#1
Many thanks GolfBravo. To this unprofessional eye, an impressive aircraft, despite all the trouibles with development. I'm reminded of the development period for the M1-A1. I'm hopeful the Osprey enjoys the same operational success as teh M1-A1.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
02/24/2010 20:49 Comments ||
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A Third of All U.S. Casualties in Eight-Year Afghan War Have Occurred Since Obama Ordered Escalation
CNSNews.com -- More than 300 U.S. soldiers have died in the war in Afghanistan since May 15, 2009, the day when the first major wave of new troops ordered by President Barack Obama arrived in the country.
The 308 U.S. casualties in Afghanistan since then account for about a third of the total of 920 U.S. casualties in the eight-year war.
Of the 308 soldiers who have died since mid-May 2009, 287 were killed by enemy action, according to a CNSNews.com database of all casualties in the Afghanistan theatre of war.
The southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar located along the Afghan border with Pakistan have been the deadliest regions for U.S. soldiers since President Obama's escalation in U.S. forces in the region began.
Approximately 81 U.S. soldiers have died in combat in Helmand and 58 in Kandahar, for a total of 139 in those two provinces. That is about 45 percent of the U.S. casualties in Afghanistan since May 15 of last year.
On Feb. 17, 2009, President Obama ordered the deployment of 17,000 additional troops to Afghanistan. The main body of those troops arrived in Kandahar on May 15, 2009.
In December 2009, Obama stepped up his surge with 30,000 more troops, bringing the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan to more than 100,000. Last year was the deadliest for American soldiers since the U.S.-led military effort in Afghanistan began in October 2001.
CNSNews.com's database of Afghanistan war casualties is derived primarily from official U.S. Defense Department casualty reports, but also includes information gleaned from reports in the news media.
The database includes all U.S. military personnel who died or received a fatal wound in Afghanistan or Pakistan. It does not include U.S. miltary personnel who died outside of Afghanistan while supporting military efforts against terrorism under Operation Enduring Freedom.
On Feb.13, the United States started a major operation in central Helmand, a Taliban stronghold. It is focused on the city of Marjah, which has about 80,000 inhabitants.
The operation, known as Mushtarak, which means "together" in Dari, involves 15,000 U.S.-led NATO and Afghan soldiers, with Afghan soldiers making up at least half of the offensive force.
In a Feb. 21 speech at Princeton University, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the U.S. commander overseeing troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, predicted a "tough" casualty level resulting from the initiative.
"We've gotten the inputs right, now we are embarking on what's going to be the output," he said. "The reality is, it's going to be hard, it's going to be hard all the time. We're going to have tough losses."
So far, there have been 14 reported casualties from battles in Helmand since Operation Mushtarak started.
On NBC's "Meet the Press," Gen. Petraeus indicated that the Marjah operation is the "initial salvo" of a bigger 12-to-18-month campaign. Using the Marjah operation as an example, the general pointed out that the flow of the 30,000 troops that Obama ordered last December is beginning to produce "output."
When announcing his troop surge last December, President Obama mentioned that troops will begin to draw down in July 2011. However, military officials have indicated that this will depend on conditions on the ground.
#2
I' don't understand sending in more troops if you can't shoot back. He just gave the enemy more and easier targets.
Posted by: chris ||
02/24/2010 13:16 Comments ||
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#3
Ok folks lets take a reality check here. Bush called for a surge of forces based on the recommendations from his military commanders. The surge was reviewed by Obama's people, who then gave it their stamp of approval. Anytime you have an increase in military operations you will have a rise in casualties. I don't think it's fair to place the blame on the administration for casualties, blame the Taliban. Also, every modern army works under rules of engagement, its the way politics is inserted into warfare. That is never going to change.
#5
When Bush approved The Surge in Iraq, he also adjusted ROE to reality. I'd bet the same happened in Astan, but Bambi changed them when he re-upped the plan. That's part of why the actual op took longer than the plan. Taliban knew how to use BabmiROE to our disadvantage. Just like asking for an attorney when captured.
(CBS) They fled to avoid getting caught up in the crossfire. Now the people of Marjah are coming back.
There are still some pockets of resistance, but after weeks of anticipation and long days of bitter fighting, coalition forces have most of Marjah under their control. For the first time, local residents feel safe enough to leave their homes, even share a joke.
Some shops in the central market are open and business is brisk.
Marjah is slowly coming back to life now that the Taliban have been cleared out, reports CBS News correspondent Mandy Clark. The challenge will be keeping it that way.
"I'm very happy that I can open my shop", says a local shopkeeper. "But I'm worried about the police, because all they did last time was shake us down for money."
Afghan police have begun arriving in Marjah and residents are watching them with suspicion as they take over from Marines.
#1
Ask the shopkeeper if he would rather the taliban come back then if he really exists. I was witing for the bad scenarion because I knew a MSM outlet couldn't write a piece without some kind of bullshit along with it.
