[Tolo News] The US top commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan predicted a deadly spring ahead of troops in Afghanistan.
The US and Nato commander, General David Petraeus said he is expecting a brutal fight in the spring when Taliban bully boyz try to return from their winter safe havens to areas already in control of international forces.
Key word in that sentence being try.
"We have taken away areas that matter to the Taliban and they have to fight back," he said in an interview with Nato television that was aired on Wednesday.
During the interview, the US four-star General did not provide an exact number of the troops that would leave Afghanistan as part of July 2011 drawdown plan.
"We"ll have to get a good bit closer to that, needless to say, to see what the conditions on the ground may be, and then make recommendations,"" he said.
Presently foreign forces fighting insurgency number at 150,000 and President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai is planning to have an Afghan army of nearly 300,000 by next year.
Good luck with that. A third of new recruits toddle off when they realize soldiering is hard work.
Last year was the deadliest of the nearly decade-long war for foreign troops, with more than 700 killed in line with duty.
With two Nato service members killed in southern Afghanistan on Wednesday, the number of international troops killed this month reach 10.
Rest in peace, with our thanks.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
How this humble person would prefer to see Afghanistan done...
1) spend a small portion of the budget on Fort Meade to come up with several killer virii for opium poppies and pot that will live in the soil for decades ..
2) spread the virus strains all over Afghanistan and Pashtunistan.
3) if they work the operating capital of the talibunnies suffers a major major impact.
and ... the whole Kar-brother bs gets diminished...
see what that gains...
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/10/2011 1:16 Comments ||
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#2
E-mailing from the PAX terminal USO. 4 hour flight to nowhere and return. Fogged in at destination. Bird was not ISR capable. These young soldiers and Marines are READY for the bastids General Petreaus! Let em bring it on! Makes an old man proud. Should make everyone back in the world proud also. These young people are the best.
My take on it is the so called Spring TB offensive won't amount to a pale of warm piss. I could be wrong, but think ISAF has crippled the buggers good. Pray for the troops, even if you're not the praying type.
I would hope that we would make this conflict so costly to the enemy that they would not want us to return or they would not want to f^ck with us in the future.
#12
It's matured nicely and those troops who have tested it like it (with suggestions for even more improvements). However there are only a few copies of the XM-25 in existence right now.
#13
However there are only a few copies of the XM-25 in existence right now.
Turn the design over to the master machinists, and have them return a share of the profits to the patent holder(s). No problem getting a least a trickle until the factory lines are up and running.
[Tolo News] An Afghan official was killed in a kaboom on Tuesday in northern Balkh province, local officials said. The incident happened yesterday in Chemtal district of Balkh province when a bomb struck vehicle of Noor Mohammad, a police officer in the district.
"Noor Mohammad was killed in the incident and four coppers were maimed," Lal Mohammad Ahmadzai, a front man for 303 Pamir Zone in the north told TOLOnews.
No group including the Taliban has grabbed credit for the incident.
Militants have previously targeted Afghan local officials in some parts of the country. They usually use Improvised Explosive Devices to target Afghan and foreign forces in Afghanistan.
Afghan and Nato forces have launched many military operations in the Balkh province to wipe out the bad boys.
After Afghan and Nato forces operations in the north of Afghanistan, dozens of snuffies have quit fighting and joined the Afghan grinding of the peace processor.
On Tuesday eight Orcs and similar vermin laid down their weapons including their commander Shamsuddin and surrendered to government in northern Kunduz province.
The snuffies were previously fighting against government forces in Imam Saheb district of the province.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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(KUNA) -- The U.S. Department of the Treasury targeted Wednesday the financial and support networks of al-Qaeda, the Taliban and the Haqqani Network Leadership.
What a brilliant idea!
The Department indicated in a blurb here that it designated Said Jan 'Abd Al-Salam and Khalil Al-Rahman Haqqani, two Afghan individuals, as Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs) under Executive Order (E.O.) 13224. According to the statement, "Al-Salam was designated for acting for or on behalf of al-Qaeda and for providing support to the Taliban; and Haqqani was designated for acting for or on behalf of the Taliban, for providing support to al-Qaeda and for acting for or on behalf of Sirajuddin Haqqani." "As a result of today's action, U.S. persons are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with these individuals, and any assets they hold under U.S. jurisdiction are frozen," it added.
Do they hold any assets under U.S. jurisdiction?
Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Stuart Levey said in a statement that "Khalil Al-Rahman Haqqani, who is among the Haqqani Network's most important figures and fundraisers, and Said Jan 'Abd Al-Salam have engaged in activities in support of the Taliban and al-Qaeda." "Today's action exposes two consequential sources of financial and tactical support for these terrorist organizations and is part of a larger US and international effort to degrade their capabilities," Levey added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Without killing the poppies it just gets replaced every year.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
02/10/2011 1:18 Comments ||
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#2
Executive Order 13224 of September 23, 2001
Blocking Property and Prohibiting Transactions With Persons Who Commit, Threaten to Commit, or Support Terrorism
[Tolo News] There are approximately 35,000 Talibs all over Afghanistan, Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday.
There used to be about 8,000 more, but that was then.
