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Hamas, I-J rocket Sderot. Surprise.
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Afghanistan
Hundreds of Taliban Attack Afghan Government Building
KABUL, Afghanistan — Hundreds of Taliban fighters attacked a western Afghan government building with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns Monday, killing three police officers and wounding seven in one of the militia's boldest strikes in the long-quiet region. The attack in Farah province could reflect a drive by militants to expand their fight against Afghan and U.S.-led coalition forces beyond insurgency-wracked southern and eastern provinces.
Or it could mean things are a little too hot down south, so they moved to a quieter region
The battle came amid a flurry of suicide attacks, roadside bombings and shootings across the country.

Four suspected suicide attackers riding on two explosives-laden motorbikes in Farah province were killed after they were challenged by police while driving through the provincial capital late Sunday, said Gen. Sayed Aga Saqib, the provincial police chief.
"Halt! I said 'Halt', dammit!"
Two of the suspected attackers were fatally shot. The other two were killed when police shot at their bike and detonated their explosives.
"KABOOM! Wow, they dun blowed up good!"
A boy walking nearby was killed in the explosion, while the child's father was wounded, Saqib said. Near Kandahar, a suicide car bomber seriously wounded two U.S.-led coalition soldiers. Also, gunmen killed two Afghans delivering medicine for international aid agency World Vision.

The heaviest fighting was in the town of Bakwa in Farah province, which had been spared the worst of the violence between resurgent Taliban-led rebels and Afghan and foreign troops that has killed more than 800 people, mostly militants, since mid-May.

About 400 Taliban fighters in about 35 pickup trucks arrived in the town late Sunday and launched a heavy assault on a district police and administration headquarters using dozens of machine guns and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, Saqib said.
400 divided by 35, that's 11 gunnies per pick-em-up truck. Figure three in the cab, that'll leave eight guys in the back chanting slogans and shooting guns in the air. Sounds like Friday night in Waco after a football game.
Minus the Pearl longnecks.
The militants fled back toward neighboring Helmand province after a five-hour battle, carrying an unknown number of militant casualties.
Ride into town, shoot up the sheriffs office, and run away before the Texas Rangers show up. It is Waco.
A suicide car bomber seriously wounded two U.S.-led coalition soldiers when he rammed their convoy as they patrolled with Afghan army soldiers in southern Kandahar province, on the main highway toward the capital, Kabul, coalition spokesman Col. Tom Collins said. The coalition declined to identify the wounded soldiers. Maj. Scott Lundy, another coalition spokesman, said their injuries were "serious but not life-threatening."

In western Ghor province, gunmen killed a doctor and a driver for the aid agency World Vision, said Karimuddin Razazada, deputy governor of Ghor province.
In eastern Afghanistan, an attacker traveling in a taxi from neighboring Pakistan exploded two grenades at a border police checkpoint in Khost province late Sunday, killing a civilian and wounding three others, police said.
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 15:21 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Okay, now I'm expecting a real nice big fat body count here, like 80 dead Talibanis before this one's over.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 07/24/2006 15:51 Comments || Top||

#2  A five-hour gunbattle? Now *that's* Islamic!
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/24/2006 15:54 Comments || Top||

#3  What did the building ever do to them?
Posted by: Captain America || 07/24/2006 16:04 Comments || Top||

#4  Looks like there will be a fire sale on used pickup truck parts in Farah.
Posted by: ed || 07/24/2006 16:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Afghanistan province map:

http://tinyurl.com/jjmqv

Appears to be about a 60 mile drive back to Helmand.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/24/2006 16:18 Comments || Top||

#6  Hundreds of Taliban fighters attacked a western Afghan government building...

Maybe they were just inpired by the old Klingon battle cry: "It's a good day to die!"
Posted by: Xbalanke || 07/24/2006 16:25 Comments || Top||

#7  400 talibani, 5 hours of shooting, and only 3 police officers are killed?

