#11
Scooter, outstanding! I don't know how Fred did the link thingie, but who in the world ever looked at the RDS&TP for those, anyway? You got the colors, the pic and the snark just right.
Fred would be proud [sniff].
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 10:41 Comments ||
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#12
Example: 'everyone in agreement except parties actually involved in fighting'.
I'm still chuckling over that one.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 10:43 Comments ||
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#13
fine work, Scooter!
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 10:48 Comments ||
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#14
Links are in now, and it's added to the 'Bloids page. Excellent job! Couldn't have done it better myself.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2006 10:52 Comments ||
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#15
Think that Turkey sees somethin movin in there?
#22
the Gobble Gobble comments make me think of Gigli...ugh
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 14:13 Comments ||
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#23
Scoot McGroot!!! What a hoot! Great job!
Scooter McGrooter for vice president! That's what I love about the 'Burg, somebody steps up to the plate. What a network. A community of close-knit misanthropes. Now where in blazes did I put my robes and turban.......oh, here they are....underneath my Groucho Marx glasses, eyebrows and nose assembly. Would ya like a little soft shoe?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/13/2006 15:23 Comments ||
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#24
"What a network. A community of close-knit misanthropes."
Kinda scary, ain't it??
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/13/2006 15:40 Comments ||
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#30
BTW - not that I wouldn't - just that is was a crappy movie..-1
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 18:48 Comments ||
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#31
Scooter, Fred's gonna be jealous.
Speaking of Esther, I've always enjoyed the breast stroke.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 18:55 Comments ||
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#32
TW:
While you were away yesterday, you got famous here: go see A Very Rantburg Movie, by Rantburg's new Director of Cinematography...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/13/2006 18:58 Comments ||
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#33
Oh my goodness! I go to visit family for a few days and y'all get up to all sorts of shenanigans! Mike, you flatter me too much by putting me in such illustrious company. I shall have to bake a cake and have you all for tea tomorrow by way of thanks -- it has been a while since we've had a Rantburg tea party. Too many popcorn-and-veggie-platter Palestinian self-destruction parties recently, and then there was that overexcitement about the fainting couch...
Ok. Tea party tomorrow afternoon. And yes, Besoeker dear, I will make milk tarts. And a lemon pound cake for lotp, garnished with edible flowers. Oh, and any extended pinkies had better be ironic -- I don't hold with serious pinkies. You Have Been Warned.
I missed you all dreadfully while I was away -- both the serious and the snark. Would you believe I actually turned on the TV news each night to find out what not to believe?
#34
#33: "Would you believe I actually turned on the TV news each night to find out what not to believe?"
ROFL, tw! :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/13/2006 20:21 Comments ||
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#35
Eight white perch, two croakers and a bluegill. None of them keepers, but all of them fun. Young Sporky caught a white perch -- his very first time fishing.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2006 20:54 Comments ||
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#36
Ah, first time fishing. That is a special day, doubly so if it's grandfather who's along.
Delays continued to affect travellers at London's airports on Sunday
The terror threat to the UK has been downgraded from critical to severe.
The Home Office said the decision had been made because an attack was "highly likely" but no longer "imminent".
The change in the threat level means the ban on taking hand luggage on to flights from the UK has been lifted although some restrictions remain.
Meanwhile a British Airways flight from Heathrow to New York has been turned back because a mobile phone, which were banned at the time, was on board.
The British Airways flight was turned back after a mobile phone was heard ringing at the back of the plane.
No one on board admitted owning the phone so flight BA179 with 217 passengers on board returned to Heathrow as a precautionary measure.
A businessman who was among the passengers told BBC News 24: "When the plane took off a mobile phone started ringing.
"One and a half hours later the captain made the decision, having spoken to his company, that we need to come back. He dumped fuel and we're now back at Heathrow."
BA apologise for the inconvenience but said "safety is our number one priority and we will always err on the side of caution".
Before the restrictions were changed, travellers had been told to expect more cancellations and delays at UK airports.
Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott visited Stansted airport to see how the security measures were being put into practice.
NEW DELHI - Indias biggest private airline Jet Airways said Saturday it was suspending a British employee arrested in London over an alleged plot to blow up US airliners. (Asmin) Tariq is being suspended pending a full investigation, having not reported for duty for the past couple of days, an airline statement said.
Tariq, a Jet security employee, was among 24 people arrested in Britain earlier this week over the alleged plot to use suicide bombers with explosives to blow US airliners out of the sky. One person was later freed. Jet said Tariq, who holds a British passport, was transferred to Jet in March from global security group G4S previously called Securicor after the airline ended its contract with the company. From Jihad Watch
Jet, which flies to London and other international destinations as well as serving Indian domestic routes, said under British employment law, it had been obliged to take on employees working for G4S before the contract ended. G4S is a reputable agency which provides services to British Airways, Singapore Airlines, Thai Airways, SAS etc., Jet said. All G4S employees ... had been cleared by the UK Government Security Agency, named Disclosures Scotland to work at Londons Heathrow airport.
#1
The Indian IB has had suspicions about Jet for a long time.
2002 article
a report by the intelligence bureau (ib) charging that gulf-based underworld dons dawood ibrahim and chhota shakeel had invested in jet airways has been forwarded to the civil aviation ministry, according to highly placed government sources.
ministry officials told times news network that a final decision on the fate of jet airways, the countrys largest private airline, will be taken after civial aviation minister syed shahnawaz hussain returns from goa where he is attending the bharatiya janata partys national executive meeting. the ministry, sources said, is likely to order an inquiry to determine if the security clearance given to the airliner needs to be reviewed in view of the adverse report filed by the ib. while jet officials dismissed the report as totally baseless, sources pointed out that in case the ministry decides to withdraw the security clearance, jet will have to ground its aircraft.
sources further said the research and analysis wing (raw) is also to conduct a similar inquiry into the financial dealings of jet and its promoter-chairman naresh goyal. in its report, the ib has stated that jet airways and goyal have been receiving large dubious investments from the gulf countries. the ib has also said that its investigations had confirmed that goyal had connections with underworld dons dawood ibrahim and chhota shakeel. however, jet airways executive director saroj datta said, there is no truth in the allegations that we are receiving dubious funds. the airline and its chairman have no connections with dawood or the underworld. datta further stated that the airline has not received any information regarding an inquiry into jets book of accounts. every paisa that has been invested in jet airways has come through the reserve bank of india. all our purchases and loans are duly recorded in banks. attempts are being made to defame jet airways. but they will not succeed because all our deals are clean, a jet spokesman added. ib joint director anjan ghosh, in a letter dated december 12, 2001, to home ministrys joint secretary sangeeta gairola, had affirmed that the ib had confirmed information to suspect that goyals investment came from dawood ibrahim and chhota shakeel. we have confirmed information of intermittent contacts between naresh goyal and underworld dons shakeel and dawood to settle financial issues. there is strong suspicion that part of goyals investments may have accrued through the assistance of underworld groups headed by dawood and shakeel,the letter asserted. inquiries with the home ministry have revealed that the ministry of civil aviation had sought an investigation into the financial antecedents of jet airways when the airline sought to renew its licence.
Posted by: john ||
08/13/2006 16:07 Comments ||
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#2
John, thanks for the informative commentary.
By the way, would you please e-mail me: stevewhitemd1 [at] mac.com? Thanks,
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 16:19 Comments ||
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#3
Muslim immigrants tend to live near airports. The reason for same is both that rents tend to be lower in suburban areas, and government settlement assistance is directed to residents of those areas. Muslims also seek employment at airports in disproportionate numbers, because of ease in travel. Some examples: check the security passes of LAX workers and you will find a lot of Abduls and Mohammads; you won't find the same in San Diego because that city's airport is urban.
British intelligence service agents secretly infiltrated a bomb factory and found liquid explosives and detonators weeks before they foiled the plot to blow up America-bound passenger jets flying from UK airports, media reported on Sunday.
Covert raids on homes of key terror suspects were also made to plant bugs and gather crucial evidence against them, The Mail on Sunday claimed.
The carefully planned 'sneak and peek' operation involved members of the SAS, or Special Air Service and other surveillance specialists of Mi5. It allowed the Security Service to eavesdrop on the suspected terrorists in the weeks before they were arrested.
The high-risk strategy which allowed the terror plot to almost reach fruition - potentially putting civilian lives at risk - is understood to have been discussed with Prime Minister Tony Blair and by the government's crisis management Cobra Committee, the report said.
A government source told the tabloid that this was just one of a dozen terror plots being investigated by Mi5. But the audacious surveillance exercise - approved by the Home Secretary - allowed Mi5 teams to build up a detailed picture of the group's planning, contacts and, crucially, when they intended to strike.
During months of careful work, the specialists are understood to have managed to get inside the gang's bomb-making factory - giving final confirmation that the plotters were indeed planning mass murder.
Hours of tape recordings, photographs and video are now likely to be used as evidence against the men if they are charged for their part in the alleged plot.
Tiny eavesdropping devices picked up conversations involving various members of the suspected terrorist gang as they put the finishing touches to their plans to blow up a series of commercial flights over the Atlantic.
The Security Service has a licence to 'bug and burgle' but only with the approval of the Home Secretary in order that any evidence obtained can later be used in court.
According to the report, over several months, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke and, more recently, John Reid were given detailed updates on the progress of the investigation to enable them to sign warrants for sophisticated intrusive surveillance against the terrorists.
As Mi5 reveals on its website: "The Services does use intrusive investigative methods, such as eavesdropping in a target's home and vehicle.
"However, our use of such methods is subject to a strict control and oversight regime.
"To install an eavesdropping device in a target's home we need to apply to the Secretary of State for a warrant under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) to authorise the intrusion on the privacy of the target."
Posted by: john ||
08/13/2006 09:47 ||
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#1
It's a start - a good start. Now - start bugging mosques - that is where the real terror is being bred. There is nothing sacriligious about it - no true place of worship should have anything to fear.
#2
Excellent. I'm glad they've got the goods. They do have a tendency to string it to the last minute. Americans tend to jump too soon and never sustain convictions.
#5
Lone Ranger, it's the college Islamic societies that need bugging. Most of the moques are controlled by the older generation who aren't interested in fighting the jihad.
#6
Americans tend to jump too soon and never sustain convictions.
There was an article in the local fishwrap about that point this morning. Here's the NYT original. It contained a little nugget that I hadn't heard before:
British security officials have publicly acknowledged that two of the [7/7] London bombers Mohammed Siddique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer had been observed in connection with a different terrorist plot that was subject to heavy surveillance. But when they dropped out of sight well before the London bombings intelligence agencies did not pursue them because the other conspiracy seemed a much greater priority.
