#5
Miss Harris has beautiful eyes and a wonderful hat. It's important to be reminded occasionally that while the fashionable womanly figure changes from time to time, the essentials remain the same.
Yet another interesting day, Fred dear. I hope your weather is as perfect as is mine here in the middle of the country.
#10
I remember my grandmother telling me that women used to 'bind their bosoms' to achieve that look. She was a "corsetier" for a major department store, so she probably knew.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
07/27/2008 21:02 Comments ||
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#11
They did indeed, Mullah Richard. It must have been dreadfully uncomfortable for the many women built to appeal to so many of our modern Rantburg males.
UP to 70 insurgents were killed in Afghanistan overnight when helicopter gunships and ground fighting repulsed an attack by about 100 rebels near the Pakistan border, officials said.
It was the latest in a series of major battles as violence linked to a Taliban-led insurgency has picked up in recent weeks with several deadly extremist attacks and military operations under way against the rebels.
About 100 insurgents had tried to capture the Spera district centre, 15km from the border with Pakistan, opening fire on police about 2am (6am AEST) with guns and rocket-propelled grenades, the NATO force said.
Police and soldiers from NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) surrounded the attackers and called air strikes consisting of heavy machinegun fire from helicopters, ISAF said.
"Some insurgents attempted to take cover in a nearby building that helicopters then struck with missiles.
"ANP (Afghan National Police) and ISAF continued to engage the insurgents in a firefight from the ground and air until the early morning hours," it said, with the number of insurgents killed in the "double-digit figures".
The provincial governor of Khost, which includes Spera, put the attackers' death toll at between 50 and 70.
"They had killed one policeman in the initial attack and had captured another officer who was later beheaded," governor Arsala Jamal said.
"As they retreated, international military air forces came in and bombed them. Fifty to 70 Taliban have been killed," Mr Jamal said.
The rebels were able to get "very close" to the district headquarters in Spera before the air forces arrived, he said.
The air strikes were later halted to avoid civilian casualties after the militants moved into villages, he said.
"We could have killed more Taliban if they had not entered the villages. Those of them killed were targeted while massing in an area outside the villages," he said.
#1
UP to 70 insurgents were killed in Afghanistan overnight when helicopter gunships and ground fighting repulsed an attack by about 100 rebels near the Pakistan border
Very naughty of the troops to kill insurgents when it was rebels who were attacking. My condolences to the family of families of the two policemen murdered by the Pakistani whatevers.
A Philippine government official says a ship with 20 Filipino sailors has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Estaban Conejos says the Japanese-owned vessel was seized by pirates on Sunday. He says that the ship's owner is in contact with the crew and they are safe.
Conejos told reporters Wednesday that the ship has been located off the northeastern tip of Somalia. Conejos has ruled out paying a ransom to free the hostages, saying it is against the Philippine government's policy.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
07/27/2008 11:31 Comments ||
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#7
I'm beginning to get the idea that the only way to live in peace with muzlems is to turn large areas of their landscape into glowing glass craters. Their idea of "civilization" certainly doesn't match mine, and I'm not a big fan of "civilization".
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/27/2008 13:00 Comments ||
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#8
When is the Philippine Navy going to sail to the rescue? They made it perfectly clear they didn't need or want our help when they booted us out of Subic, so I don't see any need for us to be offering them any assistance now. The help we've been giving them against Abu Sayyif is more than we should have been doing, and considerably more than they deserve.
#11
I am reminded of the bravery and courage of Winston Churchill, who at the darkest hour of 1941 said "Screw it, they're all wogs, who cares what they do to each other" and came to a separate peace with the Germans.
(SomaliNet) Witnesses said Ethiopian forces on Thursday killed nine civilians in central Somalia after coming under attack from insurgents. They added that the Ethiopian troops, who had been attacked as they were entering their camp in Beledewyne town, 350 kilometres north of the capital Mogadishu, responded by opening fire on civilians.
"We collected nine dead civilians killed by shooting and shelling," said Mohamed Moalim Adbullahi, an elder.
Beledweyne resident Musa Sheikh Haji confirmed the fatalities that occurred after the insurgents fled the township. "Seven civilians were shot dead near a bridge in town and two others killed in the shelling of the town," he added.
Just simple civilians minding their own business. Heavily-armed, simple civilians.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/27/2008 00:00 ||
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Al-Qaeda was behind Friday's car bomb attack on a police compound in south-eastern Yemen, a local official said Saturday. A suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden car into the compound in Sayoun city of Hadharmout province, 900 kilometres south-east of Sana'a, killing himself and a policeman and injuring 18 others including seven women.
"All evidence gathered by the investigation team shows the involvement of al-Qaeda organisation," Hadhramout Governor Ahmed Salem al-Khanbashi said in a statement posted on the defence ministry's website. "The same scenario and materials used in previous al-Qaeda attacks were used in this attack," the governor said. Police identified the attacker, but the name would be withheld for final investigations.
The attacker drove a white sedan at high speed and tried to force his way into the compound's central yard. The car blew up after a police guard tried to stop it at the entrance of the complex. "The explosion was strong to the extent that it caused damage to eight houses nearby," the governor said. Seven women in those houses were wounded.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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#1
South v North again. And the South has the means - and allies - to make the north look like the Moon.
(Xinhua) -- Spanish Police said on Saturday that they have arrested a woman suspected of being the representative of Colombian FARC guerrillas in Spain. Maria Remedios Garcia Albert, 57, allegedly raised funds for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Spain, local media reported, citing a police official.
