Sami Yousafzai and Urs Gehriger of Die Weltwoche recently met with a member of that hard core. In the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, they sat down to cups of green tea with Mullah Sabir. During the years of Taliban rule (1994-2001) Sabir, 40, was responsible for security along the border with Iran. Today he is governor of Ghazni Province (south of Kabul) and commander of 900 fighters.
What is your attitude towards NGOs which are building roads and digging wells to improve people's lives?
The organisations which have come here under the new administration only pretend to help the people. In reality they are part of the government. Whatever they may propose to build bridges, clinics, schools we will not tolerate their activities. So they murder the Rachel Corries. There have been nearly one hundred suicide bombings in Afghanistan since the beginning of this year. Have the Taliban lost their pride and their courage to fight the enemy in open combat?
With their combat planes and precision bombs, the enemy is far superior to us technologically. The suicide bombings are a tactic with which we drive the enemy to panic. Without this miracle weapon we would never accomplish our goal of re-conquering all of Afghanistan.
[The recently issued manual of rules does not deal with the phenomenon of suicide bombings, which is new to Afghanistan. The subject is treated in a separate 40-page document, in which suicide bombings are declared legitimate with the aid of citations from the Koran. Suicide bombers are described as "Omar's missiles," referring to Taliban leader Mullah Omar.]
Who wrote the new rule book?
I don't know exactly. Mullah Abdul Ali, our mufti responsible for religious questions, was certainly consulted. The new Layeha was approved by our supreme leader, Mullah Omar.
#1
"Drive the enemy to panic" - HHHHHMMMM, how is that when suicide bombers gener kill-injure more civilians = fellow Muslims, etal. than "enemy" soldiers!?
#6
That is good because if the CIA could pose as journalists, before long the enemy would start killing journalists then nobody would get to find out anything.
Three suicide car bombers, among them a veiled woman, killed themselves and three companions at a police checkpoint outside Somalia's government base of Baidoa, a senior official and a police officer said Thursday.
"Three cars have arrived at government checkpoint and as the police tried to check them, they exploded," Deputy Defense Minister Salad Ali Jelle told The Associated Press. "The three drivers were killed on the spot and three others who were with them," the minister said by telephone. "We have captured three who were with them who have tried to flee. The dead include non-Somalis, they are al-Qaida supporters."
A female suicide bomber wearing a veil detonated herself in one of the vehicles, said a police officer on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said four civilians were taken to a Baidoa hospital.
Another policeman at the scene, Mohammed Ahmed Mohamud, told The AP the three captured men appeared African but not Somali. There have been numerous reports of foreign Islamic radicals coming to Somalia to join a holy war. No one claimed responsibility.
On Sept. 18. a suicide car bomber tried to kill President Abdullahi Yusuf. The president escaped unharmed; 11 people were killed in the explosion and a subsequent gunbattle, including Yusuf's younger brother. The transitional government blamed the Sept. 18 car bombing on extremists within the Islamic movement. The group denied it was behind the bombing and no one has claimed responsibility. Associated Press Writer Mohamed Olad Hassan in Mogadishu contributed to this report. I hope he's not a made-up person.
Ditto. P.S. to a5089: when posting, please edit out all the non-germane drivel that the Roooters reporters insist on sticking into every story. Thx, AoS.
Fighting has broken out between the Sudanese army and the former southern rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the United Nations has said.
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said he was "deeply concerned" over clashes that flared in the southern town of Malakal on Monday and Tuesday. Non-essential UN and aid agency staff have been leaving Malakal.
The violence breaks a deal between Sudan's Arab north and black African south signed nearly two years ago. The BBC's Jonah Fisher, safely in Khartoum, says it is one of the most serious violations of that deal.
There were reports of heavy gunfire in Malakal, but no reliable word on casualties.
The violence started as clashes between southern troops and pro-Khartoum militia but quickly escalated. Forces from the national army and the former southern rebels, the SPLA, fought in the streets of Malakal. The situation had calmed by Wednesday, but the UN chief remained concerned over outbreak of violence.
In a statement, Mr Annan appealed to Sudan's national unity and the government of southern Sudan "to make all possible efforts to contain the situation".
Located on the banks of the Nile near Sudan's oilfields, Malakal is one of the tensest towns in the south. During 20 years of civil war, Khartoum armed numerous tribal militias in the area to enable it to begin extracting oil.
A final peace deal between the Arab north and black African south was signed in January 2005, but it has not been easy to get the militia to hand in their weapons. You don't say.