#7
Most of the moques are controlled by the older generation who aren't interested in fighting the jihad.
They'll retire long before this war is over. A dollar to a dog turd says they'll be replaced by someone trained via extremist groups from Iran or Pakistan.
#8
If we're not going to deport all known muslims, and if we aren't going to outlaw the religion, then we damned sure better know what their up to at all times!
Of course this will never happen in the US.
My hats off to the British intelligence agences.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
08/13/2006 18:43 Comments ||
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#9
I can't believe the British did all that surveillance just to keep Lieberman from losing his senate seat.
#10
Sorry, don't think we do "sneak and Peek" in these parts
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 19:56 Comments ||
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#11
The trend seems to be the younger, Saudi-linked radicals forcing out the older, reasonable Muslims out of positions of control, and then out of the congregations altogether, Apostate. There have been scattered stories to that effect from the US, Canada and England that I've seen in the last year or two.
SECURITY sources believe that a man arrested in last weeks anti- terror raids in Britain is Al-Qaedas leader in this country.
Home Office officials say that one of those arrested is suspected not only of masterminding the foiled plot to bring down up to nine transatlantic airliners, but also of involvement in other planned atrocities over the past few years.
Ah, a mastermind!
He is described by counter-terrorist officials at MI5 as the senior figure in a British terror network involving Kashmiri, north African and Iraqi cells... He is suspected of being behind two pipelines which saw potential terrorist recruits being sent for training at camps in Pakistan and to join the holy war in Iraq.
They believe that he was instrumental in sending the ringleader of at least one previous British terror plot for training at a camp in Pakistan last year. He is described by counter-terrorist officials at MI5 as the senior figure in a British terror network involving Kashmiri, north African and Iraqi cells.
The investigation into the suspected Al-Qaeda leader in Britain and his UK associates was considered by Eliza Manningham-Buller, MI5s director-general, to be the security services single most important line of inquiry. He is suspected of being behind two pipelines which saw potential terrorist recruits being sent for training at camps in Pakistan and to join the holy war in Iraq.
The Al-Qaeda leader who cannot be named for legal reasons acts as a suspected hub in a network of extremist groups. These include Kashmiri and north African groups based in this country. He is linked to a second suspect also in Britain who has played a major role in facilitating support for the Iraq jihad.
A third associate is an Iraqi who came to Britain in 2004 and worked on providing support for British extremists who wanted to travel to Iraq to fight the holy war. MI5 said he acquired weapons in preparation for an unspecified attack in Britain. He was detained in January last year pending deportation to Iraq.
Deportation? Why not imprisonment?
Probably because they had intel-flavored goods on him, not courtroom-flavored.
The British leaders suspected links with other Al-Qaeda figures in Pakistan have been the subject of intense MI5 scrutiny since last August. It was the arrest of another associate in Pakistan last week that prematurely triggered Operation Overt, the counter-terrorist plan that is said to have foiled the transatlantic airliner plot.
Contrary to claims by the Pakistani government, the arrest was not anticipated in London. There were also conflicting reports about the reasons for the suspects arrest. One Pakistani official said he had been under surveillance for several weeks following a tip-off from Britain. He was said to have been monitored visiting radical imams and seminaries that had been linked to terrorism. The official said he had travelled to some of the same places as Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer, two of the July 7 bombers.
Posted by: ed ||
08/13/2006 08:49 ||
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#1
This one needs to be detained for several years as the info is drained out of him...by any means necessary.
I put the original script that I have in a file into Google BETA..arabic -> english and thats what translated! ; in the Burgs preview it works fine showing the original script from my file but then the script converts to the unusual looking script you see now in comments section when I click submit to post it. ??
#8
The Al-Qaeda leader who cannot be named for legal reasons acts as a suspected hub in a network of extremist groups.
While I understand the need to withold this maggot's name during the investigative phase of operations, his monicker should be blatted far and wide at some future point so that the public can report any and all other connections that might have eluded authorities.
Let us hope that deportation is no longer an option, in favor of lifetime imprisonment with liberal chance of shanking without possibility of parole.
#9
Yes, but deportation occurs at the pleasure of the government. So there isn't any problem with draining the gentleman's brain in the meantime... not to mention his computer and his financial records. Plenty of time for that bland, tryptophane-free diet to take effect. ;-)
#1
"And yet, Abdul, we prepared the entire operation without the FBI having so much as the fart of a camel's worth of an idea of our schemes. Er, did you say something, Ahmed?"
Posted by: old reg from ufo ||
08/13/2006 12:32 Comments ||
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#3
The founder of the Islam murder cult participated in 59 military operations, and his followers are required to emulate (sunna) their self proclaimed "prophet." Some Muslims take up arms; some finance phony jihad "charity" fronts; some propagate false peacefulness of Muslims; some wait conscription. All are jihadis. All want to either kill or see killed, all declared enemies of the cult. Muslim = jihadi.
#6
The UK terror plot might be only one part of a larger operation
As a matter of fact, yes, that "larger operation" is more commonly known as Installation of a Global Caliphate. What part of this was unclear and, more importantly, why?
#8
MSM > Commies-Maoists provide support to Radical Islam and terror groups/networks. Iff true, then the Spetzlamists are likely aware or mostly aware of the Left's 2015-2020 anti-US timeline to force or induce the USA under OWG and Socialism, including Hillary and 2008. Iff the agenda is to factionalize and destabilize America before 2015, then IMO blowing up 6 =10 =20 airliners isn't gonna cut it for 2015. They need dead bodies and need dead bodies, i.e. massice civilian casualties, NOW. This is illustrated in Lebanon by the terrorist use of expensive ANTI-TANK/ARMOR MISSLES to destroy IDF infantry riding on IDF Armor-MBTs, notsomuch the armored vehiiiiickles or tanks per se. They want the Media-correct human casualties/collateral casualties.
Government officials declined Saturday to comment about him, but have identified Rashid Rauf, a British Muslim who was captured about a week ago from the eastern district of Bhawalpur, as a key person in the British aircraft plot, and alleged he has ties with al-Qaida in Afghanistan.
Rauf, whose brother Tayib Rauf was arrested in Britain, was presented before a judge in Pakistan on Saturday who allowed authorities to hold him for questioning, an Interior Ministry official told The Associated Press.
The official declined to say when and where the hearing took place, or whether the suspect would face trial in Pakistan or be extradited to Britain.
Or dropped out of an airplane halfway in route.
An informer working for Britains security agency in Pakistan provided the tip that helped Pakistan arrest Rauf, the official said. The arrest of Rauf prompted an associate of his to make a telephone call from Pakistans southern city of Karachi to Britain urging plotters to go ahead with attacks. The call was intercepted and triggered arrests in Britain on Thursday when the alleged plot was exposed, a security official said.
Telephone intercepts work, do they?
This telephone call intercept in Karachi and the arrest of Rashid Rauf helped a lot to foil the terror plan, the security official said, requesting anonymity because he wasnt authorized to speak to media.
A US official earlier disclosed, on condition of anonymity, that after the first arrests in Pakistan, word went from Pakistan to the London plotters to move ahead quickly. The message was intercepted by an intelligence agency and prompted British police to move in on the conspirators, long under watch, he said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
He might not survive to be transfered to the UK. Depends on who he might give up who is connected to Pakistani government insiders. There is quite a bit about Pakistani cooperation that the MSM is not covering.
It appears that Pakistani has an inteligence and law enforcement sector that divided in loyalties. Without the Pakistani help we might be reading about missing airliners or worse.
Oh no! The anti-terrorist toolbox might have an effective tool in it! Maybe the NYT would be nice enough to detail how that is done so the nice terrorists wouldn't have to worry about having their privacy invaded or some stupid illogical $hit like that.
#3
Pakistani intelligence sources said Rauf and a second unidentified British national arrested here had both met Saeed, who was scheduled to address a rally Monday marking Pakistan's Independence Day.
He met Saeed, the Lashkar-e-Toiba chief.
Posted by: john ||
08/13/2006 8:57 Comments ||
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#4
BABY BOMB
Aug 13 2006
By Susie Boniface And Michael Duffy
A HUSBAND and wife terror team planned to sacrifice their baby as part of a plot to blast transatlantic jets out of the sky, detectives fear.
Police probing the planned terror outrage are investigating an alleged gruesome plan to use the young baby as a "decoy".
They believe the man may have wanted to take his wife and child on board a flight and she was prepared to sacrifice her baby in the deadly suicide strike.
Cops believe they would have hidden deadly chemicals in the baby's milk. The grim discovery is behind the decision to make all mothers taste their baby's milk before boarding flights to make sure it has not been contaminated.
Detectives are horrified at the prospect the terror suspect could have been prepared to kill his own family.
Last night a high-ranking intelligence source said: "This takes things to a horrifying new level. It is truly horrific that a man may have been ready to blow up his wife and she was prepared to let her child die."
The husband was arrested at home as part of the dramatic dawn raids on Thursday. Last night he was still being quizzed by cops at a high-security police station. The suspect - one of 24 arrested - lived in a council flat.
A neighbour said: "I simply cannot believe he could have been involved in a plot like this. He is religious and seemed to love his family."
Last night detectives and forensic experts were still combing the couple's home for clues.
In another development, it emerged that MI5 spies secretly broke into the home of one of the plane plot suspects 10 days ago.
Using lock-picks, the spooks carried out the extraordinary "sneak and peek" raid. They found liquid explosives and detonators and false-bottomed bottles in a shed at one of the London addresses.
The agents then retreated, leaving no evidence of the break-in. But they were convinced the would-be bombers were serious about their plan to blow up nine planes, so they left hidden listening devices to gather vital evidence and MI5 upped their surveillance operation.
Intelligence sources said the "sneak and peek" raid was the beginning of the end game for an investigation that began with a tip-off from a member of Britain's Muslim community in the wake of last summer's 7/7 bombings.
Further links between last week's arrested suspects and other al-Qaeda supporting terror cells were revealed yesterday.
Five of the suspected plotters are believed to have visited a madrassa terror school in Pakistan which was also attended by 7/7 suicide bombers Shehzad Tanweer and Mohammad Sidique Khan.
On-the-run al-Qaeda chief Matti-ur-Rehman has been named as the mastermind behind the jet bomb plot by people arrested by security services in Pakistan. Rehman, 29, is said to have a "Rolodex of terror" containing details of tens of thousands jihadi fighters who have passed through al-Qaeda's training camps in the region.
He is also wanted in connection with a string of assassinations and bombings in Pakistan and India, and involvement with the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Rehman is believed to have "run" one of the main terror suspects, Rashid Rauf, 25, of Birmingham - who travelled to Pakistan after the death of his uncle four years ago.
