The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its figures for 2008 may be the militia's most startling claims yet.
The Taliban claims its forces last year killed 5,220 foreign troops, downed 31 aircraft, destroyed 2,818 NATO and Afghan vehicles and killed 7,552 Afghan soldiers and police. "and we destroyed a submarine and an aircraft carrier - the USS Kerry"
Though third-party observers can rarely confirm casualty claims on the Afghan battlefield from the Taliban, the Afghan government, the U.S. or NATO, the Taliban's 2008 numbers would appear to be far from the truth.
NATO's member countries announce all troop deaths, providing names, ages and hometowns and how the soldiers were killed. According to an Associated Press tally of those announcements, 286 foreign forces died last year in Afghanistan, including 151 American and 51 British troops.
The Taliban's toll is almost 20 times higher.
Despite the inflated toll, the Taliban have had more success recently. Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside. In response, the U.S. is planning to pour up to 30,000 more troops into the country this year.
The insurgents' exaggerations are designed to boost morale inside the Taliban and to attract financing from donors sympathetic to their cause, a U.S. military official and a Taliban expert said. "They put out this propaganda in order to raise capital to continue their operations," said Col. Jerry O'Hara, a U.S. military spokesman.
Vahid Mojdeh, the author of a book on the Taliban, said the exaggerated claims help the insurgents recruit new fighters. "The Taliban needs volunteers to carry out suicide attacks, so they want to show they are killing a lot of people," Mojdeh said.
Propaganda has long been a key element in war, particularly in conflicts where the sides are fighting to win support from the population. The Taliban exaggerates U.S. or NATO deaths in order to persuade average Afghans that the insurgents are winning, while U.S. and NATO spokesmen frequently highlight construction projects -- roads and schools -- to Afghan journalists in the hopes that average Afghans will associate foreign troops with increased development.
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/05/2009 09:50 ||
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#1
At first, the US utterly perplexed the Afghan soldiers by downplaying enemy casualties. The tradition was that everybody lied up the numbers, to brag, and they were puzzled why the Americans didn't want to do that.
But the ever practical Americans had very good reasons. The bad guyz have no idea of the field strength of their forward forces, casualty estimates, and other vital planning information. If anything, they think they are far stronger than they actually are.
#3
"Despite the inflated toll, the Taliban have had more success recently. Violence in Afghanistan has spiked in the last two years, and Taliban militants now control wide swaths of countryside."
Actually, the above is pure crap. Yes, the violence has increased but that is because we have become more aggressive in going at them. We are engaging them more so there are more firefights leading to more casualties. And the amount of countryside they control has actually been shrinking. They held almost an entire province at one point two years ago when the Brits made a deal with them. That has since been taken away from them.
#5
Baghdad Bob has found new employment and relocated to Afghanistan. The Taliban will use the sub-prime commission schedule to compensate Bob. They will substitute Coalition Casualty claims in place of borrower income claims.
#6
They must have hired on Dr. James Hansen to 'massage' the data and show that 1990-2000 2008 was the warmest decade deadliest year in the historical record.
Posted by: Abu do you love ||
01/05/2009 19:41 Comments ||
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#7
:)
Even worse than 1973?
That was a bad one....
FIREBRAND mullah Anjem Choudary has made his most-bonkers rant yet -- demanding Southall be named our capital. He said the west London suburb should be the centre of power "when Islam takes over the UK".
"He sounds completely barmy."
The lawyer, who was once the head of radical Muslim group al-Muhajiroun, made the call at a meeting of his supporters. They cheered his every word as he called for Muslims to "rise up" and seize power in Britain.
But even they fell silent when he called for rundown Southall -- an Asian-dominated area -- to become the nation's capital. Choudary, 41, said: "We will rise up. We will rise up, my dear Muslims. One day we will have the Sharia here. And who knows, maybe even Southall can be the capital of the Islamic state when we conquer it."
Almost 20 per cent of locals in Southall are Muslims, while more than 75 per cent are Asian, compared with around 12 per cent classifying themselves as white. It is also home to the Glassy Junction pub, the first bar in the UK to accept rupees.
But last night locals dismissed Choudary's views. Retired postal worker Jim Allen, 71, said: "I like the place, but I wouldn't make it a capital in a million years." Helen Jamison, 41, added: "He sounds completely barmy."
Choudary has close links to Omar Bakri Mohammed, the 50-year-old preacher banned from the UK.
Like many capitals, Southall does have its claims to fame. Washington DC has the White House while Southall has White Street gasworks tower. Paris has nine restaurants with three Michelin stars but Southall has Britain's first Halal McDonald's.
#3
Still waiting for the "Anjem Choudary Runs With Scissors, Hit By Subway Train" headline. Of course, they could be keeping him around because he makes a helluva informant.
