#1
Kind of what I figured an FOB would look like. I hope that a some time real some they determine what our mission should be and do it. Kudos to the reporter for getting the story.
#3
But they are just innocent unarmed CIVILLIANS! you blood-thirsty monster. murdering peaceful signalers would be a WAR CRIME! (/sarc, channeling MSM)
#5
FWIW - Unlike 99% of journalists covering the war, Chris Chivers had worn the uniform. We served together in DS/DS on the 13th MEU. I ran into him in Kabul in Dec 2001 and he bought X-Mas dinner for the Marines guarding the US Embassy. While he's clearly on board w/the NYT, I've found his reporting to be factual and unbaised. I believe his younger brother was a Marine officer also.
Posted by: Bangkok Billy ||
02/02/2010 16:44 Comments ||
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#6
A civilian is a terrorist without a weapon
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
02/02/2010 19:38 Comments ||
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BARGHANTU, Afghanistan -- The tunnel entrance was no more than 18 inches high. Matt, a U.S. Special Forces soldier, stripped off his body armor, dropped his rifle and wriggled through the gap, pistol and flashlight leading the way. Some 150 feet in, his beam caught a shape: a bearded man hiding behind a pile of rocks.
Cornered, the man stood and greeted Matt with a smile, as if their underground rendezvous were a scheduled appointment between friends. Instead, he was frisked, handcuffed, bundled into a helicopter and taken away for questioning.
The U.S. military is deploying tens of thousands of fresh troops in a much-publicized strategy to woo the Afghan people through good government, economic growth and security. Yet behind the battle lines, the U.S. is quietly escalating a more forcible campaign.
In recent months, small teams of Army commandos, Navy Seals and Central Intelligence Agency operatives have intensified the pace of what the military often calls "kill-capture missions"-- hunting down just one or two insurgents at a time who are deemed too recalcitrant to be won over by any goodwill campaign.
What do they do with the captured ones, now that Guantanamo Bay is no longer accepting captives? Otherwise it sounds like a brilliant idea. Happy hunting, guys!
And not just Gitmo - Baghram too.
Don't forget Ice Station Zebra ...
The Pentagon's fiscal 2011 budget, released Monday, called for increasing the number of elite Special Operations troops, buying larger numbers of aerial drones and expanding the amount of military and financial assistance to Yemen, the home base of the Al Qaeda offshoot that claimed responsibility for the failed Christmas Day bombing of a crowded U.S. airliner. Meanwhile, the U.S. is trying to determine whether a U.S. drone strike in mid-January killed the leader of the Pakistani Taliban, though that group said Monday he is still alive.
"You've got to kill or capture those bad guys that are not reconcilable," Gen. David Petraeus, chief of U.S. forces in the region, told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in December. He said coalition commanders plan to escalate counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan even more in the coming months. The CIA plans to increase its presence by 25%, though it won't provide exact numbers.
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top allied commander in Kabul, made his name commanding similar special-operations forces in Iraq and sending them after hundreds of key insurgent and Al Qaeda figures. His success was considered crucial to salvaging the Iraq war.
He recently told his staff in Kabul, "It's not the number of people you kill--it's the number of people you convince." But the stick remains as integral to his strategy as the carrot.
Like a magician: the Army and Marine units keep the attention focussed on their movements, while the Special Forces act unnoticed... except for those bad guys suddenly missing or dead.
#1
Obviously, Petraeus and McChrystal have Gates' ear. Thank God, the Pentagon is finally getting it. But somehow I think I am being premature in my thinking.
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/02/2010 8:52 Comments ||
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#2
What do they do with the captured ones, now that Guantanamo Bay is no longer accepting captives?
Fairest option for everyone would be dispose. But I guess , off to Afghan jail for legit questioninig and hopefully set upon by 'friendly' inmates who've received a healthy baksheesh after questioning has finished
Tidy package all wrapped n all that
Posted by: Oscar ||
02/02/2010 9:23 Comments ||
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#3
I guess the newly printed multi-language Miranda cards reached the field for squad distribution.
#4
Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top allied commander in Kabul, made his name commanding similar special-operations forces in Iraq and sending them after hundreds of key insurgent and Al Qaeda figures. His success was considered crucial to salvaging the Iraq war.
Somehow I feel that Petraeus would have done just fine by himself. McChrystal seems to be doing a fine job, too. But can it truly be said that Petraeus would have lost the war? What does the author mean here?