Rauf - who was arrested on Wednesday - was tailed for six months by the Pakistan security service, who allegedly tapped phone calls and emails to the other suspects in Britain.
Rehman has also been accused of wiring money to Britain to pay for plane tickets and is expected to be extradited to the UK. His brother Tayib, 21, is one of the men detained here. Two other men, Mohamed al-Ghandra and Ahmed al-Khan, who were arrested with Rauf, were also named for the first time yesterday.
The Sunday Mirror can also reveal that at least one of the arrested men had been cleared by police to work at Heathrow.
An internal inquiry is expected after it emerged that Asmin Tariq, 23, of Walthamstow, East London, was cleared as an ancillary security worker for Jet Airways. He had earlier worked for G4S, which used to be Securicor.
A Jet spokesman said: "All employees are cleared by police and security agencies in the UK."
A total of 24 people were arrested at addresses in High Wycombe, Walthamstow and Birmingham. Searches found at least two "martyrdom tapes", filmed by bombers as they prepare to die and designed to be released days or months after the attacks.
On Friday night one of the 24 suspects was released without charge.
Twenty-two others will remain in custody until Wednesday. One man will have a detention hearing tomorrow.
#6
If true thats one of the sickest most evil things I've ever heard of. You know a mind set is truely evil when a mother will blow her child apart to hurt people who have never hurt her.
It boggles the mind.
Posted by: RJB in JC MO ||
08/13/2006 19:04 Comments ||
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British police have prolonged the detention of all but one of two dozen suspects accused of plotting to explode multiple airplanes destined for the United States, authorities said Saturday. A British court Friday evening approved a request to keep 22 of the suspects in custody until Wednesday even though they have not been charged, and one suspect's hearing was adjourned until Monday. Another was released without charge, according to Scotland Yard officials.
A police spokeswoman said the Terrorism Act of 2000 allowed authorities to detain the suspects for 28 days without charging them. The names and ages of 19 of the suspects have been released. All have Muslim names, and most are in their twenties and live in London. Intelligence officials have said that more than half of the suspects have family ties to Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Tell the folks what's behind door number 2.
Yes, you too can enjoy a complete Caribbean vacation, all expenses paid, to the wonderful shores of Guantanamo, just as the tourist season begins in the region. You'll be cater with specially prepared and culturally sensitive meals. The concierge and guest attendants will be there at all times to see to your personal security. You will not want for attention.
All this is yours just for trying to 'boom' some American travelers over the Atlantic. The accommodations will be provided in comfort unparallel [compared to other prisons] until the its safe out there for everyone. Just tell your current management that you want Gitmo rather than fish and bangers.
#2
Brits = Diego Garcia, with no ACLU reps to help you, an island surrounded by sharks and hundreds of miles from land, and swarthy men from less-civilized lands to help you talk
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 11:24 Comments ||
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Suspected terrorists were planning to unleash a wave of "apocalyptic" attacks on land and air, using an arsenal of bombs and weaponry, including firearms, investigators have discovered.
Police and intelligence sources have indicated that the alleged plot which was thwarted last week was targeted at the UK, as well as at airliners heading for the US, and could have caused devastating loss of life and destruction on the British mainland. One Whitehall source said "many dozens" of plots were under investigation, involving "hundreds" of suspects.
According to one report last night, al-Qa'ida's leader in Britain could have been held in the raids. But security sources estimate that as many as 1,200 people here are actively involved with terrorism, and that the country is still under "very severe" threat from other potential terrorist plots. This, they added, explained why there were no immediate plans to lower the current national threat assessment from "critical", its highest level.
Continued on Page 49
#5
"Where would terrorists obtain firearms in GB?"
I understand the IRA still has some lying around. It would not be as if they were violating the cease fire by selling a few hundred to the swarthy-lads.
Five of the suspects behind the plot to blow up transatlantic airliners learnt bomb-making skills in al-Qaeda training camps, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The plotters, all of whom are Britons of Pakistani origin, also recorded "martyrdom videos", which were to be released by al-Qaeda in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, according to Pakistan intelligence services. The suspects are understood to have travelled to Pakistan during the past 24 months and were taken to camps in the border region with Afghanistan where they were taught bomb-making skills and received weapons training by al-Qaeda instructors. It is understood that some of the suspects visited the region at the same time as the London bombers Mohammad Sidique Khan and Shehzad Tanweer.
It was during these visits that the five unnamed men recorded the videos in which they are said to have "boasted" of their atrocities and their desire to become "martyrs". American intelligence has also confirmed that at least two of the suspects held in last Thursday's raids had received explosives training with household chemicals in Karachi and had met al-Qaeda operatives in the buildup to the 7/7 attacks.
Details of the extent of the Pakistan connection came as the country's intelligence service, the ISI, revealed that it had arrested Rashid Rauf, a British man, described as being a senior al-Qaeda figure. Rauf, who was arrested in a carefully planned covert operation has been described as the "brains" behind the attack to bring down at least 10 American airliners over the north Atlantic. He is also the brother of Tayib Rauf, 22, one of the 23 suspects, aged 17-35, who are in custody after a series of raids across the country early last Thursday morning.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
The suspects are understood to have travelled to Pakistan during the past 24 months and were taken to camps in the border region with Afghanistan
Or perhaps the camp right outside Rawalpindi cantonment, HQ of the Pak military.
Posted by: john ||
08/13/2006 9:29 Comments ||
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The recruitment of Muslim students at British universities to take part in terrorist attacks is at the heart of the alleged plot to blow up passenger jets, it is feared. A dossier of extremist Islamic literature has been uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph on the campus of a north London university, one of whose students has suspected links to the alleged terrorist attack.
Waheed Zaman, 22, a bio-chemistry student and the president of the Islamic Society at London Metropolitan University, was one of 24 people arrested last week.
Waheed Zaman, 22, a bio-chemistry student and the president of the Islamic Society at London Metropolitan University, was one of 24 people arrested last week. Material found at two portable buildings used by the society includes documents advocating jihad and a pamphlet on how to deal with approaches from the security services.
Prof Anthony Glees, the director of Brunel University's centre for intelligence and security studies, criticised university authorities for ignoring the threat to national security in their midst. "Institutions have not sought to address the problem: they have instead sought to undermine those who have raised the issue," he told this newspaper. Sounds like the U. S.
Extremist Muslim groups had been detected at more than 20 institutions, both former polytechnics and long-established universities, over the past 15 years, Prof Glees said.
QANTAS is trialling a new security device capable of detecting flammable liquids as part of Australia's efforts to combat terrorism.
The Japanese-made device is able to detect flammable liquids within one to two seconds without the need to open the bottle or taste its contents.
Security consultant Chris Jacka said the device could be used to prevent fluids capable of being mixed into liquid explosives being smuggled onto aircraft.
"Back in June, we conducted an initial pilot. It's with Qantas at their domestic terminal and Qantas is showing some interest in that product and we're about to go through the next phase of that trial," Mr Jacka said on Channel 9.
"It's certainly an added layer in the security process so, sitting in line with the X-ray and the metal detector and the explosive trace, this would add another layer of security and protection ... to minimise the risk of flammable liquids being able to get onto the aircraft."
Mr Jacka said it was very difficult to say whether the device could prevent a potential terrorist attack.
"Whilst the security forces are obviously now focusing on liquid explosives and trying to stop those getting on board, who knows what the next type of security threat is, but certainly security forces will be doing everything they possibly can now to stop this threat being able to be put into place."
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators are pursuing leads in the United States related to the foiled plot to blow up flights from Britain but so far have found no evidence of terrorist activity, Bush administration officials said Friday.
U.S. counterterrorism officials stressed that there was no reason for Americans to believe plotters or others connected with the terror scenario were in the country. Still, the FBI has so far assigned an estimated 200 investigators to track down potential links. "We operate on the assumption that we don't have everybody," White House homeland security adviser Frances Fragos Townsend said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I never, and I don't think anybody else in this business ever assumes when you take a case down that you've gotten everybody."
"I think it's pretty clear that in this case, we don't have everybody," she added.
Two other U.S. counterterrorism officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation, said the British suspects placed calls to several cities in the United States before their arrests. At least some of the calls were placed to people in New York, Washington, Chicago and Detroit, one official said.
The FBI is expecting the arrests and searches of homes and computers in England to generate another round of leads on possible U.S. ties. But there have been no arrests in the United States in connection with the plot, officials said.
Dozens of Muslim and Arab people in the United States reported being questioned by law enforcement officials over the last several weeks, community leaders said. But they believed the scrutiny was related to the conflict between Israel and Lebanon - and not to the British-based plot.
Authorities on both sides of the Atlantic fear there still could be dozens of people loose who participated in the plot - even if only tangentially, like by supplying chemicals or funding. Lawmakers also continued to be briefed on details.
Rep. Peter King, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he was assured during several intelligence briefings that "there's absolutely no evidence" of plotters in the country. "They're not looking at anybody in the U.S.," said King, R-N.Y.
Which contradicts what the article says.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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And they're certainly not going to profile any young male of Middle Eastern heritage who happens to be a Koran thumping muslim.
Meanwhile, make sure you strip search that 80 year old grandma in the boarding queue.
#2
If the dry-run was to have taken place last week (preceeding)the explosions, where were the dry-runner gonna sojourn in the US? Perhaps they do have connections in the US. Making the dry-run, then promptly return to the UK would have been risky for them. Of course, laying low in a hotel is also possible.
#3
If the dry-run was to have taken place last week (preceeding)the explosions, where were the dry-runners gonna sojourn in the US? Perhaps they do have connections in the US. Making the dry-run, then promptly return to the UK would have been risky for them. Of course, laying low in a hotel, or elsewhere, like an unassuming mosque, is also possible.
#4
Meanwhile, make sure you strip search that 80 year old grandma in the boarding queue.
My parents were in the States one year ago; they are white and are 65 years old; they took 3 flights inside the US, and both were searched each time...
Some people in the queue laughed at the absurdity of this search and empathized with my parents.
CARO, Mich. Three Texas men were arraigned Saturday on terrorism-related charges after police found about 1,000 cell phones in their minivan. A magistrate set bond at $750,000 for each of the men, who are charged with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes. Officials have declined to say how the case relates to terrorism.
No pleas were entered at the arraignment at a District Court in Caro, about 80 miles north of Detroit. Maruan Awad Muhareb and Louai Abdelhamied Othman, both of Mesquite, Texas, and Adham Abdelhamid Othman, of Dallas, were stopped before dawn Friday after they purchased 80 cell phones from a Wal-Mart in Caro. Police said they found about 1,000 cell phones, mostly prepaid TracFones, in their minivan. The men cooperated with police and the FBI for hours before their arrests Friday afternoon. They said they intended to sell the phones in Texas for a profit.
