Duty. Honour. Country.
May their memories bring comfort to those who mourn, and strengthen those who continue the fight, both out there and back home.
When Army officers arrived at Lt. Col. Thomas Belkofer's parents' home with news of his death in Afghanistan, his parents were incredulous. His second tour in the long war wasn't due to begin for another five months.
"My husband and I both said to the colonel who came here to tell us, 'There must be some mistake. He's not there. He's not going until October. It must be someone else,'" Sharon Belkofer, the 44-year-old lieutenant colonel's mother, told ABCNews.com.
But a suicide bomber detonated a minibus in a convoy carrying Belkofer and three other high-ranking officers in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday morning. The victims included two full colonels -- one was Canadian -- and two American lieutenant colonels who were on a two-week visit in advance of their upcoming deployments.
The Army identified the American colonel as John M. McHugh, 46, from West Caldwell, N.J., who was assigned to the United States Army Battle Command Training Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. One of McHugh's five children, Michael McHugh, was a soldier serving in Iraq and met his father's body in Kuwait to accompany him home. The other lieutenant colonel was identified as Paul R. Bartz, 43, of Waterloo, Wis.
The Canadian was identified as Col. Geoff Parker, 42, of the Royal Canadian Regiment. He was the highest-ranking Canadian to die in Afghanistan.
"My husband and I both said to the colonel who came here to tell us, 'There must be some mistake. He's not there. He's not going until October. It must be someone else,'" Sharon Belkofer, the 44-year-old lieutenant colonel's mother, told ABCNews.com.
But a suicide bomber detonated a minibus in a convoy carrying Belkofer and three other high-ranking officers in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Tuesday morning. The victims included two full colonels -- one was Canadian -- and two American lieutenant colonels who were on a two-week visit in advance of their upcoming deployments.
The Army identified the American colonel as John M. McHugh, 46, from West Caldwell, N.J., who was assigned to the United States Army Battle Command Training Program at Fort Leavenworth, Kan. One of McHugh's five children, Michael McHugh, was a soldier serving in Iraq and met his father's body in Kuwait to accompany him home. The other lieutenant colonel was identified as Paul R. Bartz, 43, of Waterloo, Wis.
The Canadian was identified as Col. Geoff Parker, 42, of the Royal Canadian Regiment. He was the highest-ranking Canadian to die in Afghanistan.
#3
In the "Feeding hand meet biting dog" category.
Due to the change in the Status of Forces (SOFA) agreement signed off on by the current administration, unless traveling MILAIR, one know needs a Visa to visit Iraq. Cost $100. USD. Departure requires another $100. Visa. The Iraqi gov't is attempting to impose the Visa rule on MILAIR paks as well. Not certain the Afghan gov't has caught on yet.
So much for arrivals and departures OPSEC. Thank you once again Mr. President for your support of the US military.
#5
Talked with one of the top intel guys in Iraq last week. the battle is for actionable intel, there. I suspect the same is true in Afghanistan. With cell phones, intel is nine digits away.
KABUL: Afghan police on Saturday said they had seized a major cache of nearly 300 rockets hidden on the outskirts of Kabul, which could have been used to attack the capital. Speaking during a news conference in Kabul, city police chief Abdul Rahman Rahman showed nearly 300 122mm rockets, telling reporters that "spy agencies of neighbouring countries" had been seeking hired guns to fire them.
What say the cognoscenti: Pakistan or Iran?
"Some elements were paid to relocate these rockets and intelligence gathered shows around Rs 20 million ($240,000) was promised to those who undertake the launching," Rahman said.
The discovery followed reports that Taliban insurgents were planning attacks on Kabul during a May 29 conference of more than 1,000 community and political representatives, Rehman said. "We had reports that Kabul might be under threat from the northeast and northwest sides of the city," he said.
The rockets were surplus from the Soviet deployment of Afghanistan in the 1980s, he said, adding that intelligence reports pointed to the involvement of foreign agencies in funding the movement of the weapons.
At that age, how many would actually fly, rather than blow up on the stand (incidentally killing all involved -- d'you s'pose Allah would pay out the promised Rs 20 mil?)
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Wantonly and randomly bombarding Kabul with rockets is Gulbuddin Hekmatyar's M.O., historically speaking.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/23/2010 14:12 Comments ||
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#2
ION ZEE NEWS/NEWS KERALA/TOPIX > TALIBAN [fighters] GET TWO LAKH PAK RUPEES FOR EACH NATO SOLDIER KILLED [ + also for any captured Mil Equipment]. USD 1000 = 660 POUNDS. Monies for same comes from Talib underworld activities + special "taxes" charged/Imposed on Locals.
ARTIC(S) > Approxi 213 NATO soldiers killed thus far = 350,000 Pounds collec by the Talib fighters???
KABUL - Three foreign soldiers and one civilian working with NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) were killed in two separate incidents in southern Afghanistan Saturday, the alliance said.
"Two ISAF service members and a civilian working with ISAF died following an insurgent attack in southern Afghanistan today," ISAF said, without disclosing the soldiers' nationality, in keeping with NATO policy.
"In a separate incident, also in southern Afghanistan, another ISAF service member died following an improvised explosive device (IED) attack," the statement, said referring to the Taliban insurgents' weapon of choice.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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U.S. soldiers and Afghan police early Saturday swarmed a dense Taliban stronghold of mud-brick homes on the western shoulder of Kandahar, conducting searches and promising aid in a preview of a planned summer campaign to control the insurgent movement's spiritual home.