#6
I suspect that the new action it will be to kill unofficially and the offical report will read something like "nope, didn't see a thing, why do you ask?"
Anything else would be to set yourself up for a potential hate crime.
Posted by: Kelly ||
02/02/2010 14:56 Comments ||
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[Dawn] Nato and Afghan forces killed seven militants in a gunbattle in the south of the country, the Afghan army said Monday, while a US soldier was killed by a bomb in a separate incident in the same area.
The troops were on patrol in Helmand province on Sunday when they came under attack by militants and returned fire, said Gen. Sher Mohammad Zazi, the army commander for southern Afghanistan.
He said no government or international troops were wounded and that they recovered the bodies of seven militants after the battle. Nato forces did not have any immediate comment on the incident.
Separately, a bomb on Monday killed a US soldier serving with Nato in southern Afghanistan. The exact location of the improvised-explosive device (IED) attack was not disclosed but most of the south is troubled by a Taliban insurgency now at a record high since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the militia's regime.
"An ISAF service member from the United States was killed today in an IED strike in southern Afghanistan," ISAF said.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Quqnoos] A suicide bomber has gone missing and another was shot dead in a firefight in southern Afghanistan on Monday.
The Afghan Interior Ministry in a statement says the two bombers were about to attack a police station in Zabul province, but were repelled before they could set off their explosives.
Police opened fire on the two attackers as they advanced on the police headquarters in Qalat city, the provincial capital.
One officer was wounded in the firefight, the statement notes. The first attacker was shot and the second escaped the scene.
Afghan forces have begun searching the missing bomber in the volatile Afghan province, officials said.
Taliban militants have intensified their attacks against Afghan and foreign forces, making January one of the deadliest months for the international troops in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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As a wholly-owned subsidiary, a franchisee or a share-traded enterprise?
NAIROBI, Kenya—The militant group al Shabaab said it would ally with al Qaeda in a drive to establish an Islamic state in Somalia and fight for Muslims across East Africa, offering a fresh test for U.S.-backed African peacekeepers struggling to defend a weak Somali government.
In a statement Monday, the group said it had agreed, among other things, "to connect the horn of Africa jihad to the one led by al Qaeda and its leader Sheikh Osama Bin Laden." The statement, written in Somali and Arabic, is believed to be the first explicit confirmation of what U.S. and Somali government have long suspected: Militants in one of Africa's least stable places are sharing resources and merging agendas.
It isn't clear whether this new resolution will result in funding or training from al Qaeda, or even if it will lead to an official endorsement from the global terror group. At the very least, the statement signals a tightening embrace with foreign fighters who have been supporting al Shabaab's efforts to topple the Somali government.
The cooperation also could spur Somali militants to assist al Qaeda elsewhere. Al Shabaab has sent fighters to Afghanistan to train with al Qaeda, according to the Somali government. Al Shabaab recently pledged to send fighters across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen, where al Qaeda is active.
Al Shabaab made its announcement a day after Somali President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed marked his first year in office. The past year has offered little respite from the violence that has rocked Somalia for nearly two decades. In the short term, a combined threat is likely to increase pressure on Mr. Sharif's tenuous government and those trying to stave off its collapse.
The U.S supports Mr. Sharif and is the biggest backer of an African Union peacekeeping mission in Somalia, for which it has provided training and equipment. That support reflects concerns that al Qaeda is attempting to establish a base in Somalia to attack Western targets.
Overall, the Somali government has been frustrated with the lack of foreign support. Thus far, Western donors have provided only a fraction of the $213 million pledged in 2009 to the Somali government and the African Union mission.
A Somali government spokesman declined to comment on the statement from Al Shabaab. An African Union official dismissed the statement as a "non-event," given that the AU already assumed the two groups were working together.
Still, the announcement shows how the Somali militant group's identity is evolving, analysts say. Al Shabaab, which already controls much of the country, is increasingly split between Somali nationalists who oppose foreign leadership and want to establish Shariah law in their country, and those who seek a bigger role in the global terror network, these analysts say. Some warn too much foreign influence could backfire.
"The thing that gives Al Shabaab its punch is its national agenda," said Roger Middleton, an analyst who focuses on the horn of Africa, at London think-tank Chatham House. "That's key for it, in terms of recruiting and being able to control areas of territory. If they fail to respect that nationalist element of Shabaab, they're going to be in trouble."
