SANAA, Yemen, Aug. 3 (UPI) -- A leading member of Yemen's ruling Popular Congress Party escaped an assassination attempt Wednesday in Sanaa, the official news agency, SABA, said. Sheik Hassan Abdullah al-Iraqi suffered a head injury when gunmen opened fire at him as he walked out of the defense ministry in the neighborhood of Hasbaa, the news agency reported. He was taken to a hospital and the attackers escaped.
Must have been wearing his Kevlar turban
Iraqi was detained at the Defense Ministry due to armed clashes last month between his Hamadan tribe and a rival clan in the province of Jouf northeast of Yemen. Police said it started an investigation into the latest attack.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2005 13:31 ||
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Police charged a 23-year-old man Wednesday with withholding information about the failed July 21 bombing attempts targeting London's transit system, making him the first person in Britain to face criminal charges in the attacks. The charge alleges that Ismael Abdurahman, from southeast London, "had information he knew or believed may be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of another person in the UK for an offense involving the commission, preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism." He allegedly learned that information sometime between July 23 and July 28. Abdurahman will appear before Bow Street Magistrates in London on Thursday, police said.
The bombs set on three subway trains and a double-decker bus only partly detonated and did not cause any injuries. The attacks came two weeks after four suicide attackers detonated bombs on three subway trains and a double-decker bus, killing 52 other people. British police have arrested 37 people in connection with the July 21 attacks, and on Wednesday were still holding 16. They released one detainee Tuesday. Police say those still in custody include three of the failed bombers.
British officials are seeking the extradition from Italy of the fourth suspected bomber, Ethiopian-born Hamdi Issac, who was arrested Friday in Rome shortly after his arrival from Britain. On Monday, an Italian judge charged him with association with the aim of international terrorism.
As investigators worked to bring terror suspects in Zambia and Italy to Britain, an official warned Wednesday that London police are being stretched thin by the pressures of heightened security in the wake of bombing attacks. Many officers in the Metropolitan Police have been working longer hours and more days as they investigate the attacks, said Richard Barnes, a member of the watchdog agency for the Metropolitan Police Authority. Thousands of officers from the force and the British Transport Police have been deployed at subway and train stations across London in recent weeks, in a bid to avert more strikes.
Police also have had to deal with numerous security alerts, often caused by suspicious packages that prove to be harmless.
"The Met has risen, as it always does, remarkably well to the challenge, but you can't sustain people working 12 hours a day, six days a week, constantly," Barnes told British Broadcasting Corp. radio.
"There are some specialists who are working far more than that. ... The pressure is just enormous." A spokeswoman for the Metropolitan Police had no immediate response to Barnes' comments.
Meanwhile, Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa said Wednesday a terror suspect wanted for questioning in connection with the July 7 attacks will be deported to Britain. He gave no date for deportation. Zambian authorities have been questioning Haroon Rashid Aswat, 31, about 20 phone calls he allegedly made to some of the July 7 bombers on his South African cell phone. The president said British and American investigators also have interrogated Aswat in Zambia, Mwanawasa said. He did not give a date for the deportation. Aswat also is implicated in a 1999 plot to establish a terrorist training camp in the United States and has told Zambian investigators he once was a bodyguard for Osama bin Laden, Zambian officials have said. A spokeswoman for the Foreign Office in London said she could not talk about the deportation of an individual. She did say that British consular officials in Zambia were seeking a meeting with an unnamed Briton detained in that country, and that Zambian authorities had agreed to the request.
In the July 21 bombing investigation, Italian prosecutor Pietro Saviotti said the extradition of Issac likely would take weeks. "The process for extradition is in course and at the same time we are carrying out careful checks to verify any possible crimes committed in our country," Saviotti told state radio RAI. "I would not say we are talking about days but about weeks" before Issac can be extradited, he said. Issac, who had lived in Britain for a decade, managed to elude a sweeping manhunt and leave London by train four days after the attack.
Police say all four bombers who carried out the July 7 attacks died in the blasts. Officers are not holding any suspects in connection with those bombings.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2005 13:40 ||
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#1
In order, shoot him, hang him, then try him.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2005 14:13 Comments ||
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Supporters and facilitators need to be dealt with as harshly if not more so than the actual boomers.
British authorities, NBC News reports, have new information suggesting the second set of accused London bombers may also be linked to Pakistan. According to Western counterterrorism officials quoted by the network, authorities now think the apparent leader of the July 21 bombing suspects travelled to Pakistan late last year. Muktar Said Ibrahim obtained a British passport last autumn. Officials say that in December he travelled from Britain to Saudi Arabia, then on to Pakistan. "It raises the possibility that they were involved with Pakistani jihadists and possibly even with Al Qaeda itself," Dan Benjamin, a terrorism analyst, is quoted as saying. That would put Ibrahim in Pakistan at the same time as two of the July 7 bombers, who were seen arriving in Karachi in November 2004.
Purely coincidental, I'm sure. There's no proof, is there? The witnesses are all dead...
Investigators who have evidence of the Pakistani links of the July 7 bombers are now trying to determine the extent of the other bombers' Pakistani connection. President Pervez Musharraf has rejected the projection of the London bombers as Pakistanis, saying that they were born and bred in Britain and were British, not Pakistani, citizens. It was the British government that had neglected the rise of intolerant and radical groups such as Hizbul Tehrir and Al Mohajiroun in Britain.
I agree with Perv that both organizations should be banned, their members rounded up and deported to Antarctica. I don't agree with him that Pakland wasn't involved.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
OHMYGOD, Inc.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/03/2005 2:22 Comments ||
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I am sure that Colin Powell, Henry Kissinger, and Jack Straw are probably knocking their heads against the wall for not siding with India concerning Paki terrorism many moons ago. Also, Nixon is probably turning in his grave for calling the former Indian Prime Minister a "bitch" and should have sided with India concerning Paki terrorism.
It's funny that some decisions made in life can affect a whole generation. Always bet on the Democratic country, when deciding on friends.
...."Hey Becky, table 5 has been waiting on their order for a while now. Can you find out what's taking so long?"
...."I talked to the kitchen and they tell me that the F16's are going to take a while."
Excellent point! India, Israel, and the U.S. could end radical Muslim states in about ... 25 minutes, give or take the time it takes an ICBM, SLBM, or aircraft to hit the target.
Police scoured the snowcapped mountains of northern Colombia Tuesday for a leftist rebel unit blamed for a roadside bomb attack on a government convoy that killed at least 15 elite counterinsurgency troops. The bombing was the latest in a stepped up campaign of attacks this year by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, apparently aimed at undermining hard-line President Alvaro Uribe's re-election hopes. The rebels detonated a powerful explosive charge as the police convoy drove along a dirt road late Monday in the Sierra Nevada mountains that rise up from the Caribbean coast, said Gen. Alberto Ruiz, operations chief for the national police. Officials initially put the death toll at 11, but Ruiz told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Tuesday that at least 15 members of the elite unit died.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 00:00 ||
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Now that's what I call liberal thinking... h/t LGF Young Libs' terror hit squad
Victoria's Young Liberals have called on the Howard Government to train hit squads to track down those behind the Bali bombing.
The "war on terror" motion was adopted with a two-thirds majority at a Young Liberal Movement meeting on Monday night.
"The YLM calls on the Australian Government to train undercover agents to kidnap or kill those responsible for the Bali bombing," the resolution reads.
Supporters of the motion argued the disparity between the 20-year sentence for drug smuggler Schapelle Corby and the two-year sentence for radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakir Bashir justified kidnapping terrorist suspects overseas and bringing them to trial in Australia.
The motion was moved by YLM policy vice-president and Melbourne University Liberal Club member Alex Lew.
The resolution is not binding on the Liberal Party. There's definitely a different flavor of Kool Aid available Down Under, heh. Let's import some of that, plz.
#1
Actually, the Australian Liberal Party is Howard's party, while the Labour Party is more akin to the lefties. But DAMN, his party never fails to amaze me.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
08/03/2005 1:46 Comments ||
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#2
Wow!! Aussie Young Guns__have balls...will travel! You just know, "W" is smiling and 'Winking' over this one!
#3
smn can you stop with the juvenile and moronic inneundos. You come across like you are 14 years old and copying the grownups, except you an adolescents idea of how grownups behave. If you have something to say, then say it. Otherwise STFU.
#4
Nice to see that someone is trying to return to a more classical meaning of the word 'liberal'. I'm getting rather tired of the word being a synonym for dictator-worshiping, nanny-state socialism.
#7
Steve:
I'm pretty sure most of the world uses "Liberal" in the more classical sense and uses "Social Democrat" for the not-quite-communists. Only in North America (and maybe Britain) have the two been confused.
#10
From my days of ranting against Aris, I learned that the word "liberal" as a different meaning outside the U.S. Maybe that's why the U.S. liberals want to now call themselves "progressive".
One never knows, the phrase "Progressive Leftist" may catch on, after all. The major benefit in the term "Progressive Leftist" would be that there will never again be a confusion in terminology, anywhere in the world.
#12
As others have pointed out, the Oz Liberals are quite different from American libs. Even so, at least one card-carrying American liberal, CBS correspondent Bob Simon, has endorsed a similar approach on a global scale.
Simon's ideas go far beyond what the young Liberals in Oz have suggested, however. He has cited a crucial but often overlooked advantage of this "Gideon-Phoenix" approach: nobody even claims that it is legal.
How is this an advantage? It avoids changes in statutory law or Constitutional interpretation that could be exploited by oppressors in the future.
Incidentally, Bob Simon was captured by the Saddamites and held prisoner for several weeks during DS1. It is just possible that this might have colored his thinking on this.
Two explosions in trash cans slightly injured nine people Tuesday in separate locations in the popular resort city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast, the police chief said. Police said they could not confirm whether the blasts were the result of bombs or of some sort of aerosol can exploding in the heat.
Injuries from exploding aerosol cans usually aren't that high, unless they're really, really big aerosol cans.
The first explosion occurred as men were emptying a trash can into a garbage truck in the city center, injuring three city workers and two people standing nearby, police chief Huseyin Kizik was quoted as telling the semiofficial Anatolia news agency. The second explosion occurred about 10 minutes later in a trash can near a market and injured four people, including a French tourist cut by broken glass, Kizik said. The explosion blew out the windows of a bus stopped nearby.
"The reason for the explosions isn't yet clear," Kizik said. "There's no finding yet that says they're bombs." Kurdish, Islamic and radical leftist groups are active in Turkey, and recent bombings have targeted Turkish tourist resorts.
So take your pick...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 00:00 ||
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Police have identified two Syrian-born Spaniards as the ideological mentors behind last year's Madrid train bombings, a newspaper reported Tuesday. El Pais said a police report handed over in March to the judge investigating the attacks concludes that the two, Moutaz Almallah Dabas and his brother, Mohannad, were directly linked to al-Qaida. Both are in custody.
