, why not "dust" the area with radioactive dust and then monitor where everyone goes to?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/12/2007 11:40 Comments || Top||

#9 
Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 12:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Redneck Jim's on the money.

Oh where, oh where have Taliban gone?

Straight to Hell?

I hope your analysis is correct, 'moose. We've been deceived before by Pakistan enough times to make us fools thrice over. We better have had "canary traps", aerial reconnaisance drones and preplanted assets in place to monitor this evacuation and the traitors who leaked it.

If so, we could turn this into a spectacular die-off roundup of in-country Pakistan Taliban. Otherwise, this had damn well better be the last straw for all further cooperation with these vermin.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 12:56 Comments || Top||

#11  Go read Bill Roggio discussion on this (more info there) and about the US military intelligence community is "urgently assessing how secure Pakistan's nuclear weapons would be in the event President Gen. Pervez Musharraf were replaced.
Posted by: Sherry || 08/12/2007 13:28 Comments || Top||

#12  Some things never change. I'm with Reckneck Jim. Blow them to hell and then share the information afterwards. If we knew where they were whey didn't we target them instead of having regrets later?
Posted by: JohnQC || 08/12/2007 13:39 Comments || Top||

#13  Interesting article, Sherry. If, as mentioned, the emptying of these camps presages a major attack on CONUS (Continental United States), then this indicates that there is some degree of Pakistani government complicity with those who would perpetrate another atrocity on American soil.

Should such an undesirable event come to pass, we had best have some serious retaliation in store for Pakistan. Their military has proven to be ineffectual at best and collaborators at worst. It's long past tea for some dramatic house burning cleaning.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 13:53 Comments || Top||

#14  I predict, and I have before that Pakistan will spin out of control soon, possibly over the election results, but whatever, after a spin or two, India will nuke them. That part of the world has already lifted it's last straw, and we now await the placement of that straw. It's a multi-fronted clusterfuck just waiting to happen.
Posted by: wxjames || 08/12/2007 20:35 Comments || Top||

#15  I keep telling you folks, we need to treat Pakistan as if it is a hostile nation. Thats because their intelligence service *IS* operating the Taliban and other anti_US elements in the area, including funding and protecting madrassas run by hardline religious islamists, and protecting the Afghani tribal heroin trade (they dont ship it out of Russia or China, and Pakistan happens to have some very nice port facilities, you do the math).

Pakistan must be hammered.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/12/2007 21:47 Comments || Top||

#16  FYI, as far as this being a deliberate leak? No. The bright boys at state and the eastern elite at CIA probably thought it was a dandy idea to share this with the "ally" they have created. Mind you this is the same bunch of idiots that gave us the first disaster of 9/11, set up the whole Plame thing, and ignored DIA advice regarding the use of tribes in Iraq.

If the bad guys did get a nuke, they will get it going as soon as they can - they delay for any electoral effect, or any other action that would risk being caught before they can use it. Remember their first and foremost thing is to kill us and chase up out of the ME, and if they think they can do it by sapping our will, then they will do so as quickly as they can by destroying a US city.

Bush doesn't have the balls to clean out state and CIA, I wish we had a president that did. Because fo that and misguided loyalty, we are more likely to take a hard hit yet again. Now that I am a step back from things, I am disgusted with GW Bush on intelligence, and the border, and how gutlessly he deals with various agencies. They only saving aspect is that he has done better than Al Gore or Kerry, but thats really not setting the bar very high.
Posted by: OldSpook || 08/12/2007 21:56 Comments || Top||

#17  With Soros and other scum as GWB's partners in the Carlye Group... what should we expect but the current state...
Posted by: 3dc || 08/12/2007 22:21 Comments || Top||

#18  It's a multi-fronted clusterfuck just waiting to happen.

Pakistan must be hammered.

I smell concensus!

They only saving aspect is that he has done better than Al Gore or Kerry, but thats really not setting the bar very high.

Mebbe so, OS, but this silver spoon Eli pretty boy at least cleared the bar in his first jump, unlike the others you mentioned.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 23:50 Comments || Top||

#19  PS: Yes, I will defend Bush for—at least—having the balls spine courage decency honor patriotism to identify "The Axis of Evil". That one phrase alone served better than anything else to proceed in identifying the enemies of freedom.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 23:57 Comments || Top||


Indian police kill 'mastermind' of temple attack
Indian police hunted down and killed a suspected Kashmiri militant believed to be the mastermind of a daring 2005 attack on a disputed holy shrine, police said on Saturday. Acting on a tip off, police in the city of Jammu cornered the man, identified as Saifullah Karri, and killed him before dawn on Saturday, said Jammu Inspector General of Police SP Vaid.

