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Sadrists collapse in Missan
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 4: Opinion
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'm sorry but that is NOT a flattering photo of Ms Leslie. Her head appears gi-normous... her arm is as long as my..., her chest is splayed in two very different directions...

Qu'est-c que fuque?
Posted by: JDB || 06/21/2008 3:12 Comments || Top||

#2  lay kink' thar JDB itn a aquired tawste, like TAB.
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 6:51 Comments || Top||

#3  And too straight for a sordid affair.
Posted by: AdultAngel || 06/21/2008 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Looks a little like Sigourney Weaver ...
Posted by: Steve White || 06/21/2008 9:49 Comments || Top||

#5  Only non-straight people have sordid affairs? When did that happen?
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/21/2008 10:29 Comments || Top||

#6  (Shudder) Looks like one of my mom's sisters, just before she lays into you for something you did or didn't do... Definitely not my style.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/21/2008 13:27 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Live Fire Training Exercise for Afghan Army using real Talibunnies
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/21/2008 07:59 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Those Canadian trained Afghani soldiers weren't running away. They were just going back to the bench to get their skates laced up correctly. Got to keep your stick on the ice.
Posted by: Canuckistan sniper || 06/21/2008 12:40 Comments || Top||

#2  i noticed the CNN guy said that 20 taliturbans were killed... i could only think if the americans had engaged them it would have been reported as 20 civilians

in any case, a step in the right direction. the afghans will start to stand on their own feet eventually. This was invaluable experience.
Posted by: Abu do you love || 06/21/2008 14:33 Comments || Top||


Frenchman freed in Afghanistan
A French businessman who was abducted in southern Afghanistan last month has been released safely along with two Afghan colleagues, the French Foreign Ministry announced Friday. An Afghan official said the 37-year-old Frenchman was freed after a ransom was handed over but there was no confirmation from French officials about any payment. “He was freed yesterday (Thursday),” a foreign ministry official said.

“He’s in good health and is on his way home to France.” The French citizen, who had been living in Afghanistan for years and headed his own construction company, was on his way from Kandahar to Kabul with two colleagues and a driver when they were abducted in the Gailan district of Ghazni province on May 29.

In Kabul, a senior Afghan intelligence officer told AFP that they “were freed today in the morning in neighbouring Wardak province and were handed over to the representatives of the French embassy.”

No one has claimed responsibility for his abduction. But the officer blamed the abduction on Taliban. “Taliban were first demanding the release of their prisoners from Afghan prisons and their demand was not accepted by the Afghan government,” he said.

At the request of the French embassy in Kabul, direct negotiations between the families of the kidnap victims and the abductors were allowed via the embassy, the senior intelligence officer said. “No exchange of prisoners took place and they were released after talks with their families,” he said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Deaths in Afghanistan bomb blast
At least eight people have been killed in a suicide bomb attack on a Nato convoy in southern Afghanistan's Helmand province, officials have said.
Turns out that was easier than investing Kandahar, except for the guy who exploded...
Two US soliders and an Afghan interpreter were among those killed in the attack in Gereshk district on Friday, according to Helmand's police chief. A provincial governor had earlier said that 10 people had been killed in the blast. The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The incident came a day after Nato and Afghan forces said they concluded an operation to push Taliban-inspired fighters from villages in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province.