Authorities have said TracFones are often used by terrorists because they are not traceable. Cell phones can also be used to make detonators. Adham and Louai Othman are in their early 20s, and Muhareb is 18. All are being held at the Tuscola County Jail, Caro police said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Maruan Awad Muhareb and Louai Abdelhamied Othman, both of Mesquite, Texas, and Adham Abdelhamid Othman, of Dallas
As a Texan, it's revolting to see these folks called by the same name. Muhareb, Abdelhamied and Othman are not names that readily come to mind in Texas history. We don't claim them. Living in Texas doesn't make you a Texan. Living in a garage doesn't make you a car.
#3
Quick executions? Due process is a balance between security and liberty. I would place security interests over freedom of a Muslim's conscience. I would create Federal legislation calling for compulsory execution of anyone who participates in any way in terror. Judicial Review would be barred, but the accused would be allowed to show cause as to why the execution should not take place. Evidence hearings - on proof or disproof of terrorism - would substitute for full trials.
Lashkar-e-Taiba militants shot dead two Muslims residents of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, saying in a note that this was the punishment for sending their sons for recruitment in the Indian Army. Police said the militants barged into the houses of two neighbours, Mohammad Bashir and Sadiq Khan, in Kulali village near Bafliaz in Poonch, about 220 km north of Jammu at around 11.00 pm on Friday.
Bashir and Sadiq's sons recently took part in the Army recruitment rally and were selected. Militants have issued an all-time decree that no one in the State should join the Army. The step by the sons of the two victims infuriated them. They picked up the two from their beds at gunpoint and shot them. Their sons were not present in the houses at that time.
The killers left a hand written note, which said, "This is a punishment for those defying us. We are here, it should not be forgotten." The police have launched a hunt for the killers.
Posted by: john ||
08/13/2006 08:58 ||
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pretty obviously the village should be shaken up and the informers/L-E-T members shot on sight
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 11:33 Comments ||
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Many Kashmiri families claim their sons are working or studying in Delhi or Mumbai to hide their enlistment in the Indian army from neighbors.
On visits home, the sons wear civilian clothes and lie about their occupation. This is done with full permission of army brass
Posted by: john ||
08/13/2006 11:40 Comments ||
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That's bad, very bad. John do you ever wonder if Kashmir is worth keeping?
#4
Indians can not imagine their country without the Himalayas and Kashmir.
Kashmir is what protects the gangetic plains and the rest of India. It is the fortress wall against China and Pakistan.
It also has the headwaters for all the major rivers that feed both Pakistan and India.
The Indian army is quite serious about protecting Kashmir. Look at this orbat, the number of armored and mountain warfare divisions that it deploys against China and Pakistan.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan is hunting for a senior figure from an al-Qaida-linked militant group, after a suspect arrested here over the alleged plot to blow up jetliners flying from Britain to the US named the wanted militant during interrogation, intelligence officials said Saturday.
Matiur Rahman -- a leader of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi -- is already wanted in connection with two assassination attempts on President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, attacks on minority Shiite Muslims and on Western targets in the southern city of Karachi.
No surprise that LeT is in this up to its collective eyeballs.
It wasnt clear what role Rahman might have played.
But we can guess. He's either the main controller or the main conduit man from LeT to the Brit operations guy.
His name surfaced during the interrogation of at least one of the 17 suspects arrested in Pakistan in connection with the alleged plot to down as many as 10 U.S.-bound jetliners, an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity because of his secretive job.
Matiur Rahman is on the run, but we will find him, said the official, describing him as a very dangerous person.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Rauf met Saeed of the LeT, yet Pak authorities are trying to deflect attention to the LeJ.
Yesterday I read where the Sipah-e-sahaba was responsible for terror attacks in India, Pakistan, Afhanistan. Absolute nonsense. MSM being fed disinformation by Pak contacts.
Perv wants to keep the LeT and JeM terror apparatus for use against India
Posted by: john ||
08/13/2006 10:30 Comments ||
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Iraqi security forces captured 16 "gang members" Sunday who were allegedly planning to attack, kidnap or assassinate close relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, an Iraqi Council of Ministers statement said.
While in custody the men confessed to committing murder, rape and attacking a police station that killed six police officers, the statement said. One of the members also confessed to blowing up 12 car bombs in Baghdad. The initial investigation was conducted in al-Hindiyah town and the case will be transferred to Karbala city for prosecution of the men.
In another development, Iraq's health minister, who is aligned to a powerful Shiite militia, claimed U.S. forces arrested seven of his personal guards in a surprise pre-dawn raid on his office, The Associated Press reported. The reason for the alleged arrests was unclear. Health minister Ali al-Shemari said the soldiers arrived at 3 a.m. Sunday, broke into the building and hauled away the seven men, who were posted there as night guards, AP said.
There was no U.S. statement on the claim. However, a U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said Iraqi forces with U.S. advisers searched the ministry after a tip from an Iraqi citizen and took five people into custody for questioning, according to AP.
Posted by: ed ||
08/13/2006 09:37 ||
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hmmmm - death squad bodyguards?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 11:49 Comments ||
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thumb drives...cell phones...hard drives..address books...loose memos...jelly beans and leave behind mics.
Iraq has captured 17 Al Qaida leaders over the past week. Officials said the Iraq Army and security forces have arrested 17 senior Al Qaida operatives in central Iraq. They said another Al Qaida commander was killed in a U.S.-Iraqi operation.
"My message to the terrorists and death squads is 'Your ally is failure,'" Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwaffaq Al Rubaie said.
On Thursday, Al Rubaie told a news conference that many of the Al Qaida operatives were captured in an operation to foil insurgency cells in Baghdad. He said 35,000 Iraqi troops have been deployed in the Iraqi capital, Middle East Newsline reported.
Five of the Al Qaida operatives were arrested in Baghdad, Al Rubaie said. The official identified one of the operatives as Dr. Saad, said to have been killed in an operation south of Baghdad. Al Rubaie identified the other Al Qaida operatives as Amir Al Karoghly, deemed a spiritual guide in the Baghdad province. Another operative was identified as Mohammed Ali Al Obeidi, accused of planning dozens of car bombings in which hundreds of Iraqis have been killed.
The operation has been comprised of 22,000 local police and 13,000 members of the national police. Officials said more than 30,000 patrols were conducted. "I would like to kiss every policeman on his forehead and tell him thank you for all what you sacrificed," Al Rubaie said.
Iraq and the United States have launched the second phase of the Baghdad security plan. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki said forces by the Defense Ministry and Interior Ministry have been participating in the operation.
Thank you for having the courage to step forward in the other day's thread about how unproductive our foreign aid to Indonesia has been. I was none too comfortable in taking my anti-aid stance at that point, and only because, since then, my most deeply cynical predictions have come resoundingly true do I remain unrepetant.
(AP) - The new push by U.S. and Iraqi forces to reverse a rising tide of violence in Baghdad will target four violent "hotspots" in the city, the American general in charge of the plan said Saturday.
Those parts of the city have experienced frequent kidnappings, suicide bombings and revenge killings by Shiites and Sunnis.
Maj. Gen. James Thurman, commander of the Army's 4th Infantry Division, said the renewed push for stability began Aug. 7 in the Dora area of southwestern Baghdad, a notoriously violent part of the city. He said sweeps of Dora neighborhoods had captured 179 people thus far and killed 25 "terrorists."
The other three targeted districts are Mansour and the Ghazaliyah-Shula areas of western Baghdad and the Azamiyah area in the northeast, he said, adding that the goal is to quell the violence and restore ordinary Iraqis' confidence in their government's ability to provide security and basic services.
"I'm confident, based on what I'm seeing right now, that we've got a positive trend here happening," Thurman said in an interview after joining Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a question-and-answer session with several dozen soldiers, sailors and airmen at Camp Liberty.
"We've got four major hotspots where we've had a lot of sectarian killings," Thurman said. "And we've got a plan that will zero in on reducing the number of murders, kidnappings, assassinations and car bombs."
Pace, who arrived Saturday from Washington, met with Thurman and other senior American commanders and addressed the troops at Camp Liberty to thank them for their service.
A few of the soldiers in his audience were with the Alaska-based 172nd Stryker Brigade, whose one-year tour of duty in Iraq was extended by four months recently in order to add another 3,500 soldiers to Thurman's force in the capital. Thurman said he has received another 2,000 extra troops from other units.
Thurman said he now has 32,444 U.S. troops in Baghdad and areas south of the capital, as well as 32,554 Iraqi forces. Of the U.S. total, about 13,500 are in Baghdad proper, he said.
As recently as a month ago, U.S. officials thought they were going to be able to reduce U.S. troop levels this fall, but Thurman said the rise in strife between different religious groups "had us worried" and prompted him to ask his superiors for more combat power "so we could quell this and once and for all get rid of the people that are causing the problems here." Thus, the 172nd Stryker Brigade was moved into Baghdad from northern Iraq.
In his remarks to troops at Thurman's headquarters, Pace disclosed that the plan earlier this summer was to reduce the total number of U.S. combat brigades this fall to 12 from the 14 that were operating at the time. Instead a brigade that had been held in reserve in Kuwait was brought into Iraq and the 172nd was retained even as its replacement - a brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division - arrived.
Nonetheless, Pace told reporters traveling with him enroute to Baghdad that he would not rule out U.S. troop reductions this fall.
Pace stopped short of predicting that conditions would improve enough to allow a U.S. troop reduction before year's end, but he said he would be consulting with top commanders this weekend on the outlook for a turnaround in the violence among different religious groups and the need for U.S. troops.
"It's important to always have troop levels on the table" as a subject for discussion, he said. "We thought as recently as a month or so ago that we were going to be able to come down" in the numbers. "What changed was the increase in sectarian violence," he added.
Nonetheless, Pace said it was possible that the sect-on-sect violence could be tamped down quickly. "Their leaders simply could decide to stop it" by telling their people to stop killing each other, he said.
"There is still the potential to reduce the number of troops," he said, although he would not say how soon he thought this could happen. Earlier this year U.S. officials were hoping to reduce troop levels to 100,000 or less by December, with more significant cuts following in 2007.
The Joint Chiefs chairman, on only his second trip to Iraq this year, also said that Pentagon officials are beginning to think about who might replace Casey, who has been the top commander in Iraq since July 2004. Pace said Casey would stay for about another six months.