Posted by: chris ||
02/24/2010 13:19 Comments ||
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#2
Like a bunch of cockroaches when the light comes on. They are about as evolved, at least, probably less so.
[Quqnoos] A bomb engineered in a bicycle exploded in the southern Afghan town of Lashkar Gah on Tuesday, killing eight civilians. Oh, noze! It's another Cycle of Violence!
The blast injured another 16 civilians in a bus station in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital of Helmand province, a Taliban spiritual stronghold.
"The blast killed eight civilians and injured another 16," the Afghan Interior Ministry said in a statement.
The incident in Lashkar Gah occured as 15,000 US, NATO and Afghan soldiers are waging an offensive against Taliban militants in the Marjah and Nad Ali districts.
The Afghan government describes the incident as "brutal" and blaming enemies -- an expression commonly used to refer to the Taliban.
No groups, including the Taliban, have made an immediate claim of responsibility as both side of the war fear civilian deaths may drive away the public support.
Two day earlier, at least 33 Afghan civilian were killed in a NATO air strike in the central Dai Kundi province, a "mistake which undermines the US-led campaign in Afghanistan".
NATO and Afghan forces have been fighting the Taliban for the past ten days in the districts of Marjah and Nad Ali, a hub for Taliban's nacro trade.
A spokesman for Helmand governor said they expect a rise in insurgency in Lashkar Gah as the Taliban are overwhelmed by NATO and Afghan forces in the districts.
"The Taliban may focus on roadside bombings to destabilise Lashkar Gah as they are losing their strongholds in the districts," said Daud Ahmadi, spokesman for Helmand governor.
Quqnoos' Helmand Correspondent, Baryalay Rahimi, says Laskhar Gah, the centre of Afghanistan's most volatile province, has been calm for the past one month.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan and Darfur's main rebel group signed a ceasefire agreement on Tuesday, although any final peace deal will still need to be backed by other armed factions.
Justice and Equality Movement leader Khalil Ibrahim said he and Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir signed the accord, which is due to take effect at midnight in Darfur.
Also present were the host, Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, as well as Chadian President Idriss Deby Itno and Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki.
Last-minute hitches had delayed the signing, a JEM spokesman told AFP, without saying what the problem was.
The 12-point provisional deal offered the JEM, long-seen as Darfur's most heavily armed rebel group, a power-sharing role in Sudan, where the first presidential and legislative polls in 24 years are to be held in April.
According to a French language copy of the framework agreement, JEM and Khartoum agreed to "the participation of the Justice and Equality Movement at all levels of government (executive, legislative, ...) in a manner to be agreed subsequently between the two parties."
The two sides agreed that the JEM would become "a political party as soon as the final agreement is signed between the two parties" by March 15, the fourth article of the document says.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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[Maghrebia] The "principal author" of the abduction of three Spanish aid workers was transferred last Saturday to a Nouakchott prison, Journal Tahalil reported on Monday (February 22nd). Amar Ould Sid Ahmed, aka Amar Es-Sahraoui, age 52, is "one of the main logisticians of AQIM", a security source said. The Directorate General for National Security (DGSN) has arrested some 20 terror suspects in recent weeks, including Abderrahmane Ould Immidou, allegedly linked to the December kidnapping of an Italian couple.
This article starring:
ABDURRAHMANE ULD IMIDU
al-Qaeda in North Africa
AMAR ES SAHRAUI
al-Qaeda in North Africa
AMAR ULD SID AHMED
al-Qaeda in North Africa
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Police in Dubai have identified 15 more suspects in last month's killing of a senior member of Palestinian militant group Hamas, taking the total to 26. Six of the new suspects involved in the death of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh had UK passports, while the rest had Irish, Australian and French documents.
I'm beginning to wonder if every Westerner in Dubai at the time was involved in this thing.
Earlier this month, the Dubai authorities released the names and passport photographs of 11 "agents with European passports" - six from the UK, three Irish, one French and one German. All four countries have since said the documents were fraudulent.
The six newly identified suspects who used UK passports were listed as Daniel Marc Schnur, Gabriella Barney, Roy Allan Cannon, Stephen Keith Drake, Mark Sklur and Philip Carr.
Those on Irish passports were Ivy Brinton, Anna Shuana Clasby and Chester Halvey; on French passports David Bernard LaPierre, Melenie Heard and Eric Rassineux; and on Australian passports Bruce Joshua Daniel, Nicole Sandra Mccabe and Adam Korman, according to the statement.
Dubai police also produced a chart tracing the travel routes of both the new and old suspects before and after Mr Mabhouh's death. (See PDF of chart here.)
Investigators have also discovered that 14 of the suspects had used credit cards issued by MetaBank, which is based in the United States. "The cards were used to book hotel rooms and pay for air travel," the statement added.
The UK Foreign Office said it was following up the reports that more false passports of British nationals might have been used, but would not confirm the figures given by the Dubai authorities.
#2
It must have been a British, American and Israeli plot because they are the only countries left on the planet who don't have a flag on that map they made of the agents' travels.
