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Iran nuke deal implodes
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


#2  Christina is recently back down to fighting weight. Very nice.
Posted by: tipover || 12/18/2013 11:49 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Have You Heard or Read Much about the Afghan War Lately?
Recently, three members of the administration were quizzed before a Congressional committee. A congressman asked the three members if any of them could tell him how much the war cost and how many lives have been lost. None of those testifying at the hearing could answer these questions. I got to wondering what some of the answers are.

Today, our local newspaper reported a story on page 10. The story was a very short story in the lower left hand corner of the page and consisted of two paragraphs. The story was headlined “6 US service members die in copter crash.” The crash occurred in Zabul Province, Shajau district; names have not yet been released. The story seemed to be relegated to away to obscurity.

I searched the news for 2013 with regards to stories coming out of the Whitehouse concerning Afghanistan. What was surprising was not the stories being reported about Afghanistan but the absence of stories about Afghanistan. The focus of the stories seemed to be the captured by the following headline in Bloomberg Politics November 13, 2013: Sorry Is Hardest Word for U.S. Presidents to Say for War. The New York Times reported that Hamid Karzai and other Afghan officials “…would require an expression of contrition from President Barack Obama for military mistakes, including causing civilian casualties, in exchange for an agreement over how long U.S. troops could stay in their country.” Secretary of State John [I served in Vietnam] Kerry and National Security Adviser Susan [who insisted Benghazi was caused by a schlocky video] Rice were quick to respond with denials that Afghanistan was scheduled for the 2014 apology tour. Aside from this story, Afghanistan was mentioned in the State of the Union address in February. The gist of State of the Union speech regarding Afghanistan was: minimal reductions to wartime spending, maintaining the best military the world has ever known, commitment to a permanent a permanent war on terror. While I can agree that we have the best military the world has known, the other statements are in doubt.

The sad truth about the lack of stories about Afghanistan is that such stories have fallen off the front pages of newspapers and televised news stories because of a lack of interest by the media. I don't think there is a lack of interest across the rural areas and in the small towns across the country or what is often referred to as "fly over country". It is generally flyover country that gives their sons and daughters to the wars. Perhaps such stories don’t serve the current narrative about the President. Maybe other stories such as ObamaCare have eclipsed stories about the war or maybe we are going into the political season and incumbents are worried about re-election and the 12-year war is not something they want to discuss. And yet the war goes on. Casualties and fatalities go on.

The following source Afghanistan Casualties. summarizes casualties in Afghanistan since the WOT began. One hundred and fifty-six members of the coalition have given their lives so far this year. Coalition fatalities are not at the level they were during the 33,000 troop surge. Actually, they are about what they were just before the surge. Some coalition forces have dropped out of the coalition. However, fatalities are still occurring and at a relatively high level. The purpose of this piece is a reminder of the war's cost in and to put name's to the numbers of those fallen members of the military. Names are available at the website. The fatalities were caused by IEDs, hostile fire, and a number of other causes. They are spread across the coalition forces and across the various branches of service. I know I am preaching to the choir at Ransburg as many visitors and contributors who have served their country so well. Many members of coalition forces also visit Rantburg. A heartfelt thanks to all of those who have sacrificed and to those who given their all for their respective countries. Many thanks to the families and friends the fallen who have also sacrificed during the WOT. You are not forgotten.
Posted by: JohnQC || 12/18/2013 16:15 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hear, hear! We'll said, JohnQC.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/18/2013 18:39 Comments || Top||

#2  It's simple, the war Obama hoped to start won't, so it's non-news.

(The People overwhelmingly said NO, how dare they defy Obama, this can't stand, so President narcistic will ignore the rejecton, It didn't happen)

The news will be placed on the back burner and NOT presented to the people, then they'll (The people) Will forget, at least that's what Obama hopes.

GOD-BAMA HAS SPOKEN.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/18/2013 18:47 Comments || Top||


Africa North
Bomb explodes near school in Cairo's Nasr City
[Al Ahram] A bomb went kaboom! near a school in the northeast Cairo district of Nasr City's 7th Zone, Al-Ahram's Arabic news website reported.

The accident left no casualties or any damage to surrounding buildings, Ahram added.

The area was cordoned off as security forces and explosives experts were enlisted to assess the situation.

Initial investigations showed that a home-made bomb composed of "mortar, gunpowder and nails" caused the kaboom.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Arab Spring

#1  Accident?
Posted by: tipover || 12/18/2013 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  It accidently went off before it was supposed to.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 12/18/2013 11:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Or testing.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/18/2013 14:13 Comments || Top||

#4  Mr. Mahmoud's science class on a field trip.
Posted by: Grunter || 12/18/2013 15:55 Comments || Top||

#5  Mr. Mahmoud al Heisenberg.