Al Shabaab has struggled to hold the support of a population wearied by war in part by claiming not to kill civilians. But foreign fighters have introduced more vicious tactics, including suicide bombs and attacks on civilians. After a suicide bombing in December killed at least 19 people, most of them civilians, Somalis took to the streets in protest. Al Shabaab initially denied any involvement. It later admitted the bomber had been an al Shabaab fighter, and a foreigner.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Leah Farrall recently translated an organizational chart on Al Qaeda and associated groups, drawn by Abu Walid al Masri. Chart here. Explanation here.
I would guess that this announcement heralds the migration of al Shabaab from the group of circles on the bottom right to the group of circles on the bottom left. This may simply be the formal announcement of a change that's already taken place.
#2
Interesting, Pstanley. Especially because we've been joking here at Rantburg for several years about business-style organization charts and promotion policies.
#4
al-Shabaab is the group with the American kid from Daphne, Alabama, isn't it?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/02/2010 9:16 Comments ||
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#5
Farrall emphasizes today that this hasn't gone through.
I tweeted earlier today that I think I might scream if I see one more headline announcing Shabaab has “joined” AQ. It hasn’t. It has made steps towards this goal, which shows it clearly follows the doctrine I keep harping about. But nothing has been officially sanctioned. Consider their announcement as a form of job application. AQ is still musing over it because of the situation in Somalia, and the fact that all of the groups aren’t unified. It may choose to weigh in to tip the balance if it thinks this will push things towards unity. But this far it has stood back and watched to see how things unfold.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Islamist insurgents fired mortar bombs at the presidential palace in the Somali capital overnight, prompting return fire by troops that killed at least twelve people, medical officials and residents said on Monday.
Violence has killed at least 21,000 people in the failed Horn of Africa nation since the start of 2007 and driven another 1.5 million from their homes, helping trigger one of the world's worst humanitarian emergencies.
Rebels from the hardline al-Shabaab group, which Washington says is al-Qaeda's proxy in Somalia, routinely fire at the hilltop Villa Somali palace from other parts of Mogadishu. Troops at the palace often launch shells back.
Residents and medical officials said several bombs struck the city's northern Suqa Holaha, or livestock market, district.
"We have collected twelve dead bodies and 55 wounded people from various locations around that area," Ali Musa, coordinator of Mogadishu's over-stretched ambulance service said.
Somalia has not had an effective central government for nearly two decades, leading to the rise of warlords, heavily armed militias and pirates terrorizing shipping off its shores.
Western security agencies say the country has become a safe haven for Islamist militants, including foreign jihadists, who are using it to plot attacks across the region and beyond.
At an African Union summit in the Ethiopian capital on Friday, Somalia's Foreign Minister Ali Jama' Jangeli called for more AU troops to help about 5,000 peacekeepers from Uganda and Burundi who are based in the Somali capital.
His Kenyan and Sudanese counterparts backed the call. Djibouti has said it would send 450 soldiers soon.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Egypt has arrested 26 suspects who the prosecutor said belonged to a cell of militant group Islamist Jihad and were plotting "terrorist acts" against tourists and state installations, the official news agency MENA reported late on Sunday.
The suspects, arrested in the provinces of Mansoura and Dakahiliya on the Nile Delta, had firearms, ammunition and explosives, the agency said.
"The public prosecutor ordered them placed in precautionary detention for 15 days pending investigations," MENA wrote, adding that the prosecutor had sent the arms and explosives for forensic investigations.
Egyptian Islamist Jihad (EIJ) emerged in the 1970s and carried out the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat. Security analysts say it has been largely absorbed into al-Qaeda, in which former EIJ leader Ayman al-Zawahri is deputy to Osama bin Laden.
Egypt is concerned about the possibility that al-Qaeda-inspired militants could infiltrate the country after being forced out of the neighboring Palestinian enclave of Gaza by Islamist group Hamas, analysts told a conference last week.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Swinging door politics?
Political opponent bashing?
The real deal?
2 February 2010 SANAA - Yemeni Shi'ite rebels denied on Monday their snipers were operating inside Saudi Arabia and said Saudi war planes were striking targets across the border. Saudi Arabia has accused the insurgents of mounting sniper attacks inside its territory even after the rebels offered a ceasefire last week and pledged to withdraw from the kingdom. Riyadh last week declared victory over the rebels.