Unlike the continuing conflict in Darfur, Sudan's north-south ceasefire has largely held. There are 10,000 UN peacekeepers deployed in southern Sudan at a cost of $1bn a year. THIS IS THE KICKER WHERE THE UN COPs OUT AS USUAL - worthless scum that they are.
A spokeswoman said they had no mandate to intervene and that the UN was encouraging both sides to peacefully resolve the situation.
#1
Sudan is a typical islamic failed state. This the the real face of islam. No one is going to do a thing about it least of all the UN or other muslims. Since this is the colonial powers problem they shouldn't get off the hook, not one bit at all. How about it Europe and the UK?
I dunno. They seem quite successful at being Islamic. They've certainly killed a lot of people who qualify as less holy than Arabs.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/30/2006 7:27 Comments ||
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#3
Look at it this way...there can be no famine if there are no mouths to feed. Therefore, this group is simply supporting Koffee's calls for assistance to alleviate starvation across the continent.
The army forces killed yesterday 10 terrorists and arrested another on the mountainous area near Mziraa, Biskra, and Thniat Elabed, Batna, in an armed fighting. The clash took place when the army forces were carrying out a combing operation, started a few days ago just after a terrorist attack in Mshunesh area. The raking operation was supervised by the ground forces General Commander, General Tafer, and the Commander of military zone IV, Bourefla Sherif Abderrazak, in addition to a number of military commanders from military zones IV and V. All human and logistic means were provided for the operation carried out to put terrorist groups out of harm.
The target is tens of groups, including foreign terrorist group members from Sahel African countries belonging to the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), sources told El Khabar. According to the same sources, the terrorists were besieged during the operation that ended by the killing of seven terrorists, on the mountains located near Mziraa commune where another was arrested. The army forces, which started the operation from Batna, killed three terrorists in Thniat Elabed at an armed fighting with the terrorist groups that tried to leave the area. Army forces are carrying on their manhunt against terrorists there.
The combing operation comes less than a week after three soldiers and two communal guards were killed in an ambush tended in the fifth military zone, in Mshunesh, located between Batna and Biskra. A number of terrorists have been killed and others arrested lately, and some hiding places have been destroyed in the raking operations in Bouira, Tizi-Ouzou, Jijel and Boumerdés, earlier this month. Several terrorist-supporting nets have been dismantled and firearms and war material discovered, then. Army forces have been besieging terrorist groups for more than a week, in El Aures mountains situated between Biskra and Batna, and others in the mountains located between Khenchela and Tebessa.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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Moroccan police have arrested a Muslim prayer leader who is suspected of recruiting young men to be suicide bombers in the insurgency in Iraq, a newspaper reported Wednesday.
The imam, identified by police simply as Abdelilah according to Aujourd'hui Le Maroc newspaper, was arrested Monday in Tetouan, a city in northern Morocco near the Strait of Gibraltar. Abdelilah preached at a mosque in Mezouak, a vast slum on the city's outskirts, exhorting Moroccans to "fight the American-Zionist occupation in Iraq," the newspaper quoted police as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
what other religion has their holy men asking/drooling for violence????!!!!
Six Muslim militants face execution within weeks for killing two judges in Bangladesh after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal against their sentences in a deadly bombing campaign case, an official said Wednesday. Execution dates for the six men were now likely to be fixed, barring last-minute appeals to the president for clemency. The Supreme Court rejected the petitions seeking permission to appeal against a High Court judgement upholding the sentences, Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General Zakir Hossen told AFP. The do not have any judicial process open to them now. The only option is to make a mercy petition to the president, he added.
The convicts have seven days to petition the president. After that, they could be hanged within 28 days. Police say Shaikh Abdur Rahman, leader of the militant group Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), and his deputy Siddiqul Islam were the masterminds behind a string of blasts carried out as part of a campaign to impose Islamic law in the Muslim but secular country. The attacks began in August 2005 and targeted court, police and government buildings. At least 28 people including four suicide bombers died.
At the time of their sentencing, the men said they would not appeal. Four of them later lost their nerve changed their minds and the authorities treated letters by Rahman and Islam seeking to justify their actions as requests to appeal. The six men were sentenced to death by a lower court in May after being found guilty of conspiring to murder the two judges last November. A seventh accused is on the run and was convicted in his absence. Ministers said earlier they wanted to execute the men to show that Bangladesh would not tolerate crimes committed in the name of Islam. Especially against Judges and Ministers.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Confirmation (sort of) that pilot ejected. FoxNews showing short vid of smoking wreckage from a distance - news helicopters not allowed in airspace of Marine Station Miramar, of course.