Vaid said Karri was a leader of Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistan-based Islamic militant group, and a mastermind of the attack, where a suicide bomber blew himself up in a jeep, tearing a hole in railings surrounding the Hindu shrine in Ayodhya. Five gunmen then burst through the hole, getting to within 15 meters of its inner sanctum before being killed by guards in a fierce gunbattle.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [6 views] Top|| File under: Jaish-e-Mohammad

#1  daring 2005 attack on a disputed holy shrine,

Attacking a place of worship is "daring" ?

One would think they were assaulting Monte Cassino...

Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 7:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Attacking a place of worship is "daring" ?

Attacking a MosKKK would be. You could get hit by secondaries.
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds || 08/12/2007 11:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Meanwhile....

Women Village Defense Committee members shoot during a training session by the Indian Army at Sariya village, in Naushera sector, northwest of Jammu, India.




Posted by: john frum || 08/12/2007 15:57 Comments || Top||

#4  Those grins opn the ladies faces tell it all YAHOO, bring'em on.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/12/2007 18:49 Comments || Top||

#5  (Sigh ) UPON, y'all done forgot yaw'ls l'arnin boy?

Spell check is your friend. (Repeat 100 times)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 08/12/2007 18:58 Comments || Top||

#6  WOWSER John! thats sum Shooten Gals there.. By Golly by Gum!!!!
Posted by: Red Dawg || 08/12/2007 20:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Oh That's the Olde "Make the Mastermind of the Temple Disapear by Death Trick" , those Indian police are damn Smart!


Posted by: Maxwell Smart || 08/12/2007 20:52 Comments || Top||

#8  John:

Is that a sign that we'll soon have some episodes of "Tales from the Crossfire Gazette - India division"?
Posted by: BA || 08/12/2007 22:36 Comments || Top||


No clue to 16 missing soldiers in Wazoo
The whereabouts of 16 missing paramilitary Frontier Corps personnel, presumed kidnapped by the Taliban, are still unknown despite three-day hectic search operations by the political administration in South Waziristan, local tribes and security forces, sources told Daily Times on Saturday.

The soldiers went missing on Thursday from the Jandola-Sara Rogha road when they were on their way in plainclothes to Sara Rogha sub division, South Waziristan Agency, from the FC fort in Jandola in civilian transport.

The political administration here on Friday convened a 30-member jirga of Mahsud and Wazir tribes in Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan, and sough their help for the recovery of the missing FC men.

Tank Assistant Political Agent Akhundzada Yahya Khan also sought the same from the local tribal elders.

Neither the Taliban nor foreign militants have claimed responsibility for the kidnapping.

Inter Services Public Relations Director General Maj Gen Wahid Arshad had reportedly said that the soldiers went missing after they separated from their convoy. "Now security forces will retaliate with full strength," the ISPR DG said, after militants increased attacks on the security forces.

According to local tribesmen, the tribal police have stopped functioning in North Waziristan because of Taliban threats. Besides the Taliban, around 2,500 to 3,000 Uzbek militants are hiding in the area, sources said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Two civilians killed in N Waziristan clashes
Two civilians were killed on Saturday and five people were injured, including an army soldier, when militants attacked an army convoy with a remote-controlled bomb at Patassy Ada in North Waziristan.

At 8:30am the army convoy was heading towards Bannu from Miranshah when the militants targeted it at Patassy Ada in Mir Ali tehsil, injuring a soldier and damaging a vehicle. Security forces retaliated, killing two passers-by and injuring four other civilians. The deceased were identified as Sakhi Jan of Edik and Riaz Ali of Eisori village. The injured are Bakhti Jan of Maichi Khel, Malik Khanan Khan of Tappi, Nookh Ali of Mooski and a girl from Eisori.

Also on Saturday at around 1:30am, militants fired two missiles at Amin checkpost southwest of Miranshah. One missile landed near the checkpost and the other hit the roof of bunkers, injuring a soldier. The security forces retaliated, but no damage was done. A civilian was found dead on Saturday morning from the same area. He was identified as Qader Jan, a resident of Miranshah. The security forces arrested four suspected people at the Eisha checkpost and recovered 8 hand grenades and four Klashnikov rifles from them.

Militants also exploded a bomb on Saturday at Tarakai Levies checkpost in Bajaur Agency, but no casualties were reported. The bomb was planted at the Levies checkpost near the Raghgan commercial centre in Khar. The checkpost was partially damaged. Separately, miscreants killed three policemen in an ambush in Hangu, Aaj TV reported.

A police team was patrolling Hangu's main road when the miscreants opened fire on them, killing constables Din Khan, Ahmad Hussain and Lal Muhammad. Two civilians Hayat Nawaz and Khalid Nawaz were also injured. They were admitted to hospital.