Operation Kokaran was named for the neighborhood where the Taliban have assassinated government officials and built infiltration routes. The U.S. goal is to clear out insurgents, build up local governance and bring in reconstruction projects.
Only a few shots were fired during the most comprehensive military-civilian operation in Kandahar since President Obama in December ordered 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan. It was the first time civilian aid and reconstruction teams have taken part in conceiving and planning a military clearing operation here, U.S. officials said.
Hours later, insurgents launched a rocket, mortar and ground attack on the main base used by foreign troops, located at Kandahar's air field a few miles east of Kokaran. Explosions wounded several troops and civilian workers, said Capt. Scott Costen, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization spokesman at the base.
In Kandahar, more than 200 U.S. military police and infantry troops backed 200 to 250 Afghan police officers in door-to-door searches that began before dawn in the tight warren of living compounds in the city's District 8, which is home to about 75,000 people and includes Kokaran. U.S. commanders say the Taliban exercises more autonomy in the district than anywhere else in the city.
Previous sweeps failed to dislodge insurgents because there weren't enough troops and little aid to elicit local support. This time, U.S. and Afghan commanders promised enough military muscle and development aid to make a difference.
"The key to making it stick is the governance portion, showing the locals that what they saw today is here to stay," said Army Capt. Michael Thurman, commander of the 293rd Military Police Company, who led the ground operation along with an Afghan police chief. "It's a long process, and today was only the start."
Insurgents, alerted by chugging armored vehicles and the thump of helicopters, disappeared or blended into the population. The only shots fired were at four men fleeing across a field. In an area infested with roadside bombs, there were no explosions. The only casualty was a U.S. soldier whose hand was crushed by an armored vehicle's heavy door.
No American soldiers entered homes. Afghan female police officers, their faces covered by scarves, searched compounds. Male police questioned residents, confiscating guns from several men who failed to produce permits.
A development team invited local elders to a shura, or meeting, on Monday to discuss aid projects and security. They will be asked about community needs "so that we don't dictate to them what they get," a Canadian civil affairs officer said. The lieutenant identified himself only by his first name, Alex, for security reasons.
Residents of Kokaran and much of the rest of the district have few modern facilities. Raw sewage and garbage flow through open channels carved into rutted dirt pathways. Though it is part of Kandahar city, the area is largely rural, dotted with pomegranate and apricot groves, and surrounded by small plots of wheat, corn and tomatoes.
The Taliban operates a shadow government and court system. There is little police or official government presence, other than patrols and checkpoints, which are to be bolstered beginning with Saturday's operation.
With a buildup of troops and civilian aid and reconstruction specialists, the U.S. and its allies are attempting to wrest control of Kandahar from the Taliban this year, before American forces begin a gradual withdrawal in summer 2011.
A U.S. government official called Saturday's operation "an early snapshot" of the effort here, code-named Operation Hamkari, or Cooperation. Kandahar is the spiritual home of the Taliban, a largely Pashtun movement that governed Afghanistan until the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.
The U.S. strategy is based on the "clear, hold and build" model first used by American forces in Iraq and most recently in the city of Marja, in Helmand province, west of Kandahar. U.S. troops in February largely cleared Marja of insurgents after heavy fighting. But they have struggled to keep the Taliban from reestablishing control, and a functioning local government has not emerged.
After Marja, top U.S. commanders outlined a similar citywide military operation this summer for Kandahar, a much bigger area. But they have since backtracked, and now describe a series of military-civil operations to clear Kandahar and environs in stages.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Quite a busy night it was, lots of IDF and a few folks inside the wire. Yet again, Al-Q or whoever they were got hammered.
Fighting between Islamist al Shabaab rebels and Somali troops in the capital Mogadishu has killed at least 20 people and wounded 30 this weekend, a human rights group and medical officers said Sunday.
Residents said al Shabaab insurgents have sought to advance toward the presidential palace for the past four days but government troops and African Union peacekeepers have been trying to repel them.
"More than 20 people died and scores of others were injured Saturday and Sunday," Ali Yasin Gedi, the vice chairman of Mogadishu-based Elman rights group, told Reuters. "The government and Islamists are engaged in heavy shelling and mortars have landed in residential areas in the city."
Residents in the north of Mogadishu said government troops and rebels fought fiercely in Shibis neighborhood and that both sides suffered several defeats in back and forth shelling. Ali Muse, an ambulance service coordinator, told Reuters at least 30 people had been wounded in the past two days of clashes. "Most of the people were wounded in and around Bakara market," he said.
A spokesman for the AU AMISOM force in Mogadishu said they would attack if al Shabaab, which has declared loyalty to al Qaeda, came too close. "If the rebels cross the red line we'll act and they should know that," Major Barigye Ba-hoku told Reuters. "The red line means any situation that can bring insecurity to the government institutions or our troops, and that is our mandate. We shall chase them if they come close," he said.
Sheikh Ahmed is currently at an international U.N.-backed conference in Turkey at which U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said international support for the government was the only chance to stabilize the chaotic country.
Kenya, which has twice been hit in al Qaeda linked attacks, views the situation in Somalia as threatening regional stability and has trained Somali youths to join their government's offensive against al Shabaab. However, it has also been a haven for militants and Kenyan police said Sunday they had arrested two people they believed were training Kenyan youths for battle in Somalia and beyond.
Leo Nyongesa, head of police in the Coast province, said they had also seized jihad manuals, firearms, assorted military uniforms and recruitment and training manuals. "We have arrested two suspects who are believed to be ringleaders in a recruitment exercise involving smuggling out local youth to fight in other countries," Nyongesa said.
