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Iraqi army takes over from US in Anbar
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
2 foreign soldiers killed in Afghan attacks
Two foreign soldiers in the U.S.-led coalition were killed and three American troops were wounded in separate attacks Tuesday as insurgents continued an offensive that has sparked some of the heaviest fighting in Afghanistan in several years.

The foreign coalition soldiers died when their armored vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the eastern province of Nangarhar. They were part of a patrol carrying out combat security operations in the Khogyani district, the military said in a statement.

A third soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded. None of the victims' names were released, or in the case of the foreigners, their nationality. American and German troops are the only foreign forces in the coalition known to be operating in Nangarhar, said Ghafour Khan, spokesman for the provincial police chief.

No Afghans were allowed to get near the scene of the blast, which destroyed the coalition vehicle around 3 p.m., he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/07/2006 03:46 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Perhaps the German contingent would like to go around the local villages giving a lesson with lots of graphic slides on their nation's historical past in collective responsibility & punishment, preferably in german with a broad stuttgard accent.
Posted by: pihkalbadger || 06/07/2006 18:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Germany needs to look at the amount of foregn aid they provide Pakistan.
They are paying for the bullets that kill their own boys..

Posted by: john || 06/07/2006 18:31 Comments || Top||


Afghan ambassador to US sez Taliban have safe havens in Pakistan
The Afghan ambassador to the United States, Said Jawad, was quoted here on Saturday as having stated that the Taliban have been emboldened by more advanced weaponry and greater mobility within the country and across the porous border to terrorist safe havens in Pakistan, and that "this is something even the Government of Pakistan does not dispute."

The ambassador's remarks appeared in a report relating to Afghanistan in the Washington Times. The report, quoting the BBC, said, "Pakistan-based foreign militants with links to Al Qaeda and experience in Iraq have been offering large bounties to Afghans to kill US soldiers and have encouraged the wider use of suicide bombings and kidnappings."

The Afghan envoy also said that the Taliban rely on "intimidation tactics" such as hiding in villages, burning down schools and medical clinics, and killing moderate tribal leaders and clergy to create a climate of fear. He said it was critical that the international community help reinforce the capacity of the cash-strapped Afghan government to deliver services "so the presence of the state will be felt in areas experiencing attacks."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/07/2006 03:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Arabs that arrive via Pakistan and Iran too I would bet.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/07/2006 4:14 Comments || Top||

#2  this seems a bit of a no-brainer to me, but then I'm very tired. Of course the Pakistani support is creating a safe haven. It seems to me that the headline should read Pakistani Support Continues To Hamper Afghanistan's Effort To Build Democracy. But hey, that's just me.
Posted by: 2b || 06/07/2006 4:21 Comments || Top||

#3  The Afghan envoy also said that the Taliban rely on "intimidation tactics" such as hiding in villages, burning down schools and medical clinics, and killing moderate tribal leaders and clergy to create a climate of fear.
Now where is there evidence of this?
(/sarc)
Posted by: Chinter Flarong9283 || 06/07/2006 5:56 Comments || Top||

#4  "Taliban have safe havens in Pakistan"

Duh!

In other startling news, water is wet.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/07/2006 18:40 Comments || Top||


Taliban claims downing US chopper in Zabul
PESHAWAR (AIP): Taliban on Tuesday claimed downing a US helicopter in Zabul province yesterday. Local police, however, dismissed Taliban claim as false. Taliban guerillas shot down a helicopter of US forces in Chaka Kor area of Dai Chopan in Zabul province yesterday, spokesman of Taliban fighters Qari Muhammad Yousaf told Afghan Islamic Press. He said in the same area a clash took place between Taliban and coalition forces last night in which several American troops were killed.

However, police chief of Zabul province, Muhammad Nabi Mulla Khail dismissed the Taliban claims as false. He also rejected the claim of Qari Muhammad Yousaf of killing 12 policemen in an attack on a Bazargan Post in Shah Joi district.

The Taliban spokesman also claimed to have blown a vehicle of US troops in Khala village near Qalat city yesterday. The Zabul police chief also rejected this claim and said three days back a vehicle of Afghan Army was destroyed in a mine blast in which four soldiers were wounded. Muhammad Nabi Mulla Khail expressed ignorance about the clash which according Taliban was happened in Nowbahar district yesterday, leaving three soldiers dead and one vehicle destroyed.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The Taliban spokesman also claimed to have blown a vehicle of US troops..."
Is this sentence missing a word? "I'll buy 'up' for $200, Alex. Wonder who enjoyed it more????
Posted by: USN Ret. || 06/07/2006 0:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Grease stain on blue blue throbe telled a tale on me.

Posted by: 6 || 06/07/2006 4:31 Comments || Top||

#3  Wazoo Whistle Blower Breaking News,
Spin Boldak 6/07/06:

Taliban Whistle Blower Leaks Document Proving That "Mullah Omar and Dan Rather Had A Tryst In 1978."

The Wazoo Whistle Blower Has Just Learned From A Source Within Mullah Omar's Inner Circle, That A Love Child Was Issued From That Union And Is Now 27 Years Old.
Posted by: RD || 06/07/2006 9:45 Comments || Top||

#4  A Love Child Was Issued From That Union And Is Now 27 Years Old.

he's got one eye and big jug ears
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 10:06 Comments || Top||

#5  Frank G, around here it's considered impolite to say, "big jug ears". We say, "cranium fins".
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/07/2006 10:28 Comments || Top||


Taliban attacks dist headquarter of Chak, torches offices
(AIP): Taliban on Tuesday claimed to have attacked a district headquarters in Wardak province last night. Spokesman of Taliban guerillas, Dr. Muhammad Hanif told Afghan Islamic Press Taliban attacked the district headquaters of Chak in Wardak province last night and torched the offices after taking away goods. Police chief of Wardak province General Subhan Qul confirmed the attack and torching of the offices and said investigations were under way in the incident. This was one of the several attacks carried out by Taliban in Wardak province. A few days back some workers of an NGO were killed in a landmine explosion.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Two US troops killed one injured in Ningarhar
JALALABAD (AIP): Two US soldiers were killed while another soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded in a landmine blast in eastern Ningarhar province on Tuesday, US military said. Spokeswoman of coalition forces in Kabul Lt. Tamara Lawrence while giving details to Afghan Islamic Press said, “Two US soldiers were killed when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb in the Khogyani District of Nangarhar Province.” She said: “A third soldier and an Afghan interpreter were wounded in the explosion.”

Earlier spokesman of Taliban fighters Dr. Muhammad Hanif phoned Afghan Islamic Press and said, “Taliban blew up a US military vehicle with remote control landmine in Khugyani district, killing two US soldiers.”
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rest in peace, with our thanks.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/07/2006 9:30 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Islamic courts pushing towards Jowhar in the wake of Mogadishu victory
Islamic militia vowed to turn Somalia into a religious state yesterday , pushing north to take more territory after winning a three-month battle for Mogadishu. But thousands of Mogadishu residents protested against the takeover, and the defeated warlords said they would fight back. Clan elders warned the Islamic side against more advances.

Fighters loyal to Sharia courts seized the lawless capital Monday from a self-styled antiterrorism coalition of warlords widely believed to be backed by Washington.

President Bush said he was monitoring the situation. ``Obviously when there's instability anywhere in the world we're concerned. There is instability in Somalia," Bush said during a trip to Texas. ``First concern of course would be to make sure that Somalia does not become an Al Qaeda safe haven, doesn't become a place from which terrorists plot and plan. So we're watching very carefully developments there."

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/07/2006 03:43 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


US willing to extend olive branch to Islamic courts in Somalia
The Bush administration has decided to extend an olive branch, at least for the moment, to Islamic forces that this week seized control of Mogadishu, capital of the lawless East African country of Somalia, a senior administration official said yesterday.

"We think that there is room for discussion with any viable political actor in Somalia," the official said, including the forces loyal to the religious movement and militia known as the Islamic Courts Union.

"The situation is still in flux . . . but in terms of our strategic objectives," including preventing Somalia from becoming a haven for al-Qaeda operatives and addressing the country's severe humanitarian problems, "we've got to deal with the political realities on the ground."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/07/2006 03:20 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Why?
Posted by: 3dc || 06/07/2006 8:46 Comments || Top||

#2  1. There may not be a viable alternative and
2. They may agree to keep out AQ.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/07/2006 9:19 Comments || Top||

#3  Or, more ideally, turn over al-Qaeda operatives in return for friendly relations and aid.
Posted by: Odysseus || 06/07/2006 11:30 Comments || Top||

#4  US willing to extend olive branch to Islamic courts in Somalia

U.S. agrees to talks with Iran on nuclear program

Now all he's to do is resume relations with Paleos, and we'd have an unholy trinity.
Posted by: gromgoru || 06/07/2006 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Too late LH. There are reports of quite a few Arabs fighting with the Somali taliban. The Somali islamists are already sheltering those responsible for the US embassy attacks in Tanzania and Kenya. They are also sheltering those responsible for the attacks on the Kenyan Jewish vacation resort and El-Al airliner, and who knows what else.
Posted by: ed || 06/07/2006 11:51 Comments || Top||

#6  its not clear to me if A. The guys the AQ guys are sheltering with are the same folks running these Islamic Courts, or B. If the Islamic courts crowd is united, or is ridden by factions with different agendas.

In either case, assuming they ARE keeping the AQ guys, and they ARE a united group (like the core of the Taliban were) its still worth offering them a deal - just like we offered Qaddafi a deal. If they take it, we get the AQ guys. If they turn it down, well then its on to plan B.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/07/2006 13:23 Comments || Top||

#7  lets not forget, we offered the Taliban a deal way back in September 2001, before we started Op Enduring Freedom.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/07/2006 13:24 Comments || Top||

#8  Welcome to the wide wonderful world of charcuterie and lawmaking. Quite the ugly spectacle and about as appetizing. Lending the least credibility to Islamic "law courts" is simply suicidal. I feel this is yet another case of Bush's faith-based sandbag coming home to roost.
Posted by: Zenster || 06/07/2006 22:45 Comments || Top||

#9  Feelings, nothing more than feelings.