Good God, who trained these guys, the same ones who trained shooters in 'The A-Team'?
Posted by: Tony (UK) || 07/24/2006 16:47 Comments || Top||

#8  They got away? Why didn't NATO launch helicopter gunships at the escape column of pickups? And where did they get the trucks?
Posted by: Griper Whegum8464 || 07/24/2006 17:00 Comments || Top||

#9  ...who trained these guys?

They are self taught!
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/24/2006 17:11 Comments || Top||

#10  The pickup trucks and the Paki gunnies in them are courtesy of the ISI, #9. Pakistan is packed with Japanese light pickup trucks, and the Waziris just need to be pointed in the proper direction to go die for Islam.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 07/24/2006 17:45 Comments || Top||

#11  "A five-hour gunbattle? Now *that's* Islamic!"

You bet your sweet ass it is! The LAST thing you want to be is effective!!

And what is this shit about killing civvies? Don't these people have any sense at all!?!? Don't answer. They love their kids (like we do) but can be 'influenced'. Sounds to me as if this is all pre-planned! The obligatory civilians killed/wounded for the BBC/CNN.

These people are pissing me off, and I'm going to Afghanistan soon to HELP these dumbfucks, So Help Me God! They are dying of arsenic poisoning, plus high concentrations of bac; killing their children. Bad water. They know it, can't help it.

Last time I was there was the 70's. Hasn't changed.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/24/2006 20:44 Comments || Top||

#12 
Under the Taliban, the Saudi government sent 400 pickup trucks to al-Qaeda with the purpose of deflecting criticism of the House of Saud, to approved enemies. Prior to that, the Sauds - who had recognized Taliban, while senior clerics labeled that ideology, authentic Islam - had pressured the Taliban to deport Osama bin Laden back to the Kingdom for jihad re-conditioning. After 9-1-1, the al-Qaeda leadership escaped to Pakistan in those Toyotas, and the House of Saud bought the absence of Western scrutiny by lowering the price of crude (in November 2001, we saw the lowest oil prices in the past 20 years). We shouldn't be indulging so-called allies, who want terror as long as it is directed at correct enemies.
Posted by: Griper Whegum8464 || 07/24/2006 20:54 Comments || Top||

#13  Looks like there will be a fire sale on used pickup truck parts in Farah.

No bolts, but plenty of nuts! :-)
Posted by: gorb || 07/24/2006 21:19 Comments || Top||


Taliban getting wacked
July 24, 2006: American commanders believe their operations have disrupted Taliban plans, and done a lot of damage to the Taliban leadership. Without providing many details (for security reasons, as the campaign is still going on), it was pointed out that the Taliban have been unable to execute a coherent plan. If the Taliban appear to be flailing about, they are. Every week, one or more Taliban groups are cornered and destroyed by American, NATO or Afghan forces. These operations yield documents and prisoners (for interrogation.) The information gathered in that way would provide an accurate picture of what shape the Taliban are in, and apparently that shape is kind of bent at the moment.

Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 09:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Getting bent, eah?
Posted by: texhooey || 07/24/2006 9:31 Comments || Top||

#2  July 23, 2006: Afghan police and troops raided a Taliban camp in southern Afghanistan, killing 19 Taliban, and arresting 17 (most of them Pakistanis).

Gee Sergeant Carter, have I got a SURPRISE FOR YOU!
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/24/2006 10:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Whadya mean they don't have a coherent plan!!

Mullah Omar: Achmed, I want you to go across the border and stir up trouble.
Achmed: Yes Iman.
Mullah Omar: Oh yeah, and put on this red shirt first.
Achmed: Yes Iman.
Mullah Omar: One more thing, I thoughtfully took out this life insurance policy in your name. Sign here.
Achmed: Insurance? Sign?
Mullah Omar: Just make an 'X' on this line.
Posted by: DMFD || 07/24/2006 11:30 Comments || Top||

#4  N.B.: Private Gomer Pyle was training to be a Marine sniper, in preparation to being sent to Vietnam, and was shown to be such a remarkable shot, that high ranking officers in his chain of command repeatedly ordered extraordinary latitude in his discipline.

