An A-10 pilot in Afghanistan used flares, infrared cameras, his 30-millimeter gun, some quick thinking and his huge brass balls to save the lives of a German reconstruction team in Afghanistan two years ago. On July 11, Capt. Brian Erickson was awarded a much-deserved Distinguished Flying Cross.
It happened like this: On Oct. 16, 2006, Erickson and a wingman were called in to help six German soldiers pinned down by insurgents firing rockets, machine guns and small-arms.
#3
I may rag on the zoomies for their "in the rear with the gear" ways, but I have nothing but the highest respect for their A-10 drivers. I'd take any one of them for a dozen interceptor pretty boys.
#5
"As Captain Erickson flew his A-10 deep into the moonless valley, the only light on the ground was from insurgent weapons-fire," the Air Force reported.
#6
We should be building 500 more of these babies ASAP. As for his flying blind into the night..unreal. Pure guts to save the guys on the ground. Germans no less. Salute, Cpt. Erickson.
A Royal Marine who threw himself on a grenade to save his comrades' lives is to receive the George Cross.
Lance Corporal Matthew Croucher, 24, from Solihull, in the West Midlands triggered a trip wire in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, in February.
He immediately dropped to the ground and lay across the grenade, being blown into the air as it went off.
The George Cross is one of the highest decorations that can be awarded for acts of gallantry.
L/Cpl Croucher said: "All I could do in the moment was shout out 'grenade' before diving on top of it."
His bag was crammed with equipment which cushioned the explosion. His three comrades suffered just cuts and bruises while L/Cpl Croucher was thrown in the air.
He added: "It was incredible. I escaped with only a nose bleed and a headache."
L/Cpl Croucher, a reservist, is one of 20 living recipients of the award.
Chief of the Defence Staff Sir Jock Stirrup said: "He acted to save his comrades in the most certain knowledge that he would not himself survive.
"His exemplary behaviour and extreme heroism are fully deserving of the nation's highest recognition."
His parents said they had had no idea what had happened to him.
His mother Margaret Croucher, 55, a teacher in Birmingham, said she got three text messages from him while he was away, one of which read: "Being put forward for a citation, might meet the Queen."
She said: "Obviously I was very intrigued but we didn't get the full story until he got back and we read about it in the papers.
"I am obviously immensely proud but it was a typical act from him. It was not the first time he had put his life at risk."
His father, Richard, 57, described him as a very "lucky man".
L/Cpl Croucher is expected to receive his honour from the Queen at Buckingham Palace in the autumn.
He was deployed to Afghanistan attached to Taunton-based 40 Commando Royal Marines last autumn.
Lieutenant Colonel Stuart Birrell, the unit's commanding officer, said: "This was a magnificent act which absolutely typified the highest traditions of commando service."
Two French aid workers kidnapped in central Afghanistan last week are being held by a commander of a former armed faction, a Western radio broadcaster said on Tuesday.
The pair were working for the humanitarian agency of Action Against Hunger in the central province of Dai Kundi and were kidnapped while sleeping in their house on Friday, the organisation said. Commander Sedaqat phoned Radio Liberty to claim responsibility for seizing and holding the two, said the US-sponsored station which broadcasts in Afghanistan's main languages, Pashtu and Dari.
Sedaqat said he had kidnapped them due to differences with provincial authorities he said had sidelined him from power, the network said. Sedaqat said he wanted to settle the issue peacefully, but made no demand for freeing the pair. Sedaqat belonged to an ethnic Hazara armed faction and briefly joined the Taliban when the group was in power from 1996 till 2001, the radio said.
He then sided with the Afghan government after US backed Northern Alliance forces toppled the Taliban government following the September 11 attacks in 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Send in Barack Obama. I am certain his message of peace will do the business.
#4
"Sedaqat belonged to an ethnic Hazara armed faction and briefly joined the Taliban when the group was in power from 1996 till 2001"
A Hazara who joined the Taliban. This would be like a Pole who joined the Nazis. either a complete loon, or an opportunist of the most naked variety even by afghan standards.
British forces killed a Taliban leader, while another Taliban commander in the southern Afghanistan surrendered to the Pakistani authorities, the British Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.