#3
Hmm, wonder if they were trying to duplicate something that went wrong before? Could just be accident too. Either way I'm relieved the pilot is ok.
Posted by: Charles ||
11/30/2006 16:32 Comments ||
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#4
Charles: Accident reconstruction would not normally involve actual flying of the aircraft and attepmting to duplicate anything suspected of causing the accident. The use of flight simulators and or maintenance trainers would be more likely.
Had a Marine accident board member visit my A-6 flight control trainer and place a rivet bucking bar in the flight controls and witness how it affected the linkage and control surfaces. The bucking bar had been pulled from a wreck and the crew (ejected and survived!) described what the aircraft was doing (or not doing as the case may be) We were able to duplicate the mishap aircraft's actions to a 'T'. A similiar scenario would be employed using the flight simulators and flight control computers. Any 'black box' data that was usable is a gold mine for such an investigation and at no risk to other people/ equipment.
#5
I work a mile or so from Mirimar and saw a pillar of smoke earlier in the day and presume now that that was the crash.
Unlike the Navy top gun school that was at Mirimar before it as far as I can tell the Marines never fly over land only as long as it takes to get over the ocean. Since the smoke was near or on the base I assume the accident happened during take-off or landing.
Mind you this is just a guess. I didn't hear the crash and the smoke I saw might be unrelated.
Three Lashker-e-Taiba militants and a `darwaish' (hermit) were killed while a Hizb-ul Mujahideen insurgent surrendered in Jammu and Kashmir since Thursday evening, police said on Friday. Militants shot dead one Farooq Ahmed Dar (38) after dragging him out of his house at Panzoo-Tral, 45 km from here, on Thursday night, a police spokesman said. Police have launched a hunt to nab the militants responsible for the murder of Dar.
Three LeT militants, all locals, were killed in an encounter with police in the upper reaches of Hanzer area under Marwah police station in Doda district on Thursday. The dead militants have been identified as Mudasser alias Abu Hamza, Mohammad Irfan alias Abu Sohail, both residents of Patimahal-Kishtwar, and Mohammad Ismail alias Abu Qamair, a resident of Gujjar Kothen Dachan.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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EFL
U.S. officials say they have found smoking-gun evidence of Iranian support for terrorists in Iraq: brand-new weapons fresh from Iranian factories. They even have that straight from the factory smell According to a senior defense official, coalition forces have recently seized Iranian-made weapons and munitions that bear manufacturing dates in 2006.
This suggests, say the sources, that the material is going directly from Iranian factories to Shia militias, rather than taking a roundabout path through the black market. "There is no way this could be done without (Iranian) government approval," says a senior official. Well, there's something to talk about, eh?
#6
"This suggests, say the sources, that the material is going directly from Iranian factories to Shia militias, rather than taking a roundabout path through the black market. "There is no way this could be done without (Iranian) government approval," says a senior official."
WTF? Not saying it wouldn't have been done with governmental approval, but what a moronic statement. The capacity for corruption and stealth is stupidly not acknowledged.
It has seemed lately that ABC, as a mainstream news provider, is little closer to the camp of sanity than NBC and CBS show themselves to be. That a mainstream outlet is telling this story at all differentiates it.
#11
Lawzy, lawzy, the collective in-take of breath, immediately followed by some sort of inane bullshit, if Bush does go after the Mad Mullahs will be something to see. I predict a vacuum lasting about 30 secs after the attack ends, followed by 2-3 weeks of breast-beating and pud-pulling about how they figgered it would happen all along. Mixed in, starting about 36 hrs after the last JDAM waxes a terminal complex, will come the bitching cuz it didn't happen per their schedule and / or that it wasn't thorough enough. Should be quite a purple-letter day.
#12
Don't know what I'll do in 2008. The only thing that got me to the polls in 2004 was the fear that Theresa Heinz Kerry might have ended up on the evening news every night for the next four years. Haven't been so disillushioned in years. I don't wanna sound like a war monger. I'm just afraid of what will happen if nobody ever stops the Iranians. I don't care about the oil. I just don't want any more nukes going off and I don't want to have to bow to mecca. Who is Rum Pat Rum anyway? Or Howard neoBeales?
We're all in the same boat. I don't expect there will be nukes tossed around, not unless everything goes titzup. China, down the road, is where that notion might become real.
I'll wager that was Ship's way of saying Run Pat (Buchanan) Run 2008. Isolationism is an idiot's play in this world. Pat's about 100 years too late.
The Howard NeoBeales was in reference to a post I made not long ago. You might say I'm getting tired of the ankle-biting fuckwits who blame everything on Bush. Yep. I am.