While emphasising on doing a proper survey, Ministry of Defence spokesperson, Gen. Azimi, said there are roughly 25 to 35,000 Taliban recruits all over the country.
"We estimate the number of Taliban snuffies at 25 to 35,000, but this is not established and is just a guess," said Gen. Azimi.
The Ministry of Defence classifies the Taliban into three groups: The first are the ones fighting against the government and foreign forces, the second are those who are "hired" to continue the fight and the third are those who only fight in exchange for money.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... Gen. Azimi claimed that the Afghan forces are able to undertake security responsibility for the country.
A commission comprised of Afghans and foreigners has recently been set up to be in charge of the transition process.
Ministry of Defence wants security transition to be started from partially insecure areas.
"The areas in Afghanistan should be categorised in low-level, medium level and high level insecurity, and the transition should begin from medium level," Gen. Azimi said.
The Ministry of Defence claims to be ready to undertake security responsibility, but emphasises that international community should stick to its commitments and equip the Afghan cops.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
How many of the hardcore are Afghans?They strike me as hired help and those who only fight in exchange for money.
The hardcore ones are the Pakis,Chechen and Arabs who think they are fighting for Allah!
Posted by: Paul ||
02/10/2011 12:34 Comments ||
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#2
There's a fair participation and a lot of support among the Pashtun Afghans.
#3
How many of the hardcore are Afghans? The question is a little off the mark. The only belief that seems to unite Afghans is involved with banding together to fight foreign troops on their soil. Unless those foreign troops are Jihadis, of course.
[Ennahar] The minister of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan of Rural Development and Cooperatives, Jimmy Lemi Milla and his bodyguard were rubbed out Wednesday in a dispute apparently of private nature, has said a front man for the Southern army.
"There was shooting at the ministerial complex, in which the Minister of Cooperatives and Rural Development was killed as well as his bodyguard," said a front man of the People's Liberation Army (SPLA) Philip Aguer.
"It seems that the author (of shooting) is the driver of the minister, and he was also killed," he said indicating that the precise reasons for these firings were still undetermined.
"They are all from the same ethnic group, and it is possible that this is a personal matter," he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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The European Union was to grant Kenya support for judicial reforms if the latter tried pirates nabbed in the Indian Ocean, a leaked US diplomatic cable reveals.
The cable prepared in November 2008 says that Britain was to build upon the one-time agreement of the Kenyan government to prosecute eight suspects seized by the British navy.
The leaked document also says that according to British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Deputy Head of Security Policy Chris Holtby, this plan of action was acceptable to most EU member states.
He added that an EU-wide MoU would use a diplomatic tone in requesting Kenya to "receive and prosecute prisoners taken in anti-piracy operations by the British Armed Forces" and that "international standards on human rights ... which are not the same thing as individual rights, mind you... will be applied, including that those prisoners handed over to the Government of Kenya would not be subjected to the death penalty."
Sweeten the deal
The officer in charge of the Kenyan FCO desk Ms Sheena Lavery is said to have revealed that the UK would "sweeten the deal" by helping Kenya with reforms in the Judiciary.
"To sweeten the deal for the Kenyans, the UK may participate in a programme with the EU to provide technical or material support to the Kenyan Judiciary, however nothing has been confirmed in that regard," the cable quotes Ms Lavery as having said.
She is said to have added that the EU is also negotiating with Djibouti to accept captured pirates for prosecution.
In December 2008, Britain and Kenya were reported to have signed a bilateral deal enabling Kenya to become the final port of call for captured Somali pirates.
The reports in British newspapers came a day after eight suspected pirates appeared in court in Mombasa, but their trial was adjourned.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Pirates on Wednesday seized a Greek-flagged, British-owned oil tanker off the coast of Oman in the second such hijacking in as many days, the Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces said.
"We can confirm that the Irene SL has been pirated off the coast of Oman," a spokeswoman for the international naval force told Agence La Belle France Presse by telephone.
"It is an oil tanker," she said, adding that "it was bound for the United States."
The ship, which has 25 crew members, was confirmed hijacked at 0926 GMT, she said.
It is the second oil tanker hijacked in two days.
The European Union's Atalanta mission to the seas off Somalia and the Gulf of Aden (Eunavfor) said an Italian oil tanker was taken early on Tuesday 600 miles east of the island of Socotra.
That ship had a crew of 22 -- five Italians and 17 Indians, EU forces said.
Piracy has made shipping increasingly perilous off the Horn of Africa and led to the deployment of an international force to protect the key maritime corridor.
On Sunday, the Indian navy captured 28 suspected Somali pirates on board a Thai fishing vessel that had been hijacked up to six months ago and was thought to have been used as a floating base to mount attacks on shipping.
In January, pirates released a Greek-owned oil tanker with a crew of 18 Filipinos that they had seized in the southern Red Sea.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
The Somali pirates are updating their business plan while NATO and other orgs mucking about make more restrictive rules of engagement for themselves. The pirates, so far, are doing circles inside the OODA loops of their adversaries.