The Spanish Interior Ministry was quoted as saying that Garcia Albert had provided logistical support for FARC and had direct contacts with Raul Reyes, the FARC number two leader who was killed by Colombian troops inside Ecuador in March. She was found in possession of separate sums of money she intended to send to FARC representatives in Europe, the ministry said in a statement.
Emails sent to her from computers used by Raul Reyes led to her arrest in Madrid, the report said.
This article starring:
Maria Remedios Garcia Albert
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:01 ||
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At least five persons were injured in a bomb blast near a bus stand in Godda on Sunday, police said.
"The blast took place at around 5:15 am near the bus stand," Superintendent of Police Jitendra Singh said.
The injured were rushed to a hospital where there conditions are stated to be out of danger, he said.
"It was a low-intensity blast," Singh said, adding the police is investigating the matter and a search operation was launched to identify the culprits.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/27/2008 15:58 ||
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After Bangalore and Ahmedabad, the diamond city of Surat on Sunday came under the terrorists scanner with two cars stuffed with explosives being found and a live bomb defused and a SIMI activist was arrested in connection with the serial blasts in Ahmedabad where the death toll mounted to 49.
A live bomb was defused near a hospital and two cars stuffed with explosives were found in and on the outskirts of the city on Sunday, sparking a high security alert.
Police have seized a car laden with explosives from Punagam area on the outskirts of Surat city, police inspector M R Chavda said.
The car, bearing the number plate GJ-6-CD 3569, was found laden with explosives in Punagam area and police have recovered powder materials, gelatin sticks and shrapnels from the car, Chavda said. Vadodara Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana said the registration number of the car found at Punegam village was fake as the number belongs to a scooty.
Later in the evening, the police located another car with explosives at Heerabagh locality of Surat city, Police Commissioner R M S Brar said.
Police found a live bomb near a hospital in new Citylight area of Surat after some residents gave the information.
A wooden box containing white powder, wires, a battery and shrapnels, was found abandoned near Nupur hospital in the New Citylight area. The explosives were later defused.
Ahmedabad remained on the edge with a live bomb in the city being located in a garbage can and defused, a day after it was rocked by 17 blasts in a string.
SIMI activist held
An activist of outlawed militant outfit SIMI, identified as Abdul Halim and wanted in connection with 2002 post-Godhra riots, was arrested from communally-sensitive Dani Limda area of Ahmedabad. He had remained elusive since the riots.
A live explosive found in a garbage can in Amraiwadi area was defused by the bomb detection squad. A bomb kept in a wooden box near a hospital and car laden with explosives were found in Surat city.
Army staged flag marches in the vulnerable areas in the city to instill confidence among its shaken residents.
Patil assures all help to Gujarat govt.
In New Delhi, Home Minister Shivraj Patil chaired a high-level meeting to review the security scenario in the country in the wake of the Ahmedabad blasts and assured all possible help to the BJP government government in Gujarat in its hour of crisis.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will visit Ahmedabad on Monday to have an on-the-spot-assessment of the situation in the wake of the serial blasts in the city and visit hospitals where the injured are undergoing treatment.
The Prime Minister was briefed by Patil, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and top officials of the Home Ministry on the security situation in the country.
Senior BJP leader L K Advani, who is a Lok Sabha member from Gujarat, visited the wounded in the city civil hospital and demanded revival of tough anti-terror laws like POTA saying existing laws are ineffective in deal with terrorism.
He also took the opportunity to attack the UPA government saying it did not appear to be adopting zero tolerance towards terrorism by delaying the execution of of Parliamentary attack convict (Afzal Guru).
Apartment raided in Maharashtra
Intensifying its probe into the serial blasts, the Anti-Terrorism squad of Maharashtra police raided an apartment in Navi Mumbai's Palm Beach Road area and seized a computer from which an e-mail was supected to have been sent to TV channels purportedly by a little-known 'Indian Mujahideen' threatening more blasts in the country.
With seven more people succumbing to their injuries, the death count in the 17 blasts rose to 45, Gujarat Health Minister Jainarayan Vyas said.
The number of injured was 145, he said after a Cabinet meeting presided over by the Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
Several states, including Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, sounded red alerts heighting vigil in sensitive areas.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/27/2008 12:33 ||
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AHMEDABAD: Forty people were killed and over 100 injured when serial blasts struck different parts of Ahmedabad, Gujarats major commercial nerve centre, on Saturday evening. The State capital was plunged into chaos for hours after the terror attacks.
As the number of the dead and injured kept rising, police could not confirm the final tally till late in the evening. Chief Minister Narendra Modi, after an emergency Cabinet meeting, said 29 people died and over 100 were injured. Both he and Urban Development Minister Nitin Patel, who visited some of the affected areas, did not rule out the possibility of the casualties going up. For, the condition of many of the injured was critical.
Unconfirmed reports said the worst attack occurred near the trauma centre of the government civil hospital, where at least 25 people, including two doctors, were killed. Some eyewitness accounts claimed that it was a human bomb attack. The body was said to have been shattered but the incident was not confirmed by the police, who put the casualties in the hospital attack at not fewer than six.
The reports pieced together by the police indicated 17 blasts in 10 different areas and all, except the minority-dominated Sarkhej and Juhapura, were in the labour-dominated eastern parts of the old city. Most of the blasts occurred in crowded and congested areas during peak evening hour traffic.