This is WaPo. Read the story. They quote one bit, then insert, unquoted, the bits about Sharia Courts and other idiocies. Not one actual quote supports the headline. Trash. WaPo.

Nay, my son. Thou art of a far greater intelligence than thy comments. May be thy baggage doth drag thee down into the fevered swamps of WaPo. Chilleth thyself. Think upon the still waters of truth. Buyeth not the spin. Raise thyself up, yea, unto the heavens, and rejoice! Cuz this is just typical WaPo Shit posing as reporting.

Halleluja!

Thou art healed!
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 22:55 Comments || Top||

#10  OTOH - could simply serve to calm and concentrate the targeting choices.
Posted by: Angotle Threretle5507 || 06/07/2006 22:56 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Charges framed against Sunny, 3 others in arms case
A Dhaka court yesterday framed charges against Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) military commander Ataur Rahman Sunny and three others in an arms case filed with Sabujbagh Police Station in December last year. Meanwhile, Sunny urged the prosecution not to ask witnesses to make false statements against them (the accused). He told the prosecution while a prosecution witness was giving his statement in another case at the same court yesterday.

Sunny, JMB regional commander of Gazipur Enayetullah Jewel and Alamgir Hossain Bijoy, pleaded not guilty but refused to seek justice in the 'worldly court' after the charges were read out to them by the judge. Another accused Kamrul is absconding. Jewel told the court he was the planner for blasting the grenades in Gazipur on November 29 and 31 last year. Moreover, a Jhalakathi court on May 29 sentenced him to death for killing two judges and the sentence would be executed soon. That is why they would not seek justice in man-made courts, Jewel said.

Judge Monzurul Bachhid of the Fourth Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court framed charges against the accused and issued summons upon the complainant and other prosecution witnesses to appear before the court to give their statements. Sunny, younger brother of Abdur Rahman and a member of JMB's top tier Majlish-e-Shura, masterminded the countrywide August 17 blasts. He was arrested at Tejgaon Polytechnic Institute on December 13 last year. Following his information, Rab seized 56 items of arms, ammunition, explosives, bomb-making materials, and books on jihad from the house of Abul Khair at South Manda Sabujbagh area in the city.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Gangster Panna killed in Rab 'crossfire': Death and the Mango Orchard
The chief of notorious Panna Bahini (gang) at Padma Char areas was killed in 'crossfire' during a shootout between Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) and his accomplices in Bagha upazila early yesterday. Abdul Mannan Rana alias Panna, 27, of Majhdiar of Daulatpur in Kushtia was arrested on Monday at Ishwardi Railway Junction. Rab, however, did not disclose this until yesterday when it in a press release confirmed Panna's killing in 'crossfire.'
The continuing sto-o-o-ory of Boyz 'n' the Upazila...
According to the Rab press release, Panna confessed to several murders during interrogation. Following his confession, a Rab team started for Chandipur along with him to nab his accomplices and retrieve illegal arms and ammunition.
"Chandipur, here we come!"
"Don't kill me!"
"Shuddup. Hit him, Mahmoud!"
"Owww!"
As soon as the Rab team reached the spot, Panna's accomplices opened fire on them forcing the law enforcers to retaliate. During the 12-minute shootout, Panna managed to escape, the release said.
"Chief! Panna got away!"
"He won't go far, though!"
Later, police and local people found a critically wounded Panna at a nearby mango orchard.
"Ma! It's gettin' dark, Ma!"
The doctors declared him dead when he was taken to Bagha Hospital which is not a Level I trauma center, said the press release.
"He's dead, Jim!"
As the news of his death spread, the locals brought out joyous processions and exchanged sweets, the release added.
"Ding dong! Panna is dead!"
"We represent the Lollipop Guild, the Lollipop Guild..."
One foreign rifle and five bullets were recovered from the scene.
"... and we wish to welcome you to Chand-i-pur!"
Panna had 19 cases against him, including seven for murder, the Rab said. He formed a group of about 200 criminals and established control over some 7000 hectares of fertile char area under Daulatpur in Kushtia, Lalpur in Natore and Bagha in Rajshahi districts over the last two years, sources said. Backed by a section of local BNP, the gang unleashed a reign of terror killing over 10 people and wounding many for extortion and establishing supremacy over the char areas. Over 70 families of Korai Nawsara char (Rajshahi), Nawsara Sultanpur char (Natore) and Natun char (Kushtia) have been forced to flee their homes in the last eight months due to the gang's violence.
Any chance he was an Islamicist? No? A commie hood? Oh, ok.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Stutter gun in the shop, so he exercised his Lend-Lease options, sounds like....
Posted by: USN Ret. || 06/07/2006 0:54 Comments || Top||

#2  "Dacoits in the Mist"

You can set your watch by the RAB.
Posted by: mojo || 06/07/2006 10:34 Comments || Top||

#3  LOL Fred :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 11:04 Comments || Top||

#4  "Death and the Mango Orchard" - great name for a novel.
Posted by: Pappy || 06/07/2006 11:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Wotsa foreign rifle?

They need green cards for fire arms or something?
Posted by: SLO Jim || 06/07/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||


Britain
American to fight terror extradition
A US citizen was remanded in custody when he appeared in a British court yesterday accused of supplying al-Qaeda with military equipment.
Syed Hashmi was arrested yesterday at London's main Heathrow airport as he tried to board a plane to Pakistan and was detained pending extradition proceedings to the United States, where he is wanted on a terrorism charge.

The 26-year-old told Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London he would fight attempts to send him back to the United States.

Lawyer Laura Rosefield, representing the US government, told the court: "It is alleged that he (Hashmi) has been supplying military equipment and currency to al-Qaeda operatives in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

"His UK student visa has expired. He has no permanent address here, despite studying here since 2003. On his arrest a large amount of cash was found on his person."

Ms Rosefield did not reveal the exact amount discovered.

The court was told a provisional extradition warrant was issued for Hashmi's arrest on June 1.

It alleged that between January 1 and March 1, 2004, he received "military gear, intending that it should be used for the purposes of terrorism".

He was indicted earlier this year by the United States District Court for the southern district of New York.

Hashmi, bearded and wearing flowing white robes, stood throughout the 10 minute hearing. He was remanded in custody until June 15. Another appearance, possibly by video-link, was scheduled for July 6.

London's Metropolitan Police said yesterday the arrest was not connected to the high-profile anti-terrorism operation against a suspected chemical bomb factory in east London last Saturday, in which two people were arrested.
Posted by: tipper || 06/07/2006 20:21 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the owner of that cash is NOT gonna be pleased
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 22:49 Comments || Top||

#2  Watch it take years to get his person back to the USofA and the TRANZIs in the UK Justice system and Home Office slow his extradition at every turn.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/07/2006 23:30 Comments || Top||


16-year-old arrested in anti-terror swoop
A 16-year-old male was arrested today under anti terror laws by police who are questioning a 21-year-old man detained at Manchester Airport. West Yorkshire Police said the teenager was arrested this afternoon in Dewsbury and homes in the West Yorkshire town were now being searched. Last night, West Yorkshire officers detained a 21-year-old Bradford man of Pakistani origin at Manchester Airport under the Terrorism Act 2000.

A force spokeswoman said: "Just after 3pm today officers from West Yorkshire Police arrested a 16-year-old man from Dewsbury. He is currently being detained under the Terrorism Act 2000 and is in custody at a police station in West Yorkshire." She said searches were taking place at South Street and Warren Street in the town. The spokeswoman said the operation was "a continuation of last night's operation at Manchester Airport" but stressed it did not involve armed officers and was not connected to the Metropolitan Police operation in Forest Gate, east London.

West Yorkshire Police have stayed tight-lipped over reports that the man arrested at Manchester Airport was being questioned in connection with a terror plot in Canada. The BBC quoted security sources saying the incident was linked to the Canadian inquiry.

A number of men were arrested in Canada last week and charged in connection with an "al Qaida inspired" plot in the Toronto area. Canadian prosecutors have accused some of those suspected of plotting to storm Parliament, take hostages and behead the Prime Minister unless Canada withdrew its troops from Afghanistan, a lawyer for one of the suspects said. But West Yorkshire Police dismissed the reports of a connection as "pure speculation".
That's not a 'no'
Police raided three homes in Bradford in connection with the Manchester Airport operation at about midnight yesterday. Local people said officers led a man and two women from one of the properties and they were driven away in a police car.
A force spokeswoman confirmed the Metropolitan Police assisted with the operation.

Hasanul Maab, who lives next door to one of the houses raided in Hanover Square, Bradford, said an elderly lady lived at the property and she was often visited by her sons, who lived in the Bradford area. He said the woman, with her son and his wife, were led away by police in last night's raid. It is believed the man arrested at the airport is the home owner's grandson.

Mr Maab said: "A police van arrived and some police officers dashed out and started shouting. They used a ram to knock the door down and then they rushed inside shouting. "They were in there for about an hour before they brought all three people out - two ladies and one young man. "They then drove off in a police car." He said the man who had gone with police studied law in Bradford and there was "no chance" he was involved in terrorism.

He added: "I know them all very well. They were really nice and quiet. They were no trouble at all."
That's what they all say just before the cops start digging bodies out of the basement
Mr Maab said he had lived in the area for about 30 years and had not experienced anything like this before.

Two houses in the square remained sealed off by police, with officers standing guard outside. One of the front doors was damaged during the raid. As well as the houses raided in Hanover Square, police also searched a third property, in Otley Road in the city. Police said no arrests were made in the Bradford raids but some residents were moved while searches took place.
Posted by: Steve || 06/07/2006 13:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He said the man who had gone with police studied law in Bradford and there was "no chance" he was involved in terrorism.

Of course not. There are no Muslim terrorists.

Jihadis, though...
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/07/2006 13:44 Comments || Top||


Police search after terror arrest
Three properties in the Bradford area are being searched by West Yorkshire police following the arrest of a man under the Terrorism Act. The 21-year-old man, from Bradford, was detained at Manchester Airport on Tuesday night. He is believed to have recently been in Pakistan. He is being questioned in connection with arrests in Canada over an alleged al-Qaeda plot, sources told the BBC. Police have confirmed armed officers were not involved in his arrest.

