Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Rasmussen Daily Presidential Tracking Poll The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Sunday shows that 27% of the nation's voters Strongly Approve of the way that Barack Obama is performing his role as President. Forty-one percent (41%) Strongly Disapprove giving Obama a Presidential Approval Index rating of -14. These figures mark the lowest Approval Index rating yet recorded for this President. The previous low of -12 was reached on July 30.
Posted by: ed ||
08/24/2009 0:09 Comments ||
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TALLINN -- Two Estonian soldiers are dead after their patrol came under attack in Afghanistan, bringing the Baltic nation's death toll there to six, the Estonian defense ministry said Monday.
Eerik Salmus and Raivis Kang, both 26, died Sunday after their unit came under fire while clearing explosives from a road in Nad-e-Ali in Afghanistan's southern Helmand province, ministry spokesman Peeter Kuimet told AFP. There's a conflcting report in the Estonian media that it was an IED. Either way, RIP
Salmus was killed instantly and Kang later died of his wounds.
The soldiers were part of Estonia's 289-strong contingent within the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, which draws together 64,500 troops from more than 40 nations.
Estonia first deployed troops to Afghanistan in 2003, a year after the US-led overthrow of the Taliban regime in Kabul and a year before Estonia joined NATO and the European Union. There is a condolence book for the soldiers at the following link. It might be nice to have some non-Estonians post there. English is okay.
#1
CAPE? I don't think so. More like Centcom Intelligence Agency.
Between this, NSC setting up an interrogation shop, DOJ going after CIA interrogators and Panetta's resignation threats, it sounds like the intelligence community is more like Fallujah than Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood.
#2
This needs to belong somewhere outside CENTCOM. If is a training center it should belong to TRADOC, good bad or otherwise. If it is really an analysis center, think tank, or information clearing house then there should be a cell stood up at each of the commands. AQ is not limited to Afghan and Iraq, it is in the Pacific, Europe, the US, South America. Like cancer it has spread. Have we not learned anything....
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/24/2009 15:29 Comments ||
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By linking it to CENCTOM, Petraeus is doing two very good things IMO. Actually, three.
First, he is acknowledging that each culture is quite different and takes time/immersion to master and understand. This tends to get lost in the military's approach to training, other than say in SOCOM. A friend of mine is a social scientist who has worked deeply in Afghan, Thai and other cultures in that area and who works with operators. She's pretty clear that the industrial, set up a field manual and crank them out approach to developing analysts is a disaster.
Second, Petraeus is building the expectation that we WILL have to be involved in those countries fo a decade or more.
And third, by keeping it in CENTCOM and defining it as a miltiary operations need, he's keeping out State Dept & the less helpful elements of the civilian intel community. And this in turn leaves a door open for, say, SOUTHCOM to do the same WRT Latin America .....
#5
I agree lotp. Petraeus is a game changer, a thinker - planner - doer. You are correct, SOUTHCOM might follow suite. Don't look for AFRICOM to get involved in anything like this however. Overtures have already been extended. They've turned them down cold and with arrogance. They appear to be too invested in the diplomatic solution set which is as we know, always a winner.
#6
A little too pro-consulish to me. Sure it may work well with Petraeus. But what happens when less talented or more venal commanders get control of one of these commands? Too much concentration of power. Insufficient check and balance.
#8
Also, these will be military analysts. It doesn't in any way preclude or pre-empt the other agencies from gathering information, analyzing it and arguing for policy decisions.
Not so pro-consul at all, I would argue. Just a commander recognizing the kind of war he's fighting and adjusting fire accordingly.
"Mr. Harvey is a believer in two reforms in developing reliable intelligence. The first involves altering the methods of interpreting raw data. He said the intelligence community tends to rely too much on information from human sources such as spies and from signal intercepts such as wiretaps, to the exclusion of reports from people on the ground such as military officers and aid workers."