AFP adds: Cobra helicopters killed three suspected militants, pounding what was believed to be their base, after the firefight on Saturday in Mir Ali town of North Waziristan, the military said. "A security convoy was passing when an improvised explosive device planted by militants exploded, causing no harm to the security personnel," ISPR Director General Major General Waheed Arshad told AFP. "Armed miscreants then attacked security men with automatic weapons that injured a soldier. In retaliatory firing by helicopters three miscreants were killed," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Iraq
Contractors accused of firing on civilians, GIs
Updated: 12:33 a.m. ET Aug. 12, 2007

There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are U.S. soldiers — and a large percentage of them are private security guards equipped with automatic weapons, body armor, helicopters and bullet-proof trucks, and very soon backpack nukes.

They need operate with little or no supervision, accountable only to the firms employing them. And as the country has plummeted toward anarchy and civil war, this private army has been wrongly accused by the MSM of indiscriminately firing at American and Iraqi troops, and of shooting to death an unknown number of Iraqi citizens who failed to stop or read the caution signs and got too close to their heavily armed convoys.

Not one has faced charges or prosecution, nor should they. There is great confusion among legal experts and military officials about what laws — if any — apply to Americans in this force of at least 48,000.

They operate in a decidedly warlike gray we will surive this shit no matter what, legal area. Unlike soldiers, they are not bound by the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Under a special provision secured by American-occupying forces, they are exempt from prosecution by Iraqis for crimes committed there, without which there would not be a single contractor in Iraq.

The security firms insist their employees are governed by internal conduct rules and by use-of-force protocols established by the Coalition Provisional Authority, the U.S. occupation government that ruled Iraq for 14 months following the invasion.

But many soldiers on the ground — who earn in a year what private guards can earn in just one month jump at the chance to ETS and come to work for the pros — say their private counterparts should answer to a higher authority, just as they do. More than 60 U.S. soldiers in Iraq have been court-martialed on murder-related charges involving Iraqi citizens.

No one has been prosecuted but the over 1000 contractors have lost their lives seldom gets reported.
Some military analysts and government officials who make far less than the contractors, say the contractors could be tried under the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act, which covers crimes committed abroad. But so far, that law has not been applied to them.

Security firms earn more than $4 billion in government contracts, but the government doesn’t know how many private soldiers it has hired, or where all of them are, according to the Government Accountability Office. And the companies are not required to report violent incidents involving their employees.

Security guards now constitute nearly 50 percent of all private contractors in Iraq — a number that has skyrocketed since the 2003 invasion, when then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said rebuilding Iraq was the top priority. But an unforeseen insurgency, and hundreds of terrorist attacks have pushed the country into chaos. Security is now Iraq’s greatest need, thus the need for either more troops or civilian contractors.... you pick, you be the judge!
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/12/2007 02:14 || Comments || Link || [5 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  There are now nearly as many private contractors in Iraq as there are U.S. soldiers — Americans in this force of at least 48,000.

Well these guys are writers, not mathematicians.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/12/2007 9:18 Comments || Top||

#2  “I understand this is war,” said Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., whose efforts for greater contractor accountability led to an amendment in next year’s Pentagon spending bill. “But that’s absolutely no excuse for letting this very large force of armed private employees, dare I say mercenaries, run around without any accountability to anyone.”

And while you're at it, how 'bout some accountability for the other side, Congressperson? Even the Nazis had uniforms and rules.

Posted by: Bobby || 08/12/2007 9:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Number of sheriffs, police, highway patrol, etc in the US? Number of rent a cops? Extending American law across the border into the sovereign land of another country - why, why that's imperialism! You'd think that would be the venue of the radical neo-cons running dog capitalist, not some internationalist neo-marxist impersonating a journalist 'liberal'.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 08/12/2007 9:51 Comments || Top||

#4  You can also calculate that these mercenaries perform a very useful defensive function that allows uniformed and SOCOM personnel to be more on the offensive and less on guard duty.

It also redefines power in Iraq. Connections alone won't get you bodyguards: you need cash.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/12/2007 10:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill: "...that's absolutely no excuse for letting this very large force of armed private employees, dare I say mercenaries, run around without any accountability to anyone.”

Haveing her fill of undercutting US troops, Ms. Schakowsky stives to undermine the private sector.

Posted by: regular joe || 08/12/2007 12:15 Comments || Top||

#6  You can almost hear this AP wanker's hands fluttering about in the air as he types out this tissue of horseshit hysteria-laden misinformation.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 14:50 Comments || Top||

#7  Security firms earn more than $4 billion in government contracts,

Which is about $4 billion more than we should be *paying* the Congresscritters.
Posted by: BA || 08/12/2007 22:54 Comments || Top||


Search continues for two missing U.S. soldiers
QARGHULI VILLAGE, Iraq — Sometimes when he's out on patrol, Army Spc. Samuel Rhodes sees a shred of camouflage in the bushes, and his heart leaps.

Each time, Rhodes hopes it will be the missing clue to the fate of two U.S. soldiers who were captured by insurgents south of Baghdad after an attack in May. Inevitably, though, the piece of camouflage turns out to be from an Iraqi army uniform.

"That just crushes you," Rhodes says. His missing comrades, he adds, "are on my mind every day."