"They will be charged in court tomorrow for being in possession of illegal firearms and questionable activities as we seek to unearth the extent of the recruitment in Coast region."
More than 100 former Bundeswehr soldiers will soon intervene in the civil war in Somalia, according to information from NDR Info and tagesschau.de. A German company has signed a contract with a Somali politician. Experts warn of a "bloodbath".
Until now, firms like Blackwater, Armor Group or Aegis are synonyms for modern mercenaries. German companies do not really play any role in the global market of privatized war. But now the German "Asgaard German Security Group" wants to compete against the big ones: at the end of last year the company, based in Telgte near Münster, made a contract with a Somali politician who does not recognize the internationally accepted transitional government. More than 100 men will be sent by Asgaard to the Horn of Africa, to bring Galadid Abdinur Ahmed Darman to power.
"The contract includes extensive and exclusive tasks and areas of competence: from strategic consulting and planning for security to operational implementation and execution of all measures necessary to ensure safety and restore peace," it said in a Asgaard Press Release of last year's end. CEO Thomas Kaltegärtner, a former sergeant major of the army, said to NDR Info and tagesschau.de that it is about militarily Personal Security Detail, property security and convey protection in the high-risk country Somalia. "In the event of cases, that is if an attack on the patrol, the convoy is taking place, this team responds immediatly. It has been taught."
Kaltegärtner further explained that the contract had a term of five years and he will fulfill the contract with former army soldiers: "We are a German company, with German employees - 99.9 percent." In total Kaltegärtner expects a man's strength in "clear 3-digit range." A first team had already traveled to Somalia.
The Asgaard-men shall support Darman and train its military. The 57-year-old describes himself as "elected President of the Republic of Somalia" who wants to bring peace and stability to the country. At the same time speaks Darman from the internationally accepted transitional government of any legitimacy.
Germans to fight alongside Darman's troops. Darman confirmed the contract with Asgaard and stressed the importance of the Germans for his plans. There is a wide range of tasks: security, development of our forces and our operations. We are fighting a war, as there is urban warfare. They should train our military. At the same time they will help us in the fight against piracy. And they receive orders to fight as well. They will fight together with our units. "
Annette Weber of the SWP and Dustin Dehèz of the Düsseldorf Institute for Foreign and Security Policy emphasized that Darman had been played no real part in the Somali politics. But at the same time they warned of an impending danger. 'When a new armed player joins the game, it has certainly no peaceful impact ", said Weber. Her colleague Dehéz said that in the capital Mogadishu Darman will meet alone three armed groups and the peacekeeping force of African Union (AMISON), which support the transitional government. "If the possibility exists that Darman is actually seeking a military confrontation, with e.g. AMISON, it would certainly lead to a bloodbath," said Dehéz.
What makes the contract between Asgaard and Darman particularly volatile is that the European Union trains Somali security forces of the transnational government in Uganda. 13 Bundeswehr soldiers are participating in the mission "EUTM" as well. For Weber it is clear, "if a German company forms a Somali militia, and supports them, then that is certainly against the interests of Germany."
But the Foreign Office will have known nothing of the contract. "The Foreign Office is not aware concerning the activities of the company Asgaard German Security Group," said a spokesman for Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. There would be no cooperation. The Federal Ministry of Defence announced that it has no contractual relations or have maintained relations with Asgaard. But the issue of ex-military soldiers in war zones on behalf of security companies will haunt the Federal Government in the future.
#2
Well, Baron Von Steuben was instrumental in the training of the Continental Army in the embryonic days of the United States of America - so I don't see how America can come down against Asgaard - but - I'm sure that Obambi can come up with some reason to disparage this effort.
Agitating villagers confined a team of Rapid Action Battalion to a house for over five hours early yesterday for allegedly trying to implicate a local businessman in an illegal arms possession charge. Expect the RAB to return at about 3:30 am to teach the uppity villagers a lesson ...
The villagers of Natuardanga village in Sadar upazila confined the Rab-6 personnel as the team led by Maj Kamruzzaman went to search the house of Shafiqul Islam, owner of a shrimp enclosure, around 12:30am. Danged rules of engagement!
Shafiq, also organising secretary of Shibpur union unit Awami League, claims when the Rab men attempted to raid his house, he urged them to do it in presence of the villagers. "I dare you, I double dare you", in his best Samuel L. Jackson voice.
He alleges the Rab members cut the balcony grills to enter the house and laid three shutter guns inside. As in Soviet Russia, in Sadar upzila, the shutter guns find you! Can't be true: everyone knows that there isn't more than one shutter gun ...
On information, hundreds of villagers surrounded the house and confined the Rab men to it around 2:30am. Sarge: Ain't the shootout s'posed to begin about now? SHADDUP!
A team of Satkhira Sadar police led by Officer-in-Charge Hashem Khan arrived on the scene around 5:30am but could not ease the situation. Another Rab team of 12 members also reached the spot to help the police. Hundreds of villagers, a worthless RAB team reinforcement, and no shootout; what's a band of thugs to do?
After over two hours of talks between the villagers and the Rab-police joint force, Maj Kamruzzaman came out of the house and reportedly regretted the raid and misunderstanding. "We are few; Paleface are many. I counsel peace..."
At around 8:00 in the morning the protesters lifted the siege and allowed the Rab men to leave the place. Sorry, folks. No necktie party today!
Kamruzzaman told reporters they conducted the raid acting on a tip off and recovered three arms from the house.