#4
14 of the suspects had used credit cards issued by MetaBank. Who and how are the bills paid? Law enforcement can access this information rather easily, so how is it all kept super top secret?
#7
In practice there is no difference between a debit card and a prepaid CC. But the account set up may be very different. You used to need to give a blood test for a demand deposit account, but less for CC. Sort of like the difference between a cell phone on contract and a prepaid cell.
#9
This op shows the value of Bambi's efforts to strengthen our relations with our friends overseas so that we can all cooperate in areas of mutual interest.
#10
Presuming that this was a large team, MOSSAD etc. OPeratives are highly trained and would know iff there were any surveillance systems in place, as well as [potent]Personal Security. Its perfectly feasible that those alleged filmed MOSSAD Opers were deliberately placed in front of local monitors as diversionary cover for other MOSSAD Teams.
TWO OR MORE [Large]COVERT TEAMS > suggests "TIME WAS OF THE ESSENCE" + HIGH SECURITY + TARGET PERSONAGE, AGENDUM WAS SUCH A THAT MISSION SUCCESS HAD PRIORITY OVER CASUALTIES + DIPLOMATIC FALLOUT. These are also suggested by MSM-NET Reports alleging that PM NETANYAHU escorted a number of "MOSSAD"? Hit/Strike Team Members during their departure from to Dubai.
Lastly, IMO Israel is thinking that with Radical Islam + NUKULAARIZING IRAN making strong efforts to entrench itself in Israel's "Moderate" Arab neighbors, BETTER TO CAPTURE OR ELIMINATE HOM [ + amy other]NOW THAN LATER.
Two more Irish passports were used in the murder of a Hamas official in Dubai, bringing the total to seven.
Irish diplomats were investigating the use of two more Irish passport numbers by suspects in the hitassassination murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh last month. Darned Ruritanians ...
It was also reported yesterday that the address of a vacant Dublin property close to the Israeli Embassy was given to a Dubai hotel by one of the suspects, travelling under the name of Kevin Daveron. The property has been empty for ten years and belongs to James Reynolds, the brother of the former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds.
The Irish Times said that it had obtained a copy of an invoice issued by the Jumeirah Emirates Towers hotel to a man travelling under the name of Kevin Daveron. The invoice noted his departure time as 1.40pm on January 19, the day Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was murdered.
A son of James Reynolds said that the family was absolutely shocked and horrified' by the revelations. We are continuing to work closely with authorities in UAE and our EU partners to establish the facts about this case,' a Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman said.
Five forged Irish passports initially linked to the 18-strong suspected but not proven Mossad hit squad thought to have killed Mr al-Mabhouh were found in Dubai with authentic numbers but names that did not match. Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli Foreign Minister, and Israel's Ambassador to Ireland, Zion Evrony, have both told the Irish Government that they have no information about the killing or the forged documents.
The Fine Gael party called on Micheál Martin, the Foreign Affairs Minister, to brief the Dáil on the details of the case urgently. Billy Timmins, the party's foreign affairs spokesman, said: The Minister for Foreign Affairs must start getting explanations as to how suspects in an assassination overseas were able to use valid Irish passport numbers on fake passports and provide a bona fide Dublin address when checking out of a hotel.'
He added: The Irish passport has great standing internationally and the Minister must do all he can to ensure its status is not debased. The illegal use of an address is also a worrying development in this matter.'
Labour's Proinsias De Rossa called on the Irish Government to press the EU to put on hold current proposals to upgrade relations with Israel. The stealing of Irish citizens' identities and the abuse of Irish passports by another state is a gross infringement of Irish sovereignty,' the MEP said. It is not the normal practice for friendly states to abuse each other's sovereignty in this way.
One can only assume that Israel either has no regard for international law or holds Ireland and the other EU states affected in contempt.'
David Lanby, chairman of the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign, said: The Israeli denial of involvement in the Dubai assassination has been wholly unconvincing and more a case of if you can't prove it, then we won't admit it'. That is the way it's supposed to work ...
"Israel is treating the international community with contempt.'
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
Wonder if maybe there was a financial doublecross someplace. That is a possibility, too. Maybe he was also carrying a lot of cash and it was basically a robbery. Maybe instead of meeting with Iranian arms dealers he was meeting with "Iranian arms dealers".
Such a deal would reek of Russian mafia involvement.
I am still not convinced beyond all doubt that it was Israel. This guy associated with too many vipers. He could just as easily have been bitten by his own associates.
#5
The thing is, nobody is arguing these are anything but genuine passports... or that the diplomatic papers are also not genuine. There has long been a lucrative trade in large numbers of genuine, blank passports issued by a number of European countries. I remember back in the '90s, a large number of blank Belgian passports were taken by someone who simply jumped over the counter and swept up piles of them from the official's desk. If it was indeed Israel taking advantage of the situation, they would be the least harmful of those carrying such passports. Nobody seems to be asking who else has acquired the probably tens of thousands of other legitimate passports over the years, and what nefarious activities have they gotten up to...
