So they're digging in? Prediction: Pain...
SPIN BOLDAK, Afghanistan (Reuters) - More than 1,000 villagers have fled a southern Afghan town as Taliban fighters dig in to repel NATO efforts to drive them out, residents and officials said on Wednesday. Helmand provincial governor Haji Assadullah Wafa told Reuters by phone a military operation would soon be launched to recapture Musa Qala, which the Taliban over-ran last week.
British-led NATO forces had struck a deal with tribal elders after months of heavy fighting to withdraw from the town if the Taliban were also kept out. "The Taliban are only in the town to create problems for the people," he said. "They do not have the ability to seize an area and maintain their control over it." It is not uncommon for the Taliban to seize a town or district center, but they do not hold them for long. Wow. Sounds like a real quagmire.
A large number of Taliban fighters had reinforced the town with heavy weapons, a resident told Reuters by phone, and NATO spy planes could be heard overhead.
A large number of Taliban fighters had reinforced the town with heavy weapons, a resident told Reuters by phone, and NATO spy planes could be heard overhead. Bring in all the heavy stuff you got. Our toys are bigger and better.
The Taliban have accused foreign troops of violating the truce with an air strike that killed the brother of local Taliban leader Mullah Ghafour. NATO commanders and villager elders say that strike was outside the area covered by the truce. Ghafour was himself killed in an air strike on Sunday. He got any other brothers?
Cousins? Nephews? Uncles-thrice-removed? We'd like to, er, 'meet' them all. Briefly.
Separately, U.S.-led forces said they arrested two suspected al Qaeda members on Wednesday in eastern Afghanistan, near the border with Pakistan. Both were Afghans, the force said in a statement, but it did not identify them. "The operation was conducted based on information provided about an al Qaeda member known to pass correspondence for al Qaeda senior leaders," the force said. It did not elaborate.
Also on Wednesday, a roadside bomb killed two Afghan guards working for a U.S. security company in the southern province of Kandahar, provincial officials said. Six guards were wounded. Three police officers were killed while defusing a mine planted by the Taliban on a road in the west of the country on Tuesday night, police said.
After the bloodiest year since the Taliban was ousted in 2001, NATO and the insurgents are gearing up for a major offensive when the snow melts in the spring. The new commander of NATO's 33,000-strong International Security Assistance Force, U.S. General Dan McNeill is expected to take a more aggressive approach than his British predecessor, General David Richards, after taking over on Sunday.
NATO's top operational commander wants more troops to help crush the Taliban, but faces widespread reluctance among allies to come forward, alliance officials said in Brussels on Tuesday. U.S. General Bantz Craddock will present a request for 3- extra battalions -- the equivalent of more than 2,000 troops -- at a meeting of national defense ministers in Seville on Thursday and Friday, they said.
Open up the wallet. Hand each vilage family a check for $10,000. Call in the Buff's and start dropping 2000 lb'ers on the village until it is nothing but a smoking hole in he ground. Sheesh, what in the heck are the planners thinking? This is really easy.
(SomaliNet) Unknown gunmen have launched an attack at Ambassador Hotel in the Somalia capital Mogadishu with Rocket Propel Grenades (RPG) overnight targeting the interim government forces stationing there. Witnesses told Somalinet that unidentified militiamen carried out an ambush attack at the hotel in south of the capital where they clashed with the security forces guarding it. I heard two explosions followed by several minutes of gun fire around 7:40 pm local time. It appeared an attack launched by militiamen aimed at the hotel, Ibrahim Ali, one the residents near the hotel said.
The attackers were riding a Toyota automobile when they fired two RPGs at the hotel exploding outside of the gate causing no injury. The assailants then escaped unharmed. There is no immediate casualty from the latest attack and no one has claimed the responsibility.
Tonights attack came hours after a mortar round has slammed near the presidential palace in Mogadishu causing no casualty. It was the first day light attack at the presidents house since the arrival of the transitional government in Mogadishu late December last year.
Hotel Ambassador, which is among the largest privately owned hotels in the capital, houses several government officials. Shortly after the incident, security forces cordoned all roads leading to the hotel.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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LONDON (Reuters) - A woman was injured on Wednesday in an explosion at Britain's vehicle licensing agency, the third attack in three days on motoring-related organizations.
Three booms in three days makes it a terror attack. Likely domestic nutcase.
Police refused to confirm the nature of the explosion, but BBC News said a parcel bomb had exploded at the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) in Swansea, south Wales. "One female has been taken to hospital with injuries, which are not believed to be life-threatening," a police statement said. "A cordon has been put in place and nearby residents are being evacuated as a precautionary measure."
The DVLA said the injured woman handled its mail. The DVLA is a government agency that issues driving licenses and keeps records of vehicles and motorists. "Naturally these incidents are worrying. It is important that we allow police to get on with their investigation without undue speculation," Home Secretary (interior minister) John Reid said in a statement.
A letter bomb exploded at a business center in Berkshire, southern England, on Tuesday at the office of Vantis, a business services firm, injuring two men. Newspapers reported that the letter was addressed to "Speed Check Services" which supplies speed cameras to the police but was sent instead to its accountants.