Abdul Rasaq, also known as Mullah Sheikh, a Taliban leader in southern Helmand province, was killed along with three others in a missile strike north of Musa Qala on Sunday, the ministry said. Hours earlier, Mullah Rahim, said to be a senior Taliban leader in Helmand, had given himself up to the authorities in Pakistan, it said.
In an other incident, the United States-led coalition and Afghan forces killed or wounded more than 30 Taliban during fighting in the west of Afghanistan, a senior police official said on Tuesday. Fighting broke out in the Bala Boluk district of Farah province on Tuesday, Regional Police Chief Ikramuddin Yawar said. "So far more than 30 Taliban insurgents have been killed or wounded in the operation," Yawar said, adding, "The toll might be more than 30 because the operation is ongoing." A US-led convoy was engaged with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades on Tuesday morning in Bala Boluk, a military spokesman said. Air strikes were called in but no munitions were dropped and the US military could not confirm if any Taliban had been killed, he said.
In Kabul, a Taliban suicide bomber wounded five civilians when he blew himself up as police challenged him on Tuesday, the Interior Ministry said. The bomber struck early in the morning in the Gozargah area of Kabul, next to the walls of the historic tomb of the 16th century Mughal emperor Babur. In the central Afghan province of Ghazni, militants killed four brothers, all police officers, and captured their father in an attack on their home, the Interior Ministry said.
This article starring:
Abdul Rasaq
Taliban
Mullah Rahim
Taliban
Mullah Sheikh
Taliban
Regional Police Chief Ikramuddin Yawar
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
No big deal. Paki madrases are generating new mullahs as fast as they can teach them to read one syllable words.
(SomaliNet) A Kenyan maritime official said Tuesday that Somlai pirates have seized a Japanese-owned vessel transporting lead and zinc off the Somali coast. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme said the Panama-flagged MV Stella Maris was seized on Sunday near Calula, a port town in Somalia's breakaway northern region of Puntland.
"Thirty eight heavily-armed pirates stormed the ship sailing in the international waters in the Gulf of Aden," Puntland presidential advisor Bile Mohamoud Qabowsade said. "So far we are tracking them down. We want to know where they are going to stay with the ship," Qabowsade told AFP.
"We have been told that 18 crew members are also on board. Speed boats used by the pirates are also following the ship."
The hijackers of the 52,000-tonne freighter are yet to make any demands, Mwangura told AFP, adding that no information about its port of origin and destination as well as the nationalities of the crew had been received. The vessel is owned by Turtel Marine Shipping and managed by MMS Company of Japan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
You might figure after about the thirtyith or fortyith time somebody would get a clue?
#3
Oops! I think the pirates have just made a mistake. Japan cannot allow this kind of action - it costs them face. I wouldn't be surprised to see a couple of Japanese warships steam around to the Horn of Africa in the next week to ten days (they've got a long way to go).
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/23/2008 13:50 Comments ||
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#4
You dumbshits just stepped on the elephants toes. Whoopsie!
A Dhaka court yesterday rejected the bail petitions of detained former deputy minister Abdus Salam Pintu and two other Harkatul Jihad (Huji) members in connection with the August 21 grenade attack case.
A third Huji cadre Shahadat Ullah Jewel, however, obtained bail from the same court following a High Court (HC) order.
Meanwhile, Huji chief Mufti Abdul Hannan has submitted a petition for retraction of his earlier confessional statement regarding the attacks.
Judge KM Rasheduzzaman Raja of the Second Additional Metropolitan Sessions Judge's Court adjourned the hearing following petitions submitted by defence lawyers.
The court fixed August 3 for next hearing on charge-framing and directed the jail authorities to produce all the arrested accused on that day.
The case was filed for the grenade attacks on an Awami League (AL) rally on August 21, 2004 that left 23 people dead and around 200 injured.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Two NATO aircraft intruded into Pakistani territory late on Monday night in North Waziristan, according to officials. Officials said the NATO aircraft violated Pakistani airspace in Lawara Mandi, Datta Khel, Ghulam Khan and Saidgi areas close to Pak-Afghan border around 11pm on Monday night. Both aircraft flew over these areas for about 25 minutes and returned to the Afghan side of the border without any action, the officials said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#10
We fly where we want; they get to complain publicly. And everybody's happy.