His followers will kill him if they find out he's an informant, and then where would the Brits get intelligence about the traitors in their midst?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/05/2009 11:49 Comments ||
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TW
From Living in West London I know The Hindus/Sikhs of Southall have been fighting the Muslims from Nearby Slough for years(street fights etc) so I think Southall was mentioned to windup the majority Sikh/Hindu population!!!!
ANTWERP -- Many Jews in Antwerp are no longer on the streets Wednesday after the demonstrators went to the Arab League against the Unit the war was out of hand. Reports that the site of the Last News.
The demonstrations were the necessary damage. Also in the Diamond Area where many Jews live and work, says the editor of the weekly Jewish News, Michael Freilich. The Jewish community is concerned, according to him the victim of vandalism and violence. A single SMS service of the community warns people to avoid the Diamond Area.
According to Frei Smile everyone afraid the situation might escalate. "We have not seen since 2003. Freilich says that his phone is red hot from worried people who have lost the thread.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2009 14:01 ||
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Just a functioning multicultural society in action.
#3
oh its from Flemish. If it was French I could try to read the original. I can't really respond without a better translation. Is there in fact violence in the diamond district now, or just fear of them? Were there demonstrations anywhere other than at the Arab league?
#5
Jews should be afraid. Collective punishment should cut both ways.. .for every dead Pali child - a Jewish toddler should be murdered... OUTSIDE Israel.
THAT will put an end to the genocide.
A dead little Jew for every dead Palestinian child.
#6
Afraid you're on the losing end of this one Bugs my boy. I know it's something of a national muslim pastime, but I'd strongly recommend you stop talking about killing Jewish children from the safety of a blog, ruck-up and head to Gaza to assist your brothers.
Carl Bildt harshly condemned Israel's deadly assault on Gaza late Saturday, insisting the invasion would seriously hamper diplomatic attempts to find a solution to the conflict.
"The possibility that diplomatic efforts over the next couple of days will lead to progress has now diminished dramatically," said Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt, who along with his French and Czech counterparts was travelling to the Middle East on Sunday to try to help bring about a Gaza ceasefire.
The Israeli ground offensive is "basically an admission that (Tel Aviv's) air attacks over the past week have failed to achieve what they had hoped for," Bildt said in a statement late Saturday.
"Instead of seeking a possible political solution after this failure they have now chosen to dramatically escalate the conflict with a ground offensive. It is obvious that this will make it harder to find a solution to this serious conflict," he added.
In a separate statement Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Störe joined his Swedish colleague in condemning the attacks. Gahr said his country "vehemently distances itself from acts of war that lead to massive civilian suffering and requests that the (Israeli) troops are withdrawn immediately."
"Continued bombing of the densely populated Gaza Strip has now become a full-blown military ground operation that is afflicting a civilian population that cannot defend itself and cannot flee," he lamented.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Any excuse will do for posting a picture of the princess!
TORKHAM, Afghanistan -- U.S and Pakistani military cooperation has increased as the two nations push to eliminate militants destabilizing both sides of the Afghan-Pakistani border, a marked change from last year's tense relationship.
Senior American military officers say the U.S. is allowing Pakistani officers to view video feeds from unmanned drones flying over Pakistan's ungoverned border regions. The U.S. is also granting access to American intercepts of militant cellular and satellite phone calls inside Pakistan.
Unfortunately a fair bit of this will end up being 'fed' straight to the Talibunnies ...
The Pakistani military is using the U.S. intelligence to carry out strikes against extremists in its Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which are widely thought to harbor senior members of al Qaeda, the Taliban and other armed Islamist groups. U.S. officials believe Afghanistan is deteriorating because of insurgents based in these "safe havens."
The cooperation is a contrast from earlier last year when Islamabad, reacting to public anger over U.S. ground and air strikes inside the country, withheld military cooperation. The once-solid relationship between Washington and Islamabad deteriorated over the summer after an American missile killed 11 Pakistani soldiers.
Maj. Gen. Jeffrey Schloesser, the top U.S. commander in eastern Afghanistan, said the number of insurgents crossing into Afghanistan from Pakistan has begun to decrease, reducing a major cause of instability in Afghanistan. Gen. Schloesser said U.S. and Afghan forces, which were hit by up to 20 rockets a day over the summer, are now hit by two or three.
U.S. officials attributed the declines to American missile strikes on insurgent targets inside Pakistan and the coordinated military campaign known as Operation Lionheart, which involves U.S. moves against militants in the Kunar region of Afghanistan and a large Pakistani campaign in the extremist stronghold of Bajaur.
"The operations in Bajaur and the Predator strikes in Waziristan have caused a disruption across the border," Gen. Schloesser said. The general's comments mark one of the first times a senior U.S. official has publicly confirmed the use of U.S. missile strikes in Pakistan.
Pakistan's chief military spokesman, Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Operation Lionheart had succeeded in pushing many militants out of Bajaur, which had long been the main extremist stronghold in northwestern Pakistan.