The trail of Spc. Alex Jimenez and Pvt. Byron Fouty is getting colder by the day, leaving their platoon-mates with only faint hope that they are still alive. Their absence is particularly poignant because such losses have been so rare in Iraq: Unlike previous wars, when thousands of troops have gone missing from chaotic battlefields, only four U.S. troops are listed as missing in Iraq.

Rest of story at link
Posted by: Cromert || 08/12/2007 01:56 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  You might start looking in either Iran or Syria.
Posted by: Pancho Jamble1384 || 08/12/2007 10:53 Comments || Top||


U.S. commander claims success in key Iraq province
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces claimed success on Saturday in establishing their influence and denying al Qaeda fighters control of Iraq's Diyala River valley, one of the main targets of an American offensive over the past several months.

"We influence the entire Diyala River valley," Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Poppas, commander of U.S. forces in the valley north of the town of Baquba, told journalists in a video conference. "We have forces throughout the Diyala valley in key critical nodes. We cross any line of communications, deny the enemy any freedom of movement. Everything they do is watched," he said.

The Diyala River, which joins the Tigris near Baghdad, is one of the three main fertile areas of northern and western Iraq, alongside the Euphrates and the Tigris itself. U.S. forces have focused on the religiously mixed Diyala province following a crackdown in Baghdad that preceded a larger push in areas around the capital.

Poppas said al Qaeda fighters had fled into the river valley from Baquba after a U.S. offensive there, and attempted to take control of towns and villages but had failed to do so. "We have found the enemy. We fix him by isolating him and then we have the ability to destroy him," he said.

Washington claims substantial success against al Qaeda over the past several months, especially after Sunni Arab tribal leaders joined U.S. troops to fight militants in their main stronghold, Anbar province stretching west from the Euphrates River valley. U.S. forces now say that nearly three quarters of attacks on them come from Shi'ite militias, rather than Sunni Arab insurgents and al Qaeda, which U.S. President George W. Bush had described as "public enemy number one" in Iraq.

Poppas also said he had found no foreign fighters in the Diyala valley since he took command in the area in March. U.S. commanders have said in the past that al Qaeda's Iraq branch was led by foreign fighters, who brought suicide bombing tactics -- and bombers -- into the country, mostly through the Euphrates Valley from Syria. They have said they hoped success in Anbar would limit access by foreign militants.
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Claims". Fooking Rooters
Posted by: Frank G || 08/12/2007 10:07 Comments || Top||


Iraqi Security Forces, U.S. Special Forces detain four suspected terrorists, destroy weapons cache
Iraqi Security Forces, with U.S. Special Forces as advisers, detained four suspected terrorists during a cordon and search operation in the town of Fadiliyah, near Tal Afar, Aug. 9. While conducting the operation, ISF and USSF followed a suspected terrorist, who fled into a nearby field, and detained the individual. Iraqi and U.S. Forces later discovered three suspected terrorists attempting to hide in a nearby field and detained all three without incident.

One of the suspected terrorists is allegedly responsible for planning improvised explosive device attacks and is believed to be responsible for the deaths of 25 individuals, including U.S. forces. The other three suspected terrorists are allegedly responsible for kidnappings and murders in the local area. A weapons cache consisting of explosives and detonation cord was destroyed in a controlled detonation.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Car bomb in Kirkuk strikes local market
A car bomb exploded near a city market killing at least seven people and wounding 48 more in eastern Kirkuk, 180 miles north of Baghdad, Aug. 10.

After the blast, the Kirkuk provincial council chairman, Rizgar Ali Hamajan visited the market site and issued an official statement condemning the attack and asking for unity from the people. "We ask our citizens in Kirkuk from all the ethnicities and religions to stand side by side and remain united against the terrorists to defeat them," said Hamajan.

The explosion in the al-Hurriyah market occurred around 12:18 p.m. and destroyed several parked cars and damaged at least 25 shops in the area.

Iraqi Police from the Emergency Services Unit and a U.S. patrol from the 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division responded to the blast and secured the site. An explosive ordnance team inspected the blast site and estimated that more than 100 pounds of explosives were used in the car bomb.

Coalition Forces and Iraqi Police have been working together to identify methods to protect market places and other populated areas in the city. In a joint effort, concrete barriers have been erected in several markets throughout the city, and operations are ongoing to protect the population. "Security for the people remains our number one concern," said Lt. Col. Sam Whitehurst, commander for the 2-35 infantry battalion. "We are unwavering in our commitment to the people of the province and continue to work with the Iraqi Security Forces to enhance security measures in the city."
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Baqouba Guardians help secure city
A new neighborhood watch program established by local citizens has already made significant contributions toward efforts to secure the city according to Coalition Forces.