Bush is a whole 'nuther person. He believes what he believes, thinks what he thinks.
There's a pretty good chance that there are people you know, maybe even like, who are not your clone. Sis, Mom, Dad, Bubba - we all have folks who we, otherwise, love or like - who are to the Left of Marx. That's life.
Bush has done a lot. He has fumbled a lot. Sounds almost normal. Imagine that, huh: another guy, a guy with a different POV, doing what he thinks is right. That he's not a clone seems to come as a surprise to so many. Dunno why. I've never had one, though Ship might come close when he's on his meds. So Bush not meeting my schedule or doing everything I want when I fucking want it shouldn't come as a surprise.
#15
Well this is the camels nose under the tent. Yes, I am surprised that it was reported at all, but it could be the lever the president needs.
I would like it if he called a press conference tomorrow to point out the obvious fact that the Iranian government is actively causing the deaths of American soldiers and actively working against our interests in destabilizing Iraq.
I would also like him to say that if this activity does not cease immediately then Iranian targets will be hit by the US Military as a clear defense response.
It won't happen, of course, but that is what I would like and what I believe is the appropriate course of action.
But right now it looks like he is showing weakness in the face of the mad mullahs just like Carter did. Granted, idiots like Kennedy and Murtha haven't made it any easier. But Bush has two years to do something about these bastards and then he's going to down as the worst president since Carter and that's pretty bad.
#21
End of the month, which can only mean the armchair-generals and the foreign-policy-ekspurts have been let out of their halfway-houses, and can't get into LGF...
#22
"Granted, idiots like Kennedy and Murtha haven't made it any easier."
And people like you, who can't bring themselves to grant him any more than that, aren't making it any easier, either.
The entire Democratic Party, in a cheap, cynical bid for political gain, has dedicated itself to interfering with the war in every way conceivable since the very day it began, up to and including threats of impeachment.
Nearly every commercial media outlet in print, broadcast, and cable has devoted every last ounce of effort for five solid years to undermining public confidence in both the purpose of this war and the competence with which our military is waging it. They have denigrated every success we've had. They have exaggerated every setback. They have trumpeted one goddamn bogus "scandal" after another to confuse and demoralize the public, to the point where most people anymore don't have the slightest fucking idea what the hell we're fighting for.
Not only that, Bush has had virtually the entire international political establishment set against him since the very beginning as well.
And all you can grant him is that all these things "haven't made it any easier"?????
Go screw yourself.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
11/30/2006 20:48 Comments ||
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#23
This means that Iraq isn't in a Civil War - its (and us) are in a de-facto war with Iran.
That is the most succinct observation in this thread yet. Let's hope our government acts upon this fact.
#24
Dave, your third paragraph is one clue to what's wrong with Bush. He didn't hit back, and he still doesn't hit back. He's a good man and all that, but this is war and we need a prick. A no nonsense bastard who points the finger of censure at the leftist macaca. Instead, we have a lame duck.
Wake me when our leaders are serious.
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) - The missing pilot of an F-16 from Cannon Air Force Base that crashed in Iraq earlier this week has been identified as Maj. Troy Gilbert, a 1993 Texas Tech graduate who was assigned to the 309th Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix. The military classified Gilbert, 34, as "whereabouts unknown" Wednesday.
Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of the U.S. Central Command Air Forces, said Wednesday that a priority would be identifying the human remains found at the crash site.
Gilbert graduated from Tech with a bachelor's degree in economics, according to Luke AFB officials.
U.S. forces investigating the crash have said insurgents reached the site before American forces. Videotape pictures obtained by Associated Press Television News appear to show the wreckage of the F-16CG jet in the farm field where it crashed Monday and the remains of a U.S. serviceman with a tangled parachute nearby.
The jet crashed about 20 miles northwest of Baghdad while supporting ground combat by coalition forces in Anbar province, where many of Iraq's insurgent groups operate, the Air Combat Command said. DNA samples were taken from the scene and would be tested at a military medical facility in the United States, the central command said.
Cannon had said earlier that the pilot was not from the eastern New Mexico base.
The 524th Fighter Squadron, part of the 27th Fighter Wing from Cannon, has been operating from Balad Air Base in Iraq since being deployed in September. Gilbert was deployed to the 332nd Expeditionary Wing at Balad Air Base. Cannon officials confirmed markings from the base were apparent on news photos and television images that showed sections of the single-pilot aircraft.
