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9/11 Koran Burning Cancelled
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Birthday/Daily Gam Shot

Jane Greer aka Kathie Moffat in "Out of the Past" (Died in 2001 at age 71)


Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 09/09/2010 1:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Christine Keeler was a naughty girl.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 09/09/2010 11:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Christine Keeler was a naughty girl.
Naughty but nice.
Posted by: tipper || 09/09/2010 13:44 Comments || Top||

#4  An unhappy, empty smile.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/09/2010 22:59 Comments || Top||


--Tech & Moderator Notes
What's wrong with Koran-burning, explained in one succinct paragraph
Jim Geraghty, "Morning Jolt" from National Review

Look, here’s a handy rule for Pastor Pyro in South Florida: If the act you’re contemplating has never been portrayed as noble, heroic, or moral in the entire history of popular culture or literature, your moral compass has probably run afoul of a magnetic field comparable to a black hole. Reread Fahrenheit 451, pal, the book-burning firemen were the bad guys.
Posted by: Mike || 09/09/2010 09:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well Jimbo, it's a little like the "thumb in the eye" by the pig-headed imam who intends to build the Ground Zero mosque no matter what.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/09/2010 9:23 Comments || Top||

#2  If the nutter in Florida wanted to make it interesting, now that he and his anemic cult have the worlds attention, he should agree not to burn the Holy Book with one condition precedent. The Imam Rouf must show equal sensitivity by publicly disavowing the Cordova Project and walking away. Of course he's a nut, so he won't. But sensitivity should beget sensitivity.
Posted by: Sgt. D.T. || 09/09/2010 10:08 Comments || Top||

#3  I think the big difference can be found in the Fahrenheit 451 story itself. In the novel, the purpose of book burning was to suppress knowledge and argument. This was also the rationale of the Nazis.

However, that is a very different reason from burning books, and record albums as well, because they are deeply offensive and destructive. Its purpose in not censorship, but an expression of utter rejection.

It is legitimate to destroy declarations of hate and evil, from "cop killer" music designed to incite assassination, pedophile screeds designed to invoke lust, and the endless calls for murder and destruction found in the Koran, and even more so in the Tafsir, the commentaries on the Koran, on which much Islamic "culture" is based.

There is no censorship possible in this, as there are perhaps a billion printed Korans in the world, which if they are in the standard Arabic, are identical. But that does not mean that we, as a people, are not free to show utter disdain to the ideas within.

Yes, we can legitimately have utter contempt for the myth and reality of Islam. And no, just because they place severe rules on anything they find offensive, does not mean that we should respect those rules one whit.

And always we need to remember that these are people who *kill* human beings for trivial reasons: a cartoon, dressing improperly, saying things they find offensive, *being* something they hate, like Jewish or Christian.

This deserves no respect or consideration. Until they behave like civilized human beings, they deserve to be treated like the animals they emulate. They cannot pretend civility on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, yet be utter brutes on Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, but still expect us to treat them as civilized the whole week.

So feel free to burn, step on, or use as TP their "holy book". It is just bound paper, of no inherent value, and there are far more where it came from.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/09/2010 10:16 Comments || Top||

#4  “That was mere foreplay. Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”

(German: “Das war Vorspiel nur. Dort, wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man am Ende auch Menschen.”)

Heinrich Heine, Almansor (1821)
Posted by: European Conservative || 09/09/2010 10:52 Comments || Top||

#5  Looky here, before I make any important decisions involving moral compasses,I always think to myself, "what would Jim Geraghty do?", and then I go out and do the opposite. Or sometimes I say, what would Mohammed do? And then I poop in my pants and feint. And then burn down some girls schools. But I'm just insane so don't mind me.
Thank you.


Posted by: Goober Goobelopolous || 09/09/2010 11:14 Comments || Top||

#6  I'd stay away from the "what would Mohammed do?", Goob. In most communities, that stuff will get you indicted for war crimes, convicted of morals offences, or at the very least, run out of town on a rail.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/09/2010 11:37 Comments || Top||

#7  European Conservative: And that is why intent is all important. It is too easy to focus on the destruction of Korans by burning. Would it assuage if instead, ten times as many Korans were just buried in a pit with pig offal?

It still does not try to censor the idea. But it clearly shows contempt, disdain, and disgust with the idea.

As would splashing Holy water on it, and performing an exorcism of its demonic content, yet doing little more than moistening its binding. Perhaps burying it in rock salt, another traditional way to ritually cleanse impurities.

Perhaps to seal two Korans, and make them into nice sandals. Or dip them in bacon grease to give a pet doggy a worry toy.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/09/2010 12:02 Comments || Top||

#8  To follow from Moose's point. It's the opposite of the Fahrenheit 451 situation. F451 was about suppressing knowledge. Which is what those who want to stop the koran burning want.

The pastor is burning the book because he wants people to know what's in it.

At worse, the pastor is guilty of theatrical bad taste, about on a par with the typical Greenpeace or PETA stunt (the one's that aren't illegal).
Posted by: phil_b || 09/09/2010 12:20 Comments || Top||


#10  Before any of you go making this nutcase into some kind of brave hero standing alone against dhimmitude, remember, he's tied in with the Westboro "Baptist" "Church" crowd. You know, the ones who go around desecrating the funerals of American soldiers killed in action. Yeah, them.

Now, thanks to this clown, we're going to spend a significant fraction of 9/11 talking about him and his publicity stunt instead of remembering what actually happened on 9/11/01.

To put it mildly, this is not advancing the cause of civilization in any meaningful way.
Posted by: Mike || 09/09/2010 12:39 Comments || Top||

#11  So feel free to burn, step on, or use as TP their "holy book". It is just bound paper, of no inherent value, and there are far more where it came from.

If its good enough for the Sears Catalog its good enough for the Koran.

Well said Mr Moose
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 09/09/2010 12:44 Comments || Top||

#12  Hold on a second, I wanna play what would mo do?

There is the possibility, since the guy couldn't read, after succombing the community one way or another he would gather and burn any and all books so that he would be the ultimate authority in any matter.

I'm not sure who Jim is or why he is qualified to have an opinion, and I do not necessarily disagree with his premis, but in fact there are many instances where items which are part of the family of "technology product which conveys ideas", of which books belong to, have been destroyed and celebrated. Flags and effigies are representative of ideas same as books. What about draft cards? That is paper and ink same as the korn. I have seen hippies smoke Bible j's at a 420 rally. What was the crap movie where the world got cold real quick and the kids trapped in the library burned the books to keep warm? I'm pretty sure there isn't a giant warehouse storing all the old school text books. I used a newspaper to start a campfire and cook food and I was kinda happy to eat what does that make me?

So yeah Jim go about your day talking like pop culture and pop literature is the ultimate authority. I've read the thing and seen the cultures it inpires so to paraphrase Chris Rock, "I wouldn't do it...but I understand why."
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/09/2010 12:46 Comments || Top||

#13  What is needed is to change the prominent paradigm.
Instead of being a Koran burning , they should change the title to a celebration of Ramadan.
So far since Ramadan started 28 days ago, there has been 201 terror attacks by the Religion of Pieces. Dead bodies associated with said glorious terror attacks by the religion of Pieces number 937 and about 1700 seriously injured.
A drum roll as each glorious attack is commemorated should accompany each Koran as it is fed to the flames to glorify the god of the death cult, Islam.
Posted by: tipper || 09/09/2010 13:24 Comments || Top||

#14  If a crazy imam somewhere in the Middle East burned 200 copies of the Bible, would anyone care? Would it even be news? Would anyone be imploring him not to, for fear of provoking acts of terrorism?

No.