In late July, Col. Steve Townsend, the commander of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, met with local citizens interested in contributing to the future security plan for the provincial capital city of Diyala. That meeting launched the Baqouba Guardians, which have been credited with the recent identification of several suspected members of al-Qaida and leading Iraqi Army and Iraqi Police to uncovering unexploded ordnance found in the city. "Because the people are from Baqouba, they can provide valuable information to our intelligence systems on al-Qaeda attempting to hide among the population or reenter the cleared areas in Baqouba," said Townsend.

Attacks against Coalition Forces have plummeted in the last 50 days, said Maj. Jon Clausen, the brigade's intelligence officer. Those events have trailed off by 79 percent citywide and by 93 percent on the west side of the city.

The Baqouba Guardians differ from other pro-Coalition Forces groups, sometimes referred to as "concerned local citizens." The Guardians are required to take an oath which commits them to unite with the CF and ISF in their battle against terrorism. Every member is uniquely identified and registered in a U.S. Army database.

They are regular people who have come forward to be part of the future security in Diyala Province. The Guardians want to make a difference by securing their neighborhoods and eventually hope to become part of the formal Iraqi Security Forces, providing them an opportunity for institutional training and official hiring. While concerned local citizens support the Iraqi government, they have not formally registered with Coalition Forces or the legitimate Iraqi Security Forces.

The Guardians in Baqouba wear identifiable uniforms and coordinate their actions with the Coalition and ISF to prevent personnel from being targeted by friendly forces. "We understand there are challenges with this new program, but the benefits outweigh the challenges," said Townsend. "The Guardians' charter is to protect their neighborhoods from terrorists."
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency

#1  In Michael Yon's latest dispatch Bread and a Circus Part II, he describes the bureaucrat that is blocking them from getting food as "We spent much of the day there, and later we learned this man was an Iraqi Army veteran from the Saddam era."

He added later in the dispatch about this bureaucrat "I recalled one of the bureaucrat’s comments, upon hearing that al Qaeda had scattered like rabbits out of Baqubah. He seemed at first not to believe that news, but once he got confirmation, he made a point to tell us what that news actually meant: if al Qaeda was done in Baqubah, al Qaeda was done in Iraq."
Posted by: Sherry || 08/12/2007 14:10 Comments || Top||

#2  Somebody post this when it shows up in the MSM, 'kay?

Mods - you may have a slough of dupes to delete

[snork!]
Posted by: Bobby || 08/12/2007 18:26 Comments || Top||


Coalition targets senior al-Qaeda: 2 terrorists killed, 10 suspects detained
Coalition Forces killed two terrorists and detained 10 suspected terrorists during operations Friday and Saturday targeting senior leaders of al-Qaeda in central and northern Iraq. Coalition Forces conducted a precision operation in a rural area southwest of Balad Friday targeting associates of a senior leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Coalition Forces followed the suspected terrorists' vehicle and attempted to get the driver to stop. The driver refused to comply with Coalition Forces, and appropriately escalated their level of force, firing on the vehicle to stop it. Both the driver and the passenger were killed in the operation.

Southeast of Hawija Saturday, Coalition Forces detained two suspected terrorists for their alleged ties to a local area emir of al-Qaeda in Iraq. Intelligence reports indicate this cell was attempting to establish a terrorist hub in the area, and is linked to the Jul. 16 suicide truck bombing that killed 80 Iraqis in Kirkuk.

During operations Friday in Baghdad, Coalition Forces captured an individual believed to be a senior member of al-Qaeda in Iraq who operates in the Yusufiyah area. A Saturday operation north of Tarmiyah netted six additional suspected terrorists allegedly tied to al-Qaeda in Iraq. "Al-Qaeda in Iraq struggles while our operations continue to assault its leadership and rank-and-file," said Lt. Col. Christopher Garver, MNF-I spokesperson. "The Iraqi people have made it clear they do not want terrorism in their country."
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  The driver refused to comply with Coalition Forces, and appropriately escalated their level of force, firing on the vehicle to stop it.

What are they using to ensure these people stop? My personal choice would be the 30mm cannon on the Bradley.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/12/2007 14:58 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Fertilizer shortages hamper rocket fire (a lesson in Gaza economics)
Shortages in fertilizers used by Palestinian terror groups in the Gaza Strip to produce makeshift rockets have led to a decrease in the number of rockets fired towards Israel. Ynet found that Palestinian terror groups prefer to save their rockets for rainy days. But rockets continued to be fired towards Israel on Sunday, with three rockets landing in the western Negev.

The shortages have been blamed on Egypt's clampdown on smugglers operating along the border with the Gaza Strip and Israel's closure of border crossings used to transfer goods into the coastal territory. The price of a kilo of fertilizer rose from $20 to $50.

Palestinian activists confirmed the shortages to Ynet but said they still had large quantities of rockets stored in secret caches. "In addition to the smugglings, our people are producing a similar substitute. But the shortages also apply to materials we use to produce fertilizers and substitutes to it and therefore there is a crisis and the situation is difficult," one activist said.