#7
The "International community" ??
he must have meant "Bunch of Eunuchs"
The profet Daniel said it best: "MENEH, MENEH, TAKEL UFARSIN"
The witing is on the wall.
If it was indeed the Mosad, I congratulate them for their UEVOS
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/24/2010 11:46 Comments ||
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[Al Arabiya Latest] Two Saudi soldiers thought to have been held by Yemen Shiite rebels were actually killed in battle, so the issue of Saudi prisoners is now closed, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam said on Tuesday "The last two missing Saudi soldiers were killed in battle," Abdel Salam told AFP. "We thought they wuz just off their feed, but they wuz dead."
"They are no longer alive. We informed mediators of their death today, and have indicated where they are buried," he said. "The issue of Saudi prisoners of war is now closed." "Yep. They wuz pretty quiet, but we thought that wuz just the way they wuz. But then they started to stink..."
The Saudi military said it had no knowledge of the soldiers' condition. "We have no information if they have died or not died," General Ibrahim al-Malik, head of public affairs for the Saudi military, told AFP.
The rebels, also known as Houthis, were originally thought to hold five Saudis whom they had captured in three months of fighting with the oil-rich kingdom.
They released one soldier on Feb. 15, then freed two more three days later in line with a truce with the Yemeni government that came into effect the week before.
That truce came after more than five months of heavy fighting between the rebels and the Yemeni government in the northern mountains, which pulled Saudi armed forces into the fray.
Four committees in north Yemen are charged with implementing the ceasefire between the rebels and the government, which went into effect on Feb. 12.
As well as freeing all prisoners and opening roads in the north, the truce requires the rebels to withdraw from government buildings, return arms seized from security forces and hand over captured army posts.
They also had to pledge not to attack Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis, of the Zaidi Shiite minority, have been engaged in sporadic fighting with government forces since 2004.
Saudi Arabia joined the fighting on Nov. 4, accusing the rebels of killing a Saudi border guard and occupying two villages inside Saudi territory.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
"We have no information if they have died or not died,"
Yup, they 'aint talking to us.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
02/24/2010 12:19 Comments ||
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A film showing two alleged terrorists crawling through a park in camouflage gear has been released to the public. The video, made by a group who called themselves The Blackburn Resistance, was al-Qaeda propaganda destined to be distributed abroad, a court heard.
Abbas Iqbal, 24, his brother Ilyas Iqbal, 23, and Muhammed Ali Ahmad, 26, are standing trial charged with terror offences at Manchester Crown Court. All three deny preparing for acts of terrorism. Abbas Iqbal also denies disseminating terrorist publications and possessing documents likely to be useful to a terrorist. Ilyas Iqbal pleaded not guilty to two counts of possessing documents likely to be useful to a terrorist.
The video was among material found in a mobile phone storage card discovered in the suitcase of Abbas Iqbal when he was arrested trying to board a flight from Manchester Airport to northern Europe in August 2008. Mr Aqbal was said to have filmed the duo - one of whom was allegedly carrying a rifle as he rustled through the park - training in Blackburn, Lancashire.
At court on Friday, Edward Brown QC, prosecuting, said they were "intoxicated by the evil of terrorism" as they prepared to join or carry out violent jihad. He said the "promotional collage" for The Blackburn Resistance was among material which Abbas Iqbal and another alleged extremist, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had intended to use to radicalise others.
The video was introduced by a voice stating: "They are fighting against oppression, they are The Blackburn Resistance", before it showed two of the group crawling through woodland and across a path in the park.
In the background, words in a foreign language chanted: "I am the armour for those who believe in the unity of Allah. I am the fire against the aggressor. I am the machine gun against the one who starts fighting. I am the one whose sun is shining. Over my day and my pride."
Police discovered extreme material Mr Ahmad had written, extremist speeches, martyrdom videos and mobile phone images of executions when they searched his home in Whalley Range, Manchester.
A further camcorder video tape allegedly showed Mr Iqbal holding a young boy and raising a machete. Playing the tape in court on Friday Mr Brown told the jury: "It is plainly a joke and he obviously has no intention of hurting the boy."
The boy, aged about eight, is on camera in a room with two girls as Mr Iqbal holds the weapon and, in Urdu, says: "This is what I am going to do to somebody. God willing, when I find a Kuffar (non-believer), this I show, I am going to take his head off."
#1
An example of yet more " Peace Loving Muslims " In this case they are the enemy within, every country in the Western World has them, scary stuff indeed.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
02/24/2010 10:56 Comments ||
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#2
Dave,
The british foreign Minister and Internal security forces are too busy frothing at the mouth about the use of forged british pasports used in the liquidation of the Vermin Al-Mabhouh in Abu Dabi' they obviously are also too busy for trying to find and contain the thousands of Islamic Fifth Columnists infesting the streets and moskkkks of Manchester and London.
Soon enough you are going to have thosands of Al-Mabhouhs roaming your cities burning your cars and raping your doughters and bombing your underground.