On the other hand, Shafiq said he had seen some unknown people enter the balcony with the Rab men and leave the arms there. Did the unknowns look like Old Biplobis or New Biplobis ...
Deputy Assistant Director of Rab-6 Delwar Hossain filed a general diary with Sadar police regarding the "arms recovery". We don't need a whole diary, Delwar, a report will do ...
OC Hashem Khan said they would investigate the matter and take proper action against those involved. Translation: RAB will be drilling in infiltration and survellance tactics for a month.
SANTIAGO: A Chilean court ordered back to jail on Saturday a Pakistani man who had been charged and briefly detained after traces of explosives were found on him as he visited the US embassy, officials said.
The court designated 28-year-old Mauhannas Saif ur Rehnab Khan a danger to society' and revoked his freedom after he was released last week on probation following charges of illegally possessing weapons, but not of violating an anti-terror law.
The court was responding to an appeal filed by prosecutors on Thursday against Khan's release that asked he be placed under preventative detention.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Nine people died in drug and gang related violence in northern Mexico, which included an executed poll worker in far southern Chihuahua, and a botched attack on a police jail in Hermosillo, Sonora, say Mexican news reports.
This murder represents the second time a Duarte election worker had been murdered in three days and a third violent event in the election cycle in less than a week.
Mexican elections for statewide offices are set to take place in July. Duarte is currently in the lead in polls against his opponent Carlos Borruel of Partido Acción Nacional (PAN ).
An unidentified man was found shot to death and hung by his feet over a bridge early Saturday morning in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news reports. Investigators at the scene are checking as to whether the victim was a kidnapped Mexican federal agent.
The victim was found hung by the handrail on the bridge near Juan Escutia and Tecnológico Avenues. A message was left with the body, roughly translated: "Welcome, here we are waiting." The victim was found with his hands bound and he was wrapped in a blanket.
Two employees are a bar in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, were assassinated in front of bar patrons late Friday night according to Mexican press accounts. Silvia Camacho, 40, and Caesar Peñaloza, 36, were working at the "3006" bar near Fuentes Mares and Octava streets when a group of armed men walked armed with rifles and opened fired on the two victims.
Witnesses say ten armed hooded men arrived at the bar from five light trucks, and murdered the two without saying a word to anyone.
Two victims were found dead on the Horcasitas to Delicias highway around Km. Marker 199. No other details were available.
An unidentified man was shot to death following a car chase in Juarez Saturday, according to Mexican news reports. Witnesses say the pursuit began at Perimetral Carlos Amaya Street and ended near Los Aztecas and Tetzalez streets where the victim crashed into a parked SUV.
Witnesses say the victim futilely attempted to avoid the shooting by ducking between the front seats of his Dodge Shadow.
An unidentified man was shot late Saturday afternoon in the Diego Lucero district of Chihuahua, Chihuahua, according to Mexican news reports. Residents on Carolina del Sur de Quintas del Sol street where the shooting took place reported hearing numerous shots.
A kidnapped lawyer was found dead in a coastal city in western Sonora, say Mexican press reports. Jorge Obed Leyva Castro, 32, was found in a shallow grave in Puerto Peñasco-Sonoyta. He was reported kidnapped April 20th. He worked at the Junta de Conciliación y Arbitraje for the city.
Investigators say he was shot in the head,. Spent rifle casings for an AK-47 was found in the grave.
Municipal police had been searching for another missing police officer, Porfirio Espindo Väzquez, when they came upon the grave. Väzquez was reported missing May 8th.
Police say the pair intended to attack an agent at a police substation, but were intercepted and placed under arrest. A third unidentified suspect managed to escape arrest.
#3
The average is about 10 killed per day so far this week in the five northern states which Spanish language newspapers I can check on line, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Chihuahua, Coahuila and Sonora, the great majority from Chihuahua.
We're doing a better job of covering Northern Mexico than we first started, so we will see in a month or so if this is getting worse or better.
Tomorrow a translated story will be posted at rantburg.com that will finally put paid to the idea that what is going on in Mexico is indeed terrorism by any definition.
#4
Tijuana seems to have settled down a bit - either the drug cartel wars are over and consolidating or the Mex Feds have taken a stronger hand. The worst violence seems to be over...for now
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/23/2010 18:55 Comments ||
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#5
Thank you, Badanov. Or should I say gracias, Senor?
Pyongyang, May 21 (KCNA) -- A spokesman for the DPRK Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Friday denouncing the United States for pulling up the DPRK, absurdly asserting that the sinking of a south Korean warship was an attack made by north Korea and challenge to the international peace and security.
This betrays the intention of the U.S. to stir up the atmosphere of international pressure upon the DPRK by backing the Lee Myung Bak group of traitors of south Korea, the statement said, and went on:
This indicates that the U.S. is invariably pursuing a hostile policy towards the DPRK to isolate and stifle it.
As the DPRK had already clarified, it has nothing to do with the case. The DPRK has always abided by international law but the U.S. made such absurd assertion which reminds one of a thief crying "Stop the thief!"
The fabrication of the case and the "results of the investigation into it" are, in the final analysis, nothing but a farce orchestrated by the group of traitors with the approval of the U.S. and under its patronage.
The U.S. claimed that there was hardly any side which was ready to do so except north Korea and that the cause of the sinking of the warship was most likely a torpedo attack by north Korea even before the announcement of the results of the investigation, paying lip-service to scientific and objective investigation. From the very day the case occurred, the U.S. branded the DPRK as a "suspect" and led the investigation into the case in that direction.