#11
B, I'm not a big TRADOC fan and we do have a terrible issue of managing intel reports. We get locked out due to clearances, service and agency policies, stonewalling, and glory seeking. But that another rant. If the Army, let alone DOD, is not going to fraction off into five or six different mentods of managing intell it has to be standard, TRADOC, spit kuss, is that standard bearer. CENTCOM or SOCOM would be a great place to build the model then transfer it to SWIC or to TRADOC. My poorly argued point was AQ is global, CENTCOM is not. If we, DOD, are ever going to be able to manage intell, and be relevant, we have to be able to do it across the different commands, services, and agencies, not just CENTCOM. We have to get past the notion that the AQ war and intell is just CENTCOM centric and we are fighting a global war.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
08/24/2009 21:59 Comments ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] A bomb in usually peaceful northern Afghanistan killed six police, two days after a coordinated militant ambush disrupted voting during elections in the same province, the government said Sunday.
The roadside bomb killed the commander of the Baghlan provincial rapid reaction police force and five other police in the area of Kook Chinar near Baghlan town on Saturday, the interior ministry said. On Thursday, suspected Taliban militants stormed Baghlan town, launching a multi-pronged assault that left up to 30 militants and two police dead, and stopped voting during Afghanistan's second presidential election.
"We had to tell our people to save your (ballot) boxes and save yourselves," the head of the election commission, Azizullah Lodin, said at the time. Baghlan province straddles the main road linking the Afghan capital Kabul with the north. Kunduz province, further north, has become increasingly dangerous and the main road running to the south from Kabul is another flashpoint.
On Saturday an Afghan army officer driving back to Kabul from leave in Kandahar, the old Taliban capital in the south, was killed when gunmen opened fire around Shash Gaw in central Afghanistan, the defence ministry said. During a US-backed Afghan army operation, four militants were killed and six others arrested in Kandahar province on Saturday, the ministry added. Observers highlighted cases of fraud in Afghanistan's elections last week and said voting was not universally free due to violence and intimidation. The Taliban-led insurgency plaguing the country eight years after the 2001 US-led invasion ousted their extremist regime and implanted a Western-backed administration is now at its deadliest.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] A group of Egyptian fishermen who were kidnapped by pirates off the Somali coast four months ago and managed to overpower their captors sailed home to a hero's welcome Sunday, but some details of their dramatic escape remained a mystery.
Wearing brand new tracksuits, the nearly three dozen fishermen disembarked in the port city of Suez into the waiting arms of hundreds of relatives and friends, as traditional Egyptian drummers and dancers performed in the background. One mother fainted from the joy of seeing her son return.
"We were very sad, and I was crying for the past months," said 21-year-old Nagwa Ibrahim, who was at the port with her young son to welcome home her husband. "Now we are so excited, and I just can't believe that he will be back with us."
The fishermen, whose two vessels were hijacked in the pirate-infested Gulf of Aden, spoke freely of how harrowing the experience had been, but were cagey about exactly how they managed to overpower their captors and seize eight of them, who they brought back to Egypt to stand trial.
"There were days we didn't think we'd survive," said Syed Sobhi, a 20-year-old fisherman from Kafr el-Sheik, 110 miles (180 kilometers) north of Cairo. "We were so humiliated and went to sleep hungry every day."
The pirates initially demanded millions of dollars to free the captives but eventually lowered their ransom demand to $800,000.
When pressed on how they managed to escape, Sobhi he said they were aided by Somali gunmen who boarded the ship and helped attack the pirates -- corroborating the version of events provided by the owner of one of the boats, Mohammad Nasr, who said the owner of the second vessel, Hassan Khalil, hired the Somalis.
But Khalil, who was present at Sunday's homecoming, denied he hired the gunmen. He refused to comment on Nasr's claim that he paid the pirates a down payment of $200,000 in order to board his boat, Momtaz 1, and set in motion the rescue plan. Khalil said any ransom paid was a "secret matter." "I can say no more!"
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Government forces reported more than 100 rebels killed on Sunday as battles intensified in north Yemen two days after the government urged a ceasefire, although a spokesman for the rebellion disputed the claim.
Yemen, an impoverished state of some 23 million people on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula, is battling al-Qaeda militants and secessionist discontent in the south, as well as the rebellion in the mountainous north bordering Saudi Arabia.