The US-led coalition said on Friday that two of its soldiers were killed while conducting operations against opposition fighters on Thursday. "One coalition service member died of gunshot wounds and two others were wounded while conducting operations in Helmand province Thursday around 8pm [1530 GMT]," a coalition statement said.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Several killed in Somalistan fighting
Fresh clashes have erupted between fighters from the Islamic Courts Union and Ethiopian forces in the Somali capital Mogadishu, leaving at least 13 people dead, most of them civilians.
That's kinda the background noise of life in Somalia, isn't it?
Officials said on Friday the fighting took place on Thursday at a Somali government base in southern Mogadishu and at a stadium where Ethiopian forces are based. An attack by rebel forces triggered retaliation by Ethiopian troops, who fired mortars into surrounding neighbourhoods. Four civilians, two of them children, were killed when a mortar shell smashed into their home in the southern Wardhigley neighbourhood, residents said. Five members of the same family were killed in the northern Gubta neighbourhood in a similar incident.
Strange. My sympathy meter hasn't stirred. It's almost like that was what was supposed to happen.
'Mortar shells rained down on our neighbourhood and so far I have seen five innocent civilians from the same family killed, three of them children,' Husein Yusuf Ahmed, a local elder, said. Ali Ibrahim Moalim, another local resident, gave the same death toll and added that seven others were wounded in the violence.
What'd the Aethiops have to say about it? Anybody ask them?
Mogadishu fighting
Several witnesses said that two civilians were also killed in Mogadishu's southern district when they were caught in crossfire during fighting between Ethiopian troops and Islamic Union loyalists. Abdurahim Ise Addo, a spokesman for the Islamic Courts Union, admitted to two deaths in the group's ranks.
Dead in addition to the innocent bystanders? Or were the deaths in the group's ranks the innocent bystanders?
He also said his forces killed 10 Somali and Ethiopian soldiers in Thursday night's fighting. 'We killed 10 soldiers from Ethiopia and its Somali stooges. We also lost two fighters,' Abdurahim said. The number of casualties among Ethiopian and Somali government troops could not immediately be confirmed.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence that has plagued Mogadishu and other parts of Somalia since Ethiopian forces intervened to help an embattled government force out the Islamic Courts Union in late 2006. According to several rights organisations and aid groups, at least 6,000 civilians were killed over the past 12 months of fighting. On June 9, the transitional government and the main opposition alliance agreed on a document that stipulates a truce should take effect within a month.
That's worked well, hasn't it?

This article starring:
Abdurahim Ise AddoIslamic Courts
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


Home Front: WoT
Director of Saudi Academy arrested for failing to report alleged child abuse
The director of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) was arrested last week and charged with failing to report a child abuse allegation. Abdallah I. Al-Shabnan, director of ISA, was also charged with obstruction of justice, according to a police report on his June 9 arrest. He is now out on bail pending trial and is scheduled to appear in court on Aug. 1. He could not be reached for comment.

Police say Al-Shabnan’s arrest came after police alleged he covered up an incident in which a 5-year-old girl attending the school reported that she was being sexually abused by her father. According to court papers, Al Shabnan, 52, of McLean, Va., said he didn’t believe the girl and did not report the incident, instead telling the girl’s parents to seek counseling for her.

Police said in court papers that Al-Shabnan ordered a written report about the girl’s complaint, which had been prepared by other school officials, to be deleted from a school computer. Virginia state law requires school officials to report allegations of abuse within 72 hours.

“At no time did Mr. Al-Shabnan report the allegations to any child protective agency or law enforcement agency,” an affidavit for a search warrant filed in the Fairfax County Circuit Court says. “He further stated that he was not aware that he was required to make such a report.”
Missed that part of school principal training, did he ...
Court documents also say Al-Shabnan “stated he did not believe the girl’s complaint and felt she may be attempting to gain attention.”

The misdemeanor counts come at a time when the private school is under heavy criticism from a federal commission and other groups over textbooks that allegedly teach violence and hate. ISA, a 900-student private school with campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax, Va., has been the subject of renewed scrutiny after an investigation by the US Commission on International Religious Freedom said it found that textbooks used in the school contained offensive passages.

More than a dozen protesters lined up outside the ISA this week. The protesters, including the conservative Traditional Values Coalition, want the Justice and State departments to investigate the school. The State Department last year obtained copies of the school’s textbooks but did not make their findings public.