Moutaz Almallah Dabas was arrested in London in March on a Spanish warrant for alleged terrorist offenses linked to the Madrid bombings. His brother was first picked up in Spain shortly after the March 11, 2004, attacks, then released for lack of evidence. He was arrested a second time in Spain, also in March of this year, and charged with belonging to an armed group. The attacks on the Madrid commuter rail network killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500. Islamic extremists claimed responsibility for the bombings on behalf of al-Qaida and in revenge for the presence of Spanish troops in Iraq.
The judge investigating the case, Juan del Olmo, said last year the ideologue behind the attacks was a Tunisian named Serhan Ben Abdelmajid Fakhet. He was among seven suspects who blew themselves up weeks after the attacks in a suburban Madrid apartment as special forces prepared to move in to arrest them. But the police report reportedly given to the judge in March says the Almallah brothers were above Fakhet in the ideological preparation of the attacks. It said that, without them, the March 11 bombings "possibly would not have taken place."
"If al-Qaida gave the order to attack in Spain, set the date and started the process of carrying it out, the Almallah brothers made up the doctrinal base closest to" al-Qaida, the newspaper quoted the report as saying. Del Olmo has jailed 31 people â mostly Moroccan or of Moroccan origin â for the train bombings. About 70 others have been questioned and released but are still considered suspects. A trial is not expected until next year.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 00:00 ||
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Now that John Bolton has been installed as United Nations ambassador -- by the time-honored recess appointment or the power-crazed overreach of King Emperor Bush Fuhrer, depending on your point of view -- one can only wonder how he'll do. Here's a hypothetical workday. (Note that he's made it out of Washington without some senators throwing themselves on the train tracks to keep him from leaving. Or, rather, having aides throw themselves on the tracks. Make that interns. Aides might say things under anesthesia.) Anyway. The limo pulls up to the glistening U.N. building at 7:59 a.m.
There are, of course, protesters. They chant: "Hey hey! Ho ho! Bolton John has got to go! Hey hey! Ho ho!" But Bolton strides right through the crowd and enters the building, leaving the protesters stunned: It didn't work! The chant didn't work! Frantic calls are placed to ANSWER, CORE, ACORN, NARAL and the National Guild of Pronounceable Acronyms (NGPA); the leadership is informed that the magic chant has failed. Lucifer has entered the temple! Repeat, Lucifer is in the temple! Call George Soros and have him fund a new one STAT! No, that doesn't stand for anything.
8:03 -- Security makes Bolton go through the metal detector six times, convinced he's hiding brass knuckles somewhere. He leaves, grasping the detachable metal handle of his briefcase, smiling privately.
8:15 -- Bolton, who once remarked that you could remove the top 10 floors of the U.N. without diminishing its effectiveness, notes with rue how long the elevator takes to get to his office. He arrives. Superglue in the keyhole again, just like at State.
Noon -- Bolton presents his credentials to Kofi Annan, who is sweating and nervous. The lunch is amiable until Bolton, his hand still aching from a vigorous game of handball, makes a fist and cracks his knuckles, whereupon Annan takes a stack of papers from his desk, stammers that it has all the details on the oil-for-food scandal, and begs not to be put in a cell next to his son. "He snores," Annan begs.
3:17 p.m. -- The afternoon sun is getting hot; Bolton discovers the shade is stuck. He calls building services. He is informed that the shade has been stuck since 1966, that the U.N. Commission on Window Treatments was convened in 1967 to address the matter, and is scheduled to meet again in 2006, once India withdraws its objections to giving the rotating chairmanship to Yemen -- as one of the founding countries, it has the right to the chair, but when the nation split in two its claim to the chair was remanded to a subcommittee, which went on a fact-finding mission to a French drape manufacturer and never reported back aside from annual expense accounts from a beach house in the south. The Plenary Commission on International Shade Accords, a separate body, has recommended that any action on drapes or curtains be postponed until the U.N. building is renovated, or that a large movable curtain be erected across the street to block the sun, but this debate has been stalled over an amendment condemning Israel's treatment of Venetian blinds in the Gaza Strip. Of course, now that Israel has begun withdrawal from ...
3:24 -- Bolton hangs up, cuts the cord, and the shade comes down.
4:07 -- At the cafeteria, Bolton gets a doughnut and a cup of coffee; the cashier informs him she'll put it on the U.S. tab. Bolton insists on paying himself; she shrugs and asks for $428.26.
5:00 -- As the workday ends, Bolton looks outside and sees a crowd waiting to protest his exit. What disguise to use? The Saddam costume? No, they'd want autographs, and besides, that mustache dye takes a day to wash out. The Osama outfit? What, and get kissed to death by the Iranian delegation? No. Let's see ... perfect disguise. But alas: Everyone says, "G'night, John." "See you tomorrow, Mr. Bolton." How could they see through the helmet?
Apparently it's not enough to look like Darth Vader. You have to act like him, too.
It's what they expect. Might as well give it to them.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2005 14:38 ||
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#1
I said it a couple of days ago andd I'll say it again. I hope he orders a bunch of 5 foot lengths of rope and hands them out and tells certain counrties delegations to go piss up them.
#2
Ahhh I still think the US should tell the UN to suck it cut off all funding and support kick them out of the states and the next day open a new organization. Call it whatever Better world alliance whatever have only nations that meet certian criteria can join others can get probation status as they convert over to the standards you know (freedom democracy capatalism) this new alliance agrees to a mutual protection pact to work together towards goals to spread and support the alliances values membership ect... You ask why would any nation join this group and stick it to the UN simple America is the largest market for goods and trade in the world use it to our advantage by making this free trade and such only amongst the alliance, that would also especially include the international aid cough "international welfare". I can think of a couple of nations that would join some for the trade some for the military protection.
#3
Nope. The UN has its uses. Not many, but a couple.
1) It gives us a chance to do the occasional, quiet, behind-the-scenes meetings that can be useful. "Say, Ambassador, your country keeps supporting terrorists, that ain't healthy, ya know?"
2) A few of the UN sponsored agencies do stuff. Sometimes. On certain days. The WHO is helpful. Certain technical organizations are quasi-useful. I didn't know abut the Plenary Commission on International Shade Accords, but I wouldn't have thought it pertained to drapes, anyways.
3) It allows us to point conveniently at what's wrong with much of the world. It gets time-consuming to restate all that, so being able to point to the UN is a short-cut.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/03/2005 18:54 Comments ||
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#5
Might we park the new Sheriff, see New Sheriff Article, in front of the building and help the protestors get in touch with their pain receptors and outer self? Bolten is standing alone in hell and will try to complete a noble task. Best of luck to a great man!
Posted by: 49 pan ||
08/03/2005 21:50 Comments ||
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BATAM (Indonesia), Aug 2 (Bernama) -- Foreign Ministers of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore have asked the Lloyds Joint War Committee to review its risk assessment which categorised the Straits of Melaka and Singapore as a high risk zone for piracy and terrorism. A joint statement issued at the end of their meeting here today said the categorisation was made without consulting and taking into account the existing efforts of the three littoral states to deal with the problems of safety of navigation and maritime security in the waterways.
The straits, through which 30 per cent of the world's trade and 50 per cent of the world's oil supplies pass yearly, have been placed on Lloyds' list of war-risk areas. Analysts said the categorisation could lead to insurers raising premiums or underwriters pulling out their insurance cover for shipping in the straits.
The two-day meeting at Tiru Beach Resort on the outskirts of Batam reaffirmed the sovereign rights of the littoral states over the two straits.
"The primary responsibility over the safety of navigation, environmental protection and maritime security in the Straits of Melaka and Singapore lies with the littoral states," the ministers said.
They acknowledged the littoral states should address the issue of maritime security in a comprehensive manner, taking into account piracy, armed robbery and terrorism, trafficking and smuggling of people, weapons and other trans-boundary crimes. In this task, the ministers welcomed the assistance of the user states, the relevant international agencies and the shipping community in capacity-building, training and technology transfer and other forms of assistance.
[ Malaysian Foreign Minister] Syed Hamid told the news conference the meeting was a clear sign that the three nations viewed safety and security of navigation in the straits seriously.
Singapore's Yeo said it was a timely meeting because of the global concern on the issue of maritime security in general and in the safety of the sea lanes in Southeast Asia in particular. He said there was a need to strike a balance between the interests of the littoral states and those of the user states.
"This (Straits of Melaka and Singapore) is a major arterial lifeline of the global trade...we've a major responsibility here, for our own interest and that of the international community's," he said.
#3
I think the "ministers" don't have the concept down, talking about repsonsibility and sovreignty are one thing, practcing them are another. Watch the rates to underwrite climb until you start hanging pirates and offer protection instead of lip service.
#4
Insurance is a numbers game. Perhaps Lloyd's has noticed a positive correlation between areas swarming with pirates and terrorists and actual acts of piracy and terrorism.
This whimpering is rather amusing coming, as it does, on the heels of the recent declarations by Malaysia and Indonesia that they didn't want their sovereignty compromised by anyone's military providing well armed escorts for merchant shipping.
#5
Anyone else expecting Lloyds to "review its risk assessment" and raise the estimate of risk?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/03/2005 7:41 Comments ||
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#6
This is likely why Indonesia and Malaysia started slightly changing their usual song-and-dance a month or so back. Singapore is a major trade center and Indonesia and Malaysia are desperate to become ones; any increase in the cost or reduction in the amount of shipping is damaging.
When you have them by the wallet, their hearts and minds will follow.
Indeedy. Like I said, seaborne commerce can be closed by words, POTUS, CEO Lloyds, The First Lord of the A... it's a great gig, don't even have to forces in place.
A gunman on a motorcycle shot and killed a judge Tuesday in central Tehran and then sped off, a judiciary spokesman said. Judge Masoud Moqadasi handled a case against an investigative reporter jailed in 2000 for reporting that intelligence officials murdered five Iranian dissidents in 1998, judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimirad said.
The journalist Akbar Ganji remains in jail. Iran's Intelligence Ministry later blamed the murders of the dissidents on "rogue agents" in the secret service. As the judge drove away from his office, the gunman sped up to Moqadasi's car on a motorcycle and sprayed it with rifle fire and then fled, Karimirad told The Associated Press. Moqadasi headed the Tehran judiciary complex and specialized in cases of social vice, Karimirad told The Associated Press.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Contrast, in Iraq, people are given the technology and means to secretly report the foreign terrorists and local thugs. The Iraq secruity forces are making progress in reducing the ability of the opponents of the state to act. The Iraq government has the consent of the governed.
In Iran, the government has alienated a good portion of its population and rules through force. How effective will these types of operations become as the information flow is reduced to a minimum for the government. The boys next door are learning. By interfering in Iraq, the Mullahs are showing their own population how to act effectively against themselves. Blowback.