The operation involved West Yorkshire Police and MI5, as well as the Metropolitan Police, but is not being linked to the investigation in Forest Gate, east London. The man, who is believed to be of Pakistani origin, is now being questioned at a West Yorkshire police station. Two of the properties being searched are in Hanover Square in the Manningham area of Bradford, while the third is in Otley Road.

Hanover Square neighbour Asad Khan said the noise of banging woke him up just after midnight. "I came outside to have a look and there were just police everywhere. They were all over. The road was blocked. "There were two houses that were being raided. The whole neighbourhood had woken up. They were all outside. "We saw ladies were taken out and put into cars. We don't know how many or who was taken out," Mr Khan said. "We've never had any trouble like this before. It was quite shocking."

A next-door neighbour of one of the houses raided in Hanover Square said he had seen its owner, an elderly woman, being led away by police along with her son and his wife. Police had used a battering ram to force the house's door down, he added. Police confirmed a number of people were removed from addresses so that searches could be carried out.
Posted by: Steve || 06/07/2006 09:28 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Europe
Probe of CIA prisons implicates EU nations
A slam dunk says the AP...
PARIS - Fourteen European nations colluded with U.S. intelligence in a "spider's web" of human rights abuses to help the CIA spirit terror suspects to illegal detention facilities, a European investigator said Wednesday.
Ooooooh! A "spider's web"...
Swiss senator Dick Marty's report to Europe's top human rights body was thin on evidence but raises the possibility of a cover-up involving both friends and critics of Washington's war on terror. It says European governments "did not seem particularly eager to establish" the facts.
Thin on evidence, ya say? That can't be good for an investigation, can it?
The 67-page report, addressed to the 46 Council of Europe member states, will likely be used by the rights watchdog to pressure countries to investigate their suspected role in U.S. rendition flights carrying terror suspects.
Release the Rights Watchdogs!
Marty's claims triggered a wave of angry denials but also accusations that governments are stonewalling attempts to confront Europe's role in the flights.
"This report exposes the myth that European governments had no knowledge of, or involvement in, rendition and secret detentions," said lawmaker Michael Moore, foreign affairs spokesman for Britain's second opposition party, the Liberal Democrats.
Hey, they got one too.
In the strongest allegations so far, Marty said evidence suggests planes linked to the CIA carrying terror suspects stopped in Romania and Poland and likely dropped off detainees there, backing up earlier news reports that identified the two countries as possible sites of clandestine detention centers.
Officials in Romania and Poland vigorously denied the accusations."This is slander and it's not based on any facts," Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz, Poland's prime minister, told reporters in Warsaw.
But Filip Ilkowski, leader of Poland's "Stop War" movement protesting the Iraq war, said the Polish government was trying to thwart European Union investigators.
...and who ya gonna believe, the prime minister or the head of the Polish antiwar movement? I mean, why even ask?
"It is hard to say whether prisoners were dropped off here, but from what we know, U.S. planes landed in Poland outside the official channels. The government has done nothing to clarify the matter, it is doing everything to cover it up," Ilkowski said.
U.S. planes might've landed in Poland. No film at eleven...
British Prime Minister Tony Blair also denied the collusion allegations and said Marty's report contained no new evidence.
"I have to say, the Council of Europe report has absolutely nothing new in it," he told lawmakers.
There was no immediate U.S. reaction.
Prepare the cover up!
What are we covering up?
I dunno...

Rest at the link.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/07/2006 16:19 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ...Will someone PLEASE tell this as*hole to SHUT UP?...
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 06/07/2006 16:49 Comments || Top||

#2  The fault lies with sanctimonious euro politicians who have not made it clear to their constituents that this is a dirty war and there will be things that are unpleasant but need to be done.
They will now pay the price...
Posted by: john || 06/07/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#3  John, it's interesting but the French, of all people, seem to understand this, at least when it's terrorism on their own soil. They have no problem dropping the hammer then.

Overall, this report smacks of a desparate attempt to keep the issue alive despite the lack of evidence. Quelle horror -- they wouldn't do that, would they?
Posted by: Steve White || 06/07/2006 16:56 Comments || Top||

#4  I really don't care about Dick Marty's "spider web". Any clear link to planning, supporting, or executing terrorism would be enough for me to be satisfied with renditioning them from 35,000 ft without a parachute, so secret detention doesn't hit my hot buttons.
Posted by: Darrell || 06/07/2006 16:58 Comments || Top||

#5  I believe this report has no connection with any govermental or quasi governmental. It's just TRANZI anti-war anti-usa bozine-shite. The "governmental/EU" investigaton said this is not supported by any evidence. It's all myths.

TRANZI's are true believers they have "faith" this is true even where there is no real evidence or fact, if they and the EU snd USofA MSM keep spouting it, it is the "truth."


"Hey, hey, you, you, get off of my cloud."

Wadda' buncha' tools.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/07/2006 17:40 Comments || Top||

#6  I figure this just means Marty's check cleared.
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 17:42 Comments || Top||

#7  Just for fun, duplicate those airplane tail numbers a few times and fly them all over Europe.
Posted by: ed || 06/07/2006 17:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Who needs evidence when your a fuxking pop tart Urpeeing investigator.
Posted by: Captain America || 06/07/2006 20:05 Comments || Top||

#9  Dick Marty:

Assembly Member since 1998
Working language: French
Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe

Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: Bureau of the Assembly
Ex officio: Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by Member States of the Council of Europe (Monitoring Committee)
Member: Sub-Committee on Tourism Development
Chairperson: Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Ex officio: Sub-Committee on Human Rights
Ex officio: Sub-Committee on Crime Problems and the Fight against Terrorism
Ex officio: Sub-Committee on Rights of Minorities
Member: Political Affairs Committee
Member: Sub-Committee on Belarus
Chairperson of national delegation: Standing Committee
Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: Standing Committee
Chairperson of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights: Enlarged Joint Committee

NO comments!
Posted by: SwissTex || 06/07/2006 21:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Dick needs a jihadi beheading...then, he might get a clue
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 21:24 Comments || Top||

#11  SwissTex---Thank's for Dick Marty's resume. Now what has he done for useful work? That section is a little thin™, IMHO.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/07/2006 21:56 Comments || Top||

#12  It sounds much more impressive in French, I bet.
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 21:58 Comments || Top||

#13  Mais oui, überfliegermensch...
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/07/2006 22:23 Comments || Top||

#14  Heh, nothing sounds better in German. :)
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 22:27 Comments || Top||

#15  Have you ever heard serious cussing in German, flyover? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/07/2006 22:52 Comments || Top||

#16  Ahhhhh, roger, tower, we just landed from Afghanistan with Dick Marty's new load of teenage male prostitutes. Where do you want them, over.
Posted by: Ghost Jet Airways || 06/07/2006 22:53 Comments || Top||

#17  Lol, tw - I admit not! Are you going to give me a thrilling sample with translation? :)

I wait with baited breath!
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 23:11 Comments || Top||


PKK rebels ambush troops, botch attack on school bus
DIYARBAKIR, Turkey: Two Turkish soldiers were killed and two others wounded Tuesday in an ambush by separatist Kurdish rebels, while a remote-controlled land mine targeted a school bus, leaving two more soldiers injured, officials said. Rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) opened fire on soldiers on patrol near Semdinli, in southeastern Hakkari Province, in an area close to the border with Iraq, killing two of them. Two others were wounded in the attack.

In Pulumur, Tunceli Province, some 650 kilometers northwest of Hakkari, rebels set off a land mine by remote control as an armored minibus carrying the children of local soldiers was passing by, the officials said. The children escaped the attack unscathed, but the explosion badly damaged a military escort vehicle following the minibus, wounding two soldiers, they said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are they sure the escort wasn't the target?
Posted by: Pappy || 06/07/2006 11:26 Comments || Top||


Great White North
'Plan to use plane' in Canada attack
ONE of a group of Toronto-area men now in custody on terror-related charges had enrolled in a flight training program as part of a plan to use aircraft in an attack on Canadian targets, it was reported today.
CBC television, which cited allegations contained in court documents, said Amin Mohamed Durrani, 19, had enrolled in a training program at a Toronto-area college but then withdrew out of fear his activities would draw the attention of authorities.

Durrani is one of 12 men and five youths being held after a weekend raid in and around Toronto. Several of the accused face charges of knowingly participating in a terrorist group, while six are charged with planning an explosion that could cause death or serious injury.

The documents repeated allegations revealed by a lawyer at a court appearance today, that some in the group had planned to storm Parliament and take politicians hostage to force Canada to remove its troops from Afghanistan.

Citing the documents, CBC said suspects were also alleged to have planned attacks on Toronto police stations using radio-controlled toys packed with explosives.

The arrests have intensified the spotlight on Canada's presence in Afghanistan and shocked Canadians not used to worrying about attacks on home soil.

"As recent events have shown us, terrorism is a problem to address here in our own country and in fact around the world" Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day told a parliamentary committee today.

Mr Day said the government plans to fulfill its pledge to increase its foreign intelligence capability, but he said it has not decided whether this should be as part of Canadian Security Intelligence Service or through a separate agency.
Posted by: tipper || 06/07/2006 20:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The arrestees do not appear to be very nice people.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/07/2006 21:37 Comments || Top||

#2  "ONE of a group of Toronto-area men now in custody on terror-related charges had enrolled in a flight training program as part of a plan to use aircraft in an attack on Canadian targets"

Gee, I wonder what gave them that idea....?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/07/2006 21:55 Comments || Top||


Canuck jihadis' plot aimed at forcing Canadian withdrawl from Afghanistan
Some of the 17 men and youths arrested in a suspected terrorist plot had planned to storm the nation's Parliament, take politicians hostage and behead Prime Minister Stephen Harper unless their demands for a withdrawal of Canadian troops from Afghanistan and release of Muslim prisoners were met, prosecutors allege.

The accusations, delivered Tuesday to several of the defendants' attorneys in a one-page investigation summary, include no evidence to substantiate the charges, said the attorney for Steven Vikash Chand, 25. "There's an allegation, apparently, that my client personally indicated that he wanted to behead the prime minister of Canada," attorney Gary Batasar said of the synopsis, which he said he had received minutes before the proceedings.
"Lies! All lies!"
Batasar complained that he had not been allowed to meet privately with Chand, and later said to reporters outside the courthouse, "This is not Guantanamo, this is Toronto, Canada."