About 40 minutes after the first round of blasts, bombs went off near the trauma centre of the civil hospital and the main portico of the L.G. General Hospital in Maninagar, even as the injured were being rushed to the hospitals.
The first blast was reported from the Hatkeshwar locality in the Maninagar area at 6.38 p.m.
Thereafter bombs went off at 10 other places, all within the next five to seven minutes. About an hour later, three more blasts were reported from Maninagar and surrounding areas. Police said the injured were admitted to different hospitals in the city.
Police see the hand of the sleeper cell of the SIMI in the carnage.
Similar to the Jaipur blasts, the bombs were planted on cycles, but unlike as in the Rajasthan capital, only old cycles were used here, apparently to avoid being identified.
The preliminary reports from the sites indicated that gelatin rods in tiffin boxes or in cloth bags with timers and tied to cycles were left behind in crowded areas, possibly minutes before the blasts. A couple of vegetable vendors, admitted to hospital with injuries, claimed to have seen a person leaving behind a cycle before the blast.
Most of the blasts occurred in crowded and congested points like traffic circles, near a Hanuman temple where a large number of devotees turn out on Saturdays or near bus stops.
Within minutes after the Hatkeshwar blast, bombs serially kept going off near the Sardar Patel diamond market in Bapunagar, Narol, Ishanpur, Saraspur, Sarangpur, Raipur, Sarkhej, Juhaapura and later at the civil and L. G. hospitals.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/27/2008 12:30 ||
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#1
O brave Lions of Islam, to so attack the mortally wounded! Truly I am persuaded that Mohammed prophesied the words of the loving god whose ways are the ways of peace and goodness!
/end heavy-handed sarcasm. May the souls of these martyrs to sanity and civilization fly straight to the destination for which they'd hoped. All except the jihadis, whom we know have already found themselves looking in horror at their roasting intestines and cursing those who had promised them a paradise full of virgins.
In a 14-page manifesto e-mailed to the media minutes before Saturday's serial bombings, an organisation calling itself the "Indian Mujahideen" has claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad attacks.
Titled "The Rise of Jihad", the manifesto says the bombings were carried out to avenge the 2002 anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat. "In the light of the injustice and wrongs on the Muslims of Gujarat," it says, "we advance our jihad and call all our brethren under it to unite and answer these irresolute kafireen [infidels] of India."
It warns of future attacks, complaining that the police "disturbed us by arresting, imprisoning, and torturing our brothers in the name of SIMI [Students Islamic Movement of India]."
In a similar document sent minutes before May's serial bomb strikes in Jaipur, the IM had said such bombings were intended "to clearly give our message to Kuffar-e-Hind [the infidels of India] that if Islam and Muslims in this country are not safe then the light of your safety will also go off very soon."
Near-identical language had been earlier used by the IM in a document e-mailed to television stations minutes before the bombing of three trial-court buildings in Uttar Pradesh last year. In its e-mail, the IM said it was retaliating against "wounds given by the idol worshipers of India."
Investigators belive the IM is a loose coalition of elements from the Students Islamic Movement of India, the Lashkar-e-Taiba and the Harkat ul-Jihad-e-Islami.
Police were able to determine that the explosive used in the Uttar Pradesh bombings was supplied by a Jammu and Kashmir-based Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami unit. Jaunpur-based SIMI activist Mohammad Khalid Mujahid and Azamgarh Unani doctor Mohammad Tariq were held for their alleged role in planning two of the three court bombings, However, the members of the third cell, who are also thought to have sent out the e-mail, remain untraced.
While military-grade plastic explosive was used in Jaipur and Uttar Pradesh, the bombs used in Ahmedabad appear to have been constructed with ammonium nitrate, a widely-available chemical with a range of industrial applications. Police sources said the bombs resembled the devices used in Bangalore on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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#1
So Pakistan's support is stirring up trouble in India again?
#2
Pakistan desperately needs a crisis with India right now. So there are bombings and artillery/machine gun fire across the LOC.
Kayani needs an excuse to reinforce the border with India. He has made deals with the jihadis and wants to move away from the counterinsurgency operations the US is pressuring him to increase.
If there is a crisis with India he can point to this as justification for easing up on the Taliban/Al Qaeda.
Posted by: john frum ||
07/27/2008 10:31 Comments ||
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#3
With 46 dead, things are going to be tense when the bodies are returned to their families. It would probably be a good idea for Muslims to keep a low profile in the coming weeks. Should another bombing occur with fatalities, it might be very difficult for the police and Army to stop riots from occurring.
#4
If there is a crisis with India he can point to this as justification for easing up on the Taliban/Al Qaeda.
I dunno, John. That just pushes us and the Indians closer together. The Paks need a mutual defense treat with China soon. Then we've really got the Balkans of the 21st century. And assassins are not hard to find in that neighborhood.
Pakistani troops fired heavily at the Indian forces at a forward post in Krishna Ghatti sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, a defence spokesman said here.
However, the Indian troops exercised restraint and did not retaliate, Lieutenant Colonel S.D. Goswami told PTI.
Giving details, the spokesman said some unidentified ultras fired about three rounds of Rocket Propelled Gun at the Indian post in Nagri Tekri area of Krishna Ghatti sector of Poonch district this morning.
It was followed by heavy firing by Pakistani troops from across the Line of Control and continued till afternoon, he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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#1
"three rounds of Rocket Propelled Gun"?