Posted by: Bin thinking again ||
07/23/2008 20:34 Comments ||
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#11
ION INTERFAX > MILITARY EXPERT - RUSSIAN STRATEGIC BOMBERS ARE ENTITLED TO USE AIRFIELDS ABROAD INCLUDING IN CUBA [International Law/Host Nation/Sovereignty/Airspace]. USA General Schwartz's "red line" comments are "inadequate". RUSSIA MAY NOT EVEN NEED TO HAVE A PERMANENT BASE IN CUBA/QUBA DUE TO BOMBERS' ABILITIES AS PER LR STANDOFF ATTACK WEAPONS.
MINGORA: A bomb disposal squad on Tuesday defused three bombs in Sumbat and Khaderi, officials said. Two bombs were planted near the Hira School in Sumbat, while the third was planted on a roadside in Khaderi.
Locals informed the police, who called the bomb disposal squad to defuse the devices. Meanwhile, Swat Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said the security forces were taking action against the local Taliban despite of their peaceful activities, and demanded the government to immediately stop the military operation in Swat and withdraw the army. Meanwhile, Deputy Inspector General Police Malakand Region Tanvirul Haq Sipra said Swat police was capable of meeting any eventuality. He was addressing a high-level meeting of district co-ordination officers. "The police did a great job in the recent crisis and their morale is high," Sipra said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Lashkar-e-Islam (LI) 'arrested' three people on Tuesday suspected of being involved in a plot to kill LI ameer Mangal Bagh and his shoora members. The LI made the arrests in Kohi Sher Haider, Bara, where they were said to be planning the murder. The LI is looking for other people suspected to be involved in the murder plan. The arrested men include Gul Nabi, Iqbal and one unnamed person. They were also reportedly involved in the kidnapping of a doctor. The arrested men admitted that LI's opponents had offered financial rewards for the murder of Bagh and his shoora members.
This article starring:
Kohi Sher Haider
MANGAL BAGH
Lashkar-e-Islam
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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A decision has been taken to stop the military operation in Hangu at the request of the NWFP government, a private television channel reported on Tuesday. According to Aaj TV, the federal government accepted the provincial government's request and decided to stop the Hangu operation. The channel quoted an NWFP minister as saying that the provincial government wanted to resolve the problems though negotiation.
Security forces continued however a search operation in the Doaba area of Hangu district -- making no arrests -- while curfew was relaxed in the city.
The continuous curfew in Hangu city and Doaba has resulted in a food crisis as edible items and medicine are vanishing from markets.
Also on Tuesday, a jirga of religious leaders met the Taliban leadership and the district administrator here before leaving for Kohat to inform Regional Co-ordination Officer (RCO) Omar Afridi about the Taliban demands.
ISPR spokesman Maj Gen Athar Abbas said the operation carried out against Taliban in Hangu has achieved all desired results. Talking to the BBC, he declared that all troubled areas in Hangu district have been cleared of militants. Separately, Hangu SSP Muhammad Idris told a news conference that an elite force had been established to ensure the people's security. He said Hangu city had been divided into three sectors where the army, paramilitary and police personnel would continue their patrol.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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Gunmen killed a senior security officer for Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi on Tuesday, police and party officials said.
"Khalid Shahenshah sleeps widda fishes!"
Ejaz Durrani, a spokesman for Bilawal House, said unidentified gunmen opened fire on Khalid Shahenshah's vehicle outside his home in Khayaban-e-Bukhari in Defence Housing Authority (DHA) Phase VIII. Doctors at the nearby Ziauddin Hospital in Clifton were unable to save him, Durrani said.
[Snff!] "Don't let his mudder see him like dis!"
Karachi police chief Khalid Mahmood confirmed the incident. Shahenshah, a long-time PPP activist, was among a coterie of party security guards who failed to prevent the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in a gun-and-bomb attack in Rawalpindi on December 27, 2007.
According to details, Shahenshah, 45, had arrived at his house at around 2:40pm after attending a meeting at Bilawal House, when assailants attacked his vehicle -- a Toyota double cabin -- shooting him six times in the back. Shahenshah was rushed to hospital where he later died.
"Rosebud! [Rattle!]"
His body was taken to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for legal formalities before being moved to Bilawal House.