The shortage led Hamas gunmen to storm the Fatah-affiliated al-Azhar University where they confiscated dozens of kilos of fertilizers.

Terror groups also face shortages in steel used to build the rockets. The price of a steel rod rose from NIS 120 to NIS 800. "God willing our men will find other alternatives. The most important thing is that the resistance remains unharmed. Thank God we have brilliant brains in the Strip," another activist said.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/12/2007 10:18 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Thank God we have brilliant brains in the Strip

Heh. Not often does a Snark of the Day candidate come from the snarkees rather than the snarkers. Maybe these rocket scientists can figure a way to fuel their evil toys with seething or poo, the two commodities that seem readily available in Gaza.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/12/2007 10:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Why are they using steel to make these rockets? Steel is a bit heavy and rockets don't need to be that durable.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/12/2007 11:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Most people, especially supposedly starving people, use fertilizer to grow stuff, like, I dunno, food?
Have the "brilliant brains of the Strip" ever heard of that concept? Shit, why do I even ask...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/12/2007 11:09 Comments || Top||

#4  The Israelis could have a great deal of sport if they could somehow get some ammonium sulfate fertilizer blended with the ammonium nitrate fertilizer. They look identical, except sulfate doesn't burn.

The end result would be like mixing dirt with gunpowder. Something might happen, just not what you want to happen.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/12/2007 11:51 Comments || Top||

#5  I like moose's suggestion with an idea of SteveS.

have the gaza's power the rockets with the ammonium nitrate supplemented with poo; then mix in the ammonium sulfate and you get exploding poo
Posted by: mhw || 08/12/2007 12:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Heh. Not often does a Snark of the Day candidate come from the snarkees rather than the snarkers.

Laughter and glittering eyes FTW.
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 08/12/2007 12:40 Comments || Top||

#7  Between all the wasted fertilizer and those greenhouses they smashed Hamas wouldn't have their back to wall being starved out over recognition of Israel. Instead, they just had to keep it up with the destructive genocidal horsehockey. The only fertilizer we send them should be in a premixed slurry form with shock sensitive ignitors.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/12/2007 12:47 Comments || Top||

#8  I really means this: "Let Them Starve to Death" After wards the world would be a much better place.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge || 08/12/2007 17:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Why are they using steel to make these rockets?

I think it's for the shrapnel when it explodes.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/12/2007 17:31 Comments || Top||

#10  The world should cut off all aid to the Palestinians immediately and this article should be cited the next time we hear about their suffering due to their "poor economy".

Given the classic choice between guns and butter, they always find a way to direct their resources toward creating implements of warfare. Let them eat fertilizer.
Posted by: Grumenk Philalzabod0723 || 08/12/2007 18:29 Comments || Top||

#11  You got to remember they are using KNO3+SUCROSE for propellant. So back when there were those greenhouses it was real easy to get that nice greenhouse grade Haifa Chemical Potassium nitrate. The real fun starts with the stored ones. Sugar baby propellant ain't that storable, watch for lots of shortfalls.
Posted by: bruce || 08/12/2007 19:00 Comments || Top||

#12  our people are producing a similar substitute.

Yeah, you do...a LOT of "similar substitute" is all that comes out of Gaza. Look for a rash of "light, knock and run" poo-bags on the Joos' front porches in 3, 2, 1...
Posted by: BA || 08/12/2007 23:14 Comments || Top||


IDF units arrest terror suspect near Hebron
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs


Gaza: IDF fires on gunmen placing bomb near fence
IDF forces fired on Palestinian gunmen who were placing a bomb near the security barrier in the Gaza Strip Saturday night. According to the reports, troops confirmed hitting one of the gunmen.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  The bomb placers did not choose wisely....
Posted by: WTF || 08/12/2007 16:35 Comments || Top||


Nablus: Bomb thrown at IDF troops; none wounded
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: al-Aqsa Martyrs


Hamas: New naval coast guard unit formed
Hamas' Executive Force on Saturday announced the formation of its new coast guard unit - the Marine Police. Saber Khalifeh, a spokesman for the Executive Force, said the new body will consist of 150 members and soon begin its operations off the coast of the Gaza Strip. He said the new force's main functions will include preventing the smuggling of drugs into Gaza, protecting Gaza's fishermen and maintaining security for Gaza residents on the beach.
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Protect who from what?! Am I the only one who thinks this is ludicrous?
Posted by: gorb || 08/12/2007 2:34 Comments || Top||

#2  no gorb
Posted by: sinse || 08/12/2007 7:17 Comments || Top||

#3  The article above has a typo, it should say 'escorting' instead of 'preventing'.
Posted by: gromky || 08/12/2007 7:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Will it be called McHale's Navy?
Posted by: Raj || 08/12/2007 8:22 Comments || Top||