What? Is this a recoilless rifle or a very large shutter gun?
Posted by: Bin thinking again ||
07/27/2008 10:15 Comments ||
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#1 "three rounds of Rocket Propelled Gun"?
What? Is this a recoilless rifle or a very large shutter gun? Posted by: Bin thinking again
Typical Pakistani insanity, BTA. It's probably a Rocket-Propelled Grenade (RPG), the same type that's used by the Taliban, Al-Qaida, and just about every other muzzie terror group. This is typical of Pakistan - when they have internal problems, they attack India. They always get their clocks cleaned, but it does re-unite the peasants for another few years. India's going to get tired of this game, and completely decimate Pakistan one of these days, leaving nothing larger than an outhouse standing. This crap's been going on pretty well predictably since 1947, and the division of "Pakistan" and India. Time for the reunion.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/27/2008 13:24 Comments ||
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#3
Why in the hell would India want 200 million kook-skooled Muslims?
The Taliban have directed the traders living on both sides of the Pak-Afghan border to terminate cross-border trade, sources said on Saturday. They said the Taliban distributed pamphlets among the traders living on both sides of the Durand Line, warning them of ending trade across the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. They said the pamphlets warned the traders of loss, if they continued to trade after the declaration.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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Unidentified armed men kidnapped Tehseenullah, the brother of Hangu District Nazim Khan Afzal, and his three colleagues on Saturday, family sources told Daily Times.
They said that Tehseenullah was on his way to Hangu from Kohat when he was kidnapped along with three other men. The police said that they had registered a first information report and started investigations into the incident. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the kidnappings. In another incident, the Taliban kidnapped five people, including a local councillor, on Saturday evening, locals said.
Armed men kidnapped councillor Yaqoot Khan and his four colleagues Muslim, Hamd, Ahmad and Akbar from Tor Worai union council at gunpoint, nazim of the union council Saeed Jan told Daily Times. Tor Worai union council is located around 50 kilometres northwest of Hangu city. The area is situated on the border with Kurram Agency.
Meanwhile, in Hangu town, a jirga comprising elders from 10 tribes assured the district administration that they would not allow display of arms and establishment of militant centres in their respective areas.The participants decided that safety and security of the main road would be the joint responsibility of the tribes and the district administration. They resolved that armed patrols by militants or any other group would not be allowed.
Addressing the meeting, Hangu District Coordination Officer (DCO) Shahab Ali Shah said that those challenging the writ of the government would be sternly dealt with.
A handout released on Saturday said that the Hangu DCO, under section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code, prohibited gatherings of more than five people, processions and road blockades in the limits of Hangu district with immediate effect.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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Twelve militants and three Frontier Constabulary (FC) men were killed in a clash near Loti Gas Field in Toba Nokhani, Dera Bugti, on Saturday, Aaj TV reported.
FC IG Maj Gen Saleem Nawaz told the channel that the militants fired long-range weapons on the FC troops deployed in Toba Nokhani. The troops returned fire killing 12 militants. He said that three FC men were also injured in the clash who later succumbed to their injures.
Security officials: Meanwhile, one security official was killed and another injured when their vehicle was blown up in Dera Bugti on Saturday. In a separate incident, a police constable was murdered in Quetta. In the first incident, a remote-controlled explosion in Pirkoh resulted in the death of a security official identified as Raheemullah. Another security official, Fayyaz Ahmed, sustained serious injuries and was hospitalised.
Law enforcement agencies have registered a case and launched a search for the attack's perpetrators. In a separate incident, police constable Khalid Mehmood was gunned down by unidentified motorcyclists on Quetta's Masjid Road. A spokesman for the Balochistan Republican Army (BRA) claimed responsibility for the attack. The group has also claimed responsibility for the killing of four security officials in an attack on a security officials' camp in Kohlu Kahan. Meanwhile, an electricity tower was blown up in Zahri town on Saturday. The explosion suspended electricity supply to the town and its peripheries. Police have started an investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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MINGORA: Two barber shops were blown up in Charbagh tehsil of Swat while a powerful bomb was defused in Matta tehsil on Saturday. The shops were destroyed in the Dakorak area early in the morning. In Matta, security officials discovered a five-kg bomb and called in the bomb disposal squad, which defused the bomb.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/27/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Militant hippuahs. I remember the hate, but I got over it.
SRINAGAR - About 40 people were injured in day-long clashes between irate mobs and riot police at several places in the walled city of Jammu and at Muthi, Diogyana and Vijay Pur on the outskirts of the winter capital of restive Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. The injured included a dozen policemen some of whom, witnesses and officials said, were seized by unruly crowds and then thrashed severely at Muthi and other places. One of the victims was so badly injured in the assault that he had to be admitted to Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital, officials claimed.
The attacks on policemen came a day after Shri Amarnath Sangharsh Samiti, a conglomerate of Jammu-based political, religious and social parties and groups, publicly accused the law enforcement agencies particularly the local police of inflicting excesses on its activists and supporters during the ongoing agitation seeking allotment of about 40 hectares of forestland in the Kashmir Valley to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB).