Staff and children affiliated with ISA brought bottles of water to the demonstrators, who gathered near a sidewalk in front of the school holding signs. Rahima Abdullah, the ISA’s education department director, denied the allegations. “That’s absolutely not true,” said Rahima. “What we teach here is love and tolerance.” The school issued a statement saying the textbooks had been mistranslated and misinterpreted.
Lot of that going around it seems ...
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Global Jihad

#1  Can't wait to hear his sharia defense. Reminder: in the religion-of-peace, a female who reports sexual assault must be backed by 4 adult males. Solitary rape de jure, legal. Some Muslims skirt around the problem by torturing a confession out of the rapist.
Posted by: McZoid || 06/21/2008 6:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Court documents also say Al-Shabnan “stated he did not believe the girl’s complaint and felt she may be attempting to gain attention.”

after all, she is a 5 yr old brazen hussy. By next year, she'll be past marrying age, a washed up old hag
Posted by: Frank G || 06/21/2008 7:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Here in the West we start with a medical exam to see if sexual activity did occur. If yes, Mr. al Shabnan is well and truly screwed, because the charge is that he covered up the accusation. Assertation of the father as the guilty party is unnecessary for conviction... and the child could presumably be removed by the courts for her own protection, since her parents demonstrably did not keep her safe from egregious harm.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/21/2008 10:34 Comments || Top||

#4  I’ve been in this school.

In a previous life, during my more youthful days, my job had me walking into thousands of schools in all but two of our states.

It takes about five minutes to assess a school. I called it the "feelin' of the buildin’."

It was the feelin' that the principal created in the building. The demeanor of the faculty and the demeanor of the students reflected the demeanor of the principal.

This was one creepy school. There were two of us visiting the school that day. We couldn't get out fast enough, and all but ran back to our car, each of hesitate to express the feelin' in case the other didn't get it.

We both did.... The first "franchise" restaurant we recognized would have Scotch, we stopped! (It was the last appointment of the day.)

I get the creeps just typing this....
Posted by: Sherry || 06/21/2008 18:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Sherry, I think I know what you are talking about.

In a previous life, I did 'loss prevention' at a record store. I would pretend to be shopping, while watching for shop-lifters.

I got good enough that I could 'mark' a shoplifter as they walked in the door. They looked wrong. They shopped wrong. They might as well wave a red flag as they stuck CDs in their jackets.

But that was a previous life, as I said.
Posted by: Free Radical || 06/21/2008 19:45 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Five terrorists held, arms recovered
LAHORE — Five alleged terrorists involved in suicide attack on the building of the Federal Investigation Agency on Temple Road three months ago have been arrested. FIA director Chaudhry Manzoor Ahmed told reporters here yesterday that three of the accused belonged to outlawed Lashkar-e-Jhangvi. Four hand grenades, some automatic weapons, time devices and explosives have also been recovered from their possession.

The March 11 attacks had killed several people and badly damaged the eight-storey building.

Manzoor claimed that the accused planned to target many important national installations. The official chief said the arrests were a big victory on the part of his organisation.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Five terrorists held, arms recovered

Scary eh, wonder if they'll ever match the arms to the owners.
Posted by: RD || 06/21/2008 12:48 Comments || Top||

#2  The feets, tell us about deh feets.
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 14:48 Comments || Top||

#3  After the currents take them to Vancouver.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 06/21/2008 15:24 Comments || Top||


3 'suicide bombers' held in Rawalpindi
Law-enforcement agencies have arrested three would-be suicide bombers from Rawalpindi and seized suicide jackets from their possession, ARY television reported on Friday.

The accused have been moved to an undisclosed location for interrogation, the channel said, adding that the police had also arrested a man for threatening police with suicide attacks by mail and phone. It said sensitive documents had also been found from their possession.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  It's like the old Johnny Carson joke about Chicken Teriyaki, the least successful kamikaze pilot.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 06/21/2008 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL you're not that olde Eric, your brother musta told you that one..... yeah, yeah. Ain't gonna ask his call-sign.
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 6:54 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm 46 years old. Do the math. My brother is younger than me.
Posted by: Eric Jablow || 06/21/2008 8:15 Comments || Top||