The police have found a white Suzuki Mehran vehicle with fake registration plates near Sultan Masjid, Clifton Town Superintendent of Police Azad Khan said. The police are looking for the vehicle's owner, Khan said, adding the vehicle might have been used in the attack. Senior officials of the Sindh police inspected the scene. The investigators found 39 empty shells at the site. The officials believe that the assailants fired for two to three minutes and used an SMG rifle, .222 rifle and 9mm pistols.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
How are those deals with the devil(s) going, old boy?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
07/23/2008 12:08 Comments ||
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BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) - Some 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and police are to launch a military assault against Al-Qaeda fighters and insurgents in Diyala province from August 1, army and police officers said Wednesday.
"The operation is aimed at cleansing the region of insurgents, Al-Qaeda and militias who are still there," a senior Iraqi military officer told AFP. He said some 30,000 soldiers and policemen from across Iraq would take part in the crackdown in the central province starting August 1.
Senior Iraqi police officials in Baquba, the capital of Diyala, confirmed the assault would start on August 1. "It will be an operation led by the Iraqi army. The US army will probably only watch... If they need help, we'll help them. If not, we will not do anything," a US military officer said.
Iraq's interior ministry spokesman Major General Abdul Karim Khalaf announced on July 13 that the Iraqi military would launch an assault in Diyala but did not specify the date. He said troops expected tough fighting during the assault.
Diyala and its capital Baquba are Iraq's most dangerous regions with insurgents regularly carrying out attacks, including by female suicide bombers. The looming assault in Diyala follows similar Iraqi military operations in the southern provinces of Basra and Maysan, and the northern province of Nineveh.
Aided by the US military and Iraqi forces, local anti-Qaeda groups known as "Sahwa" or Awakening councils, have inflicted severe blows on Al-Qaeda but the extremist group continues to carry out attacks in the region.
"Yes. Diyala remains the most dangerous province in Iraq," said Colonel Ali al-Karkhi, commanding officer of Iraqi forces in Khan Beni Sad, a town near Baquba which has been torn apart by the violence. "But understand that it is a mini-Iraq. There are Sunnis, Shiites, Kurds, Christians," the colonel told AFP in an interview.
"The other provinces are far less mixed which is why it is so difficult to restore peace here. It is also the reason why people are so extremist," he said.
As in other parts of Iraq, the colonel said, the locals have grown weary of violence and massacres and want peace and reconstruction, particularly through economic development.
Diyala, fed by the Euphrates and Diyala rivers, was once the granary of Iraq and the country's orange capital with its lush orchards.
But "foreign countries have sown the disorder," lamented Colonel Karkhi, pointing a finger at Shiite Iran, which shares a border with Diyala. "We captured five people (Iraqis) who 45 days ago were in Iran for training. They receive instructions from the Iranian services and their business is to kill people," he said.
The US military claims that most of these militants are "rogue" members of the Shiite Mahdi Army militia, the militant wing of radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr's movement.
Karkhi said the militants apart from receiving weapons, are paid three million dinars (2,400 dollars) monthly. "It is good money," he said. He said security forces usually display the names and photographs of wanted people at check-points. "The problem is that when we apply pressure they flee to Iran," Karkhi said.
#3
Good idea except the 101 doesn't drop anymore, they are helicopter assault which would work very well. Seems like we use to do this in the RVN with good results.
#5
Ted Striker: My orders came through. My squadron ships out tomorrow. We're bombing the storage depots at Daiquiri at 1800 hours. We're coming in from the north, below their radar.
Elaine Dickinson: When will you be back?
Ted Striker: I can't tell you that. It's classified.
#6
Are we sure that we are not preparing to make it difficult for them to go to Iran. It sas we are just watching. Maybe we are watching and waiting like bigjim wants. Thus the early warning.
BAGHDAD (AP) - Gunmen killed a Kurdish journalist near the northern city of Kirkuk, a police official said Tuesday. Soran Mama Hama, a reporter for the Kurdish-language magazine Leven, was shot late Monday in the Rasheed Awa village, where many Kurds were forced to relocate when Saddam Hussein sent thousands of Arabs into the oil-rich Kirkuk area to dilute the presence of Kurds and others.
Kirkuk police Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said the motive for the slaying of the 23-year-old journalist was not immediately known.
