Some of the 600 headquarters staff the US Central Command that will head to Qatar at the end of November for war games could stay on longer in the Gulf emirate, US diplomatic sources here said Monday. Oh, really? I am so surprised...
"A core of officers and soldiers taking part in the exercises could stay, along with their equipment, in Qatar," a diplomat said on condition of anonymity about the US military leadership responsible for US forces in the Middle East and South and Central Asia. The biannual "Internal Look 03" military exercise is aimed at "evaluating the capability of the Central Command to operate in a country coming under its sphere of action," the diplomat said. I like mush. It's tasty, helps lower cholesterol, and it's not hard on your teeth at all...
The exercises would also allow the Command to "give the order of a deployment if needs be," in case an armed conflict breaks out during the war games, he said. Just in case, mind you...
The war games come as Doha has signaled it would consider an eventual request from the United States to use its territory as a launchpad for a strike on Iraq, amid speculation that the US national security leadership was considering moving the entire Tampa, Florida-based Central Command to Qatar. That's where it belongs...
Unless sanctioned under a UN resolution, Saudi Arabia, which served as a base for US-led coalition forces in the 1991 Gulf War, has indicated it will not allow military strikes against Iraq from its territory even though it hosts more than 5,000 US troops. Yep. That was the back of their collective hand...
Kuwait, which was occupied by Iraq for seven months until its liberation in the Gulf War and also continues to host US troops, has so far said it too does not want to serve as a launchpad for a fresh US offensive. It's been ten years, after all...
The United States has over the past year upgraded the sprawling Al-Udeid air base in Qatar as an alternative to the Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, where most US forces stationed in the kingdom are based. The Al-Udeid desert base 35 kilometers (20 miles) south of Doha boasts a 14,000-foot runway and enough ramp space and shelter to house an air expeditionary force of 30 to 40 fighter jets. Currently, it is used by US tanker refueling planes and air transports. For the exercises, the command will move and test a new deployable headquarters consisting of several modular buildings designed for command and control and communications activities. Grandsons of the Quonset hut... And first cousin of the double-wide... Thanks to Alicia for this one...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 11:59 am ||
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Iraq has âmilitary plansâ for the use of chemical and biological weapons, Britain said in a dossier of evidence released Tuesday about Iraqâs development of weapons of mass destruction. The Dossier says President Saddam Hussein directly controls chemical and biological weapons and has tried to acquire âsignificant quantitiesâ of uranium from Africa. The dossier says there is no doubt that Iraq continues to develop chemical and biological weapons, is trying to acquire nuclear weapons and has extended the range of its ballistic missiles. The report said some of the weapons could be used within 45 minutes of an order being issued by Iraqi commanders. Kinda of a summary of what they've been saying for the past few months...
The report included a map which showed that Iraqi weapons now being developed could reach Israel, the whole of the Middle East, Greece and Turkey. If U.N. sanctions against Iraq were lifted, Saddam could develop a nuclear weapon within 12 months to two years, said the dossier, which was based on intelligence assessments. A report published earlier this month by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies said Iraq retains substantial chemical and biological weapons and could assemble a nuclear weapon within months if it obtained radioactive material. They should push that part about the missles being able to reach Europe a little harder. When I left for work this morning, Blair had been speaking to Parliament for two hours. Sure hope he's convincing somebody...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 08:41 am ||
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Al-Sharif Ali Bin al-Hussein, who is demanding the return back of monarchy to Iraq, has called on the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to leave Iraq and to resort to Saudi Arabia or Egypt in order to avoid Iraq a military attack in which he sees the US as serious to make. It could happen... I doubt it will, but it could.
In a statement to the Kuwaiti daily al-Qabas issued on Saturday, al-Sharif Ali said that his return back to Iraq will be very soon and within the next 120 coming days. He said that his cousin Prince Hassan Bin Talal, over whom rumors were spread that foreign sides are preparing him to assume the throne in Iraq, will not arrived in Baghdad before him. Are they having a race? Whoever gets there first gets to be king?
He refused the formation of an Iraqi government in exiles "because it will be names on papers." He also criticized what is called the Arab solution to the Iraqi question, noting "if we have waited for an Arab solution to the Kuwait issue, it would have remained ( Kuwait ) occupied until now." He called that one right...
He also ruled the eruption of a civil war in Iraq following Saddam Hussein, noting that history witnessed that the Iraqi people have not fought between themselves. On the other hand, they do have a history of abusing the corpses of deposed leaders on national teevee...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 06:18 pm ||
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From ChechenPress.org. Take with a large grain of salt and then lie down for an hour...