#4  yeah, I'm 48 and remember watching Carson. He was great.
Posted by: Frank G || 06/21/2008 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  There aren't Johnny Carson reruns, but sometimes the skits show up in "Best of" thingies.
Posted by: trailing wife || 06/21/2008 10:28 Comments || Top||

#6  I remember Johnny Talking about his wife's attorneys "Dewey, Cheatam, and Howe". and their associates "Gettum, Gottem, and Goode"
(Yes I'm THAT old)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/21/2008 13:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Chicken Teriyaki, isn't he the one who flew 37 Kamikazi missions?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/21/2008 13:20 Comments || Top||

#8  Dang, all these years I though Heywood was younger than you. Live and learn.
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 14:50 Comments || Top||

#9  Or versa vis. Older, as it were.
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 14:51 Comments || Top||


4 LeT hard boyz banged in Kashmir valley encounters
Four militants, including a self-styled divisional commander of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, were shot dead in separate encounters in the Kashmir valley.

The self-styled divisional commander of LeT, Mehboob Ahmed Afradi alias Jugnu, was killed in a joint operation by the Army and the police in Baramulla district on Friday, a defence spokesman said.

Troops of 32 Rashtriya Rifles and special task force of the local police launched the operation at Dangiwats-Khaipora in the early hours following information about the presence of the militants.

This article starring:
MEHBUB AHMED AFRADI ALIAS JUGNULashkar-e-Taiba
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Taiba


Fake currency printed in Pakistan?
Police strongly suspect that counterfeit notes worth Rs. 36 lakh seized from an inter-State gang were printed in Pakistan. The notes were later smuggled into India through Bangladesh as part of the gang’s strategy to destabilise India’s economy. The fake currency is in Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denominations.

City Police Commissioner B. Prasada Rao, announcing the arrest of gang members here on Friday, said efforts were on to trace the links that enabled them to smuggle counterfeit currency into Andhra Pradesh. Asked about the role of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence behind the racket, he said: “It’s premature to confirm it.”

He, however, explained that the fake currency was in circulation on a large scale through different channels. The seized currency was almost similar to the genuine currency, he said.

The arrested persons are Mohammed Shoukat Ali, Arun Kumar Saha and his brother Naba Kumar Saha, all from Malda district in West Bengal, K. Venkata Satyanarayana Reddy and V. Kameswara Rao, both from East Godavari district.

Across Bengal border
Explaining the modus operandi in detail, the Commissioner said Ali was working as an agent with Arun and Naba. Arun was procuring counterfeit currency from Nutfal Shaik of Baikul village in Bangladesh. Nutfal used to deliver fake currency bundles from a secluded place which is 15 km away from across the border in West Bengal. Then Arun and Naba collected the bundles and handed them over to Ali, who would later give them to Rao and Reddy for circulating in Andhra Pradesh. The duo was supplying currency to the agents in Hyderabad and other places. The racket was in operation for the last one year or so.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: ISI

#1  Maybe the fake passport industry is branching out...
Posted by: PBMcL || 06/21/2008 11:12 Comments || Top||

#2  I remember hearing that during WW2 the Germans tried to flood our nation with counterfeit $50 Bills, they were so good that the only way to tell was by serial number, and the Treasury finaly decided"What the Hell" and left them in circulation.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 06/21/2008 13:24 Comments || Top||

#3  Presumably, new tecnology would be able to ID those old counterfeit $50's now. They'd be both very collectible but also very illegal to possess...
Posted by: M. Murcek || 06/21/2008 13:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Been there Jim, folks prefered mine to the governments issue.
Posted by: Barney Rubble || 06/21/2008 14:53 Comments || Top||

#5  Jim: Given FDR's Fed guys' perpetual problems with getting enough currency in circulation - google the "vallar" for a mid-Thirties example - the Nazis were probably doing us a favor.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 06/21/2008 17:59 Comments || Top||


Taliban warn truckers to stop NATO oil supply
Taliban have warned transporters in Karachi against supplying oil to coalition forces in Afghanistan, in leaflets distributed and displayed in Shireen Jinnah Colony on Mauripur Road.