On Monday, a woman was injured in a letter bomb explosion at the London headquarters of Capita, the firm managing London's congestion charge. The company collects 25 million payments a year from motorists who pay to drive into central London. The rash of explosions raised media speculation that it could be a campaign by a motorist, disgruntled by the rapid spread of traffic speeding cameras on Britain's roads.
Sounds like it. I'd guess Scotland Yard is going over lists of people with multiple tickets who wrote angry letters complaining
Motorists caught speeding by cameras paid more than 100 million pounds ($195 million) in fines in 2005. Drivers who are repeatedly caught speeding can be temporarily banned from driving. Tens of thousands of motorists a year are disqualified.
Posted by: Steve ||
02/07/2007 07:45 ||
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#1
The UK population has "learnt" the lesson the state sent when it appeased the terrorist supporting Koranimals.
#2
Right. But when they catch this nutjob, I bet there'll be no outreach, consultation, special accomodations, task forces, policy reviews, employment initiatives, cultural sensitivity training, or sympathy for "legitimate grievances." It'll be life in clink and that's that.
#3
I keep telling people the chances of motoring related injury are greater than those of being involved in a terrorism incident but will they listen? No.
And now they will have to pay.
/domestic nutjob in this probably called Clive or Cecil instead of you-know-what
#10
Interesting you mention that, BigEd. Our State (GA) Rep. is proposing a bill that will ban red-light cameras at intersections. They're fairly new in the Atlanta area. Anyways, literally speaking, his basis is correct.
The bill would ban the red light cameras because the Constitution/Bill of Rights guarantees the accused the right to face their accuser. Thusly, you can't do that, because the "accuser" in this case is an object (camera). Doubt it'll fly (it's become a cash cow for the cities/counties around here), but it's an interesting argument.
Posted by: BA ||
02/07/2007 14:09 Comments ||
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#11
Oh, and like Frank G stated, they are a revenue enhancer big time. One smaller city around our parts (metro Atlanta) took in MILLIONS last year at just 1 intersection. For a city their size, that could about fund the entire police force and some other employees.
Posted by: BA ||
02/07/2007 14:10 Comments ||
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#12
In Minnesota, the state supreme court declared these cameras illegal on the grounds that someone else could be driving a car licensed to you.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/07/2007 14:18 Comments ||
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Two office workers were injured in the explosion of a letter bomb at offices near London - the second such an attack in Britain in two days. Scotland Yard's anti-terrorism unit was Tuesday examining a possible link between the two incidents amid fears that they could mark the start of a prolonged letter bombing campaign in and around the British capital.
In the latest incident, at the offices of an accountancy firm in Wokingham, west of London, two men suffered blast wounds to their hands and upper bodies as they handled the packages. On Monday, a female employee of an out-sourcing company in central London suffered injuries to her hands and stomach when a letter bomb exploded in the postroom.
The firm, Capita, is involved in the management of the congestion charge scheme in central London, due to be extended to the affluent shopping and residential district of Kensington and Chelsea on February 19. Extension of the daily levy of eight pounds (15 dollars) for drivers has attracted protests from local residents.
Vantis, the firm targeted in Tuesday's attack, also described itself as an out-sourcing business 'acting for lots of companies.' A spokesman denied reports that Vantis was directly involved in the administration of speeding fines, following claims that disgruntled motorists could be behind the bombings.
(Itar-Tass) -- All suspects in an attack on Sverdlovsk policemen in Chechnya in September 2006 are arrested, deputy chief of the Sverdlovsk regional main police department Viktor Berdnikov told journalists on Monday.
According to him, the last suspect was detained in Petersburg on December 30. He did not take part in the attack, but financed the bandit raid. Other five suspects, who are members of Karimovs gang, were detained 15 days after the attack. All six detainees (three were born in 1983, one in 1986, and another two in 1987) are Grozny residents, Berdnikov pointed out. The investigation is in progress.
Speaking about the motives of the murder of policemen, Berdnikov noted, Today it is money earning. Those who are interested in hotbeds in Russia pay a certain sum to gunmen for each terrorist act. There would be no murder, if not for money, the senior police officer pointed out.
Five policemen from the Sverdlovsk police garrison were killed in a shootout with gunmen in the Staropromyslovsky district of Grozny on September 21, 2006. This is the second attack on Sverdlovsk policemen in Chechnya. On March 7, 1996, ten Sverdlovsk crack policemen were killed in the Zavodskoy district of Grozny. At present, 300 policemen from the Sverdlovsk region are on mission in Chechnya.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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This clown was bad news. If the Frenchies can put him away, we might have a chance against the rest.
A French Muslim convert accused of plotting to attack a Sydney nuclear reactor and strategic targets across Australia, goes on trial from Wednesday in Paris on charges of terrorist conspiracy. Willie Brigitte, a 38-year-old from the French Caribbean island of Guadeloupe, was arrested in Australia in 2003 following a tip-off from the French intelligence services, and deported for immigration offences. In French custody since his return, Brigitte faces up to 10 years' imprisonment on charges of "criminal conspiracy in relation with a terrorist enterprise", at the outcome of the three-day trial.