The Georgian-Russian interrelation is being cleared up. The point is that mutual claims driven away from the political peace regulation are nearing a military conflict. It is not only the Russian President's statement made in a form of ultimatum on September 11 in Sochi that should be taken into consideration. As a matter of fact, it seems that all Russian public figures were waiting for this command. Toldja the fix was in... Russia will come around on Iraq because we've already come around on Georgia...
No sooner the Russian commander-in-chief President Putin officially submitted the question of applying force om the neighboring country to the Parliament of Russia, the deputies of State Duma almost unanimously agreed to bomb Georgia. As to Anatoli Kvashnin, chief of Russian forces staff, he seemed to have a worked out plan of anti-terrorist operation in the Pankisi Gorge of Georgia. His assistant General Baluevski had the only answer to the questions of the journalists: "We'll begin the persecution of terrorists in Georgia and then you will see". That's Russian for "lemme at 'im"...
Putin, apparently not expecting such willingness of his subordinates, had to ease the situation and made a statement that they would not need all this, and Georgia would find force to combat terrorism, that Russians would like to help them only, etc. "Cheeze, guys! Put down those bludgeons! Give 'em a chance..."
But an intelligent soldier Sergei Ivanov is not going to limit himself with tactical advices only. He wants Gelaev and hundreds of his fighters, otherwise Russia would not wait until they cross the border and start blowing up of the houses in Russia, no matter that Georgia is going to join NATO or a League of sexual minorities. I have no idea what that last statement meant. Gelaev is apparently the Commander of the Moment along the Bloody Border...
According to Ivanov, they are going to create a safe zone of 20 km width along the Russian border with Georgia. Thus, the territory of Georgia will be lessened. Which'll result in the Bad Guys moving to the other side of that border, so that'll necessitate gobbling up another 20 km or so, and so on until there's no Georgia left. But that's okay, because then they can nip off 20 km of Azerbaijan or Armenia...
Thanks god, there are plenty of Russia's supporters in he Caucasus. Premier Minister of Abkhazia Anri Jerghenia and President of South Ossetia Eduard Kokoev are making agreements on mutual assistance in case the fighters of Gelaev break into their territories. It means Abkhazia and South Ossetia will be so-called rams against the Chechens and Georgians if, of course, the Kremlin gives an order. That will be pretty hard on Gelaev, I'd guess, but probably harder on the Georgians. I'm getting a strong feeling that unless they clean up the Pankisi mess in jig time they're toast...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 11:41 am ||
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Any country that either harbors or indulges terrorists, is ripe for conscription to the counter-terror war.
Hey, the "Kremlin" is "us." What a concept!
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/24/2002 19:31 Comments ||
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A Russian invasion of Georgia? Surely youâre not serious? The demoralized rusting relic that was once the vaunted Soviet Red Army has about as much chance of invading Georgia as Chretien has of being invited to the ranch in Crawford? The Rooskie chooya have been bombing Georgia on and off since 1992.
Putin is bluffing. 85,000 troops are fully committed to Chechnya where they barely have daytime control of the breakaway territory despite four years of war. The Russians are not capable of a major incursion into Georgia. They are not the USA.
Posted by: Charles Tupper Jr. ||
09/25/2002 8:22 Comments ||
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A Yemeni charged with trying to illegally obtain Kenyan citizenship, and who is suspected of having links with the al-Qaeda Islamic extremist group, appeared briefly in court here, only to be remanded in custody for a further two weeks pending further information. The suspect, Haisam Omar Hussein Omar, alias Ali Abdallah Ali, first appeared in court in Nairobi on September 9 and was remanded in custody after being charged with attempting to have himself registered as a Kenyan citizen under false pretences. On his second appearance, on Monday, principal magistrate Injene Indeche remanded the suspect in custody again until October 7, after a police prosecutor said the trial could not start until more information about the Yemeni had been received from Interpol. Kenyan Mbarak Salim Mbarak, who had been charged with abetting the foreigner's bid to become Kenyan, was released on bail when the two first appeared in court. Wonder if anybody's seen him lately? This abiding love of false documents probably gets these guys in trouble as often as it helps them out...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 08:28 am ||
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German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was to meet British Prime Minister Tony Blair on Tuesday in his first foreign visit since winning re-election as he seeks to calm a row with Washington over Iraq. In another move to build bridges, Defence Minister Peter Struck said Germany and the Netherlands had offered to take command of the international peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan when Turkey's mandate expires at the end of the year. Germany would probably be expected to provide more troops for the operation, relieving pressure on U.S. and British forces — the likely leaders of any attack on Iraq. Struck told reporters at a meeting of NATO defence ministers in Warsaw the offer should help ease tensions between Berlin and Washington. "Yeah, sure! We'll do that for ya! Anything else you want?"