Prompted by its miscalculation that the DPRK would yield to its sanctions, the U.S. chose to shun dialogue and negotiations under the signboard of strategic patience. The DPRK and the U.S. were in negotiations over the issue of holding another round of talks in New York in the wake of the Pyongyang bilateral talks held in December of 2009. This was part of the efforts to finally revive the framework of the six-party talks according to the third phase proposal made by China, the host country of the talks.
But the Obama administration of the Democratic Party which was defeated by the Republican Party in the by-election to the Senate that took place in January after it was criticized for being weak in the foreign policy again made a switchover to a hard-line policy, totally derailing even the process for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula by linking the DPRK with the above-said case.
It is the intention of the present U.S. administration to suffocate the DPRK politically and economically by internationalizing the sanctions against the latter and use south Korea as a servant for executing its Asian strategy. The U.S., however, should know that it is not so easy to pull the wool over the eyes of the world people.
They vividly remember upbeat and "persuasive" U.S. Secretary of State Powell reading top secret information about the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq for 70 minutes at the meeting of the UN Security Council held in February of 2003. It was with such unprecedented lie that the U.S. justified an armed invasion of Iraq and it is still not free from such disgraceful fallout. Should the U.S. tell another lie on the Korean Peninsula and let its running dogs strain the situation, they will have to pay a price incomparably dearer than what the U.S. has done for the Iraqi war.
The U.S. and its vassal forces will witness only the reality of prospering socialist Korea quite contrary to what they had dreamed for such a long time.
It is the invariable policy of the DPRK to realize the denuclearization of the peninsula and protect the stability and peace of the region but it will not allow any slightest act to infringe upon its sovereignty and right to existence.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
2010-2012 > NOT UNSC or International Sanctions, but how POTUS BAMMER responds, espec Militarily, to Pyongyang admitting it was a deliberate + unilateral NK attack agz SK.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/23/2010 12:31 Comments ||
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#4
Won't be long and Zero will apologize to the dear leader and the world for the boat being in the way of his torpedo, after all the boat could have steared away, and offer him an aliance in the new world order.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/23/2010 13:47 Comments ||
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#5
TOPIX > US, CHINA AT ODDS [National, Mil? response]OVER CHEONAN REPORT [by SoKor], + SOUTH KOREA TO TAKE CHEONAN INCIDENT TO UN.
* WMF > US-WORLD HAS REACHED A DECISIVE POINT ON THE IRAN, NORTH KOREA NUCLEAR ISSUE. IRAN'S NUCLEAR FUEL EXCHANGE DEAL WID TURKEY, BRAZIL + DPRK'S NUCLEAR FUSION CLAIMS WILL NOT STOP THEIR DEV OF POTENT NUCLEAR WEAPONS IRREGARDLESS OF US-UN LED SANCTIONS.
* SAME > US NEEDS A FAKE/FORGED SECOND WAR AGZ NORTH KOREA TO STIMULATE ITS WEAK ECONOMY, + DEFEAT OR DESTROY CHINA'S RISE TO SUPERPOWER.
* SAME > PHOTOS OF ROK/SK-ALLEGED NORTH KOREAN TORPEDO THAT SANK THE CHEONAN SHOWS A WEST GERMAN MOTOR, NOT A CHINESE OR NORTH KOREAN-MADE, COPIED MOTOR.
* SAME > KOREA WEEK" MEDIA: NO HISTORICAL BASIS EXISTS FOR ANY REGIONAL OR COUNTRY "CHINA THREAT" VEE KOREA(S). KOREAN INSTABILITY AND REGIONAL WARFARE STEMS/OCCURS MORE FROM EXTERNAL OR FOREIGN VENTURES TO ATTACK KOREA OR CHINA, NOT FROM CHINA'S HISTOR INFLUENCE OR DOMINATION OF THE KOREAN PENINSULA.
* SAME > JAPAN TBS TV MEDIA: EXTRAPOLATED TOKYO CENSUS INDICATES THAT THE NUMBER OF CHINESE PERSONS LIVING IN TOKYO IS NOW 16.0MILYUHN, UP FROM 8.5MILYUHN BACK IN YEAR 2000. AT CURRENT GROWTH RATES, THE NUMBER OF CHINESE IN TOKYO WILL EXCEED 20.0MILYUHN BY 2015.
#6
OOOOPSIES, forgot SAME > THE ULTIMATE PURPOSE OF CHINESE MILITARY, POLITICAL, + ADVISORY FORCES IN NORTH KOREA IS TO CONTROL NORTH KOREA'S ARMY + KEEP NORTH KOREA FROM WAGING WAR.
and
SAME > THE 1950 INVASION OF SOUTH KOREA BY THE NORTH INDIR SAVED TAIWAN FROM BEING INVADED BY MAINLAND CHINA/MAO ZEDONG AFTER THE DEFEAT OF CHIANG KAI-SHEK IN THE POST-1945 CHINESE CIVIL WAR. SUPPORT OF SOVIET LEADER STALIN FOR CHINA'S MASSIVE YALU INTERVENTION [agz MacArthur + UN Command]IN ORDER TO KEEP MAO FROM EXPANDING THE CHIN COMMUNIST REVOLUTION INTO SOVIET CENTRAL ASIA-FAR EAST WHILE THE USSR WAS STILL RECOVERING FROM WW2.
#7
IOW, as per Soviet-Communist-vs-Chinese- Communist, + USSR-vs-China geopol, STALIN covertly suppor the pre-Pearl Harbor JAPANESE INVASION OF FUTURE COMRADE-IN-MARXISM CHINA, at least as long as Japan's Kwangtung Army stayed inside Chin's borders; + again in 1950 agz the US + MacArthur.