In his comments before the judge, Batasar said the prosecution contended that the defendants planned to invade the Parliament building in Ottawa and take hostages to demand that Canadian forces leave Afghanistan, where about 2,300 of the troops serve under international mandate with the Kabul government's consent. The defendants, prosecutors say, also planned to demand the release of unspecified Muslim prisoners and to bomb Parliament and decapitate Harper and other political leaders if their demands were rejected.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/07/2006 03:05 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Canadian justice system is suffecently different than the of the US that most of will be unfimillar with it. I pretty sure there is no "life sentence" as we know it and terms are served concurently. These folks have some rights but not like a US defendant does. The press coverage will also be very limited by the court as well.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/07/2006 3:45 Comments || Top||

#2  May their diets consist mostly of pork scraps and may they all have loooong, hard, rotating confinements in the cell of Jock the gay French Canadian lumberjack.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/07/2006 4:07 Comments || Top||

#3  But didn't they previously say that it was because of our support in Iraq? I guess the sound of laughter caused them to rethink the reasons that they spent all that time planning their acts...after the fact... yeah, that's the ticket!
Posted by: 2b || 06/07/2006 4:26 Comments || Top||

#4  The accusations, delivered Tuesday to several of the defendants' attorneys in a one-page investigation summary, include no evidence to substantiate the charges, said the attorney for Steven Vikash Chand, 25.

And the LASlimes and Dog Trainer runs with the defense spin, too.

Good thing the press is on our side. I'd hate to think how they'd act if they weren't.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/07/2006 7:49 Comments || Top||

#5  The types of charges they will face probably won't include anything carrying a life sentence. On the upside, our new terrorism laws are pretty clear about conspiracy, training and equipping. All carry max 10 year sentances that must be served consecutively, not concurrently, unless a life sentence is included in the mix. Section 83.26 of the criminal code, for those so inclined: http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/C-46/267115.html#rid-267148
Posted by: Canukistanian || 06/07/2006 16:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Ten years isn't a bad start. What odds they'll be expelled from the country, after?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/07/2006 21:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Put 'em on a diet of sweetmeants, chittlins and head cheese. They'll love it. Oh, and throw in some Limburger cheese and sour wine to wash it down with. Good stuff for jihadis.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/07/2006 22:13 Comments || Top||

#8  What odds they'll be expelled from the country, after?

They'll join Karpinski on the speaking tour.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/07/2006 22:14 Comments || Top||


Charges against Canuck terror ring unveiled
The terrorist plot that Canadian authorities say they foiled included plans for a series of violent attacks in Toronto and Ottawa, holding public officials hostage, seizing media offices and beheading Prime Minister Stephen Harper if Canadian troops were not removed from Afghanistan, a lawyer for one of the accused men said in court today.

The accusations — but no evidence to support them — were included in a government summary that was given to defense attorneys just before preliminary hearings began in a courtroom here today. The document was not made public.

The charges, if true, would go far beyond the limited information that investigators have revealed about what they say was a wide-ranging conspiracy among 17 radical Muslim men and youths to use homemade explosives against unnamed targets in southern Ontario.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/07/2006 03:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The terrorist plot that Canadian authorities say they foiled

Is there really any purpose of reading any further than this? Sheesh, Dan.
Posted by: 2b || 06/07/2006 4:31 Comments || Top||

#2  The accusations — but no evidence to support them — were included in a government summary that was given to defense attorneys just before preliminary hearings began in a courtroom here today.

Do case summaries include evidence, or are they typically just, you know, summaries?

The document was not made public.

Yet the NYT knows everything that's in it.

Note that every bit of "information" in this story came from the defense. The prosecutor "did not comment" and the investigators "have said little". In other words, the NYT is acting as advocates for the defendants.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/07/2006 7:48 Comments || Top||

#3  The accusations — but no evidence to support them —

Bullshit, they have three tons of evidence.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/07/2006 8:21 Comments || Top||

#4  But, JIM!!! The Mounties provided that evidence!

Never mind they didn't provide the motive or means. Never mind that a sting is a completely different thing than entrapment.

These guys will either walk or they'll be "political prisoners" not just for the Muslims, but the left as well.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/07/2006 8:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Tommorrow in the NY Times: "Toronto Muslims Whine: They're Spying On Us".
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/07/2006 8:47 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Gitmo detainee says clash involved Qurans
Once again with the Koran Qu'ran Quran abuse...
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - A Guantanamo Bay detainee who participated in a clash with U.S. military guards last month said it was sparked when guards tried to search prisoners' Qurans, contradicting the military's account of the melee, his defense attorney said Wednesday.
...and AP takes it as gospel, seeing how she's a terrorist's defense attorney and all.
The detainee also denied the contention by military officials that prisoners in the May 18 clash in Guantanamo Bay lured guards into a cell by staging a suicide attempt, defense attorney Kristin Wilhelm told The Associated Press.
No, no. They were crocheting afghans for the elderly and... patting kittens.
The military, in its account soon after the clash occurred at the prison in southeast Cuba, said 10 prisoners used makeshift weapons to battle 10 guards. It was one of the most violent incidents at Guantanamo Bay, where the U.S. holds about 460 men on suspicion of links to al-Qaida and the Taliban.
Wilhelm said the detainee, a Yemeni whom she could not further identify because of Pentagon rules, told her the guards demanded that prisoners turn over their Qurans so they could be searched for hoarded medicine, which the military said had been used in two suicide attempts earlier in the day elsewhere at the prison camp.
I will give up my Quran when you peel it from my cold dead hand.
That could be arranged, Achmed.

One detainee offered to collect the Qurans and search them in front of the guards, but the military guards refused and entered the cell block, setting off the fight, she said. She said the prisoners used only a floor lamp against the guards and that it quickly ended when one detainee succumbed to pepper spray used by military police.
Succumbed? I wish...
"There was no mention of a suicide attempt and there was no mention of luring a guard into the cell block," the attorney said of her conversations with her detainee client.
There we were, counselor, just minding our own business...
Navy Cmdr. Robert Durand, a base spokesman, said he would respond "soon" to the detainee's allegations. Durand earlier said that officials from the military's Joint-Detention Task Force and an interagency task force were conducting an internal review of the incident.
Former detainees at Guantanamo have alleged in the past that military personnel at Guantanamo have desecrated the Quran by stepping on the book and throwing it into a toilet. U.S. military officials said no Guantanamo Bay guard had tossed a detainee's Quran into a toilet, but acknowledged there were instances in which Qurans were abused by guards, intentionally or accidentally. U.S. officials have said that all troops at the prison are instructed to handle the Quran with respect.
Here's an idea. How about no more friggin Korans? And next time go in with a flamethrower...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/07/2006 21:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wouldn't they have video of this?
Posted by: Penguin || 06/07/2006 21:54 Comments || Top||

#2  ...the guards demanded that prisoners turn over their Qurans so they could be searched for hoarded medicine... Think maybe some of these devout Muslims are cutting up their Koran's so they can hide stuff inside. Allan ain't gonna like that...
Posted by: GK || 06/07/2006 22:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Yahoo and the rest of the communists trip all over themselves running to the side of the detainees. Whatever they say must be true because they hate america and that makes them better people than us.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/07/2006 22:07 Comments || Top||

#4  ...and AP takes it as gospel, seeing how she's a terrorist's defense attorney and all.

Third story of the day that depends entirely on the defense attorney of a terrorist.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/07/2006 22:11 Comments || Top||

#5  Inmates follow directions, they don't make the f*&king rules. Sounds like we need an involuntary hunger strike to remind these asshats
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 22:12 Comments || Top||

#6  perhaps the guards and food preparers/deliverers could all take R&R for a week in Miami? Let the inmates think Gitmo closed with them left caged behind .....heh heh
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 22:16 Comments || Top||

#7  take away the korans for good.
Replace them with material from the church of bob.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/07/2006 22:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Let there be slack.
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 22:22 Comments || Top||

#9  What? They ran out of toilet paper again?

What abuse!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/07/2006 22:26 Comments || Top||

#10  I wouldn't soil my ruddy arse with the pages of a Koran.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/07/2006 22:54 Comments || Top||


Final Defendant Guilty in 'Va. Jihad'
A federal jury yesterday convicted the last man charged as a member of the "Virginia jihad network," deciding that Ali Asad Chandia aided a terrorist group that is fighting the government of India. The jury in U.S. District Court in Alexandria found Chandia, 29, guilty of three counts of providing material support to Lashkar-i-Taiba or conspiring to do so. Although jurors acquitted him of a fourth count of supporting terrorists, the College Park man faces up to 45 years in prison when he is sentenced Aug. 18.

Prosecutors said Chandia trained at a Lashkar camp in Pakistan and helped the group acquire paintballs and other equipment with potential military applications when he returned to the United States. Lashkar, which is battling to end Indian control over much of Kashmir, is considered a terrorist group by the U.S. government.

The verdict brings to 11 the number of Muslim men convicted in the investigation of what prosecutors called a network dedicated to preparing for holy war against U.S. troops. Their training included playing paintball in the Virginia countryside, and a number of the defendants attended Lashkar camps overseas. Prosecutors said Chandia is a former personal assistant to Ali al-Timimi, the group's spiritual leader, who is serving a life prison term.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White || 06/07/2006 11:03 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  His attorney, Marvin Miller, said that the charges were overzealous

I thought Marvin Miller was a celebrity divorce lawyer. He is doing terrorists now?
Posted by: SteveS || 06/07/2006 11:28 Comments || Top||

#2  The players union are bastards, but terrorists is a little strong.
Posted by: 6 || 06/07/2006 14:12 Comments || Top||

#3  Lock 'em up and melt the key.
Posted by: mac || 06/07/2006 18:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Ali. Smirky Boy says not to forget the Vaseline...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/07/2006 20:51 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
A traitor, say parents; engineer's son is first state jehadi in valley
IRFAN ATTAR was a first-born, dedicated to God by a childless Kolhapur couple desperate to have a child. Eighteen years later on Monday, Attar’s anguished parents had to publicly denounce their eldest son a traitor to their country.