"We stress that there was no exchange of fire with the Saudi army, nor is there a presence of snipers from any side," the rebels said in a statement. "Wudn't us."
"And anyway, they wuz jest imaginin' things."
The rebels said Saudi war planes struck targets on Sunday across the Yemen-Saudi border region that was also being pounded by Yemeni forces. Yemeni soldiers had killed 20 insurgents in the same area on Sunday, state media said at the time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Yemen on Sunday arrested the second biggest arms dealer in the country just days after the capture of another top dealer, whose weapons depot was stolen by rebels fighting the government in the north, Al Arabiya TV reported.
Hussein Hussein was arrested along with his son "without confrontation" in northern Saada province and were transported by helicopter to the capital Sanaa, a local security source said
The arrest came four days after authorities arrested Sheikh Fares Manaa, a brother of Saada's governor, and the biggest arms dealer in the country.
The government had put Manaa's name at the top of a blacklist of arms dealers published on the front page of the official Ath-Thawra newspaper last October.
Houthi rebels stole from several arms depots belonging to Manaa a month ago, but he failed to inform the authorities immediately, allowing time for the rebels to escape with 20 truckloads of arms, according to the source.
The incident angered Sanaa, which has been fighting the Shiite rebels in the north of the country sporadically since 2004.
Manaa formerly headed a committee mediating in the war between the government and the Houthis
Yemen does not have laws to prohibit arms trade and gun ownership is an essential part of Yemeni culture. The country has an estimated 60 million firearms in private hands, roughly three for every man, woman and child.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
whose weapons depot was "stolen" by rebels
check his bank balance
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/02/2010 8:06 Comments ||
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#2
Or his real estate holdings seaside in, say, Libya.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Police in Yemen were on Monday searching for a man suspected of trying to blow up an oil pipeline that carries crude to a Red Sea port, the interior ministry said. A police patrol tasked with protecting the pipeline found a man installing a fuse cable "usually used in explosives" near the main road in Jihanah, around 30 kilometres (18 miles) east of the capital Sanaa, the ministry said on its website, without indicating when the incident took place.
The patrol exchanged fire with the man who was wounded but managed to escape, the ministry said, adding that a manhunt was under way.
The pipeline carries crude oil from the Safer oilfields in Marib province around 350 kilometres (220 miles) east of Sanaa to an export terminal at As-Salif on the Red Sea. The same pipeline was the target of bombing in September 2008, with the authorities then arresting 10 tribesmen.
The motives behind the attempted bombing were not disclosed, but tribesmen in the impoverished country often resort to violence and abduct foreigners to express grievances or force the government to respond to their demands.
Al-Qaeda's branch in Yemen, which is facing an intensified military campaign by the government, has in the past targeted oil installations. Yemen produces less than 300,000 barrels of oil a day, more than half of which is exported.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] Assailants, allegedly of Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh, stabbed a former suspected JMB operative to death in the city's Uttara yesterday.
Victim Rashidul Islam of Panchagarh used to live with his wife in Uttar Khan. A third-year student at Darul Ihsan University, Uttara campus, he turned himself away from JMB about a year ago.
Police said Rashidul was convicted for a jail term in a case filed with Joypurhat Police Station in connection with the August 17, 2005 serial bomb blasts across the country.
Victim's wife Alif Nur said Rashidul was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.
Witnesses said three youths waylaid Rashidul around 9:30am when he was traversing the Eidgah at Uttara sector-6 on his bicycle.
"I saw a youth hit the man on his head with pistol grip and another stabbed him indiscriminately in the chest and abdomen," said Hafiz Abul Khair, a witness.
Attacked, the victim screamed for help, which prompted locals to rush to the spot. The criminals fled the scene hurling homemade bombs at the people, he added.
Rashidul was rushed to a local hospital with seven fatal stab wounds. The doctors declared him dead.
Quoting the victim's wife, Deputy Commissioner of Uttara zone Kazi Nisharul Arif said around 20 days ago, Rashidul stated in public that JMB is on the wrong track and practising anti-Islamic activities.
Rashidul was the imam (religious leader) of Karaihati Jama Masjid at Kaliganj in Gazipur.
After the programme, three to four people asked him to present evidence in favour of his claim, said victim's wife.