"Certainly you start thinking now" about who should succeed Casey, Pace said. He offered no names but praised Casey's performance, noting: "He will not be easily replaced."
BAGHDAD - The US military said Saturday 26 insurgents were killed in Iraqs restive Al-Anbar province following a series of attacks on US bases in the area a day earlier.
On Friday, marines and soldiers in Ramadi were attacked at multiple locations with rocket-propelled grenades, medium machine-gun fire and small arms fire from buildings targeting outposts in the northwest portion of the city, it said. The attacks came from non-combatant and protected locations, such as homes and mosques, the statement said.
During these attacks, coalition forces positively identified gunmen, dressed in civilian attire, and defended themselves, killing 26 anti-Iraqi forces. No soldier or civilian casualties resulted from the clashes, the military said.
Ramadi is the capital of the western province and is a Sunni Arab stronghold where US-led forces come under regular attack.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Gunships not needed. The US summons the djinn of the red dot. Once the red dot falls upon you or your companions, the djinn puts a tangerine-sized hole through you.
BAGHDAD - At least 10 Iraqis, including one army officer and one police officer, were killed in attacks in Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad Saturday, said a security source. The source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA that gunmen travelling in a car fired at police captain Nouri al-Anbaki near a marketplace in the Mafraq district of Baquba. The police officer was killed in the attack.
In a separate incident, gunmen opened fire on a market in central Baquba killing three Iraqi civilians. Meanwhile a captain in the Iraqi army officer was shot dead by gunmen while he was on his way to a central Baquba market. Another Iraqi civilian was shot dead in the Moalemeen district at the outskirts of Baquba.
In a further incident, another group of unidentified gunmen kidnapped and killed four civilians from the village of Ain Leila near Baquba. The kidnap victims were located two hours later - with their hands bound, blindfolded, and with fatal bullet wounds in their heads.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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At least 18 massive explosions rocked the city, sending plumes of smoke over Beirut. Lebanese officials say earlier strikes across the country killed at least 10 civilians.
The airstrikes hit Beirut as Israeli officials announced the country's Cabinet approved a U.N. ceasefire deal, to take affect Monday.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities said Hezbollah militants have fired a barrage of rockets at communities in northern Israel, killing one civilian and wounding at least 12 others.
Israeli officials say the civilian was killed Sunday when a rocket struck a house in a northwestern community near the Lebanese border.
Earlier, Lebanese officials said Israeli warplanes struck targets across Lebanon Sunday, killing at least five people.
Israel's military says five Israeli troops were killed when their helicopter was shot down Saturday in southern Lebanon. They were among 24 soldiers killed in clashes with Hezbollah militants - the most Israeli military losses in a single day since the conflict began a month ago.
Israel says it killed more than 40 Hezbollah guerrillas Saturday as the military offensive expanded.
Israel says 30,000 troops are operating in Lebanon, and some have already reached the Litani River, about 30 kilometers north of the Israeli border.
Israel is trying to push Hezbollah north of the Litani before a ceasefire is declared, most likely beginning Monday.
At least 900 Lebanese - most of them civilians - have been killed since the fighting began. More than 140 Israelis - most of them soldiers - have died since Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers, triggering the fighting on July 12.
#3
Do any hezb's ever die? LOL. Or, just "civilans"?
Of course no hezbollocks ever die - they're protected by allan, after all...
They don't wear uniforms, they don't belong to the Lebanese Army, so they're "civilians". Consider them the same as gangsters - they don't wear uniforms, they don't belong to any army, so they're "civilians", too. We need to kill all the gangsters we can find, regardless of what "gang" they belong to. Let Israel do what it must.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/13/2006 22:21 Comments ||
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Some information for this report was provided by Reuters, AP and AFP.
ISRAEL'S army has estimated that it has killed 530 Hezbollah guerillas during one month of fighting in Lebanon and has released names of 180 whose deaths had been verified.
Hezbollah has acknowledged only a few dozen dead during the conflict.
The army statement came hours before a ceasefire was due to take effect under a UN Security Council resolution accepted by both sides.
"According to army estimates, over 530 Hezbollah terrorists have been killed since the start of fighting," the statement said.
"Lists contain the names of 180 terrorists killed and whose identities were verified by the forces."
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Israeli army said Saturday it found and destroyed a tunnel used for arms smuggling between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The tunnel was more than 150 meters (yards) long and opened into a chicken coop on the Gaza side, the army said. It said the tunnel was destroyed with controlled explosions.
The army said tunnels like this were the reason it had been operating in the area recently, and Israeli forces expect to find more of them as operations continue.
A Palestinian security official confirmed that a tunnel linking Egypt and Gaza was found and destroyed. He said nothing was found in the tunnel, but that it was likely used to smuggle weapons to Palestinian militants.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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Dust off that plan to dig from the Israel Gaza border along the Egyptian border to the Sea a Mile Wide canal.
Then each tunnel would need to be at least a mile long and waterproof.
COLOMBO - Fierce fighting between government troops and Tiger rebels in north and eastern Sri Lanka on Saturday left at least 127 people dead and another 280 wounded, the military said.
Up to 500 rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacked across a de facto front line in the northern Jaffna peninsula and a nearby islet, military spokesman Athula Jayawardena said. We estimate at least 100 to 150 Tigers were killed and 200 to 250 were wounded, Jayawardena told reporters here. We had our share of casualties too with three officers and 22 other rankers and two sailors killed. Eight officers and 72 other rankers were wounded. They have all been evacuated for treatment.
The fighting lasted nearly 10 hours as the guerrillas fired heavy artillery towards military bunkers as well as the main airfield of Palaly on the northern edge of the peninsula, he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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TODAY was supposed to be the day when the muchmaligned army of Lebanon took control of its borders and policed the UN ceasefire.
Instead, its military commanders were left humiliated and its troops stranded as Hezbollah told them not to try to disarm its fighters.
The first infantry units were preparing to head south yesterday when Hezbollah demonstrated who exercised the real control by announcing that it had no intention of surrendering a single weapon. General Michel Sleiman, the commander-in-chief of the Lebanese Army, and his lieutenants had been invited to join in Cabinet meetings to finalise plans to deploy their 15,000-strong force in a buffer zone south of the Litani river. However, they ended up being lectured by Hezbollahs two Cabinet ministers in the coalition Government on what the army could and could not do.
In Beirut, Western diplomats said that it raised serious concerns about the armys ability and appetite to deal with Hezbollah. The Lebanese Government was left struggling to maintain a united front after unanimously backing the UN resolution on Saturday.
Oh, really?
Sami Haddad, the Economics Minister, said: The Government cant force Hezbollah to abide by the ceasefire. Its unnatural to have an armed political party that is in Cabinet and does not abide by what the Government of Lebanon wants.
It's unnatural? How about all the assassinations of pro-democracy politicans and journalists?
Nabih Berri, the Speaker of parliament and the Shia politician best placed to negotiate with Hezbollah, asked for 48 hours to broker a deal.
Without Lebanese troops or the international force in place in the intended demilitarised zone, there is little serious prospect of the ceasefire holding for long.
The stand-off came soon after Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, said on Hezbollahs television network that his fighters would respect the ceasefire and described the deployment of Lebanese and foreign troops as an honourable move. He said that the deployment was an achievement for Hezbollah and the Lebanon. It resulted from the steadfastness of the Lebanese people and the heroes of the resistance.
This tells me that Nasalmanah hadn't heard yet from his Iranian masters.
There were even optimistic murmurs about trying to integrate Hezbollah fighters into the army. But Hezbollah appear to have decided that the demand that it disarm and leave the 20km (12-mile) arms-free zone would have portrayed it as losers in the conflict.
Oh, ya, integrating Hezbos into a force that is trying to disarm it....now that's pure optimism.
The army has lost 20 men, despite not firing a shot in anger. Two more soldiers were wounded yesterday near the Syrian border when an Israeli airstrike hit their 4x4.
Elias Murr, the Defence Minister, said in the early days of the conflict: We will defend our land until the last soldier, and we will pay any price for our land.
Yet troops retreated to their barracks or lounged on armoured vehicles in the shade in a token effort to police checkpoints in the capital or protect key buildings.
President Lahoud admitted to a senior official last week: If we had ordered our army to fight, they would have been wiped out.
Elias Hanna, a retired Lebanese army general, told The Times: Sending 15,000 troops south is a political solution, not a military one. Its more a PR stunt. The army needs the international force to help it. The key objective is to keep the army united, and not have it split on factional lines as it did in the civil war. The forces equipment is poor, and certainly no match for the Israelis, and it has neither an air force nor a navy.
One soldier told The Times that Hezbollah was better armed and organised, adding that he was reluctant to confront what he called the resistance fighters.
A colleague added: We want to be able to go anywhere we want in Lebanon and be the only force inside our borders carrying guns. What we dont know is when we will be able to do that.
Another said that his brother and a cousin were fighting for Hezbollah. His cousin was injured last week and moved to a Hezbollah clinic in a secret location. The soldier said: I can't turn a gun on the resistance, because they are family.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 21:18 ||
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Screw the Litani River, this requires a complete country enema.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 21:27 Comments ||
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Isn't something like 60% of the Army Shia anyway and thus Hizb'allah sympathizers, if not actual Hizb'allah moles? As I recall it was the Army radar that gave the readings for that Silkworm missile that hit the Israeli warship on the first day of these proceedings...
IDF sources explained that the blockades will only be lifted after a body to monitor the naval and aerial passages is set up in Lebanon, in accordance with UN Resolution 1701.
#3
The fault around a UN resolution is that we have now recognised the Hesbullah formally. Now they are a poitical org entitaled to exist and we have now set our selves up to deal with them like we did the PLO, and we all know how well that went. This is not good and I hope it fails sooner than later.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/13/2006 19:45 Comments ||
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DEBKA, so take with a grain of salt. But it fits with Bolton's comments here.
Rice calls Lebanese PM to warn him that if the UN Lebanon resolution is not implemented, We will not be responsible for the consequences
Earlier, Israeli FM Tzipi Livni put in urgent calls to the US secretary and the French foreign minister in an effort to salvage the ceasefire from Iranian-backed Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallahs 12th-hour retraction of his consent.
#1
Hezbonuts won't respect the cease-fire, so the IDF will be able to destroy totally the bunkers and caches of weapons. I strongly hope so (When all seems lost, anything conveys hope).
Ultimately, Israel does NOT want to re-occupy Lebanon again. So after Hezb'allah is smashed there needs to be an alternative in place so they can withdraw. Best it be something Bolton is monitoring than what Iran and Syria cook up.
#3
Hezbos taking counter-offensive here. Ceasefire nothing more than a reloading effort. They want to take potshots at Israeli soldiers in force protection mode like in pre-2000.