Attar, student of a madrassa in Bharuch, Gujarat, was shot dead in Kashmir a week ago, his body charred beyond recognition after a firefight with the army, the first Maharashtra Muslim to be so killed. Anti-terrorist squad officers from Mumbai are now in Kolhapur to investigate if there are others like him studying in Gujarat’s Islamic seminaries.

The police in Kolhapur — nestling in the Sahyadri Hills amid serene sugar-cane fields and chappals — are still waiting for confirmation that the teenage militant killed in Pulwama, Kashmir, was indeed Irfan, but to the Attars, the information they received and the circumstances were proof enough.

So in Kolhapur’s comfortable Tarabai locality, government engineer Mohiuddin Gajbharsaheb Attar and his wife Shabira unable to live with the stigma of terrorism, released a statement that read: “On the basis of available facts and circumstances, we have concluded that the slain terrorist is our son Irfan…We are Indians and are proud of our Indian identity. We condemn Irfan’s treacherous act and will continue to do so in the future.” How and when Irfan made the journey from Kolhapur to Kashmir, from small-town boy to jehadi, isn’t something his parents have figured out. They believed he was studying at the Bharuch madrasa. It was only after a spokesman of the terror outfit Hijb-ul-Mujahideen announced that one of their martyred boys was from Kolhapur, did the Jammu and Kashmir police contact the Kolhapur police.

“We sent our personnel to the madrassa in Gujarat where Irfan was supposed to be studying, but we couldn’t find him,” Kolhapur district superintendent of police Dr Sukhwinder Singh told HT. He said it wasn’t possible to identify Irfan’s charred body from the photos released by the Kashmir police.

Singh said DNA tests may be conducted. And the Attars home was raided anyway. The police found Urdu books and maps of India and Pakistan “with some markings”.

Police sources said it was likely the teenager was indoctrinated by extremists in Gujarat. Since the Attars were childless for years after their marriage, they dedicated their first son (they have three children) to God on the advice of religious teachers.

Irfan was educated in religious seminaries in Kolhapur’s Kagal and Uchgaon towns. Police investigation has shown that his father would send his son Rs 10,000 every year.

The Attars told the police that Irfan visited them on Id every year; his last trip home was in November 2005. Singh refused to say if the Attars were under suspicion.
Posted by: john || 06/07/2006 19:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meanwhile


Look Ma, I caught some jihadis!!



And their toys!!

Indian army soldiers pose next to the bodies of suspected Islamic militants (L covered) in Machil, 200 km (124 miles) northwest of Srinagar June 7, 2006. The Indian army said on Tuesday it had killed at least eight suspected Islamist militants as they attempted to enter Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani-controlled part of the restive Himalayan region.
Posted by: john || 06/07/2006 19:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Packing all that weaponry and they're only "suspected Islamist militants" ?

The insanity is truly global.
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 19:56 Comments || Top||

#3  That is Reuters for you.

Here is a quote from the former Governor of Jammu and Kashmir state, Gary Saxena

He also ridiculed President Musharraf's claim that more then 70,000 people have died in the state in the last ten years.

"I do not know from where he got that figure. As governor of the state, I had authentic statistics with me. More then 13,600 civilians lost their lives in the last fourteen years."

"Of these, 10,000 were killed by terrorists. The rest lost their lives when they got caught in the crossfire between the militants and the security forces," he said.

He lambasted the Pakistani president for not mentioning the figure of the security personnel killed in terrorist violence.

"We have lost 3,600 personnel of the security agencies."

"We have killed more then 16,700 terrorists in various operations, more then seventy per cent of them foreigners," he added.

He gave a detailed list of the arms and ammunition seized during anti-terrorist operations.

"We have captured 25,000 Kalashnikovs, 325 sniper rifles, over 1,000 machine guns, 1,800 rocket propelled grenades, 4,000 rocket launchers, 10,000 mines and 4000 wireless sets."

In addition to this, we have seized over 50,000 hand grenades, thirty tonnes of explosives and 7.5 tonnes of RDX,"
the former governor said.

He praised the Indian army for launching operation Sarp Vinash ("Death to Snakes") to flush out terrorists from Poonch, Rajouri and Surankote sectors of Jammu division.

Posted by: john || 06/07/2006 20:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Take the jehadis to the taxidermist and have their heads mounted above your fireplace.
Posted by: Captain America || 06/07/2006 20:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Actually they were supposedly banned from publically displaying jihadi bodies by the head of the Indian Army General JJ Singh


Posted by: john || 06/07/2006 20:14 Comments || Top||

#6  ...operation Sarp Vinash ("Death to Snakes")

Now that is a cool name for a military op.

Not wimpy like Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Posted by: xbalanke || 06/07/2006 20:38 Comments || Top||

#7  Ya mean COMMUNIST-MAOIST SUPPORTED JIHADIS, as per the MSM pre 9-11 and post 9-11, pre IRAQI FREEDOM and post-IRAQI FREEDOM!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/07/2006 21:41 Comments || Top||

#8  I feel for the poor parents. They appear to be the kind of 'good' Muslims Bush et al are always talking about. They certainly were saying the right things - which proves it can be done. So why aren't millions more 'good' Muslims saying the same kind of thing about their brethren in Toronto, etc.
Posted by: Glenmore || 06/07/2006 21:45 Comments || Top||

#9  It doesn't seem as if President General Musharref is getting his money's worth from his purchases. He might want to think about that a bit... On the other hand, the more that the Indian Army disposes of, the fewer to bother him back home.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/07/2006 22:07 Comments || Top||

#10  They certainly were saying the right things - which proves it can be done. So why aren't millions more 'good' Muslims saying the same kind of thing about their brethren in Toronto, etc.

Because India has had riots in which Muslims were lynched. I'm not saying that's a good thing, just that there might be a bit of self-preservation in their motives.

And I'm not saying that's a BAD thing, either.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 06/07/2006 22:13 Comments || Top||

#11  I would not like to p*ss off General JJ Singh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 06/07/2006 22:23 Comments || Top||


Detention of suspected militant: LHC orders written response from DAG
The Lahore High Court on Tuesday directed the deputy attorney general (DAG) to give in writing the whereabouts of Hafiz Atif Idrees, allegedly arrested for being an Al Qaeda activist. Petitioner Hafiz Muhammad Asif, Idrees's brother, had moved a petition seeking his brother's release. "Idrees went to attend business classes at the Lahore campus of Allama Iqbal Open University in August, 2004, but did not return," he said.

Asif accused intelligence agencies of arresting his brother. "A man identifying himself as Major Usman visited me six months ago and told me that intelligence agencies had detained my brother on suspicion of being an Al Qaeda activist," he said. Usman handed over Idrees's motorcycle and other belongings, and said that the latter would be released soon, he added. "However, my brother has not returned yet." The petitioner said his brother had not been involved in criminal activities and his detention unjustified.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


4 killed in Balochistan violence
Four people were killed in violence across Balochistan on Tuesday. Three people were killed and seven injured in a tribal dispute in Dera Bugti. Local sources said that members of the Bugti and Kalpar tribes clashed with unidentified men, and the exchange of fire resulted in the casualties. "The firing broke out abruptly in Gandoi Camp. Both sides used rocket launchers and medium-range weapons," sources said. They said that the fighting went on for a long time. The cause of the clash could not be ascertained.

In a separate incident, part of a railway track was blown up in the Nothal area of Dera Murad Jamali and disrupted the train service. "Trains have been stopped as the track has not yet been repaired," a local journalist told Daily Times. He said that two more bombs had been recovered and defused near the track. A man was killed by a blast in Western Panjgur district, while police managed to defuse another bomb. Police in Turbat claimed to have recovered huge quantities of weapons. However, no arrests have been reported.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Italian confirms Iraq troop withdrawal
Italy's foreign minister said Wednesday that Italy will not withdraw all its troops from Iraq until the end of the year, sticking to a timeline set by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi even after the election of a new center-left government.

But Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema, who was in Baghdad to discuss the plans with Iraqi leaders, said Italy would begin reducing the number of Italian troops in Iraq this month.

The announcement came two days after an attack on an Italian military convoy in southern Iraq killed a soldier and wounded four others. Premier Romano Prodi said Tuesday that the attack would not hasten Italy's withdrawal from the country.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: ryuge || 06/07/2006 06:39 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  They'd have had a better chance of rebuilding an iceberg in Rome in the middle of August. Shaped like a Maserati.
Posted by: Perfesser || 06/07/2006 12:54 Comments || Top||

#2  Shows Prodi to be all talk and a typical tool. The withdral will proceed as planned and timed by his predecessors government. It's not going to be what what he so publicly ran his mouth about.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/07/2006 16:03 Comments || Top||

#3  Prodi è un vigliacco e un traitor. *hopes he got the Italian correct*
Posted by: Korora || 06/07/2006 18:41 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda makes gains in the Sunni Triangle
Iraq has reported gains by Al Qaida in the Sunni Triangle.

After months of a purported slide in Al Qaida strength, Iraqi officials said Islamic insurgents have regained control of areas in such provinces as Anbar, Diyala and Saleh Eddin. They said the Al Qaida offensive threatens to reverse gains by the U.S.-led coalition as well as the central government in Baghdad.

"If we want to rebuild the country, we need to provide security," Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki said. "If security is lost, the country cannot be built."

The warnings by Iraqi officials contrast with the reassurances from U.S. military commanders of a stable security situation in the country. The U.S. military has not confirmed the reports by Iraqi regional officials of sectarian killings, expulsion and a siege of such major cities as Baqubah.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 06/07/2006 03:58 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I smell bullshit. Why are we reporting this propaganda? Sure, there is an element of truth to this. But the best propaganda always holds a kernel of truth.

I'm not educated enough to debate this or to find the flaw in this piece of propaganda, but my nose is sensitive and I can smell bullshit from a long ways away.
Posted by: 2b || 06/07/2006 4:15 Comments || Top||

#2  dont know about Saladin prov, but Ramadi is clearly a huge problem - as in 90% of the city in insurgent hands. US mil says its not like Falujah - cause in Falujah, we were completely out of the city, which is not the case in Ramadi. Ramadi is the capital and largest city in Anbar. We've sent in our reserve brigade from Kuwait to add to coalition forces in Ramadi.

