A rebel group in northern Niger has kidnapped a Chinese national working for a uranium company. The man was captured on Friday in the Ingall region, south of the town of Agadez.
The Tuareg rebels from the Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) demanded that Chinese mining companies stop their activities in the desert region.
The rebels are named after a car?
China's embassy in Niger on Saturday confirmed the abduction, but said the rebels had not yet been in contact.
The MNJ said the kidnap was meant as a warning to Chinese companies cooperating with the Niger government and army, and that they do not intend to harm the captive. "This region has been declared a war zone by the government and in this situation we cannot allow the Chinese to continue extracting natural resources while civilians are being killed," a Paris-based spokesman for the rebel group told Reuters news agency.
The spokesman also said Ingall, an oasis famed for its salty plains, was an inappropriate place for the Chinese to be working because of its cultural importance to nomadic herders.
Since February, the MNJ has carried out attacks on military targets in the area. The rebels, who say they are marginalised by the government, have also raided uranium mines. The north of Niger is rich in uranium and the country is one of the world's top five uranium producers.
The MNJ says peace will not return to the area without better integration of Tuaregs into the army, paramilitary corps and the local mining sector.
BRITAIN'S former spy chief has warned the country faces a terrorism threat of "unprecedented scale, ambition and ruthlessness" as links are drawn between one of the failed Glasgow bombers and a senior al-Qaeda member. More than 100 suspects were awaiting trial in British courts for terrorist offences, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller said. "It remains a very real possibility that they may, some time, somewhere, attempt a chemical, biological, radiological or even nuclear attack."
Thankew, Dame Eliza, for today's statement of the obvious. Now, if we can get on to the meat of the article?
I dunno, Liz seems one step ahead of many of her peers ...
Reports in The Observer and The Sunday Times said Kafeel Ahmed, 27, who barbecued himself is critically ill with severe burns from the Glasgow attack that followed unsuccessful car bombs in London, was a "known associate" of a senior al-Qaeda figure. The Observer quoted a source as saying he was linked to Algerian-born Abbas Boutrab, 29, who was arrested in Belfast in 2003 and jailed for six years in 2005 for plotting to blow up an airliner. The newspaper said Ahmed had met Boutrab in Belfast while studying for a master's degree in aeronautical engineering.
My initial guess was that this was an al-Qaeda job, and I started out filing the reports under al-Qaeda in Britain. But it soon became apparent that there was no Pak (or maybe Egyptian) mastermind involved, and maybe no mastermind at all. Not being al-Qaeda or an al-Qaeda subsidiary-controlled, it's someone else, which could include a random gang of Takfiri.
The Sunday Times said Scotland Yard's Counter Terrorism Command SO15 was understood to have uncovered evidence that at least one of the suspects communicated with terrorist leaders in Iraq.
That would be someone associated with Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, if not with Himself. Zark ran al-Tawhid as a separate operation before throwing in his lot with Binny. I believe that he's maintained it as a separate operation. There's been much oohing and ahhing over how smart the perps were since were able to make it through medical school. To me, that's just another demonstration that IQ and common sense are two different things, since they were dumb enough to buy the takfir line and render themselves cannon fodder -- and inept cannon fodder at that.
The development has fuelled a theory that the failed attacks were designed as a farewell to Tony Blair to punish him for his role in Iraq.
It seems to be the day for statements of the obvious, doesn't it?
Dame Eliza, the former director-general of MI5, said the radicalisation of teenage Muslims "from first exposure, to extremism, to active participation in terrorist plotting" was now worryingly rapid.
That's because the surrounding culture prepares them for it. It turban-trendy. All the kewl kids are doing it and all the lushest Islamic babes are throwing their underwear at them.
The new Minister for Security, Admiral Sir Alan West, warned that Britain faced a 15-year battle to end the threat posed by Islamist terrorists.
Assuming they start now.
In his first interview since his surprise appointment, Sir Alan called on people to be "a little bit un-British". "Britishness does not normally involve snitching or talking about someone," he said. "I'm afraid, in this situation, anyone who's got any information should say something."
Why would Britishness not involve reporting problems to the proper authorities and/or discussing one's neighbors? For hundreds of years the pastoral Brits had nothing to talk about but each other. Britons spent hundreds of years building a reputation for being law-abiding, for doing the right thing. Why should a few turbans in their midst make them stop and become something else?
Dame Eliza, writing in the periodical Policing: A Journal of Policing and Practice, repeated an earlier caution that 1700 terrorists in 200 networks "scattered across the country" were thought to be plotting 30 attacks at any one time. She warned of the "pressing demand" for the police to create a network of Muslim spies capable of improving intelligence gathering.
Might we also suggest a regular eruption of burly policemen brandishing truncheons through Islamic doors?
The first suspected bomber to be charged, Bilal Abdullah, 27, an Iraqi doctor, was remanded in custody after he appeared before magistrates in London accused of conspiracy to cause explosions. Police in Bangalore, India, home to three suspects, were hunting 12 others who might be linked to the conspiracy, The Sunday Times reported.
This article starring:
ABAS BUTRAB
al-Qaeda
BILAL ABDULLAH
al-Tawhid
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 11:03 ||
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#1
The IQ level required to pass medical school would seem to preclude being zombyized by rhetoric on the level of an infomertial. There is something that I am missing in this equation. Is the Palestinian terror Muppet Show actually effective in creating a race of Manchurian Candidates? Is Med school in Pakistan just an exercise in rote memorization for which a madrass is an excellent prep school? Should all highly intelligent professionals be watched closely for signs that they may embark on a diaper-clad spree killing?
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 12:24 Comments ||
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#2
Under britain's socialized medicine regime, all doctors do is tell you that you are not dying (even if you are) and to go home. The bar is set really low...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/08/2007 13:12 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Super Hose:
"Is Med school in Pakistan just an exercise in rote memorization?"
Short Answer: Yes
Long Answer: All "Education" in Pakistan is based on rote memorization, except for Christian schools. That is why leading families in Pakistan send their kids to Catholic schools (for example) so they'll learn to think for themselves.
That is also why Islamic Terrorists attack Christian schools.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/08/2007 13:29 Comments ||
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#4
Ever wonder why organic chemistry is the critical course in determining whether one is admitted to med school?
#5
---- Intelligent & educated people are actually more prone to brainwashing than the less sophisticated. If you doubt this statement, look at the faculty & students of our top universities. Medical education is also a highly coercive experience with many physical demands that disorder normal brain function. If you doubt this statement, stay awake for 36 solid hours & then engage in civil, well-reasoned discourse here on Rantburg. Will power and intelligence are highly overrated.
Wm. Sargant had this antidote:
The obstacles that the religious or political proselytizer cannot overcome are indifference or detached, controlled and continued amusement on the part of the subject at the efforts made to break him down or win him over or tempt him into argument. The safety of the free world seems therefore to lie in a cultivation not only of courage, moral virtue and logic but of humour: humour which produces the well-balanced state in which emotional excess is laughed at as ugly and wasteful.
#7
If obtaining a degree in medicine at a Pakistani university is only an excercise in memorization, then diagnosis would be very problematic. An accuary would argue that a group doctors bereft of the ability to diagnose are a necessity to the viability of any system of socialized medicine.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 18:09 Comments ||
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#8
Indian national Kafeel Ahmed, an aeronautical engineer with a doctorate from Britain, was one of the men held after a blazing Jeep was driven into Glasgow Airport.
Don't forget to send a prayer Kafeel Ahmed's way..
...Dear Lord we wish Kafeel Ahmed recovers consciousness and stays alert while he experiences a seemingly endless, excrushiatingly painful struggle for months on end followed by a stingy lingering hellacious death.
#9
The fact that jihadland is qualifying aero engineers is disturbing as well. Rote memorization doesn't seem lik eit would lead to effective engineering of flying objects. Hopefully Boeing will forgo hring conferences in Islamabad.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 18:37 Comments ||
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#10
Med schools in Pakistan generally follow the British curriculum. Classes and textbooks are in English. It is NOT about rote memorization; they learn to reason and diagnose. I've worked with a couple of Pak docs, and they were pretty damned good.