Oil trucks are parked in the Shireen Jinnah Colony, located near the Kemari Harbour and the Karachi Port Trust. Security and transport companies officials said similar leaflets were distributed in parts of the NWFP.

Workers from transport companies, asking not to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the Urdu leaflets threatened to blow up the vehicles and houses of those doing business with the coalition forces, but did not specify if the warning was from local or Afghan Taliban. A senior truck owners’ association official said the leaflets named the Afridi, Shinwari and Khyberi transport companies. “The All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association does not supply oil or any other goods to Afghanistan,” said Akram Khan Durrani, the organisation’s general secretary.

Sindh Home Secretary Arif Ahmed Khan said transporters would be given protection if they contacted the government. On May 9, three men abducted Shoukat Afridi – whose company deals with NATO forces – from Clifton Town. A police source said he had been taken to the Tribal Areas. His brother Taj Afridi declined to comment, but said negotiations with the kidnappers were underway.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Taliban

#1  It's far past time we taught the savages in the NWFP a lesson in military firepower. We need to pick out an area somewhere in the territory, and turn it into a moonscape. Then we need to tell the entire world we'll do the same to anyone fighting against us, no matter where they're located. Then we need to have steel balls, because we're going to have to prove it at least three times before the thick heads of islamists get the message. That includes the governments of a half-dozen so-called "allies", beginning with Pakistan.

You cannot fight a war being a nice guy. You've got to be meaner, nastier, and more vicious than your opponent, or you'll end up in second place. There is no prize for second place in war.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/21/2008 13:58 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Tater Tots 'Up in Arms', they've got their Turbans in a knot.
AMARA, Iraq (Reuters) - Supporters of anti-American cleric Moqtada al-Sadr accused Iraqi security forces on Friday of heavy-handed action in a crackdown in the southern city of Amara, calling it a 'clear provocation.' Adnan al-Selawi, head of the Sadr movement's office in Amara, 300 km (185 miles) southeast of Baghdad, said the Shi'ite cleric's supporters had hoped the security sweep in the city, which began on Thursday, would be professional.
Kicking ass and taking names of scumbags is very professional.
'But unfortunately we found many breaches and violations,' he told Reuters, accusing security forces of insulting and harassing civilians, random shooting and beating people.
So he's a nancy-boy masquerading as a tough guy ...
The crackdown by the Iraqi army and police, backed by U.S. forces, is the latest phase in Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's drive to impose law and order in Iraq. The government says the operation is aimed at rounding up wanted criminals and seizing weapons. Maliki's office has said Sadr's supporters should not be detained because of their affiliation with the cleric.

But Sadrists say they are being singled out.
Who else?
Lutherans?
Selawi accused security forces of tearing down billboards showing pictures of Sadr while leaving alone billboards for other religious groups. 'This is a clear provocation,' he said.
That fried it, only our billboards, next they'll be singling out removal of our IEDs.
The head of the security committee for surrounding Maysan province, Latif al-Tamimi, said just 17 people had been detained since the operation began, and two had since been released. A security source in Amara said a further 39 people, including 20 policemen, were arrested on Friday.
Hey, they swore to sever the people (heads from their bodies).
The U.S. military, which says it is only advising the Iraqi army in Amara, said Iraqi security forces had so far discovered 19 weapons caches in the operation. One cache, found in a cemetery outside the city, contained more than 240 rocket-propelled grenades, about 250 mortar rounds, more than 675 anti-tank mines and several rocket launchers, it said in a statement.
This is a example of heavy-handed actions and a 'clear provocation'.
Selawi said many people had been held, including about 200 members of the police force in Maysan, who he said authorities suspected of being Sadr supporters. Nevertheless, he said he had told members of the Mehdi Army militia not to respond with violence. 'If there is a violation, he must confront this with a smile,' he said.
"Please don't kill us!"
The imam of a key mosque in Amara, Sattar al-Battat, criticized the security sweep at Friday prayers, saying: 'They didn't give the Sadr office a chance to say anything, as if the Sadr office is not concerned with security.'
Securing the weapons cache in the mosque.
Where else would you secure it ...
Among those being held was Amara's mayor, Rafea Abdul-Jabbar, a Sadr supporter. Sadrists said he was innocent.
Of what?
This article starring:
Adnan al-Selawi
Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC || 06/21/2008 00:02 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army