Qadir said gunmen killed the journalist. But the U.S. military gave a differing account, saying he was killed by a bomb. The reason for the conflicting reports was not immediately clear.
Reporters Without Borders said Hama had often covered government corruption for the magazine. He had written an article in the latest issue that was about the involvement of Kurdish officials in prostitution rings, according to the Paris-based advocacy organization. "He wrote hard-hitting articles about local politicians and security officials and had received threats from people telling him to stop his investigative reporting. The authorities should therefore give priority to the theory that he was killed because of his work," the group said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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(VOI) - Police forces on Tuesday killed a suicide bomber in Falluja and arrested ten wanted individuals in three provinces, Iraqi Interior Ministry said.
"Police patrols in Anbar killed an individual wearing an explosive belt in Falluja, leaving no injuries, "said Iraqi Interior Ministry statement received by Aswat al-Iraq-Voices of Iraq (VOI).
The announcement noted "Security forces captured a Syrian national who admitted sneaking into Iraq through border town of Sinjar without an Identification Card".
It pointed out "an Emergency battalion freed a captive abducted by gunmen in al-Mashahda near Talafar, south-west Mosul".
It added, "an explosives ordnance team defused a roadside bomb in al-Shifaa area, west Mosul".
In Diala, the announcement said "three wanted individuals surrendered to the police department of Muqdadiya town.
It highlighted "security forces discovered three weapons hidouts in Bani Saad village, al-Hideed, and the area on the way to hajj Yousef tomb".
In Karbala, the statement noted, forces from Karbala's 2nd Emergency battalion detained two wanted individuals in Karbala".
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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(VOI) -- Seven civilians were wounded on Tuesday when a roadside bomb exploded targeting a police vehicle patrol in eastern Mosul, said a police source. "An explosive charge was detonated targeting a police vehicle patrol in Garage al-Shemal region in eastern Mosul, injuring seven civilians," the source, who requested anonymity, told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq (VOI). "None of the policemen were injured in the explosion," he added, giving no more details. Mosul, the capital city of Ninewa, lies 405 km north of Baghdad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/23/2008 00:00 ||
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A bomb in Thailand's insurgency-hit south has injured two soldiers and a Muslim villager has been shot dead, as the army warned on Wednesday of an escalation in terrorist separatist attacks.
Two privates assigned to protect teachers in the Muslim-majority southern province of Yala were seriously wounded in a roadside blast early Wednesday, provincial authorities said. On Tuesday evening, a 41-year-old Muslim man was shot dead at his rubber plantation in Narathiwat province by four militants.
Army spokesman Colonel Acra Tiproch told AFP that they were on high alert after intelligence reports suggested militants may launch attacks in the three southernmost provinces between July 25 and July 28. He said two large events being held later this month - a food festival and a dove singing competition - were possible targets. 'According to a series of rumours about possible attacks, it would be good for security officials to be well prepared,' Col Acra said.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
British forces killed a Taliban leader, while another Taliban commander in the southern Afghanistan surrendered to the Pakistani authorities, the British Defence Ministry said on Tuesday. 
(SomaliNet) A Kenyan maritime official said Tuesday that Somlai pirates have seized a Japanese-owned vessel transporting lead and zinc off the Somali coast. Andrew Mwangura of the Kenyan chapter of the Seafarers Assistance Programme said the Panama-flagged MV Stella Maris was seized on Sunday near Calula, a port town in Somalia's breakaway northern region of Puntland. 
Two NATO aircraft intruded into Pakistani territory late on Monday night in North Waziristan, according to officials. Officials said the NATO aircraft violated Pakistani airspace in Lawara Mandi, Datta Khel, Ghulam Khan and Saidgi areas close to Pak-Afghan border around 11pm on Monday night. Both aircraft flew over these areas for about 25 minutes and returned to the Afghan side of the border without any action, the officials said.
Gunmen killed a senior security officer for Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari in Karachi on Tuesday, police and party officials said.
BAQUBA, Iraq (AFP) - Some 30,000 Iraqi soldiers and police are to launch a military assault against Al-Qaeda fighters and insurgents in Diyala province from August 1, army and police officers said Wednesday. 
BAGHDAD (AP) - Gunmen killed a Kurdish journalist near the northern city of Kirkuk, a police official said Tuesday. 