And yes, you still have to ace O-Chem if you're a pre-med :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/08/2007 20:28 Comments ||
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A rebel leader and a pro-Moscow security commander died in a dawn shootout on Saturday between Russian forces and Islamist guerrillas in Russia's southern Chechnya region, a Chechen official said. Chechen chief prosecutor Valery Kuznetsov identified the dead rebel as Yunus Akhmadov. He had not previously been named as a prominent rebel. "We have information that Akhmadov was the leader of a Grozny terrorist cell," Kuznetsov told Reuters. "This information is being checked."
Chechnya's pro-Moscow administration, headed by former rebel leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has previously proclaimed the death of prominent guerrillas only to retract the claims after checks. The rebel kavkazcenter.com Web site confirmed a rebel called Yunus Akhmadov died in the shootout in Grozny, but did not say he was a commander. The Russians have always described the Web site as inaccurate.
Russia's army has battled rebel fighters in Chechnya since 1994 in two wars but has forced them back to their mountain hideouts. Russia says it is mopping up the last of the rebels, who still attack police posts around the capital Grozny. Kuznetsov said Saipudy Larsanov, head of one of Grozny's security agencies, also died in the raid on a house where Akhmadov was hiding.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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The lawyer for a Gold Coast doctor being questioned over the UK terrorism plots says his client has indicated he is doing his best to tell police what he knows.
Doctor Mohamed Haneef has been in custody since he was arrested a week ago, but is due to be released early tomorrow unless he is charged, or the Australian Federal Police (AFP) are again granted an extended period of detention.
Police yesterday searched two properties at Southport on the Gold Coast as they investigate any Australian links with the UK bomb plots.
Dr Haneef's lawyer Peter Russo says his client is holding up well in the circumstances.
"He's obviously made a request to me that he'd prefer to be in the community and rather than where he is," he said.
"My understanding is that he has been doing his best to answer any of the queries that the Australian Federal Police have had."
Mr Russo says it is unfair that he has not been shown the material being used to detain his client.
He says the media is his only source of information on why Dr Haneef is being held without charge.
"The only way you can get a fair and balanced hearing is if the both parties have the opportunity to, first of all, view each others material and then make submissions based on the information before the magistrate," he said. "[It allows] the opportunity to get some instruction in relation to the allegations if any that are being made."
I have this mental image of either :
1. large mustachioed men with thick regional accents and truchions, or,
2. The bland, quiet, and SCARY interrogator from the ministry of love in 1984. Rat in a pipe included.
Posted by: N Guard ||
07/08/2007 21:27 Comments ||
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#4
Bad cop, worse cop, N Guard? Go for both! After all, the Aussies are now allowing their immigration department and their spies to share information...
THE detention of two doctors on the Gold Coast in connection with inquiries into this week's events in Britain is the second time the medical profession has been drawn into a terrorism investigation in Australia. In March 2004, a University of NSW medical student, Izhar ul-Haque, now 24, of Glenwood in Sydney's north-west, became the first person in Australia to be charged with training with a terrorist organisation.
Ul-Haque, who is on $200,000 bail awaiting trial in the Supreme Court in October, is alleged to have travelled to Pakistan in early 2003 and received weapons and combat training during a three week visit to a camp run by terrorist group Lashkar-e-Taiba or LeT. Last February, ul-Haque lost a bid in the High Court to have his charges dropped.
During his committal hearing, ul-Haque gave evidence he was only ever going to work as a medic in a camp. The offence for which he has been charged carries a 25-year sentence. Lashkar-e-Taiba was only placed on the Federal Government's list of banned terrorist organisations in 2003. During evidence at his committal it was alleged that ul-Haque left for the training after failing his second year in a medicine degree.
In a letter he wrote to his parents tendered in evidence he allegedly said: "I'm fed up with Westerners. Western patients look at me as if I'm a frog. They don't wish to speak English to me. How can I spend five to six years with them?"
After completing the 20-day course, he returned to Sydney to resume his medical studies. His father had also intervened, asking his son to leave the training camp and return to Australia.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 10:58 ||
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#1
His expertise will be of some use to the Numbers Gang.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 12:27 Comments ||
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INDIAN police said today they had seized CDs containing 'radical materials' from the homes of two suspects held over the failed British car bombings.
"They were found in the houses of Kafeel Ahmed and his brother Sabeel and we believe these CDs contain material on Islamic military movements in various nations,'' a top police officer said in the southern city of Bangalore.
"These are radical stuff,'' he said as sources added the data contained on at least two seized CDs related to the conflicts in Chechnya and Iraq.
The two brothers are among three Indians arrested in Britain for the failed car bombings in London and Glasgow.
They hail from the middle-class district of Jayanagar in Bangalore, India's software capital.
Police said they were also studying the database at the transport office in Jayanagar from where they had found the driving licence details of a man who rammed a flaming car into Glasgow airport on June 30.
Officers said they were interested in a man named as Saleem Ahmed, adding investigators were also probing the possibility that fake Bangalore driving licences were used in the bomb plot.
Sabeel Ahmed has been identified as a doctor and his brother Kafeel an aeronautical engineer. Kafeel is suspected to be one of the two men who drove the blazing car into Glasgow airport.
The third is identified as Mohammed Haneef, a doctor who worked at a hospital in Australia's Gold Coast, where he relocated to from Britain in September.
He was detained as he attempted to leave Australia for India on a one-way ticket.
Kafeel Ahmed began researching bomb-making techniques weeks before he travelled to Britain on May 5, the Hindu newspaper said today, citing unnamed intelligence sources with records of his internet activity.
Soon after reaching Britain, he acquired the components used to assemble the explosives fitted into the cars that had been intended to explode in central London, the broadsheet said.
Findings by investigators suggest Kafeel Ahmed acted without training or material assistance from organised groups, it said, adding the police had found no evidence of him being linked to Muslim militant organisations.
Kafeel Ahmed went to Britain for the supposed purpose of completing his doctoral work in computational fluid dynamics, which involves study of the movement of fluids and gases over objects such as aircraft, the Hindu said.
He had a Masters of Philosophy degree in aeronautical engineering from Belfast's Queen's University but his doctoral work had been delayed because of his refusal to take an educational loan on grounds that it was against Islamic principles, it added.
Kafeel Ahmed, who was pulled from the burning wreckage of the Glasgow attack, remained in a critical condition under armed guard in a Scottish hospital.
#1
"...his doctoral work had been delayed because of his refusal to take an educational loan on grounds that it was against Islamic principles, it added."
His commitment to Islamic priciples have now further delayed his aeronautic doctorate. The rolling donut shall remain forever disapointed.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 19:17 Comments ||
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Pakistan's religious affairs minister has said foreign Islamic militants are among those inside a besieged mosque in the capital, Islamabad.
"Whut? Whut? Furriners? Sniffin' around our wimmin's madrassah?"
Ejaz-ul-Haq said "terrorists... wanted within and outside Pakistan" are fighting the army, which has surrounded the Lal Masjid since last Tuesday.
"How far outside Pakistan?"
"They have the death sentence on 12 systems!"
An army commander was shot dead by students inside the mosque on Sunday. The mosque's leader, Abdul Rashid Ghazi, said he and his followers would commit suicide rather than surrender.
Go ahead. Any time you're ready.
At least 20 people have been killed since the stand-off began. Mr Ghazi told the BBC as many as 1,800 followers remain in the Lal Masjid mosque, although this cannot be verified.
"No. Wait. Make that 18 thousand followers! Ha ha! We got 18 thousand followers in here, all ready to blow themselves up! We got kilotons of arms and ammunition! An' we're ready to use 'em! Why? Because youse attacked us and we wudn't doin' nuttin'!"
'Surrender or die'
Speaking at a news conference, Mr ul-Haq said up to 250 militants - including foreign radicals - were leading the fighting. He said between two and five of them were wanted in connection with "high-profile cases".
"Between two and five of them" is probably the equivalent of "three or four of them." But we're trying to follow the logic of a mind trained in Islamic jurisprudence, so it could also mean "12" or "yellow."
The BBC's Syed Shoaib Hasan, who is in Islamabad, says there are reports that militants from an outlawed radical Muslim organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammad, are in actual control inside the mosque.
That's the ISI at work. It certainly wouldn't be that nice Professor Ghazi. And even if it's Jaish snuffies, they're really just pawn in the hands of the Heathen Hindoo.
Members of the group have been involved in several failed attempts on the life of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, and it has also been linked to al-Qaeda.