U.S. officials credit the turnaround in part to Gen. Ashfaq Kiyani, the head of Pakistan's armed forces, who has come to believe that militants pose an extreme threat. Gen. Kiyani replaced the head of the powerful Inter-Services Intelligence, which has long maintained covert ties to the Taliban and other armed groups, and has devoted significant military resources toward the fight in the border regions.
Pakistan's fragile civilian government has also taken a harder line toward the militants than many U.S. officials expected.
William Wood, the U.S. ambassador in Kabul, said in a recent interview that Pakistan was "unquestionably taking more effective action" against militants. "The only reason I wouldn't refer to it as a bright spot is that the problem is such a big one," he said.
The focal point of the U.S.-Pakistani military cooperation is the small base at Torkham, a strategically vital border town that abuts the Khyber Pass, the main supply route for Western forces in Afghanistan.
The American-built base here opened in the spring, and was meant to house military personnel from the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan. During a trip to Torkham over the summer, the barracks rooms set aside for the Pakistanis sat empty, with the mattresses still covered in plastic.
In late December, by contrast, U.S. troops sat in a large tactical operations room alongside Afghan personnel in dark-green fatigues and Pakistani soldiers in flowing tan uniforms. The video feed from an American drone was being projected onto a large pull-down screen at the front of the room.
The Pakistani personnel at Torkham have secure phone and data connections back to their country. A senior U.S. official said the Pakistanis receive access to American "signals intelligence," mainly intercepts of radio traffic, cellular and satellite phone calls.
Maj. Robert Brown, the top U.S. official at Torkham, said the base is meant to "knit together" the U.S., Afghanistan and Pakistan. "The point is to make sure everyone knows all the same information, and can act on it," he said in an interview.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/05/2009 14:51 ||
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Senior American military officers say the U.S. is allowing Pakistani officers to view video feeds from unmanned drones flying over Pakistan's ungoverned border regions. The U.S. is also granting access to American intercepts of militant cellular and satellite phone calls inside Pakistan.
So now the ISI knows what US capabilities are? That should prove useful for the jihadis.
Posted by: john frum ||
01/05/2009 14:56 Comments ||
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Balochistan National Party (BNP) Information Secretary and former senator Sanaullah Baloch has disclosed that the supporters of Taliban have captured land worth Rs 2 billion in the eastern and western parts of Quetta with the covert support of the 'establishment' in order to undermine the Baloch nationalist movement and promote Talibanisation in Balochistan.
In an interview with Daily Times on Sunday, the former senator said the government had failed to establish its writ in Quetta, where the Taliban and their supporters were consolidating their grip. Several parts of the provincial capital have become 'no-go areas' where the Taliban and their supporters have consolidated their position, he said.
Baloch said the government was fully aware of these encroachments but it was deliberately silent because the Taliban enjoy the support of the government and its intelligence agencies who wish to pit the religious elements against the Baloch nationalists.
"We are surprised why the government does not undertake a military operation against these elements who have openly challenged the writ of the government. Military operations were carried out in Dera Bugti and Sui areas by the government on the pretext of establishing the writ of the government, but the state machinery does not move against the Taliban and their supporters who have illegally and forcefully captured large areas of land in Balochistan," he said.
Sanaullah said the government was trying to patronise the Taliban elements in Quetta and its outskirts in order to undermine the power of the actual democratic forces. The Afghan refugees, besides being a burden on the economy of Balochistan, have become the biggest cause of lawlessness and terrorism in the country's largest province, Baloch said.
Billions of rupees were being spent on eliminating the Taliban and their supporters in Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) and the NWFP, he said, asking why the government was ignoring the 'alarmingly dangerous moves' of the Taliban and giving them protection in Quetta.
The BNP leader criticised the government for initiating fresh operations in Dera Bugti and Naseerabad areas, adding that such unprovoked operations were likely to escalate tensions in Balochistan. "The government is making Balochistan a battlefield again," he said.
The operations have made the militant groups end their ceasefire which would further deteriorate the security situation, he said. The Baloch leadership had welcomed the Pakistan People's Party (PPP) government despite the imprisonment of its leadership with the hope that the PPP would learn lessons from the past and pay serious attention to the Baloch issue, he said, adding: "We have deep respect for the PPP and its leaders but we are not going to compromise on the Baloch interests at the cost of our friendship with the PPP leaders. The democratic as well as armed groups in the province are losing faith in the present government."
Reconciliation: Asked if the BNP and other Baloch leaders welcomed the recent statement of PPP leader Babar Awan that "the Baloch would hear good news in March", Sanullah accused the PPP leadership of using 'delaying tactics'. In 1977, the PPP had delayed the resolution of the Baloch issue by hoping that the crisis in Balochistan would gradually fade away, Baloch said, adding that the PPP was showing a lack of interest in Balochistan again by not understanding the urgency needed to permanently resolve the issue.