#1  Considering that Mookie's regular Friday protests are down to crowds numbering only in the hundreds, I would say he is bigger in the US press and the media wire services than he is back home. My guess is that nobody in Iraq really gives a rat's ass what Mookie has to say.
Posted by: crosspatch || 06/21/2008 1:25 Comments || Top||

#2  That's one of my all-time favorite pix. They're either the touring company for "Up With People", or performing the Bottle Dance scene from "Fiddler" onstage in Branson Missouri.
Posted by: Seafarious || 06/21/2008 3:41 Comments || Top||

#3  They're dancing the Hora?
Posted by: gorb || 06/21/2008 4:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Tater Tots 'Do The Hokey Pokey' 'cause they've got their Turbans in a knot
Posted by: RD || 06/21/2008 6:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Dancin Turbins
Take 1 INFIDEL!
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 6:56 Comments || Top||

#6  After the release of "Islamic Paradise", the Turbans and I went separate ways. You can see why. They're losers and stuck doing Muezzin Doo-Wop
Posted by: Frank G || 06/21/2008 7:55 Comments || Top||

#7  They are just pissed that the remake of "Sahara" was canceled.
Posted by: DarthVader || 06/21/2008 8:07 Comments || Top||

#8  Considering that Mookie's regular Friday protests are down to crowds numbering only in the hundreds, I would say he is bigger in the US press and the media wire services than he is back home

Like Foster's beer, in a way. I've never met an Australian that drinks it, VB being way preferred.
Posted by: eLarson || 06/21/2008 11:48 Comments || Top||

#9  I remember that night. The news that Frank G. and the Turbins were breaking up left me wit a feeling of despair only a HEY! WTF, where's muh BONG?
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 14:56 Comments || Top||

#10  Hey, they swore to sever the people (heads from their bodies)
At least they aren't severing their feet.
(See Also: Canada)
Posted by: Free Radical || 06/21/2008 20:16 Comments || Top||

#11  "they've got their Turbans in a knot"

Good thing they don't have any brains. If they did, that might be painful.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/21/2008 21:39 Comments || Top||


68 displaced families return home in Diala
(VOI)- Sixty eight displaced families have returned to their houses in south of Baaquba city, the media official of the Diala provincial council said on Friday. "68 displaced families have returned to their houses in Khan Bani saad district, south of Baaquba,” Taleb Ahmed told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI). “Data show that more than 25,000 families left Diala to other provinces and to neighboring countries after the topple of the former regime,” he explained.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency


Security operation in Missan turns into political process against Sadrists
(VOI)- MP from the Sadrist bloc Ahmed al-Massoudi said on Friday that the Bashaer al-Salam security operation in Missan tuned from a military operation into a political process against the Sadrists, calling to free the Missan deputy governor and the provincial council’s two members who were arrested by Iraqi security forces. “The Sadrist bloc supported the operation but it turned from a military operation against gunmen into a political process targeting Sadrists,” al-Massoudi told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI). He called on the security authorities to free the Missan deputy governor and the two members of the provincial council, considering their arrest as unacceptable.