Really.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/24/2006 14:16 Comments || Top||

#5  Arrggghhh! We're back to only 19 Talibans getting wasted instead of the usual 40. Up the ante and pass more ammo.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 07/24/2006 15:50 Comments || Top||

#6  During the Vietnam War, television all but ignored the war. One of the most popular shows of the time, "Gomer Pyle," was about a private in the U.S. Marine Corps and it never once mentioned Vietnam.
Posted by: 6 || 07/24/2006 20:39 Comments || Top||


Blast hits coalition vehicle in Afghan south
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - A convoy of U.S.-led forces was hit by a blast near the southern Afghan city of Kandahar on Monday and at least two Canadian soldiers were wounded, coalition forces said. Police said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber. The blast occurred on a main road outside Kandahar city, where a double suicide attack killed two Canadian soldiers and several Afghans on Saturday.

Coalition spokesman Major Scott Lundy told Reuters: “A coalition vehicle was struck by an IED (improvised explosive device) east of the city.” But police sources said the blast was a suicide attack. “There was a suicide attack against the coalition this morning,” said a police source, who asked not to be identified. Another police official said the area was cordoned off.

“Two Canadian soldiers were wounded in the incident,” forces spokeswoman Captain Julie Roberge said. Canadian troops form the bulk of coalition forces in Kandahar, a stronghold for the Taleban guerrillas who are fighting an insurgency against the Afghan government and foreign forces in the country.
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 08:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghan forces kill 19 Taliban
Afghan forces killed 19 suspected Taliban rebels on Sunday as they traded rocket-propelled grenades and small arms fire with insurgents in volatile southern Afghanistan. The fighting in the southern province of Helmand took place 15 km (nine miles) south of Lashkar Gah, as police hunted Taliban militants, said Mullah Amir Mohammed Akhundza, the provincial deputy governor, who led the operation. Nineteen bodies of militants were recovered, and 17 other suspected Taliban were caught, including two Pakistanis, he said. Hundreds of policemen were involved in the clashes that started early Sunday, said Ghulam Nabi Malakhail, Helmand police chief. Two policemen were wounded.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  CNN keeps refering to to the Taliban uprising. All I keep seeing is 100 or so dead tali's a week.
Posted by: anymouse || 07/24/2006 1:40 Comments || Top||


Afghan district intelligence boss caught with heroin
KABUL - The intelligence chief of an Afghan district on a major drug trafficking route to Tajikistan has been caught with 33 kilograms (73 pounds) of heroin in a government vehicle, an official said on Sunday.

The intelligence director of Rustaq district in northern Takhar province on the border with Tajikistan was arrested last week, national secret police chief Abdul Wahab Khetab said in the capital Kabul. “He was carrying 33 kilograms of heroin in his government-owned vehicle,” he told AFP, adding that the suspect was being questioned by authorities.

The interior ministry has said it has a list of officials alleged to be involved in the drugs trade but has no evidence against them, and there have been few arrests.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well. I'm just schocked, schocked I tell you. He was a quiet man who lived next door. We never saw anything strange.

Hang this SOB and leave him in the village square for all to see. Then bring in the napalm and burn the opium fields. These tribal fellas are not going to get anything that is not written in crayon.
Posted by: Remoteman || 07/24/2006 0:24 Comments || Top||

#2  That would be shocked. Too late to type.
Posted by: Remoteman || 07/24/2006 0:25 Comments || Top||

#3  We undershtand. [hic]
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 0:51 Comments || Top||

#4  33 kilograms of heroin

wlk around pesoa petty cashe.
Posted by: RD || 07/24/2006 9:16 Comments || Top||

#5  It's for my Glaucoma...
Posted by: danking_70 || 07/24/2006 12:43 Comments || Top||