Brigitte has been portrayed in Australia as the country's most dangerous Al-Qaeda link, suspected of plotting destruction on the scale of the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. France's top anti-terrorism judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, who investigated the case, suspects him of setting up a terror cell in Australia on the orders of the Pakistani Islamic extremist group Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Its alleged targets included the Pine Gap US electronic intelligence outpost in central Australia, the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney, and military bases across the country.
Its alleged targets included the Pine Gap US electronic intelligence outpost in central Australia, the Lucas Heights nuclear reactor in Sydney, and military bases across the country. But according to the former head of France's DGSE foreign intelligence agency, Alain Chouet, French prosecutors may have trouble proving their case. "Objectively, there isn't very much against him. The case is not empty -- this young man is certainly a troublemaker, involved in radical circles -- but nothing like the terrorists of September 11."
"If the Australians had concrete, converging evidence, why didn't they prosecute him themselves?" Chouet asked. "Willie Brigitte is not the case of the century and he is certainly no Islamist mastermind."
However Louis Caprioli, who was head of the DST domestic intelligence agency at the time of Brigitte's arrest, said the evidence against him was solid. "One thing is certain, he wasn't in Australia for a holiday in the sun. It was an operational trip, aimed at setting up a cell with a view to carrying out attacks," he said. "To liken him to Osama bin Laden is to make him sound more important than he is, but he certainly had an important operational role."
Brigitte was first spotted by French DST agents in 1998, after he converted to Islam and travelled to Yemen to attend a Koranic school seen as linked to Al-Qaeda. Back in Paris, he started attending a radical Islamist mosque, rubbing shoulders with members of the armed Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
I wonder if that mosque is still open. If it is, why?
He allegedly went on to run forest training camps in France to toughen up would-be Islamist fighters, and was linked to a group that abetted the murder of the anti-Taliban Afghan war chief Ahmad Shah Massood, killed two days before September 11. After 9/11, Brigitte is thought to undergone combat training in Pakistan -- after a "sleeping period" back in France -- and was allegedly summoned to Australia by a Lashkar-e-Taiba operative. Moving under the wing of Faheem Khalid Lodhi, a Pakistani-born architect sentenced to 20 years in jail in 2006 for planning to blow up Sydney's power grid, he settled in a southwest suburb of Sydney.
There he spent five months working in a kebab shop, married an Australian Muslim convert and former army signaller, Melanie Brown, and allegedly drew up plans for his own attack. His French lawyer Jean-Claude Durimel insists his client went to Australia "for a change of life" and says there is "no material evidence" against him. "My client has never been a terrorist, he never plotted any kind of attack in Australia. The prosecution doesn't even know the target of this alleged attack: they've listed everything except the Sydney Opera House," Durimel said. The French prosecution against Brigitte was made possible by the catch-all offence of "criminal conspiracy in relation with a terrorist enterprise" -- the charge used in almost all terrorism cases in France. One of the toughest anti-terrorism laws in Europe, it gives judges wide-ranging powers of preventive arrest and detention, but has been criticised as paving the way for unfair imprisonment.
Lemme guess. Hitler would have loved French anti-terror laws (rolls eyes)
However, France's Bruguiere -- who has spent two decades tracking Islamic militants among France's five-million strong Muslim community -- says the law is his chief weapon, allowing him to break up radical groups before they are able to act.
President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he had approved plans to create a U.S. military command for Africa, a move that reflects increased U.S. strategic interest in the continent. Bush's decision was the culmination of a long debate that gained momentum as Washington grew more concerned about Islamist militancy in parts of Africa and more attracted by the potential of the continent's natural resources. "This new command will strengthen our security cooperation with Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in Africa," Bush said. "Africa Command will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and promote our common goals of development, health, education, democracy and economic growth in Africa," he said in a statement.
In Germany, a spokeswoman for the U.S. military, Holly Silkman, told the Stuttgarter Zeitung newspaper the unit dubbed "Africom" would be based initially in the Kelly Barracks in the Moehringen district of Stuttgart. "We've started moving already this week," Silkman told the newspaper's Wednesday edition. She said the unit would later be transferred to a base in Africa.
Bush said he had asked Defense Secretary Robert Gates to get the new Africom unit up and running
In time for Election '08 photo ops
by the end of September 2008. The United States would work closely with African allies to choose a location for the new command in Africa, he said.
The United States has paid increasing attention to Africa in recent years, partly out of anxiety that African states with weak governments can be a haven for Islamist militants. The United States began counterterrorism training in West and Central Africa in 2002, teaching local armies basic techniques to help them locate and take out militant cells. "It's an important continent," Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. He said Pentagon officials would flesh out plans for the new command at a briefing on Wednesday. No commander had yet been nominated to run it, he said.
While Africa now mainly falls under the remit of European Command and Central Command, Pacific Command has responsibility for Madagascar and some other smaller islands. U.S. officials declined to say what the exact geographical boundaries of the new command would be.
#1
Several Lefty Netters are already arguing is proof of Dubya's = USA's imperialism, as opposed of course to a GLOBAL ISLAMIST/JIHADIST STATE andor SOCIALIST WORLD ORDER PC DOMIN BY RUSSIA-CHINA.
#3
A blunder added to a long list of continental blunderings I fear, but Afri-Kommand has a most interesting ring to it. Any bets it won't be located in Salisbury.