According to Alif Nur, Rashidul was on his way to Abdullahpur to show the evidence to the people.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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A swarm of unmanned US aircraft pounded an al Qaeda camp in the Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Waziristan today.
Five unmanned US strike aircraft, likely the Predators and Reapers, are reported to have fired 18 missiles at a camp and vehicles in the village of Datta Khel, a known al Qaeda and Taliban stronghold.
Seventeen terrorists are reported to have been killed in the missile attack. At this time, no senior al Qaeda or Taliban commanders have been reported killed.
#6
18 missiles from five drones also does not compute.
They normally carry either one or two, unless payload limits have been increased yet again (it was just one for a long time).
I have surmised that besides their own weapons the Predators are calling in strikes by longer-ranged and much heavier fast-reaction weapons when an especially lucrative target appears. The ATACMS SRBM would be a good candidate but there are no reports of these being deployed in Afghanistan (which obviously does not mean that they aren't).
#8
The ramped up drone offensive seems to really be hurting the baddies. Another indication is the emergency deployment of the entire terrorist propaganda system, ranging from Binnie himself to International ANSWER and Code Pinko, in an effort to discredit and demonize the robots. Expect well-organized anti-drone demonstrations on college campi throughout the western world within a few weeks.
#9
18 missiles from five drones also does not compute.
A Reaper can carry 14 on pylons from inner to outer: 4,2,1
Posted by: ed ||
02/02/2010 18:46 Comments ||
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#10
Also it would be great when the Spike is operational. Put them in a 19 pod like the Hydras and go jihadi plinking for less than air chauffeuring Nancy Pelosi every week.
Posted by: ed ||
02/02/2010 18:51 Comments ||
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#11
How many killed? Primitive counting: "One, two, many." So 17 just means more than two.
[Dawn] Militants armed with guns and rockets on Monday blew up a fuel tanker in northwest Pakistan carrying supplies for Nato troops across the border in Afghanistan, officials said.
Two people, a driver and his helper, were wounded after about 10 militants ambushed the tanker outside Peshawar, the head of the northwestern city's administration, Sahibzada Anees, told AFP.
"About 10 armed people fired at a tanker carrying petrol for Nato forces and later lobbed a rocket at the vehicle, which set alight some 78,000 litres of fuel," Anees said.
Nobody claimed responsibility for the attack, he said, but Taliban and members of local militant group Lashkar-i-Islam (Army of Islam) have regularly attacked Nato supply vehicles on the main route through northwest Pakistan.
Lashkar-i-Islam is active in Khyber, the tribal district just outside Peshawar on the main Nato land supply route through Pakistan into Afghanistan.
It was the third such attack in days after militants blew up a fuel tanker in the Khyber town of Landi Kotal on Friday and gunmen in Karachi ambushed three vehicles carrying Nato supplies a day before.
About 80 per cent of supplies destined for the more than 113,000 US and Nato troops in landlocked Afghanistan pass through Pakistan.
Most equipment for foreign troops is shipped through Khyber. Supplies heading to forces fighting in southern Afghanistan also pass through Pakistan's Balochistan province, which is plagued by separatist unrest.
US officials consider northwest Pakistan a haven for Al-Qaeda and Taliban militants who fled the 2001 US-led invasion of Afghanistan to regroup and launch attacks on foreign troops across the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Iran Press TV Latest] Four more people have been killed by unknown gunmen in Pakistan's port city of Karachi, raising the death toll to 22 in the last two days of violence.
Rival political parties have turned parts of Karachi into a battleground as armed activists target their opponents.
The late Sunday night's shooting took place in Karachi's Orangi Town and Steel Town areas, a Press TV correspondent reported.
According to the police, the Sunday casualties occurred as some unknown gunmen opened fire indiscriminately near the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital, killing two individuals on the spot as two others succumbed to their injuries in the hospital.
The clashes first erupted in the city's Qasba colony area on Friday. Tensions gripped the area as an angry mob set fire to a bus and resorted to aerial firing. Residents fled indoors and markets quickly shut down.
On Sunday, a heavy contingent of police and Rangers were deployed in the outskirts of the area, but armed groups continued targeting one another.
The latest violence has caused political ripples as well, with the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani advising Sindh Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah to take immediate steps in easing tensions between the city's different political groups.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] At least 22 militants were killed and 12 others injured when military planes, helicopter gunships and artillery attacked militants' hideouts in Bajaur Agency on Monday.