Diyala is where Baquba is, I think, and there have been lots of reports of incidents, but beyond that I dont recall having heard stuff that would support this.

Maybe hes exaggerating (after all, the new guy has some incentive to blame the old guy, and establish a baseline from which its more possible to show improvement) but it sounds to me more like someone facing facts.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/07/2006 9:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Than why don't you let the marines kill the motherf*ckers so they can come home. Quit crying every time somebody fires off a weapon.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/07/2006 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Standard stipulations: this stuff is harder than it looks, there may well be things we don't know, and attaining at least a minimally acceptable outcome is still highly probable.

Having said all that, it certainly seems like our resolute irresolution and aversion to offense, our focus on AQI instead of on the Sunni and criminal substrates that are its sine qua non, and the infatuation with social work vs. imposing our will have all been a predictable disaster.

A Baghdad security plan will be launched next week (rhetorically). Time will tell, but I'm sick with doubt that it will be decisive or serious. Hard to imagine a serious campaign being tolerated by the Sunnis in the govt. So we'll get some b.s. like weapons confiscations and temporary surges of IP or IA in certain areas - though no isolation of the neighborhoods everyone knows are the core of the problem.

Our female employees report there are now areas where women venture outside without a hijab at their peril, and where other ridiculous fundamentalist norms are enforced through intimidation. This was not the case even 6 months ago. Right here in Baghdad. Preposterous.

Basra is so bad that I'm told the regional embassy office should probably be closed. The security situation is untenable, local employees have quit or been killed, the UK forces provide minimal support. A mess.

All of this has essentially been chosen by our leadership - none of this was inevitable, most of it was easily avoidable.

Keeing the standard stipulations in mind, many of us here simply cannot understand how everyone from Dubya on down through the chain to Casey or the corps CG could have watched security developments in the last year and been satisfied. Political gains have been great - and their momentum completely unexploited through offensive action.

I keep thinking of Curtis LeMay as he was given the helm of the XXI Bomber Command in the Marianas and told to produce results with the B-29s, or else he'd follow his predecessor and be relieved. Knowing only what I know, I'd have been very tempted to give Casey the same ultimatum a year ago.

I'm told the corps CG now minimizes contact with the development and governance people - he has been openly challenged at so many meetings about the obviously deteriorating security situation. And these are the people who have to help deliver the social and economic improvements the CG mistakenly believes are the prerequisites to security success.

We'll prevail, but seems to me the leadership has been very poor in the last two years. There's a degree of infatuation with complexity and indirection in an environment that's as keyed to a simple calculus of power and domination as any on Earth.
Posted by: Verlaine in Iraq || 06/07/2006 12:37 Comments || Top||

#5  VII's comment should be promoted to an Opinion post. That was a great rant and very important. Thanks.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 06/07/2006 13:12 Comments || Top||

#6  As depressing as it was, thanks for the honest assessment Verlaine.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/07/2006 13:12 Comments || Top||

#7  ...and I agree with Nimble.
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/07/2006 13:13 Comments || Top||

#8  "Than why don't you let the marines kill the motherf*ckers so they can come home. Quit crying every time somebody fires off a weapon."

Maybe cause that wouldnt help?

Look. Theres about 20,000 insurgents. Theres ALWAYS about 20,000 insurgents. Despite our guys (and recently, the Iraqi forces also) doing a good job of killing and arresting insurgents by the thousands, for years now. Theyre not making more deadenders. And Centcom continues to report 90% of the footsoldiers are Iraqis, not foreign jihadis. So where are the insurgent replacements coming from? Gotta be from the general Sunni Arab population.

Unless somebodys got another 200,000 or so US troops to send, and the will to send em, we aint gonna win this without pealing off part of the insurgency through a deal of some kind. And you cant do that at the same time you adopt Roman Empire rules of engagement.

Now Im as impatient as anyone that its taking so long for a deal in Baghdad, but I dont see a better strategy than that.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/07/2006 13:35 Comments || Top||

#9  " the development and governance people - he has been openly challenged at so many meetings about the obviously deteriorating security situation. "

I could sympathize with him. Here are people who dont engage in combat, who dont command combat soldiers, hectoring him on why, with a fraction of the troops he needs, he cant maintain the security to make their jobs easier. Go ahead, fire Casey. See who else wants that job, under those conditions.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/07/2006 13:38 Comments || Top||

#10  This whole ruse is because the Iraq parliament has been playing politics with who runs the departments with guns. The kurds should kick some ass and bury the survivors where they lay.
Posted by: wxjames || 06/07/2006 15:19 Comments || Top||


Another Iran weapons cache discovered in Basra
London, Jun. 06 – Weapons smuggled from Iran have been discovered in Iraq’s southern city of Basra, the prominent satellite network al-Jazeera reported on Monday. The network quoted an Iraqi cleric, Ayatollah Hassan al-Moyed, as saying that the arms cache was discovered in a shed in Basra, Iraq’s second largest city.

In a separate report on Monday, al-Jazeera quoted the spokesman of the Sunni group, the Association of Muslim Scholars, as saying that Iran’s Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS) had infiltrated much of Basra.

In March, United States Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld accused Tehran of sending elite members of its Revolutionary Guards into Iraq to cause harm to the future of that country. Sunni groups have accused Tehran of trying to flare sectarian strife between Iraqi Shiites and Sunnis.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sheesh, tourists
Posted by: Captain America || 06/07/2006 0:43 Comments || Top||

#2  Open provacation in my book. Act of war under all international norms.

Whacha gonna do?
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/07/2006 1:00 Comments || Top||

#3  We'll nuke them.

Whether we like it or not.

Amadimedi will force our hand.
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 06/07/2006 1:26 Comments || Top||

#4  We'll turn our heads and look away, and live to get pooched another day.
Posted by: Perfesser || 06/07/2006 2:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Don't destroy these weapons. Give them to the demonstrators in Iran that now need our help.
http://gatewaypundit.blogspot.com/2006/06/clashes-break-out-in-nw-iran-qom.html
Posted by: plainslow || 06/07/2006 7:34 Comments || Top||

#6  It's only fair to return them to Iran and then some.
Posted by: Captain America || 06/07/2006 20:12 Comments || Top||


Iraqi army takes over from US in Anbar
BAGHDAD - An Iraqi army division has taken over from US forces in patrolling an area in Anbar province, the US military said on Tuesday, the first transfer on that level in the western heartland of the Sunni Arab insurgency.

The 1st Iraqi Army Division officially assumed control of territory near the town of Habbaniya on June 2, between the towns of Ramadi and Falluja, it said in a statement. “The Iraqi unit is now responsible for planning and executing their own operations in Habbaniya,” the statement said, without specifying the size of the area. But US-led forces would continue to help with medical evacuation and fire support, it added.

It was the first division-level transfer of territory in Anbar, the statement said, adding that four Iraqi brigades and nine Iraqi battalions are also assigned territory there. “This transfer is another step to a free Iraq,” said US Lieutenant-Colonel Loris Lepri. The Iraqi unit in Habbaniya would continue to work with US-led teams in charge of “training and mentoring” Iraqi forces, the military statement said.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So why is this in the Khaleej Times and notsome US rag?

Oh, nevermind.....
Posted by: Bobby || 06/07/2006 6:54 Comments || Top||

#2  In military terms, this is very important; though its importance is being missed by the MSM and hopefully the other ME countries.

The most any other country in that region can muster as an effective unit is a Brigade-sized element. And even though they organize their Brigades into Divisions, that is strictly a paper organization, without effective Divisional operations.

This is a very important distinction, as a Division trained in Division operations can defeat two or three times as many independent Brigades, all else being equal. That is, five Brigades in an effective Division can beat fifteen Brigades operating on their own.

And the US has been quietly training the Iraqis at Divisional operations for two years now. We started with the light infantry Divisions, then last year we are "heavying" them up with a mechanized Division.

We are also beating into their thick skulls the critical importance of support and logistics Divisions, also a rarity in the ME, along with specialized support organic Brigades.

By putting the 1st Iraqi ID in charge of the hottest of the hot sectors in Anbar, it is really going to give them an acid test to eliminate anybody who can't cut it from the organization.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/07/2006 12:18 Comments || Top||

#3  I read this in the New York Times. O.K. No I didn't. I will though if it goes bad.
Posted by: Mike N. || 06/07/2006 12:58 Comments || Top||

#4  the headline made me think the Iraqi army was taking over all of Anbar, which would have been big news.

But thats not whats happening. The US is still in charge in Ramadi, and the US is still in charge in Falujaj (AFAIK) the Iraqi 1sr Div is in charge of the rural area in between.

Which points up to the ambiguity in a divisional area of control. A US division in Iraq gets a whole province. An Iraqi division, apparently,gets a small fraction of a province.

A step in the right direction, but not all that big a step.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/07/2006 13:28 Comments || Top||

#5  Considering what has happened in Iraq in just three years is pretty impressive to me.
I mean you compare any kind of liberation in history and you look at Iraq and you have to say it's pretty darn amazing.

To have rebuilt a military capability that resembles you more than the history of that military capability seems pretty amazing.

To me this seems amazingly impressive. Should get a mention. I am not even hearing any of this on some conservative radio shows...so maybe it does not mean poo. But it's good news regardless.

Posted by: long hair republican || 06/07/2006 23:15 Comments || Top||


Iraq: Militant Group Threatens Female Students In Kirkuk
(AKI) - The Ansar al-Sunna, the main Islamist group in Iraqi Kurdistan, has threatened to either kill or kidnap the female students of Kirkuk, the oil capital of northern Iraq, should they wear trousers, put on make-up or fail to cover their heads with a scarf. A number of posters issuing such a threat have been distributed and affixed on the walls of Kirkuk, a local source said. In the poster, the Islamist group explicitly requested female students to "wear the headscarf and the traditional black Islamic gown."

"The posters have terrified female students and their families," added the source, who also said that "this could increase the rate of female students dropping out of school."