Muliculturalism at it's best.
These days the Brits remind me of a genetic hybrid between a Lemming and an Ostrich
(Ostring or Lemminch - you choose)
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/24/2010 11:32 Comments ||
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#3
Elder of Zion said, "These days the Brits remind me of a genetic hybrid between a Lemming and an Ostrich
(Ostring or Lemminch - you choose)"
That is the ruling classes ( that we are unfortunate to have at the moment ) that you are talking about, that description bears no resemblance to the average man on the street. Come the revolution, and it could happen this year, Islam is going for a walk.
Posted by: Dave UK ||
02/24/2010 13:45 Comments ||
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#4
I'l order more popcorn, Dave. :-D
Y'all go, guy!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
02/24/2010 14:41 Comments ||
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North Korea has intensified a crackdown on defectors in the border area with China amid growing economic difficulties caused by a disastrous currency reform, according to an activist group in South Korea.
Good Friends said party headquarters decided on Jan. 27 to launch an intensive crackdown on defectors in towns in North Hamgyong Province bordering China in February. The provincial party committee has been conducting the crackdown in collaboration with security agencies and border guards since Feb. 1, it said.
Officials raid homes every night to check if all are present and correct, the organization said, and if anybody is missing, officials question the family where the person has gone and double-check the next day. If a family is larger than the family register indicates, family members must present themselves at a regional security office for questioning. They are allowed to return home the following day if their story checks out.
"Even party secretaries and government officials are punished if anybody from their area, factory or enterprise flees the North," Good Friends said. "Party secretaries or factory managers in regions where many defections are likely face demotion or dismissal."
Good Friends said the regime sent out patrols to all businesses to look into workers' living environment and ideological propensities. Any worker who has been caught with narcotics or using a mobile phone is placed on a watchlist, it added.
"The absentee rate sharply rose at Songjin Iron and Steel Works in the city of Kimchaek just a month after the shock currency reform was implemented," the organization said. "In a situation where people barely make a living and some of them starve to death, more than half of workers are absent from each production line. An average of 10 workers were absent from each assembly line in early January."
North Korea has also asked China crack down harder on defectors caught there and is reportedly recalling trade officials working in Beijing for a two-week indoctrination course in Pyongyang.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Ugh, yeah, if they're "defectors", what the hell would they be doing back in North Korea? Sounds more like they're looking for Nork wetbacks coming back with enough yuan to keep the wolf from the door for the homefolks. Not exactly any way to wire remittances home across *that* border.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
02/24/2010 9:09 Comments ||
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#2
Mitch, think Stasi on the East side of the wall. They used to crack down on defectors too.
Okay, kinda premptive crackdown but ya can't actually let them cross the border now can you?
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il apparently had age spots removed from his face to look healthy but is becoming more and more fretful and dependent on old friends or family, the National Intelligence Service said in a report at the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee on Tuesday.
Kim is constantly accompanied by his sister Kyong-hee (64), the head of the Workers Party's light industry department, and her husband Jang Song-taek (64), the director of the party's administration department.
"We believe that Kim is very worried about various issues given his public apology" for failing to fulfill his father's last wishes, NIS chief Won Se-hoon said. "It seems likely that internal chaos will deepen."
Commenting on the succession, he said since the birthday of Kim Jong-un, Kim's third son and heir apparent on Jan. 8 , the regime has been holding "singalongs to pledge loyalty." "It seems that the regime has now moved from helping Kim junior establish a record of achievements to the next phase of assisting him in taking part in policy making processes," he added.
A North Korean source said the same day the powerful National Defense Commission has involved Kim Jong-un in shaping important policies. "Just as his father was when he himself was heir apparent, Kim junior is also involved in recruiting senior officials," the source added.
Won also touched on the aftermath of the North's disastrous currency reform, confirming that there were "serious effects" including a degree of unrest. When asked by lawmakers if the North Korean leadership is in control, he said, "We believe that they are still in control. There is zero possibility of a coup."
He also commented on rumors that North Korea's recently established official investment agency, the Taepung International Investment Group, has managed to woo US$10 billion in foreign investment. "The rumors have turned out to be unfounded. It's improbable that the North could attract that kind of investment in the circumstances," he added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Clearly on his last legs. It's not like people come back from these sorts of conditions. How long does he have? Six months? Twelve?
A German man who admits training in terrorism and buying nearly a tonne of explosives to attack his homeland declared in a speech from the dock on Tuesday that he would never rejoin a group affiliated to Al Qaeda.
Fritz Gelowicz, 30, said as his trial in Dusseldorf concluded that he was "shocked and surprised" at the arrest three days earlier of his wife, 28, for raising funds for the Islamic Jihad Union (IJU). The court is now recessed and set to hand down a verdict on March 4.
"I want to say I will not participate in terrorist activities in future in any way whatever, and will not be rejoining any terrorist organisation," Gelowicz told the court. "That's my firm decision."