"There has been a discovery of 100 bodies belonging to Houthi rebels on the sides of the roads outside Haraf Sufyan," said a government statement released to the media."It seems these are members who had attempted to escape from the fierce fighting in Sufyan city and were chased down." The government said two rebel leaders, named as Mohsen Hadial-Qaoud and Saleh Jarman, had been killed in the Haraf Sufyan area of Amran province and others arrested.
Mohammed Abd al-Salam, spokesman for the rebels who the government refers to as Houthis after the tribal name of their leader, said the death toll given by the government was too high, and declined to comment on the fate of Qaoud and Jarman. Salam is based in Saada province, neighbouring Amran.
The rebels said earlier in a statement Yemeni planes had bombed a commercial district near Saada city. A military source said the raid targeted a petrol station used to supply the rebels. On Friday, the government reiterated ceasefire conditions to the rebels, who rejected the proposal last week. President Ali Abdullah Saleh said the government "would face this sedition in a decisive way" if the rebels rejected peace.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 pirates were injured in a gunfight between the pirates and coastguards at Kochikhali of the Sundarbans yesterday morning.
Coastguards also rescued four fishermen -- Zafor Hossian, Sanjoy Talukder, Oli Ahmed and Dulal Howlader. They were abducted by two gangs of pirates, one led by Zulfikar and the other by Sawkat, in the bay on August 11.
Lieutenant Mushfique Ahmed, commander of the West Zone Coastguard, said, at least 15 of the 35-member gang were bullet-hit in the gunfight.
He said, coastguards moving around the areas on trawlers in the guise of fishermen challenged the band of pirates.
The pirates opened fire and started fleeing towards the jungle, about half-a-kilometre away from Kochikhali, he added.
Meanwhile, seven fishermen, abducted by pirates on August 18, were released yesterday morning after paying ransom of Tk 2 lakh.
They are Akbor Munshi, Solaiman, Zoynal Majhi, Abdul Malek, Monsur Ali, Yunus Mir and Yusuf Ali of Charduani under Patharghata in Barguna.
On August 11, a total of 20 fishermen were abducted and 13 were injured as pirates swooped on them and looted hilsa fish, fishing nets, fuel and cash from their trawlers in the deep sea, some 50 kilometres southeast of Patharghata.
Pirates looted 22 fishing trawlers and abducted 40 fishermen along the Barguna coast of the Bay of Bengal in the dead of night on August 18.
Golam Mostafa Chowdhury, president of the Patharghata Fish Warehouse Association, said fishermen are afraid of going to the sea as they face frequent incidents of kidnapping by pirates in the areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#2
a distraction and bone thrown for the rabid left who're just figuring out the O is gonna lose the public option or the entire Obamacare f*ckup
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/24/2009 17:40 Comments ||
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#3
From Instapundit: "You know, I should feel bad about this, but given the CIAs extensive efforts to undercut Bush, well, I hope theyre enjoying the new administration."
[Dawn] Three passers-by were killed and 15 injured Sunday in a suicide bombing in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar triggered by an apparent feud between rival militant groups, police said.
The attacker blew himself up outside the home of a brother of Mubeen Afridi, spokesman for Taliban-linked extremist group Ansar-ul-Islam, who was killed in a remote-controlled blast on Saturday night.
Sunday's blast struck the residential neighbourhood of Momin in the centre of Peshawar, a hub of militant activity. 'There was a man who came in Momin town and opened fire on a house,' senior Peshawar police official Sefwat Ghayour told AFP. 'There was retaliatory fire from the house, and in the cross-fire, the suicide bomber blew himself up. In the suicide blast, two ladies and one man were killed and 15 are injured. Among the 15 injured, four are children.'
Police officials said that the dead and injured were passers-by, with no one in the targeted home killed.
Afridi was killed along with his driver on Saturday when a remote-controlled bomb exploded in a car in Peshawar.
Police said they suspected rival militant group Lashkar-e-Islam was behind that bombing. Both groups operate out of the lawless Khyber tribal district which sits between Peshawar and the Afghan border.
Last year, the government launched a major operation against militant groups in Khyber after the rebels threatened to take over Peshawar, and the offensive sent their leaders running into the mountains bordering Afghanistan.
Pakistan has been beset by militant attacks over the past two years which have killed more than 2,000 people.
Peshawar is a frequent target, with at least nine people killed in a suicide attack on the five-star Pearl Continental hotel in early June.