When it comes to book burning, not all books are equal.

Most of the hammering this guy is getting is from people who have already consciously or subconsciously cowed themselves to the notion of Exceptional Deference to Islam.

It's just a nutter burning books - it's not the second coming of the Nazis. It would be a total non-story except for the fact that he's burning the Koran.
Posted by: Bulldog || 09/09/2010 14:05 Comments || Top||

#15  To put things in perspective:
The US military did burn Bibles to make sure they would not end up in Afghan hands, i.e. with an intent to censor information.

Double standard?
Posted by: Omaing White7048 || 09/09/2010 14:15 Comments || Top||

#16  Farenheit 451 & Nazi Germany are poor examples. WRT book burnings and the aforementioned - Both were state or quasi-state sponsored events. At the end of the day this goofball in Fla is a private citizen and protected by the 1st Amendment. Instead of kowtowing to the panty-bunched muslims our leaders ought to be extoling the virtues of a free society where the rights of citizens to say what they think are protected even if you disagree w/the content of their speech.
Posted by: Broadhead6 || 09/09/2010 14:18 Comments || Top||

#17  Tipper __ let me riff on your idea a bit, stealing from todays Day-by-Day cartoon.

Read a sura from the Koran that directly opposes a section of the US Constitution and let the audience decide what writing should be consigned to the flames.
Posted by: Mercutio || 09/09/2010 14:37 Comments || Top||

#18  The firebrand is likely to cancel the burning before Saturday. He is under strong pressure to do so. Reports include word of the church's insurance cancelled and the bank demanding full repayment immediately.

Perhaps the Pastor can take a leaf from the death cult's notebook and practise a little taquiya himself. Tell the media the burning is cancelled. Then go ahead and do it anyway.
Posted by: Swanimote || 09/09/2010 14:55 Comments || Top||

#19  Up is down, left is right.

Actually, a FIREMAN is the protagonist/hero of the book, and the moral dilemmas driving the plot run the good to evil spectrum amongst the firemen.

Enough literary criticism - on to symbolism.

Why doesn't the pastor simply claim this is performance art, apply for an NEA grant, and invite PBS and NPR to "document" the event?

It's been done before.
Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division || 09/09/2010 15:02 Comments || Top||

#20  Phucking A, would somebody just go quietly burn some Korans, film it, and after the fact post it on Youtube. All this analysis paralysis is just the thing to distract from the real meaning pyro pastor is trying to broadcast which is: We will brook no nonsense from your Sharia and other despicable religo-culture.
Posted by: Entertaining Prose || 09/09/2010 15:39 Comments || Top||

#21  Ooops. Religo-culture
Posted by: Entertaining Prose || 09/09/2010 15:41 Comments || Top||

#22  Crap...despicable religious culture.
Posted by: Entertaining Prose || 09/09/2010 15:42 Comments || Top||

#23  Apparently the fact it's a book bothers some. Fine. Let's compromise in the way that the Muslims do.

Burn their prophet in effigy, then everyone can be happy. I hear bacon grease makes a nice flammable substance.

Oh and someone should build a shrine to Vlad the Impaler next to the ground zero mosque. Complete with impaled puppets outside, that twitch and writhe while screaming. After all, it's a free country, supposedly.

Honestly, that we even have to discuss it pisses me off. I don't care if they burn them or not. If I have to care about everything people set on fire, I wouldn't have time to burn my brush pile while giving the EPA the finger.
Posted by: Silentbrick || 09/09/2010 15:58 Comments || Top||

#24  Burn the black flag of jihad, then piss on the ashes.
Posted by: mojo || 09/09/2010 16:04 Comments || Top||

#25  I keep mulling over in my mind the images of the WTC on fire, the people jumping off the building to escape the fire, and the fire at the Pentagon. The SOBs who did this would have killed 300,000 or 3 million if they could have. Islam is not the religion of peace. It gets demonstrated day after day in horrible ways. Screw em. If the minister wants to burn the Koran, have at it--just another book. Books get destroyed everyday, they go out of print, they get shredded, re-cycled, etc. Basically, this is a distraction.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/09/2010 16:09 Comments || Top||

#26  Don't just burn them. Read them first. Then burn them. At least then you'll know why burning them would be a good thing for the universe.
Posted by: Goober Goobelopolous || 09/09/2010 16:09 Comments || Top||

#27  I've used phone books for target practice to see how far a round penetrates.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/09/2010 16:15 Comments || Top||

#28  Hot on the heels of the AP refusing to cover the story, now FOX News has announced it will not cover the story, either.

Granted, a big chunk of Fox (5%, second only to Murdock) is now owned by Saudi oil sheik Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, who was throwing his weight around the minute he bought it, and has continued to do so, with no protest from Murdock.

In 2002, he said, “Arabs should focus more on penetrating U.S. public opinion as a means to influencing decision-making”.

Rudy Giuliani turned down $10m offered by the Prince after 9-11, that was seen as a clear example of "blood money", paid in Islam in exchange for not seeking revenge against a murderer.

The Prince has also paid $20m each to Georgetown and Harvard Universities, $500,000 to CAIR, and $27m to the families of Palestinian suicide bomber "martyrs".
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/09/2010 16:16 Comments || Top||

#29  The Prince's money came from us. We buy oil from Saudi Arabia. This guy gets richer than midas. All because we don't have a coherent energy policy leading to energy independence from OPEC and the Saudis.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/09/2010 16:21 Comments || Top||

#30  Jerry Pournelle (the chap who sold SDI to Reagan) has some remarks on the subject

I also note from what I saw of his collection of books to be burned, none is a Koran. The Koran is explicit: it cannot be translated, and any copy in any language other than the original Arabic is not a Koran and must not be considered a Koran by any Islamic scholar. None of the books I saw in his collection are Arabic. Now he intends to be insulting and insulting he can be by burning a translation, but blasphemous against Islam (which I presume is his intent) he cannot be without an Arabic copy. Actually one wonders whether any such overt action of an infidel is any more sacrilegious than the existence of the infidel who has not submitted to Islam nor submitted to dhimmitude by paying tribute.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/09/2010 16:47 Comments || Top||

#31  Just cannot remember who quoted " those who burn books, also burn people" or words to that effect.
Posted by: pikestaff || 09/09/2010 17:18 Comments || Top||

#32  When Fred Phelps backs your cause, it might just be time to re-evaluate
Posted by: Frank G || 09/09/2010 19:24 Comments || Top||

#33  koranpyrophobia n. An unfounded human fear of the burning of an innately useless, manmade object.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/09/2010 19:45 Comments || Top||

#34  Seems to me that a lot of the pundits oppose to this stunt were fine with the piss Christ art thing
Posted by: Rjschwarz || 09/09/2010 20:35 Comments || Top||

#35  We are indeed surrounded by a sea of surrender monkeys. My dear Doctor, how much longer might we have?
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/09/2010 21:09 Comments || Top||

#36  @Anonymoose

I don't want people to burn books, no matter whst books it is.

I want Christians even less to burn books. There were times when the Catholic Church relished in book burning. Books that included the Talmud.

We don't do this anymore.

We don't stone people either just because THEY do
Posted by: European Conservative || 09/09/2010 21:38 Comments || Top||

#37  Apparently Phelps not only backs the cause, but will go ahead with the pyre if the Florida event is called off. (HT WZ)

Ladies and Gentlemen, I think a solution has presented itself where everyone gets a little win.

Thanks for the link g(r)om, good stuff there.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/09/2010 21:43 Comments || Top||

#38  "Apparently Phelps not only backs the cause, but will go ahead with the pyre if the Florida event is called off."