"In politics you need to reconcile at the right time. Timeliness is a crucial factor in politics which the PPP seems to be missing in Balochistan's context," he commented. Recalling a promise made by late Benazir Bhutto, the former PPP chairperson, who had agreed in the Charter of Democracy to establish federal tribunals to settle the cases of the provinces against the federal government, besides ensuring complete provincial autonomy to the provinces, Baloch said the PPP did not take any initiatives that would brighten the prospects of reconciliation.
Citing the failure of the reconciliatory committees formed by the previous government, Sanaullah Baloch said the Baloch had always agreed to sit on the negotiation table and sort out the problems, but the government had been calling them terrorists and traitors. "We have asked the PPP government to punish the elements who carried out massive human rights violation and remove the unnecessary FC checkposts in Balochistan so that we see some progress made by the government as a confidence-building measure. But our demands have not been met yet."
Mines and minerals: The BNP leader demanded the local Baloch youth be given technical know-how in mining and geological sectors so that they could handle the Saindak and Reko Dik projects.
"We want agreements on the Saindak Gold and Copper project and Reko Dik to be reviewed. The chief minister issued such statements recently but no headway has been made yet in this regard. The Baloch share in the revenue generated at Saindak project is merely 2 percent while the federal government takes 48 percent, and 50 percent goes to China. This is an unjust formula that needs to be revised. We consider this utter exploitation," he said, recommending that bidding should be conducted in the international stock exchanges for the interested mining companies that want to run these projects. "The government of Balochistan should be given the right to choose the company that can best run these projects while keeping in view the fact that the benefits of the projects should go to the people of Balochistan," said the former senator.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
And Biden wants to give Pak Govt 15 billion because???
#3
" And Biden wants to give Pak Govt 15 billion because??? "
1) Slow Joe is demented
2) He's been on the A-rab money train for a long while
3) He and Bambi think they can cleverly drop support for Israel and kiss A-rab ass without anyone noticing
United States vice-president-elect Joseph Biden will arrive in Pakistan on a two-day visit this week to defuse the tension between Pakistan and India after the Mumbai terror attacks, a private TV channel reported on Sunday. "Say hello to ChiaVeep!"
The channel quoted diplomatic sources as saying that a high-level congressional delegation would also accompany Biden.
The delegation would meet President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to discuss the war on terror in Pakistan, Pak-India relations and a $15 billion aid package for Islamabad.
The sources said the US delegation is likely to arrive in Pakistan on January 9.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
and a $15 billion aid package for Islamabad.
That's a joke, right!
That Joe is a funny guy, but enough of the comedy acts, some people might think he's serious.
#8
If Biden (God forbid) should have an "accident" while in pakland who would Barry pick to replace him? BTW doesn't Hillary remind you a lot of Angela Landberry in the manchurian candidate?
#10
$15b? Not entirely surprising, though. This is the same Joe who wanted to hand $200m to Iran after 9/11. My guess is that Republicans will be able to make political hay over this. If they're smart, that is.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/05/2009 11:57 Comments ||
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#16
3 Biden has been involved in Pakistan stuff in his role in the US Senate. We only have one VP, but Delaware has two Senators. The aid package to Pakistan has been under discussion for some time.
Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Kayani demands the US-led forces in Afghanistan to immediately halt drone strikes inside Pakistani territory. Kayani made the demand during a Tripartite Commission meeting in Kabul, a Press TV correspondent reported.
The commission consists of military representatives from Afghanistan, Pakistan and international forces in Afghanistan. The high-ranking officials of the commission, discussed issues including the US supposed war on terror in and around the Pak-Afghan border.
Kayani termed the strikes in the tribal areas of the country as counterproductive in the war against terrorism and extremism. He noted that many innocent people were being killed in the strikes.
More than 450 people --among them suspected militants as well as civilians --have been killed in the attacks. The strikes have increased tensions between Islamabad and Washington and have triggered anti-American sentiments among the Pakistani people.
Both Afghan and US officials have accused Pakistan of not doing enough to prevent cross-border operations by the insurgents against foreign troops.
The tribal regions along the shared border between Pakistan and Afghanistan became safe havens for militants after a US-led invasion in late 2001 toppled Taliban's regime in Afghanistan and sent insurgents to border areas with Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI - India on Sunday called for an "immediate" halt to Israel's offensive in Gaza and said the Jewish state was using excessive military force.
"There should be immediate ceasefire and both sides must exercise restraint," Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters in Kolkata. "The retaliation by Israel (to Hamas rocket attacks) was not only disproportionate, but totally unacceptable," he said.
"There should not be any further aggravation as innocent people at Gaza are being killed... There is immense suffering of the people there," the minister said.
India, a Cold War ally of the Palestinians, in recent years has turned into one of the largest buyers of Israeli weapons.