Here is an image of the MV Irene SL. Not exactly your old tub.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
02/10/2011 18:39 Comments ||
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[Iran Press TV] Presidential sources say Egypt's three-decade ruler Hosni Mubarak has left the country, noting an address he is scheduled to deliver in a few hours is taped.
The reports by presidential sources came on Thursday on the heels of remarks by Hossan Badrawi, the general secretary of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party, who said Mubarak will "probably" address the nation in the evening.
He told state-funded BBC that he hopes Mubarak will transfer power to Vice President Omar Suleiman. ... Vice president of Egypt. From 1993 until his appointment to that office in 2011 he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID)...
The opposition Mohammedan Brotherhood earlier said on its official website that Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq confirmed the possibility that the out-of-favor Egyptian president will step down within a few hours and leave amid continued pro-democracy protests.
Unconfirmed reports also said Mubarak had already travelled to the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh with his army chief of staff.
Other reports indicated that the Egyptian army has taken over presidential powers, saying it supports the legitimate demands of people and that it is taking measures to protect the people.
'Coup'
Essam al-Erian, a senior member of the Mohammedan Brotherhood, Egypt's biggest opposition group, said he feared that the Egyptian military was staging a coup.
"It looks like a military coup ... I feel worry and anxiety," he told Rooters.
"The problem is not with the president, it is with the regime."
The director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Leon Panetta, said he had received unconfirmed reports that Mubarak would step down on Thursday evening. He said Suleiman would possibly take control.
"I've received reports that, possibly, Mubarak might do that," he told a congressional intelligence hearing. "We have not gotten specific word that he, in fact, will do that."
Egypt's information minister, however, denied reports that Mubarak intended to step down, insisting that the president "is still in power."
"The president is not stepping down and everything you heard in the media is a rumor," Anas el-Fekky told Rooters.
Egyptian state television showed images of Mubarak sitting behind a desk in silence while Suleiman talked. It was not immediately clear when it was filmed, though the channel said the meeting was happening now.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 14:37 ||
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#7
12:34am ElBaradei on Twitter: "Egypt will explode. Army must save the country now."
This guy is on the verge of becoming a multi-decade guest of Mubarak. The accommodations will be cosy (New York-speak for small) and have shiny steel bars on the doors.
#8
Organization for a march on the Presidential Palace happening now. I love the fact that Obama's TV spot was canceled, and instead a Written Statement is going to be put out. I think Mubarak might have played Obama for the sap he is.
Posted by: Charles ||
02/10/2011 19:53 Comments ||
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CIA director Leon Panetta told lawmakers there was a "strong likelihood" that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak would step down later on Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 13:43 ||
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#1
Wrong again!
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
02/10/2011 18:59 Comments ||
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#2
good job, CIA! You didn't think about how an Arab aristocracy male would take a Kenyan Black™ telling him to step down. I guarantee that thought process went through Mubarak and Abdullah's minds. Racism? See: "Arabs in the ME and Africa"
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/10/2011 19:17 Comments ||
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#3
Yes, that's right up there with the State Dept. announcing that Turkey would let the 4th ID through to northern Iraq in 2003.
[Ma'an] Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq told Egyptian television on Thursday that "everything is in President Hosni Mubarak's hands" after the army said it would act to "protect the nation." The question being, will it protect the nation by rolling over the demonstrators, or will it protect the nation by tossing Hosni?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 13:42 ||
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[Arab News] Egyptian geriatric President Hosni Mubarak will transfer power to Vice President Omar Suleiman, ... Vice president of Egypt. From 1993 until his appointment to that office in 2011 he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID)... according to a senior member of Egypt's governing party.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) quoted Hossan Badrawi, the secretary-general of the National Democratic Party (NDP), as saying Mubarak would "most probably" speak to the nation tonight.
The BBC's website earlier said the scenario of Mubarak stepping down was being discussed.
Thursday is the 17th day of protests against Mubarak's 30-year rule.
The BBC's senior correspondent in Cairo Lyse Doucet, said the fact that Mubarak's departure is even being discussed is a huge development.
Military and ruling party officials said Mubarak would speak to the nation soon and meet the demands of protesters. Protesters are insisting he step down immediately.
Military officials say the armed forces' supreme council has been meeting all day long and will issue a communique shortly that they say will meet the protesters' demands.
In Washington, the chief of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) also said his information indicates Mubarak could be out by Thursday night.
There is a "high likelihood" of that, Leon Panetta told Congress, without saying exactly how the CIA reached that conclusion. He said Mubarak's exit would be "significant" in moving Egypt to an "orderly transition" of power.
Egypt's military announced on national television that it has stepped in to "safeguard the country" and assured protesters that Mubarak will meet their demands.
That's the strongest indication yet that the longtime leader has lost power.
Meanwhile, ...back at the ranch... White House front manMinister of Information Robert Washington Bob Gibbs said developments remain fluid in Egypt and he is not confirming reports that geriatric President Hosni Mubarak is leaving office.
Gibbs said President Barack B.O. Obama is monitoring events and met national security adviser Tom Donilon before leaving Thursday morning for an event in Michigan.
Gibbs' comments came shortly after CIA chief Leon Panetta said there is a "strong likelihood" Mubarak will step down Thursday.