#2
This type of assassination, what used to be common in Iraq, and usually "three men on motorcycles", I've heard referred to as "Larry, Moe, and Curly Joe". That is, as if it was the same three guys who assassinated literally hundreds of Batthists, secret police, and other finks. It does make for a pleasant mental image.
After several years of talking about it, the U.S. Department of Defense is finally sending itâs Sheriff ADS (Active Defense System) to Iraq. The system uses three non-lethal weapons. These include a "sound searchlight" (called the Long Range Acoustic Device), that can project sound long distances, and also pump out really loud sound and direct it like a searchlight against people. Then thereâs the Lazzer Dazzler, which sends very bright, pulsating, light at crowds. This light will disorient most people, and can also reveal any optics in the crowd, especially the scope of a sniper rifle. Finally thereâs the microwave device, which creates a burning sensation on the skin of its victims, causing them to want to leave the area, or at least distract them. The microwave weapon has a range of about 500 meters. ADS is carried on a hummer or Stryker, along with a machine-gun. The most important new development is the establishment of ROE (Rules of Engagement) for Sheriff systems. Put simply, anyone who keeps coming after getting hit with the sound, light and microwave is assumed to have evil intent, and will be killed. Sheriff will be particularly useful for terrorists who hide in crowds of women and children, using the human shields to get close enough to make an attack. This has been encountered in Somalia and Iraq. The army and marines want 14 Sheriff vehicles (eight for the army, six for the marines.) Each will cost about $1.1 million. The Department of Defense has been reluctant to send ADS to a combat zone for fear of bad publicity from the mass media, who are sure to dub use of the non-lethal weapon a war crime. Something odd here. The primary application of these weapons is against "rent-a-mobs". So why send them to Iraq, unless the military is anticipating large riots against US forces or the Iraqi government? The only other alternative I can imagine is using them in an, ah, adjacent country.
#1
In retrospect, I think they are deploying these in anticipation of rent-a-mobs for both the referendum and the national elections. Based on sheer numbers, that would mean the majority in Shiite areas.
#2
The Department of Defense has been reluctant to send ADS to a combat zone for fear of bad publicity from the mass media, who are sure to dub use of the non-lethal weapon a war crime.
As opposed to what they say when the protestors are shot? Send in the Sheriff.
#4
Great tool to control check points and handle crowds after a raid. Isreal could use a few and we could use a lot of them on the Mexican border.
Posted by: 49 pan ||
08/03/2005 21:39 Comments ||
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#5
Or rather, they're an all-around waste of live ammo? (Sorry if this sounds stupid.)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
08/03/2005 21:43 Comments ||
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#6
Flamethrowers create a burning sensation as well and I think are far more...impressive when it comes to keeping crowds away. Of course, if they upped the power on the ADS so the targeted person explodes from intense microwaves, that works too.
Fourteen marines and their civilian translator have been killed in a roadside bombing in north-western Iraq, the US military says. It is one of the deadliest attacks on US forces since the 2003 invasion. It happened near the city of Haditha, in the same area as an incident on Monday in which six US marines were killed by hostile fire, the army said. The city is near the Syrian border in an area that has seen frequent insurgent assaults against US troops. The bomb is reported to have exploded near an amphibious assault vehicle travelling south of Haditha. One other marine was wounded.
One of Iraq's most violent Islamic militant groups, Ansar al-Sunna, has claimed responsibility for the attack on marines on Monday, saying it had killed eight personnel. The group said it had shot some of the marines and "slit the throats" of others. A ninth marine is said to have been captured although it is not possible to authenticate the statement.
At least 37 US military personnel have been killed in Iraq in the last 10 days, a period of intense violence, but the latest Haditha attack ranks among the biggest US losses. Last December, 14 US troops and four civilian contractors died in a suicide bombing targeting a military base in Mosul. Only air crashes, with or without hostile fire, have resulted in higher US death tolls, including 16 in the November 2003 loss of a Chinook helicopter near Falluja and 31 in a helicopter crash in January 2005 near the Jordanian border. Pacifying Iraq's western Anbar province, where Haditha is located, is a top priority for US forces. Officials say stability and political progress cannot be secured unless anti-US fighters are rooted out of the region.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2005 08:42 ||
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#1
"Pacifying Iraq's western Anbar province, where Haditha is located, is a top priority for US forces. Officials say stability and political progress cannot be secured unless anti-US fighters are rooted out of the region."
Keep eating shit. While U.S. officials talk of "stability and political progress" the Sunni population in Haditha and other similar towns provide aid and comfort to the enemy. There are scores of safe-houses throughout these areas.
Maximum force, especially airpower and artillery should be dropped on these bastards heads.
I'm sure sometime today, some 30-year plus retired veteran "officer" or Intelligence-type will write of the need to remain calm, to avoid anger like mine, and so forth.
#5
I know the first inclination is always to want bloody vengeance. However, cooler heads will prevail. The locals will be punished in the slow, gradual carrot and stick grind to root out and destroy the local troublemakers and facilitators. But the instigators outside of the country, for them is reserved, at best, the noose, and at worse, as they hide in their stately villas, to meet an end like Colonel Kurtz.
#6
"I know the first inclination is always to want bloody vengeance. However, cooler heads will prevail. The locals will be punished in the slow, gradual carrot and stick grind to root out and destroy the local troublemakers and facilitators."
Unfortunately, by the time we get around to this, President Hillary Rob'em Clinton will be withdrawing U.S. forces from Iraq.
What finally broke the VC's back in 'Nam? It was the Phoenix Program -- 40,000 assassinations of safe-house providers, "student activists" who were really fronts for the VC, so-called community "leaders" and civic "activists", and so forth. We need a Phoenix Program in the Sunni Triangle as well as massive bombings as a means of destroying the terror base and network.
But as I wrote earlier, it will not be done and therefore when President Bush says this war will be fought unlike other previous wars, I disagree. It is looking very much like the previous wars that we have lost or failed to generate a decisive victory.
#11
it is extremely important that this loss be followed by a max force operation to isolate and cutoff the entire area for a street to street and house to house cleansing operation.no one should go in or out of the area without individual approval of u s forces.If in doubt,blow it up.Overwhelming troops and firepower should be applied until every living person in the Haditha area is either vetted or killed . This has to be the response if we are ever to end this war.the terrorists must know that ambushes of U S forces leads to a terrible response and residents must know that the response to the terrorism they permit is sure and certain . If it means that Haditha is to be turned into a wet spot in the desert,so be it.it is upon their heads,not ours.had we folloiwed this policy in V N ,that war would have been over quickly with a minimum of death and destruction.it is the measured and proportionate response which is less merciful.War is Hell,and
Shermans path of destruction cut the Civil War short by months if not years .Think of how many lives,Japanese and American which were saved by Hiroshima.
Posted by: john e morrissey ||
08/03/2005 11:15 Comments ||
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#12
One of the problems with over-bombing is that we would likely hit a lot of Iraqis who are now providing good info to the coalition.
A less depressing way of looking at these fatalities is that the focus of terrorism seems to be moving away from the Center of the Sunni triangle toward the outer shell. Some rather large cities even in the triangle have stayed calm once the terrorists were driven out.
#13
Mr. Articulate ... Bullshit it was TET. REALLY?
TET wiped out 45,000 VC/NVA in early 1968. But their networks regained strength in the urban areas circa 1970-71. Phoenix Program took care of that problem.
Wanna crush the terrorists in Iraq? Then combine maximum military force with a CIA assassination program.
BTW: Assassinations in wartime and in combat areas are legal under the rules of war.
#14
Just another thought: If we stay the same course, we lose. Period!
Twenty years from now, just as is happening with "revisionist" historical accounts of the Vietnam War, often written by legitimately angry Vietnam vets, we will read tomes of how well our forces performed and how we "really" did beat the enemy. Of course the tomes will then go on to discuss how Iraq was lost by pointing the finger at media bias, liberal-left academe, political indecision, etc., etc., etc.
In other words, only on rare occasions will a voice emerge that argues how the military did not implement the proper strategy. I think of someone like Harry G. Summers or Michael Lind, both of whom have argued that Vietnam could've been won militarily and politically. Our armed forces accomplished the former but were not allowed to do the other.
Here in Iraq, we don;t have a liberal Commnader in Chief, so what the hell is the excuse for the pussy way in which we're conducting this war?
#16
The moose is wise, and his advice should be heeded.
But I empathize with the want to maim, kill, and/or destroy all those who oppose us. Hell its my personal philosophy, but let's not shoot the horse because the cart lost a wheel in a pothole.
Let's assume this is a guerilla war, no big assumption there ladies. And lets assume that the local Ansar al Sunna fucknuts aren't getting as much cooperation as they would like from certain villagers on the all important border. What to do, win them over by forcing the Americans to react with too much force against the local populace.
Us against them, us against them. That is what these insurgents must convince the local people to believe in order to get total buy in to the insurgents way of thinking.
This is the very core of the counter insurgent's dillema that Coalition forces face everyday. Kill everyone around you and be safe, for the moment, but turn the populace against you in the longrun. Don't kill everyone around you and bam, you could be dead, but the locals are with you or at least neutral.
Proportionate force is required and it is never easy.Tough decisions to make, but necessary in a hearts and minds war.
#17
Here's the MARINE unit from Ohio that has lost 20 men in the past 48 hours or so.
"The Marines were members of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Marines based in Brook Park, Ohio, a Cleveland suburb, according to Gunnery Sgt. Brad R. Lauer, public affairs chief with the unit."
But I think its different here. The Sunnis make up about 26 percent of Iraq. Not too many Kurds or Shiites are going to lose sleep, shed tears, or join up in a rebellion against the Coalition if hell's fury is unleashed on selective Sunni towns and cities.
Did the rest of Iraq turn on us after we pretty much leveled Fallujah last November?
The Sunnis are waging a classic war of attrition; they're not stupid. The know about American election cycles, American MSM, and the fickleness of the voters once things go awry in Iraq.
Check out the stats of US deaths lately:
52 killed in April, 80 in May, 78 killed in June, dropped down to 54 in July, but now a whopping 22 in the first three days of August. We're at 1,820 dead ... at this pace, we'll hit the 2,000 mark by mid-September.
How much more do you think Joe and Jill Public will stand?
You may be right about select town targets , but I suggest relocation as an alternative method to complete destruction of the towns and the people who live there.
Classic and effective counter insurgency tactic is to relocate problem villages like this, and reassign community leadership duties under us control to weaken the hold of the insurgents over local people, and to win some hearts and minds with a bit of the old Uncle Sam pocketbook love. Tents are probably better than a lot of the shitholes these people live in anyway, and anything is better than being killed which I assume a lot of the locals are afraid of, as anyone would be in a war zone like this.