Despite the move, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who said Schroeder's anti-war rhetoric in the election campaign tainted ties, was still expected to snub his German counterpart by refusing direct talks on the sidelines of the NATO meeting. "Struck? Struck? Don't believe I know him. Where'd you say he was from?"
Schroeder, whose strident opposition to a U.S. strike on Iraq helped him win a second term on Sunday, was due in London on Tuesday evening in what could be a first step towards narrowing European differences on the looming threat of war. New chancellors traditionally make their first post-election visit to Paris, but Schroeder has had strained relations with French President Jacques Chirac, who was widely seen as favouring his conservative challenger, Edmund Stoiber. You can tell he's a bright fellow. How many people can cheese off both the Merkins and the Frenchies?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 09:08 am ||
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Did the lefties that Schroeder was sucking up to by being so all-fired anti-American know that the post-election suck-up to the U.S. would involve jamming Germany deeper into Afghanistan? Just curious.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
09/24/2002 10:48 Comments ||
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Hate to say it, but we might as well consign Germany to the same place we've consigned France -- certainly not an enemy, but also not a country you can count on when the going gets tough.
We shouldn't make it easy for Schroeder. We can be nice in public and otherwise give Schroeder the back of our hand. His first briefing on our plans for Iraq should take place in July, 2004 or so.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/24/2002 12:28 Comments ||
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Even better, publish every scrap of evidence showing how our "allies": France Germany, et al supplied Saddam with replacemnt parts, communications, armaments, and bio-chem-nuke knowhow, then refused to support us - saying there wasn't proof. Shift our bases to those who support us: the czechs, poles...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/24/2002 12:45 Comments ||
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Schroeder is used to dealing with other leftist politicians. If you say bad things about theem, you can make it right by offering an apology.
This time he's dealing with a politician who's a Texas good 'ole' boy first, politician second. Since the time that dueling was outlawed, Sothrons have had another way of dealing with insults. The offender becomes a non-person. Schroeder may not have fallen dead in a duel, but I'm willing to bet my authentic collection of Confederate money, that in Bush's eyes, he's just as dead.
Posted by: Ray ||
09/24/2002 13:38 Comments ||
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An explosion killed a Spanish policeman and wounded three others on Tuesday as they tried to remove a Basque separatist banner that was booby trapped, officials said. The Civil Guard police patrol had been trying to take down the banner for radical Basque party Batasuna near a motorway from Pamplona to San Sebastian when the bomb exploded. A corporal, who suffered severe abdominal wounds, died in hospital and the three others suffered shrapnel wounds. Poor guy... It's a fiction that there's a difference between the bangers and their front organizations. It's a good thing that we're starting to recognize the fact. But now that Batasuna's outlawed, we'll see more of this...
Tuesday's attack came soon after two suspected ETA members were killed near the city of Bilbao when a rucksack containing 33 pounds of explosives blew up in their car, tearing it to pieces. Government officials said they were preparing an attack when the explosion happened shortly before midnight on Monday. "Kid! Don't try this at home...!"
Thanks to Steve for the tip!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 11:54 am ||
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Twenty-three people were killed when gunmen went on a shooting spree inside the famous Akshardham temple in Gandhinagar in Gujarat on Tuesday, Deputy Prime Minister Lal Kishenchand Advani said. The dead included 13 men, six women and four children, Advani said. Unofficial sources, however, have put the toll at 26. Sounds a lot like the church attacks in Pakland, doesn't it?
The deputy prime minister said the terrorists came in an Ambassador car and entered the complex by jumping over the fence and started firing indiscriminately. They also threw hand grenades, he said. Yep. That's them...
Advani said he spoke to one of the priests of the temple over phone and according to him the terrorists were in plain clothes. Terming the attack as a "deliberate design," ... as opposed to an accident? ...
Advani said the country's "enemies feel that the developments in Jammu and Kashmir would strengthen India's cause there and were trying to use this card to divert attention." He said Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has appealed to people of the state to maintain peace "keeping the enemy's intentions in mind." Hmmm... Modi said something that made sense...
Advani said though the number of devotees inside the temple was not known, around 25-30 people tried to come out of the temple but went back when the terrorists opened fire.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 09:00 am ||
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Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind. Hindus believe that too.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/24/2002 19:35 Comments ||
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The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) has vowed to introduce the Islamic system in the country if it is voted to power in the general election scheduled for Oct 10. If the Paks vote them in, they'll deserve everything they get...
Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, president of the MMA, a conglomeration of six politico-religious parities, said at a press conference here on Friday that all religious parties had joined hands to end religious extremism and work for sectarian harmony for the progress and prosperity of the country. How do religious extremists end religious extremism?