An Iraqi witness reported seeing the jet flying erratically before it crashed. A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said he doubted the plane was shot down because F-16s fly very fast and have not encountered weapons in Iraq capable of taking them down. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Air Force spokeswoman Susan Stout said the Air Force has been in contact with family members in the Phoenix area. A man who answered the phone Wednesday at a number listed under Gilbert's name said the family has no comment and referred members of the media to the Air Force's public affairs office.
Gilbert's family later released a statement through the Air Force, although details about his immediate family were unavailable. "Troy was first and foremost a wonderful husband and father. His Christian faith, personal values and work ethic guided his personal life and his career as a military officer," the statement said. "He was highly respected by and deeply loved by so many. At the time of the tragedy during combat operations, he was unselfishly protecting the lives of other American military members. We, his family, cherish the worldwide prayers and support during this extremely difficult time." Sleep well, Troy, may God cradle you in his loving arms.
WASHINGTON - A senior American intelligence official said on Monday that the Iranian-backed group Hizbollah had been training members of the Mahdi Army, the Shiite militia in Iraq that is headed by Muqtada al-Sadr.
The official said that between 1,000 and 2,000 fighters from the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militia groups from Iraq had been trained by Hizbollah in Lebanon, mostly in small groups. A small number of Hizbollah operatives have also visited Iraq to help with training there, the official said.
Iran has facilitated the link between Hizbollah and the Shiite militias in Iraq, the official said. Syrian officials have also cooperated, though there is debate among intelligence officials about whether it has the blessing of the senior leadership in Syria, the official said.
The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules set by his agency, and discussed Irans role in response to questions from a reporter.
The interview occurred at a time of intense debate over whether the United States should enlist Irans help in stabilizing Iraq. A commission headed by James A. Baker III, a former secretary of state, and Lee Hamilton, a former Democratic Party lawmaker, is expected to call for direct talks with Tehran. The claim about Hizbollahs role in training Shiite militias could strengthen the hand of those within the Bush administration who oppose talks with Iran.
The new American account is consistent with a claim made in Iraq this summer by a mid-level commander of the Mahdi Army, who said his organization had sent 300 fighters to Lebanon, ostensibly to fight with Hizbollah forces there. They are the best-trained fighters in the Mahdi Army, the militia commander said in an interview in Iraq. He spoke on condition of anonymity.
The specific assertions about Irans role went beyond those made publicly by senior American officials, though Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, did tell Congress earlier this month that the Iranian hand is stoking violence in Iraq.
The American intelligence on Hizbollahs role is based on human sources, technical means, and interviews with detainees captured in Iraq, American officials said.
American officials say that the Iranians have also provided direct support to Shiite militias in Iraq, including explosives and trigger devices for roadside bombs, and training for several thousand fighters, mostly in Iran. The training is carried out by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Ministry of Intelligence and Security, they say. American officials also suspect that in some cases the Iranians may have provided guidance to the Shiite militias to attack specific targets in Iraq.
(KUNA) -- General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that two U.S. battalions are moving into the Baghdad area, which Pace described as "extremely important".
U.S. Army General George Casey, commander of multinational forces in Iraq, is working very closely with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to ensure that the actions of coalition forces and Iraqi security forces are coordinated, and that they support the political process Maliki is striving to attain, Pace said. Pace declined to predict how big the troops increase in the Baghdad area would grow, or for how long. "Baghdad is extremely important to the Iraqi government, and their armed forces and their security forces are the proper long-term solution to that problem," Pace said. If there are Iraqi forces available to Maliki to move into the Baghdad area that are not currently engaged elsewhere in Iraq, and if Maliki is able "to move them comfortably without creating a vacuum" some place else in Iraq, "that is worth looking at as well," Pace said.
There has been an increase in the number of both Iraqi and coalition forces in Baghdad, he said, "but the impact of those increases has not been what we wanted it to be," so Casey and Maliki "are reassessing," Pace said.
Pace denied reports suggesting that the Pentagon is considering shifting U.S. Marines to Baghdad and turning the volatile Al Anbar Province over to the Iraqis. "Why would we want to forfeit any part of Iraq to the enemy?" Pace said. "We do not. We want to provide security for the Iraqi people. You want to be able to assist the Iraqi government in providing good governance and providing economic opportunity, and those three things fit together -- security, governance and economy. You are not going to have success or progress in one without success and progress in all three".
There are no "immediate thoughts" to moving all coalition forces out of Al Anbar Province and turning over "right now today" all security in Al Anbar to Iraqi security forces, Pace said, adding, "It is not on the table".
"It is not practical to expect that we can snuff out terrorism completely, but it is reasonable to strive to have an environment inside of which terrorist acts are below the level at which the Iraqi government can function, where the economy can prosper and where the Iraqi people can live their lives the way they want to," Pace said.