There has been a lull in bombings, however, since the reported death on August 5 of Pakistan Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud, and officials say there is intense infighting among the militants over who will succeed him.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Indian troops killed four Muslims in Kashmir in a violent start to the holy fasting month of Ramzan, officials said Sunday.
The two were shot dead at dawn in northern Kupwara district after they infiltrated into Indian-administered Kashmir from the Pakistani zone of the divided state, an Indian army spokesman said.
Two others were killed overnight in the same district during a fierce gun battle.
The army has foiled more than a dozen attempts by militants to infiltrate into Indian-administered Kashmir from the Pakistani zone since the start of August.
Police and paramilitary forces maintained a tight watch to prevent attacks on security targets as thousands of Muslims filled mosques for afternoon prayers.
Loudhailers relayed prayers to people who knelt in the street on rugs and prayer mats in the summer capital of Srinagar.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Ramzan, ramazan, ramadan, I can't keep track of all the different spellings of this stupid month.
[Dawn] Chief Minister Balochistan Nawab Aslam Raisani has lauded the Panjgoor police for foiling a major terrorist bid. The Panjgore police seized 1700 kilograms of explosives meant for a terrosit attack in the Makran belt.
District Police Officer Panjgoor Abdul Hayee Baloch told DawnNews that police seized 1700 kilograms of explosives from a vehicle during a routine search 15 km away from the Panjgoor bazaar.
The accused caught the attention of the police when they attempted to flee a possible snap checking. Police chased them and an exchange of fire followed.
Police recovered the explosives but failed to apprehend the suspects. According to the DPO the explosives were meant for terrorist activities in the Makran belt.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] A tribal elder with links to the Taliban was killed Sunday along with four close relatives in an ambush in Pakistan's northwest militant stronghold, officials said.
The deaths of Malik Sarwar Khan and four other men come amid reports of intense feuding in the militant ranks after the apparent death of Taliban commander Baitullah Mehsud sparked a heated succession battle.
Khan was travelling from his home village of Dazha Ghundi in the Mehsud heartland of South Waziristan near the Afghan border to the main district town Wana when gunmen attacked his vehicle, officials said.
'Armed men stopped the vehicle near Wana bazaar and sprayed it with bullets, killing Sarwar Khan, his son, a brother, nephew and a close relative,' a senior administration official told AFP.
The attack could have been spurred by a tribal vendetta or infighting in the Taliban movement over the succession, said the official, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
A security official and residents confirmed the deaths.
Khan was an influential tribal elder, and local residents said he had helped extremists in the past, setting up meetings and facilitating the passage of Taliban militants in the lawless tribal belt.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Seven suspects associated with banned outfits and allegedly involved in attacks on former president Pervez Musharraf and prime minister Shaukat Aziz have been arrested from Baloch Colony area along with suicide jackets and explosives, DIG CID Saood Mirza said here on Sunday.
DIG CID Masood Mirza said one of the arrested identified as Shahzad alias Munna alias Pehlwan was involved in carrying out the attack on former president Pervez Musharraf and prime minister Shaukat Aziz. He said another accused Khalil Ahmed is the brother of Qasim Toori, arrested two years ago.
This article starring:
ALAM ZEB ALIAS HAZIFA
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
GHULAM MUHAMAD ALIAS UMER
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
KHALIL TURI
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
MUHAMAD AZIZ ALIAS SALMAN
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
MUHAMAD SHAHZAD ALIAS PEHLWAN ALIS MUNNA
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
QASIM TURI
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
SHAHBAZ ALIAS MIAN
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
SHAHZAD ALIAS MUNNA ALIAS PEHLWAN
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
SHAKIL ALIAS HUNZILA
al-Qaeda in Pakistan
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Shazam alias Gomer Pyle
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/24/2009 17:42 Comments ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Forty suspected persons were arrested in a search operation while 12 militants surrendered to the authorities in various parts of the Swat valley on Sunday.
Official sources said the security forces launched search operation in Manglore area, arresting 40 suspects. The suspects were taken to an undisclosed location for interrogation. Meanwhile, 12 militants surrendered to the security forces in Fatepur and Gul Jabba.