In Egypt, the military announced that Mubarak will meet their demands in the strongest indication yet that Egypt's longtime leader has lost power.
Said Gibbs: "I don't know what the outcome of what is happening will be."
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 12:13 ||
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#1
My Egyptian co-worker told me about an hour ago that Mubarak would step down tomorrow.
Posted by: Bobby ||
02/10/2011 12:25 Comments ||
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[Ennahar] The satellite Nilesat under the Egyptian government has restored the broadcasting of Al Jizz after a suspension of eleven days in the wake of anti-government protests in Egypt, told AFP on Wednesday a front man for the channel based in Qatar.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] At least three people were killed and hundreds injured in festivities between police and protesters in southern Egypt, an official said Wednesday, on the 16th day of protest against geriatric President Hosni Mubarak.
The protests began Monday in the town of El Khargo, more than 400 kilometers south of Cairo, and escalated on Tuesday after a policeman had insulted the protesters, said the security official under cover of anonymity.
The police then fired live ammunition against demonstrators, injuring several people. Three of the maimed died Wednesday, according to him.
The crowd reacted in anger after the announcement of the dead by setting fire to seven government buildings, including two cop shoppes, a court and the local headquarters of the party of geriatric President Hosni Mubarak, National Democratic Party (NDP).
In Cairo, protesters on Tahrir Square in Cairo did not seem to want to leave Wednesday after a huge mobilization against Mr. Mubarak.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Jerusalem Post Front Page] Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah is "walking in the footsteps of his mentor," Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Egyptian Foreign Ministry front man Husam Zaki told the Saudi daily al-Watan on Wednesday.
The front man accused the two Shi'ite leaders of wanting "to ignite the region."
"Nasrallah does not have the right to accuse Egypt of being a follower of Israel and the US at a time when he works on shattering the unified front in Paleostine and Leb to implement Iranian agendas," Zaki said.
Hizbullah did not address comments from the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, but it did say that one of its senior members who beat feet from an Egyptian prison during the unrest surrounding anti-government protests in that country was still in Egypt. Rooters had previously reported that Sami Chehab had arrived in Leb, according to London-based A-Sharq Al-Awsat Arabic language newspaper.
Hizbullah said that it would have properly welcomed Chehab, who was nabbed last year for allegedly plotting to attack targets in Egypt, if he had arrived in Leb.
Also on Wednesday, Egyptian Vice President Omar Suleiman ... Vice president of Egypt. From 1993 until his appointment to that office in 2011 he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID)... said that terror organizations are the primary threat to the security of Egypt and that many operatives of al-Qaeda and other Jihadist organizations had beat feet from the country's prisons recently. Suleiman also told Egyptian paper Al-Ahram that those terrorist organizations had refused to stop the violence and unrest in Egypt, which he seemed to blame on them.
Al-Qaeda in Iraq called on Egyptians to free all those imprisoned by Mubarak's regime and called for holy war against Egyptian government, in a statement released to an Islamist website Tuesday, Rooters reported.
Calling for a strictly Islamic government in Egypt, the group said that "If the people of Islam die trying to reach this goal, it is better for them than having a tyrant who rules them with laws other than God's Sharia law," according to the report.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
See also TOPIX/WORLDNEWS > SUEZ CANAL EYED BY HEZBOLLAH, MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD FOR SHUTDOWN.
[Ennahar] The Egyptian immigration authorities were instructed not to let the Paleostinians in the country, said on Wednesday one of their leaders, stating that twelve Paleostinians were expelled after landing at the Cairo airport.
"Where d'you think you're going, boyo?"
"We got enough problems of our own! Now get out and stay out!"
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ennahar] General strike, the seats of the Parliament, the Ministry of Interior and the government encircled and thousands of university professors and workers joined the protesters. Even the pro-Mubarak turned against him.
The protest against geriatric President Hosni Mubarak has intensified Tuesday with the parade of hundreds of thousands of people in Cairo and the provinces, the most important events since the beginning of the movement on January 25.
Tens of thousands of protesters surrounded the government headquarters in Cairo, while others surrounded the parliament building and the council of the nation.
In Cairo, Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolt, was crowded. Mobilization showed no sign of abating despite the chilly nights, fatigue and Spartan living conditions in the square has become a village of tents.
Moreover, tens of thousands of workers from various sectors have joined the protest. Thousands of workers in the Egyptian telecommunications company gathered in the streets of Cairo before making a procession through several neighborhoods in the capital.
Workers from Sigma Company have announced an open strike, while workers of the cement company La Farge declared a general strike in solidarity with the protestors in Tahrir Square.
According to Al Jizz Channel, dozens of pros Mubarak protesters, used by the regime to quash the rebellion, gathered to demand what the authorities had promised them in return.
The protesters said, according to the same source, that they had been promised to benefit from housing after breaking the revolt of Tahir Square.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Arab News] Egypt's protesters were defiant Wednesday after a warning from Vice President Omar Suleiman ... Vice president of Egypt. From 1993 until his appointment to that office in 2011 he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID)... that if protesters don't enter negotiations, a "coup" could take place causing greater chaos, raising alarm of crackdown.