"But not to that nice Perfessor Ghazi. Certainly not."
On Saturday, President Musharraf told the students they had no option but to surrender. "We have been patient. I want to say to the ones who have been left inside: they should come out and surrender, and if they don't, I am saying this here and now: they will be killed," he said.
"Unless someone can talk me out of it. Has anyone talked me out of it yet? Why not?"
More than 1,000 supporters left last week under mounting pressure from security forces, although only about 20 have left since Friday.
No power
The commander who died on Sunday was in charge of an operation to blow holes in the mosque compound walls to enable civilians to escape. Water and power to the mosque have been cut off and food is said to be getting scarce. Our correspondent says he has heard intermittent gunfire in the area and the boom of heavy weapons. An increased military presence on the streets, combined with the refusal to let a delegation of Islamic figures through to the mosque, suggests that the government is now closing the door to negotiation, our correspondent adds.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 10:44 ||
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#1
Just Napalm the damn mosque and be done with it.
#2
"Between two and five of them" is probably the equivalent of "three or four of them." But we're trying to follow the logic of a mind trained in Islamic jurisprudence, so it could also mean "12" or "yellow."
#3
The odd thing is, the parents of the female madrassah students must be extremely progressive for the region. After all, not only did they send their daughters away to the decadence of the capital, but the madrassah housed a boys' school as well as a girls' and, if I understand correctly, the sexes were taught together until the age of ten... and surely saw one another walking across the campus. Not exactly what the takfiris are accustomed to calling for.
Several key aides to the leader of Afghanistan's Taleban rebels, Mullah Omar, are reported to have been arrested in Pakistan. An Afghan intelligence source told the BBC four senior associates of Mullah Omar were being held after operations by Pakistani security forces.
Oooh. Shooting at Perv's plane. Bad move.
The arrests took place in two areas of the city of Quetta in western Pakistan. The source said those arrested included two men responsible for Mullah Omar's letters and communications. They have been named as Mullah Jahangir and Mullah Mohid.
Reclusive leader
Others now in detention are said to be Mullah Nazir, who was Taleban commander in the southern Afghan province of Uruzgan, and Mullah Tahir, the former Taleban commander for the capital, Kabul. Afghanistan observers say these four men were all close to the reclusive Mullah Omar, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
In the past year or more, there have been rising tensions between Afghanistan and Pakistan. Some senior Afghan leaders accused their neighbour of letting the Taleban use its soil, including Quetta, as a sanctuary. Pakistan denies such accusations and four months ago it arrested another key Taleban leader, Mullah Obaidullah, on its own soil.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/08/2007 13:10 Comments ||
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#2
Afghanistan observers say these four men were all close to the reclusive Mullah Omar, whose whereabouts remain unknown.
They can jug these four the moment they get up on their hind legs but remain unable to capture the ever elusive mullah Omar. If you believe this ration of horseshit, I have a bridge you can buy.
Fifty clerics of Jamaat Ahl-e-Sunnat Pakistan issued a Fatwa against the administration of Lal Masjid and declared the actions taken by Maulana Abdul Aziz and Maulana Abdur Rashid Ghazi to be un-Islamic.
Oh, lawzy! They fatwahed their asses!
Surely there's a law exempting really holy men such as themselves from this foul action?
The Fatwa said that the Ghazi brothers had used the mosque for unlawful and immoral activities, which were hence un-Islamic. It also said that the Ghazi brothers un-Islamic actions were disguised as religious and because of which, Pakistan was looked down upon internationally.
This article starring:
MAULANA ABDUL AZIZ
Taliban
MAULANA ABDUR RASHID GHAZI
Taliban
Lal Masjid
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Fatwan are for the little folk!
Yours Sincerely, The Undersigned:
Ahmadinejad
Bakri
Bashir
bin Laden
Faisal
Hamza
Haniyeh
Hilali
Khameini
Khatami
Khomeini
Krekar
Laban
Meshaal
Moussa
Nasrallah
Omar
Qaradawi
Q'tub
Rantissi
Sadr
Tantawi
Yassin
Zahar
Zawahiri
Mohammed
Allah
The Frontier police was put on maximum alert following warnings by security agencies of possible suicide attacks on important government installations, senior officials and politicians, official sources told Daily Times on Saturday.
Two Uzbeks with explosive-laden belts are planning suicide attacks, the officials quoted security agencies as informing the government. However, the security agencies have not yet been able to identify the bombers targets.
Security was increased around government offices in general and offices of law enforcement agencies in particular in Peshawar and no private car was allowed to park in parking areas of several government buildings.
The bomber who hit the military convoy in Bannu on Wednesday, killing six soldiers, was Uzbek. The attack on another army convoy in Dir district on Friday in which four soldiers including a major and a lieutenant were killed was conducted by a timed device, the official said, asking not to be named.
The warning comes following NWFP Governor Ali Jan Orakzais demand from the tribesmen to identify Wednesdays bomber. Under the law and tribal tradition, the tribal people are under obligation to maintain law and order in the area, the governor told a jirga of clerics and elders from Bannu at Governors House.
According to a communiqué, the governor expressed anger at the attack on the military convoy in Bannu. He asked the jirga members not to shelter foreigners. Law and order is deteriorating in North Waziristan and the Utmanzai elders have to critically review the ongoing situation and find a solution, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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City police Saturday morning took over Jamia Faridia located in the posh E-7 in a bid to stop the seminary students from proceeding towards Lal Masjid to support the militants holed up inside the mosque. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zafer Iqbal told Daily Times that there was no bar on anyone to visit the seminary. He said about 50 students and teachers were residing in the seminary, while the rest had left for their hometowns. Iqbal said the inmates of the seminary were free to move around and teachers were performing their duties as usual.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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The Islamabad administration sealed the capital early on Saturday to avoid possible suicide attacks.
Policemen have been deployed at all entry and exit points of the city and they have been ordered to check all vehicles and people thoroughly before allowing them into the capital. About 10 to 15 policemen are manning each entry and exit points and four-member teams have been formed to patrol the areas close to Rawalpindi, especially Sector I. Daily Times learnt that intelligence agencies have informed the Interior Ministry that there is a possibility of suicide attacks in the city in reaction to the Lal Masjid operation.
Policemen have been deployed at markets, important buildings and other public places. Gates of several police stations were closed and visitors were being thoroughly checked before they entered the buildings.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The Islamabad administration sealed the capital early on Saturday to avoid possible suicide attacks.
Is anyone else laughing up their sleeve over this announcement? I'm not. I'm bursting out in riotous laughter! These Pakistani assholes have been spreading their jihadist filth for years and only now does it finally come back to bite them on the ass.
Best of all is how they are being subjected to the very most difficult sort of assailant to detect; The bomb vest attacker. After having bred up so many of this particular species of vermin, it is gratifying in the extreme to see their own very much more porous security being infiltrated by such murderous thugs. "It couldn't happen to a nicer bunch" doesn't even begin to cover it.
#5
Right now there are decent and worthy Britishers who are most likely crying over their morning tea for the lost sons and daughters that will never again come home. Rubbing the sleep out of their eyes are young boys and girls whose mums and dads will never tousle their hair as they wake up in the morning. Everywhere are people without brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, grandfolk and grandkids who are all DEAD because of Pakistan's ceaseless terrorist BULLSHIT.
Ask me again just how sad I am that Islamabad is reaping as it has sown.
Go ahead, ask me.
#7
Putting aside my urge to call this a fitting irony, I cannot say this is a positive development.
Hamas vs Fatah in the Gaza strip seemed like it would whittle down the bad guys. There was just one problem - in that confrontation the (worse) bad guys won out.
IMO, Pakistani society is likely to be intimidated/coerced and to cave in to radical Islamic demands like keeping the Pakistani army out of their badlands and raising a stink about foreign teams operating there. Musharraf's support is already shaky; spasms of violence in population centers could have unpredictable consequences.
And we really can not afford for all hell to break loose in that powder keg, especially now that the critical moment for stabilizing Iraq and maintaining political support against Jihad Incorporated has arrived.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/08/2007 7:57 Comments ||
Top||
#9
There was just one problem - in that confrontation the (worse) bad guys won out.
The worst bad guys are the bad guys who are considered "better worst guys" and therefore enjoy a measure of protection from direct action by the good guys. IDF has a lot more freedom of action in Gaza now.