Wonder if he's saying this just to placate the communists in the government ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
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#5
What is there about Foreign Ministries that make them so Arabophilic?
Posted by: john frum ||
01/05/2009 14:30 Comments ||
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India just wants Israel to slow down so they can get some observers in there and note how it is done.
Demanding cease-fires is common in international rhetoric. It all depends upon how virulant your demands are. Eventually the demands will get louder and more serious and Israel should have planned ahead of time for that so as to sustain their actions despite the demands or to complete what they need to fast and furiously so they have options when the time comes.
#7
AFRICAN CRISIS > COMMUNIST PARTY, USA CALLS FOR CEASEFIRE IN GAZA, INCLUDING DISARMAMENT OF HAMAS.
OTOH, SAME > seems FRANCE is investigating in-country terror acts by a NEW, OVERTLY MARXIST PRO-SECULAR MILITANT GROUP ["Aghanistan Liberation Front" Grp] IN DOMESTIC SUPPORT OF ISLAMIST CAUSES in South Asia.
Faltering slightly at first, a lone voice sang The Star-Spangled Banner as a large American flag was hoisted to mark the opening of the new US Embassy inside Baghdad's green zone today.
Ryan Crocker, the US Ambassador to Iraq, told a ceremony in the grounds of the sprawling compound, the biggest American embassy in the world, that this was the start of a new era in relations between the two countries. The move followed the similarly symbolic handover on New Year's Day of Saddam Hussein's old presidential palace, which had served as the US Embassy since the invasion, to the Iraqi Government.
"Today is about more than raising a flag and dedicating an embassy. It is about new directions and a new future," Mr Crocker told an audience of diplomats, officials and military personnel.
As he spoke, the sound of helicopters buzzed overhead, a reminder of the ongoing US military presence in Iraq despite the shift in power. All US forces in the country came under the authority of the Iraqi Government on January 1 after a UN Security Council resolution authorising their presence expired.
Under a new agreement between Baghdad and Washington, US troops will pull out of towns and cities by mid-2009 and out of the country within three years.
Raffie al-Issawi, one of Iraq's two Deputy Prime Ministers, said that the establishment of a fully-fledged American embassy in a sovereign Iraq "means really a new era of excellent relations".
Speaking to The Times after the ceremony, he added: "I feel that now everything is done an Iraqi way with the assistance of the Americans and others. I hope that it will be a prosperous and excellent future for my country and my people."
The upbeat statements contrast with the violent reality on the ground. Attacks are down significantly from a year ago, but bombings still occur on a near-daily basis.
You didn't expect a Times reporter to be upbeat, did you ...
Four people were killed today and another 19 were injured in four bombs across Baghdad. The attacks came 24 hours after at least 35 people died and scores more were wounded when a female suicide bomber targeted Shia pilgrims at a revered shrine in the northeast of the capital.
Security at the Embassy was typically tight for the ceremony. Also speaking was John Negroponte, Deputy Secretary of State, on a visit from Washington. He served as the first US ambassador to Iraq after the 2003 invasion.
In addition Jalal Talabani, Iraq's Kurdish President, said a few words to the several hundred assembled guests, who included Christopher Prentice, the British Ambassador to Iraq and Lieutenant-General John Cooper, the most senior British military commander in the country. After the speeches, people filed under a large, white marquee for a finger buffet and coffee.
Spread across 104 acres, the embassy compound of orange-y buildings cost more than $700 million to build. Surrounded by high walls of reinforced concrete, some people joke that it looks more like a prison from the outside.
Captain Spiecher remains in our prayers and in our hearts.
WASHINGTON (AP) - The family of a Navy pilot missing since his plane was shot down during the first Gulf war isn't ready to give up hope that he is alive and say they will oppose any decision to declare him killed in action. The Navy has scheduled a review board hearing for Monday on the status of Capt. Michael "Scott" Speicher, who has been missing since January 1991, when his FA-18 Hornet was shot down in Iraq on the first night of the Persian Gulf War.
The hearing comes several months after the Navy received a fresh intelligence report on Speicher from Iraq.
Speicher's family, which has seen the latest information, believes Navy Secretary Donald Winter is moving toward changing Speicher's status from missing/captured to killed, according to family spokeswoman and attorney Cindy Laquidara. The family - including two college-age children who were toddlers when Speicher went missing - believes the Pentagon should do more to determine definitively what happened, Laquidara said. They see the outcome as setting a standard for future missing-in-action investigations, she said.
"This really is a precedent for every other captive serviceman or woman and it needs to be done right," Laquidara said. "We've looked at the information that's going to be presented to the board and we feel pretty confident that it's not time under the standards that they've set to change the status. There are things that need to be done before one can be certain."