I like the idea of vetting someone as a friendly and killing all who are not, it is very logical and would be much easier with a relocation effort. But I'm not that familiar with the geographical layout, but hey we did it in Fallujah, so we can do it here.
The locals would be removed from the problem areas and then we level the place. The insurgents are likely not made up of a lot of locals but rather intruders who needed a convenient base near Syria with civilian cover. That plus foreign fighters streaming in from Syria, regardless the locals are probably being forced into cooperation most of the time, and for those who fight us willingly, well perhaps they will die just as willingly.
It would then proceed like Fallujah where we followed a similar line of action. So let's compromise a bit between the strategies of destruction of an enemy stronghold and soft handedness with the locals.
Good dialogue, the Rantburg is providing much of that since Fred's interdiction a few days ago. Thanks Fred and thank you asstuck for lively and relevant debate.
And yes we should annihalate Syrias despot leadership, in due time my pretty, in due time!
#23
I truly, honestly beleive that we "arc-light" one of those villages that are harboring the scum. No warning. Leave nothing but a smoking hole in the ground.
#24
I think Bush has been letting the Generals run the war, which is as it should be. By all accounts he is a big picture man, who tries to hire the best and let them do their thing. Look at who he chose to be VP, as compared to that cute, blond lad his daddy chose!
#26
Okay, you're right and I'm inarticulate. The Phoenix program won the war and broke the back of the VC, a magnificent victory for covert operations and death squads, one that should be studied to this day, by morons.
#27
"We're at 1,820 dead ... at this pace, we'll hit the 2,000 mark by mid-September. How much more do you think Joe and Jill Public will stand?"
If the voices of defeat and discouragement in the media have their way, the answer is probably "not much more." Joe and Jill Public don't appear to be holding up very well under the strain.
Yet that same Joe and Jill Public calmly and casually accept-- or worse, don't even care-- that the same number die on America's highways every fifteen days.
I point that out not to belittle the loss of these Marines, but rather to note that while our men and women in combat are brave, courageous and devoted, much of the public seems to have lost heart-- and spine.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/03/2005 15:05 Comments ||
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#28
The first thought I had when I saw the headline was, Heaven is in trouble -- 20 Marines from the same unit on leave together!
#29
Damn. God bless them and their families. I hope the "slit throats" and "captured" marine on the other attack are propaganda (which it certainly is, given the constant bragging of the pitiful IEd-enabled Lions of islam).
TW : very nice image.
#30
The Phoenix program won the war and broke the back of the VC, a magnificent victory for covert operations and death squads, one that should be studied to this day, by morons
wonder if this was the inspiration of Soro's new Phoenix Group. Might give some indication as to what his new strategy might be.
#31
What would the Romans have done? I think a demonstration of that kind of force might be effective. These people (all Sunni) need to fear us and the Iraqi government, not love us or it. At 26% of the population they are the source of much of the difficultly. Apparently Fallujah was not a sufficient demonstration for the Sunni.
A program of targeted assassination may very well already be under way and have been under way for a while already. There have been some reports of bodies found that may not have been the victims of sectarian, clan or, score settling.
#32
My impression is that equivalent numbers of non-muslims all on LSD would exhibit, on a society basis, more order and logic than one sees in the Suni triangle.
#33
My impression is that equivalent numbers of non-muslims all on LSD would exhibit, on a society basis, more order and logic than one sees in the Suni triangle.
#34
My impression is that equivalent numbers of non-muslims all on LSD would exhibit, on a society basis, more order and logic than one sees in the Suni triangle.
#36
I've seen the Answar Al Sunnah video of the incident yesterday. I am not going to link to it, no way, since the video includes a close-up of the mutilated but still recognizable corpse of one of the Marines.
It looks for all the world that the six Marines were traveling in a civilian vehicle and were ambushed. The "throat-slitting" apparently refers to the killing of the wounded afterward. It may be that one of the men was captured, since Centcom reports that one body was found several kilometers away.
Among other things, the jihad pigs are shown firing a mortar in plain sight on the crest of a ridge line and posing in the open with the looted equipment and effects afterward.
Where the fuck are these vaunted UAVs we keep hearing so much about?
It should be possible to deploy thousands of them but the Air Force, for its part, has just 12 of the much publicized Predators operational. Marine UAVs, the subject of much propaganda for a number of years, seem notable mostly for their absence. In the meantime, the savages feel perfectly secure posing and capering in the open near a recent ambush site.
#37
"#26 Okay, you're right and I'm inarticulate. The Phoenix program won the war and broke the back of the VC, a magnificent victory for covert operations and death squads, one that should be studied to this day, by morons.
Posted by: Shipman 2005-08-03 15:05"
Hey Shipman:
If you want to argue like a juvenile (see *Bullshit* comment), be my guess. As a teacher I constantly run into this type of argument ... from NINTH GRADERS!
Where did I write that the Phoenix Program won the war for us? What I wrote, and I could kick myself for having thrown away the book by one of the VC's top operatives who admitted the impact of both Tet and Phoenix, was that the latter broke the VC's back, one that already was wounded by 1968.
BTW: Stephen J. Morris wrote an interesting piece about our so-called defeat in Vietnam:
The War We Could Have Wonhttp://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17908
And I wrote that a combination of maximum military force and covert assassinations' programs to wipe out Sunni fighters terrorists and their enablers among the population would in part win this war.
Finally, I had family that served in the "Company" and I take exception to your implication that they and their covert operations' officers are morons. You're better than that.
#38
Crispis is right. Assassination teams should begin targeting known jihadis and enablers. We can't identify or kill all of them, but we don't need to.
As soon as a terrorist is identified, he should be dragged from his safe house in the middle of the night, shot with a suppressed pistol and left in the street for all to see. The worst offenders, the ones who boast of mutilating American soldiers, should have their heads cut off and impaled in some public place.
#39
"Where the fuck are these vaunted UAVs we keep hearing so much about?
It should be possible to deploy thousands of them but the Air Force, for its part, has just 12 of the much publicized Predators operational. Marine UAVs, the subject of much propaganda for a number of years, seem notable mostly for their absence. In the meantime, the savages feel perfectly secure posing and capering in the open near a recent ambush site."
#42
Definitely cannot trust Syria and I don't understand what Bush is waiting for in that case.
I am the very model of
a modern Armchair General
I have the answers to it all
both concrete and ephemeral
I can talk for hours on a blog
of waging war and victory
though I have never led
even a toy-soldier army
I can tell you lessons learned from 'Nam
and how we must drop the atom bomb
or send our ninjas far and wide.
And kill all muslims where they hide...
(stick with me, this is going to go fast)
I say the US has no guts
because I am a patriot
And if they aren't US
they're no good
so let's just nuke
their neighborhood
Our leadership simply has no balls
they should be nailing muslim guts
to the mosque walls
and though I pass out
when I bleed
"Kill them all" is
what we need
I can talk for hours on a blog
of waging war and victory
Col. Braddock and Rambo are real
fighting heroes, you see
I have the answers to it all
both concrete and ephemeral
I am the very model of
a modern Armchair General!
I imagine they'll all be storming your bunker now. Should we set up a donation fund for ammunition?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/03/2005 19:32 Comments ||
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#44
Heh - a classic Pappy. And right on target.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/03/2005 19:32 Comments ||
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#45
So, Pappy, do you think opinions and commentary should be limited to general officers and Those Who Work for PeaceTM or would field-grade be acceptable?
#48
AC, if you're retired - or current - field grade then you should know the difference between a Predator and the microUAVs that the Marines are using for short-range recon.
And WRT "thousands" of Predators, I take it you've lobbied for the mbillions of dollars that would cost? And the tens of mbillions required for the ground control facilities and pilot training to fly them?
No doubt you've been pushing that hard. Because if not, then you're pushing secondhand smoke on the UAV comment.
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/03/2005 19:39 Comments ||
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The RQ-1A/B Predator is a system, not just aircraft. A fully operational system consists of four aircraft (with sensors), a ground control station (GCS), a Predator Primary Satellite Link (PPSL), and 55 personnel for continuous 24 hour operations. System Cost: $40 million (1997 dollars)
So let's see ... one thousand Predators = 250 systems = $10 billion, without taking into account where/how the ground control stations will be built overnight ....
Posted by: leader of the pack ||
08/03/2005 19:41 Comments ||
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#50
I believe the current "A" version runs at 25 million per group of four, the last time I talked to someone who ran the damn things.
I *think* this works out to about the same cost as the A-10's that carry several times as much munitions but the Air Force has said in the past it can't afford to put new sensors or engines on. (They're finally doing it now, but cutting the force at the same time).
One of these days I'm going to have to get the uav rant done...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/03/2005 19:54 Comments ||
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#51
Body counts make me puke. While our Muslimutts support terror in Iraq, our courts are supporting defamation claims of Islamic vermin. Muslims are terrorists by nature, and terrorists do not deserve protection from harassment.
www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,16147860%255E23109,00.html
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/03/2005 19:55 Comments ||
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#52
leader of the pack,
O-6 retired, but I could just as well be the janitor for all anyone here knows, so my case must stand or fall on its own merit.
I've pushed very hard for additional UAVs since the 1970s. Nobody has called for these to be built overnight, but the Predator program alone has been underway and indeed operational for a number of years. It is not a new technology.
No matter how much PR material we hear, though, major deployment is always just around the corner. As for building the base stations, you are aware, I trust, that the whole system is mobile?
What is $10 Billion compared to the cost of, say, a thousand F-16s and all their ground-support facilities and equipment?
If this system, and the galaxy of other perpetually developmental UAVs, are the super force-multipliers we have been lead to believe, and that the operational experience suggests they are, then this is not really an enormous amount.
Given the timescale and your figures, we could
in fact have deployed, and afforded, a couple of thousand of these by now and there are many, many much less costly UAVs with the same lengthy history.
I am well aware of the difference between a Predator and a micro-UAV which is why I said "...the Air Force for its part."
As it happens, I am also aware that the micros are not the only Marine UAVs,
The Pioneer UAVwas operational with the Marines during DS-1 and was based on the battle-proven Israeli Scout UAV. Where are they today? Pioneer Homepage
UAVs seem to be one of those technologies that is re-invented every couple of decades, then quickly swept under the rug for political reasons.
#55
Me too, leader.
It breaks my heart that these guys were reservists, all from the same town.
I have been very angry over it. I probably shouldn't have watched the jihadists' revolting snuff film today, but I have seen worse and if we flinch, there is nobody left.
#56
Come to think of it, I am the janitor sometimes.
A friend of mine who ran his own business for 50 years once told me, "To get stuck with cleaning toilets in a small business, you either have to be on the very bottom rung of the ladder or you have to own the place. Nobody else will do it."
We don't have a bottom rung at my place, so guess what?