#10
The worst bad guys are the bad guys who are considered "better worst guys" and therefore enjoy a measure of protection from direct action by the good guys.
Think Saudi Arabia. Think Musharraf. Think Arafat.
Security forces besieging the Lal Masjid late on Saturday blew up part of the wall of the compound, a security official said, AFP reported.
There was also an intense exchange of fire before midnight between security forces and militants holed up inside the mosque complex, the official said. Security forces dynamited the wall to allow people inside to come out if they want to, he told AFP. People inside the compound who wished to leave risked being shot by hardline students if they attempted to climb the wall, which is seven to eight feet high, he said. Breaching the wall also gave security forces a clearer picture of what was happening, he added.
Security forces blew up another section of the wall early Sunday with the deafening blasts heard several kilometres away. There has been another round of intense firing but there have been no casualties on the security forces side, the official said.
An AFP photographer at the scene said heavy firing between the security forces and the militants continued for more than 45 minutes late Saturday with several bullets hitting the walls of several houses.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao warned Ghazi Abdul Rashid to let the hostage children come out otherwise he would be held responsible for any harm to them. A source at the mosque told AFP that one student was killed in the battle lasting around an hour. The official death toll from five days of fighting stands at 19.
Staff report adds: Earlier in the day, the security forces increased their presence in Sub-Sector G-6/1 and erected sandbag bunkers in front of the main street after gunshots were fired from a nearby mosque. The incident, which could not be confirmed by independent sources, took place in the morning as the curfew was relaxed from 8:00 to 9:30 am to allow local residents to go to their offices and buy food. Security sources told Daily Times that 13 people had been arrested for violating the curfew in G-6/2.
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz chaired a meeting where he directed security forces to exercise restraint to minimise the loss of life. He also formed a three-member committee to supervise the situation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
And Janet Reno is waiting in the wings to give the fine advice she provided at Waco.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/08/2007 13:26 Comments ||
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#4
Tunnel under the footings of the mosque, knock it down with underground explosions, and blame it on the wrath of Allah, or on Halliburton, or any of the other usual suspects.
President General Pervez Musharraf told militants barricaded in Lal Masjid on Saturday to surrender or die. If they do not surrender so I am saying here today that they will be killed. They should not force us to use force. They should come out voluntarily, otherwise they will be killed, Gen Musharraf told reporters while visiting flood-hit areas in Balochistan, in his first public comments on the deadly stand-off in Islamabad.
He said that the hardline students holed up inside Lal Masjid for the past five days must immediately free women and children allegedly being held as human shields, or face death. Weve shown great patience because we dont want people to be killed, he said. They should not think that we cannot do anything, or cannot kill them or expel them. The government has enough power and no one can stand before its might. Our concern is for children and women and we are showing lot of patience and restraint, he added.
Gen Musharraf said some 1,200 to 1,300 women, children and young students had surrendered. I appeal to those who are still inside to come out and surrender, he said. He said the Lal Masjid students had defamed Islam, and caused great embarrassment for Pakistan internationally.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Mushy can be taken seriously whenever his own butt is threatened...as in the attempted assassination on him. Let the festivity therefore commence.
#2
I hope his government is well prepared to spin the heck out of it after the fact, showing all sorts of tabloid evidence that they were involved in all sorts of things typical Pakis find to be repugnant.
BAGHDAD, July 8 (Reuters) - Fiery Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr has gone back to neighbouring Iran, U.S. military sources in Baghdad said on Sunday.
Earlier this year, U.S. officials said the anti-American cleric was hiding in Iran to avoid a major security crackdown in Baghdad, although his aides say he never left Iraq.
"Our sources do show Moqtada in Iran," one U.S. military source said, declining to speculate on why Sadr had gone back.
A senior aide to Sadr denied the cleric had left Iraq.
Sadr disappeared from public view shortly before the launch of a U.S.-led offensive in Baghdad in February but re-emerged in the holy Shi'ite Iraqi city of Kufa on May 25.
Analysts had speculated Sadr had returned to reassert his authority over his Mehdi Army militia, which the U.S. military says has begun breaking into splinter groups.
The United States accuses Iran of fuelling sectarian violence with its support for Shi'ite militias such as the Mehdi Army. Tehran rejects this, accusing Washington of fomenting instability in the region.
Sadr has said nothing about where he had been while he was out of public view for months other than to describe it as a "successful disappearance".
His lower profile has coincided with a growing rift between his movement and Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Sadr pulled his six ministers out of Maliki's cabinet in April when the prime minister refused to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq.
The cleric's political bloc has boycotted parliament since an attack on a revered Shi'ite mosque last month in the city of Samarra and most recently rejected a landmark draft oil law.
Sadr led two uprisings against U.S. forces in 2004 before becoming more involved in mainstream politics.
Posted by: Sherry ||
07/08/2007 20:37 ||
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#1
oppssss - should have given credit to Bill Roggio -- yea, I've been reading him, catching up.
Muqtada al Sadr, the leader of the Shia Mahdi Army and the Sadrist bloc in parliament, has left Iraq and is in Iran, military sources told Reuters. A anonymous U.S. military intelligence official and a military officer stationed in Iraq told The Fourth Rail the Reuter's report is accurate, but would not say when they believed Sadr left Iraq. Sadr's flight from Iraq and return to Iran comes as Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki issued an unusually strong statement calling for Sadr's Mahdi Army to disarm, and Iraqi security forces continue to battle his Mahdi Army in southern Iraq.
"We have heard statements from officials in the Sadr movement that they are against using arms and that they condemn those who hold weapons," a statement issued from the prime minister said, AFP reported. This puts us in front of a fact we must face courageously: If those are Sadrists, then Sadrist leaders disavow clearly those who carry guns ... Therefore, these gunmen are infiltrated Saddamist and Baathist gangs and robbers using this movement as a front," Maliki said.
Iraqi, U.S., British and other Coalition forces have battled Sadr's Mahdi Army inside Baghdad in Sadr City, as well as in the south in Diwaniyah, Samawa and Basra. Sadr's Mahdi Army fractured into a radical Iranian backed element of about 3,000 fighters, and the Noble Mahdi Army, which has been working with the Iraqi government and Coalition forces. This was part of a year-long campaign to divide the Mahdi Army. Sadr lost control of the Mahdi Army when he fled Iraq with his paymasters and senior leaders, leaving the militia rudderless and without pay. It is believed he returned to Iraq to gain a measure of control over his fractured forces.
The rogue elements of Sadr's Mahdi Army have been repeatedly attacked by Iraqi and U.S. Special Forces due to their relationship with the Iranian-backed Special Groups or Secret Cells. These Iranian backed cells are receiving arms, funding, training, and guidance from Iranian Qods Force.
Sadr first left for Iran in January shortly after the announcement of the Baghdad Security plan, and returned to Iraq on May 25, over four months later. Since his return, Sadr has attempted to position himself as a moderate, nationalist leader, but with little success. He has flirted with the Anbar Awakening movement, and negotiated with Sunni political parties. His Sadrist bloc withdrew from Prime Minister Maliki's government, and abandoned its six cabinet level positions. The Sadrist bloc's 30 members have also boycotted parliament.
Sadr held two rallies, both of which had poor showings, and had to cancel a July 5 march to Samarra to protest the attack on the Shia holy site of the al Askaria mosque. Sadr's spokesman claimed the Iraqi government wouldn't provide security, but based on the past poor showing of his demonstrations, there are questions that Sadr may have harmed his image with another poor showing.
Sadr's return to Iran harms his image as an Iraqi nationalist. He has criticized the leadership of the Supreme Iraqi Islamic Council (SIIC, formerly the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq) for sheltering in Iran in the past, only to accept aid, comfort, shelter and cash from Iran's Qods Force.
SALMAN PAK, Iraq (AP) - U.S. soldiers in night-vision goggles piled out of a Chinook helicopter under a wide, orange moon. They crawled through mud along canals south of Baghdad, then stormed a chicken farm that the U.S. military believed doubled as a car bomb factory.
But something was missing: Iraqi partners.
The Iraqi army has yet to deploy a single soldier on this 380-square-mile swath, where the U.S. military is waging an offensive to dislodge al-Qaida fighters from marshlands along the Tigris River.