I still maintain that with the Hezbo-Iranian-Syrian alliance running Lebanon, the Israelis should annex Lebanon and start the Nuremberg trials, starting with Lahoud, Berri, etc., etc.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 19:44 Comments ||
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It too late for that - Israel's enemy is now Radical Iran, iff only becuz Iran does not see any borderlines between Tehran and Damascus and Beirut, and JORDAN, or likely even Jerusalem. The Syrians = Lebs = UNO may think otherwise, but so what > they have to stop/defeat Moud and Mullahs and Iranian ambitions in order to keep their sovereignty and traditions. AS WITH AMERICA AND AMER'S ENEMIES, THE "STATUS QUO" NO SERVES ISRAEL'S ENEMIES EITHER. NASREY > SYRIAN HEZBOLLAH will not stop or cease its right-resistance against Israel. No word yet from Iranian HIZBOLLAH, etal.
#6
Uhm, yeah, what Joe said. This "ceasfire" is a friggin joke. The Knesset knew that when they voted on it. It actually gives the Israelis great cover and resets the "bad guy" image back onto Hezbo. They are now the ones not accepting the nice international cease fire. Isreal wanted to play, but not nasty Nasrallah. Too bad. Please to come Arc Lights.
IDF Publishes Names of Killed Terrorists in Lebanese Media
Sunday 13/08/2006 19:36
The IDF has been distributing leaflets across Lebanon containing names of killed Hezbollah terrorists. The list includes names of 180 terrorists that have been identified with certainty by the forces. IDF withholds many more names of killed terrorists.
In the last days the IDF has been broadcasting the list of names in the "Noor" radio station, the Hezbollah organization radio station, and in "Al Manar", the organization's television station, by taking over all broadcasting channels. According to IDF evaluation, over 530 terrorists have been killed so far.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/13/2006 19:21 Comments ||
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#2
I would like to know what is the intent of such publications? Martyrs are heroicized/worshipped/considered rewarded in heaven by Hizbullah. Judeo-Christian notions regarding sanctity of life are non-operative. Of course Hizbullah is shown to be lying in re the number of terrorists dead - but will this truth be accepted coming from the mouth of the IDF? I suppose the Sunnis, Maronites, and other non-Shias will more readily accept these broadcasts as the unccoverings of truth that they are. Will, however, the dyed in the wool "resistance" be affected whatsoever?
/I use the word "resistance" with sarcasm. It is THE holy word for Hizbullah agitprop...
#3
Lebanese Shia will recognize specific names, and especially Hezb'allah will recognize names. A lot of them are quire young and rather impressionable, as well as impulsive. This may chip away at their assumption that they are part of an invincible push to destroy Israel.
#4
tell em who the dead buzzard fodder are.....I bet none are named Nasrallah?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 19:38 Comments ||
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#5
How many IRG?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 19:53 Comments ||
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#6
You can bet that some "human rights" NGO will condemn the reading off of the names as some sort of violation; just as they did when Ted Koppel and Nightline did the same thing in this country.
#7
Historically the Arab peepul -- and even the Army Commanders -- listened to Israeli radio to find out how their war was really progressing (regressing?), when they got tired of listening to the obvious lies issuing from their own organs. So I'm sure that the Israeli lists are believed implicitly, and with discombobulation on the part of the shrinking (hopefully!!) base of Hizb'allah supporters.
Money section:
Siniora said his Cabinet -- which includes two Hezbollah members -- unanimously approved the resolution Saturday. But the Lebanese Cabinet postponed its meeting Sunday to discuss implementing the resolution, a Lebanese government minister said.
The meeting was postponed one to two days, the minister said, at the request of parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, a key negotiator with Hezbollah. You have a "key negotiator" with a TERRORIST GROUP - why exactly are we calling you a sovereign state, Lebanon?
The postponement will give government officials more time to meet with Hezbollah leadership to discuss details of implementing the U.N. resolution, the Lebanese minister said.
Nazrallah is screwed if the Lebanese actually implement the resolution, but the Lebs can't reject it outright given the unamious vote in the UNSC. So he's going to stall and play the edges for a while if he can ...
Giving Israel carte blanche until the Hizzies can come up with their best taqqiya lie. Though I think we know their answer:
Also giving Syria time to rearm Hezb'Allah. As they reportedly are continuing to do. On to the Bekaa, I think (hope).
Hezbollah fired more than 230 rockets, Israel reported, and several hit the northern port city of Haifa. Onward to the Bekaa Valley, Israel - and to Syria. Chop-chop, before they come up with their chosen lie.
Methinks if the Israelis get deep into the Bekaa that they're going to find some interesting surprises, and at least one UNSC member will become very nervous and unhappy ...
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/13/2006 13:11 ||
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#1
If the Hizzies were really getting their asses collectively kicked wouldn't they be jumping all over this ceasefire? Or is Iran intentionally squandering its Lebanese assets for some reason?
#2
DEBKAfile reports: Amid heavy fighting across the entire Lebanese front, Israeli field commanders await orders for Monday 0800 hours ceasefire deadline
August 13, 2006, 8:04 PM (GMT+02:00)
Lebanon front commander Maj-Gen Benny Gantz said Sunday night the IDF will honor the ceasefire but also defend its troops and Israeli civilians. Have they been told to hold their fire in line with Israels acceptance of the UN resolution 1701 now that the Lebanese government and Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah have backtracked?
Prime minister Olmert and foreign minister Tzipi Livni spent the day explaining that the resolution is good for Israel and praising its unanimous endorsement by the Israeli cabinet Sunday. The PM plans a speech to Knesset Monday lauding the resolution as an Israeli achievement.
DEBKAfile has learned that Tehran has meanwhile ordered Nasrallah to keep Israel engaged in combat for another 3 to 4. As a result of which he suddenly backed away from his pledges to France and the Siniora government Saturday to accept a ceasefire and a UNIFIL force in south Lebanon.
At five minutes notice, the thunderstruck Lebanese ministers called off their meeting to discuss the deployment of their forces in the south and the disarming of Hizballah.
DEBKAfiles sources are asking how did it happen that 24 Israeli cabinet ministers who voted to accept the UN resolution all fell into the trap devised by Iran and Narallah? Israeli leaders say the troops will not be recalled until a beefed up UNIFIL force is in place, but no international peacekeepers will deploy without a Lebanese military presence and that has now been checked by Nasrallah.
Sunday, Hizballah deployed dozens of fighters for furious anti-tank missile assaults on IDF tanks and field units along the front. Fierce clashes raged just north of the Israeli town of Metula and other parts of the former security strip on the border. At least 16 Israeli soldiers were injured before noon Sunday.
Saturday, Israel lost 24 men in action, including 5 crew aboard a Yasur helicopter that Hizballah shot down.
Sunday, an unprecedented number of rockets 250 - were also fired into northern Israel by midday. DEBKAfiles military sources say Hizballah is demonstrating that its ability to subject northern Israel to rocket barrages from S. Lebanon is unimpaired after a month of combat.
Is Hezbollah Sinking the Cease-Fire? [John Podhoretz]
The Arabs, said the Israeli politician Abba Eban, "never miss an opportunity to miss an opportunity." The news this morning that the Hezbollah ministers in the Lebanese cabinet have said they're keeping their weapons in South Lebanon despite the language of the U.N. ceasefire may be the most recent fulfillment of Eban's dictum. All Hezbollah has to do is keep quiet and smile and it will not be disarmed by the Lebanese army or the "robust international force" or anybody else. If it chooses this kind of open, in-your-face provocation, the ceasefire dies, Israel goes all-out and Hezbollah is mortally wounded.
Posted at 12:21 PM
#6
People were say that ole Nassy thought Israel would reject the cease fire, so he went along with it. Israel of course excepted the cease fire now he scrabbling around trying to find a way out. Ok crosspatch I am heating up the crow now getting ready to munch.
#8
Methinks if the Israelis get deep into the Bekaa that they're going to find some interesting surprises, and at least one UNSC member will become very nervous and unhappy ...
I think I know where the IDF needs to put some forces if they want Lebanon to capitulate. Heck, why not put a condition in the resolution saying that the IDF would get to dig holes in the Bekaa Valley after the cease fire went into effect.
#10
Nothing to see here, move along... What about Syrian culpability in Hariri murder, that issue died, this will die too. HZB we'll be there in Southern Lebanon armed and no one will make anything. Expect some "refugees" to set up tents near a UNIFIL post, next will came some HZB that fires a Grad rocket against Israel...rewind and replay...
#18
Overkill is the only thing that works when one side faces terror tactics. In Vietnam, US troops used strategic burnings, Napalm, and extraordinary intelligence to eliminate hidden fortified operational and field centers. Israel is politically prohibited from using effective means, given Hizbollahs effective kidnapping of locals for use as human shields.
If a genuine ceasefire happens, both Hizbollah and Hamas can expect to receive thousands of all-Israel reach missiles. And these will be accurate and will, by their capacity to effect a first strike on the entire electrical infrastructure of Israel, effectively force Israel to sue for peace. By that time, the country will be de-populated of hundreds of thousands of immigrants.
Who will pay for the missiles? At least an additional $100 billion dollars in oil revenue will flow into the treasuries of Saudi Arabia, and Iran this year alone.
The existence of Israel requires immediate regime change in Iran. Other belligerents will fall into place given that event.
#19
Heard Syrian troops were removing mines on the border near the Golan Heights and that 30 tanks have massed there.
Jennifer Griffin Fox NEws
Posted by: j. D. Lux ||
08/13/2006 15:48 Comments ||
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#20
hmmmm obviously Syria's COVERT invasion....
I call em "dead"
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 16:20 Comments ||
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#21
Rice calls Lebanese PM to warn him that if the UN Lebanon resolution is not implemented, We will not be responsible for the consequences
August 13, 2006, 10:18 PM (GMT+02:00)
Earlier, Israeli FM Tzipi Livni put in urgent calls to the US secretary and the French foreign minister in an effort to salvage the ceasefire from Iranian-backed Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallahs 12th-hour retraction of his consent.
#24
Fox News just announced that Syrian tanks are massing on the Lebanese border and their engineers are removing land mines that separate the two countries. 30 Syrian tanks have been observed so far.
#30
One interpretation is Syria wants Hez to abide by the ceasefire while Iran doesn't (and wants Hez to keep going). Syria thinks it has far more to lose from a contnuing war that sooner or later will spill over into Syria.
Iran calculates it has little to lose and much to gain from a continuing war. Iran is of course wrong. Iran is a house of cards that will collapse in days under the right pressure.