Police fired teargas canisters and used batons to take on the stone-pelting mobs at various places yesterday. Elite anti-riot Rapid Action Force (RAF) also stepped in to contain the situation. The Jammu and Kashmir government had, for the first time in the state's troubled history, requisitioned several companies of the RAP from Delhi recently to meet with the deteriorating law and order situation over the Amarnath land row.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/27/2008 00:00 ||
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GUNMEN shot dead seven pilgrims heading to a holy Shiite shrine in Baghdad today despite tight security for a major religious ceremony expected to attract up to one million worshippers.
The seven men were gunned down in the town of Madin, just south of the Iraqi capital, police said, and a doctor at a Baghdad hospital confirmed receiving their bodies.
Up to a million pilgrims are expected to flock to Baghdad for a major Shiite festival on Tuesday that commemorates revered imam Mussa Kadhim who died 12 centuries ago.
Security is especially tight at the Kadhimiyah mosque in north-western Baghdad, where Kadhim is said to be buried and which has been the site of attacks in the past.
In August 2005, at least 965 people died in a stampede at a Baghdad bridge seen as a symbol of Kadhim's death, triggered by rumours that a suicide bomber was in their midst and following a mortar attack on the mosque that killed seven people.
Wary of more insurgent attacks this year, the authorities in Baghdad have stepped up security measures for the festival, although pilgrims are flocking to the capital amid an overall drop in violence.
The United States is now winning the war that two years ago seemed lost. The AP says this? The AP?
Robert Burns is a NYT reporter and a pretty sharp cookie. He's had good reporting over the years and every time I see him interviewed on TV he has something interesting to say. I think he saw the results of the surge well before his masters on 42nd street did.
Limited, sometimes sharp fighting and periodic terrorist bombings in Iraq are likely to continue, possibly for years. But the Iraqi government and the U.S. now are able to shift focus from mainly combat to mainly building the fragile beginnings of peace a transition that many found almost unthinkable as recently as one year ago.
Despite the occasional bursts of violence, Iraq has reached the point where the insurgents, who once controlled whole cities, no longer have the clout to threaten the viability of the central government.
That does not mean the war has ended or that U.S. troops have no role in Iraq. It means the combat phase finally is ending, years past the time when President Bush optimistically declared it had.
No, Bush referred to 'major combat operations', which is different. Fault Bush if you like for missing the turn of events in 2004-05, but don't use irrelevant statements against him.
The new phase focuses on training the Iraqi army and police, restraining the flow of illicit weaponry from Iran, supporting closer links between Baghdad and local governments, pushing the integration of former insurgents into legitimate government jobs and assisting in rebuilding the economy.
Exactly what we should be doing, and what we said we wanted to do from the very beginning. We're three years later than we could have been, but we wouldn't be doing it at all if Senators Obama, Reid, etc. had had their way.
Scattered battles go on, especially against al-Qaida holdouts north of Baghdad. But organized resistance, with the steady drumbeat of bombings, kidnappings, assassinations and ambushes that once rocked the capital daily, has all but ceased.
This amounts to more than a lull in the violence. It reflects a fundamental shift in the outlook for the Sunni minority, which held power under Saddam Hussein. They launched the insurgency five years ago. They now are either sidelined or have switched sides to cooperate with the Americans in return for money and political support.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/27/2008 03:05 ||
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#1
Whaaa? There's plenty of bad news left in Iraq - what, are they too lazy to go looking for it?
#12
The real FLying Pigs are for when Pelosi, Reid and Obama admit they were wrong about the war, the surge and apologise for their attempts to derail it.
The PC narrative is changing.
Out: we are losing, it's hopeless, and we have to pull the troops out.
In: we are winning, it's over, and we have to pull the troops out. See? Obama was right all along about needing to pull the troops out.
I'd really like to be wrong about this.
Posted by: Bin thinking again ||
07/27/2008 10:27 Comments ||
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#15
They wouldn't print it if they didn't think it would help Obama in the long run. In their eyes it justifies his 16 month withdrawal plan.
#19
For most Rantburgers, who care more about our war policy than politics, Obama's trip can be interpretted as flying around the region endorsing our current policies. Now he agrees with McCain that a) any drawdown in Iraq must be success-based and b) we need a 'surge' of sorts in Afghanistan (and the Pak border areas where he's already been fairly hawkish).
My concern is that Obama changes his mind all the time and he does not seem serious about getting Nato to provide any more combat forces in Afghanistan. Plus he's a political hack from the south side of Chicago. But let's appreciate what is happening here.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/27/2008 11:52 Comments ||
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#21
Because, Lumpy, it isn't a traditional war that has a start, a middle, and an end. It's not like World War II with one side surrendering unconditionally.
This is like the end of a guerilla campaign, much like the Brits successfully fought in Malaysia. It ends rather inconclusively, and you know it's over only because the morgues are no longer full and people are just going about their business.
And it's not over yet. Iraq needs peaceful provincial elections, and they need a peaceful national election to remind Maliki and company that in a democracy, they are replaceable.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/27/2008 12:22 Comments ||
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#22
Wasn't Robert Burns one of the AP guys with Yon when he discovered the al Qaeda massacre about a year ago? I had mixed feeling about him then - I can't remember, but I think Yon respected him.
So I'll agree with Doctor Steve - Burns knew it long before his masters would print it.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/27/2008 12:33 Comments ||
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#23
This is like conquering North America from the Indians. And it's going to end the same way.