"From land to land throughout the world the news is going round, That Ireland's flag triumphant flies on high o'er English ground. In far-off Africa today the English fly dismayed Before the flag of green and gold borne by McBride's brigade." AR dTIR AR MUINTEAR AR dTEANGA' (our country, our people, our language')
#6
Just cut the force structure for the new Command out of our NATO assets. It's not like that needs our attention anymore, and hasn't since the Soviet Union collapsed. Not that the Euros demonstrated their skills in the Balkans, but it's their problem. BTW, where were all the Donk's with resolutions to pull our troops out of Kosovo?
Actually, this is one of the REAL reason for the Iraq war, and it is a superb reason.
US Commands are enormous in scope, with an area of responsibility covering continents and seas. However, CENTCOM and EUCOM are very overextended as far as supporting and directing US force projection on the far side of the world.
Once Iraq is out of the limelight, it will most likely become the new AFRICOM Headquarters, with a Status of Forces agreement like the US had with Germany.
This places the US in the very best strategic location in the world, smack dab in the middle of where we anticipate major military conflicts and instability for the next 20-30 years, guarding the world's oil production, keeping Russia and China OUT of the region, menacing Iran, and patrolling vital waterways.
It is like having the an aircraft carrier ten times the size of a Ford class ship on permanent duty station there.
In the long run, it will profit us ten times every dollar we spent getting there. In money, international power, and American lives saved.
#9
shellback: As Bono said, which wasn't widely reported for some reason: "George Bush has done more for Africa than any US President."
Bush has an uncanny knack for seeing the possibilities in places totally ignored by Washington, like India and Africa. His opening of relations with India is far more than Nixon did with China. Incredibly good idea.
In Africa, things are starting to happen that are both new and of intense interest to the US. They have what might become a multi-national army forming, al-Qaeda was making some serious inroads there until the US jumped in and kicked their ass, vast numbers of Africans are quitting Islam to become Christian, etc.
And the Chinese are also becoming interested in Africa.
Bush saw and sees the potential, and with some strong diplomatic and military efforts, we might end up if not uplifting Africa, than keeping it from becoming a major pain in the butt.
A suicide attacker detonated a bomb in a parking area at the international airport that serves Islamabad on Tuesday night, killing himself and wounding at least five persons. A security official said on condition of anonymity that airport security officials arrested a man who was trying to flee the scene. It was unclear whether the detained man was a suspected accomplice of the suicide attacker.
A security official stopped the bomber, who was on foot, said Mohammed Farooq, a senior police official at the central control room in Rawalpindi where the airport is located. After a brief exchange of fire, the attacker detonated the bomb, he said. A PTI report said the attacker carried grenades and a pistol and was heading towards the VIP section of the airport lobby when security personnel stopped him. He opened fire at the security personnel who retaliated, said Farooq, the Deputy Inspector General of Rawalpindi.
The bombing follows a series of suicide attacks targeting security forces in northwestern Pakistan, where pro-Taliban militants are active, and a January 26 blast at Islamabad's Marriott Hotel that killed one security guard and wounded seven other people. Authorities have yet to identify the Marriott Hotel attacker, but suspect the bombings could be in retaliation to a recent Pakistani army airstrike on an suspected al-Qaida hideout near the Afghan border that a prominent Pakistani militant vowed to avenge.
Suspected militants killed two Afghan nationals they accused of being US spies in North Waziristan on Tuesday. It was the second such incident in the North Waziristan region since Friday. An administration official told Daily Times that the two bodies were kept in the Town Hall for identification, but were later buried at Sheikh Adam cemetery when nobody came to claim them. The men were shot in the legs and head and their hands had been tied behind their back, witnesses told Daily Times, adding that the bodies were found near Mubarak Shahi village, 15 kilometres east of Miranshah.
No group has claimed responsibility for the killings, but pro-Taliban militants are usually blamed for such attacks. Zulfiqar Mehsud, a spokesman for Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, told Daily Times that his group was always cautious about people who are spying for the US. The US can do no harm to us without ground intelligence. This is why we dont spare any person found guilty of spying for the US, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Militants kill 2 'US spies' in Waziristan
1) US spy always wears oversize "Hollywood" Eye Wear.
2) US spy will always point impolitely in public.
3) US spy will always smell like the rest of us.. like an old goat.
4) US spy will always have the tell tail tale lump on his forehead from praying too much trying to pass himself off as one of us.. Idiots.
#4
Zulfiqar Mehsud, a spokesman for Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud, told Daily Times that ...his group was always cautious about people who are spying for the US. The US can do no harm to us without ground intelligence. This is why we dont spare any person found guilty of spying for the US.
Ummm not always...
You boyz can't resist stonings. SO we just watch by satellite for someone tied up with 1/2 the people throwing bricks at him and the other half watching the proceedings pleasuring themselves. Voila. Taliban gathering site...
Of course the same goes for hand, tongue or eyeball removal, just watch for any of these activities where there are half or more of the crowd is watching, and pleasuring themselves...
The US doesn't always need to have a spy on the ground to find a Taleban gathering spot...