Which could potentially take care of two problems at once, swksvolFF (if you know what I mean).
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/09/2010 23:10 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
12 US Soldiers Accused Of War Crimes
Twelve American soldiers face charges over a secret "kill team" that allegedly blew up and shot Afghan civilians at random and collected their fingers as trophies.

Five of the soldiers are charged with murdering three Afghan men who were allegedly killed for sport in separate attacks this year. Seven others are accused of covering up the killings and assaulting a recruit who exposed the murders when he reported other abuses, including members of the unit smoking hashish stolen from civilians.

In one of the most serious accusations of war crimes to emerge from the Afghan conflict, the killings are alleged to have been carried out by members of a Stryker infantry brigade based in Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/09/2010 07:47 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The charges will be considered by a military grand jury ..

There is no military grand jury in the American system. There is an Article 32 investigation conducted by a 'disinterested' officer as appointed by the command. Disinterested is meant as someone who has no duty or non-duty related interaction/business with the individuals and the unit in which the events occurred.
Posted by: Procopius2k || 09/09/2010 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2 
This is The Grauniad, so salt liberally.
Posted by: Parabellum || 09/09/2010 9:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Got to make the US military look like crap to help bolster their Muslim friends.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 9:12 Comments || Top||

#4  and collected their fingers as trophies

Yeah. Right. And they kept these fingers in a box in their footlockers.
Posted by: gorb || 09/09/2010 10:53 Comments || Top||

#5  No Gorb, the tradition is to string the fingers as a necklace and wear them around the neck, makes them look Fierce.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/09/2010 11:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Hey Jim, isn't that what some of the Arab units did to the Israel soldiers they killed in the first couple wars they had? I have a book that talks about some of the units bragging about the number of ears or some thing they collected of the Jews.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 12:27 Comments || Top||


#8  Thanks moose.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 14:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Um..... Those aren't fingers.
Posted by: Mark E. || 09/09/2010 17:27 Comments || Top||

#10  Sorry RJ/Markee, Finger tips are collected to send 'back home' for prints. The entire phalange is sent so there is something to hold while printing, and the larger knuckles are easier to separate.

Marke, I don't know how it is in your world, but here there would only be one per victim.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/09/2010 22:47 Comments || Top||


Our troops are dying for this?
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/09/2010 01:28 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You sound surprised.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/09/2010 1:37 Comments || Top||

#2  James A. Michener's classic novel Caravans, set in Afghanistan in 1946, has an extensive description of this depraved dancing boy tradition.

*Spoilers*

The hero, a young American diplomat named Mark Miller, and his Afghan traveling companions watch a troup of them in Kandahar. They are accompanied by a German doctor who carries on a desultory practice in the town. After the show, a tribesman from the hills and a local policeman both try to buy the prize dancer for the night. Miller and his friends recognize the tribesman. They had given him a lift into town earlier in the day, commenting on his unusual apparel, a European style woman's coat that is apparently the man's prize possession. A fight breaks out, the policeman is killed and the tribesman arrested.

The next day, Miller, his westernized Afghan companions and the German doctor witness the aftermath as the dead policeman's father takes his lawful revenge under the supervision of local mullahs.
Miller is horrified when he learns what is to happen: A ritual beheading in the town square. His Afghan friends are humiliated but they stay with Miller as the scene unfolds. Before the actual cutting can begin, the German doctor rushes into the street and remonstrates with the father and the judges. Miller is relieved until he learns that the doctor only wants the father to work from the other side of the body so the light will be better for the photographs the doctor intends to take.
The father politely changes sides and goes to work with a rusty bayonet. He finishes and triumphantly waves the head to the cheering crowd.

The scene ends with the dancing boy and the avenged father walking away arm-in-arm. The father is wearing the now very dead tribesman's prize possession, the fancy coat. Miller is overwhelmed with the bizarre hellish insanity of the scene and goes into uncontrollable fits of laughter, while his Afghan friends are utterly disgusted and ashamed.

The whole thing is described in exacting, even mesmerizing, detail, including the homo-erotic dance and, later, the gruesome beheading. Michener, who went to Afghanistan to research the book, says in his notes that he did not actually witness such a scene but arrived in a small town just days after one. A European doctor had in fact intervened to improve the lighting for his pictures and had helpfully supplied Michener with copies.
Posted by: Atomic Conspiracy || 09/09/2010 5:32 Comments || Top||

#3  No B-Ker, this isn't why we're over here for. The Brothers who we lower the flag for (about twice a week on average here in RC-South) are killed keeping the fight on this side of the pond, away from the USA. 9-11 was a Painful Home Game, now we are trying to make all the rest "Away" games. I just Pray that the current Administration will let us do what we need to do.

For God and Country, Bodyguard
Posted by: Bodyguard || 09/09/2010 9:12 Comments || Top||

#4  From home and hearth, thank for that important reminder, dear Bodyguard.

Fondly,
trailing wife
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/09/2010 18:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Yes I know Bodyguard. Far too many ramp ceremonies. Far too many.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/09/2010 18:38 Comments || Top||

#6  http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-08-29/opinion/22949948_1_karzai-family-afghan-men-president-hamid-karzai

screw the bbc, they are spineless onn so many counts.
Posted by: Kojo Cromble5733 || 09/09/2010 18:43 Comments || Top||

#7  amen, Bodyguard, and thanks
Posted by: Frank G || 09/09/2010 20:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Charlie Mike, BG.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/09/2010 22:51 Comments || Top||


Suicide Attacker Kills 2 in Northern Afghanistan
[Tolo News] At least 2 coppers were killed and 1 other was maimed in a suicide kaboom on Wednesday morning in the northern Baghlan province, local officials say

The incident happened at 10:30am on Wednesday in Pul-e-Khumri, the provincial capital of Baghlan province, Ahmad Jawid Basharat, a front man for the Police Chief of Baghlan told TOLOnews.

Taliban have grabbed credit for the attack, saying three commanders of the village police force were killed in the blast.

Security has deteriorated in Baghlan in the past several months, and Taliban have recently warned civilians not to go to the polls.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Marines take back pirate-held ship off Somalia
U.S. Marine commandos stormed a pirate-held cargo vessel off the Somalia coast Thursday, reclaiming control of the ship and taking nine prisoners without firing a shot, the U.S. Navy said.

A spokesman at the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, said the operation took about an hour and no injuries were reported among the Marines or crew of the German-owned Magellan Star, which was commandeered by pirates on Wednesday.

The U.S. team from the 15th MEU’s Maritime Raid Force launched the assault from aboard the USS Dubuque, an amphibious transport ship, a U.S. Navy statement said.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/09/2010 09:41 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  AU.S. Navy spokesman said Thursday's raid didn't necessarily signal a change in tactics in the U.S. response to pirate attacks. But because commanders had resources available this time around, they decided to act.

"This is a case of us having the right people, with the right capabilities at the right place and at the right time," said Lt. John Fage, a spokesman for the U.S. Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/09/2010 10:16 Comments || Top||

#2  Was this assault approved by the UN? Were any pirates injured? Will the pirates be compensated and returned to Somalia?
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/09/2010 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Without a shot fired. Sounds like all the Marines have to do is show up and the pirates poop their pants. Nice work, men.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 09/09/2010 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  I understand the pirates chew Qat before hijacking and hash after to come down.