Ansar al-Sunna, a group linked to al-Qaeda in Iraq, is the most active Islamist group in Kirkuk's province. In the past, Ansar al-Sunna had even created a sort of Islamic 'state' in its strongholds in the northern provinces of Biyara and Tawila, applying sharia - the Islamic law. The group maintains close ties with the remnants of Ansar al-Islam, a Kurdish Islamist organization formerly based in the mountains near Halabja in northeastern Iraq before the US-led invasion.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  hmmm...i guess holding a miss kirkuk contest is outta the question
Posted by: yo momma || 06/07/2006 2:00 Comments || Top||

#2  We should be infiltrating tough female gang leaders into the islamic world and setting them up to be role models for the wimmin folk. Sort of even the odds out.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/07/2006 8:58 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli air raid on Palestinian training camp in Gaza
GAZA CITY - The Israeli air force attacked a training camp used by a militant Palestinian group in Gaza City overnight, the military and witnesses said. There were no reports of any victims after an Israeli aircraft fired several missiles into the camp operated by the Popular Resistance Committees.

On Monday, two militants from the Committees, which regularly claims responsibility for firing home-made rockets into Israel, were killed in an Israeli air strike over the Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza.

The military confirmed that aircraft overnight attacked a weapons factory in Gaza that was producing makeshift rockets. Aircraft also conducted raids against so-called access routes to prevent militants from travelling to grounds used to launch the rocket attacks, the military said.

The army said 13 rockets have been fired at Israel in the past 24 hours, one of which hit a house in Defence Minister Amir Peretz’s home town of Sderot and landed in a young person’s bed. Citing unnamed military sources, Israeli army radio reported that ruling Palestinian movement Hamas was behind a series of rocket attacks on Sderot on Tuesday in which one woman was lightly wounded.
Posted by: Steve || 06/07/2006 09:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What a bunch of retards. Those rockets sound like they are less dangerous than fireworks. But they provoke a response from Israel nonetheless.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/07/2006 10:09 Comments || Top||

#2  If these rockets are the usual Katyusha clones, then they *are* fireworks - essentially big-ass bottle rockets. It is all fun and games until one lands on your roof.
Posted by: SteveS || 06/07/2006 11:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Have the Israelis considered dropping 2 laser guided bombs into the net meeting of the Hamas leadership? If not, why not? Also F-15s load to the max dropping 1000 pounders at random intervals into Gaza sound good.
Posted by: ed || 06/07/2006 11:45 Comments || Top||

#4  If it is a training camp that is giving them a problem - why a daisycutter has enough of a destruction radius to remove any camp.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/07/2006 11:47 Comments || Top||


2 Israelis stabbed in Gush Etzion
Two Israelis were stabbed Wednesday afternoon near the community of Alon Shvut in Gush Etzion. Police say that the condition of both is light and they were taken to a hospital in Jerusalem.

A police check found that the youths, an 18-year old teenager, and a soldier, 19, were hiking through the area during the afternoon, before coming under attack by Palestinians. The woman was injured by a rock thrown at her head and the pair stopped. The attackers approached them, and one attacker stabbed the man in his back.
True to form.
He is lightly to moderately injured. Magen David Adom paramedics and police have been called to the area, while the IDF is chasing after the terrorists, seen fleeing escaping towards the village of Nahlin.

A day earlier, a Palestinian stabbed an Israeli civilian north of Jerusalem. The civilian was moderately injured. An initial investigation found that the victim pulled his car over to help the Palestinian, who was stranded on the roadside. The Palestinian asked him for water, and when the Israeli returned with a bottle, he stabbed him in the neck.
Hum, he should have done what the UK Youths(Tm) debated on their forum : let him stranded on the side of the road, unless he accepted to convert to judaism. That'll teach him not to behave like the Master Religion.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/07/2006 08:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hiking near Gush w/o an Uzi. Bad juju.
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/07/2006 8:54 Comments || Top||

#2  My first thought on reading this was that this is to what the Palestinians are reduced, now that they can't get suicide bombers past the security wall. Yes, they did manage to attack two Israelis, but only accomp;ished a bruised head and a shallow cut before running away. I suspect our New York City contingent's response would be along the lines of, "You think that's a mugging? Ha! One time, back in the 1980s I was mugged so bad that..."
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/07/2006 14:52 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Special Forces to use strap-on "Batwings" instead of parachutes
By Matthew Hickley, Daily Mail

This is soooooo cool.

Elite special forces troops being dropped behind enemy lines on covert missions are to ditch their traditional parachutes in favour of strap-on stealth wings. The lightweight carbon fibre mono-wings will allow them to jump from high altitudes and then glide 120 miles or more before landing - making them almost impossible to spot, as their aircraft can avoid flying anywhere near the target.

The technology was demonstrated in spectacular fashion three years ago when Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner - a pioneer of freefall gliding - famously 'flew' across the English Channel, leaping out of an aircraft 30,000ft above Dover and landing safely near Calais 12 minutes later. . . . Now military scientists have realised the massive potential for secret military missions.

Resembling a 6ft-wide pair of aircraft wings, the devices should allow a parachutist to glide up to 120miles, carrying 200lb of equipment, the manufacturers claim.

"Holy glide-slope, Batman!"
"That's a strange religion you adhere to, Boy Wonder, but the First Amendment protects it all the same. Now, quickly, to the Bat-mobile!"


Fitted with oxygen supply, stabilisation and navigation aides, troops wearing the wings will jump from a high-altitude transport aircraft which can stay far away from the Joker's secret lair enemy territory - or on secret peacetime missions could avoid detection or suspicion by staying close to commercial airliner flight paths. Once close to their target landing zone, the troops pull their parachute rip cord to open their canopy and then land normally.

Dada-dada-dada-dada-da! Bat-Man!
Posted by: Mike || 06/07/2006 12:14 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Ooooooooooh, Mom! C'n I have a pair of those for Christmas?!?!?!?!?!?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/07/2006 15:09 Comments || Top||

#2  This is getting weird, beam me up, Scotty.
Posted by: wxjames || 06/07/2006 15:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Tried to build one of these when I was a kid. You can guess the result.
Posted by: texhooey || 06/07/2006 16:29 Comments || Top||

#4  Baumgartner Airborne Transport Systems Horizontal Infiltration Technique (BATSHIT).

Posted by: Besoeker || 06/07/2006 16:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, I don't think it's been marketed for the spelunking BASE-jumping billionaire crowd.
Posted by: Korora || 06/07/2006 17:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Drop a few of this men into wazoo with this getup and we be hearing horror stories about demons from hell. :)
Posted by: djohn66 || 06/07/2006 19:19 Comments || Top||

#7  Baumgartner Airborne Transport Systems Horizontal Infiltration Technique (BATSHIT).

Well done, sir!
Posted by: Raj || 06/07/2006 19:46 Comments || Top||

#8  #6 Drop a few of this men into wazoo with this getup and we be hearing horror stories about demons from hell. :)

hence: the Chupacabra!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 20:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Well, I don't think it's been marketed for the spelunking BASE-jumping billionaire crowd.

Well, I heard Bruce Wayne bought one.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 06/07/2006 20:46 Comments || Top||

#10  I got a brief laugh when a news story abbreviated the headline to say "Special Forces To Use Strap-Ons".

Guys, you're just supposed to kill them. There's no need to do that to them when they're dead.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 06/07/2006 20:50 Comments || Top||

#11  I realize many US servicemembers, Gen'rals and Ad'mirls included, loved BATMAN in their younger days but isn't this going a bit too far? Furthermore, didn't the Army love the traditional static parachute becuz it landed soldiers, units, and firepower precisely where the Army wanted 'em!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 06/07/2006 21:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq grunts mourn loss of robot comrade
Those of us chronicling the inexorable Rise of the Machines™ know only too well the dangers of forming emotional bonds with technology - albeit a mere fondness for your Dyson, or a slight affection for your new Renault Laguna.

The reason, as members of the neoLuddite Resistance Army among you are already aware, is that as soon as you have formed a comfortable, trusting relationship with your machine than it will kick you down the stairs in an display of vacuuminous rage or subject you to a 125mph, white-knuckle kamikaze terror ordeal.

It is, then, with dismay that we offer a Reuters report on the growing tendency for front-line US troops in Iraq to get friendly with their iRobot PackBot EOD (seen right) - a bomb-disposal droid version of IRobot Inc's remote-controlled bot, of which around 300 are currently deployed in that sun-kissed paradise astride the Tigris.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: DanNY || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Must admit, I dropped a tear myself.

But will a good bot go to heaven?
Posted by: Captain America || 06/07/2006 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  chapter three of "wierd desert romances"--pvt smith...put down that bot--that is my bot--i had my eyes on it first--grease it up--////yessir--she sure rolls purty
Posted by: yo momma || 06/07/2006 2:05 Comments || Top||

#3  But will a good bot go to heaven?

Of course! It's the bad bots that get to go everywhere!
Posted by: AlmostAnonymous5839 || 06/07/2006 2:15 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe they'll one day grow up to be D-9's.

Varoon Varoom, clank clank clank.

]]]]]]]]]]]]

]]]]]]]]]]]]
Posted by: Besoeker || 06/07/2006 4:12 Comments || Top||

#5  KRYTEN: Oh, it's not the end for me, sir, it's just the beginning. I
have served my human masters, now I can look forward to my reward in
silicon heaven.
LISTER: (Stunned pause.) Silicon _what_?
KRYTEN: Surely you've heard of silicon heaven?
LISTER: Has it got anything to do with being stuck opposite Bridgette
Nielson in a packed lift?
KRYTEN: It's the electronic afterlife! It's the gathering place for the
souls of all electonic equipment. Robots, calculators, toasters,
hairdryers -- it's our final resting place.
LISTER: I don't mean to say anything out of place here, Kryten, but that
is completely whacko, Jacko. There is no such thing as "silicon
heaven."
KRYTEN: Then where do all the calculators go?
LISTER: They don't go anywhere! They just die.
KRYTEN: Surely you believe that god is in all things? Aren't you a
pantheist?
LISTER: Yeah, but I just don't think it applies to kitchen utensils. I'm
not a _frying_ pantheist! Machines do not have souls. Computers and
calculators do not have an afterlife. You don't get hairdryers with
tiny little wings, sitting on clouds and playing harps!
KRYTEN: But of course you do! For is it not written in the Electronic
Bible, "The iron shall lie down with the lamp?" Well, it's common
sense, sir. If there were no afterlife to look forward to, why on
Earth would machines spend the whole of their lifes serving mankind?
Now that would be really dumb!
LISTER: (Quietly) That makes sense. Yeah. Silicon heaven.
KRYTEN: Don't be sad, Mr David. I am going to a far, far better place.
LISTER: Just out of interest: Is silicon heaven the same place as human
heaven?
KRYTEN: Human heaven? Goodness me! Humans don't go to heaven! No,
someone made that up to prevent you all from going nuts!