Germany has never suffered a successful attack by homegrown Islamist terrorists, but the trial heard evidence of how this nearly happened in 2007.
A defence lawyer, Dirk Uden, said Gelowicz had repeatedly urged his wife during her visits to him in prison to stay away from Islamist forums on the internet. Gelowicz and three other alleged plotters were arrested in 2007, just months after he married.
Police picked up his wife, who is a German national of Turkish extraction, on Saturday in the southern German city of Ulm. She and Gelowicz, who converted to Islam, married in early 2007.
She is accused of remitting thousands of euros to the IJU, a group based in the lawless Pakistan region of Waziristan. Two other accused, Daniel Schneider, 24, and Atilla Selek, 24, also asked for mercy in their speeches from the dock, saying they had done wrong. A fourth accused, Adem Yilmaz, 31, remained silent.
They have together provided 1,200 pages of evidence about buying 700 kilograms of chemicals to make bombs and about the workings of the IJU. They hope to receive jail terms reduced to about a decade each. The maximum term would otherwise be 15 years.
A BOMBING raid by a US drone aircraft killed three militants today in Pakistan's northwest tribal belt, a bastion of Taliban and Al Qaeda-linked fighters.
Security officials said the attack happened in the Dandey Darpa Khel area of North Waziristan, a militant stronghold near the Afghan border, Pakistani officials said.
"It was a US drone strike, three militants were killed," one security official said. "The target was a militant compound."
Two other security officials in the area confirmed the raid, refusing to be named because of the sensitivity of the strikes, which fuel anti-American sentiment in Muslim Pakistan.
A US drone strike in the same area last Thursday killed Mohammed Haqqani, a brother of Al Qaeda-linked warlord Sirajuddin Haqqani, whose network is fighting against US and local forces in neighbouring Afghanistan.
Kantapahari, Feb. 23: The president of the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities (PCPA), the Maoist-backed tribal resistance group based in Lalgarh, was killed last night in what police claimed was retaliatory fire' after guerrillas attacked a CRPF camp here.
However, the PCPA said Lalmohan Tudu, 48, was picked up from his home when he had dropped in for a brief visit and shot dead in a paddy field behind the house.
Such persistent claims during the day and the smouldering mood among security forces after the police massacre in Shilda suggest the stirrings of an undeclared strategy shift in the fight against Maoists.
No one would publicly call it an eye-for-an-eye' crackdown but several officers recalled such a policy had crushed the Naxalite movement of the late 1960s. ( )
If Tudu was killed as a result of a policy shift, it has come at a time the Maoists have betrayed signs that they could be feeling the heat of low-intensity security operations now under way in states such as Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. A Maoist leader had yesterday made a conditional truce offer to the Centre.
In response, Union home minister P. Chidambaram today sought to tighten the screws, telling the rebels how to draft such messages (no ifs, no buts') and sending them a fax number of an additional secretary's office. ( )
On record, the security forces insisted that PCPA chief Tudu died in a shootout with the CRPF in Kantapahari, 6km from Lalgarh town.
According to the district police, the security forces received information of a Maoist build-up' in the forest outside the camp around 8.30 last night.
The CRPF jawans took up positions outside and within a brief while, the police said, firing started from the forest. The jawans retaliated and the exchange carried on for half an hour.
When the guns fell silent, the jawans found a body with several bullet marks. Next to him were two firearms: a 9mm pistol and a country-made revolver. The body was later handed over to the police.
This morning, the body was identified as that of Lalmohan Tudu and he was obviously among those firing at the police camp,' said West Midnapore SP Manoj Verma.
However, Asit Mahato, a spokesperson for the PCPA, said: Lalmohan Tudu was picked up from his house by the police and shot dead.'
Tudu, who kept a low profile, had become the president of the committee in November 2008 when it was floated. He was rarely at the forefront of the movement, but had accompanied Chhatradhar Mahato, who is now in jail, to a meeting with the Election Commission before the Lok Sabha polls.
At Tudu's village Narcha, 3km from the CRPF camp, Sanatan Murmu, a 60-year-old neighbour, said: I saw Tudu here at 7.30 last evening and he said he had come to collect a few things since his daughter was appearing for the Madhyamik exams from today. After that, I went to my house and shut the door.'
Murmu said that around 8.30 he heard a lot of footsteps and peered out. I saw a lot of policemen and quickly shut the door,' Murmu said. About 15 minutes later, I heard four or five gunshots from the paddy field behind the house and now I hear that the police are saying that he had died in a gun battle. I find it very difficult to believe.'
Another neighbour also more or less echoed Murmu.
Posted by: john frum ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
It's a crossfire! Only without the rounds of bullet.
[Dawn] Security forces bulldozed four hideouts of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan in Ali Baz Kalay of Darra Adam Khel while arresting six militants, reports DawnNews.
Officials have said that the Kohat police and the security forces have also launched an operation against the gang of TTP's kidnappers in Gumbat and Shin Dhad area of the frontier region and arrested 14 suspects including six tribesmen.