NOT FOR COMMOM IDEO, BUT TO KEEP THE USSR NUMERO UNO = SOLE BIG BOSS IN THE GLOBAL COMMIE UNIVERSE.
PARIS - A false bomb alert forced the evacuation Saturday of a Paris exposition hall hosting a Moroccan real estate fair, police said.
Around 2 pm (1200 GMT) the organisers of the trade fair received a phone call saying a bomb had been planted in the Porte de Versailles exhibition hall in southern Paris, forcing the evacuation of some 4,000 visitors.
After a search of the facility found no bomb, police allowed visitors back into the biggest Moroccan real estate fair abroad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Anwar al-Awlaki, 39, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Yemen with no formal Islamic training or study, has released a new al-Qaeda video Sunday wherein he advocates the killing of American civilians and urged all Muslims serving in the US military to follow the example of Major Nidal Hassan who stands accused of killing 13 of his comrades.
The video of al-Awlaqi was released by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula on jihadist websites according to the US monitoring group SITE. In it he says : "What Nidal Hassan did was heroic and I call on all Muslims serving in the US army to follow his path. Nidal Hassan is one of my students and I am honoured by that. In a wonderful action he killed American soldiers on their way to Afghanistan and Iraq."
He then added : Hasan, who is of Palestinian origin, was "defending his nation." Major Nidal Hasan is the US army psychiatrist who is being accused of having opened fire on colleagues at Fort Hood, Texas.
Al-Awlaki then calls the failed attempt by Nigerian student, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, to blow up a Detroit-bound passenger plane with explosives last Christmas, "very successful even though it did not even kill anyone."
"Those who were to be killed in the plane are nothing compared to ... a million women and children in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan (whom he accused the US military of having killed). We must treat them the same way and attack them just like they've attacked us."
Moreover that the targeting of American civilians is legitimate in that they had "participated in the war because they have elected this (American) government".
"If the situation remains we will see new Nidal Hasans appearing," Awlaki said in the tape. "These American soldiers on their way to Afghanistan and Iraq, we will kill them."
Asked by an interviewer if killing U.S. soldiers would have a negative impact on Muslims in the United States, Awlaki said defending Muslims in Iraq and Afghanistan was a larger priority. "Is protecting the reputation of Muslims in America more important than bombs dropping on millions of Muslims elsewhere?"
#6
Since 9/11 we have profiled this idiot. In VA, Baltimore, San Diego, he roamed freely after the attack. We have called for his death, over and over. Neither Bush's OGA's or Zero's went after him. We have allowed this. Time to end it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/23/2010 10:50 Comments ||
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#7
Yeah, Anwar, jihad's great as long as you don't have to do any of the heavy lifting, right? Plenty of Islamic retards around to do the dirty work while you hide in your tent in Yemen, right, brave jihadi warrior?
#8
It's being reported he liked him some hooker sex worker action when he was still living stateside. Don't know if it's true or not, but the 9/11 crew did visit strip clubs. Just sayin'...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
05/23/2010 13:53 Comments ||
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#9
OK, Awlacky, we have a warrant and you're under arrest. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can be written down and used against you in a court of law. If you do not have an attorney, some liberal terror-hack will beg, plead, and whore his mother for the opportunity to defend you.
Report to the nearest American consulate with your hands up.
#10
We'll either nab him or kill him. Either way there will be screaming.
Posted by: Charles ||
05/23/2010 14:16 Comments ||
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#11
Guess it would be difficult for Anwar al-Awlaki to tell the truth - that it was really his Muslim terrorist buddies doing the majority of the killings in Iraq & Afghanistan. That it's the Muslim terrorists who hide among women and children like the cowards they are, when committing their terrorist deeds.
Posted by: Mike Hunt ||
05/23/2010 14:24 Comments ||
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#12
This lion of islam was born in Las Cruces, NM. It has been reported that two of the 911 hijackers stayed with this weasel in San Diego when he was an imam at a local mosque. He managed to soak up about $20,000 is scholarship money while going to school here. For some reason he was able to slip in and out of this country and go to London and Yemen without too much difficulty. There was a warrant for his arrest but it was pulled back by a U.S. judge. Hopefully there is predator with his name on. I hope we are looking carefully at the rest of the muslims in the U.S. as well. Maybe it's just me but it seems like there are not too many muslims willing to live in peace and assimilate into the larger culture of residence.
#13
Hopefully there is predator with his name on
But wot 'bout his yuman rites? Keith Olbermann is not going to be happy with that kind of talk, in fact his head will probably explode .
NEW YORK: The Times Square bomb suspect claimed during his lengthy interrogation that he received financial support from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan for his failed one-man operation, two US law enforcement officials close to the probe said on Friday.
Faisal's become quite a chatterbox, hasn't he ...
Investigators believe funding for Faisal Shahzad in the US was channelled through an underground money transfer network known as "hawala", the officials said. But, one official told The Associated Press, "there's a belief that no one in the US who got him the funds was aware of what they were for". Right. And the whole thing had nothing to do with Islam.
The Pakistani-American was the only person in the US who was "operational" in the plot to attack Times Square with a crude gasoline-and-propane car bomb on May 1, the official said. The attempted attack set off a massive probe involving hundreds of federal agents in several cities. Nearly three weeks later, investigators have so far concluded that once he was funded, Shahzad acted alone, the officials said.