#26
Nimble
The Indian wars ended with removal and education of the Indian children link
abstract: As a central component of the assimilation agenda in the United States and of absorption plans in Australia, child removal became a systematic government policy toward indigenous peoples in both countries in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Using the rhetoric of protecting and saving indigenous children, reformers and government officials touted child removal as a means to "uplift" and "civilize" indigenous children. Modern-day historians, until very recently, have characterized child removal in similar ways: as a well-intentioned, though ultimately misguided, alternative to warfare and violence against indigenous peoples.
If we turn our attention to the perspectives of the indigenous peoples who confronted this policy, a different view emerges. While outright violence against indigenous peoples in both the United States and Australia did virtually end in the late nineteenth century, efforts by colonizers to pacify and control indigenous populations and to confiscate their lands continued with the removal of indigenous children. Such a policy was hardly a departure from military methods of subjugation; rather, the systematic and forcible removal of their younger generations represented an ongoing assault upon indigenous communities.
I have noticed no such removal, hostage and child education program. Therefore, one must assume it will end in a different manner than it did with American Indians.
#28
Looks like the media-industrial complex is preparing to admit defeat in Iraq.
Their temporary bait-and-switch support for the Afghanistan operation will now end and their defeatist mantra will shift back toward the east, where it was in 2003.
#29
tipper, agreed. It didn't happen in Australia. What happened is Aboriginal society rejected mixed race children and these children were taken into care by the state.
However, the facts have to be bent to fit the PC myth and 'the Stolen Generation' was invented.
#30
I'd also be curious to know what proportion were removed in the US. I think we cleansed most of them by disease, forced migration, and killing. Next time I expect the order to be reversed. Substantially.
#31
Again, RADICAL ISLAM > NO US-IRAN WAR + SAVING THE JIHAD + PROTECTING NUCLEARIZING IRAN = shifted the strategic focii to OUTSIDE OF IRAQ, i.e. RUSSIA + CENTRAL ASIA, ETC. While Iran nuclearizes, it will prefer to keep a low profile 2008-2012 [2016] AMAP ALAP - ditto for ISLAMIST MILITANTS-TERRS WHILE RADICAL ISLAM REBUILDS FROM HEAVY MANPOWER + MATERIEL LOSSES SUFFERED IN IRAQ + AFGHANISTAN. Iraq per se is for time being a SUPPORT OR DIVERSIONARY FRONT [Defensive], NOT A PRIMARY OR STRATEGIC FRONT [Offensive]. IOW, RADICAL ISLAM IS HEDGING AND "SPREADING THE ODDS" IN ORDER TO SAVE ITS JIHAD, NUCLEARIZE, AND PRECLUDE DEFEAT.
E.g. TOPIX > USA: WINNING IN IRAQ BUT LOSING THE WAR ON TERROR?; + INTERFAX > LUZHKOV: RUSSIAN BLACK SEAS FLEET SHOULD/MUST NEVER LEAVE SEVASTOPOL. Sevastopol departure is tantamount to RUSSIA LOSING/CEDING ITS SOUTHERN PART TO FOREIGN NATIONS AND INTERESTS [new destabilization + breakup of Russia].
Add to [paraph] RUSSIA FEARS US AMD [Anti-Missle Defense] SHIELD WILL EXPAND BEYOND POLAND, CZECH BORDERS.
(VOI) -- U.S. forces detained five wanted men and 15 suspects during operations conducted in different areas of Iraq, according to a U.S. military statement on Saturday. "During a precision operation in Baghdad, Coalition forces captured a wanted man who is reportedly part of a group that builds trigger components for bombs used in AQI attacks," read the U.S. army statement received by Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
"Another man in Baghdad allegedly tied to terrorist bombing and propaganda operations was captured, along with four additional suspects. The man is suspected of working with terrorist leaders who provide support to AQI."
"South of Baghdad, Coalition forces detained a dozen suspects, including a wanted man, during continued operations against terrorist leaders around the capital. The wanted man is believed to be an AQI leader responsible for providing security for terrorist operations."
"Coalition forces also continued to target AQI leaders in Mosul, capturing a wanted man believed to work directly for terrorist leaders in the city. He also reportedly has knowledge of terrorist hideouts across northern Iraq."
"Southwest of Tikrit, about 160 kilometers north of Baghdad, Coalition forces captured a man who allegedly helps move foreign terrorists through the Tigris River Valley. The man is also suspected of conspiring with a bombing network that operates in Baiji, about 160 kilometers south of Mosul."
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07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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(VOI) -- Iraqi army forces captured three gunmen of the so-called Islamic State of Iraq group in two separate operations in the city of Mosul on Saturday, an official source said. "A force from the army's 5th Brigade captured a gunman of the Islamic State of Iraq during a search raid in al-Quds neighborhood, eastern Mosul. He confessed to involvement in a murder," the source, who did not want his name mentioned, told Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
The Islamic State of Iraq is composed of seven armed organizations, most prominent of them is al-Qaeda in Iraq. The group, active in central and western Iraq, is led by a man known as Abu Omar al-Boghdadi. "The raid also resulted in the seizure of 70 Kalashnikov assault rifles," the source added. "In the area of Bab al-Sham, western Mosul, another army force detained two gunmen of the same group," the same source said, giving no more details.
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NINEWA, July 26 (VOI) A policeman was killed by gunmen fire in clashes in the western part of Mosul city on Saturday, a police source in Ninewa province said. "The clashes erupted between a police patrol and gunmen in the area of al-Yarmuk, western Mosul. The body of the policeman was removed to a mortuary in the city," the source, who asked for anonymity out of security concerns, told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI).