Organizers of the mass demonstrations, now in their 16th day, sought to widen their uprising.
Suleiman's sharply worded warning deepened protesters' suspicions of his US-backed efforts to put together negotiations with the opposition over reforms. The protesters insist they will only enter dialogue after geriatric President Hosni Mubarak steps down, fearing the regime will manipulate talks and conduct only superficial changes without bringing real democracy.
Suleiman, a military man who was intelligence chief before being elevated to vice president amid the crisis, has repeatedly said Egypt is not ready for democracy. "The culture of democracy is still far away," Suleiman said in a meeting Tuesday night with newspaper editors.
The vice president also appeared to be pushing ahead with a reform process even without dialogue. He said a panel of top judges and legal experts would recommend amendments to the constitution by the end of the month, which would then be put to a referendum. But the panel is dominated by Mubarak loyalists, and previous referendums on amendments drawn up by the regime have been marred by vote rigging to push them through.
Protest organizers have called for new "protest of millions" for Friday -- their term for dramatically enlarged rallies -- but this time they would be held in multiple parts of Cairo instead of only in central Tahrir Square, said Khaled Abdel-Hamid, one of the youth organizers. He also said protesters were calling for labor strikes, trying to draw powerful labor unions into support for their cause.
Abdel-Hamid dismissed Suleiman's warnings. "We are striking and we will protest and we will not negotiate until Mubarak steps down. Whoever wants to threaten us, then let them do so," he said.
A previous "protest of millions" last week drew at least a quarter-million people to Tahrir -- their biggest yet, along with crowds of tens of thousands in other cities. A Tahrir rally on Tuesday rivalled that one in size, fueled by a renewed enthusiasm after the release of Wael Ghonim, a Google marketing manager who helped spark the unprecedented protest movement.
Around 2,000 protesters waved huge flags outside the parliament several blocks from Tahrir on Wednesday, where they moved a day earlier in the movement's first expansion out of the square. They rolled their eyes, jumped up and down, and hollered poorly rhymed slogans real loud demanding the dissolving of the legislature, where almost all the seats are held by the ruling party.
Thousands of protesters chanting "we are not leaving until he leaves" camped overnight in Tahrir Square in tents made with plastic tarps and bed covers to protect them from chilly weather, sprawling out into sidestreets.
Many have been sleeping underneath the tanks of soldiers surrounding the square to prevent the vehicles from moving or trying to clear the area for traffic.
Others started to flow into Tahrir on Wednesday morning, some welcomed with sweets by those who spent the night. The demonstrations have paralyzed the area around the square, defying the government's efforts to restore a sense of normality as the uprising enters its third week.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] The army would be forced to intervene if anti-government protests push Egypt into chaos, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Wednesday, according to the state news agency.
"We have to preserve the constitution, even if it is amended," Abul Gheit told Al-Arabiya television, according to the MENA news agency.
"He warned that if chaos occurs, the armed forces will intervene to control the country, a step, he said, which would lead to a very dangerous situation,"the news agency said, paraphrasing the interview.
Gheit's remarks came the day after Egypt's Vice President Omar Suleiman ... Vice president of Egypt. From 1993 until his appointment to that office in 2011 he was Minister without Portfolio and Director of the Egyptian General Intelligence Directorate (EGID)... warned those protesting in the street against Mubarak risk provoking a situation in which a coup d'etat was possible.
Suleiman's statement was dismissed by many of the protesters on the streets of Cairo, and denounced as a threat by one of the most powerful of opposition groups, the Mohammedan Brotherhood.
"This amounts to a threat that is unacceptable in the eyes of the Egyptian people," Mohammed Mursi, a front man for the Islamist group.
"The protesters have imposed a new legitimacy, and this legitimacy should be respected, for it cannot be threatened," he said.
Since January 25, Egypt has been gripped by mass protests against the government, with hundreds of thousands taking part in street rallies and many occupying a key square in downtown Cairo and a street near parliament.
The demonstrators want Mubarak to step down immediately, but he has vowed to hang on until presidential elections in September, in order, he says, to ensure an orderly transition in power.
Opposition parties want major constitutional reform to allow them to compete in the presidential and legislative elections on a level playing field.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] At least three non-combatants were killed and several others maimed when three grenades fell in a public market after an exchange of gunfire between Houthi followers and rustics in Sa'ada Province.
Tribal sources told the Yemen Post that the gunfire exchange occurred in Sada'a district between Houthi followers and rustics who belong to Sheikh Othman Mujalli, a Yemeni parliament member. No further details were reported.
Eyewitnesses said that there have been sporadic festivities around the area between Houthis and rustics belonging to Abdin tribe since last year.
Yemen has witnessed sporadic battles since 2004 between Yemeni government troops and rebels.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Yemen Post] Dozens of armored vehicles, tanks, and hundreds of soldiers were sent to Aden province, private sources told the Yemen Post.
Military reinforcements have been deployed to Aden's districts in order to stop protesters from holding anti-government demonstrations.
This move came after tens of youths, belonging to the Southern Movement called for the Day of Rage to be held next Friday in Aden.