Thousands of people were seen fleeing the from Mamond area to safe places in and around Khar. Militant positions in Sewai, Damadola, Khaza, Senai, Janishah and Banda areas of Mamond tehsil were attacked.
Security forces claimed to have destroyed several hideouts and bunkers. According to sources, three security personnel were injured in a clash in Damadola.
The bodies of two security personnel missing for a couple of days were found in the Banda area.
Local people said the bodies of about 20 suspected militants killed in clashes with security personnel were lying around Banda hills.
According to sources, people appealed to the troops to announce a temporary ceasefire so that they could retrieve and bury the bodies. Security forces also claimed to have taken control of Khaza and Banda hilltops.
Troops took control of Sewai and Jani Shah in Mamond and reached Seyai, about 1km away from Damadola which was still under militants' control.
According to the sources, about 4,000 people left their homes in Dabbar, Badan, Sewai and Shago on Monday.
The fleeing people were facing difficulties because of shortage of transport and most of them walked for about 25kms to reach safe areas. They said they had left their belongings in their homes.
The administration has closed all educational institutions for an indefinite period. The agency headquarters of Khar and adjoining areas have been under curfew for three days, the Peshawar-Bajaur road and all markets have been closed.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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Israeli forces discovered two explosive devices on separate beaches in southern Israel on Monday, sources said 48 hours after a group of factions told Ma'an they launched a barrage in the same area.
Early Monday, Israeli civilians reported seeing a suspicious object lying on the Barnea beach, a public beach in the coastal city of Ashkelon, which police later determined to be an explosive device, Israeli military sources told Ma'an.
The device, along with a similar object located on a beach in the southern Israeli port town of Ashdod, was reportedly detonated in a controlled manner by the Israeli police sometime on Monday.
Israeli security sources linked the discoveries to an announcement 48 hours earlier by a number of armed groups in Gaza who claimed to have fired eight shells at the port of Ashkelon between 29-30 January. At the time, however, the Israeli military indicated it was not familiar with any such attack.
The attack was undertaken in retaliation for the assassinations of three prominent Fatah operatives in the northern West Bank city of Nablus in late December, the groups told Ma'an in a joint statement, which was issued by the military wings of Fatah, Islamic Jihad, and the Popular Resistance Committees.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
The endless inventiveness of the Palestinian mind.
#3
Fatah is run by the PLO, but I thought they were the Israel's "partner in peace'?
Posted by: Ana ||
02/02/2010 10:06 Comments ||
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#4
The endless inventiveness of the Palestinian mind.
Nearly 20 years ago, I was in Israel and they had the same problem except that it was Gaddafi commandos terrorists who put explosives on the beach in Tel Aviv. A tourist from the U.S. got killed in one of the explosions. This has been going on a long time and will continue to go on. Iran is stirring the pot today.
#5
Jihad is for morons. Those guys could have a heckuva lot more fun surfing Ashkelon instead of trying to bomb it. Maybe they're afraid if they go into the water once in a while they won't stink as bad.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Israel has boosted security measures at its borders and embassies in the wake of the killing of a senior Hamas leader for which the Palestinian Islamists have blamed the Jewish state, Israeli public radio said on Monday.
Mahmoud al-Mabhuh was found dead in his hotel room in Dubai on Jan. 20, after travelling there from his base in Damascus to buy weapons for the Islamists ruling the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media hailed the killing, although Israel's government has not officially commented on it.
Hamas said Israel was behind the killing and on Monday the group's armed wing, which Mabhuh helped found in the 1980s, vowed to avenge the assassination.
"The Zionist enemy will not escape punishment for the crime it has committed, but we will determine the nature of this punishment at the appropriate time and place," Abu Obeida, a spokesman for the group, said.
He hinted that Hamas might reconsider its long-standing policy of only carrying out attacks within Israel, the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip, all of which it hopes to one day transform into an Islamic state.
"The battle with the Zionist enemy is inside the historic borders of Palestine, and the occupation is trying to change the rules of the game... It should expect anything."
Dubai police chief said on Sunday that Israel's spy agency Mossad may have been behind the murder of Mabhuh in his luxury hotel room.
"It could be Mossad, or another party," Dhahi Khalfan told AFP. "Personally, I don't exclude any possibility. I don't exclude any party that has an interest in the assassination" of Mabhuh.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/02/2010 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.