In Tuesdays predawn raid, the lack of Iraqi backup meant a frustrating outcome for U.S. forces. When suspects fled, there was no Iraqi cordon to catch them.
But more broadly, it illustrated a key weakness in the new U.S. counterinsurgency strategy of "clear, hold, rebuild." American commanders say the "hold" phase relies on Iraqi forces ability to move into cleared areas and keep insurgents in check once the U.S. draws down its troop levels.
But areas such as Salman Pak - once an enclave for Saddam Husseins favored officials - reinforce the accusations that the Iraqi military is still a long way from meeting U.S. expectations.
"Were all very frustrated. Were trying to fix this country, but the Iraqis are having trouble recruiting and getting their numbers up," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Armys 3rd Infantry Division, which is deployed in the area.
The Department of State sets the number of fully "trained and equipped" Iraqi soldiers at slightly more than 353,000 - still nearly 40,000 short of the U.S. goal by the end of the year. But the complications go beyond just numbers.
Last month, Lt. Gen. Martin Dempsey, who used to oversee Iraqi training, said many Iraqi army units are not at full strength, and security forces face chronic desertions. Recruiting stations for the military and police have been frequent targets of extremist bombers.
There also are signs of an unwillingness by Iraqs leadership to commit forces to operations outside Baghdad. About 11,000 Iraqi soldiers were assigned to a U.S.-led offensive launched last month in and around Baqouba, on Baghdads northeastern rim. Only about 1,500 showed up, U.S. officials said.
"In some areas, the Iraqi army is full of capable military professionals, but there are other places where there are literally no Iraqi security forces," Lynch told The Associated Press this week. "Those are the places where the coalition will have to stay until the Iraqi government recruits, trains and builds forces to deny militants those sanctuaries."
The region of Salman Pak, about 15 miles south of Baghdad, has seen a spike in activity by Sunni insurgents since a U.S.-Iraqi security push began in the capital nearly six months ago, said Col. Wayne Grigsby Jr., commander of the Armys 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division.
Insurgents apparently streamed out of Baghdad, setting up fighting positions on the so-called "belts" around Baghdad. Salman Pak was a natural place for them to go.
Many former officers from Saddam Husseins military still live in the area, home to a major military and security complex during his rule. It also was the site of a biological weapons lab until the program was dismantled in the early 1990s.
Since his arrival here in March, Grigsby said he put in several requests for two Iraqi army battalions - up to about 1,500 men - to join the 3,800 U.S. troops now in the area. He is still waiting.
Iraqs Defense Ministry said it was concentrating its resources in Baghdad. So U.S. commanders here are resigned to teaming up with whatever Iraqi partners they have - mostly Iraqi police patrols riding in pickup trucks with just rudimentary armor as protection from mines and other attacks. And they are no match for al-Qaida, U.S. military officials say.
"I understand" Iraqi officials "reasoning. If you have to stretch forces, you take risks with your supporting effort, rather than your main effort in Baghdad," Grigsby said. "But it leaves us in a less-than-ideal situation here."
#1
The US military has very high performance standards, and it is extremely hard to incorporate the culture of such standards with civilians who have no background in them.
Early on, we should have adopted a philosophy of making Iraqi military pay extra high, but only on the condition that you stay with your unit for your entire enlistment. This would also mean that early on, we would have to have some pay system for them to get money safely home to their families--a very difficult proposition.
In the final analysis, Iraq will have to use whatever we have given them to modernize and professionalize their military. For this reason, it would be very good to convince many of their seasoned leaders to enter politics, so that their government will have experts for its military policies.
#2
Salam Pak is in a Sunni area. Until the local tribes create a "Salvation Council" like Anbar, the soldiers are going to have to be imported from outside.
In the Arab scheme of things, this means desertion and under equipping is inevitable. (Arab and other 3rd world armies count on the family to provide a soldier's logistical support).
The Iraqi Army is facing an interesting tension: It is being built from the bottom up by the Americans, but the higher ranks are still stuck in the old way of doing things.
Right now the "frontier" between the 2 groups is the batallion headquarters. Most of the proplems are found above that line (pay doesn't arrive, no spare parts)
It remains to be seen which approach is going to prevail.
Al
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/08/2007 14:34 Comments ||
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#3
The US has always had trouble training effective Arab forces because the US system is based on competence and initiative at the mid enlisted ranks and at the lower officer ranks. The Soviet system would probably work better but that makes joint operations more difficult. In the short term training an Arab force to operate like an American force seems to be akin to harnassing cold fusion. While infuriating, their culture does ensure that we will be able to bank on being able to defeat them handly for the forseable future.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 15:12 Comments ||
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#4
How can any amount of effort can work at training the Iraqis into a modern military force if they are not paid on time and adequately supplied? No wonder the Iraqi troops don't show up or desert. Those deficits are almost surely due to political corruption higher up the Iraqi political food chain.
#5
It seems reasonable to expect the process of building a Western-style professional army would take the better part of a generation, as those trained to the new standards slowly make their way up the ranks to command levels (that's the same as upper management in corporate parlance, right?) and Master Sergeants and such. I'm sure lots of unskilled and semi-skilled Iraqis signed up out of patriotism and desire for the paycheck, but are finding they aren't suited for the work. With time and the improving Iraqi economy, they'll be able to find other means of supporting their families, and the problem will gradually dwindle.
Equally, it's not likely we'll find perspective in a report from the Associated Press.
Coalition Forces killed four terrorists and detained nine suspected terrorists during operations around Iraq targeting al-Qaeda leaders and their associates Saturday.
Coalition Forces targeted an al-Qaeda in Iraq leader suspected of facilitating the movement of foreign terrorists near Khan Bani Saad. As they approached the targeted building, they encountered an armed man in a military-style assault vest who drew his weapon on the ground forces. Coalition Forces, responding in self-defense, engaged the armed man, killing him.
As Coalition Forces left the area after the operation, several terrorists engaged them with heavy machine guns. Responding in self-defense to neutralize the threat, Coalition Forces called in close air support to engage the armed men. Three terrorists were killed and two heavy machine guns were destroyed in the air strike.
In Hit, Coalition Forces captured an alleged senior member of the al-Qaeda in Iraq organization there. The individual is suspected of collecting information on Iraqi Police, civilians and Coalition Forces to report to the al-Qaeda in Iraq emir of the area. One other suspected terrorist was detained with the targeted individual.
A Coalition Forces operation in Mosul netted seven suspected terrorists when the ground forces raided two buildings targeting associates of known al-Qaeda in Iraq senior leaders. Were continuing to chip away at the senior leadership and low-level operatives involved in al-Qaeda in Iraq, said Maj. Marc Young, an MNF-I spokesperson. The Iraqi people have made it clear that terrorist groups are unwanted and unwelcome in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 09:42 ||
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Multi-National Division-Baghdad attack helicopter crews killed four insurgents and destroyed an enemy vehicle at approximately 7 a.m. July 5 after the insurgents fired on a Coalition Forces forward operating base with rocket-propelled grenades in northern Baghdad. We continue to have great success against enemy forces attempting to disrupt the governmental process of Iraq, said Maj. Scott Chiasson, executive officer, 1st Attack Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. This engagement and others like it helps to ensure the security of the Iraqi people and Coalition Forces operating in the city of Baghdad.
The Apache crews from 1-227th, obtained positive identification of the insurgents and were cleared to fire on the vehicle. The Apache crew engaged the vehicle, destroying it and killing the insurgents inside.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 09:39 ||
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#1
"obtained positive identification of the insurgents"
THat's key - quick turn around on the O&I (Observe and Identify).
That means UAV. Army owned and operated. (Tell the USAF stop trying to grab control over them from the local Army units)
Coalition Forces detained 10 suspected terrorists during operations Sunday targeting the vehicle-borne improvised explosive device network in Baghdad. During two coordinated raids on the west side of the city, Coalition Forces targeted a senior al-Qaeda in Iraq operative believed to facilitate the movement of foreign terrorists for suicide bombing operations by providing fake documents. The ground forces detained seven suspected terrorists during the operations.