Maulana Noorani said the goal of the MMA was not power but restoration of what he called "Islamic identity". Replying to a question, he said that the alliance of religious parties was not confined to only the Oct election, but would continue till the enforcement of the Islamic system in the country. "No, no! We're not in it for the power! It's for the pee-pul!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 09:55 am ||
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Look at the bellies on the MMA leaders. They got fat off the wages of poor Pakistanis. I would bet that these pyjama boys have never done an honest days work in their lives.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/25/2002 10:17 Comments ||
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A Bangladeshi man had his right hand amputated Monday after being found guilty of stealing in the Grand Mosque complex in Mecca, the holiest site in Islam, the interior ministry said. He was thieving there? Or is that where they lopped off his hand?
Lado Miah Hussein Ahmad's right hand was cut off in public, the ministry said in a statement carried by the official SPA news agency. The crowd goes nutz when they see all that blood...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 08:28 am ||
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I've been stationed in Riyadh. The place where they carry out the various sentences, all of which involve getting SOMETHING chopped off, is called, understandably enough, "Chop-Chop Square". Americans are warned that if you are standing around when it's time for punishment, you will be pushed to the forefront so you have a good view. And yes, the crowds are enthralled. Then it's back to work for everyone (except, of course, the sometimes headless corpse).
President George W. Bush told Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah Monday that Washington's "friendly relations" with Riyadh were needed to counter terrorism and push Middle East peace forwards. "Last year, we worked together to counter common threats, like terrorism ... and to install a just and lasting peace in the Middle East to allow the two peoples (Israelis and Palestinians) to live together," Bush was quoted as telling Abdullah in a telephone conversation. "Our success in achieving those objectives would only be possible if we managed to safeguard the close friendly relations between our countries," Bush was quoted as saying by the official Saudi Press Agency. "We're still being polite. Get your crap cleared up and we'll pretend this never happened..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 08:28 am ||
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West Bank intelligence chief Tawfiq Tirawi said on Tuesday Israel was after him because he was blocking an Israeli-US plan to replace Yasser Arafat with a Palestinian version of Afghanistan's Hamid Karzai. Not because he kills people. Certainly not...
"I and other Palestinians are wanted by Israel because we are an obstacle to attempts to bring in an alternative leadership on the back of Israeli and American tanks, such as happened in Afghanistan," Tirawi told Dubai-based and Saudi-owned MBC television. "The Palestinian people's steadfastness will thwart any attempt to install a Karzai in Palestine because Palestine is not Afghanistan," he said. Not yet, anyway. It'll come. It'll come...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 08:27 am ||
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Lets see if afganistan took (counts on fingers) that means killing Arafat should take (which finger is zero finger again... oh got it)
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I wonder if Tawfiq Tirawi and Yasser Babywipes are going to model their fall from power after the Taliban... loot the treasury and head to PakIslamistan.
Israeli tanks backed by helicopters stormed into Gaza City early Tuesday and battled Palestinian gunmen in clashes that left nine Palestinians dead and 24 injured, hospital officials said. The tanks penetrated a half mile into Gaza City. The soldiers also blew up a metals factory. The army confirmed that a military operation was under way in Gaza and said no soldiers had been injured, but declined to comment further. Wonder if this is the start of a drawn-out operation or just a baring of the fangs?
One of the nine men killed was Mohammed Kishkho, 45, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. Kishkho died of shrapnel wounds suffered from tank shell explosion, said Dr. Moawia Hassanein at Gaza City's Shifa Hospital. Alas, poor Mohammed... Guess his Mom will miss him...
The incursion into the eastern Shejia neighborhood of the city was an apparent effort to enter the homes of several Palestinian militants killed by Israeli troops earlier this year, witnesses said. Israeli forces demolished the home of Mohammed Farhat, a member of Hamas banged shot to death by Israel forces last March after he killed five Jewish students in a Gaza settlement. No doubt he had good reason, and it was all their fault anyway. It's the oppression, y'know...
Palestinians hit at least one of the 20 tanks used in the operation with explosives, and army bulldozers were attempting to push the tank out of the area, said witness Salim Abu Amr, a schoolteacher. Other witnesses saw Israeli ambulances in the area. Two helicopters and several bulldozers also took part in the operation, and the troops began carrying out house-to-house searches.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/24/2002 08:49 am ||
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Ummm - wonder if this is a distraction to keep the media focus off the Ramallah ops or vice versa... I think one or the other was the original goal, and the second operation was diversionary...
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/24/2002 9:01 Comments ||
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At this moment, Gaza is more important than Yasser. It's a lot more of a threat. We'll see if this is the main thrust if they go after the Hamas poliburo...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/24/2002 9:40 Comments ||
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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.