Qat consumption induces mild euphoria and excitement. A meta-analysis in The Lancet has stated that qat creates a pleasuring effect to the same degree as ecstasy. Individuals become very talkative under the influence of the drug and may appear to be unrealistic and emotionally unstable. The effects of oral administration of cathinone occur more rapidly than the effects of amphetamine, roughly 15 minutes as compared to 30 minutes in amphetamine. Qat can induce manic behaviors and hyperactivity.
Posted by: phil_b || 09/09/2010 12:46 Comments || Top||

#5  More racist oppression from the running dogs of colonialists /sarc
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 09/09/2010 13:04 Comments || Top||

#6  Commandeered?

Good stuff Marines.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/09/2010 16:04 Comments || Top||

#7  When you need to fight, open a can of Marines. I hear they ship worldwide.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 16:49 Comments || Top||

#8  What the marines found when they arrived was a safe room where the crew was holed up. That, he said, was “very smart, very wise.” The crew of the vessel, the M/V Magellan Star, continued to communicate with the marines as they were boarding and rounding up the pirates, who are being detained on the cruiser USS Princeton. They let marines know "we're safe; we're in here," Berger said.

The raid to retake the ship from the pirates lasted three hours, from the “first marine on to the last guy off,” he added. The 24-member raid force from the USS Dubuque conducted the rescue, which was approved by President Obama, according to defense officials. The USS Dubuque was on its way to a training exercise in Jordan when the ship sent out a distress call. The marines entered the ship by water while helicopters conducted surveillance overhead.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/09/2010 19:49 Comments || Top||

#9  Force Recon. The men who did the deed.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/09/2010 20:05 Comments || Top||

#10  to: The Pirates
from: Camp Pendleton Marines

Hellooooo!

/with video
Posted by: Frank G || 09/09/2010 20:33 Comments || Top||

#11  Has Obama / Holder filed charges against the marines yet?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 09/09/2010 21:18 Comments || Top||

#12  "taking nine prisoners without firing a shot"

Too bad. Better luck next time.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/09/2010 22:01 Comments || Top||

#13  ROE from above, no doubt, double taps ruled out
Posted by: Frank G || 09/09/2010 22:49 Comments || Top||


Mogadishu fighting claims 3 civilians
(Xinhua) -- Three civilians were killed in fighting between Somalia's Islamic militants and the African Union (AU) backed government forces in the Horn of Africa nation's capital Mogadishu Tuesday, various sources say.

The Islamist group of Al Shabaab last week declared an all-out war against the Somali government forces and AU peacekeeping troops based in Mogadishu and the groups have since launched relentless attacks on government and AU forces.
All-out war and relentless attacks have resulted in the death of a mere three civilians? The vicious idiots are off their game.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Shabaab


Mombasa court sentances seven Somali pirates to five years
(Xinhua)—Seven Somali men origin were sentenced on Monday to five years in jail by a Mombasa court for piracy.

The suspects appeared to breath a sigh of relief when the judgment was delivered to them by Chief Magistrate Rosemelle Mutoka. The sentence is seen as the "most lenient" punishment meted out against pirates since Kenya agreed to handle and prosecute piracy cases.

In 2006, a first group of Somali pirates were sentenced to seven years while earlier this year, another seven were jailed for 20 years.

On Monday their lawyer, Jared Magolo, took time to explain to the court why his clients should be released, and argued that their continual stay will be more of a burden to the taxpayer since they have to be fed and clothed.

The suspects were charged with attacking a German Ship, MV Spessart in March this year and causing fear among the crew of the ship.

The court was told that they were armed with AK-47 assault rifles, rocket propelled grenades (RPG), skiffs and other weapons which they used to terrorize the crew.

The magistrate said, "this court is sending a very loud message to Somalia youths that piracy does not pay and they should not engage in it."

The suspects however in mitigation told the court they had changed after staying at the Shimo La Tewa prison for many months adding that they had wives and children back in Somalia.

One of the suspects, Mohammed Ahmed, said through an interpretor, "We have been rehabilitated and it now time for us to launch a massive campaign against piracy, we are remorseful about what we did, what we have gone through is punishment enough."

Magolo compared the prison with others in other countries terming their stay in Kenya as torturous and asking the court to be lenient when making the ruling.

State counsel Alexander Muteti had earlier told the court piracy had a negative impact in the region, and asked for them to be punished severely so as to be a lesson to others in future.

The suspects were asked to appeal against the judgment in 14 days.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Pirates

#1  The suspects however in mitigation told the court they had changed

Lie didn't work Hunh.
Too bad you didn't swing.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/09/2010 11:13 Comments || Top||


Somali Pirates take Maltese vessel
[Pak Daily Times] Pirates hijacked a Maltese-flagged Greek owned commerical chemical tanker off the coast of Somalia, said EU NAVFOR Wednesday.

The MV OLIB G was seized in the internationally recommended transit corridor while it was sailing west through the Gulf of Aden, EU NAVFOR said. The vessel has 18 crew members including 15 Georgians and 3 Turks. Reports say the ship's cargo was "ballast".

EU NAVFOR is the European Union's counter-piracy effort in the Horn of Africa region.

A helicopter crew from the USS Princeton, Task Force 151, patrolling the area identified two pirates on board the hijacked vessel, according to an EU NAVFOR statement.

Heavy seas in the last few months have preceded a sharp decline in the number of piracy attacks off the Horn of Africa nation.

Reports say Ecoterra International, the Nairobi-based organization monitoring piracy off Somalia, said the vessel may be involved in "illegal waste dumping".
Is that anything like ballast?
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
721 inmates freed in Nigeria's prison break
(Xinhua) -- The police in northeast Nigeria's Bauchi State on Wednesday said 721 inmates of the prison that was attacked by suspected extremist Mohammedan group, Boko-Haram were set free by the attackers.

State Commissioner of police Danlami Yar' Adua disclosed this to Xinhua in Bauchi, adding that four persons were confirmed dead in the prison break attack.

He said one soldier, a police man and two non-combatants were killed during the attack last night. He added that three prison warders including some civilians were seriously injured.

Meanwhile, the state governor Isa Yuguda has warned members of the Boko Haram sect to leave the state or be flushed out forcefully.

Yuguda gave the warning on Wednesday while inspecting the Bauchi Central Prison which was attacked by members of the group on Tuesday evening.

The attackers invaded the prison and set free all its inmates, some of whom were their colleagues. They also burnt some vehicles parked within the prison yard.

"Let me warn all Boko Haram members to steer clear of Bauchi and relocate outside this country or be prepared to face their waterloo," the governor said.

Yuguda also visited the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Teaching Hospital, Bauchi, where he sympathized with the injured victims receiving medical attention. He directed that they should be given free medical attention and sympathized with the relatives of those who lost their lives in the attack.

Before the attack, the prison had played host to more than 100 suspected members of the group who are opposed to Western education. The suspects were awaiting trial for their alleged role in the last Boko Haram violence in the state.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Al-Qaeda claims Yemen series of attacks: report
[Al Arabiya] Al-Qaeda said it carried out a series of attacks on security forces in Yemen, including deadly clashes in the restive south, a U.S.-based group that monitors Islamist websites reported.

Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the jihadist network's local affiliate, put out three statements saying that it was behind the violence, the SITE Intelligence Group said late on Tuesday.

The gunnies said they carried out six recent attacks in Abyan province in the south, including an assault on an army post in the town of Jaar in late August in which 11 soldiers and a civilian were killed.

They claimed the Aug. 27 assassination of Mohammed Faree, deputy director of criminal investigation unit in Marib, east of the capital Sanaa.

And they claimed a prominent role in deadly clashes in the Abyan province town of Loder last month that exiled southern leaders had said involved autonomist and pro-independence muscle.

Al-Qaeda said its gunnies killed 50 soldiers in the clashes and suffered no losses of their own.