In southwestern Baghdad, Coalition Forces targeted a terrorist cell leader allegedly involved in VBIED attacks against the Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police and Coalition Forces. Coalition Forces detained three individuals for their suspected ties to the cell leader. Eradicating the bomb network in Baghdad is a high priority for us, said Maj. Marc Young, an MNF-I spokesperson. The people of Iraq deserve a future free of murderous bombings and attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 09:35 ||
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TAJI Iraqi Army Forces detained one extremist cell leader and four other suspected terrorists during an operation west of Kirkuk July 5. The suspected cell leader is believed to be a facilitator for the Islamic Army in Iraq. He is allegedly responsible for obtaining the vehicle used in a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in Makmoor May 13. The suspected cell leader is also believed to have obtained weapons for the Islamic Army in Iraq to be used in future attacks. Four other suspected terrorists were detained during the operation. Coalition Forces served as advisors during the operation. No Iraqi or Coalition Forces were injured during the operation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 09:34 ||
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Paratroopers uncovered a weapons cache while assisting Iraqi citizens east of Iskandariyah, Iraq, yesterday. Paratroopers with Company C, 3rd Battalion, 509th Airborne, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, discovered the cache while helping local farmers in the Tounis region clean out irrigation canals. A 107mm rocket and 40 mortar casings ranging from 40mm to 81mm were found. The Paratroopers confiscated the rounds and handed them over to the Tounis Iraqi Police Station for destruction.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 09:30 ||
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#1
The Paratroopers confiscated the rounds and handed them over to the Tounis Iraqi Police Station for destruction.
Soldiers of 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, and Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, detained five suspected insurgents and found four weapons caches July 5 near Jisr Diyala. The operation resulted in the largest cache seizure for the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team since beginning operations southeast of Baghdad in late March.
Unit leaders said Soldiers conducted the five-phase operation to deny enemy sanctuaries and seize caches. Soldiers from 3-1 Cav. and Company D, currently attached to 3-1 Cav., secured and searched four target locations simultaneously during the operation.
Each cache found and destroyed decreases the munitions and improvised explosive device making materials available for insurgents to use against the populace and Coalition Forces, said Capt. Jimmy Hathaway, from Columbus, Ga., commander of Headquarters Co., 3-1 Cav. Ultimately, this mission was a step in the right direction towards making Iraq a more secure and safe region, Hathaway said. The mission established the standard that Coalition Forces are not going to stand for anti-Coalition Force activity, said 1ST Lt. Donovan Duke, from New Cumberland, Pa., a platoon leader with Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, from Fort Benning, Ga. We are here to establish a safe environment in cooperation with the Iraqi Security Forces for the Iraqi citizens.
The following was seized from the four caches: 8 fuses, four artillery rounds, three rockets, nine hand grenades, 56 mortars, 10 rocket propelled grenades, more than 15 pounds of C4 explosives and miscellaneous bomb-making materials and unidentified explosives.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 09:29 ||
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Residents of a village south of Baghdad, long a terrorist hot spot, led U.S. forces to major weapons caches near their town July 6. Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y., were taken to a series of 12 caches and insurgents responsible for them - by local villagers.
A local man who claimed to have knowledge of a large cache complex approached the patrol and walked the Soldiers from site to site, pointing out each cache. He then took the patrol to two men, whom he said were responsible for collecting and hiding the weapons.
One cache contained a rocket-propelled grenade launching kit - still in the box; six fuses for 82mm mortars, an 82mm round prepared as an improvised explosive device, two resealable plastic bags containing maps, books and a guard roster, a set of ballistic eyeglasses, two bags of homemade explosive, a rocket launcher with two tubes, a rocket engine, a videotape, and photos. Another contained nine 60mm mortar rounds with 11 fuses, about 55 blasting caps, a block of HME, seven empty 60mm mortar shells, an RPG fuse, 18 feet of detonation cord, a ten-pound bag of black powder, and 28 rocket tips.
Another contained nine 120mm mortar rounds, two AK-47 rifles, two 105mm rounds, 20 pounds of HME, 20 AK-47 magazines, and several mortar fuses. Another held 61 60mm rounds, five 120mm rounds and seven charges for the 120mm rounds. An extensive cache contained a 107mm rocket, five hand grenades, a video camera, a 105mm round rigged as an IED, three grenade fuses, a front plate to a radio, two handheld walkie-talkies, 66 sticks of dynamite, 20 pounds of black powder, 20 blasting caps and 20 pounds of HME, 20 feet of detonation cord, a pressure plate for an IED, a sniper instruction CD, a long-range cordless telephone and a homemade boat with two paddles. Another contained 43 mortar fuses, two AK-47 magazines, 18 load-bearing vests, a cellular telephone and battery, and 10 mortar primers.
The explosives were destroyed by explosive ordnance disposal teams; several other items were seized for further examination.
The area where the caches were found is approximately one kilometer from the site of the May 12 attack where four U.S. Soldiers and an Iraqi soldier were killed and three U.S. Soldiers were captured. One of the Soldiers was later found dead in the Euphrates River, the remaining two are officially listed as missing-captured. Residents, fed up with the violence plaguing their neighborhood, have repeatedly revealed al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in the area to patrolling Soldiers. Two Iraqis associated with the caches were detained by the Soldiers and taken into custody for questioning.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 09:28 ||
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#1
Residents, fed up with the violence plaguing their neighborhood, have repeatedly revealed al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists in the area to patrolling Soldiers. Two Iraqis associated with the caches were detained by the Soldiers and taken into custody for questioning.
#3
McZoid is this the link you were after? McZoid's Linky
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The M777A1 has been selected by the US Marine Corps and the US Army as their next-generation medium-force weapon.
The M777A1 matches the firepower of current generation 155mm towed systems at less than half the weight. The construction of the M77A1 makes extensive use of titanium and titanium castings, enabling a weight reduction of 3,175kg (7,000lb) compared to the M198 howitzer which it replaces in the US Army and USMC inventory. The titanium is supplied by RTI International metals of Niles, Ohio.
The maximum firing range is 24.7km with unassisted rounds and 30km with rocket-assisted rounds. The M77A1 will fire the Raytheon / Bofors XM982 Excalibur GPS / Inertial Navigation-guided extended-range 155mm projectiles using the Modular Artillery Charge Systems (MACS). Excalibur will have a maximum range of 40km and accuracy of 10m. First firing trials of the M777A1 with Excalibur took place in August 2003. First production rounds were delivered in September 2006. Excalibur is scheduled for initial operating capability in 2008.
The M777A1 is able to deliver up to five rounds a minute under intense firing conditions and is able to provide a sustained rate of fire of two rounds a minute
The LRIP systems employ an optical sighting system for direct and indirect firing by day or night. Full production systems will be fitted with the General Dynamics Armament Systems Towed Artillery Digitisation (TAD) system. LRIP systems will be retrofitted with TAD.
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[we dont need no stinkin GPS or lazers!]
>:)
direct fire mission..
#4
RD:
Yeah, on the Marine 13th webpage, scroll down to a page "Ground Sensor Team Keeps Ears to Ground During OIF." In open ground, sensors are available to detect activity within large perimeters. Presumably, helicopters with infrareds would be able to take out intruders - probably IED planters - at night. Search and destroy patrols in cities, suck. Where there are no collaterals, troops don't have to think about the State Department. IED and sniper casualties in Anbar, are way down. Casualties from direct action are way up, but so is morale. Unfortunately, without ethnic enclaving in Baghdad, pullbacks could begin by October. Another defeat could be snatched from the jaws of victory.
A purported al Qaeda terrorist was hanged for his role in one of the first major bombings in Iraq a 2003 blast that killed a Shi'ite leader and 84 others and foreshadowed the four-year insurgency that followed, a Justice Ministry official said yesterday.
Oras Mohammed Abdul-Aziz was executed Tuesday in Baghdad after being sentenced to death in October in the killing of Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, the leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, the official said. Ministry Undersecretary Busho Ibrahim's statement was the first word that a suspect had been tried in the huge August 2003 car bombing outside the Shrine of Ali in Najaf, one of Shi'ite Islam's holiest sites.
Ayatollah al-Hakim was poised to become a major figure in Iraqi politics following the fall of Saddam Hussein. His brother, Abdulaziz al-Hakim, now heads the group, the largest Shi'ite party in parliament.
Al Qaeda in Iraq claimed responsibility for the attack. Mr. Ibrahim said Abdul-Aziz, from the northern city of Mosul, was affiliated with al Qaeda in Iraq and confessed to other attacks. Included in his confession was the 2004 killing of Abdel-Zahraa Othman, the president of the Governing Council, the U.S.-appointed body that ran Iraq following Saddam's fall.