(Actually, a contractor cleans the toilets, but I end up doing all sorts of other cleaning and repair type stuff).
#58
So, Pappy, do you think opinions and commentary should be limited to general officers and Those Who Work for PeaceTM or would field-grade be acceptable?
Field grade is acceptable, although holding a command (however briefly) in a combat situation at a lower rank is okay.
In all seriousness, it's not the rank. It's the rank stupidity of the armchair-generals' comments.
"As soon as a terrorist is identified, he should be dragged from his safe house in the middle of the night, shot with a suppressed pistol and left in the street for all to see." Oh, how do you propose to do this? Who would you send? CIA? SPECOPS? Subcontracted Mossad agents? 'Turned' Baathists? Troops in the neighborhood? Coerced members of MS-13? Killers in the Witness Protection Program? Who does the intel? Who verifies the intel? What happens if the wrong guy is killed? How do you propose to keep it quiet when somebody blathers that US or US trained/contracted hit squads are working Iraq or Syria?
I don't know what you did as an O-6, sir. I'd like to hope there was long-range thinking involved.
#59
AC: Do you have any idea of the per-plane cost of the upgrade program they're putting them through, and if that includes the new engines or not?
(Did they go with the new engines?)
Maybe we should continue this at a future date, I still have work to do here. Although suprisingly someone else fixed the toilet last week, they also told me today the sink in the other bathroom is broken. (Honestly). I should just blow it off and go eat...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/03/2005 21:19 Comments ||
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#60
What's the rank of a little civilian housewife/mother in the suburbs? How about one who can't keep her thoughts to herself -- does that rate a promotion... or a demotion? ;-)
I have not at this point created a formal proposal for a covert assassination program, but you will receive a copy if I do. I hadn't thought of using killers from the witness protection program. Somehow I don't think they would do well in ME covert ops.
Keep in mind that we already engage in targeted assassination through the various "decapitation" strikes that have been carried out with indifferent success during the last few years. These have killed the wrong people on a fairly routine basis. Individual close-in targeting would be more precise than a JDAM on a local restaurant any way you cut it.
In this case, the model for C3 would have to be something like the Mossad's Operation Gideon, completely outside the regular chain of command but with enough covert parallel links to ensure adequate intel and resources.
The operators would depend on the venue. Specop troops could do it lawfully within Iraq.
A special directorate, with comprehensive and multiply redundant extra-governmental cover, would be used outside the country.
The ultimate authority would be the POTUS and DCI, but these would have to be insulated from actual operations. The effective authority would be the operational head of the program.
As for someone blathering, keep in mind that claims of this kind of activity are a regular staple of the Arab media, and many others besides, so a fog of fiction helps to conceal the cold reality.
This was actually discussed in some depth yesterday at LGF.
#62
I have to disagree with you on one point, AC. While I think we should embrace the idea of targeted killings, rather than it being secret, secret, I think it should be up front and personal - like the good ol' day's, Wanted, dead or alive.
If someone is worth killing - then make the case for it and put them down. I don't want to go back to those dark days where some pasty-faced intel puke makes the call.
I made the point before - and I'll make it again right now, that we are fighting like the British fought against the American rebels. We are hindered by some notion of "civility" that our opponets exploit and use to kill us.
Hey, I'm all for civility. But I think it's more civil to simply identify those who are at war with us and kill or capture them than it is to allow hundreds or thousands of innocents to be slaughtered.
But let's be up front about it. Few of us want to go back to those dark shadowy CIA days.
I vote Galloway be first for the gallows. Do I hear a second?
#64
oh...never mind. I'm starting to sound like Robespierre. My list of people I'd like to see exit this earth is just getting way too long. I don't know what to do.
#65
Phil,
I didn't know much off-hand about the A-10 modernization, other than the structural and operability life extensions, but did dig up some good links. A-10C makes first flight This has a lot of new avionics, mainly aimed at improving interoperability, and an extensive upgrade in weapons capability. A-10 service life
This discusses the new engines, but does not indicate whether they are included in the C mod program.
#66
tw.. Ok. I'm sure we can all agree that Galloway would be a good choice for the gallows! Then a few of those mouthy Iams. But we have to agree to quit before we grow to fond of it!
#70
Not snarky at all, 2b.
A couple of years ago, Malkovich created a media storm in the UK by saying publicly that he would like to kill Galloway.
The latter swine started some sort of legal action, on the ironic grounds of Malkovich making a terroristic threat, but it didn't go anywhere.
#72
God bless the Marines and their families. They are inour hearts.
The Marines will respond as they always do. They will not destroy the whole city, they will, however, gather intel, calmly and deliberately build a plan and execute that plan with the most extreem violence and accuracy the rag heads have ever seen.
NSDQ!
Posted by: 49 pan ||
08/03/2005 22:31 Comments ||
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#73
AC, thank you for a serious discussion. My 'witness protection program' comment was meant to be semi-sarcastic. Sammy the Bull would not be a good candidate as an assassin, but there might still be something to be learned.
Keep in mind that we already engage in targeted assassination through the various "decapitation" strikes that have been carried out with indifferent success during the last few years.
Yes, the generally safe, reach-out-and- touch-someone. Little risk for the operators, unless one considers Libya.
As for someone blathering, keep in mind that claims of this kind of activity are a regular staple of the Arab media, and many others besides, so a fog of fiction helps to conceal the cold reality.
I wasn't concerned about in-country. My concern was more with the 'home office'. The CIA is a ideology-over-purpose disaster, Congress leaks like a sieve, and most of the Pentagon, especially in the civil service, cannot be trusted.
This was actually discussed in some depth yesterday at LGF.
I don't normally read the LGF comments, but I will take a browse over there.
Mauritanian soldiers have seized control of the state radio and television station and main routes in the capital, Nouakchott. Presidential guards are said to have blocked off access to the presidential palace and gunfire has been heard, but it is unclear if it is a coup attempt. A plane carrying President Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya has landed in Niger's capital, Niamey, officials say. Rebel soldiers came close to toppling him in June 2003. The government says it foiled two more attempts in 2004. Correspondents say it is unclear if Wednesday's events signal a coup - or an attempt to prevent one.
Or both...
A Mauritanian journalist told Al-Jazeera TV that there had been no official information from the authorities or other parties. A diplomat told Reuters news agency it could be a coup attempt, but it was unclear who was involved. "We don't know whether it is something that has succeeded or failed," said the British honorary consul in Nouakchott, Sid Ahmed Abeidna.
Presidential guards moved into state radio and television buildings from 0500 GMT, AFP news agency reports.
Check
State media broadcasts have been cut.
Check
An AFP journalist in the city says that military vehicles equipped with heavy weaponry and anti-aircraft guns have been deployed.
Check
Soldiers have taken up position on the streets.
Check
Some reports say troops have also taken control of the city airport and a key army building.
Check
Gunfire rang out briefly near the presidency building.
Check
"I saw scared people running away. Civil servants have all left their offices," a witness told Reuters news agency. A BBC correspondent in the city says there are rumours that senior army officers have been arrested.
Check, sounds like a coup attempt to me
Sidi El Moctar Cheiguer says he has not heard of any violence since the gunshots. The capital is calm and people are going about their business normally, our correspondent says.
"If we closed shop every time there was a coup, why, we'd never get anything done."
President Taya had been out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd.
Best time to schedule a coup
He took power in a bloodless coup in December 1984 and has been re-elected three times since. Correspondents say he later made enemies among Islamists in the country, which is an Islamic Republic. Critics accuse the government of using the US-led war on terror to crackdown on Islamic opponents.
Hey, whatever works
Mr Taya has also prompted widespread opposition by establishing links with Israel.
Earlier this year, nearly 200 people, including former President Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah, were put on trial for a series of alleged coup plots. Mauritania is deeply divided between three main groups - light-skinned Arabic-speakers, descendents of slaves and dark-skinned speakers of West African languages. UPDATE: NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AP) - A group of Mauritanian army officers announced the overthrow of the president on Wednesday, hours after troops took control of the national media and the army chief of staff headquarters in the capital of this oil-rich Islamic nation.
The group, which identified itself as the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, announced the coup against President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Taya, who was abroad, through the state-run news agency.
"The armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the deposed regime under which our people have suffered much over the last several years," the statement said. The junta said it would excercise power for two years to allow time to put in place democratic institutions.
Earlier Wednesday, Taya arrived in the nearby West African nation of Niger, apparently trying to return home from Saudi Arabia where he had traveled Monday for the funeral of King Fahd, according to officials in Niger's capital, Niamey. With his plane on the tarmac, Taya held talks at the airport with Niger's President Mamadou Tandja. Taya did not speak to reporters and security forces kept journalists at a distance.
Taya, who has allied himself with the United States in the war on terror, has faced staunch opposition among Islamic groups in his impoverished desert nation of 3 million and has cracked down ruthlessly on opponents since a 2003 coup attempt.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2005 08:32 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I find it really strange that this guy chose to leave the country despite the place being a nest of vipers.
#6
That's Algeria in war with Morocco. They're saving the festivities for later.
I believe Mauritania does still have slavery, though it's officially outlawed. If the Islamists take over, it'll prob'ly be legalized again, since the Prophit liked it.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 16:02 Comments ||
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#7
IIRC Mauritania long since gave up their share of the spanish sahara - Morocco was then quite happy to take the whole damned thing.
Is it clear the coup plotters are Islamists? I mean a guy like that, in a place like that, probably has plenty of enemies.
A Briton held in Zambia on suspicion of terrorism will be deported to the UK, the country's president has said. UK police deny reports that Mr Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, of West Yorkshire, is wanted over the 7 July London bombings. But they have said he is of interest in other inquiries. The US wants to speak to him about an alleged plot to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in Oregon. Mr Aswat's family fear he could end up in US detention at Guantanamo Bay.
Zambian President Levy Mwanawasa told a news conference: "We have discussed with the governments of the US and Britain and we have finally agreed that Mr Aswat must be deported to Britain because that is his country." At the weekend, Mr Aswat's family called on the UK Government to intervene in his case. "Press reports are reporting unnamed British officials in discussions with the US Government over extradition of Haroon," they said in a statement. "Yet our government and the FCO are dilly-dallying and do not have the decency to confirm Haroon's detention."
The Foreign Office said on Wednesday it had obtained agreement from the Zambian authorities to gain consular access to a British national in custody. But a spokesman refused to comment on the reports that name him or confirm if the man is to be deported to the UK. An extradition agreement does exist between the UK and Zambia, and if an extradition request was made it would be considered under those terms, he said.
Mr Aswat is being held in the central prison in Zambia's capital, Lusaka. The Zambian authorities said he was arrested on 20 July, after having entered the country on 6 July.