Since May 10, Ninewa has witnessed two security operations codenamed Zaeer al-al-Assad (Lion's Roar) and Umm al-Rabiain (Mother of Two Springs) to track down gunmen and impose order and law in the troubled city.
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07/27/2008 00:00 ||
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BAGHDAD, July 26 (VOI) Six people, including two Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighters and one policeman, were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, police said. "An IED went off in the area of Camp Sara, eastern Baghdad, wounding one policeman, two Sahwa fighters and three civilians," a security source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI), not giving more details.
The Sahwa councils were set up in a number of Iraqi provinces such as al-Anbar, Diala, Ninewa, and Salah al-Din with the aim of bolstering political and local tribal powers to fight armed groups, particularly al-Qaeda network, in those areas.
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Palestinian Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip arrested 160 men aligned with the rival Fatah faction yesterday, after an explosion there killed five Hamas gunmen and a girl.
Friday's blast next to a car used by men from the armed wing of Gaza's ruling Hamas killed the girl and three militants. Two others died of wounds in hospital. The blast, the third of its kind in a day, marked one of the biggest flare-ups in internal Gaza violence since Hamas routed the forces of ineffectual Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction to seize control of the territory a year ago.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh convened an emergency cabinet meeting.
Fatah officials said it had no link and blamed it on Hamas infighting.
A group called the Al Awda Brigades, which said it is aligned with Fatah, claimed responsibility for the attack.
Senior Hamas leader Khalil Al Hayya, whose nephew was killed in the blast and whose oldest son was wounded, vowed to punish those responsible.
"We shall have Dire Revenge!'
Hamas security forces stormed some 40 offices of Fatah throughout the Gaza Strip, raiding more than 40 offices, sporting clubs and charity organisations, confiscating documents and computers. Among those held was Sawah Abu Saif, a Palestinian said to have worked as a cameraman for a German television station, who was arrested as a suspected Fatah activist.
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Sectarian clashes in northern Lebanon continued for a second day on Saturday, killing three people and wounding 27, security officials said. The city of Tripoli has seen fierce clashes between pro-government Sunni Muslim gunmen and Alawite fighters, a small offshoot Shiite Islam allied with the Lebanese opposition and Syria. A total of nine people have been killed and 42 wounded over the past two days, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media.
A cease-fire mediated by the grand mufti of north Lebanon, Sheik Malek al-Shaar, failed to take hold Friday as gunmen in Tripoli's Sunni Bab el-Tabaneh district exchanged automatic rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenades with gunmen in the predominantly Alawite Jabal Mohsen neighborhood.
Fighting came to a halt shortly before midday Saturday when Lebanese soldiers and policemen began fanning out in Tripoli, taking up positions between rival neighborhoods to prevent more hostilities.
However, sporadic gunfire could still be heard, local television stations reported.
National police commander, Maj. Gen. Ashraf Rifi, said the army and police were under orders from President Michel Suleiman and Saniora to deal firmly with any troublemaker in the city. He said the army and internal security forces have brought in reinforcements to impose law and order and protect civilians. "The army will respond to any source of fire and will arrest any gunman," Rifi told reporters.
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07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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7:00pm Future TV: Security forces arrested six gunmen in Tripoli and were immediately taken to a police station for investigation.
5:30pm The Lebanese army vowed to crack down on security violators even by means of force.
5:15pm Sheikh Shaar said after the meeting that he is comfortable with the situation in Tripoli, particularly after security forces shouldered responsibility.
5:10pm Saniora called for a Saturday night meeting of the ministerial committee tasked with drafting a new cabinet policy statement.
4:15pm A second deployment of Lebanese army troops and security forces is taking place at Tripoli districts that were scene of bloody clashes Thursday and Friday.
2:35pm Commander of Internal Security Forces Gen. Ashraf Rifi said the army and his units are successfully implementing a security plan for Tripoli.
12:45pm Army units started deploying in Tripoli and responded to sources of fire in an effort to halt clashes.
10:50am Mufti Shaar said the army did not carry out its duty fully on Tripoli and I ask President Suleiman to treat Tripoli as a priority.
10:45am Mufti of Tripoli and North Lebanon Sheikh Malek Shaar called for a meeting at his office at 1pm to discuss the situation in Tripoli.
9:15am Information Minister Tareq Mitri said there has been no agreement on who would resist, the state or Hizbullah, that is why we haven't reached an agreement on a policy statement.
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07/27/2008 00:02 ||
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#1
I happened to speak to a local shopkeeper just back from a vacation in Lebanon a few weeks ago. At that time he told me that the majority of the country was peaceful; only in the capitol and in Hizb'allah country was there any violence.
Lebanese army troops deployed into streets and narrow alleys in the rival neighborhoods of Bab el-Tabaneh and Jabal Mohsen in the northern city of Tripoli Saturday to restore security after nine people were killed and 50 wounded in a fresh round of fighting.
Militants from the rival Sunni Muslim and Alawite communities battled with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons through Friday night in the latest violence to rock Tripoli.
Among the dead were a 10-year-old boy and two women, while another 50 people were injured in the fighting that first erupted early Friday and raged through the night despite a ceasfire that was to have taken effect at 1500 GMT.
"The army is working for real calm in the north," an army official told AFP, but added: "Security requires political agreement."
Lebanon has been hit by sporadic outbreaks of violence despite a power-sharing deal between rival political factions in May which led to the election of Michel Suleiman as president and the creation of a unity cabinet.