The al-Hakim slaying took place 10 days after the bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad killed 23 persons, including the top U.N. envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello an attack also claimed by al Qaeda in Iraq.
This article starring:
Oras Mohammed Abdul-Aziz
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Hanging n. A sentence with a dangling participant.
A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in the crowded outdoor market of a Shiite farming town north of Baghdad on Saturday, levelling houses and stores and killing more than 100 people, officials said.
The blast - hours after a smaller suicide bombing in another Shiite village killed more than 20 - suggested Sunni militants are regrouping to launch attacks in regions further away from Baghdad where security is thinner, beyond the edges of a three-week old US offensive on the capital's northern flank.
The US military on Saturday also reported that eight American servicemembers were killed in fighting in Baghdad and western Anbar province over two days, reflecting the increased US death toll that has come with the new offensives. A British soldier was killed in fighting with Shiite militias overnight in the southern city of Basra.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Huge number. However, with self-protected ethnic zones, these bombings would probably not occur. Would that sanction the al-Sadrite ethnic politics? Hell no; they are terrorists. We kill terrorists.
We cannot resolve the Sunni-Shiite conflict. We can only create buffer zones, and reduce terrorists to operations outside of protected enclaves. Incredibly, with Shiite troops encroaching on Baghdad airport passes, we left them in place south of the Tigris River, and fortified a Sunni village north of the river, by setting up an expensive security wall that can be breached by mortars. A Sunni-Shiite separation on the Tigris would suck the blood out of the civil war.
We have seen how locals quickly become fed up with Al-Qaeda in Iraq. So rather than patrolling 24-7 through IED country, and putting holes in American family trees, we should get reliable ground intelligence from locals, and then strike enemy strongholds from the air. A version of the fortified-hamlet system in Vietnam, where locals handled most of their own security, would work. Iraqis are well aware that al-Qaeda in Iraq held a huge rally in Mosul last week. Al-Jazeera was quick to celebrate that spit in the occupation face; our media didn't report it.
House Republicans have sent out feelers that they need more than the status quo. Their support needs to be earned.
#2
I read earlier that this attack was on a Turkmen village, a smaller ethnic group than the Arabs, Kurds, or (with all the Iranian Republican Guard cadres) Persians. If that is correct, it probably won't do much towards inflaming the Shia-Sunni civil war that has been the object of so many of this kind of attack - even if they were Shia, they were 'other' Shia, and not so important.
#3
At a guess, this is an attempt by the Sunnis to bring Turkish troops into Kurdistan again, hoping they attack and weaken the Kurds who so inconveniently insist on their portion of the oil in that region.
#4
I found this interesting, from a commenter at Bill Roggio ...
Of the eight or so reports I have seen about the Amirli attack, all of them stated north of Baghdad but not a single one gave the number of miles. I didnt catch the one that stated that the attack was actually in the Baghdad area. Maybe could chalk this up to ignorance or laziness, but this throws the presses description of what is going on way off.
Amirli is 95 miles straight north of the center of Baghdad, with the Hamrin mountain range between. I used the Google Earth mileage tool. 50 miles south of Kurkuk is a more logical description. There is a valley that runs North West to South East with the Hamrin mountains forming the western boundary on the west side and foothills of the Zagros Mountains and city of Kurkuk forming the eastern boundary. This is a very ethnically mixed region with Kurds tending toward the eastern boundary, enclaves of both Sunni and Shiite Turkmen throughout the valley and Sunni Arabs dominating the Western area along the Hamrin Mountains.
I suppose we will be hearing a lot about this valley and the Hamrin Mountains in the near future. The Hamrin Mountains have been a refuge of last resort to people in the area since prehistory. I dont know what Saddams regime left in the area in way of ammunition caches and dumps.
The bad news, at least in the short term, is that there arent really enough troops to effectively flush them out of the area. The good news is that the Hamrin Mountains are the last refuge for large scale AQI operations. Al Qaeda seems to be taking up residence in the area between the east bank of the Tigris river and the Hamrin Mountains an area about 50 miles wide that runs from Tikrit in the north down to northern Diyala province. I also expect a spike in attacks in Mosul and Kurkuk but it remains to be seen if Al Quada has the force structure left to make serious inroads against any of the Northern Cities.
I would expect it would be late fall before resources come on line to really clamp down on the east bank of the Tigris and Hamrin Mountain regions. In the mean time expect Shiite Turkmen and Shiite Kurds at the south end of valley to get hit repeatedly. I expect this will have almost the same propaganda value as bombing Baghdad for impressing the western press about the hopelessness of the Iraqi situation. In the mean time Al Quada risks antagonizing the entire Turkmen population.
#5
Thanks for that added info, Sherry. That changes my estimate re: Turkey. So far, at least, I haven't heard of the Turks threatening to step in anywhere south of Kirkuk.
About 30 armed men from a Hamas-led security force entered Gaza City's Al-Azhar University on Saturday and seized 80 bags with chemicals from the agriculture college, the dean said. It was not immediately clear why the chemicals were taken. The spokesman for Hamas's Executive Force militia was not immediately available for comment. The dean, Jawad Wadi, said he called the office of the Hamas ruler of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, to file a complaint. Haniyeh was deposed as prime minister by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
It was not immediately clear why the chemicals were taken.
Australia on Sunday warned terrorist attacks may be imminent in Indonesia. The foreign affairs department upgraded its official travel advisory on Indonesia to warn that it had reports terrorists were planning attacks against Western interests. "There have been recent arrests of high level terrorist operatives in Indonesia, but we assess terrorists are continuing active planning of attacks," the advisory said. "These attacks could take place at any time and could be imminent. Particular care should be taken at this time to avoid known terrorist targets."
It said previous attacks against westerners in Indonesia indicated Bali and Jakarta were priority targets but added "terrorist attacks could occur at any time, anywhere in Indonesia".
Australia has advised its citizens to reconsider travel to Indonesia since the first Bali bombing in October 2002, in which 88 Australians were among the 202 killed, but Sunday's upgrade adds the warning of imminent attacks. It comes after the head of Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Zarkasi, and the leader of its military wing, Abu Dujana, were arrested by Indonesian police last month along with six other suspected militants.
While the arrests were seen as a major blow to JI, an unnamed member of the organisation told a TV channel last month that the lack of leadership could make it more dangerous.
I think I've come to the conclusion that in Wireserviceland there's nothing, nothing that will make bad guy organizations less dangerous.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 11:07 ||
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#1
I think the wireservices are playing a game of "warmer" "colder" with us. Upon in-depth investigation I think we would find that the "hot spot" in the game equals capitulation.
You would think at this point that the last intelligent Australian would have abandonned his/her Indonesian time-share.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 19:41 Comments ||
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Thai security forces raided a village in the rebellious Muslim south on Sunday and detained eight men with bomb-making material, an army senior official said. The Muslim detainees were taken for questioning to an army camp in Narathiwat, one of three provinces where more than 2,300 people have been killed in a three-year separatist insurgency in the Malay-speaking region.
The dawn raid, which involved 200 navy troops and police, rushed to the village in Narathiwat province where a group of militants were hiding, Colonel Boonkerd Monlakan told Reuters by telephone. "We arrested eight of them and they're all on our wanted list," Colonel Boonkerd said. The evidence found there include guns, bomb-making materials, documents and video CDs used in insurgency plans, he said.
A ground battle between Sri Lanka's navy and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels left three insurgents dead on Saturday, military said. Fighting broke out when a group of sailors on a foot patrol confronted guerrillas in Kuchchaveli village near the eastern port town of Trincomalee, an official at the Defense Ministry's information center said. Troops recovered three rebel bodies along with rifles, bombs and detonators, the official said on condition of anonymity, in line with policy. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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The Lebanese army called on Fatah al-Islam extremists in a besieged refugee camp on Saturday to surrender and bring an end to fighting that has raged for nearly seven weeks. "The army command, anxious to put an end to the bloodshed ... calls on the armed men of Fatah al-Islam ... to take the initiative and surrender to the armed forces," said a statement carried by the official Lebanese national news agency.
The army appealed to the Islamist fighters in the northern Palestinian camp of Nahr al-Bared "not to prevent those who wish (to surrender) from doing so, particularly casualties so that they can receive the necessary treatment". "They must facilitate the exit of civilians detained against their will in order to put an end to the abnormal situation to which the camp is being subjected," it added.