Meanwhile, a delegation of elders of Kanju, Dherai, Bandai and Hazara, led by Sadeeq Bacha, Sultan Room and Shah Room, called on Brigadier Suleman at Frontier Constabulary (FC) Camp in Kanju and assured him of their full cooperation.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Taliban council will choose their chief within five next days, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Baitullah Mehsud wants so, Taliban Commander Waliur Rehman said Monday morning.
'Baitullah Mehsud has deputed the organization's affairs to me two months back,' Wali said.
Talking to a foreign news agency, Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) South Waziristan Amir Waliur Rehman said, 'We have thousands of suicide attackers, who can destroy their targets anywhere,' adding Baitullah Mehsud is alive; however, he is seriously ailing. 'Baitullah Mehsud has deputed the organization's affairs to me two months back,' Wali said, adding US President Obama and his allies are Taliban's foremost enemies.
The security forces' operation in Swat had no effects on Taliban, as they are still present there who moved aside to save the people from any possible damage, Wali maintained.
Ruling out any reports regarding the conflicts in Taliban movement, he said, 'Our movement is active and effective with no rifts or difference within.'
Waliur Rehman said Taliban have mujahids on all the fronts in SWA for any possible operation there.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the Taliban have killed Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law and his other family members on spying charges.
Talking to the BBC Urdu Service, Rehman Malik said the Taliban had killed Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law Ikramuddin, his son Ziauddin, brother Saeedullah and nephew Iqbal Mehsud on charges of spying for the US forces in Afghanistan.
Malik said independent and Taliban sources had not yet confirmed the death of Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law. "I got this information from those sources who had given me the information about Baitullah's death," he said.
He claimed it was confirmed that Baitullah Mehsud had been killed. However, he said, it might be a part of the government's strategy not to confirm 100% death of Baitullah Mehsud. Maulana Ikramuddin was considered as the right hand of Baitullah and had been trying to broker a peace deal between his son-in-law and the top security officials, according to sources.
He said the government had not accepted ceasefire offer of the Taliban in North Waziristan Agency. He said in past, the Taliban had violated peace accords with the government. He said suicide bombers had planned to attack the Parliament House. He said the operation against the militants would continue even in the holy month of Ramazan. with CNN, the interior minister said that the security forces would continue their offensive against the Taliban militants during Ramazan.
Malik said the security forces have arrested three men wearing suicide vests, who were planning to attack the Parliament, an intelligence agency and other public buildings. The minister did not specify where or when the men were caught, except to say it was within the last four weeks.
The militants have said they would stop fighting during the month of Ramazan. Malik, however, said the promise was not to be trusted. "We are not interested in a ceasefire," Malik said. "They haven't kept their commitment in the past. We will continue targeted actions against the Taliban," he added.
Our Peshawar Bureau adds: Taliban sources, however, were neither denying nor confirming reports about killing of Mahsud's relatives. Some of these sources were terming it as part of the government's disinformation campaign.
A senior government official, who requested anonymity, said there were credible reports that Ikramuddin, his son Ziauddin, his brother Saeedullah and nephew Iqbal Mahsud were executed Sunday afternoon along with three or four other male family members. He said first Ikramuddin was taken into custody soon after the drone attack and then his other close relatives were apprehended.
The Taliban militants, he argued, were suspicious as to why Ikramuddin and his close family members survived the missile strike that struck his house and killed Baitullah and his second wife, whom he had married last October.
The claim couldn't be confirmed from independent sources. There was no way to find out if Ikramuddin and seven other members of his family had been killed by the Taliban militants loyal to Baitullah.
Some tribesmen doubted the story of Ikramuddin's involvement in the conspiracy to kill Baitullah as he would not sacrifice his own daughter by spying on the TTP chief and facilitating the US drone attack on his own house in Zangara village in South Waziristan Agency.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Iraqi authorities are considering arresting some Sunni members of parliament in connection with the truck bombs that killed more than 100 people in a devastating attack against key government ministries this week, according to the governor of Baghdad.
The government has obtained photos and other evidence indicating they were acting under orders of the parliamentarians.