Three days of intense fighting in Loder killed at least 33 people, 19 of them bad boys, according to an AFP tally based on official and hospital reports.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Arabia


Caribbean-Latin America
Colima: Five dead, three wounded in shooting
Google Translate. For a map, click here.
Eight individuals were shot during a private card game in a used car lot in Villa de Alvarez, Colima Wednesday afternoon, according to Mexican press accounts.

The attack took place at the El Gallo de Oro used car dealer where a number of individuals were playing and watching a private card game beneath a tree inside the business perimeter.

Reports say armed suspects came to the place of business and shot participants and spectators using AR-15 and AK-47 assault rifles after exchanging words with some of the victims.

Four of the shooting victims died at the scene, while the fifth, an unidentified 15 year old male, died on the way to receiving medical attention.

Immediately following the shooting the suspects fled the area aboard a pickup truck which was waiting for them.
Posted by: badanov || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  High stakes poker?
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/09/2010 9:41 Comments || Top||


More Mexican Mayhem
15 Die in Northern Mexico

Fifteen individuals were murdered in ongoing drug and gang lreated violence in northern Mexican state including a former police officer and his wife shot to death in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, and five armed suspects killed by police in Padilla, Nuevo Leon.
For a map, click here
  • Two young men were shot to death in two separate incidents in Juarez Tuesday evening, according to the Mexican daily La Polaka. Alejandro Varela was shot to death near the intersection of calles Coquena and Tildio in the Granjas de Chapultepec district. Varela was visiting a girlfriend when he was found and executed by armed suspects. The second crime took place near the intersection of calles Oso Polar and Lince in the ECO 2000 district where a man tentatively identified as Jonathan Lóoez, in his 20s, was shot to death by a group of armed suspects aboard a sedan. Several .40 caliber spent cartridge casings were found at the scene.

  • A second disruption at the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Aquiles Serdan was halted by prison staff Tuesday night after a few warning shots were fired, say Mexican press accounts. Tensions between rival gangs were intensified by prison officials' reaction to another disruption last Sunday, when visiting day was cancelled, is said to be a cause of the latest fight. The Aquiles Serdan CERESO is about five kilometers due east of Chihuahua, Chihuahua.

  • An unidentified man was shot to death early Wednesday morning in Juarez, say Mexican press accounts. The victim was found in just his underwear with a gunshot wound to the head near the intersection of Bulevar Independencia and Calle Santiago Troncoso just before morning rush hour. A poster board inscribed with the word extortion was found nearby.

  • An unidentified man was found shot to death at the site of a burned out motorcycle shop in Juarez Wednesday, according to Mexican news accounts. The victim was found with a note that said the victim refused to pay, probably an individual who failed to pay protection money. Reports say the victim was abducted prior to his murder.

  • A young female law student was shot to death in Juarez Wednesday, say Mexican press reports. Eva Araly Chavez Alarcon, 21, died near a cell phone store near the intersection of Avenida Las Torres and Calle Santiago Troncoso. The armed suspect who did the shooting fled the area. Chavez Alarcon was a student at Universidad Regional del Norte law school.

  • Two unidentified food vendors were shot to death in Juarez Wednesday, say Mexican press sources. The attack took place near the intersection of calles Mina and Membrila where the two victims, owners of a fried snack store dubbed Frituras Caseras La Rana, were shot. Reports say the pair failed to pay protection money to organized crime.

  • A guardhouse at the Centro de Readaptacion Social (CERESO) in Aquiles Serdan was fired on by unidentified assailants early Wednesday morning, according to Mexican news sources. About ten shots were fired from a vehicle which then sped away. Reports say 9mm spent shells were found nearby.

  • A former police officer and his wife were shot to death in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon Wednesday, according to Mexican news reports. Juan Alberto Torres Rodriguez, 35, and Miriam Saucedo Alvear, 33, were sitting inside their Dodge Stratus near the intersection of Pedro Celestino Negrete and 18 de Marzo on the Tallere district when a single armed suspect shot the pair using a 9mm pistol. The shooting took place outside Alvear Electronics, where the armed suspect lay in wait. The business is owned by Miriam Alvear's brother. Torres Rodriguez was formerl an officer in the San Nicholas, Nuevo Leon police corporation.

  • Five men were killed in an armed confrontation between security forces and gangs Wednesday morning in Padilla, Tamaulipas, say Mexican news accounts. The battle took place on the Ciudad Victoria-Matamoros highway about 35 kilometers northeast of Ciudad Victoria. No other details are available.

  • An unidentified man was shot to death in Juarez Wednesday afternoon, say Mexican press accounts. The attack took place near the intersection of calles Leyva and Peral in the Chihuahua district where a lone armed suspect shot the victim five times.
Posted by: badanov || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Many dead in North Ossetia blast
At least 16 people have been killed and 114 others maimed in an apparent car suicide kaboom in a market in Vladikavkaz, a major city in Russia's North Caucasus region.

Russia said it was launching an investigation into what it described as an "act of terror" on Thursday, while Dmitry Medvedev, the president, vowed to capture the "bastards" who organised the attack.

"We will do everything to capture these monsters ... these bastards, who carried out a terrorist act on ordinary people," he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

"We will do everything to find and punish them."

No group has yet grabbed credit for the bombing - the deadliest attack since twin suicide kabooms on Moscow metro network in March killed 40 people and maimed over 100.

Vladikavkaz is the capital of the Russian republic of North Ossetia, which lies in the restive North Caucasus region.

The bomb, which was said to be packed with metal bars, bolts and ball bearings, was detonated at the entrance to the city's market where buyers and traders were operating.

Vladikavkaz's market and its surrounding blocks has been the target of several bomb attacks over the past decade or so, in which scores of people have died.

Neave Barker, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Moscow, said children were believed to be among the dead and injured.

According to the AFP news agency the corpse count rose to 16 after an 18-month-old toddler died of his injuries.

Our correspondent said that the attack could have been a "message" from separatist fighters that "the authorities and the people of the North Caucasus remain as vulnerable as they were six years ago when the Beslan siege took place, despite an increase in counter-insurgency operations".

He added that local authorities in the province said they received an anonymous threat to blow up an unspecified school in Vladikavkaz on Thursday, leading to all schools and kindergartens being evacuated.

Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister, said the country must not let attacks like these continue.

"Criminals like those who acted today in the North Caucasus hope to sow hatred between our peoples. We have no right to let this happen," he said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 12:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria

#1  Islamic terrorists from Chechnya again?
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 13:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Could be terrorists, could be criminals. Interesting timing, yesterday Moscow accused Tbilisi of training militants covertly in Georgia for operations in Russia.
Posted by: jefe101 || 09/09/2010 15:02 Comments || Top||


The Grand Turk
Turkish police seize 21 kilograms of plastic explosives
(Xinhua) -- Turkish police confiscated nearly 21 kilograms of plastic explosives in the southern province of Adana on Tuesday, an official statement said.

Acting on a tip-off, anti-smuggling teams waged an operation to a house in Adana to seize illicit drugs, but instead they found A- 4 plastic explosives that belonged to the illegal Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), said the statement from the governor's office of Adana.

Two people were detained in the operation, added the statement.

Commenting on the operation, Adana police department's head Salih Kesmez said the explosives were going to be used in terrorist attacks to be waged in Turkey's major cities.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


India-Pakistan
US Predators strike in Pakistan for 4th time in 24 hours
US Predators struck yet again in Pakistain's Taliban-controlled tribal agency of North Wazoo.

Six Taliban fighters, including some possibly from Afghanistan, were killed and five more were critically maimed in an attack on a compound in Miramshah, the main town in North Wazoo.