Fighting broke out at the refugee camp on May 20 when Islamists launched a series of attacks against soldiers, killing 27 of them around the camp and in Tripoli, the main city in northern Lebanon. The government and the army have since been calling on the Fatah al-Islam combatants to surrender. Several hundred of Nahr al-Bared's pre-conflict refugee population of 31,000 have been living under difficult conditions during the fighting. According to a count compiled from official figures, the conflict has claimed at least 173 lives, including 85 soldiers. It is the deadliest internal fighting since the 1975-1990 civil war.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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The London based Al-Hayat reported Saturday that Israel was "concerned" that Syria's decision to remove military checkpoints on the road to Kuneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights could be a preparation for war.
According to the report, the checkpoints in question had been in place for 40 years, ever since the Six Day War. Al-Hayat also claimed that that foreign journalists were barred from covering IDF maneuvers conducted on the Golan Heights. The newspaper also reported that Israel had blocked access to areas on the Golan Heights from which villages and towns were visible. The report also listed the equipment the IDF had left in place, which included bulldozers and 70 tank outposts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 00:00 ||
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#4
Custer had a better chance of taking Little Bighorn by force. It will be good for the Soviets Russians as Iran will be forced to by Syria a new air force ... again.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
07/08/2007 15:00 Comments ||
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#5
I'll lay in extra popcorn supplies....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/08/2007 15:34 Comments ||
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#6
Last spring Syria announced the development of a Hezbullah-like "RESISTANCE" that would operate out of the Syrian controlled Golan-border. I can visualize such a "RESISTANCE" using rockets and terrorist attacks on the Israeli Golan - allowing the Alawites a degree of deniability. Is there anyone out there who has faith that the current Israeli government would respond aggressively? Methinks Golan would be Sderot II.
Less than a month after Walid Eido was assassinated, a hand grenade exploded Saturday near the home of another anti-Syrian member of Lebanon's parliament, igniting a fire but causing no casualties. The attack took place at 11:40 PM, when unidentified assailants hurled a grenade from a forest about 150 meters (492 feet) away from the home of Ayman Shoukeir in the central mountain town of Ras el-Maten.
Shoukeir was not at home, and no damage was reported, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to give official statements. Civil defense workers put out the small fire that was started by the explosion, they said.
Shoukeir is a member of anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt's parliamentary bloc. There has been a string of explosions in Lebanon in the past two years, most of them targeting anti-Syrian politicians or journalists.
The last such explosion was the June 13 car bomb that killed Walid Eido, a pro-government lawmaker and fierce critic of Syria. He was the seventh high-profile anti-Syrian personality assassinated in the last two years. The Lebanese government believes that Syria is behind the previous string of political assassinations in an attempt to re-occupy the sovereign republic of Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/08/2007 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.
A rebel group in northern Niger has kidnapped a Chinese national working for a uranium company. The man was captured on Friday in the Ingall region, south of the town of Agadez. 
THE detention of two doctors on the Gold Coast in connection with inquiries into this week's events in Britain is the second time the medical profession has been drawn into a terrorism investigation in Australia. In March 2004, a University of NSW medical student, Izhar ul-Haque, now 24, of Glenwood in Sydney's north-west, became the first person in Australia to be charged with training with a terrorist organisation.
Pakistan's religious affairs minister has said foreign Islamic militants are among those inside a besieged mosque in the capital, Islamabad. 
City police Saturday morning took over Jamia Faridia located in the posh E-7 in a bid to stop the seminary students from proceeding towards Lal Masjid to support the militants holed up inside the mosque. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Zafer Iqbal told Daily Times that there was no bar on anyone to visit the seminary. He said about 50 students and teachers were residing in the seminary, while the rest had left for their hometowns. Iqbal said the inmates of the seminary were free to move around and teachers were performing their duties as usual.
The Islamabad administration sealed the capital early on Saturday to avoid possible suicide attacks. 
Security forces besieging the Lal Masjid late on Saturday blew up part of the wall of the compound, a security official said, AFP reported.
President General Pervez Musharraf told militants barricaded in Lal Masjid on Saturday to surrender or die. If they do not surrender so I am saying here today that they will be killed. They should not force us to use force. They should come out voluntarily, otherwise they will be killed, Gen Musharraf told reporters while visiting flood-hit areas in Balochistan, in his first public comments on the deadly stand-off in Islamabad. 
The Iraqi army has yet to deploy a single soldier on this 380-square-mile swath, where the U.S. military is waging an offensive to dislodge al-Qaida fighters from marshlands along the Tigris River.
Multi-National Division-Baghdad attack helicopter crews killed four insurgents and destroyed an enemy vehicle at approximately 7 a.m. July 5 after the insurgents fired on a Coalition Forces forward operating base with rocket-propelled grenades in northern Baghdad. We continue to have great success against enemy forces attempting to disrupt the governmental process of Iraq, said Maj. Scott Chiasson, executive officer, 1st Attack Battalion, 227th Aviation Regiment, 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. This engagement and others like it helps to ensure the security of the Iraqi people and Coalition Forces operating in the city of Baghdad.
TAJI Iraqi Army Forces detained one extremist cell leader and four other suspected terrorists during an operation west of Kirkuk July 5. The suspected cell leader is believed to be a facilitator for the Islamic Army in Iraq. He is allegedly responsible for obtaining the vehicle used in a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device attack in Makmoor May 13. The suspected cell leader is also believed to have obtained weapons for the Islamic Army in Iraq to be used in future attacks. Four other suspected terrorists were detained during the operation. Coalition Forces served as advisors during the operation. No Iraqi or Coalition Forces were injured during the operation.
Soldiers of 3rd Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, and Company D, 1st Battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, detained five suspected insurgents and found four weapons caches July 5 near Jisr Diyala. The operation resulted in the largest cache seizure for the 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team since beginning operations southeast of Baghdad in late March. 
Residents of a village south of Baghdad, long a terrorist hot spot, led U.S. forces to major weapons caches near their town July 6. Soldiers of the 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) out of Fort Drum, N.Y., were taken to a series of 12 caches and insurgents responsible for them - by local villagers.
A purported al Qaeda terrorist was hanged for his role in one of the first major bombings in Iraq a 2003 blast that killed a Shi'ite leader and 84 others and foreshadowed the four-year insurgency that followed, a Justice Ministry official said yesterday.
A suicide bomber detonated a truck full of explosives in the crowded outdoor market of a Shiite farming town north of Baghdad on Saturday, levelling houses and stores and killing more than 100 people, officials said. 
About 30 armed men from a Hamas-led security force entered Gaza City's Al-Azhar University on Saturday and seized 80 bags with chemicals from the agriculture college, the dean said. It was not immediately clear why the chemicals were taken. The spokesman for Hamas's Executive Force militia was not immediately available for comment. The dean, Jawad Wadi, said he called the office of the Hamas ruler of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, to file a complaint. Haniyeh was deposed as prime minister by PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas
A ground battle between Sri Lanka's navy and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels left three insurgents dead on Saturday, military said. Fighting broke out when a group of sailors on a foot patrol confronted guerrillas in Kuchchaveli village near the eastern port town of Trincomalee, an official at the Defense Ministry's information center said. Troops recovered three rebel bodies along with rifles, bombs and detonators, the official said on condition of anonymity, in line with policy. Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached for comment.
The Lebanese army called on Fatah al-Islam extremists in a besieged refugee camp on Saturday to surrender and bring an end to fighting that has raged for nearly seven weeks. "The army command, anxious to put an end to the bloodshed ... calls on the armed men of Fatah al-Islam ... to take the initiative and surrender to the armed forces," said a statement carried by the official Lebanese national news agency.
The London based Al-Hayat reported Saturday that Israel was "concerned" that Syria's decision to remove military checkpoints on the road to Kuneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights could be a preparation for war. 
Less than a month after Walid Eido was assassinated, a hand grenade exploded Saturday near the home of another anti-Syrian member of Lebanon's parliament, igniting a fire but causing no casualties. The attack took place at 11:40 PM, when unidentified assailants hurled a grenade from a forest about 150 meters (492 feet) away from the home of Ayman Shoukeir in the central mountain town of Ras el-Maten. 