...processing...processing...

Now THERE'S a combination from Hell: Mooselimbs and meth.
Posted by: Dopey Sinatra || 12/18/2013 17:00 Comments || Top||


Egypt army spokesman: leading Jihadist killed in Sinai's Rafah
[Al Ahram] Egypt's army has rubbed out an alleged Islamist bully boy suspect, wanted for a 2012 terror attack in the restive Sinai Peninsula that left 16 soldiers killed, an army front man said Tuesday.

Spokesman for the Egyptian Armed Forces Ahmed Ali announced on his official Facebook page that a raid launched Monday killed Selmi Mohammed "Abou Khaled" Mosbeh, described as a leading Jihadist and member of the Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis (supporters of Jerusalem) bully boy group.

Abou Khaled, among others, allegedly planned to attack a military checkpoint in north Sinai's Rafah when the army initiated an exchange of gunfire leading to his death and the arrest of 20 other suspected forces of Evil as well as the confiscation of a stock of ammunition.

The alleged suspect was wanted for an attack carried out on the Egyptian border with Gazoo during the one-year-rule of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi
...the former president of Egypt. A proponent of the One Man, One Vote, One Time principle, Morsi won election after the deposal of Hosni Mubarak and jumped to the conclusion it was his turn to be dictator...
, which left 16 Egyptian soldiers killed, said the army front man.

Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis have grabbed credit for a number of terror attacks, including one on a military intelligence building in the Suez Canal city of Ismailia where at least six were maimed after a boom-mobile detonated. Another was a failed liquidation attempt on Minister of Interior Mohammed Ibrahim in September.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula


Bangladesh
Another AL man killed by 'Jamaat'
[Bangla Daily Star] A local Awami League leader was stabbed to death allegedly by Jamaat-Shibir men in Kaliganj upazila of Satkhira while law enforcers were conducting a joint drive in the same upazila yesterday, the first day of the BNP-led opposition's 72-hour nationwide blockade.

The victim, Moslemuddin Ali, 65, was president of the AL's Bishnapur union unit. Nine other ruling party leaders and activists were killed in political violence in the district over the last 27 days.

Meanwhile,
...back at the Senate, the partisans of Honorius went for their knives and the partisans of Stilicho went for the doors...
police recovered the bullet-riddled bodies of two BNP men in Sadar upazila of Laxmipur yesterday morning.

A Jamaat activist, who suffered bullet wounds during Sunday's clash between Jamaat men and law enforcers in Joypurhat, died at a private hospital in the capital early yesterday.

Unlike the previous blockades, there was not much violence yesterday except for some stray incidents of crude bomb kabooms and vandalism in some districts.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Jamaat-e-Islami


China-Japan-Koreas
Xinjiang: 16 dead on Sunday after clash between police & Muslims
Xinhua, China's official state news agency, has said a clash between police and locals in the country's northwestern region of Xinjiang that left 16 people dead was an organised and premeditated attack by a small "terrorist" group.

Xinhua described the assailants as "terrorists" on Tuesday and said an initial investigation by the security forces found that 14 dead locals were from a 20-member group led by a man identified as Hasan Ismail.

Two other victims were police officers, Xinhua said.

The report said six members of the group were captured, but did not say if Ismail was among those killed or apprehended.

Sweden-based Uighur activist Dilxat Raxit said Sunday's incident was the latest example of how Chinese security forces are increasingly opting to kill suspects at the scene rather than capturing them and putting them on trial.

"They are now opening fire and killing people, then calling them terrorists," Raxit said by phone. "This deprives them of their right to defend themselves in a court."
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/18/2013 03:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A story that leaves me with ambivalent feelings.
Posted by: AlanC || 12/18/2013 19:31 Comments || Top||

#2  AlanC... not me... I take Han over Mooselimbs any day of the year.
Posted by: 3dc || 12/18/2013 21:11 Comments || Top||