The operations were carried out in Shin Dhand, Jawaki, Gandiali, Tilkan, Ghorazai, Kamar, Chorlakki and Nakband areas.
The fourteen accused were shifted to special investigation cell. The security forces seized two Kalashnikovs, five rifles, two repeaters, three shot guns, eight pistols and hundreds of bullets form their possession.
Meanwhile the Kohat police arrested an arms smugglers coming from Darra Adam Khel on the Indus Highway and recovered two rifles and 700 cartridges.
They stopped a suspicious vehicle coming from Sheraki area of Darra Adam Khel towards Kohat and arrested the owner of the consignment.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Four militants were killed and five others were injured in a bomb blast in the Dar area of central Kurram, officials said.
According to officials the militants had been using a house in the Alisherzai Dar area of central Kurram for a while, before leaving the house they attempted to destroy the house but the bomb went off prematurely, killing five militants and injuring four others.
Officials reported that the residents of Alisherzai Dar had already evacuated the area due to the militant activity and ongoing military operation, reports DawnNews.
The military has cleared most of the militant infested areas in central and lower kurram, but pockets still remain as hideouts for militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Another "jihad mission"? Or does Hamas have the copyright on that?
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] The Lashkar-e-Islam organised the public execution of a tribesman after pronouncing him guilty of double murder at a self-styled Islamic court, tribesmen said on Tuesday.
The execution took place in the Tirah Valley of the Khyber Agency, which straddles a main supply route for the US and Nato soldiers fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan. Members of the militia captured tribesman Younas Khan in late September, accusing him of killing two cousins in a family row.
"Younas confessed to killing of his two cousins," a local tribesman told AFP by telephone from Bara. "On Monday, he was shot dead according to Shariah," he added. Hundreds of tribesmen gathered to watch the execution, tribal elders said
"He was killed according to the law of retaliation, blood for blood," a tribal elder said. A relative of the two murdered cousins shot dead the tribesman at the invitation of Lashkar-e-Islam on Monday, another tribal elder told AFP. Officials accuse the Lashkar-e-Islam of kidnapping for ransom in Peshawar, harassing locals and running torture centers and private jails.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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The son of a leading Hamas figure, who famously converted to Christianity, served for over a decade as the Shin Bet security service's most valuable source in the militant organization's leadership, Haaretz has learned.
Mosab Hassan Yousef is the son of Sheikh Hassan Yousef, a Hamas founder and one of its leaders in the West Bank. The intelligence he supplied Israel led to the exposure of a number of terrorist cells, and to the prevention of dozens of suicide bombings and assassination attempts on Israeli figures.
The exclusive story will appear in this Friday's Haaretz Magazine, and Yousef's memoir, "Son of Hamas" (written with Ron Brackin) will be released next week in the United States. Yousef, 32, became a devout Christian 10 years ago and now lives in California after fleeing the West Bank in 2007 and going public with his conversion.
Posted by: lord garth ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Vince Ricardo: Son, do you remember when we use to play ball on Nagle Avenue?
Tommy: No dad, we talked about playing ball on Nagle Avenue, but we never did. The In-Laws (1979)
#4
Sheikh Hassan Yousef is one of the major leaders of the militant Palestinian organization Hamas. He was arrested in September 2005 for membership in a terrorist organization and is currently in Israeli prison.
Ooooh. I'll bet this makes things on the yard...awkward.
[Straits Times] A SAUDI man will stand trial in Indonesia on Wednesday accused of financing twin suicide bombings on luxury hotels in Jakarta last year that killed seven people.
Al Khelaiw Ali Abdullah, 'provided assistance and facilities to the terrorists by way of giving or lending money, things, or other wealth', according to a copy of the indictment obtained by AFP.
Prosecutor Totok Bambang is expected to argue that the defendant, who was arrested shortly after the July 17 attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels, provided the funding that pushed the plot into an operational phase. Attack ringleader Noordin Mohammed Top, who was killed by police in September, told one of the suicide bombers to prepare for death after the money arrived from the Middle East, the indictment says.
Police have said they are investigating whether the money came from Al-Qaeda, which has allegedly funded previous attacks linked to Noordin and regional terror group Jemaah Islamiah (JI).
Prosecutors said Ali Abdullah worked with Noordin accomplices Syaifudin Zuhri, who was killed by police in October, and the alleged driver, Amir Abdillah, to channel funds to the plotters. Abdillah is standing trial in separate proceedings for his alleged role in the attacks.
Another suspect, prominent Islamist blogger Mohammed Jibril Abdurahman, went on trial on Tuesday charged with concealing information about a terrorist act and falsifying a passport which he used to enter Saudi Arabia in September, 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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Iran's security officers grounded the plane carrying the ringleader of Jundullah terrorist group Abdolmalek Rigi in one of Iran's southern ports, informed sources say.
As initial reports indicated that Iran's most wanted man was captured on a flight en-route to Kyrgyzstan from Dubai, a source talking to Press TV on condition of anonymity confirmed that Rigi and one of his deputies were captured after their plane was brought down by security forces in an airport in the Iranian Persian Gulf city of Bandar Abbas.