#5
look for areas where everyone walks slow, makes no eye contact, no frivolity nor mirth, no kites dammit, no movies, except Sean Penn or Tim Robbins or Michael Moore...there you have it
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2007 20:27 Comments ||
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A suicide bomber set off explosives in the car park at the airport of the Pakistan capital Islamabad on Tuesday after being challenged by police, three people were wounded, officials said. It was the second suicide bombing in Islamabad since January 26 and is bound to raise fears that Pakistan's war against Islamist militants in remote mountains on the Afghan border has spread to the relatively peaceful capital.
The bomber was stopped in a car just outside the airport and ran into the airport's car park after police tried to search him. He opened fire at police chasing him before blowing himself up, police said. "The suicide bomber was killed and two airport security people were wounded," Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao told Reuters. Police said one policemen was also wounded when the bomber opened fire. Two accomplices of the bomber were arrested, Sherpao said.
Police sealed off the airport soon after the blast but the remains of a body could be seen in the car park through a fence, a witness said. "This is a pure act of terrorism," said retired Brigadier Javed Iqbal Cheema, head of an Interior Ministry crisis management section.
An aviation official said flights coming to and from Islamabad were expected to be delayed. Pakistan has seen several suicide attacks in recent days that have killed nearly 30 people. A suicide bomber killed himself and a guard while trying to enter one of Islamabad's top hotels on January 26 . The wave of bombings followed a Pakistani air strike on an Islamist militant camp in the South Waziristan region on the Afghan border in mid-January that killed 20 people. Analysts have speculated the blasts have been in revenge for the air strike and Pakistani intelligence officials have linked at least some of the bombs to pro-Taliban militants in Waziristan led by Baitulah Mehsud.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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INSURGENT MORTAR FIRE KILLS THREE IRAQI CHILDREN, WOUNDS 12 OTHERS
CAMP TAJI, Iraq - Insurgent forces fired three 120mm mortar rounds into the village of Mzerat, Iraq, killing three children and wounding 12 other residents.
The attack occurred at approximately 9:45 a.m., 10 miles north of Baghdad. Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldiers responded to the incident, to provide medical aid to the injured.
Shortly after arriving on the scene to investigate, Soldiers with Battery B, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment confirmed that the rounds were fired by insurgents operating in the area.
Coalition forces secured the area and provided medical aid to the injured. The incident is under investigation, in the hope of apprehending the terrorists responsible for the attack.
#1
Interesting question. If you take out a Muslim child, is he/she a "martyr" worthy of 72 Virginians? Or, did he/she "deserve it" because Allan guided the mortar to their location?
Posted by: BA ||
02/07/2007 14:12 Comments ||
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#2
Oh, no ! See what Bush has done now ? The poor insurgents are using Bush's tactics of bombing the children, bunnies, fuzzy ducks, and puppies.
#3
I often use a mortar as part of my inner spiritual struggle. Especially when I doubt Allan for telling me to "marry" six year olds, behead people who doubt Allan and really especially when I go ahead and eat that bacon double cheeseburger forbidden by the Koranomicon.
#4
I think the hate-mullahs preach that muslim children killed before the age of accountability go the Heaven, but no virgins. Those that kill "innocent" muslim children are not guilty of murder because the children are going to Heaven.
Such is the twisted logic of the religion of "pieces" (as in body parts).
BAGHDAD, Iraq The U.S. military said it was investigating reports that an aircraft went down Wednesday in Iraq. Witnesses said a helicopter had gone down in a field in the Sheik Amir area northwest of Baghdad, sending smoke rising from the scene, in a Sunni-dominated area between the Taji air base 12 miles north of Baghdad and Garma, 20 miles to the west of the capital.
"We are looking into initial reports of a possible aircraft down," U.S. military spokeswoman Lt. Col. Josslyn Aberle said.
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/07/2007 7:42 Comments ||
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#2
Wondering if this is actually ether stingers or the chinese made blue pipe missles. Just a thought. Weren't there reports of missles being brought in?
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- A Sea Knight helicopter went down northwest of Baghdad on Wednesday, the military said.
The CH-46 helicopter went down about 20 miles northwest of the capital, U.S. military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said, but he declined to comment on casualties.
"A quick reaction force is on site and the investigation is going on as we speak," he said. "It would probably be inappropriate for me to talk about whether or not there are or are not casualties."
Witnesses said the helicopter had been shot down in a field in the Sheik Amir area northwest of Baghdad, sending smoke rising from the scene, in a Sunni-dominated area between the Taji air base, 12 miles north of Baghdad, and Garma, 20 miles west of the capital. and Garma, 20 miles to the west of the capital.
"The helicopter was flying and passed over us, then we heard the firing of a missile," said Mohammad al-Janabi, a farmer who was speaking less than a half-mile from the wreckage. "The helicopter, then, turned into a ball of fire. It flew in a circle twice, then it went down."
#7
Grunt I had the shame chilling thought. I remember talking with the Afghans in 1989 about how effective the missiles were in dealing with the Russian helicopters. Their opinion of our Stingers our the Chinese Blue Pipes (they called them that), basically the Afghans thought them equal.
Right now I'm making a sick and sorry prediction that this is only the beginning and China is laughing its ass off.