"Two US drones fired three missiles" at the compound, a Pak intelligence official told AFP. "We have reports that six gunnies were killed."

The Taliban reportedly cordoned off the area and are attempting to recover the dead and maimed from the rubble. No senior Taliban, Haqqani Network, or al Qaeda commanders have been reported killed at this time.

Miramshah is in the sphere of influence of the Haqqani Network, the al Qaeda-linked Taliban group led by mujahedeen commander Jalaluddin Haqqani and his son Siraj. The Haqqani family runs the Manba Ulom madrassa in Danda Darpa Khel, a village just outside of Miramshah that serves as a hub of activity for the terror group.

The strike is the fourth recorded in the past 24 hours. In the four strikes combined, 24 faceless myrmidons were reported killed. Earlier today, US Predators or the more powerful Reapers struck twice in Danda Darpa Khel and once in Datta Khel, a known hub for al Qaeda's leadership.

North Wazoo is a known haven for the Taliban, the Haqqani Network, al Qaeda, and a host of Pak and Central and South Asian terror groups, but the Pak military has refused to carry out an operation to root them out. The Pak military maintains a garrison in Miramshah, but it is confined to base while the US is forced to carry out airstrikes against the terror groups.

The number of strikes is unprecedented, as the US has yet to carry out four strikes in a 24-hour period since the campaign began in 2004 and was ramped up in July 2008.

With today's strikes, the US has carried out 62 attacks inside Pakistain this year. The US exceeded last year's strike total of 53 with a strike in Kurram late last month. In 2008, the US carried out 36 strikes inside Pakistain. [For up-to-date charts on the US air campaign in Pakistain, see LWJ Special Report, Charting the data for US airstrikes in Pakistain, 2004 - 2010.]


Posted by: tipper || 09/09/2010 13:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Setting my cookie --
Posted by: Sherry || 09/09/2010 15:12 Comments || Top||

#2  ...while we settle their hash.
Posted by: SteveS || 09/09/2010 15:23 Comments || Top||


Kashmir protests as India arrests Geelani
[Iran Press] Protests continue in Indian-administered Kashmir as security forces arrest a top pro-independent leader in the disputed Himalayan region.

Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Chairman of All Parties Hurriyat Conference, was arrested at his residence in the state capital, Srinagar, after threatening to intensify anti-India demonstrations.

The arrest of the 82-year-old has spearheaded fresh protests in the region. Indian Paramilitary troops fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the protesters.

Police sources said Geelani was arrested for causing "breach of peace" in the valley. Geelani had earlier called for the withdrawal of Indian troops and investigations into the killing of civilians during the unrest.

Currently a curfew continues for the second consecutive day in Srinagar and other major towns of the region.

The fresh wave of protests was sparked when Indian forces shot a student dead in June.

Around 70 people have been killed during the demonstrations over the past three months.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Govt bans five militant groups in Balochistan
[Dawn] Pakistain announced a ban on five militant groups operating in the restive southwest and froze their assets on Wednesday, Interior Minister Rehman Malik said.

Violence has surged this year in Balochistan, which borders Afghanistan and Iran and is rife with separatist unrest as well as militancy and sectarian violence.

"Today five of them have been proscribed. They will not be allowed to undertake any activity, their offices will be closed and action will be taken against their office bearers," Malik told reporters.

"Their bank accounts have also been seized," said Malik, speaking in Quetta, where a boomer killed 59 people on Friday at a Shia Mohammedan rally.

The banned groups are the Balochistan Republican Army, Baloch Liberation Front, Balochistan Liberation United Front, Baloch Defaee Tanzeem and Lashkar-e-Balochistan, Malik said.

Malik said any organisation using the terms "liberation", "military" or "Lashkar" (army) in Balochistan would also face a ban.

The interior minister also announced that the federal government had given Balochistan's Chief Minister the authority to award police powers to the Frontier Constabulary (FC) to tackle the province's law and order situation.

Malik said every law enforcement action in the province will be led by the police, adding that this involves targeted action based on intelligence inputs.

He said police and FC will gather the intelligence in this regard and denied saying that there would be a Swat-style operation in the province.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Jihadi flood relief operation continues
[Pak Daily Times] A survey carried out by Daily Times has revealed that banned outfits such as Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Jaish-e-Muhammad and Harkatul Islami are collecting donations and goods for the flood-affected people in various areas of the country, including Karachi.

Their activities are being hailed by some quarters, who claim the government has failed to deal with the flood crisis. Security agencies are worried about the sudden rise in activities of such organisations that had previously been banned. A senior Interior Ministry official told Daily Times that, "They are going kinetic and collecting funds which probably would never reach to the victims. All this is being done right in front of our eyes. We are helpless."

When asked by Daily Times about his response on the presence of Taliban in Swat and other areas where US choppers are taking part in relief activities, General Nagata, the Office of the Defence Representative in Pakistan deputy commander, said, "There are some security challenges here but the Pakistani military, ever since we stood up this task force, has simply done an incredibly energetic and totally committed job at providing multiple layers of security around out activities both in the air and on the ground." In the coming days, more than 17 US helicopters are going to join the existing US fleet in Pakistan for flood relief efforts.

Talking to Daily Times, Ataur Rehman, who heads LeT's mother organisation Jamaatud Dawa, says, "We are strictly working for humanity and in true spirit of Islam. The government had failed in providing relief efforts so we came in to fill the void by providing ambulances, boats and shelter." When asked why the Punjab government allocated Rs 300 million in its annual budget for the JuD, Rehman hung up the phone. "While the jihadists won't be deterred from exploiting the natural calamity to their ideological advantage, not stopping them would be compromising whatever we did to counter terrorism in Pakistan," a high-ranking police official told Daily Times.

"But there's no law to stop volunteers from doing humanitarian work and there's a lack of political will," sad the official. An Islamabad-based policy expert told Daily Times that, "The jihadis are cleverly making a case that it's actually them who provided help and not the present government which is as dangerous as it gets." The Interior Ministry sources expressed their disappointment over the Punjab government for not taking action against JuD and other terrorist organisations involved in carrying out flood relief operations.

Another Interior Ministry official told Daily Times that there was no coordination between the federal and the Punjab governments. In Karachi, where the JuD had only resurfaced under the name of Falah-e-Insaniyat Foundation Pakistan, it has set up dozens of relief camps. "We pay the police to carry out our operations in Karachi since we are a banned organization," said a JuD member who identified himself as Muhammad. Interestingly the JuD and Harkat's camps had Jamaat-e-Islami's flags on them. A Western diplomat who's been active in relief efforts expressed his disappointment over the situation. "We have no other option. But what worries me is why Pakistan hasn't learned anything from the past when it allowed jihadi outfits free space? Nevertheless, it is business as usual in Pakistan," the diplomat said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Pakistan holds 3 over failed Times Square bomb
[Al Arabiya] Pakistain's police have jugged three suspects linked to a Pak-American accused in New York of the attempted car bombing of Times Square, a senior police official said Wednesday.

The three were detained in Pakistain's capital, Islamabad, two weeks ago and had been interrogated for several days, police said.

"It has been proved that they had links with Faisal Shehzad (the car-bombing suspect jugged in New York) and had transferred money to him," Bani Amin, operations police chief in Islamabad, told AFP.

"Today we have lodged a formal case against them," said Amin, who named the three suspects as Shoaib Mughal, Mohammad Shahid and Hanbal Akhtar. All three are educated, relatively wealthy Paks.

He said the three suspects also had close links with Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) leaders Hakimullah Mehsud and Qari Hussain, whose organisation has grabbed credit for Shehzad's May 1 plot to bomb Times Square.