Salah Abdel-Razzaq, in an interview with the Christian Science Monitor Sunday, said the government has obtained photos and other evidence from members of a group accused of carrying out the attack indicating they were acting under orders of the parliamentarians. "We are now investigating what happened and who is involved -- maybe our security personnel ... maybe politicians. We need maybe to have some orders to arrest those who are suspected," says Dr. Abdel-Razzaq. The governor, a member of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party, confirmed he was referring to Sunni members of parliament but declined to give names.
Arrest warrants are issued by the Interior Ministry and it is unclear whether the politically explosive move would be undertaken, but the governor's comments indicate the level of mistrust between the Shiite-led government and Sunni political parties highlighted since the bombing. And in an indication of what is still a deep divide between the Shiite-led Iraqi government and its Sunni neighbors, the governor accused Saudi Arabia of funding the suicide bombers. "The Baathist agents are supported by some Arab countries -- especially Saudi Arabia," he says. "Their terrorist actions cost money also so it isn't just a small terrorist organization [behind the attack] -- there is a state behind this."
Saudi connection?
Abdel-Razzaq, confirming that he believed Saudi Arabia was connected to the truck bombing, says they are trying to weaken confidence in the current Iraqi government and its ability to protect its citizens in an attempt to influence parliamentary elections in January.
Saudi Arabia, which says it has taken measures to crack down on the flow of foreign fighters from its territory to Iraq, denies that it supports the Sunni insurgents.
Iraqi authorities have blamed the attack, the worst in 18 months, on former Baathists and Al Qaeda operatives, but his remarks were the first implicating members of the Iraqi parliament. The attack on the foreign and finance ministries has sparked accusations between political parties, government officials and security leaders over who was to blame for major security lapses.
Video confession aired
Abdul-Rizzaq visited the site of the Foreign Ministry bombing on Sunday and spoke to survivors, some of whom who are now homeless. He said that the government would provide money and assistance with repairing homes, and that it would replace vehicles damaged or destroyed in the blast.
Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi, the chief military spokesman for Baghdad, on Sunday announced the arrest of what he called the mastermind of one of the bombings and aired a video confession.
The suspect said he was a former police officer from Diyala province and leader of a wing of the revived Baath Party, which was loyal to executed former president Saddam Hussein.
Al Qaeda and baathists
Iraqi officials have blamed the attacks on a coalition of Baathists and Al Qaeda in Iraq operatives. The Baghdad governor, who flew back from a visit to London on Saturday, says evidence indicates that the Baathists used their knowledge of the capitol and its security vulnerabilities to plan the attack and had Al Qaeda suicide bombers execute it. "These attacks, these explosions don't have military aims. They have political goals," says Abdel-Razzaq. "There people want to give the national opinion that security isn't guaranteed in Baghdad and that the prime minister and the government can't give you security so that means that you should change this government -- that's the message. It is very clear."
Improving security
On Thursday, city workers began re-erecting concrete blast walls which had been removed from near the foreign ministry and other government buildings in line with a plan to reduce security measures in light of declining attacks. Those plans are now being reviewed. "I think we have to review our strategy," says the governor. "There are some weak points in some parts of the road, some streets that are not well controlled and also maybe our personnel -- police officers that are not doing their job." He says some checkpoints which would have been dismantled will likely remain, while the governorate will begin using large scanners to more reliably detect explosives in vehicles.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/24/2009 00:00 ||
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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.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Government forces reported more than 100 rebels killed on Sunday as battles intensified in north Yemen two days after the government urged a ceasefire, although a spokesman for the rebellion disputed the claim.
[Bangla Daily Star] At least 15 pirates were injured in a gunfight between the pirates and coastguards at Kochikhali of the Sundarbans yesterday morning.
[Dawn] Indian troops killed four Muslims in Kashmir in a violent start to the holy fasting month of Ramzan, officials said Sunday.
[Geo News] Seven suspects associated with banned outfits and allegedly involved in attacks on former president Pervez Musharraf and prime minister Shaukat Aziz have been arrested from Baloch Colony area along with suicide jackets and explosives, DIG CID Saood Mirza said here on Sunday.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Federal Interior Minister Rehman Malik has said that the Taliban have killed Baitullah Mehsud's father-in-law and his other family members on spying charges. 