Posted by: bruce || 06/07/2006 7:32 Comments || Top||

#6  "I think it's very rational. [Scooby Doo] was someone, something, that was doing a great service for them and thus when they brought it back, it was viewed not just as a loss of a machine gun or a piece of body armor or a helmet. It was a loss of a contributing member of the team."

FOR THE HONOR OF THE REGIMENT
The rear elements of the infantry are in sight now. They look like dung beetles in their hard suits, crawling backward beneath a rain of shrapnel. I am within range of their low-power communications net. "Hold what you got, troops," orders the unit's acting commander. "Big Brother's come to help!"

I am not Big Brother. I am Maldon, a Mark XXX Bolo of the 3rd Battalion, Dinochrome Brigade. The lineage of our unit goes back to the 2nd South Wessex Dragoons. In 1944, we broke the last German resistance on the path to Falaise—though we traded our flimsy Cromwells against the Tigers at a ration of six to one to do it.

The citizens do not need to know what the cost is. They need only to know that the mission has been accomplished. The battle honors welded to my turret prove that I have always accomplished my mission.
Posted by: Steve || 06/07/2006 9:11 Comments || Top||

#7  Kewl, Red Dwarf!!!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/07/2006 10:04 Comments || Top||

#8  Even cooler- Bolos!
Posted by: jay-dubya || 06/07/2006 10:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Aye, if Keith Laumer had only lived to see this day.
Posted by: DanNY || 06/07/2006 11:16 Comments || Top||

#10  Oh, the machinery!
Posted by: Xbalanke || 06/07/2006 12:44 Comments || Top||

#11  //Those of us chronicling the inexorable Rise of the Machines™ know only too well the dangers of forming emotional bonds with technology //

jus ask thes guy
Posted by: muck4doo || 06/07/2006 17:20 Comments || Top||

#12  Uhmmmm, not to quibble, but those ain't packbots in the photo. Those are weaponized versions of the TALON robot. The one in the middle is ready to get on the boat and go to war. The other two were experiments that will not see production.
Posted by: remoteman || 06/07/2006 17:47 Comments || Top||

#13  OK, who added to packbot photo while I was posting my last comment????
Posted by: remoteman || 06/07/2006 17:47 Comments || Top||

#14  but do they dream of electric sheep?
Posted by: pihkalbadger || 06/07/2006 18:37 Comments || Top||

#15  Remoteman,

You are quite correct.
Someone (peers over his shoulder at man behind the curtain) added them after I posted the article. I don't have a real problem with it as the article is about emotional attachments which can be developed with the hunters as well as the protectors.
Posted by: DanNY || 06/07/2006 20:47 Comments || Top||

#16  Number 5 is alive! No disassemble ....
Posted by: lotp || 06/07/2006 20:48 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Thailand PM agrees to peace plan in Muslim south
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has agreed to a peace plan put forward by a high-level panel to end an insurgency in Muslim-majority provinces, a spokesman said yesterday. The centrepiece of the plan announced on Monday by the independent National Reconciliation Commission is to create a new regional body to mediate the conflict that has claimed 1,300 lives in the last two years.

Government spokesman Surapong Suebwonglee said the premier had tasked his top deputy, Chidchai Vanasathidya, with implementing the plan. "He assigned Chidchai to properly implement the proposals made by the commission, immediately if possible," he told reporters. "But the prime minister asked Chidchai to report to him on which proposals would require passing new laws, because for those the government has to wait for a new parliament," he said.

General elections in April failed to produce a parliament and new court-supervised polls are set for October.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: ryuge || 06/07/2006 06:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And the Thais give the jihadis more breathing room.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 06/07/2006 7:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Peace in our time...
Posted by: tu3031 || 06/07/2006 8:40 Comments || Top||

#3  Damn tu - I was thinking that exact same thing. This kind of apeasement is happening a lot lately - in Thailand, the Philippines, with Iran, and all over Europeabia.

And it never works. From the infancy of Islam (Mecca and Median) to now Islam has *never* settled for the fingertip - they alwys insist on the entire hand, then the arm, then side, then they take everything.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/07/2006 9:05 Comments || Top||

#4  Like most islamonuts, they probably can't even tell you their demands. Given a few minutes to think about it they would probably come off with some shit about a caliphate, palistinians, you know the standard bullshit.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 06/07/2006 10:14 Comments || Top||

#5  One thing that's become abundantly clear is that the radical muzzies need to be killed. Not negotiated with, not reasoned with, not bargained with, but anihilated. Governments who misunderstand the truly evil nature of these scumbags do so at their own peril.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 06/07/2006 10:17 Comments || Top||

#6  How to plan a total failure: "The commission also called for the creation of an unarmed peacekeeping force..."
Posted by: Kalle (kafir forever) || 06/07/2006 10:30 Comments || Top||

#7  Peace Plan = Total Surrender to Muzzies
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 06/07/2006 12:40 Comments || Top||

#8  When you eliminate our grievences, only then can you have peace, Mr. Grievence.
Posted by: wxjames || 06/07/2006 15:14 Comments || Top||

#9  Can I have the contract to supply the origami birds?

Posted by: john || 06/07/2006 16:32 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Two injured in mine blast in Sri Lanka
Suspected Tamil rebels triggered two anti-personnel mines outside Sri Lanka's capital early Tuesday, wounding two people, the military said, in the first such attacks near Colombo since the country's 2002 cease-fire. The twin blasts wounded a bus driver and a conductor, but missed a navy convoy that was their apparent target, the military said. Later Tuesday, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels triggered another mine in northern Sri Lanka, killing two policemen and wounding two others, military said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


G'morning...
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey look, they had breast implants in the fifties.
Posted by: Rafael || 06/07/2006 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh, Rafael. That was a British dumpling, but I can't recall her name. Remember you mom's admonitions about getting your eye put out? This Miss was as dangerous as running with scissors, if you know what I mean. :)
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 0:10 Comments || Top||

#3  Sabrina.

It ain't natchul. It just ain't natchul...
Posted by: Fred || 06/07/2006 0:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Paco can tell you :D
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 06/07/2006 0:20 Comments || Top||

#5  Look pa, look at the headlights on that model.
Posted by: Captain America || 06/07/2006 0:34 Comments || Top||

#6  huummm, Cheeze Kake rocket 88s!
Posted by: RD || 06/07/2006 0:34 Comments || Top||

#7  " ... she pulled out a pair of 38's. I was worried. Then she pulled a gun. I was really worried ..."
Posted by: Steve White || 06/07/2006 0:57 Comments || Top||

#8  38's? Dem's gotta be at least 44's!
Posted by: Bobby || 06/07/2006 6:52 Comments || Top||

#9  Do not refer to our wimminfolk as 'dumplings' or we will be forced to take dire revenge.
Posted by: Howard UK || 06/07/2006 7:52 Comments || Top||

#10  Anything you say will be held against you.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/07/2006 8:16 Comments || Top||

#11  Anything you say will be held against you.

Boobies!

Well..................I'm waiting........
Posted by: Steve || 06/07/2006 8:21 Comments || Top||

#12  So this is what the 50's looked like.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 06/07/2006 8:27 Comments || Top||

#13  RJ, is that a promise?
Posted by: AlanC || 06/07/2006 8:29 Comments || Top||

#14  Yup. Watching World Cups like that should be a human right.

oh what?
Posted by: CrazyFool || 06/07/2006 8:46 Comments || Top||

#15  world cup calandar's in full body paint
Of course I can't read the Spanish well enough to purchase a or download a copy. Likly will be one on the relocated to Holland bit torrent tracker Pirate Bay.
Posted by: 3dc || 06/07/2006 8:51 Comments || Top||

#16  she gotn nise hayre
Posted by: muck4doo || 06/07/2006 16:23 Comments || Top||

#17  Good to see you around, Mucky!!
Posted by: Desert Blondie || 06/07/2006 19:04 Comments || Top||

#18  It says, 3dc, this is a grand offer. The package includes 2 calenders, the first is 6 ( July to December 20060 months and contains 17 total photographs. The second Contains 12 photographs and goes from January to December 2007 and has 22 photographs of Cherrylinn at different times. Only $14.95. Order now.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 06/07/2006 19:22 Comments || Top||

#19  Hmmm.

Nice hair...

I assume that's your story and you're sticking to it?
Posted by: DanNY || 06/07/2006 22:35 Comments || Top||

#20  she has hair?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/07/2006 22:39 Comments || Top||

#21  LOL! I needed that, thanks. :)
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 22:42 Comments || Top||

#22  Another pic of Sabrina... to make my earlier "point"...
Posted by: flyover || 06/07/2006 23:28 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2006-06-07
  Iraqi army takes over from US in Anbar
Tue 2006-06-06
  Islamic courts vow to make Somalia Islamic state
Mon 2006-06-05
  Islamic courts declare victory in Mogadishu
Sun 2006-06-04
  Islamists defeat militias in Mogadishu
Sat 2006-06-03
  Canada Arrests 17 in Bomb-Making Plot
Fri 2006-06-02
  Man shot in UK anti-terrorism raid
Thu 2006-06-01
  State of emergency in Basra
Wed 2006-05-31
  Malaysia captures 12 suspected terrorists
Tue 2006-05-30
  Death Sentence for Bangla Bhai
Mon 2006-05-29
  Israeli air raid strikes Palestinian sites in Beqaa, southern Beirut
Sun 2006-05-28
  Plot fears prompt Morocco crackdown
Sat 2006-05-27
  Islamic Jihad official in Sidon dies of wounds
Fri 2006-05-26
  30 killed, many wounded in fresh Mogadishu fighting
Thu 2006-05-25
  60 suspected Taliban, five security forces killed in Afghanistan
Wed 2006-05-24
  British troops in first Taliban action

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