Mehsud is the chief of the TTP and Hussain is a jihad boy commander of a TTP faction known as "Ustad-e-Fidaeen," which trains boomers.

The TTP is based in Pakistain's tribal badlands on the Afghan border and has been blamed for some of the deadliest suicide kabooms in the nuclear-armed country.

Pakistain acknowledged on July 26 that Shehzad had met the country's Taliban commander and several other people.

In June Shehzad pleaded guilty in a New York court to the Times Square car bombing attempt and warned that the United States faced similar attacks until it left Mohammedan lands.

Sky News broadcast a video in July, showing Shehzad and Mehsud shaking hands, smiling and hugging some time before the failed May 1 attack.

At the request of the United States Pakistain has opened an investigation into possible links between Shehzad and jihad boy groups.

Pak-born Shehzad was pulled off a flight to Dubai two days after parking a car containing a bomb in Times Square.

He told a judge that he had undergone bomb-making training during a 40-day stay with the TTP in Pakistain, between December 9 and January 25.

On returning to the United States, Shehzad said, he had planned the bombing and had acted alone, telling the judge: "Nobody helped me."
By now everybody knows that jihadis are habitual liars. Generally not good liars, either.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  More whitewash to hide their own terrorist support?
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 8:23 Comments || Top||

#2  The headline should read "charges" not "Holds". They've been held for two weeks. Not to be pickey but the real news here is that there is now a formal case against the Jihadi boyz.
Posted by: DepotGuy || 09/09/2010 12:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Cleric decapitated, set on fire in Iraq
Jabbar Saleh al-Jibouri, a Sunni cleric, was killed before dawn in a village in Diyala province.

"The gunmen entered the house, stabbed him, cut his head off and set him alight," a police spokesman told Reuters. "Most probably the attack was based on terrorist motives because it happened in such a horrible way."

An unnamed source said Jibouri, who was also a medic, used to treat members of the government-backed Sahwa militia. Terrorists Insurgents frequently target the Sahwa, former Sunni jihadis who turned against al Qaeda.

Jibouri had recently returned to his old neighborhood after being displaced by al Qaeda in 2007. He was the relative of a senior member of the Iraqi Islamic Party.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/09/2010 13:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh, but the big problem in the Arab world is really a bunch of guys in Florida who want to burn a Koran.
Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain || 09/09/2010 14:41 Comments || Top||

#2  This is disrespect for Islam---I think I'm going to rage!
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/09/2010 16:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Islam is disrespect.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/09/2010 16:11 Comments || Top||

#4  I object to the picture. Orcs are more civilized than this bunch.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 09/09/2010 17:16 Comments || Top||

#5  The big problem Thing, is FLA was getting more press.
Posted by: Skidmark || 09/09/2010 22:38 Comments || Top||


Second Iraqi journalist killed in as many days
MOSUL, Iraq - A second television presenter was killed in Iraq in as many days on Wednesday, police said, after a watchdog reported that the war here has been the deadliest for the media since World War II. Sabah al-Khayat was shot dead in front of his house while departing for work at the Al-Mosuliyah satellite television station, where he presents a programme devoted to mosques and shrines in the main northern city of Mosul.

“Armed men shot the journalist Sabah al-Khayat in front of his house in central Mosul while he was leaving for work,” a police official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

His shooting came a day after Riad al-Saray, a prominent anchorman who presents political and religious programmes for state broadcaster Al-Iraqiya, was gunned down in west Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Red on red.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/09/2010 1:38 Comments || Top||


Four Killed in Bombs as Baghdad Bans Motorcycles
[Asharq al-Aswat] A car bomb and several roadside blasts killed four people and maimed dozens in Iraq on Wednesday as Storied Baghdad imposed a ban on motorcycles ahead of the Mohammedan holiday of Eid al-Fitr.

In the deadliest attack, a vehicle packed with explosives was detonated and quickly followed by an IED near a bus terminal in the south Baghdad neighbourhood of Bayaa, killing two people.

Officials from the ministries of defence and interior, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said more than 20 others were maimed, including 10 members of the Iraqi security forces.

And on Al-Sheikh Omar street in the centre of the capital, two near-simultaneous roadside bombs killed one person and maimed a dozen others, the interior ministry official and a doctor said.

Baghdad Operations Command also said that it was enforcing a ban on motorcycles in the city until further notice, ahead of the three-day Eid al-Fitr festivities which could begin Thursday to mark the end of the fasting month of Ramadan.

Bans on motorcycles -- which have been used in deadly attacks in Iraq -- are often implemented around major holidays in the country.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq


Three Iraqis killed, 29 injured in Baghdad bombings
(Xinhua) -- Three people were killed and another 29 were maimed in three bomb kabooms including twin bombings in Storied Baghdad on Wednesday, an Interior Ministry source told Xinhua.

A double bomb kabooms detonated simultaneously in Siekh Omer neighborhood in downtown Baghdad, killing a civilian and wounding five others, the source said on condition of anonymity.

Separately, two people were maimed after a bomb exploded near the Baghdad courts compound in al-Adel neighborhood in the west of the capital, the source said.

Earlier on Wednesday, at least two people were killed and 22 others were maimed in coordinated car bomb kabooms at a busy parking lot during the morning rush hours in al-Baiyaa neighborhood in southern Baghdad, the source said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Islamic State of Iraq


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Mortar shell explodes near nursery school in Shaar Hanegev
[KUNA] A Palestinian mortar shell landed near a nursery school at a kibbutz in Shaar Hanegev Regional Council, causing no casualties, Israeli army reported Wednesday. Yedioth Ahronot website quoted the Israeli army spokesperson as saying that the mortar shell was fired by Palestinian militants from northern Gaza Strip, landing near a nursery school in Shaar Hanegev. The mortar shell landed half an hour before the children arrived at school. No casualties were reported, but the nursery building was slightly damaged.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1 
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/09/2010 14:31 Comments || Top||


PNA denies arresting Hamas operatives behind West Bank attacks
(Xinhua) -- The Palestinian National Authority (PNA)
Have we upgraded from the PA (Palestinian Authority), which itself was an upgrade of the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization), and upgrade from Fatah (I don't remember what that stood for, sorry)? I really must do better at keeping up with such things.
on Monday denied reports saying the Hamas militants have been arrested in connection with recent attacks against Israelis in the West Bank, the Palestinian forces spokesman said.

"I don't confirm these news and we don't have any information indicting that those persons were detained," Adanan Damiri said.
They aren't detained, they've been invited over for tea. Lots and lots of tea, with lashings of, well, lashings. But it was an invitation, not a detention. So there!
On Tuesday, Israel's Haaretz newspaper reported that the Palestinian forces arrested two Hamas operatives who fired at an Israeli car near Ramallah city and wounded a couple on Sept. 1.

And on Aug. 31, four Jewish settlers were killed when their car came under fire near Hebron city. The Hamas, the PNA's rival which holds sway in Gaza, claimed responsibility for the two shootings.

Damiri said the Palestinian forces seized the vehicle that the Hamas gunmen used in Hebron attack and "there are some suspects who are being chased down."

Hamas carried out the attacks, the deadliest in West Bank in four years, on the eve of the launch of the direct peace negotiations between Israel and the PNA in Washington.

Meanwhile, the armed wing of the Hamas warned the PNA against continuing cracking down on its members and operatives in the occupied West Bank. "Our patience is running out," Ezz El-Deen al-Qassam Brigades said in a statement.