Asked about many who have concluded that Iraq is already in a civil war, Pace said the level of violence being inflicted by al Qaeda and the like in Iraq is specifically designed to create a civil war and "an ungovernable condition so the terrorists can then set up shop and rule those people the way they want to".
"So it is much more important that we focus on how to defeat the enemy that is trying to create the civil war than it is we spend a lot of time dancing on the head of a pin as far as what particular words we should use to describe the environment which is currently unacceptable," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
...we spend a lot of time dancing on the head of a pin as far as what particular words we should use to describe the environment which is currently unacceptable," he said.
Ahhh...a Marine. Gotta love 'em. Not that he changed anyone's mind, of course.
How many reporters can dance on the head of a pin?
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/30/2006 5:53 Comments ||
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#2
How many reporters can dance on the head of a pin?
An infinite number, for of late days reporters are mythical beasts. All that are left are "journalists" who find it sufficient to phone in the reports of enemy agents.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/30/2006 7:24 Comments ||
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#3
Pace is in a tricky position. Since almost all the US forces are in Baghdad or Anbar, if he makes a troop movement in either direction, he is accused of "abandoning" the other.
This denies him the blunt tool of a major force movement, so he has to rely on finesse--moving just the right number of soldiers to the most critical area.
#4
Economy of Force Employ all combat power available in the most effective way possible; allocate minimum essential combat power to secondary efforts.
Economy of force is the judicious employment and distribution of forces. No part of the force should ever be left without purpose. When the time comes for action, all parts must act. The allocation of available combat power to such tasks as limited attacks, defense, delays, deception, or even retrograde operations is measured in order to achieve mass elsewhere at the decisive point and time on the battlefield.
- FM 100-5, Operations
Not that any 'journalist' would ever be caught reading up on the subject matter they claim to report on. Not to be confused with actual writers who cover such mundane subjects like 'Sports' do on a daily basis. How long would a sports columnist be in his job if he kept getting the subject matter and facts wrong or made up stories from whole cloth?
#5
Procopius2K: Economy of force is neglectful of an additional factor, time. That is, economy of force is a constant--what is applicable is using that force in a strategic, rather than tactical sense.
In this case, for example, if we used our forces to secure Baghdad, Anbar would be neglected. So this means the security of Baghdad must be done with gradualism, using far less personnel than would be used, optimally.
In a manner of speaking, playing offense and defense at the same time.
Gradualism is peculiarly unsatisfying for those who expect large, discreet battles with a given beginning and end, however. But as we take over a neighborhood and purge it of its troublemakers, we can then turn it over to local authority. They will need to do much less to keep it clean then to clean it up in the first place.
This frees us up to move to the next neighborhood.
But all of this opens Pace up to double criticism: that he isn't doing enough in either place. Though all our forces everywhere are busy, even a small shift is used to natter at him that he isn't fighting the large, discreet battles with the enemy.
Eventually, what I expect will be that the US will turn over most of Baghdad to Iraqi security, when a comfort level is obtained in the city. Then most forces will move to Anbar, to both keep the Sunnis cooled and to protect them from the Shiites.
Israel released from custody Palestinian Authority Housing Minister Abdel Rahman Zeidan of Hamas, Palestinian sources reported on Wednesday night. Zeidan was arrested by the IDF a month ago, joining dozens of Hamas ministers and parliamentarians rounded up by the IDF after Cpl. Gilad Shalit's capture in June.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Hopefullly in a brand new suit, with a wad of shekels and a kiss on both cheeks...
An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced an Islamic militant to 12 years in prison for providing a gun to the aide of a leading member of a Southeast Asian terrorist network. Joko Wibowo, alias Abu Sayaf, was convicted by a regional court in Central Java of violating anti-terror laws for giving a semiautomatic pistol to a member of Jemaah Islamiyah that was used for military training.
The three-member panel of judges said Joko gave the revolver and 20 bullets to Subur Sugiarto, a main aide to Noordin M. Top, a Malaysian fugitive accused of being a key leader of the group. "The defendant has been proven guilty of violating the anti-terror law," presiding Judge Boedi Hartono said at the ruling. Hewas also convicted of illegal possession of a firearm.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Two men suspected of being involved in a series of attacks on Christians in the Central Sulawesi cities of Poso and Palu have surrendered to local police. The men identified as Ateng and Nasir were flown to Palu from Poso for further questioning. Police would not say when the men gave themselves up. Another suspected militant, Andi Bocor, surrendered to the police two weeks ago but was later released after being interrogated for three days.
Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Muhammad Kilat would not comment about the men's surrender. "In line with the requests by the interrogators, I cannot give any official statement yet," he said. Kilat said a full statement would be made after the two men were questioned.
National Police deputy chief Insp. Gen. Anton Bahrul Alam said police had approached the families of the six men to find information about their whereabouts. The families promised to give police the information on three conditions, he said. These were that the police were not allowed to beat the suspects, the suspects had to be accompanied by lawyers, and their families were to be allowed to visit the detained suspects at any time, Anton said. "We agreed with the requirement ... that's why we asked the families to help us find the wanted suspects," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Five civilians were hurt when Muslim separatist rebels attacked a southern Philippine village, torching at least 15 houses, the military said yesterday. About 50 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels stormed the village of Dapiawan in Datu Piang town, Maguindanao province, 930km south of Manila, on Sunday.
Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, a regional army spokesman, said the rebels first set on fire to a building housing government militiamen in Dapiawan. Four hours later, the guerrillas harassed government troops, triggering a firefight. The rebels also burned down at least 15 houses of civilians, Ando said. Five civilians were hurt as they were caught in the crossfire, he said. The rebels also carted away peoples important belongings.
Ando said the harassment only stopped after intervention by an international team monitoring a ceasefire between the MILF and the Philippine government. This is a serious violation and we will file a protest, he said.
MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said the incident was the result of a personal grudge. He said an MILF commander retaliated against village officials after his 9-year-old daughter was hurt in a recent ambush by local security men.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Sorry, I have a hard time taking anyone that calls themselves a MILF seriously....
Philippine troops, on the offensive for nearly four months against Islamic militants on a remote southern island, are hunting five female members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant group, the head of the army said. Lieutenant-General Romeo Tolentino said yesterday half of the 10 foreign rebels hiding out on Jolo Island were women, including the wife of Umar Patek, one of two prime suspects in the 2002 Bali suicide bombings that killed 202 people. The other alleged mastermind of the Bali attacks, Indonesian extremist Dulmatin, is also believed to be sheltering on Jolo. Last month, his wife and two children were caught during a raid on a suspected Abu Sayyaf hideout.
Tolentino said despite arresting Istidia Oemar Sovie, his soldiers were finding it difficult to ensnare her husband, who has a $10mn bounty on his head, because of Jolos heavily canopied, mountainous terrain and a lack of support from locals. Its really hard to go against the culture of the people in the area, he told reporters in Manila. Were not saying the residents there were not cooperating with us. They were perhaps more afraid of possible retaliation from the rebels if the residents started giving us information.
Tolentino said intelligence indicated the top leaders of the Abu Sayyaf, the Philippines most violent Muslim rebel group, and JI militants sheltering with them were still in the interior of Jolo, about 950km south of Manila. Dulmatins wife, who will be deported to Indonesia in 10 days, told security officials a Singaporean, a Malaysian and four Indonesians were on Jolo to train members of Abu Sayyaf in bomb-making. Sovie was not charged with any terrorist offence or membership of JI, a group which wants to create an Islamic state across Southeast Asia.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Let's hope that they're not motivated by the reward of a gang rape.
#2
Imagine that, five Islamist hussies all awaiting their allotment of 72 vir ... err... umm, wait-a-minute, what exactly do Islamist female suicide boomers get in Paradise?
Qom, 30 Nov. (AKI) - One of Iran's leading conservative clerics, Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Fazel Lankarani, has issued a fatwa - religious edict - in which he sentences to death two Azeri journalists, Rafegh Taghi and Samir Sedaghatoglu. "It is the duty of every good Muslim to help the execution of this fatwa," wrote on his website the cleric, who is based in the holy Shiite city of Qom.
Rafegh Taghi, an editorialist for the newspaper Senet, published in Baku in the republic of Azerbaijan, is considered guilty of having offended Islam and its Prophet Mohammed in an article called 'Us and Europe' which Lankarani slammed as "clearly offensive to Islam" because it talks about "the superiority of Europe compared to the Middle East .. it considers Islam inferior to Christianity .. offends the Prophet Mohammed."
Samir Sedaghatoglu, the paper's publisher, has instead been charged with "not forbidding the apostate to offend Islam." And the NYT will be all over this!
"Those who commit such acts are guilty of apostasy if they were born Muslim and are guilty of offending Islam if they are infidels," the ayatollah also said. Go get 'em, Reuters! You, too, AP!
The edict echoes the Iranian fatwa against Indian writer Salman Rushdie issued in 1989 by Ayatollah Rouhollah Mussawi Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic.