#31
no way - Syria knows its' fate against the IDF/IAF
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/13/2006 17:08 Comments ||
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#32
Siniora said his Cabinet -- which includes two Hezbollah members -- unanimously approved the resolution Saturday.
Sounds like a group that needs to be "unanimously" decapped. Much like church and state, terrorists and state should be equally immiscible, by force if necessary.
#33
Syria used to know Frank. Now under Olmert that is an open question.
In any case the 'UN Ceasefire' is a nice gesture but little else. Israel will attempt to abide by it but will be forced by circumstances to continue destroying Leaanon one peice at a time. Hizb'allah, Syria and Iran will continue declare a victory and the Arabs and other islamic tribal peoples accept it as fact.
#34
Guessing the postponement was Dinnerjacket telling Pencilneck to send volunteer Syrian martyrs to help Lebanon's women and children police the area when IDF leaves? Syrian lend-lease program for the Hezbos? More likely the Syrian's were told to get clobbered so Iran can expand the conflict prior to 8/22.
#35
Iran needs to keep Israeli preoccupied until they can finish their bomb in Aug/Sept. I'm sure they'll keep pushing Hezbollah/Syria to engage Israel until it's finished and actually tested.
Posted by: Nick Vtx ||
08/13/2006 17:39 Comments ||
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#36
What if Syria doesnt attacks Israel forces but goes directly to Beirut returning to Lebanon? Will Israel attack Syrian units?
Some days ago, I said that in France we had the worst Prime Minister on earth, but now, I have been convinced that I was wrong: the worst PM on Earth is Olmert.
#45
After the vote for the cease-fire, Livni said: "The world now understands that Israel will not accept a terrorist organization on our border firing upon our citizens. We achieved most of our goals."
Blair is rightly pointing out the vast difference in values, but I have a big problem with much of his proposed solution: basically, he wants the West to pay a kind of "aid jizya" to buy peace. He has the same Utopian Socialist condition as many American Democrats-that being America specifically and the West more broadly are OBLIGED to fork over our money:
"...unless we revitalise the broader global agenda on poverty, climate change, trade..."
This is an extremely dangerous proposal for the future prosperity of America. We take "no taxation without representation" very seriously.
Posted by: Jules in the Hinterlands ||
08/13/2006 23:45 Comments ||
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JERUSALEM (AP) - In a statement Sunday, the Israeli military said that a five member crew of a downed helicopter was missing. The transport helicopter was shot down by Hezbollah guerillas. Only the crew were on board at the time, the army said.
Hezbollah said, in a claim carried on Hezbollah's al-Manar TV, that the helicopter was brought down by a new missile, the "Waad" (Arabic for Promise) in the guerrilla arsenal. Israel's Channel 10 TV reported the helicopter brought down by anti-tank missile.
It was Israel's first loss of a helicopter in Lebanon in the monthlong conflict. Two helicopters collided and crashed and a third crashed separately in northern Israel early on in the fighting. The helicopter was shot down in the Maryamein valley near the village of Yater, and other helicopters scrambled to the area to try to rescue the crew. Hezbollah reported a gunbattle raged as Israeli troops tried to retrieve the crew members from the downed chopper, according to a statement issued by the group.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Shot their wad did they?
I'm hearing this was a SAM not an anti-tank missile.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 1:02 Comments ||
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#2
What is happening in south Lebanon? Iranian consultants set up defense-in-depth zones along the frontier with Israel. Hizbollah commanders allowed an advance of most of Israeli columns, then surprised the IDF from all sides. The IDF learned quickly and countered each ambush. However, "depth" forces were often programed to hide in tunnels until the IDF could be caught off guard. Attacks come at any time. In all other conflicts with Arab aggressors, Israeli forces knew enemy locations.
Iran took away effective blitz capacity from the IDF. However, the 60 plus IDF casualties attests to the lack of the storied "pitched battles," with skilled front-line troops. Whether it is on the ground or with missiles, Hizbollah tactics are terroristic.
In Vietnam, US forces countered tunnel war by using napalm, and stressful interrogation of captives. If the IAF/IDF used Napalm to take out missile launchers, in order to protect the civilians that Hizbollah' murderers are targeting, then the Eurabian atrocity propaganda mill would grind.
Iran is directing the war, and they are using effective tactics. So effective, that some Israelis are preparing to emigrate, which would be catastrophic for that country. Ergo: saving Israel requires Strategic means against the real enemy.
Most rants about use of nuclear weapons against Iran, are little more than simplistic ventings of anger. However, once you realize that, post ceasefire Israel will face a modern missile threat in huge numbers and with a reach throughout the entire country, in order for Israel to survive, that fait accompli would have to be prevented now. And given the President's link of this enemy with WW2 "fascism," and the new recognition of the inherent belligerence of Muslims, green light thinking could cause exercise of the "Sampson Option."
What I don't like to hear is the mentality: we don't do that. Tell that to the 200,000 Tokyo residents who were fried with Magnesium bombs in 1945. Then there was the 180,000 dead in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Can we take casualties? How about 19,400 dead in one day during the First Battle of the Somme? We are hardly natural born killers, but the President does not want to pass the Ahmadinejad problem onto the next generation. And the extinction of Israel is inevitable, if we don't act jointly against this genocidal enemy. We kill; they die.
#3
SS 3550: I've heard similar rumblings regarding emigration. Olmert has lost almost all credibility. Israel will need some very strong leadership to see itself through the terror blitz that is coming.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
08/13/2006 2:24 Comments ||
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#4
Well said, SS3550. The Eurabian atrocity propaganda mill grinds away regardless, so I keep asking myself, "What does Israel have to lose?" US support? From what we've read across the board, they've had the greenest light possible.
I am convinced that the exact same question applies to the US, especially regards Iran... that the US is now viewed in exactly the same light as Israel. I believe that most of the West, in the deepest sense of pure hypocrisy and cowardice, would breathe a huge sigh of relief if we took out the Iranian regime. Sure, that same PR mill would grind away condemning us, but how is that any different from what is happening already? We are already deemed the real terrorists by the moonbats and muzzbats of the planet. Fuck 'em.
In the end, it will be the US vs Iran that will decide whether the 60 year old series of murderous half-measures will finally be resolved. Either we take Iran down, or the M.E. "game" shifts into a new, deadlier, gear for the next round. And the threat will not be limited to Israel.
Kill the Iranian regime, George. This will be the most important challenge of your tenure - and that's saying a lot, given what you've already done. Find a way through the domestic political maze - the only one that actually matters.
Do it. Do it because it must be done to stop regional hegemony falling to the insane theocracy of Iran. Do it for the ungrateful assholes of Europe who will be under the Iranian missile threat - and will hate us for saving their sorry asses, yet again. Do it for Israel. Do it for us. Please.
#5
Don't forget we now fighting "Islamofascism" and not "hijackers of Islam." Don't forget the Bush of the National Cathedral Speech day:
National Day of Prayer and Remembrance for the
Victims Of the Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001
Washington National Cathedral
September 14, 2001
We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation's sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who loved them.
On Tuesday, our country was attacked with deliberate and massive cruelty. We have seen the images of fire and ashes and bent steel.
Now come the names, the list of casualties we are only beginning. They are the names of men and women who began their day at a desk or in an airport, busy with life. They are the names of people who faced death and in their last moments called home to say, be brave and I love you.
They are the names of passengers who defied their murderers and prevented the murder of others on the ground. They are the names of men and women who wore the uniform of the United States and died at their posts.
They are the names of rescuers -- the ones whom death found running up the stairs and into the fires to help others. We will read all these names. We will linger over them and learn their stories, and many Americans will weep.
To the children and parents and spouses and families and friends of the lost, we offer the deepest sympathy of the nation. And I assure you, you are not alone.
Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.
War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.
This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing.
Our purpose as a nation is firm, yet our wounds as a people are recent and unhealed and lead us to pray. In many of our prayers this week, there's a searching and an honesty. At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, on Tuesday, a woman said, "I pray to God to give us a sign that he's still here."
Others have prayed for the same, searching hospital to hospital, carrying pictures of those still missing.
God's signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own, yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral are known and heard and understood.
There are prayers that help us last through the day or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers that give us strength for the journey, and there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own.
This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance and love have no end, and the Lord of life holds all who die and all who mourn.
It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves.
This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded and the world has seen that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave.
We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion, in long lines of blood donors, in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible. And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down 68 floors to safety.
A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burned victims. In these acts and many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another and in an abiding love for our country.
Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called, "the warm courage of national unity." This is a unity of every faith and every background. This has joined together political parties and both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils and American flags, which are displayed in pride and waved in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world.
America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender, and the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time.
On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come.
As we've been assured, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth can separate us from God's love.
May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country.
God bless America.
---------------------------
The Middle East Democratic Initiative didn't "rid the world of evil." That was not the only option. As for the "hour of our choosing": September could be one of the greatest months in US history. A lot depends on what we hear from Ahmadinejad on "60 Minutes" tonight. If he even hints at a threat of the life of the President...
#7
A lot depends on what we hear from Ahmadinejad on "60 Minutes" tonight. If he even hints at a threat of the life of the President...
From what I've heard Ahmadinejad Interview is a complete nice guy propaganda ploy, and the general public will probably buy it. I hope others grab that video and interpose it with video of his real statements and his and Irans historical record.
#8
I'm hearing this was a SAM not an anti-tank missile.
StrategyPage claims it was with an anti-tank guided missile. Another interesting tidbit is that 1/2 of the Israeli civilian deaths have been Arabs since they are concentrated in the north.
Posted by: ed ||
08/13/2006 9:14 Comments ||
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#9
The 60-minutes idiot "journalists" will be completely duped by this guy. Guaranteed. Which is too bad and dangerous to the world (duh--but if felt like saying it).
About Israeli leadership. None of this would've happened if Netanyahu ("Bibi") was still in charge. The Arabs fear him because he is fierce and unrelenting--unlike Olmert--and they wouldn't dare pull this because he'd just flatten them. Anyway, everything he said would happen if Israel did this or that, is now happening. An iron rod is all the Muslims ever understand, and all they ever want is war, so the appropriateness of a "military attitude" and economic/social rewards for good behavior is about all you can hope for.
#10
I hope GWB is willing to completely annihilate his "popularity" and end this conflict before it heats up. If not will get to be a lot more complicated and the lines will be blurred--too much so for the American public to stand behind a decisive offensive. The rest of the Muslim world is watching to see which way this will go, and if Iran is able to gain victory in the Hezbo fight, the others will rally. For now, though, (and there's not much time left), the Arab states would rather NOT see Iran at the helm. But if it happens, it will be "inshallah."