It is believed US authorities requested his detention because they want to question him about a 1999 plot to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in Bly, Oregon. James Ujaama, 38, a Muslim convert from Seattle who has lived in Britain, pleaded guilty to involvement in the US training camp plot in April 2003. He faced up to 25 years in prison but received a two-year sentence after agreeing to co-operate with federal investigations.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2005 08:21 ||
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An American freelance journalist was found dead in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, the U.S. Embassy said Wednesday. Police said Steven Vincent had been shot multiple times after he and his Iraqi translator were abducted at gunpoint hours earlier. "I can confirm to you that officials in Basra have recovered the body of journalist Steven Vincent," said embassy spokesman Pete Mitchell. "The U.S. Embassy is working with British military and local Iraqi officials in Basra to determine who is responsible for the death of this journalist. Our condolences go out to the family."
Iraqi police in Basra said Vincent was abducted along with his female translator at gunpoint Tuesday evening. The translator, Nour Weidi, was seriously wounded.
Vincent and the translator were seized Tuesday afternoon by five gunmen in a police car as they left a currency exchange shop, police Lt. Col. Karim al-Zaidi said. Vincent's body was discovered on the side of the highway south of Basra later. He had been shot in the head and multiple times on his body, al-Zaidi said.
Police said Vincent, a Web blogger who had been living in New York, had been staying in Basra for several months working on a book. In an opinion column printed in The New York Times on July 31, Vincent wrote that Basra's police force had been heavily infiltrated by members of Shiite political groups, including those loyal to radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr.
Vincent quoted an unidentified Iraqi police lieutenant as saying that some police were behind many of the assassinations of former Baath Party members that have taken place in Basra. "He told me that there is even a sort of 'death car' -- a white Toyota Mark II that glides through the city streets, carrying off-duty police officers in the pay of extremist religious groups to their next assignment," he wrote.
Vincent was also critical of the British military, which is responsible for security in Basra, for turning a blind eye to abuses of power by Shiite extremists in the city. Here is his blog: In the Red Zone
Posted by: True German Ally ||
08/03/2005 02:30 ||
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#1
He stuck his nose too far into the 'stench'. The Sunni's have it coming; and I don't need to know how the Shiites want to equalize the situation!!
#2
Iraqi terror networks pay close attention to the copy produced by foreign writers. Vincent is probably a victim of death-by-feedback. Condolences to his family.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/03/2005 2:43 Comments ||
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#3
Condolences to Vincent and his family. This Middle East transformation thing is really going to take decades. They're just not ready for free speech and a free press. Too many thugs, even in places like Basra, never mind Falluja
Posted by: John in Tokyo ||
08/03/2005 2:54 Comments ||
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#4
boy, the Brits are doing a real good job down there. why don't we just turn that zone over to the Iranians? I think it would be difficult to distinguish the results.
#6
boy, the Brits are doing a real good job down there
That'd better be irony Mr Bellows - the Brits have done a damn good job in Basra - it's only a shame no-one's media wish to report it.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 5:15 Comments ||
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#7
Democracy is a process. Its unrealistic to assume it will produce perfection immediately. There are going to be secular-religious tensions for a long time. Get used to it.
#8
the Brits have done a damn good job in Basra - it's only a shame no-one's media wish to report it.
A shame, indeed. I guess Big Media is too busy trying to get interviews with murderous thugs like Basayev to pay any attention. There *are* people, though, who are both grateful for and proud of the British role.
#10
Tony UK: That'd better be irony Mr Bellows - the Brits have done a damn good job in Basra - it's only a shame no-one's media wish to report it.
Basra is supposed to be a safe zone. I guess it's safe - for British troops. Steven Vincent was shot, probably by the Shiite religious thugs that the British contingent has been standing up as an integral part of their softly-softly approach. In helping Shiite gangsters turn Basra into a Tehran on the Shatt Al Arab, the Brits have pretty much set up the groundwork for an Arab version of Iran. I don't blame UK troops. I blame Tony Blair. I blame Labor. I blame an entrenched philosophy of multiculturalism. A Tory government would have laid down the law.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 8:12 Comments ||
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#14
Howard UK: And a Tory government would have seen a lot more body bags coming home.
The point of a war is not to minimize body count - it is to achieve vital political ends. The British body count in this war does not remotely approach the numbers in the Malayan Emergency or the Korean War, but the stakes are far higher. Part of the British approach may be the result of a Foreign Office view that does not see Iran, or regimes like Iran, as a threat.
#15
Well, they nicked our boats - we don't need telling. The thin line we provide in Basra has stood the test - I think all forces in the South have had their testing time with regard to Shia fundamentalism. I'm sure the spectre dare even raise its head in Najaf, Karbala and other places where US troops have a presence. Give people their freedom and they may not necessarily vote for whom you expected them to. What evidence is their for saying Basra's regime mimics that of the mad Mullahs' in Iran?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 8:34 Comments ||
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#16
In retrospect, Steven Vincent may have taken on too much risk in not embedding with British troops. Basra may have seemed like a safe area, but Michael Yon, an ex-SEAL, has always been embedded with American troops even in the Kurdish areas. Now we are finding out the truth - thanks to British laxity, Basra is a cesspool just like the Sunni cesspools around Baghdad - the only difference is that the Shiites are quiescent because we are about to hand power over to them.
#19
Eason Jordan is going to be all over this one.
It's either the U.S./British military killing journalists or the U.S./British military didn't provide enough protection. You can't win with the Demoncats.
It's ironic how the journalists hates the military until they need protection. Kind of like abusing your dog everyday for barking and then get mad at the dog for not anything when someone breaks in.
#20
And we're left with neo-marxist anti-American reporters who sit behind their desks in the States or even risk the bar at the Baghdad Hilton or the Green Zone to proclaim the failure of the Iraqi Adventure. Squealing like a stuck pig when anyone challenges their knowledge about anything going on there on the ground other than their freshing polish shoes. That those people even pull a pay check under the guise of 'reporter' or 'journalist' is the crime here. Wormtongue or Mouth of Sauron would be more fitting in title and fate.
I agree with you until 7.7.2005. However, after 7.7.2005 the British are in no mood to pass out candy even in Basra. Tater needs to go down, once and for all.
I think there is going to be a major show down coming in Iraq. It may even involve a one two U.S./British simultaneous punch the terrs are not going to forget for a long time.
No matter what happens, one thing is for sure, PC in the Iraq War is officially over.
#22
There we are, the blame game has started. I don't thing that pointing our finger to all angles of the azimuth will help in any ways. The fact is Writer Steven Vincent was killed by violence and death loving islamist thugs, whichever faction they are from. But not by the Brits.
#23
Howard UK: Should I put Ken Bigley's death down to U.S. 'laxity' ?
Ken Bigley was smack in the middle of the badlands. American troops were swatting terrorists left and right in the heart of Baghdad, and are still doing so. Steven Vincent is dead. What the heck are British troops doing to take care of business? The UK policy of "they won't bother the Shiite thugs if the Shiite thugs don't bother them" is great for force protection, but doesn't really do anything for Iraqi civilians and certainly did not do anything for Steven Vincent.
#24
SwissTex: There we are, the blame game has started. I don't thing that pointing our finger to all angles of the azimuth will help in any ways. The fact is Writer Steven Vincent was killed by violence and death loving islamist thugs, whichever faction they are from. But not by the Brits.
My concern is not with Steven Vincent. His death is just part of the stench of the deliberate British policy in Basra of not stomping on Sadr wannabes. I never wanted British participation in Iraq because I saw this coming from a mile away. In return for a few hundred fewer GI casualties, we may be letting Iraq go down the drain.
The Brits had the stomach for war in Korea, where they lost a thousand dead. They had it in Malaya, where they lost over a thousand men. But they don't have it any more. This is not your father's Great Britain.
You seem a bit thin skined if the British liberation style in Basra comes in for a some criticism. The Brits are said to be using the 'softly-softly" approach in Basra. I'm reading from people on the ground that Basra is now nothing more than "little Tehran". I don't deem that a positive development. Now I'm reading that cops in your country are now required to take their shoes off before raiding a Muslim mosque or home and that raids on mosques are a no-no during prayer time. And you wonder why Basra is now called "little Tehran"? Please, spare me the softly-softly approach, okay?
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
08/03/2005 10:53 Comments ||
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#26
What the heck happened to the Land of Hope and Glory*, that force protection is its primary mission in Iraq?
Dear Land of Hope, thy hope is crowned.
God make thee mightier yet!
On Sov'ran brows, beloved, renowned,
Once more thy crown is set.
Thine equal laws, by Freedom gained,
Have ruled thee well and long;
By Freedom gained, by Truth maintained,
Thine Empire shall be strong.
Land of Hope and Glory,
Mother of the Free,
How shall we extol thee,
Who are born of thee?
Wider still and wider
Shall thy bounds be set;
God, who made thee mighty,
Make thee mightier yet.
Thy fame is ancient as the days,
As Ocean large and wide:
A pride that dares, and heeds not praise,
A stern and silent pride:
Not that false joy that dreams content
With what our sires have won;
The blood a hero sire hath spent
Still nerves a hero son.
* Sung to the tune of Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance.
#28
Aye, tossers the lot. I don't think you'd call the Scots who fought off the mooks at Al-Amarra 'lax'. I think we have to agree that the two forces have different styles and very different theatres of operation. I would gladly admit that PC is a problem in the UK and have posted on this theme on many occasions. I am not thin skinned but will not take criticism of our forces' approach. Basra may be 'little Tehran' but its peaceful. Certainly the film I've seen of the troops in Basra shows an open society and very little hostility to our troops.
PS. Don't quote Land of Hope and Glory at me, prick.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 11:34 Comments ||
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#31
As I said on RB the other day - we should do as we did in the Second World War and in Ulster - use internment.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 11:50 Comments ||
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#32
Howard,
I am with you also. But you have got to stop making appeasement statments like "Basra may be 'little Tehran' but its peaceful. Certainly the film I've seen of the troops in Basra shows an open society and very little hostility to our troops."
I know you are by no means, an appeaser, but the quote above make you sound like one.
London also seemed "peaceful" until 7.7.2005. I, like many here, are NOT the least bit interested in FALSE Peace.
BTW, there is no need to make this thread personal.
#33
I just don't see where all the hysteria over Basra has suddenly come from. What about Amarra? Surely, a far more dangerous hotbed of Shia radicalism than Basra. Certainly give our troops more hassle than they receive in Basra - and I seem to remember us not being too PC to avoid chopping a few of them to pieces.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 12:00 Comments ||
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#34
Civil War is imminent.
And whether anyone here wants to admit it or not right now. Handing complete power over to the Shias is comparable to letting the fox in the henhouse. Yes, the Badr Brigades of the Grand Ayatolla Sistani will assist us in running the Sunnis insurgency into the ground, but what of the open door to Iran? Sistani is an Iranian tool.