Three men were arrested last week in New England on immigration charges as authorities followed the money trail. Authorities said they were suspected of providing money for Shahzad; a prosecutor said one had Shahzad's cell phone number and his first name written on an envelope in his apartment. All have denied knowing anything about the plot.
The investigation's main asset has been Shahzad. After he waived his right to an initial court appearance and agreed to cooperate after his May 3 arrest, a special interrogation team of FBI, CIA and Defence Department investigators was brought in to grill him in a Brooklyn hotel room, an official said.
The team was there to "build his trust", the official said. "But he was never really worried about talking. It was clear from the start, he wanted to."
Shahzad told investigators he was "supported" by the TTP, which initially claimed responsibility for the bombing in three separate videos, then later denied any role.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Tehreek-e-Taliban = Student Union of Taliban
apparently, they began an operational relationship with Al Q sometime in late 2008 or 2009
The main advantage that the TTP brings to Al Q is close communications with thousands of ethnic Pakistanis (AlQ mostly has arab speakers as its mules, stooges and operatives)
Posted by: lord garth ||
05/23/2010 0:24 Comments ||
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#2
We've seen Paks providing cheap muscle to al-Q since before there was a formal 'al-Q.' There are actually about a dozen "TTPs", including one for Punjab and another for Balochistan. They replace (and include) the confusion of Harkats and Jaishs and Hezbs and Lashkars that ISI was maintaining as of 2001. What's been surprising has been the apparent influence of Pak tribals within al-Q.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/23/2010 8:13 Comments ||
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#3
Are the liberals still claiming there was no link with Taliban? Are they still hoping it was some right-wing radical white supremacist? This is anyone who questions or disagrees with the current administration, i.e. most of the people.
#4
look who's up and around at #2. WB, Fred. Hope you're doing better!
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/23/2010 9:53 Comments ||
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#5
What's been surprising has been the apparent influence of Pak tribals within al-Q.
Not surprising at all -- like the kid in the mail room, they've started at the bottom and worked their way up. They're not CEOs yet but give them time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 10:46 Comments ||
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#6
They love to brag when they get bagged, don't they?
Enjoy Florence, dickhead.
KARACHI: National Assembly Interior Affairs Standing Committee Chairman Abdul Qadir Patel on Saturday resigned as the chairman and his National Assembly seat after the murder of his coordinator and a former councilor. Meanwhile, Pakistan People's Party postponed its scheduled Peace Rally' against target killings in view of the incident.
According to details, Eidi Amin Khaskheli Patel's coordinator and Abdul Ghani Wachani a former PPP union councilor were returning home on a motorcycle early on Saturday when two unidentified men on motorcycles fired at them near the Saeedabad Police Training Centre. The culprits managed to escape despite security being on high alert.
SHO Shaukat Zaman said, We shifted the victims to hospital and later handed their bodies to their families.'
Following the incident, PPP activists took to the streets and blocked the road by burning tyres. They chanted slogans against some political parties and demanded the government bring the culprits to justice. Some activists also blamed the party's provincial leadership for failure to protect its workers.
After hearing about the incident, Patel rushed to the Civil Hospital and tendered his resignation publicly, saying he could not work after the murder of his colleagues, but would continue working as a party activist.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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QUETTA: A doctor was shot dead at the Tea Cross area of Sirki Road on Saturday. According to sources, Dr Qamar Hussain, a pathologist at the Sandman Hospital in Quetta, was driving his car to the hospital when unidentified armed men, riding a motorcycle, intercepted his vehicle and opened indiscriminate firing at him resulting in his instant death. His friend Murtaza, travelling along him, was also injured while the assailants managed to flee. Police reached the spot and shifted his body to the Civil Hospital, Quetta where he was announced dead by the doctors while Murtaza also succumbed to his injuries.
The victim, who was rushed to the hospital, received bullet wounds on his upper torso, which caused his instant death,' hospital sources said.
The victim's body was handed over to his family. Police termed the incident as an incident of target killing. The victim belonged to Punjab but had settled in Quetta since several decades.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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MINGORA: Unidentified gunmen shot dead a member of a local lashkar in Swat, sources said on Saturday. According to the sources, the assailants opened indiscriminate fire on Ahmad Jan in Gatshoor area of Matta tehsil, killing him on the spot. The culprits fled the scene after the attack. Following the incident, security forces imposed a curfew in the area from Vinai to Piyochar and launched a search operation to apprehend the criminals. However, no arrest had been made when this report was filed.
Meanwhile, the local peace jirga decided to confiscate the properties of the Taliban who failed to surrender within the now expired deadline. Sources said that the decision was made at a meeting of the jirga held on Saturday, which also decided that houses of the absconding Taliban would be demolished.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR: Suspected terrorists blew up a girls' primary school on the outskirts of the provincial metropolis on Friday night, police said on Saturday. A police official told Daily Times that the assailants planted timed explosives close to Government Girls' Primary School Ferozabad, in Matani police precincts to blow up the building.
Meanwhile, a bulletriddled body was found in Daag Hasan Khel area of the district. The body was identified as Qareebullah, 21. The deceased's brother, Farhatullah, said the family was informed that Qareebullah's body was lying in Daag Hasan Khel area, adding that they did not have enmity with anyone.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Right, under Muhammad's example, pre-pubescent girls are for marrying, not for schooling.
Posted by: American Delight ||
05/23/2010 19:30 Comments ||
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#2
The deceaseds brother, Farhatullah, said the family was informed that Qareebullahs body was lying in Daag Hasan Khel area, adding that they did not have enmity with anyone.
One shot, an accident maybe. "Bullet riddled"? I'd rethink the emnity thing, Farhatullah...