Speicher, who had lived in the area of Jacksonville, Fla., was the first American lost in the war. Some believe Speicher ejected from the plane and was captured by Iraqi forces, and potential clues later emerged that he might have survived: The initials "MSS" were found scrawled on a prison wall in Baghdad, for example, and there were reports of sightings.
The Pentagon has changed Speicher's status several times. He was publicly declared killed in action hours after his plane went down. Ten years later, the Navy changed his status to missing in action, citing an absence of evidence that he had died. In October 2002, the Navy switched his status to "missing/captured," although it has never said what evidence it had that he was ever in captivity.
Another review was done in 2005 with information gleaned after Baghdad fell in the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, which allowed U.S. officials to search inside Iraq. The review board recommended then that the Pentagon work with the State Department, the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the Iraqi government to "increase the level of attention and effort inside Iraq" to resolve the question of Speicher's fate.
The Defense Intelligence Agency, which tracks missing-soldier cases and works with other intelligence agencies, submitted its latest report last fall. "Capt. Speicher's status remains a top priority for the Navy and the U.S. government," Cmdr. Cappy Surette, a Navy spokesman, said recently. "The recent intelligence community assessment reflects exhaustive analysis of information related to Capt. Speicher's case."
The final decision on changing Speicher's status must come from the secretary of the Navy; the review board's decision is only a recommendation, said Lt. Sean Robertson, another Navy spokesman. Robertson said that once the board meets, it has up to 30 days to complete its report. The family would then have up to 30 days to comment on the board's recommendation before it is forwarded to the secretary for decision. The board will be composed of three officers, including one who is experienced in F/A-18 aircraft. The board has a legal adviser assigned and Speicher will also be represented by legal counsel to look after the interests of him and his family, Robertson said.
Laquidara said family members would attend the hearing. "It's really easy to put out a yellow ribbon but not so easy to allocate resources to find a missing serviceman or woman," she said. "If Scott's not alive now, he was for a very long time, and that could happen to somebody else."
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
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...Part of the problem here is that CAPT Speicher was shot down by an Iraqi MiG-25 that the USAF and USN AWACS ships on duty that night never saw. Admitting that a Foxbat got past all that radar would be a devastating admission that something as big, dumb, and ugly as a Foxbat actually has a chance in combat against US air.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
01/05/2009 5:14 Comments ||
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#2
In Kosovo, Mig29s who are far better than Mig 25s were routinely downed by FA/18s without dropping a sweat.
#3
I seem to remember reports of human error due to work overload of the AWACS crew. There were hundreds of plane in the air that night. Both the F-18s and AWACS detected the Foxbat but the F-18s did not receive clearance to fire.
Posted by: ed ||
01/05/2009 6:46 Comments ||
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#4
The Defense Intelligence Agency, which tracks missing-soldier cases and works with other intelligence agencies, submitted its latest report last fall. "Capt. Speicher's status remains a top priority for the Navy and the U.S. government,"
If the public only knew. I wish Ralph Peters would write a book about out government's "missing soldier" and MIA/POW efforts.
#5
I think they really really looked for the guy. He's just not there. I can't remember whether they found his plane. Short of combing the dessert with MAD I don't know how they would. It must be frustrating for the family to have had som many whiffs of seeming information. It is doubtful that credible records still exist after the loot-fest that followed the invasion. I don't think Sadaam's hired the most gifted records keepers either. Finding some Iraqi that will string the family along is another thing alltogether.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/05/2009 7:41 Comments ||
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#6
I think if the guy was alive, we would have seen or heard something by now. It's been 18 years, let the guy rest in peace for christ's sake.
#8
There's a presumption of death at common law if you're gone for seven years without being heard from. A lot of states have shortened that to five years.
Eighteen years . . . I'm sorry, but the odds are seriously against finding him alive.
Posted by: Mike ||
01/05/2009 14:33 Comments ||
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#9
IIRC, bits and pieces of his Hornet were found, but no evidence of his ejection seat or chute were by the wreckage. I agree, please let him Rest in Peace and may his family finally begin to work on healing that wound. False hopes only destroy.
#10
You'd be surprised how thoroughly the US looks for downed or dead pilots. Usually they don't give up unless there's absolutely no hope. I spent dozens of nights in Vietnam looking for lost pilots. We spent several months looking for crewmembers from an SR-71 that vanished elsewhere. We ran almost 30 reconnaissance missions over North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and South Carolina, looking for an RF-4C that smashed into a mountain in North Carolina. There was still an open case on an RB-45 that disappeared on the Czech border in 1955 when I got to Germany in 1971. I can't remember how many thousands of frames of film I've looked at, trying to find POW/MIA/LOST traces in a dozen different countries. The chances Scott Speicher is still alive or zero. The same is true for the Israeli pilot lost in the first Lebanese War. There comes a time when you simply have to say "there's nothing more we can do", and close the books on these guys, no matter how much you hate it. Rest in peace, Scott.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/05/2009 20:02 Comments ||
Top||
#11
#10
The books aren't exactly closed. Years ago, I spotted what looked like a filler in a newspaper. Wanted the relatives of the following ten guys KIA in WW II to contact DOD. It had been thought their B17 had crashed into the Coral Sea. Instead, it had hit a mountain on New Guinea or New Britain or someplace. They got the guys out. The families agreed that they should be buried as they fought--together--rather than separating them to various family plots. So they were all buried at Arlington. I got some more details about Casualty Branch. Even if the guys are declared dead, everybody comes home. Sooner or later. One way or another. Even if it's, as it was in this case, nearly half a century.