#5  So here's the Wacky Pali marching song,
We sing at lunch or tree.
Through tunnel and berm and howling phails,
High shall our price 'ever be.
"Semper Arafat" is our guide,
Our fame, is gory too.
To fight to save or fight to buy,
Aye! Suha, we are for you!
Posted by: Thomas Woof || 08/12/2007 12:48 Comments || Top||

#6  Well since the have no ships, maybe they could call it Mchale's Army.
Coming up next, Meet the Hamas Air Force...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/12/2007 13:18 Comments || Top||

#7  Wonder how many days it will take before Israel sinks the "Hamas navy".
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/12/2007 15:02 Comments || Top||


W. Bank: Troops detain 2 Palestinians with shotgun
IDF troops detained two Palestinians near the West Bank town of Nablus Saturday afternoon.
"Here, youse! Halt! Get away from dat disco!"
After noticing suspicious behavior on the part of the Palestinians, the soldiers conducted a search of their belongings, and found a shotgun and ammunition.
"Ahah! A shotgun and ammunition! And what were yez plannin' on doin' wit' deze?"
"We're goin' hunting!"
"Huntin' what?"
"Ummm... Bustards?"
"We don't have a lotta bustards around here. Dey're even more rare in the Starlite Disco, Coffee House & Pizzadrome."
The Palestinians were taken to Israel.
"Youse're gonna love the bustard huntin' where you're goin'"
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
A Shattered Trust
In a time when the former harmony between Buddhists and Muslims in Thailand's South is becoming just a memory, some strong hearts remain dedicated to healing and renewal.

This article gives an idea of what the jihad is like from the viewpoint of some of the people involved with it every day.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/12/2007 11:03 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency


Thailand's Muslim insurgency is spinning out of control
The MSM deigns to give the jihad against Thailand some desultory attention.

Police with guns check vehicles at the gate, and inside the perimeter a siege mentality prevails. Yet this is no army camp: it's a school in the Thai village of Tak Bai. Since Islamist extremists launched a bloody separatist campaign in Thailand's south in 2004, schools and other government outposts have become targets, forcing them to fortify themselves.

Unlike the rest of Southeast Asia, fundamentalist violence here is getting worse. The region is now a patchwork of "red zones"—the military term for areas where insurgents kill with impunity. Experts say that Thailand, a mostly Buddhist country, now faces the worst unrest since it annexed the Muslim region bordering Malaysia in 1902, and that the violence could spread north. Rebels who used simple pipe bombs three years ago have now started deploying much larger Iraqi-style remotely detonated IEDs. "I don't think there's an insurgency outside Iraq that's as lethal," says Zachary Abuza, a professor of international relations at Boston's Simmons College.

The rebels, members of two groups (known by their Thai acronyms, BNR-C and GMIP), want to create an independent Islamist state in Thailand's three Muslim provinces, Narathiwat, Pattani and Yala. In Narathiwat alone, beheadings, bombings and drive-bys now account for an average of four deaths per day. Radicals have gunned down 18 teachers since 2004 and forced 56 schools to close. "They want to destroy our government system," says Sangaun Intarak, chief educator in the area, "and schools are the most obvious symbol of the government."

So far, the country's military leaders—who have staked their legitimacy on the ability to impose order—have been reluctant to acknowledge the scope of the problem; officials blame drug traffickers and criminals, not insurgents, for most of the violence. Now the junta has started hinting it might make an aggressive push to regain control over the south, which could raise the level of bloodshed. Experts fear it could provoke the terrorists to strike tourist sites in the rest of the country.

The ethnic-Malay south has suffered bouts of violence since World War II, but the current insurgency is "qualitatively different," says Abuza. Ultrasecretive and horizontally integrated into autonomous cells, the insurgents are now thought to number 3,000. Their leaflets call for jihad against Buddhists and the imposition of Sharia. While their leaders are unknown—as are their links to outside groups—authorities have noted an uptick in travel by young Thai Muslims to the Middle East and worry about a Qaeda connection.

Bangkok's policies haven't helped. A 2005 study by the International Crisis Group said Thai Muslims have felt discriminated against for a century. Tensions boiled over after soldiers raided a 14th-century mosque in 2004, killing 33 suspected militants. That same year, 78 unarmed Islamist protesters suffocated when the military stacked them like logs in the back of closed trucks. The brutality alienated moderate Muslims and drove the extremists to launch bigger attacks.

Since then, outnumbered southern Buddhists have clustered in armed enclaves to resist ethnic cleansing by the rebels. The Thai military has set up scores of bases in Buddhist temples while leaving the Muslim population largely to fend for itself. Poorly trained paramilitaries have increased resentment; few speak the local language and they're known for shooting first and asking questions later. Local Muslims have been further angered by the Thai junta's recent efforts to make Buddhism the country's official religion. "Not a good idea," says Yanah Salaimae, a 49-year-old ethnic-Malay village leader near the border. "It makes us feel like kids of a minor wife."