The latest unrest comes after the new cabinet hit snags in deliberations aimed at drawing up a policy agenda ahead of a parliamentary vote of confidence which would enable the government to be officially installed.
"This is a political conflict between the Lebanese. Rather than go to the constitutional institutions, they are reverting to the use of weapons," the army official said.
The army was on high alert, with tanks and armored vehicles patrolling the streets to keep the peace in the mainly Sunni Bab al-Tebbaneh district and the neighboring largely Alawite area of Jabal Mohsen, both impoverished areas.
Shops in the area were closed, streets were deserted and many families who evacuated their homes near the battle zone were taking refuge in schools, the AFP correspondent said.
Bab al-Tebbaeh resident Ali Darwish, 63, said he spent Friday night with his three children and 14 grandchildren in a classroom without electricity.
"We left everything behind. Now we are depending on the kindness of people and charity organizations for help," he said.
"We are anxiously awaiting the army to bring back calm and stability, so we can go home. The situation in the school is unbearable."
Interior Minister Ziad Baroud and police chief Brig. Gen. Ashraf Rifi headed to Tripoli late Friday to see the situation for themselves and to assess measures to restore calm.
Clashes between the two sides have killed a total of 23 people and wounded more than 100 since June.
"The army has sent reinforcements to the battle zones to secure the ceasefire and the army command has promised us to firmly respond to any violation of the ceasefire," said Sunni MP Mohammed Abdel Latif Kabbara of the parliamentary ruling majority.
Bab al-Tebbaneh is a stronghold of the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority while the inhabitants of Jabal Mohsen are mainly supporters of the Syrian-backed opposition led by Hizbullah.
Tensions between the two communities date back to Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam who revere Imam Ali, the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Mohammed.
In Friday's violence, a rocket-propelled grenade slammed into an apartment building near a vegetable market, setting it ablaze, while another one hit a mosque in Bab al-Tebbaneh.
"Every time a sectarian rift breaks out in the north, it is used for political pressure... weapons are being used as a way of making political gains," said majority MP and former sports minister Ahmed Fatfat.
The violence erupted after cabinet ministers decided on Thursday night to postpone talks on the issue of weapons held by Hizbullah.
It is a key bone of contention in Lebanon's fraught political negotiations.(
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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.
A Philippine government official says a ship with 20 Filipino sailors has been hijacked off the coast of Somalia. Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Estaban Conejos says the Japanese-owned vessel was seized by pirates on Sunday. He says that the ship's owner is in contact with the crew and they are safe.
(SomaliNet) Witnesses said Ethiopian forces on Thursday killed nine civilians in central Somalia after coming under attack from insurgents. They added that the Ethiopian troops, who had been attacked as they were entering their camp in Beledewyne town, 350 kilometres north of the capital Mogadishu, responded by opening fire on civilians. 
Al-Qaeda was behind Friday's car bomb attack on a police compound in south-eastern Yemen, a local official said Saturday. A suicide attacker rammed an explosive-laden car into the compound in Sayoun city of Hadharmout province, 900 kilometres south-east of Sana'a, killing himself and a policeman and injuring 18 others including seven women. 
In a 14-page manifesto e-mailed to the media minutes before Saturday's serial bombings, an organisation calling itself the "Indian Mujahideen" has claimed responsibility for the Ahmedabad attacks.
Pakistani troops fired heavily at the Indian forces at a forward post in Krishna Ghatti sector in Jammu and Kashmir on Saturday, a defence spokesman said here. 
Twelve militants and three Frontier Constabulary (FC) men were killed in a clash near Loti Gas Field in Toba Nokhani, Dera Bugti, on Saturday, Aaj TV reported.
SRINAGAR - About 40 people were injured in day-long clashes between irate mobs and riot police at several places in the walled city of Jammu and at Muthi, Diogyana and Vijay Pur on the outskirts of the winter capital of restive Jammu and Kashmir yesterday. The injured included a dozen policemen some of whom, witnesses and officials said, were seized by unruly crowds and then thrashed severely at Muthi and other places. One of the victims was so badly injured in the assault that he had to be admitted to Intensive Care Unit of a local hospital, officials claimed.
(VOI) -- U.S. forces detained five wanted men and 15 suspects during operations conducted in different areas of Iraq, according to a U.S. military statement on Saturday. "During a precision operation in Baghdad, Coalition forces captured a wanted man who is reportedly part of a group that builds trigger components for bombs used in AQI attacks," read the U.S. army statement received by Aswat al-Iraq -- Voices of Iraq -- (VOI).
BAGHDAD, July 26 (VOI) Six people, including two Sahwa (Awakening) tribal fighters and one policeman, were wounded when an improvised explosive device went off in eastern Baghdad on Saturday, police said. "An IED went off in the area of Camp Sara, eastern Baghdad, wounding one policeman, two Sahwa fighters and three civilians," a security source who spoke on condition of anonymity told Aswat al-Iraq Voices of Iraq (VOI), not giving more details.
Sectarian clashes in northern Lebanon continued for a second day on Saturday, killing three people and wounding 27, security officials said. The city of Tripoli has seen fierce clashes between pro-government Sunni Muslim gunmen and Alawite fighters, a small offshoot Shiite Islam allied with the Lebanese opposition and Syria. A total of nine people have been killed and 42 wounded over the past two days, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media. 