Lately, Yemen's provinces have witnessed anti and pro government protests in which tens of thousands were participated in after most of them being organizing by the Yemeni opposition.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Bangla Daily Star] A regional commander of Purba Banglar Communist Party (Lal Pataka) was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and law enforcers at Chatmohor upazila of Pabna early yesterday.
Sort of makes you wonder who really offed him.
The dear departed, Md Azibor Rahman, 35, of Falia in Ataikula upazila of the district, was accused in six cases including two for murder, police sources said.
A police team raided Megharpara village at about 3:30am following a tip-off that two factions of PBCP were locked in a shootout there, said Syed Shahid Alam, officer-in-charge of Chatmohor Police Station.
Apparently the rowdies were depriving a Megharparan of their sleep.
Spider senses tingling at the proximity of the law enforcers, the outlaws opened fire on them starting a 40-minute 'shootout' between the criminals and police.
"Can we wrap this up around four-ish, commie vermin? We don't want to miss the sunrise special at Ahmeds' House of Pancakes."
"Hokay, coppers!"
At one stage, the outlaws decamped the scene. Police later found Azibor's bullet-hit body lying on the ground, said the OC. "He's dead, Jim!"
The law enforcers recovered a revolver and two bullets from the spot.
This was the third incident of 'shootout' in the district this month.
Pretty soon they're going to need a permit - like some places do with yard sales.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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The BBC's Aleem Maqbool said the bomber was reportedly dressed in school uniform
A suicide bomber has attacked an army facility in Pakistan's troubled north-west, killing at least 31 people and injuring 40 others, officials say.
Police described the bomber, who struck in the city of Mardan, as a male teenager dressed in school uniform.
He attacked as recruits conducted morning exercises.
Correspondents say there has been a relative lull in the number of attacks on the army in the region, where Taliban militants are active.
A Taliban spokesman said the militants had carried out the bombing.
The Mardan bombing points to the continuing ability of militants in the north-west to strike at high security locations. The use of a bomber in his late teens is not unusual, but the fact that he wore the uniform of a college located inside the military area helped him slip past at least six security checkpoints before hitting his target.
The Taliban have been trying to launch an attack within the Mardan cantonment, or military area, since 2008. In May that year, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a bakery in the cantonment after he failed to get through a police checkpoint.
In July 2010, a group of militants scaled the rear walls of the cantonment to launch a gun and bomb attack, but were beaten back by the police and troops.
The latest attack comes after a long lull, and days after the army launched an operation in the nearby Mohmand tribal region.
Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the attack on the Punjab Regiment Centre.
"Such cowardly attacks cannot affect the morale of the security agencies and the resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism," he said in a statement.
#1
"Such cowardly attacks cannot affect the morale of the security agencies and the resolve of the nation to eradicate terrorism," he said in a statement.
IOW: Lives are cheap. If the recruits don't care because they think they are going to go see Allan, then we aren't changing our inshallah ways.
[Dawn] Authorities on Wednesday nabbed a woman allegedly planning to blow herself up in the Bajaur tribal region where 43 people were killed two months ago in a female suicide kaboom, officials said.
"Security forces and local administration officials raided a house near Khar on Wednesday morning and nabbed a woman wearing a boom jacket," senior local official Sohail Khan told AFP.
He said the raid was ordered on a tip off that women were being trained as jacket wallahs in the residential area of Siddiquabad near Khar, the main town of Bajaur tribal district.
He said five other people were also nabbed, including two other women from the same house.
"All six people are being interrogated," he added, giving no details.
Two local intelligence officials confirmed the raid and arrests.
In Pakistain's first known female suicide kaboom, a woman wearing a bomb under her burqa struck near a UN food distribution point on December 25.
Security forces have carried out a series of military operations against the Taliban and other cut-throats in Bajaur since August 2008.
The military has claimed repeatedly to have eliminated the orc threat.
Bajaur is one of seven districts in Pakistain's semi-autonomous tribal belt on the Afghan border, which the United States considers the global headquarters of al Qaeda.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Dawn] Rival Sunni and Shiite communities in a Pak region close to the Afghan border have agreed to end a four-year conflict that claimed hundreds of lives, officials said Wednesday.
That's one way to offset a high birthrate...
Talibs have reportedly aided the Sunni sect in Kurram region, where the agreement was reached. Tribesmen have also reported that an Afghan Islamic exemplar group blamed for attacks in Afghanistan had cut a deal with the Shiites so they could use Kurram as a staging ground.
That's ok. As soon as the next round of UAV production is completed, someone can follow them home and fix the problem.
It was unclear how the agreement would affect those dynamics. A local Pak Taliban capo said he welcomed the deal, but was not involved. He said his fighters would help enforce it -- a possible sign they had emerged a strong force after the fighting there.
The fighting in Kurram region has left hundreds dead and the main road leading to it was too dangerous to travel. Residents wishing to visit the main northwestern town of Beautiful Downtown Peshawar and other parts of Pakistain had to cross into Afghanistan to avoid the road.
Waris Khan Afridi, the head of a tribal council, said the two sects had agreed to stop fighting for the benefit of their communities.