#3  The PRC version of a Miranda rights notification: BLAM! BLAM! BLAMBLAMBLAM! RATATATAT!
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 12/18/2013 22:53 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Bomb kills two people in Kurram
[Pak Daily Times] A bomb on Tuesday killed two people and maimed as many in Pewaar area of the Kurram tribal region bordering Afghanistan, officials said. "A vehicle hit a landmine in Pewaar, leaving two people dead and two others maimed," a local intelligence official told AFP. He said the area had seen sectarian violence in the past. Another local intelligence official confirmed the incident. However,
ars longa, vita brevis...
the APP news agency said three persons, including a woman, were killed and three others injured in three kabooms in Kurram Agency
...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora...
on Tuesday. In a separate incident, a roadside kaboom destroyed two military vehicles and maimed at least 24 Pak soldiers in the North Wazoo tribal district bordering Afghanistan, officials said. The bomb went kaboom! when the convoy was passing through Gosh village, 20 kilometres west of the town of Miranshah
... headquarters of al-Qaeda in Pakistain and likely location of Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Haqqani network has established a ministate in centered on the town with courts, tax offices and lots of madrassas...
. "At least 24 soldiers were maimed in an IED (improvised bomb) attack on a military convoy," a security official told AFP. Local intelligence officials confirmed the attack and casualties. Nobody immediately grabbed credit.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: TTP


TTP man held among 15
[Pak Daily Times] KARACHI: Law enforcers claimed to have apprehended around 15 suspects including members of Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) and hit mans during separate targeted raids and operations across the city on Tuesday. Steel Town police claimed to have captured at least five alleged members of the banned
...the word banned seems to have a different meaning in Pakistain than it does in most other places. Or maybe it simply lacks any meaning at all...
organization
during two separate raids. In the first raid, one suspected member of the outlawed TTP, Islam Wali, was placed in durance vile
Don't shoot, coppers! I'm comin' out!
in a maimed condition after an exchange of fire with the police in Gulshan-e-Hadeed area. Later, Steel Town police conducted another raid in Wali Town area, form where they managed to detain four more suspected members of the outlawed TTP, who were identified as Naqeeb Zada, Zakirullah, Hameedullah and Imran Sheikh. Similarly, police nabbed at least five alleged gangsters after an exchange of fire during a raid in Lyari. Their identities have not been disclosed, while the suspects were shifted to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for further questioning. Weapons were also recovered from their possession. Likewise, Jamshed Quarters police arrested three robbers after an encounter in Patel Para. As per details, firing ensued as a routine police patrol chanced upon the robbers while they were looting a passerby. Moreover, Rangers nabbed a wanted criminal, who was affiliated with Jamil Changa group. The arrest was made during a raid in Golimar area. Weapons were also recovered from his possession. In another raid, Rangers placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
a hit man in Malir, who was affiliated with a political party, and shifted him to some holy man's guesthouse an undisclosed location for further questioning.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan


Bomb kills three near Shiite mosque in Pakistan
[Al Ahram] A bomb kaboom outside a Shiite mosque in north Pakistain Tuesday killed at least three people and maimed 14 others in the latest sectarian attack to hit the nation, officials said.

The blast took place in the Gracy Lines neighbourhood of the garrison city of Rawalpindi, which neighbours the capital Islamabad, as worshippers prayed inside the mosque, senior police official Akhtar Laleka said.
Yesterday they were saying how they'd clamped down security in Pindi. I guess somebody didn't get the memo.
Hospital officials said at least three people were killed and 14 others were maimed.

"We have three bodies and 14 maimed people at our hospital," Asif Qadir Mir, chief of the local government hospital, told AFP.

There has been a rise in sectarian violence in Pakistain after several deadly festivities between Sunni and Shiite Moslem groups near Islamabad in November.

Allama Nasir Abbas from Islam's minority branch was killed late Sunday in Lahore, the capital of Punjab province, after addressing a religious gathering.

On November 19, gunnies killed a senior Shiite university director along with his driver in Lahore, while another Shiite leader and his guard were killed in Bloody Karachi
...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It is among the largest cities in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous...
in early December.

Three days later, Shamsur Rehman Muawiya, chief of the Sunni bully boy organization Ahl-e-Sunnat Wal Jammat for Punjab province, was killed in Lahore.

Pakistain is rife with sectarian festivities, with Sunni Death Eater groups linked to Al-Qaeda and the Taliban often attacking gatherings by Shiites, who constitute some 20 percent of the country's population.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Lashkar e-Jhangvi


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Three Injured as Rockets Fall on Hermel, One on Army Post
[An Nahar] Several rockets fired from the Lebanese-Syrian border area struck the Hermel region on Tuesday, leaving three people injured, including two soldiers.

"Starting 4:30 p.m. this afternoon, six rockets fired from the Syrian side of the border landed in the town of Hermel, one of them inside an army barracks in the al-Dawra neighborhood, leaving two soldiers lightly maimed and causing material damage," an army statement said.