Missan's security operation Bashaer al-Salam was launched at the early of Thursday morning, an official spokesman for the Iraqi Ministry of Defense said. "The security operation, which was launched by the Iraqi forces at 05:00 a.m. today, aims at tracking down gunmen in the province," Major General Muhammad al-Askari, who is currently present in Missan province, told the (VOI).
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army


Sadrist aide complaints of arrests in Missan
(VOI)-Iraqi troops arrested scores of policemen suspected of ties to anti-U.S cleric Muqtqda al-Sadr office in Missan, raising tensions the ongoing Iraqi military operation launched against gunmen in the southern province is targeting their movement , a Sadrist official said on Friday.
“Iraqi security troops captured 200 policemen from Missan province”, said Sheikh Adel al-Silawi, Al-Sadr office chief in Missan.
“Iraqi security troops conducted Bashaer al-Salam(Promise of Peace) captured 200 policemen from Missan province”, Sheikh Adel al-Silawi, Al-Sadr office chief in Missan.

U.S.-backed Iraqi soldiers and police fanned out across the city of about 450,000, known as a Sadrist stronghold and hub of smuggler networks bringing in weapons from Iran. There was no resistance, and some gunmen avoided arrest by tossing weapons into the streets or irrigation canals. The operation is part of a campaign by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to assert government control in areas of the Shiite south where armed groups have held sway for years.

The Sadrist official complained “We hoped the security plan to be transparent targeting wanted persons”. He noted “the security plan has started targeting Sadrists raising bad reactions from Missan residents”.

Sadrists had promised to “cooperate with the operation so long as Iraqi troops did not make arrests without warrants or commit other human rights violations. 'We were surprised by the violations and the random raids in Amarah,' al-Silawi said.

Sadrist officials have long complained that rival Shiite parties have been using security operations in other predominately Shiite cities as a pretext to weaken al-Sadr's political movement ahead of provincial elections expected this fall.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army


Suicide attack wounds five policemen in Mosul
(VOI)- Five policemen were wounded on Friday afternoon in a suicide car bomb attack on a checkpoint in southeastern Mosul, a senior security source said.

“A car rigged with explosives driven by a suicide bomber, went off at 12:00pm on Friday targeting a police checkpoint in al-Wehda neighborhood in southeastern Mosul, injuring five policemen,” the source, who wished to remain anonymous, told Aswat al-Iraq – Voices of Iraq (VOI). “Police forces opened fire at the driver, killing him instantly before hitting the checkpoint,” he explained. “The wounded were rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment,” the source noted.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  From what I hear, police are respected in Mosul. The city is barely occupied by Coalition troops. Collaboration shouldn't be an issue.
Posted by: McZoid || 06/21/2008 6:46 Comments || Top||


'Al-Qaeda' members killed in Iraq
The US military in Iraq has said four militants have been killed during operations against bombing networks run by al-Qaeda in Iraq. One of those killed in a clash just north of Baghdad, is said to have been involved in weapons smuggling.

Earlier, the US military said 12 al-Qaeda members were arrested in continuing operations in Mosul. One of those held is accused of overseeing attacks in Mosul itself and in the western Anbar province. Another is said to have been involved in planning car bombings in Mosul.

Iraqi and American forces say Mosul is the last major urban stronghold of al-Qaeda in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


Amara operation continues
American-backed Iraqi security forces are continuing a big operation they say is targeting Shia militiamen and criminal groups in the southern city of Amara. Operations in the city involve US and Iraqi forces going house to house in search of weapons. Reports say five provincial council officials representing the movement led by Shia cleric Moqtada Sadr have been arrested for aiding militias. This follows the arrest on Thursday of Amara's mayor, Rafi Abdul Jabbar, among others. He is also a supporter of Moqtada Sadr.