Mussadaq Shah, the government's most senior representative in Kurram, confirmed the peace agreement.
On Tuesday, a convoy of cars carrying leaders from both communities as well as government officials traveled the main road to publicize the deal.
"God willing, there will be no more fighting between Shiite and Sunni here in the future," Afridi said.
The tribal regions close to Afghanistan are a hotbed of religious Islamic exemplars. The Mighty Pak Army has launched offensives in several areas, and the United States has fired hundreds of missiles at suspected Islamic exemplars.
Local Taliban chief Fazal Saeed told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that his fighters supported the deal.
"We will punish all those who would violate this peace deal," he said in a telephone interview.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"God willing, there will be no more fighting between Shiite and Sunni here in the future," Afridi said.
[Geo News] GUJRANWALA: Three blasts have targeted law enforcement agencies' offices in different areas here on Wednesday injuring four persons, Geo News reported.
One kaboom took place outside CIA Center Building, second kaboom occurred near SP Special Branch Office, while the third one and the most powerful of the three blasted inside police rest house leaving three maimed. A bomb planted outside CIA building was diffused.
Buildings received minor damages but no loss of life has been reported in kabooms, police said.
Heavy police contingents have arrived on the scenes and cordoned off the blast sites.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Asharq al-Aswat] Car bombs destroyed the oil-rich Iraqi city of Kirkuk on Wednesday, killing seven and wounding up to 80 people in the heart of a region of long-simmering ethnic tensions.
Three blasts struck outside the headquarters of the Kurdish intelligence forces known as the Asayish, on a highway and near a gas station in southern Kirkuk, ... a thick stew of Arabs, Turkmen, Kurds, and probably Antarcticans, all of them mutually hostile most of the time... located 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Storied Baghdad.
AP Television News footage showed police cars with blaring sirens racing to the Asayish headquarters with black and gray plumes of smoke rising from the first two attacks around 10 a.m. Minutes later, the third blast just down the street from the Asayish headquarters went kaboom! near a taxicab and knocked people to the ground. The sounds of gunshots could be heard immediately after the last bombing.
Police Brig. Gen. Sarhat Qadir said seven were killed and up to 80 maimed in the kabooms. Dr. Khalid Ahmed of Kirkuk emergency hospital confirmed the casualty count.
Qadir said the bomb along the highway targeted a police patrol led by a top commander, Col. Ahmed Shamerani, but he was not hurt in the blast. But two coppers were among the dead, while five police and eight Asayish officials were maimed.
"We had just passed the car boom -- it was less than 40 yards away," said policeman Meriwan Salih, whose arm was broken and who had shrapnel pierce his back when the third bomb went kaboom! as his patrol sped by. "The huge blast threw me into the air."
Grocery owner Shakhwan Ahmed, 30, said one of the blasts shook his shop, sending fruit and boxes crashing to the ground.
"It was chaos -- horrified people were running," said Ahmed, lamenting the attack after what he said was a nearly six-month lull in violence in Kirkuk. "There is no indication that there will be long-standing security in Iraq; there is always a security problem here. And forces of Evil are now telling us that they are coming back."
Kirkuk is the epicenter of ethnic tensions among Arabs, Kurds and Turkomen. The city also sits on top of one-third of Iraq's estimated $11 trillion in oil reserves, and Arabs fear the Kurds want to annex Kirkuk to their northern autonomous region.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Several articles has suggested that Iranian intell agents have been assasinating Iraqi intelligence and other high level officials. They note that these attacks are better executed than Al Qaeda's and penetrate highly secure areas.
Is Iran preping the battlefield? and what are we going to do about it?
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
02/10/2011 11:26 Comments ||
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[Ma'an] The armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine ... Paleostinian Marxist movement, founded in 1967. It is considered a terrorist organization by more than 30 countries including the U.S., European Union, Australia, Canada, and Antarctica. The PFLP's stated goal is the establishment of a socialist State in Paleostine. They pioneered armed aircraft hijackings in the late 60s and early 70s... , the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, said cut-throats fired a projectile on an Israeli military jeep east of Gazoo City's Ash-Shujayiya neighborhood on Wednesday morning.
According to a statement sent by the group, Israeli soldiers entered the area to rescue the targeted patrol.
The attack came after a series of three Israeli Arclight airstrikes hit targets across the Gazoo Strip, injuring 10, including three women and two children.
In their statement, the brigades said they would remain steadfast to the option of resistance and would continue to confront "the crimes of the Israeli occupation."
An Israeli military front man said he was not immediately familiar with the report, and a spokeswoman later confirmed that no such incident had been reported.
"What're those people smoking? We didn't see any flying projectiles coming in our direction. Honestly, are they capable of any direction other than "down"?"
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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[Ma'an] Gazoofaceless myrmidons fired five projectiles into southern Israel on Tuesday, causing no damage or injuries, the Israeli army said.
Congratulations, guys. This time you actually hit the right country.
The rockets landed in Ashkelon, Sha'ar Ha'Negev and Sdot Negev, a military front man said.
Islamic Jihad's armed wing grabbed credit for one of the launches. In a statement, the Al-Quds Brigades said its fighters targeted fuel tankers in a military post east of Beit Hanoun.