"Army forces have started inspecting the targeted locations to accurately identify the source and types of the rockets while the appropriate measures have been taken on the ground," it added.

Shortly after the shelling, the Marwan Hadid Brigades, an Islamist rebel group operating in Syria, grabbed credit for the attack in a Twitter message, saying it was carried out in collaboration with the "al-Nusra Front in Leb."

"The al-Nusra Front in Leb and the Marwan Hadid Brigades announce that they have targeted the strongholds of Iran's party in the Lebanese area of Hermel with 10 Grad rockets
...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km....
, in response to the entry of the Iranian party into Syria and the continued killing and detention of Sunni youths in Leb," the Brigades said in another statement.

"God willing, operations will continue against Iran and its party in Syria and Leb," the group warned.

State-run National News Agency said "two rockets hit residential areas in Hermel during festivities inside Syria."

It later said the two rockets were fired from the Eastern Leb Mountain Range on the border with Syria, with one of them hitting a Lebanese military post and leaving several soldiers lightly maimed.

The other rocket landed in central Hermel, injuring a man and causing damage to shops, it said.

The rocket attack comes only hours after a booby-trapped car went kaboom! near a Hizbullah post in the northern Baalbek town of Sbouba, south of Hermel.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in the Levant


Death Toll Mounts as Air Raids Target Aleppo for Third Day
[An Nahar] Syrian aircraft pounded rebel-held areas of Aleppo for a third day Tuesday, with hospitals reportedly overwhelmed as more than 100 people have been killed in the bombing.

Two children were among at least 20 people killed in Aleppo on Tuesday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britannia-based group that relies on activists and other witnesses on the ground in Syria.

Air strikes on rebel-held areas Sunday and Monday killed 86 people, including 32 children, the Observatory said.

Aleppo, Syria's second city and onetime commercial hub, emerged as a key front after a rebel offensive last year. The northern city is today split between regime and rebel-controlled enclaves.

An estimated 126,000 people have been killed in Syria's civil war, which erupted after a brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protests first held in March 2011.

International humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) corroborated reports that regime helicopters started dropping barrel bombs on Aleppo on Sunday.

In just two cases -- the targeting of a school and a roundabout where people wait for public transport -- "there were dozens of dead and injured people," MSF Syria coordinator Aitor Zabalgogeazkoa said.

"A dozen bodies were being lined up in front of three hospitals waiting to be recovered by the families."

"The hospitals in the area are overrun and are asking for medical supplies. We sent them immediately," Zabalgogeazkoa said.

Earlier, the Observatory and activists said the air force had been dropping barrels of explosives from both helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft.

Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman said there was a "marked escalation" in attacks, and that "this type of intensive bombing over several days demonstrates the desire of the army to advance" on rebel-held areas.
Posted by: Fred || 12/18/2013 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Syria



Who's in the News
35[untagged]
8Arab Spring
6Govt of Pakistan
2Govt of Iran
2al-Qaeda
2Govt of Syria
2Jamaat-e-Islami
1al-Qaeda in Arabia
1al-Nusra
1Muslim Brotherhood
1TTP
1Lashkar e-Jhangvi
1al-Qaeda in the Levant
1al-Qaeda in Sinai Peninsula

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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.
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Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2013-12-18
  Iran nuke deal implodes
Tue 2013-12-17
  Ansar Al-Sharia homes attacked in revenge for Benghazi kiilling
Mon 2013-12-16
  Assailants stab Japan diplomat in Yemen
Sun 2013-12-15
  Six killed in US drone strike in Khyber Agency
Sat 2013-12-14
  Deadly clashes in Bangladesh after top JI leader hanged
Fri 2013-12-13
  Bangladesh executes Islamist leader and convicted war criminal Abdul Quader Mollah
Thu 2013-12-12
  Boko Haram slaughters nine people in Borno
Wed 2013-12-11
  French Army Kills 19 Islamist Militants in Mali
Tue 2013-12-10
  MILF, Manila reach power-sharing agreement
Mon 2013-12-09
  Top Hizbullah Military Commander Ali Bazzi Killed in Syria Fighting
Sun 2013-12-08
  Gunmen Kill Nine at Baghdad Alcohol Shops
Sat 2013-12-07
  Gunmen kill ASWJ Punjab chief in drive-by shooting in Lahore
Fri 2013-12-06
  52 Killed as Militants Storm Yemen Defense Complex
Thu 2013-12-05
  At least 20 killed in attack on Yemen's defense ministry
Wed 2013-12-04
  Top Hezbollah Man Killed, Israel CreditedBlamed

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