#11
In the end, it will be the US vs Iran that will decide whether the 60 year old series of murderous half-measures will finally be resolved. Either we take Iran down, or the M.E. "game" shifts into a new, deadlier, gear for the next round. And the threat will not be limited to Israel.
Word, flyover. One way or the other, the Middle East will shift gears and either way, it will be into a meat-grinder mode. The only question is; "Who gets tossed into the hopper?" Islamists and their supportive minions or the remaining free world? The no-longer-functional kid glove must be replaced with a mailed fist.
This has nothing to do with whether or not that is what Arabs will "respect." It has everything to do with whatwillsucceed against a culture so death-obsessed as to revel, even in its most bloody defeats. The Palestinian loons extolling how Hibollah's misguided rocket launches landed in their midst epitomizes this to perfection.
The now-glaring Iran-Syrian terrorist pipeline is one of the very few sweeping indictments of exactly how and why terrorism continues to thrive. If we are so stupid as to not seize this 24 carat golden opportunity to finally vanquish some major players while they are in the limelight, we are worse than fools.
To hell with world opinion. Over 90% of this planet's population will publically decry American "unilateralism" at the exact same time that they secretly sigh in relief after we, once again, peel the oppressor's monkey off of their back for the umpteenth thankless time.
We do not owe this immense favor to the world. We owe such survivalistic measures toourselves.
They're at the Litani, they're headed towards it, the MSM is confused.
BEIRUT - Israeli troops took control of a key hilltop village overlooking the strategic Litani River Saturday and engaged in fierce fighting with Hezbollah as the army expanded its ground offensive.
Israeli troops were occupying Ghandouriyeh, 12 kilometres from the border and overlooks the village of Froun, a Hezbollah stronghold just 2.5 kilometres from the Litani, a key natural barrier that has been a military target of the Israeli troops since their offensive started on Lebanon July 12. Lebanese police said, around 10,000 Israeli troops were believed to have been operating on the ground.
Hezbollah claims said it had rebuffed the Israeli advance by killing seven soldiers and destroying 21 tanks, while the Israeli jets and artillery had been bombarding the area in support of their ground troops. There was no confirmation of the silly Hezbollah claim. The Israeli army said its ground operation was expected to extend up to the Litani, which runs up to 30 kilometres away from the Israeli border.
Israeli reports said around 30 Hezbollah guerrillas were killed and 30 Israeli soldiers were wounded in clashes in southern Lebanon Saturday. There was no independent confirmation of the report.
Israeli jets also destroyed the electricity plant in Sidon. Israeli warplanes staged a series of raids on the southeastern village of Khiyam, as well as the neighbouring village of Dibbine, the police said.
The Shiite stronghold of Khiyam was the site of a major Israeli incursion last week.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/13/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Both are true. Some IDF are at the Litani, others are headed north towards the Litani. In between are the remaining Hezbos.
#3
This is a classic sweep operation. Sure hope their finding use for those bunker-busters, they make a great parting gift.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/13/2006 1:04 Comments ||
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#4
I know Vietnam vets who watched South Vietnamese learn tunnel locations through effective application of pliers, and nothing else. See a couple of buddies die, and life-saving ends tend to justify extraordinary means. Shit happens.
Syria continues its efforts to transfer large quantities of war materiel, including rockets, to Lebanon, in an effort to assist Hezbollah in its war against Israel, a senior IDF source told Haaretz on Saturday.
According to the IDF source, the air force has succeeded in partially stemming the arms transfers, but intelligence shows that supply convoys have managed to cross into Lebanon from Syria. Senior Syrian army and intelligence officers are involved in the arms smuggling, according to the senior IDF source, who says it is unlikely this continues without the explicit support of the regime in Damascus.
Since nothing happens in Syria without PencilNeck's okay.
Two specific types of weapons - anti-tank missiles and rockets used to target Israeli civilians - are of concern.
The alert levels of the Syrian army, especially on the Golan Heights, is at its highest levels since the Lebanon War in 1982. The Syrian preparedness is mostly defensive, but the IDF is not excluding the possibility that Damascus will initiate a limited ground operation during the closing stages of the war. Such an act, from a Syrian point of view, would aim at improving its position toward the end of the current confrontation and force Israel to begin negotiations on a broader diplomatic initiative that would include the return of the Golan Heights.
It would also remove all the excess materiél and personnel the Syrian army has accumulated all these years.
Part of the IDF's defensive deployment is meant to counter such a threat, including the deployment of anti-aircraft missiles in Haifa and the Sharon to intercept possible launches of Syrian Scud surface-to-surface ballistic missiles targetting Israeli cities.
#5
Now I'm no expert in high-stakes international diplomacy, but is it possible that the Syrians are continuing to supply Hezbollah because there have been no negative consequences for them doing that so far? I'm just wondering.
#7
Israel has in the past years destroyed some terrorist camps in Syria, and Syria didnt retaliate. So, in a time of war, Syria continuing to resupplie Hezbollah, why didnt Olmert order the IDF to bomb the Syrian airports, on which are landing the Iranian airplanes loaded with weapons ?
Oh, sorry... I just forgot that Olmert is... Olmert.
#8
... is it possible that the Syrians are continuing to supply Hezbollah because there have been no negative consequences for them doing that so far?
That about buttons it up, WCR. This is why both Iran and Syria should be moved to the top of our Christmas list. The mullahs are long overdue for their hayride to hell and Carne Assad needs a good flaming. Until the civilized world attaches a significantly higher price tag to toleration or collusion with terrorists (instead of a massive influx of foreign aid ... see the Palestinian Terrortories), we'll only get more of the same. If this means catching Indonesia with its sarong down after a tsunami or Pakistan unbeturbaned after a massive earthquake, so be it. If it simply requires going in and breaking the bad boys' toys (or economic infrastructure), so be it. If it requires lobbing a few dozen cruise missiles into Tehran's, Khartoum's or North Korea's full-session statehouse, let's start now.
The past few decades of isolationist appeasment have gotten us less than nowhere. We have actually managed to back-slide in light of weapons proliferation and our military's inability to take on opponents utilizing asymmetrical warfare. The intermediate threat-level of China must be relegated to its proper backseat and all due attention given to the Islamists who desperately need a quick elevator-drop to hell.
Thats exactly what is needed - becuase it will be the trigger for Israel to finally destroy the Alawite Shai government in Damascus that has been the proximate source of all this (the indirect but ultimate source are the Shia Mullahs and thier theocracy in Iran).
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
NEW DELHI - Indias biggest private airline Jet Airways said Saturday it was suspending a British employee arrested in London over an alleged plot to blow up US airliners. (Asmin) Tariq is being suspended pending a full investigation, having not reported for duty for the past couple of days, an airline statement said.
SECURITY sources believe that a man arrested in last weeks anti- terror raids in Britain is Al-Qaedas leader in this country.
Government officials declined Saturday to comment about him, but have identified 
British police have prolonged the detention of all but one of two dozen suspects accused of plotting to explode multiple airplanes destined for the United States, authorities said Saturday. A British court Friday evening approved a request to keep 22 of the suspects in custody until Wednesday even though they have not been charged, and one suspect's hearing was adjourned until Monday. Another was released without charge, according to Scotland Yard officials.
Five of the suspects behind the plot to blow up transatlantic airliners learnt bomb-making skills in al-Qaeda training camps, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The plotters, all of whom are Britons of Pakistani origin, also recorded "martyrdom videos", which were to be released by al-Qaeda in the immediate aftermath of the attacks, according to Pakistan intelligence services. The suspects are understood to have travelled to Pakistan during the past 24 months and were taken to camps in the border region with Afghanistan where they were taught bomb-making skills and received weapons training by al-Qaeda instructors. It is understood that some of the suspects visited the region at the same time as the London bombers 
The recruitment of Muslim students at British universities to take part in terrorist attacks is at the heart of the alleged plot to blow up passenger jets, it is feared. A dossier of extremist Islamic literature has been uncovered by The Sunday Telegraph on the campus of a north London university, one of whose students has suspected links to the alleged terrorist attack. 
WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators are pursuing leads in the United States related to the foiled plot to blow up flights from Britain but so far have found no evidence of terrorist activity, Bush administration officials said Friday.
CARO, Mich. Three Texas men were arraigned Saturday on terrorism-related charges after police found about 1,000 cell phones in their minivan. A magistrate set bond at $750,000 for each of the men, who are charged with collecting or providing materials for terrorist acts and surveillance of a vulnerable target for terrorist purposes. Officials have declined to say how the case relates to terrorism. 
Lashkar-e-Taiba militants shot dead two Muslims residents of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district, saying in a note that this was the punishment for sending their sons for recruitment in the Indian Army. Police said the militants barged into the houses of two neighbours, Mohammad Bashir and Sadiq Khan, in Kulali village near Bafliaz in Poonch, about 220 km north of Jammu at around 11.00 pm on Friday.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistan is hunting for a senior figure from an al-Qaida-linked militant group, after a suspect arrested here over the alleged plot to blow up jetliners flying from Britain to the US named the wanted militant during interrogation, intelligence officials said Saturday.
Iraqi security forces captured 16 "gang members" Sunday who were allegedly planning to attack, kidnap or assassinate close relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, an Iraqi Council of Ministers statement said.
Iraq has captured 17 Al Qaida leaders over the past week. Officials said the Iraq Army and security forces have arrested 17 senior Al Qaida operatives in central Iraq. They said another Al Qaida commander was killed in a U.S.-Iraqi operation.
BAGHDAD - The US military said Saturday 26 insurgents were killed in Iraqs restive Al-Anbar province following a series of attacks on US bases in the area a day earlier. 
BAGHDAD - At least 10 Iraqis, including one army officer and one police officer, were killed in attacks in Baquba, 60 kilometres north-east of Baghdad Saturday, said a security source. The source told Deutsche Presse-Agentur DPA that gunmen travelling in a car fired at police captain Nouri al-Anbaki near a marketplace in the Mafraq district of Baquba. The police officer was killed in the attack.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The Israeli army said Saturday it found and destroyed a tunnel used for arms smuggling between Egypt and the Gaza Strip. The tunnel was more than 150 meters (yards) long and opened into a chicken coop on the Gaza side, the army said. It said the tunnel was destroyed with controlled explosions.
COLOMBO - Fierce fighting between government troops and Tiger rebels in north and eastern Sri Lanka on Saturday left at least 127 people dead and another 280 wounded, the military said.
Syria continues its efforts to transfer large quantities of war materiel, including rockets, to Lebanon, in an effort to assist Hezbollah in its war against Israel, a senior IDF source told Haaretz on Saturday. 