What pisses me off is everyone who is paying attention sees and knew from the start at somepoint in the WOT Irans turn would come. Unfortunatley the Partisans/Seditionist have by being unchallenged turned the WOT into a referendum on Bush like or dislike.
Like someone mentioned before we unfortunatley are going to see much more US blood spilled so the Partisan part of the opposition can get thier warm fuzzy to OK US to fight back in the war that we are already in (Seditionist will just blame Bush/US more).
I often wonder what if this was WW2, imagine one of the politcal parties telling Roosevelt he better not push into Germany proper or France becuase the grueling campain in Italy was not the push over the Roosevelt Administration sold US soft underbelly of Europe lies, bring em home now, Germany is killing too many Jews in the consentration camps its a civil war we have no buisness/useing the numbers of Germany's daily furnace count as proof how horrible the war was going. Ect.....
#9
C-low...It's really simple. The administration does not value the life of US servicemen as much as it does the life of an Iraqi goat or camel. If we declare the Syrian and Iranian border areas free fire zones from sunset to sunrise this crap will stop. It might take 6 months, but it will stop.
But, they feel something that drastic will alienate the Iraqi people, the Arab street.
Drastically reduced in 6 days, with the proper application of force. The arrival of new MANPADS was reported some two weeks ago. Interesting to see that we've permitted them the proper time to conduct training, and distribute weapons.
#11
I found numerous man portable SAMs in the Fallujah AO. SA-7s & SA-14s. Never saw one used. They were in used to poor shape and most were missing some parts.
Obviously, these incidents show that some sort of brand new portable SAMs have made there way into the area. It will be interesting to know what kind are being used.
All seven people aboard the CH-46 helicopter were believed killed, and indications were that it was not hit by hostile fire, a senior defense official in Washington said.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way, said the helicopter went down about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad and that the crash appeared to have been related to mechanical problems.
#14
How old are those things now? I remember reading someplace that the 46 that took the last Marines out of the embassy in Saigon was stil being used over there.
#15
Mechanical problem? Maybe. If they are missiles I'm guessing the military isn't going to report it.
Sure Iran is piping this crap in but I'm guessing the Saudis are funding this too. The comment about China had more to do with who is making shoulder fired missiles.
Minutes after nighttime curfew began in Baghdad at 9 pm we saw breaking news on al-Hurra and al-Jazeera saying that Baghdads security operation has just started. The news says the first operation is currently underway in Azamiyah in the northeastern part of the city.
However, it looks quiet here at the moment, except for a sudden increase in activity in the skies with US jet fighters patrolling over the northern parts of Baghdad. Were now only a few kilometers far from Azamiyah, so if theres going to be some action, well certainly hear-or see-it, and well keep you updated.
UPDATE: US says it is on. Maliki Government says it isnt. Go to the link for more details
AS US and Iraqi military commanders launched the first stage of a new security plan to tackle violence on Baghdad's streets, the Bush Administration's "surge" of American troops was facing stiff resistance at home.
Although the first phase of the plan will mainly involve Iraqi forces, several Republican senators dealt a blow to the authority of the US President, George Bush, by backing a motion condemning the decision to send 21,500 additional US troops to Baghdad. The Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has ordered a phased operation to win back territory from insurgents.
On Monday a joint command centre to direct operations in Baghdad was inaugurated. It was to be led by an Iraqi general, Abboud Gambar, a compromise appointment after the US military rejected Mr Maliki's first choice. The operation splits the city into nine districts, with a detachment of 600 US troops assigned to each district to support thousands of Iraqi soldiers. In recognition of Baghdad's division between Sunni and Shiite Muslims, two Iraqi generals will oversee operations on either side of the Tigris River.
A US adviser to the Iraqi army, Colonel Doug Heckman, said the military would mount a visible troop presence unparalleled since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. "It's going to be an operation unlike anything this city has seen," Colonel Heckman said.
Baghdad was on edge yesterday as residents, exhausted by four years of war, looked for signs that the promised security sweep had begun. A series of bomb and mortar attacks in the capital left 26 people dead and 105 injured on Monday. In the worst of three blasts, a car bomb aimed at a petrol station in the religiously mixed southern neighbourhood of Saidiya killed 10 people. Eight people died when another car bomb went off in a garage, while the third blast, near a children's hospital in central Baghdad, killed six. The explosions wounded a total of 111 people.
About 30 gunmen in Iraqi army uniforms kidnapped the second secretary at the Iranian embassy in the central Karrada district of Baghdad on Sunday, an Iraqi government official said yesterday, giving no other details.
In Washington, the Senate met to consider a resolution opposing Mr Bush's plan to deploy the additional five combat brigades.
A day of posturing, finger-pointing and backroom wrangling came to nothing when Democratic and Republican leaders failed to reach agreement on which resolutions would be debated and allowed to go to a vote.
A day of posturing, finger-pointing and backroom wrangling came to nothing when Democratic and Republican leaders failed to reach agreement on which resolutions would be debated and allowed to go to a vote. The Senate's 49 to 47 vote on Monday night to proceed to debate Bush's new war policy fell 11 votes short of the 60 needed to break the deadlock. Although non-binding, it would embarrass the Administration if passed and highlight the extent to which Mr Bush's authority has diminished.