Posted by: Richard Aubrey ||
01/05/2009 21:43 Comments ||
Top||
THE armed wing of Hamas said today that it has "thousands" of fighters ready to battle Israel in Gaza, in a second defiant televised address by the Islamists in a day.
"We have prepared thousands of brave fighters who are waiting for you in each corner of the street and will welcome you with fire and iron,'' Abu Obeida, the spokesman for the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said in a broadcast on Hamas's Al-Aqsa television channel.
"We tell you in all confidence that your defeat in the Gaza Strip is approaching with every hour,'' he said. "As long as the aggression intensifies, your losses will increase and you will sink further into the Gaza quagmire. od willing, we are at the gates of victory and the Zionist Jews will suffer only defeat and humiliation.''
"The Qassams still have many means and have up to now used only a part of their forces,'' he said.
And they'll start fighting the day AFTER Israel leave Gaza....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
01/05/2009 12:19 Comments ||
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#5
In order to secure the area, IDF needs to clear it of rats and other vermin. It's always helpful if they come out to play. Come on out, Hamas, today is a good day to die.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
01/05/2009 12:50 Comments ||
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#6
And Abu will be right out front leading the charge, won't ya, buddy...
#7
Why assume he's lying? I'd guess there are plenty of Hamas fighters dug in inside schools and hospitals all over Gaza. They don't have to be good fighters, just able to keep the kids from running away.
Posted by: James ||
01/05/2009 13:46 Comments ||
Top||
#8
"thousands" of Black Knights. Imagine a Monty Python movie with thousands of Black Knights (but a flesh wound!) and a few thousand more who taunt the Israelis by running away some more.
#9
The mindless bravado alone should be justification for slaying the entire lot. IDF please spare nothing. Not a goat, donkey, or chicken left standing.
From the Terrorism Awareness Project is a video from David Horowitz which gives some background into the 'problem in the middle east' which you won't see from the MSM (and definately not from the history channel).
Interesting stuff you can send to your liberal and history-deficient friends.
Video at link ( sorry - can't be embedded and autoplays )
Israel's ground offensive in the Gaza Strip was roundly condemned across the Middle East on Sunday, with Egypt also accusing the U.N. Security Council of failing to act quickly to resolve the crisis.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Israel's incursion into the impoverished territory on Saturday night came in "brazen defiance" of international calls to end the offensive it began with air strikes on Dec. 27.
"The Security Council's silence and its failure to take a decision to stop Israel's aggression since it began was interpreted by Israel as a green light," he said in a statement as Israeli forces rumbled into Gaza.
"Egypt condemns in the strongest possible terms the beginning of Israel's ground operations in the Gaza Strip and the invasion of the territory by its forces," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11128 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Huff! Also, puff! And yes, we'll keep shooting the rats that jump the fence!
#4
"Egypt condemns in the strongest possible terms the beginning of Israel's ground operations in the Gaza Strip and the invasion of the territory by its forces," the statement said.
Okay, now those strongest possible terms are:
1) Please don't hurt the little duckies
2) Try not to scratch the paint on your tanks we hate to see our "enemy" looking scruffy.
3) You should be careful not to scare the camels...in Cairo.
- An Iranian military commander called on Islamic countries to cut oil exports to Israel's supporters in response to the Jewish state's offensive in Gaza, the official IRNA news agency reported on Sunday.
That's been tried before ...
IRNA said commander Bagherzadeh described oil as "one of the powerful elements of pressure" on the Jewish state's Western backers in the "unequal war" faced by Palestinians in the coastal strip. "Pointing at Westerners' dependence on the Islamic countries' oil and energy resources, he (Bagherzadeh) called for cutting the export of crude oil to the Zionist regime's supporters the world over," IRNA said, referring to Israel.
IRNA gave only the commander's last name but it may have been referring to Mirfeysal Bagherzadeh, a brigadier-general of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards. There was no immediate comment from other Iranian officials.
Iran, which often rails against the United States and Israel, is the world's fourth-largest oil producer and a leading member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Top exporter Saudi Arabia is a U.S. ally.