This article starring:
Rafi Abdul JabbarMahdi Army
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Mahdi Army


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israeli settlers fire rockets at Palestinians
(AKI) - Israeli settlers living in the West Bank fired a homemade Qassam rocket at a Palestinian village, reported Israeli daily Maariv on Friday.
I can't understand why they don't do that everytime some piece of Paleojunk falls from the sky.
The newspaper claims that two weeks ago a student from a religious school or 'yeshiva' made a Qassam rocket and launched it near a Palestinian village, landing in an open area.
That's what the Paleos usually hit, too.
As the truce between Israel and Hamas entered its second day, the newspaper published images of Israeli settlers from the Yitzhar settlement located near the largest Palestinian city, Nablus, standing next to six Qassam rockets in a launching position.
They'll prob'ly take that to the UN. They hate it when Jews fight back.
The truce is valid only in the Gaza Strip, but Egyptian mediators are working to extend the truce to the West Bank.
Better hurry before they launch again.
Before firing the rocket, a group of settlers told the residents of Yitzhar that they were carrying out an experiment and not to worry if they heard an explosion. After being launched, the report said loud noise attracted Israeli troops nearby who thought the settlers had been attacked. The school's headmaster and the student have reportedly been arrested and were being questioned by Israeli authorities.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The longer the Israeli govt stalls on installing a missile defense of some sort the more likely this incident of return fire will occur again.
Posted by: tipover || 06/21/2008 0:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Just a C1 test launch.
Posted by: HalfEmpty || 06/21/2008 3:59 Comments || Top||

#3  The Israelis need to develop a few dozen "pumpkin cannons". Use them to launch the remains of slaughtered animals, wrapped in triple layers of light plastic. Most use high-pressure compressed air to "fire", so there's no explosion. It can also be used to launch rocks. One of our engineers can calculate the damage potential for a 30-lb rock moving at about 250 feet per second launch speed. Any US-based "mad scientist" group can advise them.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 06/21/2008 14:12 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Dozens killed in Sri Lanka clashes
At least 26 Tamil Tiger fighters and three government soldiers are reported to have been killed in clashes across Sri Lanka's northern regions.

The Sri Lankan defence ministry said on Friday that the clashes took place on Thursday in the Vavuniya, Mannar and Jaffna regions bordering the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) de facto state in the north. Three Sri Lankan army soldiers were killed and 17 others wounded, the ministry said.

The latest clashes bring to 4,335 the number of LTTE fighters reported to have been killed by security forces since January. In the same period 399 security personnel have died in combat, according to the defence ministry.

The Sri Lankan army has been fighting for months over territory around the Tigers' stronghold in the north. In the latest infantry clashes, army troops killed 11 fighters in Vavuniya while separate fighting in the nearby Mannar district left six fighters and three soldiers dead, an official said speaking on condition of anonyymity. Nine fighters were killed and 33 wounded after clashes in Jaffna and Welioya, he said.

Rasiah Ilanthirayan, a rebel spokesman, could not immediately be reached for comment.
Maybe he's one of the deaders?
It was not possible to independently verify the military's claims because journalists are banned from the northern jungles where much of the fighting takes place. Each side commonly exaggerates its enemy's casualties while playing down its own.
Posted by: Fred || 06/21/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2008-06-21
  Sadrists collapse in Missan
Fri 2008-06-20
  Israel-Hamas truce begins
Thu 2008-06-19
  Talibs flee Arghandab for their lives
Wed 2008-06-18
  Talibs destroy bridges in preparation for Arghandab battle
Tue 2008-06-17
  Muntaz Dogmush deader than a rock
Mon 2008-06-16
  Hundred of Talibs swarm Arghandab district of Kandahar
Sun 2008-06-15
  Karzai threatens to send troops across Pak border
Sat 2008-06-14
  Hamas: Enormous kaboom in Beit Lahiya preparation for ‘quality’ attack
Fri 2008-06-13
  Talibs Attack Kandahar Kalaboose With Car Boom, Free Inmates
Thu 2008-06-12
  Pakistain, US differ over border airstrike
Wed 2008-06-11
  Somali Islamist head rejects UN-sponsored pact
Tue 2008-06-10
  Sufi Mohammed survives Taliban kaboom attempt
Mon 2008-06-09
  Hero of Anbar Would Stir a Revolt in Afghanistan
Sun 2008-06-08
  G8 energy chiefs meet as oil soars
Sat 2008-06-07
  U.S. court upholds Qaeda conviction in Bush murder plot


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