An Azerbaijani court has sentenced the writer Rafiq and his publisher to two months in jail for an article which was illustrated by the same cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad originally published in Denmark that caused outcry in the Muslim world.
#4
The dust of Iran needs to see the footprint of American miliary superiority, and the destruction of anything even remotely associated with islam. Destroy Qom, destroy every mosque, every religious school, and every vestage of the military, especially the "Revolutionary Guards". Pound their ports, destroy their infrastructure, and wipe out "their ruling class". Then stand by to ensure no one goes in to help them rebuild - especially not the UN or any NGOs. Let them eat sand and drink oil. See how well they learn from that. If they don't learn, nuke the entire place until it glows. Point to it as an example when "discussing" the behavior of other islamic states. It's time for the US to sh$$ or get off the pot.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/30/2006 17:27 Comments ||
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#5
Old Patriot, since you are no longer advocating initial use of nuclear weapons, your suggestions for Iran become increasingly attractive. I'd prefer that the Iranian people have a chance to establish a democratic state of their own without all the preceding bloodshed.
But, hey, guess what? If the only road to a peaceful Middle East leads through an Iranian wasteland, I'm down with that. Iran has bred up so much of the Middle East's and this entire world's misery that it's time they had a big heaping dose of their own medicine. Whatever it takes to demolish their nuclear weapons program and dislodge the mullahs represents the least amount of force that should be applied.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Sami Yousafzai and Urs Gehriger of Die Weltwoche recently met with a member of that hard core. In the border area between Afghanistan and Pakistan, they sat down to cups of green tea with 
Three suicide car bombers, among them a veiled woman, killed themselves and three companions at a police checkpoint outside Somalia's government base of Baidoa, a senior official and a police officer said Thursday.
Fighting has broken out between the Sudanese army and the former southern rebels, the Sudan People's Liberation Army, the United Nations has said.
The army forces killed yesterday 10 terrorists and arrested another on the mountainous area near Mziraa, Biskra, and Thniat Elabed, Batna, in an armed fighting. The clash took place when the army forces were carrying out a combing operation, started a few days ago just after a terrorist attack in Mshunesh area. The raking operation was supervised by the ground forces General Commander, General Tafer, and the Commander of military zone IV, Bourefla Sherif Abderrazak, in addition to a number of military commanders from military zones IV and V. All human and logistic means were provided for the operation carried out to put terrorist groups out of harm. 
Moroccan police have arrested a Muslim prayer leader who is suspected of recruiting young men to be suicide bombers in the insurgency in Iraq, a newspaper reported Wednesday. 
Six Muslim militants face execution within weeks for killing two judges in Bangladesh after the Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal against their sentences in a deadly bombing campaign case, an official said Wednesday. Execution dates for the six men were now likely to be fixed, barring last-minute appeals to the president for clemency. The Supreme Court rejected the petitions seeking permission to appeal against a High Court judgement upholding the sentences, Inspector General of Prisons Brigadier General Zakir Hossen told AFP. The do not have any judicial process open to them now. The only option is to make a mercy petition to the president, he added.
The convicts have seven days to petition the president. After that, they could be hanged within 28 days. Police say 
Three 
CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. (AP) - The missing pilot of an F-16 from Cannon Air Force Base that crashed in Iraq earlier this week has been identified as Maj. Troy Gilbert, a 1993 Texas Tech graduate who was assigned to the 309th Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base in Phoenix. The military classified Gilbert, 34, as "whereabouts unknown" Wednesday.
(KUNA) -- General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, confirmed during a Pentagon briefing on Wednesday that two U.S. battalions are moving into the Baghdad area, which Pace described as "extremely important".
An Indonesian court on Wednesday sentenced an Islamic militant to 12 years in prison for providing a gun to the aide of a leading member of a Southeast Asian terrorist network. 
Two men suspected of being involved in a series of attacks on Christians in the Central Sulawesi cities of Poso and Palu have surrendered to local police. The men identified as Ateng and Nasir were flown to Palu from Poso for further questioning. Police would not say when the men gave themselves up. Another suspected militant, Andi Bocor, surrendered to the police two weeks ago but was later released after being interrogated for three days. 
Five civilians were hurt when Muslim separatist rebels attacked a southern Philippine village, torching at least 15 houses, the military said yesterday. About 50 Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) rebels stormed the village of Dapiawan in Datu Piang town, Maguindanao province, 930km south of Manila, on Sunday.
Philippine troops, on the offensive for nearly four months against Islamic militants on a remote southern island, are hunting five female members of the 