In 1973, Arab countries directed an oil embargo at Israel's supporters in the Arab-Israeli war, causing the first oil shock. Primarily the United States but also Japan, the Netherlands, Portugal and South Africa were affected. The price of oil quadrupled to almost $12 a barrel and inflation infected the economies of other industrialised countries.
Crude is now trading at about $46 after plunging by some $100 since July on the global financial crisis and a weakening world economy.
IRNA, which did not provide direct supporting quotes, said Bagherzadeh was speaking about the measures Islamic countries could take in response to Israel's attacks on Gaza. "Among the tactics the world of Islam can use to help the innocent Palestinian people, Bagherzadeh called oil one of the powerful elements of pressure on the Zionists' European and American supporters in the unequal war," IRNA said.
Bagherzadeh is the director of Iran's Foundation for the Preservation of Works and Publications of Sacred Defence Values, IRNA said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11134 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Iran
#1
Iran and Bahrain officials call for oil as weapon The Iranian comments come days after members of Bahrain's lower house of parliament condemned Israeli attacks on Gaza and told the tiny kingdom's foreign minister that "all retaliation options" should remain open to Arab governments. Lawmakers said Arab states should use economic weapons such as oil and the region's vast investment funds to put pressure on the West to help bring an end to the fighting.
Benchmark light, sweet crude for February delivery rose $1.36 to $47.70 a barrel early Monday, after earlier jumping to as high as $48.68, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Can someone remind me where the 5th Fleet is headquartered and from whom we are protecting the natives?
Posted by: ed ||
01/05/2009 7:17 Comments ||
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#4
#3 Iran is desperately trying to figure out a way to inject themselves into this conflict.
Posted by: bigjim-ky
only if without consequences. If Iran's big bad mullahs and IRGC blowhards want, they could declare war on Israel and duke it out. They won't, because they know how that would turn out
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/05/2009 10:08 Comments ||
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#5
Iran is asking KSA, etc to cut exports. They will fight to the last Palestinian, and they will sanction the US until Saudi Arabia has no more revenue. Brave, brave, Iranians.
Thousands protesting Israel's ground offensive on Gaza converged Sunday in Beirut and the Turkish capital, as the leaders of the only two Mideast Arab nations to sign peace treaties with Israel demanded an end to the attack.
In Yemen, security officials said anti-Israel protesters attacked several Jewish homes in the northern province of Omran, smashing windows and pelting them with rocks. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because because they were not authorized to talk to the media, said at least one Jewish resident was injured among the tiny minority community.
Lebanese police used water hoses to try to push about 250 demonstrators away from the U.S. Embassy in Lebanon's capital. When that failed, they fired tear gas, said Lebanese security officials. A second Beirut protest -- a sit-in outside the U.N. building -- drew thousands of supporters of Hamas and Lebanon's Islamic Group.
In Turkey, more than 5,000 people held an anti-Israel rally in Istanbul, waving Palestinian flags and burning effigies of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President George W. Bush. Also in Istanbul, club-wielding police broke up a small demonstration by protesters who hurled eggs at the Israeli Consulate, the private Dogan news agency reported. There were no reports of arrests or injuries.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11125 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
Nine days into Operation Cast Lead and less than a day after the IDF launched a massive ground attack, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) director Yuval Diskin said Sunday that Hamas leaders are showing a "willingness" to reach some kind of arrangement with Israel.
In a briefing he gave the cabinet, which met in Tel Aviv, Diskin said there had been a "softening" of Hamas's determination, "and today there is a willingness from Hamas to reach some kind of arrangement."
Cabinet Secretary Ovad Yehezkel, who briefed the press on the ministers' meeting, emphasized that this willingness was apparent among Hamas leaders, implying that the same sentiment was not apparent among the leaders of Islamic Jihad or the other terrorist organizations operating in the Gaza Strip.
While Diskin said it was becoming increasingly difficult for Hamas to govern, the organization's military wing, Izzadin Kassam, had not sufficiently been hit.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/05/2009 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11129 views]
Top|| File under: Hamas
If the ground offensive currently underway in Gaza becomes a full-fledged occupation with the resultant removal of Hamas from authority, then the arrival of the MV Iran Shahed in the Mediterranean will be something of an anti-climax. Too little, too late.
But while even a small stretch of beach remains under Palestinian control, there is the frightening possibility that Iranian Red Crescent volunteers might attempt a landing.
Shahed means martyr, yes? An unfortunate name for a sea-going vessel in a warzone. I'm beginning to think the concept of irony is missing from the Muslim mind.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Taliban has long exaggerated its military successes, but its figures for 2008 may be the militia's most startling claims yet. 
Carl Bildt harshly condemned Israel's deadly assault on Gaza late Saturday, insisting the invasion would seriously hamper diplomatic attempts to find a solution to the conflict.
THE armed wing of Hamas said today that it has "thousands" of fighters ready to battle Israel in Gaza, in a second defiant televised address by the Islamists in a day.