Rising tension along the Gazoo border in late 2010 led to a warning from Arab leaders that Gazoo factions were risking a major new Israeli invasion.
In mid-January, Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, leaders called on gangs to observe an unofficial ceasefire with Israel and to stop firing projectiles.
Resistance factions agreed to the ceasefire, but said they would continue to resist forces who entered Gazoo.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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Three months after the first five XM-25 grenade launchers arrived in Afghanistan, and after only 55 25mm rounds were fired in combat, the troops don't want to give these new weapons up. The XM-25s work as advertised, firing "smart rounds" that explode over the heads of Taliban hiding behind rocks or walls, or hiding in a cave or room. Enemy machine-guns have been quickly knocked out of action and ambushes quickly disrupted with a few 25mm shells. Encounters that might go on for 15 minutes or longer, as U.S. troops exchange fire with hidden Taliban, end in minutes after a few 25mm, computer controlled, rounds are fired from the XM-25. While American infantry love gadgets, they are very eager about electronics that helps them in combat. The XM-25 is all that, and the troops want more. In response, the U.S. Army decided to let the paratroopers keep the five XM-25s, and to speed up construction of an additional 36. The word has gotten around in Afghanistan, and every combat units there is asking for XM-25s. Although warned to keep operational details off public Internet forums, XM-25 users are telling stories to other combat troops of a wonder-weapon that actually works.
All this comes after years of testing and debating whether the XM-25 was ready for a combat test. Finally, three months ago, after yet another year of testing and tinkering, the U.S. Army finally sent five of its high-tech, but long delayed, XM-25 grenade launchers to Afghanistan
#2
congrats to Heckler & Koch/Alliant Techsystems/L-3 IOS Brashear.
Posted by: Lord Garth ||
02/10/2011 13:13 Comments ||
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#3
Hot-cha. I've been waiting for field reviews. This weapon sounds like it would be a mother in the offense, especially because it has a maximum effective range greater than an AK-47 by almost a hundred meters.
However, that being said, I can also imagine that countries around the world want one, yesterday, so they can make knock-offs. This means that by hook, or crook, they will try to steal one from one of our combat units.
#5
If I remember correctly, the Military Channel had an entire program devoted to this about a year ago. Can't remember the name of the program, but it was their weapons of the future program.
#7
Wow. I had visions of some feedback control guidance system based on nano-technology such as a heat-seeking small missile. However, a quick check yielded the following which is pretty slick.
the user can manually adjust the detonating distance by up to 10 feet (3.0 m) shorter or longer; the XM25 automatically transmits the detonating distance to the grenade in the firing chamber. The grenade tracks the distance it has traveled by the number of spiral rotations after it is fired, then detonates at the proper distance to produce an air burst effect.
I wonder if the user makes the 3 meter change based on a laser range finder distance or some other such device?
[Straits Times] INDONESIA will deploy 1,200 police at Thursday's trial of radical Mohammedanholy manAbu Bakar Bashir, ... Leader of the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council and proprietor of the al-Mukmin madrassah in Ngruki. The spriritual head of Jemaah Islamiya, which he denies exists. Bashir was jugged and then released in the wake of the 2002 Bali bombings, which he blamed on a conspiracy among the U.S., Israel, and Australia ... who is facing the death penalty for terrorism charges.
The 72-year-old bespectacled holy man is accused of seven counts of terrorism related to a paramilitary training camp that was discovered last February in Aceh province, court official Supriyantorro said.
Hundreds of Bashir's supporters are expected to rally outside the trial, which gets under way as Indonesia tries to contain a spate of religious violence that has left three people dead and several churches badly damaged.
'Around 1,200 coppers have been readied to go to South Jakarta,' police front man Boy Rafli Amar said, referring to the district court in the capital where the trial will take place.
'We hope their presence will provide a guarantee for the judges to conduct the trial as best as possible. We hope their presence can deal with whatever situation that might arise, inside or outside the court.' Bashir's charges include 'mobilising people for acts of terror', which carries the death sentence, and financing Islamist Death Eaters.
Police have said the group was training to carry out Mumbai-style attacks on Western targets and political figures in Jakarta.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/10/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Hamid 
[Ennahar] The minister of the semi-autonomous southern Sudan of Rural Development and Cooperatives, Jimmy Lemi Milla and his bodyguard were 
He added that an EU-wide MoU would use a diplomatic tone in requesting Kenya to "receive and prosecute prisoners taken in anti-piracy operations by the British Armed Forces" and that "international standards on 
Omar Suleiman.
[Ennahar] The satellite Nilesat under the Egyptian government has restored the broadcasting of 
A regional commander of Purba Banglar Communist Party (Lal Pataka) was killed in a 'shootout' between his cohorts and law enforcers at Chatmohor upazila of Pabna early yesterday.
[Geo News] GUJRANWALA: Three blasts have targeted law enforcement agencies' offices in different areas here on Wednesday injuring four persons, Geo News reported.
[Asharq al-Aswat] Car bombs 
Popular Front for the Liberation of Paleostine
[Ma'an] 
Abu Bakar Bashir,