Damiri rejected Hamas' threats, saying they "don't terrify the PNA." He accused Hamas of restraining from attacking Israel from the Gaza Strip while "carrying out works to sabotage the efforts of the PNA" in the West Bank.
A neat variation on the "Let's you and him fight," theme.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas


Hamas members arrested over settler attacks
[Al Arabiya] The Paleostinian Authority has jugged several Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, members for organizing and carrying out two recent attacks on Israeli settlers, a senior official said late Tuesday, as Israel said that the West Bank will be sealed off during Jewish New Year celebrations.

The Paleostinian security official, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that two groups had been jugged but did not specify exactly how many members of the Islamist movement were under arrest.

The first attack on Aug. 31 claimed the lives of four settlers and the second on Sept. 1 maimed two people east of Ramallah, the official said.

"Senseless slaughter"
Hamas had grabbed credit for gunning down four Israelis on the West Bank and the Sept. 1 attack came the day before the first direct Israeli-Paleostinian talks for 20 months began in Washington.

Hamas later claimed to have made between 150 and 550 arrests over the killings but the Paleostinian Authority said this was an exaggerated figure.

U.S. President Barack B.O. Obama has branded the attack on two couples, including a pregnant woman, as "senseless slaughter," and warned about "Islamic fascisti and rejectionists who, rather than seeking peace, are going to be seeking destruction."

"The message should go out to Hamas and everybody else who is taking credit for these heinous crimes that this is not going to stop us from not only ensuring a secure Israel, but also securing a longer-lasting peace in which people throughout the region can take a different course," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu branded the killings "savagery and brutality."

Paleostinian president the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas said the September attack in Kiryat Arba, a West Bank settlement, was intended to "disrupt the political process."

Hamas, which rules Gazoo, is opposed to the peace talks and is a rival of Abbas's U.S.-backed Paleostinian Authority.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  Capture & release starts again.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/09/2010 13:52 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Maguindanao massacre witness: Ampatuans orders the killings
(Xinhua) -- A former house helper of a powerful clan implicated in the murder of at least 57 people in Southern Philippines testified to the lower court on Wednesday that his boss Ampatuan ordered the killings.

Lakmudin Saliao, a helper of the Ampatuan family for over 20 years, revealed to the court that Ampatuan patriarch former Maguindanao governor Andal Ampatuan Sr., his sons and their supporters conspired to kill everyone in the convoy which was on its way to file the certificate of candidacy of a rival politician.

Initially, the patriarch wanted to spare the media practitioners but his son Andal Ampatuan Jr., former Datu Unsay Mayor and the main defendant in the Maguindanao massacre, objected and said that everyone should be killed. At least 30 journalists were among those murdered.

Saliao's testimonies has been described as a "smoking gun" by prosecutors which means that it serves as a conclusive evidence of a crime.

Prior to the murder on Nov. 23, Saliao said the family held various meetings in their home to line with their plan.

The witness also revealed that another meeting was held a day after the incident where those present agreed that they would surrender Andal Jr. to the government.

This time, other government officials--Maguindanao Rep. Didagen Dilangalen, then Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Secretary Jesus Dureza, and an administrative officer of the Automous Region of Muslim Mindanao-- were present, the witness said.

Saliao was not able to complete his testimony. The court adjourned prior to the lunch. Saliao's testimony will continue on Sept. 15, local media ABS-CBN News reported.

Prior to the formal opening of the trial, five people who allgedly have knowledge of the murder have been killed. A total of 197 people have been implicated for the massacre.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Teacher killings prompt closing of 365 schools in southern Thailand
The murder of two Buddhist teachers on Tuesday morning in Narathiwat has prompted the teachers federation to call for the immediate closure of 365 schools across the province in a bid to ensure teacher safety following the recent upsurge in violence. The federation has also asked military and security personnel active in the region to better ensure the safety of teachers and students against further attacks.

So far this week, six have died and five have been wounded during the latest wave of terrorism in southern Thailand. The casualties, blamed on terrorists separatist militants, have included drive-by shootings and bombings. The attacks come just two days after suspected Malay jihadis rebels torched government offices, bus shelters, shops and phone booths in simultaneous attacks in seven districts of Narathiwat.

Two other provinces in Thailands 'red-zone have also seen an upsurge in violence. This most recent violence brings the death toll to 19 in the past 10 days, with 38 people wounded. Since 2004 there has been 4,100 deaths and nearly 8,000 injuries reported by police, however independent sources continue to speculate that the death toll could be much higher with many rural areas under little or no protection by authorities.
According to this:
The terrorists sent a signal a few days previously when fliers were distributed villages that said: "WANTED: 20 Deaths of Buddhist teachers." "Teachers here are scared," said Sanguan Inrak, president of the teacher's federation, who called the warning messages a "regular tactic" by terrorists insurgents.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Thai Insurgency

#1  Islam triumphant.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 09/09/2010 1:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe it wasn't Islamic terrorists but students with poor self-esteem issues because the teachers gave them bad grades.
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/09/2010 8:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Glenmore, that was almost funny except it left a bad taste in my mouth and gave me heartburn. Personally, I'd have gone for sarcasm and not a bad joke.
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 8:35 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Hashish Smuggling Attempt between Lebanon, Netherlands Thwarted
[An Nahar] The Anti-Drug Bureau on Wednesday announced it had foiled an attempt to smuggle 65.7 kilograms of hashish from Lebanon to the Netherlands. A police statement said the shipment was packed in the form of chips inside a secret hiding in the trunk of a silver Kia with a European plate. The statement said the aborted attempt took place Sept. 3 at the Arida border crossing while trying to cross into Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 09/09/2010 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Narcos

#1  Ah... Syria busted them. I couldn't see the Netherlands doing it.
Must not have given a cut to pencil dicks uncle.
Posted by: Water Modem || 09/09/2010 8:56 Comments || Top||

#2  I wonder what's going on with Bashar's regime. First we get the article about him talking smack toward Israel and how they should team up and attack Israel together. Now, I see this and he's pulling one of the quaint, "Look, we're cleaning up corruption and stopping drugs!" It seems he's making a fairly heavy attempt to legitimize his regime. Does any one know if there are some disturbances in Syria?
Posted by: miscellaneous || 09/09/2010 9:10 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
61[untagged]
4Hamas
3Taliban
2Govt of Iran
2Govt of Pakistan
2al-Qaeda
2Commies
2Govt of Syria
2Islamic State of Iraq
1al-Shabaab
1Thai Insurgency
1Narcos
1Pirates
1Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
1al-Qaeda in Arabia

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2010-09-09
  9/11 Koran Burning Cancelled
Wed 2010-09-08
  3rd missile strike in Pakistan in 12-hours kills 5 militants
Tue 2010-09-07
  19 killed in Lakki Marwat suicide attack
Mon 2010-09-06
  ETA declares ceasefire
Sun 2010-09-05
  Dronezap waxes five in North Wazoo
Sat 2010-09-04
  Suicide blast kills senior Tajik police officer: ministry
Fri 2010-09-03
  37 dead, 150 maimed in attack on Shiites in Lahore
Thu 2010-09-02
  At Least 25 Die in Nuevo Leon in Shootout
Wed 2010-09-01
  Gunman Holds 1 Hostage in Maryland
Tue 2010-08-31
  Molotov Cocktails Thrown: At Least 8 Killed In Cancun Bar Attack
Mon 2010-08-30
  Iran media brands Sarkozy's wife as 'prostitute'
Sun 2010-08-29
  Series of US drone attacks in Pakistan, at least six killed
Sat 2010-08-28
  Yemen officials, Houthis reach peace deal in Qatar
Fri 2010-08-27
  10 Tonnes of Bomb Chemicals found in E. Afghanistan
Thu 2010-08-26
  56 killed, 250 injured in string of Iraq attacks

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