The Badr Brigades are who Vincent was investigating, and they are all trained by the Iranian Red Guard. IMVHO the current insurgency is an extension of the Iraq Iran war. With roles reversed in many ways. This time the Sunnis get the short end of the stick and the Shias are up. Under Saddam, quite the opposite.
And yes just like the last time we are providing support, but for the opposite side.
Do we really think the Sistanis and Sadrs of Iraq are going to close the door to their Iranian friends once they have power? Hell no they're not.
We are playing a dangerous game, and just like in Afghanistan in the 80s we are being forced to make some deals with the devil as it were. Hopefully we are not enabling another Osama or worse.
Sistani, Chalabi, Sadr, we're letting them all play for the sake of a temporary peace. But it is only temporary. Democracy in Iraq will be like lingerie. Its expensive, and looks damn good, and we have put a whole shitload of effort into seeing it, but it will be on the floor real soon.And that's when the real action will begin.
We may very well be fighting the very troops we've trained in Iraq in Iran in less than ten years.
Just my two cents.
And notice I ain't offering any alternatives, and I don't envy those who must make these decisions.
#35
How on earth did this become about questioning the quality of British troops? Meow!
The reporter was courageous - but what was he doing there days after the piece was printed? I wonder if he knew when it was to be published? You think he might have laid low for a bit afterward. But here I am blaming the victim, shame on me. Obviously Vincent had buns of steel and we are all better for it. If we see more corruption in Basra, it probably has more to do with the fact that Vincent had the courage to go out there and find it and report it - rather than it being better or worse than perhaps somewhere else.
#36
In retrospect, Steven Vincent may have taken on too much risk in not embedding with British troops. -- Zhang Fei
Zhang, you would do well to read his book. You would then understand his reasoning for what he did and was doing. While I did not entirely agree with what he wrote, I respect what he was attempting to accomplish.
Sunni's are launching full scale plans to participate in the next election, regarding the constitution.
There is still a fat boy (Al Sadr) that needs to be charged with another murder in regards to Stephen in Basra. And I think this time something will happen to Al Sadr. Steven made a lot of Iraqi friends.
#38
Sistani, Chalabi, Sadr, we're letting them all play for the sake of a temporary peace.
One of these things is not like the others,
One of these things just isn't the same...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/03/2005 13:55 Comments ||
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#39
Zhang Fei, you obviously are a cocksucker for having a go at UK troops and for quoting Land of Hope and Glory. Our boys have done and are doing a cracking job down in Basra, we have the best forces on the world. Wind ure neck in..b4 it gets snapped.
#41
NN: Zhang Fei, you obviously are a cocksucker for having a go at UK troops and for quoting Land of Hope and Glory. Our boys have done and are doing a cracking job down in Basra, we have the best forces on the world. Wind ure neck in..b4 it gets snapped.
Anyone who says his country has the best forces in the world is painting a target on his chest. In the 20th century, British forces have been kicked out of more countries than you can shake a stick at. Does anyone really think Britain would have evacuated the Jewel of the Crown (India) if British forces could have hung on? If you want to say the British forces are, man-for-man, the toughest guys around, fine. But what does that really mean? That we should include a new tough guy competition in the Olympics? Militaries are set up to fight (and win) wars, not get involved in competitions of primarily academic interest (or, as in Iraq, ignore Shiite thugs while hoping that the Shiite thugs will ignore them). By that measure, British forces are good for little more than peacekeeping and fighting second rate guerrilla forces like the IRA.
If you want to say that British forces are the best in the sense that they can do anything they are told to do, that is, of course, a rank untruth. Britain couldn't prevent China from taking Hong Kong back. It couldn't hang on to India, or to any of the territories east of Aden. What can British forces do? Beat up on banana republics like Argentina and share the glory for Gulf Wars I and II.
#45
Course you can't get kicked out of countries and continents unless you were there right? LOL It's like saying the PLA was never kicked out of Portugal because the PLA is invincible. :)
#47
Black Watch and other British units provided excellent support of various operations within Iraq. The vast majority of terrorists infiltrate from the west of Iraq instead of infiltrating through Brittish held areas. US forces are now repositioning to the west and taking hard hits this week as they do so.
Sistani was the one that got Al Sadr out of trouble when Al Sadr was holed up in a major mosque in Basra. It is Al Sadr's group who killed Stephen. Not the British. With store owners and now a prominent reporter being murdered by uniform police (Al Sadr sympathizers) the British and the coalition will adjust and deal with the cock roaches.
The many Iraqi friends that Stephen had will put pressure on the Iraqi segments there as well.
#48
Shipman: Course you can't get kicked out of countries and continents unless you were there right? LOL It's like saying the PLA was never kicked out of Portugal because the PLA is invincible. :)
The British *were* the best in the world. If NN had limited himself to "we had the best forces on the world", I would have left him alone. The PLA was no great shakes, but it is possibly the only light infantry force to have pushed the US military hundreds of miles south in the face of American air, artillery and tank superiority. In the 20th century, the British military spent most of its time getting its butt kicked by the Germans, and kicked out of its colonial holdings. Sic transit gloria mundi. And the British military's period of gloire is no more. We're talking about the present, not the past, since we can only live in the present.
#50
In the present, I greatly appreciate having the SAS, the Royal Marines and the Black Watch on our side.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/03/2005 15:32 Comments ||
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#51
Well, one thing is for sure. The spotlight is now on the Basra police and how the Brits have allowed such a mistake to happen. This is truely bad news.
I see the Brits leaving Basra next year by climbing aboard helicopters from the embassy roof.
#52
lemme guess ZF...some hot girl with a British accent dumped you? Why don't you just get it over with and tell the British posters that your penis is bigger than theirs?
#53
ZF, I could go to your level and bring up some wars/battles in recent history that didn't go the way the US wanted, but I won't. I have too much respect for the soldiers (British and US) in Iraq to waste space on this website slagging off each others military. The response of others to your comments tells me your opinion is not a true reflection of your countrymen.
#54
Shipman: Yeah, maybe you're right ZF, Brits fading into the Sunset. This is HMS Victorious going into that quite grave with D-5 Missile tubes.
This certainly helped them hang on to Hong Kong. It certainly deterred a Latin American banana republic from invading the Falklands. Thanks to this display of British power, Steven Vincent and hundreds of Arabs in Basra are really alive in an undisclosed location. Kim Jong Il has nukes, too - is his military able to do anything he tells it to do? Hey - North Korea and Britain do have something in common - rank impotence.
In the 20th century, only three of the major powers have had a consistent record of either political realignments or territorial adjustments in their favor - Russia, China and the US. Russia's czarist-era empire is gone. China has gained territory from almost every one of its neighbors except Russia. Uncle Sam has removed unfriendly regimes in Panama, Grenada, the Dominican Republic, Iraq, Afghanistan and extended its influence through Central Europe, the Balkans, Asia and Africa, much of which used to be Britain's backyard. I have left Britain out - because for Britain - the lyrics of the WWI-era anthem Land of Hope and Glory, when sung in the present context, could almost be said to mock Britain's present circumstances.
#55
I was upset and tired last night when I wrote that, and, reading it the next day, it was a bit harsh. A bit. I'm sure the Brits are doing a better job than the Black Turbans in Tehran would do.
The success of the occupation will be measured 10,20,40 years from now. I'm afraid that the Brits aren't doing their part to instill the values, norms, procudures, what have you, that will be necessary for Iraq in the next century. It reminds me a little of Terry Pratchett's Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork, where balance of responsibility for peace and order in the city is borne by the Theives' Guild -- pay your yearly money to the guild, and there will be no problem. If you don't pay, fair game. And any unlicenced theives will be quickly dispatched by the Guild.
Another practical effect of this hands-off policy, besides Vincent's assassination, is letting Jack the Ripper (link) run loose in Basra. And this, I stress, is only what we can see in the short term. I strongly feel that the Brits are frittering away a chance to build a strong institutions in their area.
Not only that, but we have to put up with aperiodic lectures (link) from General Sir Michael Jackson on how heavy handed (link) US troops are. That especially sticks in my craw. (I'm not sure why my links show up in bold - that's why I mark them so. Is it firefox?)
#56
2b: lemme guess ZF...some hot girl with a British accent dumped you? Why don't you just get it over with and tell the British posters that your penis is bigger than theirs?
Actually, no. I'm just tired of incessant British yapping about how great they are and how stupid and incompetent Americans are - I like to put them in their place every so often.
That would be if I called him ugly. I put the relevant facts on the table and gave him a chance to respond. His response was to resort to obscenity. Now we're talking meow, hiss.
#62
After thoroughly reading all the comments, I'd like to clarify -- I'm questioning British policy here, not the quality or bravery of British soldiers. I sincerely wish the British to be successful in their mission in Iraq. I believe they are capable of getting tough and I hope they do now.
I see some similarities in the US administration of Sicily/S. Italy during the Second World War. The US replaced one form of despotism, Mussolini's form, with another, the mafia's version. While this certainly saved many GI's lives, and secured lines of communication, this policy was short-sighted. While the locals were certainly friendly (one prominent man even demanding to be annexed to the US), the ways of the mafia ensured that Sicily and Southern Italy would be in the grip of grinding poverty for many years. The Italian state only recently came to grips with the Mafia problem. The economic retardation caused by the mafia has probably played a role in the coninued appeal of communism among Italian voters.
The primary difference between Sicily '45 and Basra '05 is of course that Sicily is an Island. The Mafia dons answered only to themselves, while the corrupting elements in Basra are sponsored by a hostile power across the Shatt al-Arab. Which is the crux of the entire Iraq problem, really. Security promlems such as this must be attended to immediately. There is no ocean to act as a buffer. The entire British and American defence philosophy is different in this regard.
#63
Mr R Bellows, I apologise. I think'm we need beeers.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 17:10 Comments ||
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#64
Actually, no. I'm just tired of incessant British yapping about how great they are and how stupid and incompetent Americans are - I like to put them in their place every so often.
Heh.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 17:12 Comments ||
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#65
Mike Sylwester, I hope you're happy now! I took 'em on, I coulda been someone...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
08/03/2005 17:17 Comments ||
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#66
LOL Howard.
I say anyone who puts their ass on the line deserves my respect. The methods of their leadership ant their tactics I'll leave to my betters.
#67
I could care less about who's military is the best all I know is that if we don't get are act together,the Isalmonuts win and I sure as hell don't want them to.
#69
Well, well. A contentious thread has resulted in the formation of the Anglosphere Beer Drinking Society, Ltd. Confusion to the enemy!
(Certain French, Germans, Canadians and Ozzies also welcome.)
Posted by: Matt ||
08/03/2005 18:14 Comments ||
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#70
Elvis, your comment got lost in the acrimony, but it was the most perceptive. I would add one thing, Sadr and others may well be Iranian funded puppets, but don't assume all shias are, even those who look to Teheran for support. The Iraqi Shiaas are surrounded by historically hostile Sunnis, except for Iran. Its a dangerous neighbourhood for the world's first shia Arab controlled state.