* A British newspaper published transcripts yesterday of a cockpit video from a US jet at the centre of an inquest into "friendly fire" in Iraq in which a British soldier was killed. The Sun said the video revealed the pilots, realising they had hit a convoy of British armoured vehicles, saying "God dammit" and "We're in jail, dude".
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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I don't think many of the new troops have reached Badgdad yet. So why the big public roll out? Is this roll out supposed to intimidate the terrorists or is it to buck up the Iraqi army?
AVIVIM, Israel (Reuters) - Lebanese troops and an Israeli army patrol exchanged fire on their shared border on Wednesday in the first such incident since Lebanon deployed regular forces after
Israel's war against Hezbollah guerrillas.
A Reuters correspondent at the scene and Israeli security sources said the clash began after the Lebanese troops shot in the air as the patrol crossed a security fence near the border village of Avivim to search for explosives planted by Hezbollah. So what would cause gun sex for the Lebanese troops?
"We called for them to stop firing, they shot at us and we returned fire," an Israeli source said, adding that the Israeli patrol had not crossed into Lebanese territory. "So, um, how do I say this? It's soooo Islamic of them to fire upon us Joooos for no reason," he added.
There were no casualties in the clash, which was confirmed by the Lebanese army. Suprised that the IDF didn't hit anything.
"An Israeli bulldozer crossed into south Lebanon tonight. Our forces opened fire at it. It pulled back and there was a brief exchange of fire," a Lebanese army spokesman said. Caterpillar? A D-90, maybe?
A spokesman for UNIFIL, a U.N. peacekeeper force in southern Lebanon that was boosted after last year's war, confirmed the exchange was initiated by the Lebanese army after an Israeli bulldozer crossed the border fence "in an apparent attempt to clear mines between the Blue Line (border) and the fence." So U.N.'ish of them. While I can't believe they did blame it on the Lebanese troops, it was the Joooos fault for crossing that fence!
"We characterize this as a serious incident between the Lebanese army and the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces)," the spokesman said.
"The UNIFIL commander ... was in contact with both sides urging them to cease hostilities and our current information is that around 10:30pm (2030 GMT) there was an end to the firing, but right now UNIFIL troops are deployed in the area." Assisting Hezbollah to arm up the area, I'd bet.
Lebanon deployed its army along the frontier as part of a U.N.-brokered ceasefire that ended Israel's 34-day offensive against Hezbollah. The border has been largely quiet since then. "Except for those d@mn Jooooos and their Caterpillar D-90's," the UNIFIL Commander added.
Israel ordered the searches around Avivim after discovering four explosive devices on the border on Monday. Israeli officials accused Hezbollah of planting the bombs recently, but Hezbollah said it planted them before the July-August war.
Posted by: BA ||
02/07/2007 18:57 ||
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damn i will be glad when the IDF finally kicks the shit out of them
#4
"i will be glad when the IDF finally kicks the shit out of them"
It may be a long wait. The terrorists learned from their mistakes and they won't really engage the IDF because they know they cannot win that fight. The tactic of hiding behind and amongst the civilians provides them protection, and they have found that the IDF has either not learned how to deal with it or they are not threatened enough to deal with it. It may be awhile yet before the stakes are high enough for the IDF to send this tactic to the ash heap.
Brother against brother. You can almost hear the harmonica playing in the background...
JEBALIYA REFUGEE CAMP, Gaza Strip - The two al-Ottol brothers are recovering in separate rooms of their house, wounded in the latest round of fighting between rival Hamas and Fatah militias one on each side of the conflict. I wonder who mom likes best? Hamada al-Ottol, 19, was wounded while fighting for Fatah, the movement of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. He wants revenge. Dire, seething revenge!
His brother, Tahseen, 22, of Hamas, hopes a summit underway in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, can stop the internal conflict before the rift between them becomes irreconcilable. Trucefire X: This time, it's personal...
More than 100 Palestinians have been killed in months of clashes that followed a Hamas election victory a year ago, with most of the security forces remaining in the hands of Fatah, which lost the vote. Flare-ups have led to fears of an all-out civil war between the two most powerful Palestinian movements. "Flare ups"? Fears?
Abbas is meeting in Mecca with Hamas leaders in the latest in a series of attempts to bridge wide ideological gaps and form a unity government. Well, it's in Mecca, so I'm real optimistic. The Allah thing and all...
The brothers say they feel each other's pain and will never point their guns at each other. Well, maybe...
But Hamada didn't want to express his views in his brother's presence. He was interviewed in his room before joining his brother upstairs. He sharply criticized Hamas, blaming it for targeting Fatah members, and said his group only defended itself. We wuz...victims of coicumstance, I tells ya.
The family had to keep the brothers on two separate floors in the same house because arguments broke out between their visitors, from Fatah and Hamas. Oh, I'll bet that's fun...
"Our guns have now become impure. The fighting and the blood has become like a cup of tea, a very normal thing," Hamada said. My. How...Palestinian.
The two were wounded in the same battle, when Hamas gunmen stormed an uncle's house. Hamada was hit by shrapnel, breaking his jaw and leaving him with only one eye. Oooooops. Too late...