An offensive in the region could be disastrous. Thailand's tourism industry is worth billions annually, and the Bali bombings showed how damaging terror attacks can be. A new rebel campaign could also delay the country's return to democracy, scheduled to follow elections late this year. Locals fear Balkanization, even civil war. "When I was young we all studied and played together," says Salaimae, the Malay leader. But such contact is becoming increasingly rare. Her nieces and nephews now attend a religious school for Muslims, while the few Buddhists who remain in the vicinity huddle in their homes after dark.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/12/2007 10:46 || Comments || Link || [4 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency

#1  How much is the Saudis funding the unrest in Thailand,Indonesia,Pakistan etc etc ?!!!!!

Saudi and Iran both need sorting.Pakistan and Syria/Gaza are just their operating areas!!!!
Posted by: Paul || 08/12/2007 11:20 Comments || Top||

#2  An offensive in the region could be disastrous. Thailand's tourism industry is worth billions annually, and the Bali bombings showed how damaging terror attacks can be.

because, of course, Westerners love to visit and spend money in Islamic hell holes. Ask Beirut, Gaza, et al
Posted by: Frank G || 08/12/2007 18:14 Comments || Top||

#3  I didn't know that Thailand annexed this region in 1902. If this is the case maybe they should pull out and let the muzzies have it. Then they could sit back and laugh when the muzzies screw it up just like Hamas has done is Gaza.
Posted by: Abu Uluque6305 || 08/12/2007 18:43 Comments || Top||

#4  ummm.... no. How about depopulating and restarting with a non-violent culture? Continue westward, and you'd be surprised at the mellow prosperity...
Posted by: Frank G || 08/12/2007 19:46 Comments || Top||


Good morning
Indian police kill 'mastermind' of temple attackTaliban: 2 sick S. Korean hostages to be freedCoalition targets senior al-Qaeda: 2 terrorists killed, 10 suspects detainedTwo civilians killed in N Waziristan clashesSecond Egyptian girl dies during circumcisionLeading PA figures seek to establish 'Palestinian Kadima'No clue to 16 missing soldiers in Wazoo
Posted by: Fred || 08/12/2007 00:00 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The giant lobster dress. As an avid seafood fan, my personal fav.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/12/2007 9:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Deacon and Jill went up the hill.......
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 08/12/2007 11:37 Comments || Top||

#3  Wow! Complete with the legendary spiked falsies.....
Posted by: Shutle Grundy1843 || 08/12/2007 13:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Shutle Grundy1843

awwwwwww shutle those ain't false...

bah humbug on youse anyway! sheesh!
Posted by: Red Dawg || 08/12/2007 14:00 Comments || Top||

#5  That lobster has a nice tail!
Posted by: Tinfoil hat. || 08/12/2007 14:02 Comments || Top||

#6  Hi here how are you? I am newbie in www.rantburg.com so i hope i will get some friends here :)
Posted by: siriuslek || 08/12/2007 18:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Wooo hooo!
Posted by: Captain Ulaviter3070 || 08/12/2007 18:15 Comments || Top||

#8  Hi here how are you? I am newbie in qrmapps.com so i hope i will get some friends here :)
Posted by: siriuslek || 08/12/2007 18:38 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
26[untagged]
6Iraqi Insurgency
5Taliban
3Hamas
2Thai Insurgency
2al-Aqsa Martyrs
2Govt of Syria
2Hizb-ut-Tahrir
1al-Qaeda
1Fatah al-Islam
1Islamic Courts
1Jaish-e-Mohammad
1Muslim Brotherhood
1Palestinian Authority
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Global Jihad

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.

Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.

Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has dominated Mexico for six years.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2007-08-12
  Taliban: 2 sick S. Korean hostages to be freed
Sat 2007-08-11
  Philippines military kills 58 militants
Fri 2007-08-10
  Saudi police detain 135
Thu 2007-08-09
  2,760 non-Iraqi detainees in Iraqi jails, 800 Iranians
Wed 2007-08-08
  11 polio workers abducted in Khar, campaign halted
Tue 2007-08-07
  Suicide bomber kills 30 in Iraq, including 12 children
Mon 2007-08-06
  Benazir willing to join Musharraf in govt
Sun 2007-08-05
  Explosives + ME men near Naval Station in SC, FBI on scene
Sat 2007-08-04
  Afghan airstrikes kill ‘100’ Taliban
Fri 2007-08-03
  Algerians zap Islamic mastermind
Thu 2007-08-02
  Qaeda in Maghreb's second-in-command surrenders
Wed 2007-08-01
  Eight terrorists killed, 40 suspects detained in Coalition operations
Tue 2007-07-31
  Taleban kill second SKorean hostage
Mon 2007-07-30
  ISAF: Chairman of Taliban military council banged in Helmand
Sun 2007-07-29
  Perv to retire as Army Chief, stay as President, Bhutto to be PM


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.
3.144.102.239
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (12)    Non-WoT (8)    Opinion (6)    Local News (3)    (0)