Pakistani authorities have arrested six people on suspicion of ties to a Pakistani-American being held for the failed car bombing in New York's Times Square. Officials say one of the people arrested was Salman Ashraf Khan, the co-owner of a catering company that services high-end functions in Islamabad, including embassy receptions.
The exact reason for Khan's arrest remains unclear. Khan's father, Rana Ashraf Khan, is the other co-owner of the catering company. The father told reporters Saturday his son had no ties with the attempted Times Square bomber, but may have met Faisal Shahzad at a function.
Faisal pro'ly wasn't looking to hire a caterer ...
This week, U.S. President Barack Obama's national security advisor, General James Jones, and CIA Director Leon Panetta met with Pakistani leaders to discuss the failed May 1 bombing in New York City.
The U.S government has said Shahzad, a Pakistani-born American citizen, received training and support from the Pakistani Taliban. Shahzad has admitted to the plot.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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The U.S. military in Iraq says two American soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the country's north.
A statement issued Saturday said one soldier died Friday near Mosul, about 370 kilometers north of Baghdad. The statement gave no other details about how the soldier died.
A second statement said a U.S. soldier died Thursday of injuries sustained in a non-combat related incident. The military says it is investigating both deaths.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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DIALA / Aswat al-Iraq: Three Iraqi army soldiers and two policemen were wounded on Saturday, when a roadside bomb went off while they were attempting to defuse it, northeast of Baaquba city.
The incident occurred today in a village around 180 km northeast of Baaquba,' a local police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
He noted that all injuries were admitted to hospital, and that one of them is serious.
Baaquba, the capital city of Diala province, lies 57 km northeast of Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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BASRA / Aswat al-Iraq: Police forces in Basra captured 11 wanted persons and suspects and defused two improvised explosive devices during search operations in different areas of the province on Saturday, a local security source said.
Policemen launched search raids in different areas of the province, arresting seven wanted on criminal charges and four suspects others,' the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
The raiding force also seized 11 mortar shells and 10 hand-grenades and defused two IEDs,' the source added.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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Terrorists Suspected insurgents shot and killed five people, including a pregnant Muslim woman, in the latest bout of violence in Thailand's troubled southern-most provinces, local police said on Sunday.
A 47-year-old Buddhist army nurse was killed on Saturday morning in a drive-by shooting while she was riding to work at a military base in Pattani province. She was taken to a hospital where she later died.
Two Muslim women, one aged 52 and the other a 25-year-old who was six months' pregnant, were both shot in the head while they were riding home from a market in Yala province. Both died instantly, the police said.
Two men, aged 25 and 27, were killed later on Saturday by terrorists militants on a pick-up truck on a road in Narathiwat province, they added.
DAMASCUS - Syrian authorities have arrested a leading member of a banned Kurdish party, a Syrian rights group said in a statement on Saturday, and pleaded for his release.
Teacher and party official Mohammed Saadun, 50, was arrested by the state security services' on Thursday in the northeastern town of Qameshli, the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. Saadun, a father of seven, is on the political committee of the banned Azadi Kurdish party, the statement said.
The reasons for his arrest and his place of detention are still unknown,' the Observatory said, urging the Syrian authorities to free Saadun and three members of the Azadi party who had been previously detained.'
The reasons for his arrest are perfectly clear. The stated reasons for his arrest are not known ...
It said Mustafa Bakr, Mohammed Omar and Saadun Sheikho were sentenced to three years in prison in November 2009 on charges of undermining the dignity of the state, weakening national sentiment and fuelling racial strife.'
Assad should have little dignity at all, but perhaps he and his toadies are just as twitchy about it as any other set of thugs ...
The group urged the government to free all prisoners of conscience being held in Syrian jails,' and to pass a modern law regulating the activities of political parties and civil society groups in Syria.'
Kurds represent around nine percent of Syria's population of 20 million.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/23/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
WORLD BULLETIN > IRAQI KURDS OKAY WITH TURKEY, IRAN ATTACKS ON PKK/PJAK.
* SAME > TURKEY, RUSSIA ASSEBBLE AND "AXIS OF OUTSIDERR [Caucasus Security & Stability Platform].
* WAFF > KOSOVO PM THRACI/TRCAI WANTS ACTIVE TURKISH ROLE IN BALKANS, + COSCO EYE MORE INVESTMENTS IN GREECE [Maritime-related Activities, Logistics to start with].
#2
In early 2005, Collins commented that she had rejoined the Conservative Party, stating, "The Labour Party doesn't care about the British people." (Wikipedia)
The Conservative Party ~ conservatives in U.S., Labour ~ liberals. Some things are the same everywhere especially the part where the Labour Party doesn't care about the British people.
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.
KABUL: Afghan police on Saturday said they had seized a major cache of nearly 300 rockets hidden on the outskirts of Kabul, which could have been used to attack the capital. Speaking during a news conference in Kabul, city police chief Abdul Rahman Rahman showed nearly 300 122mm rockets, telling reporters that "spy agencies of neighbouring countries" had been seeking hired guns to fire them.
NEW YORK: The Times Square bomb suspect claimed during his lengthy interrogation that he received financial support from the 
KARACHI: National Assembly Interior Affairs Standing Committee Chairman Abdul Qadir Patel on Saturday resigned as the chairman and his National Assembly seat after the murder of his coordinator and a former councilor. Meanwhile, Pakistan People's Party postponed its scheduled Peace Rally' against target killings in view of the incident. 
The U.S. military in Iraq says two American soldiers were killed in separate incidents in the country's north.