#74
Khalilzad worked wonders in Afghanistan. He stood Hamid Karzai up and thwacked all the other contenders, having sized up Karzai as the best guy for American interests in the country. Too bad Bremer was in Iraq - he should have been posted to Afghanistan and Khalilzad to Iraq. Although Khalilzad's posting to Iraq is a plus, he has arrived too late to be kingmaker. Bremer picked the wrong guy (Allawi), and caved in too soon with respect to Iraq's status.
Two Algerian military policemen have been killed and four others wounded in an ambush by Islamic rebels, state radio said on Sunday.
The policemen came under rebel gunfire at a checkpoint near a hotel in the coastal province of Boumerdes, 50 km (31 miles) east of the capital Algiers, on Friday night, the radio said.
Algerian officials and media blame the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), Algeria's largest Islamic armed group, for attacks on government forces.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2005 02:12 ||
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#1
But professor Juan Cole cites CIA analyst Marc Sageman [another of those "calm" voices] who argues that they're only a few hundred Jihadis around the world.
Egypt said it has killed the suspected commander of an Al Qaida cell that carried out a series of suicide strikes against tourists in the Sinai Peninsula.
Egyptian security sources said Mohammed Fulayfel was killed in Mount Ataqa near Suez City. The sources said Fulayfel, 24, was a leading suspect in the suicide strikes in Sharm e-Sheik on July 23 in which 88 people were reportedly killed. Cairo has never released the final casualty toll.
"In the course of investigations of the latest terrorist incidents, conclusive evidence was discovered that pointed to the fact that elements involved in these attacks were hiding out in a quarry at Mount Ataqa," the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Fulayfel was also wanted for the bombings against Israeli tourists in Nueiba and Taba in which 34 people died in October 2004. In both strikes, most of the casualties were Egyptian nationals.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2005 02:04 ||
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A discussion amongst members of a password-protected al-Qaeda affiliated message board yesterday, August 1, 2005, concerned the presence of American forces in Algeria and North Africa, and their alleged âmaneuversâ with those troops from eight Islamic countries, including Algeria, Mauritania, Morocco, Mali, and others. The focus was placed on this âmixed armyâ vis-Ã -vis the Muslims, mujahideen, and members of the Salafist Group for Call and Combat (GSPC), as well as the âdisbelieversâ from the East.
One author believes that the mujahideen in North Africa are to be the primary targets of the joint forces of the American and Islamic countries, a view that other members concur, alleging that they wish to âput out Allahâs light by their mouths.â Another member questions aloud what is to be âtowards the infidel forcesâ in North Africa, to which another states: âThe expected hit is coming soon, Allah willing.â
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/03/2005 00:44 ||
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#1
Or as it has been said before..."Bring It On!!"
Palestinians fired rockets Tuesday at a gathering of thousands of Israeli settlers protesting the upcoming Gaza withdrawal, but missed, killing instead a 3-year-old Palestinian boy and wounding nine other Palestinians in Gaza. Witnesses said militants fired three rockets at the demonstration in the Israeli town of Sderot. Two of the rockets fell in Palestinian areas and the third fell in an open field near Sderot. Among the wounded were five children, aged 4 to 11, including four children of Hisham Abdel Razek, a senior official in the ruling Fatah party and a former Palestinian Cabinet minister. Abdel Razek's wife was also injured.
That's kind of Paleostain all over, isn't it?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Call in the friendly fire adjuster and get those multiple accidental martyr checks in the mail pronto.
#2
Steve was kind enough to point out that "Acts of Allan" are not covered incidents in the standard Mutual of Gaza policy. I also believe payment is prohibited by the "crossfire" rider and "collateral damage" waiver. Additionally, the hudna discount has been rescinded and the policy premiums are scheudled to rise at the close of Eid later this year. For further details please call Mahmoud in Customer Service.
#3
When the PA cops showed up to get the perps to knock it off the Hammas "gunmen" responsible opened fire on the Cops. Hammas is saying it is going to run Gaza when Israel withdraws. Of course the PA's control will crater and a bloody civil free for all will ensue. Just wonderful. Expect more not less provacation and rocket attacks.
#4
"Palestinian Cabinet minister Mohammed Dahlan said the attack hurt Palestinian interests, and threatened to use force if necessary to stop such activity.
"What took place last night is a national scandal," Dahlan said. "This is unfortunately not the first time that Palestinian victims are being killed. ... We should put an end to this by any means, by force, or by pursuing and convincing"
If you do that again, Im gonna get tough. Yup. THIS time I really mean it. Oops. Oh yeah. I didnt like that. You do it again, and THIS time im gonna get really, really tough. I MEAN it this TIME. .....
Cmon Dahlan. Youre gonna have to get tough soon - YOU'RE running out of time.
#7
I'd call this single incident a... ummm... metaphor? simile? allegory? Hell, I'm not an English major, so I can't be expected to keep them straight. Maybe it's a thick stew, containing all three, plus onions and carrots and turnips, simmered in a rich gravy of vitriol and incompetence for years.
Here are the Israelis, complaining that their government is going to do something they consider wrong, that's going to hit them square in the pocketbooks, for the sake of Peace in the Middle East®.
Rather than saying "Hoboy! The Zionists are leaving! Now we can take their rich farmland and turn it back into desert and have our own state!" and helping them pack, the Paleos decide to shoot rockets at them.
The Paleos, being Paleos, can't even manage to get the rockets into the right county, instead managing to kill a little kid and injure more.
Has anybody checked to make sure Mac Sennet is really dead? It sounds like something he wrote...
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 15:14 Comments ||
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#10
Fred: If you want to use the correct figurative label, metaphor is the closest. Webster's 3rd definition for "archetype" fits nicely too: "An inherited idea or mode of thought in the psychology of C. G. Jung that is derived from the experience of the race and is present in the unconscious of the individual."
Sudan's capital erupted into ethnic and sectarian conflict Tuesday, with bands of northerners and southerners staging attacks on each other in an outpouring of anger sparked by the death of a former rebel leader turned vice president. Frightened residents carried clubs and bricks for protection, fearful of the deadly reprisal violence between Muslim Arabs and residents from Sudan's south enraged over the death of John Garang, killed Saturday when his helicopter crashed into a southern mountain range in bad weather.
At least 49 people were killed in the violence that started Monday, according to a U.N. official, though the number was not officially confirmed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to journalists. Armed gangs, said to be Arabs, broke into homes of southerners in several parts of the capital. Television footage showed southerners' homes torn apart, furniture smashed and doors hanging on hinges. At the same time, Muslim neighborhoods came under attack by supporters of Garang, who led a two-decade rebellion in Sudan's mostly Christian and animist south before becoming the country's vice president in a peace deal. A dusk-to-dawn curfew was declared for the second night in a row. In the evening, four armored vehicles sat parked on a downtown street, facing the direction of Omdurman, Khartoum's sister-city across the Nile, where some of the worst clashes were reported.
Bumping off Garang was on the same order of bright as the Syrians bumping off Hariri.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/03/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
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#1
Fred, I asked how long and you said 20 mins. Looks right on the mark to me.
#2
yikes-- another battle of omdurman--call kitchener!
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
08/03/2005 2:14 Comments ||
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#3
Garang was flying back to Sudan from Uganda aboard the Ugandan presidential helicopter AF 605 Type MI-172 (VIP version) after meeting Museveni. The plane hit a rock and crashed owing to bad weather south of New Site on the Uganda-Sudan border, just after Kidepo National Park, on Saturday.
I don't know, isn't dying in a Russian built, African maintained and piloted helicopter being flown in bad weather through mountains considered "death by natural causes"?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/03/2005 10:18 Comments ||
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I am Dr. Clement Moore, a representative and Financial advicer to John Garang of SUDAN, whose untimely death occurred recently in a helicopter crash.
Neither him nor his wife who he used as his next Of kin are alive since the incident claimed the lives of the entire family,leaving no one alive to claim the sum of (?14,000,000.00), he left in his bank account with the ISLE OF MAN BANK UK.
I think y'all know how the rest of the letter goes. If anyone is interested, I can send him your eMail address.
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.
British authorities, NBC News reports, have new information suggesting the second set of accused London bombers may also be linked to Pakistan. According to Western counterterrorism officials quoted by the network, authorities now think the apparent leader of the July 21 bombing suspects travelled to Pakistan late last year. 
Police scoured the snowcapped mountains of northern Colombia Tuesday for a leftist rebel unit blamed for a roadside bomb attack on a government convoy that killed at least 15 elite counterinsurgency troops. The bombing was the latest in a stepped up campaign of attacks this year by the 
Two explosions in trash cans slightly injured nine people Tuesday in separate locations in the popular resort city of Antalya on the Mediterranean coast, the police chief said. Police said they could not confirm whether the blasts were the result of bombs or of some sort of aerosol can exploding in the heat.
Police have identified two Syrian-born Spaniards as the ideological mentors behind last year's Madrid train bombings, a newspaper reported Tuesday. El Pais said a police report handed over in March to the judge investigating the attacks concludes that the two, 
A gunman on a motorcycle shot and killed a judge Tuesday in central Tehran and then sped off, a judiciary spokesman said. Judge Masoud Moqadasi handled a case against an investigative reporter jailed in 2000 for reporting that intelligence officials murdered five Iranian dissidents in 1998, judiciary spokesman Jamal Karimirad said.
A Briton held in Zambia on suspicion of terrorism will be deported to the UK, the country's president has said. UK police deny reports that Mr Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, of West Yorkshire, is wanted over the 7 July London bombings. But they have said he is of interest in other inquiries. The US wants to speak to him about an alleged plot to set up an al-Qaeda training camp in Oregon. Mr Aswat's family fear he could end up in US detention at Guantanamo Bay. 
of empire.
Palestinians fired rockets Tuesday at a gathering of thousands of Israeli settlers protesting the upcoming Gaza withdrawal, but missed, killing instead a 3-year-old Palestinian boy and wounding nine other Palestinians in Gaza. Witnesses said militants fired three rockets at the demonstration in the Israeli town of Sderot. Two of the rockets fell in Palestinian areas and the third fell in an open field near Sderot. Among the wounded were five children, aged 4 to 11, including four children of Hisham Abdel Razek, a senior official in the ruling Fatah party and a former Palestinian Cabinet minister. Abdel Razek's wife was also injured.
Sudan's capital erupted into ethnic and sectarian conflict Tuesday, with bands of northerners and southerners staging attacks on each other in an outpouring of anger sparked by the death of a former rebel leader turned vice president. Frightened residents carried clubs and bricks for protection, fearful of the deadly reprisal violence between Muslim Arabs and residents from Sudan's south enraged over the death of 