Iran's intelligence minister says the leader of Jundallah terrorist group was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, in possession of a US-issued, forged Afghan passport.
Iran's Intelligence Minister Heydar Moslehi said Tuesday that the leader of Jundallah terrorist group was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, in possession of a US-issued, forged Afghan passport.
According to Moslehi, the country's intelligence apparatus had been tracking Rigi for five months prior to his Tuesday arrest.
The terrorist leader was at a US base in Afghanistan 24 hours before his capture, the minister added showing a photo of Rigi's presence at the Iranian base taken by Iran's intelligence officers.
According to the intelligence minister, Rigi also met with NATO military chief in Afghanistan in April 2008 and also had links with some EU member states, as well as visiting such countries.
He noted that Iran received no assistance from regional intelligence services in the capture of Rigi.
Jundullah, which has operated in Iran's Sistan-Baluchistan and Pakistan's Baluchistan provinces, has carried out a number of attacks against high profile Iranian targets, especially the government and security officials.
Jundallah is responsible for several terrorist attacks inside Iran. In October, the group claimed responsibility for a bombing that left over 40 people dead in Iran's southeast.
Jundallah was also behind a blast at a mosque in Zahedan that killed over 20 people in May 2009.
Rigi's brother Abdolhamid is also in Iran's custody. He has admitted that Jundallah receives orders from the US to carryout attacks in Iran.
An ABC News report in 2007 reported that the Jundullah terrorist group 'has been secretly encouraged and advised by American officials' to destabilize the government in Iran.
In another report in July, investigative journalist Seymour Hersh revealed that US Congressional leaders secretly agreed to George W. Bush's $400-million funding request last year for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran.
Observers say that it is through such covert funding that the US arms and finances anti-Iran terrorist groups such as the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) and Jundullah.
Other US intelligence agencies, such as the CIA, have their own secret and separate budgets to fund terrorist and insurgency operations against Iran and other nations that do not submit to America's will.
The group's ringleader, Abdolmalek Rigi, has described his terrorist cell as a 'nationalist movement' and denied any links to Washington. However, many Sunni Baluchis were among the victims of the most recent terrorist attack by Rigi's followers.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/24/2010 00:00 ||
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#2
What are we supposed to make of this? I've been following Iran for over 10 years now, and it does not appear to be factual. One, US govt doesn't just hand out covert details to anyone. Two, Iranian thugs will do anything to get someone say what the Guard wants them to say. Do you have any collaborating articles or links to them? Just askin'...
#3
Thanks Tipper. I just wish I knew for sure this is not one the people who has been helping us. I know Iranian ppl want to overthrow their govt by themselves, so we are not involved...eh hum...Have a nice day.
#4
Agent headed to Kyrgyztan by way of a US base in Afghanistan thence Dubai with an Iranian overflight (where talkative brother is being held) on commercial air with an associate in tow? Agent also photographed at an Iranian base by Iran's intelligence officers, while George Bush approves funding of covert opns.
Forgive me, but this story is moving a bit too fast for me.
#5
Isnt forcing a civilian airplane to land in a foreign country an act of war ?
I hope that Kirgizistan has some nukes left over from the Soviet era and that they are now very busy with arming the warheads and setting the coordinates for the first salvo.
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
02/24/2010 11:14 Comments ||
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#1
I saw thisa few days ago and of course besoeker beat too me too posting it but I'm glad someone has enough sense too. This man is great. Did you see the other guys getting all nervous? At the 1.50 mark they are actually pulling away from him when he starts hashing out historical dated and the leaders then. Also "I don't care about being popular" that was great.
Posted by: chris ||
02/24/2010 13:13 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I wonder what the panel is and who the members are besides Col. West.
#7
Congress will drive that good man insane should he win the seat. That or he is going to whip those bastards into line but quick. What a wonderfully honest, concise and accurate response.
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.
[Al Arabiya Latest] Sudan and Darfur's main rebel group signed a ceasefire agreement on Tuesday, although any final peace deal will still need to be backed by other armed factions.
[Maghrebia] The "principal author" of the abduction of three Spanish aid workers was transferred last Saturday to a Nouakchott prison, Journal Tahalil reported on Monday (February 22nd). 
[Al Arabiya Latest] Two Saudi soldiers thought to have been held by Yemen Shiite rebels were actually killed in battle, so the issue of Saudi prisoners is now closed, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam said on Tuesday "The last two missing Saudi soldiers were killed in battle," Abdel Salam told AFP.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il apparently had age spots removed from his face to look healthy but is becoming more and more fretful and dependent on old friends or family, the National Intelligence Service said in a report at the National Assembly's Intelligence Committee on Tuesday. 
A German man who admits training in terrorism and buying nearly a tonne of explosives to attack his homeland declared in a speech from the dock on Tuesday that he would never rejoin a group affiliated to Al Qaeda.