Tahseen went to the house to warn his brother but was hit with a bullet in the stomach, he said. Four people died in the battle, two from each side. Hey, Hamada! Lookou...OUCH!
The fact that he went to warn his brother, Tahseen said, is proof that brothers still stand up for each other. "I have an opinion and he has his. But the leaders of Hamas and Fatah shouldn't widen this gap between us," he said from his bed. Just cause I got gut shot, and he lost an eye, no big deal. The bosses say it's the price of doin business...
Their father, Mohammed, 48, said if the leaders in Mecca don't reach an agreement, he will pull his sons from the warring security factions."How much worse can it be?" he said. "Hamada used to have two eyes. Now he has one." Just crazy, mixed up kids. With automatic weapons. And one of them with only one eye.
#1
Their father, Mohammed, 48, said if the leaders in Mecca don't reach an agreement, he will pull his sons from the warring security factions."How much worse can it be?" he said. "Hamada used to have two eyes. Now he has one."
#6
Somehow, I find the article hard to credit. In my experience political choices among Paleos* is done on the chamula (extended family/clan) not individual level.
*And Arabs in general---that's why I laugh every time I hear that Bin Laden family "condemns" Osama
#8
This has Paleo Sit-Com written all over it. And I think Pops came up with perfect title..."How much worse can it be?" That's Gold I tells ya...Gold!
A member of the Hamas government's special security forces was killed and three others wounded Tuesday evening in Gaza City. Israel Radio reported that the shooters were members of the Durmush clan and were seeking to avenge the deaths of two of their family members.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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Nope. Nuthin to see here, folks. Just a run of the mill, everyday attempted mass murder. Trucefire still holding. Nobody panic. Everything's fine...
Two Kassam rockets landed in the western Negev on Tuesday afternoon. One of the rockets landed in a field between two homes on a local kibbutz. No wounded or damage were reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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As a liberal, I object to this attack on Jewish proletarian collectivism, by the obviously bourgois terrorists.
Sri Lankan helicopter gunships rocketed Tamil Tiger rebels in the islands far northeast on Tuesday, the military said, but there was no word on casualties. The attack in the north-eastern district of Trincomalee comes just days after President Mahinda Rajapakse vowed to defeat and tame the Tigers while offering to resume peace talks to end a new chapter in their two-decade civil war. There was a gathering in Kaddawan jungle in the north of Trincomalee district. Air force helicopters took air targets this morning, said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. The presence of LTTE cadres there was a threat to our air force and naval detachments there, he said, referring to the Tigers official name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Tigers said they had no immediate details on any damage from the air attack, which comes after clashes and attacks in the northern district of Vavuniya and Trincomalee on Monday that killed three security forces personnel and wounded four. The Tigers laugh off Rajapakses calls to surrender arms, and say they do not trust his government to be sincere at talks - instead vowing to fight on for independence.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/07/2007 00:00 ||
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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.
(SomaliNet) Unknown gunmen have launched an attack at Ambassador Hotel in the Somalia capital Mogadishu with Rocket Propel Grenades (RPG) overnight targeting the interim government forces stationing there. Witnesses told Somalinet that unidentified militiamen carried out an ambush attack at the hotel in south of the capital where they clashed with the security forces guarding it. I heard two explosions followed by several minutes of gun fire around 7:40 pm local time. It appeared an attack launched by militiamen aimed at the hotel, Ibrahim Ali, one the residents near the hotel said. 
A French Muslim convert accused of plotting to attack a Sydney nuclear reactor and strategic targets across Australia, goes on trial from Wednesday in Paris on charges of terrorist conspiracy. 
President George W. Bush said on Tuesday he had approved plans to create a U.S. military command for Africa, a move that reflects increased U.S. strategic interest in the continent. Bush's decision was the culmination of a long debate that gained momentum as Washington grew more concerned about Islamist militancy in parts of Africa and more attracted by the potential of the continent's natural resources. "This new command will strengthen our security cooperation with Africa and create new opportunities to bolster the capabilities of our partners in Africa," Bush said. "Africa Command will enhance our efforts to bring peace and security to the people of Africa and promote our common goals of development, health, education, democracy and economic growth in Africa," he said in a statement.
A suicide bomber set off explosives in the car park at the airport of the Pakistan capital Islamabad on Tuesday after being challenged by police, three people were wounded, officials said. It was the second suicide bombing in Islamabad since January 26 and is bound to raise fears that Pakistan's war against Islamist militants in remote mountains on the Afghan border has spread to the relatively peaceful capital.
BAGHDAD, Iraq The U.S. military said it was investigating reports that an aircraft went down Wednesday in Iraq. Witnesses said a helicopter had gone down in a field in the Sheik Amir area northwest of Baghdad, sending smoke rising from the scene, in a Sunni-dominated area between the Taji air base 12 miles north of Baghdad and Garma, 20 miles to the west of the capital.
AS US and Iraqi military commanders launched the first stage of a new security plan to tackle violence on Baghdad's streets, the Bush Administration's "surge" of American troops was facing stiff resistance at home.
A member of the Hamas government's special security forces was killed and three others wounded Tuesday evening in Gaza City. Israel Radio reported that the shooters were members of the Durmush clan and were seeking to avenge the deaths of two of their family members.