#6  It's a cry for help.
Posted by: Mike || 07/24/2006 13:48 Comments || Top||

#7  Jus helping out a friend
Posted by: Captain America || 07/24/2006 16:06 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
Somali Islamists say told by God to fight Ethiopia
...and I think we all know which God they're talking about.
Wudn't me.
      -God
MOGADISHU (Reuters) - Somalia's Islamists whipped up howling mobs religious fervor against Ethiopia on Monday, telling demonstrators God had commanded that they fight troops sent into the country by Addis Ababa to oppose their advance. "We are telling Ethiopia that we are ready to die," said Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a senior Islamist in charge of defense.
How ready are you, Sheikhy?
I've been thinking of turning him into a pillar of salt, y'know...
      -God
"We've been commanded by God to fight you," he said at a rally of hundreds of mostly young men and a few veiled women at a football stadium in the Islamist-controlled capital.
But I'll stay back here and relay the messages from God. Go get 'em, boys!
Shoot him first.
      -God
The demonstrators set fire to an Ethiopian flag to cries of "God is great!"
Ah, yes. We've seen this movie before. Many times.
Ain't I, though? You oughta see me do the Charleston!
      -God
At the same rally, Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Ahmed also condemned the Ethiopian presence, but suggested his movement may resume stalled talks with the government. "The Islamic courts are ready for talks against the use of force or foreign troops," he told the crowds.
I told him to say that, too.
      -God
Witnesses say Ethiopia has moved thousands of troops across the border to protect Baidoa, provincial base of Somalia's interim government, against Islamists who have seized Mogadishu and a large swathe of the country. Traditionally Christian Ethiopia fears a hardline Muslim state on its doorstep and possible Islamist aspirations to claim its southeastern, ethnically Somali region of Ogaden. The Islamist-organized protest came as a group of Somali legislators urged the Ethiopians to leave the country. It was the first recognition from within the Horn of Africa's interim authorities of a military incursion by Addis Ababa.
Damn. How much popcorn can we eat?
Here, lemme create some more.
      -God
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/24/2006 12:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Mullahs may breast beat all day to get the Somalis to fight the Ethiopians, but in the final analysis, Ethiops are to Somalis what Apaches are to Mexicans. Elevated one level on the food chain.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/24/2006 14:12 Comments || Top||

#2  I always like it when God smites the false profit in the end. Amen.
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/24/2006 14:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Allan told them to fight? Good, that's very good. Now, Allan commands Somali Islamists to slit each other's throats and or drown themselves in the Red Sea. Please follow through, Allan will be pleased.
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 07/24/2006 15:43 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Border guard vehicles blown up in S.Russia
MOSCOW, July 24 (RIA Novosti) - An explosion hit a convoy of border guard vehicles in southern Russia, and an uncertain number of casualties have been reported, the Interior Ministry said Monday. The source in the ministry said the blast occurred at 6.30 p.m. Moscow time (2.30 GMT) near a local hospital in Nazran in Russia's North Caucasus republic of Ingushetia.

"The explosive device went off at a moment when two vehicles with border guards were passing by," the source said. The source said that the blast had injured a border guard. "So far, criminal investigators have discovered fragments of an explosive device," he said.

Another three cars were at the site at the moment of the blast, but have left the site independently. The number of possible casualties among the passengers is being clarified. Preliminary reports suggest the explosive device had power of 3kg of TNT equivalent.
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 16:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Down Under
Spanish court tosses terror conviction
MADRID, Spain - Spain's Supreme Court on Monday threw out a terrorism conviction against the only Spaniard to have been held at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying there was no evidence to back up charges he was a member of al-Qaida. The court ordered the immediate release of Hamed Abderrahman Ahmed, who was convicted last year of belonging to a terrorist organization and sentenced to six years in prison. "There is a total absence of prosecution evidence," the Supreme Court said.

Ahmed was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001 and held by Pakistani authorities for about four months before being transferred to Guantanamo. He said he had gone to Afghanistan to study at an Islamic school.
Chemistry major, no doubt

He was returned to Spain in February 2004 and indicted by anti-terrorism judge Baltazar Garzon. Prosecutors said during his trial that Ahmed had gone to Afghanistan to train at an al-Qaida camp, and his address had been recovered by British police in an al-Qaida-linked raid in England.

The Spanish Supreme Court last month threw out an al-Qaida suspect's conviction for conspiracy to commit murder in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States. It also cited weak evidence against the suspect, Syrian-born Spaniard Imad Yarkas, who was indicted by Garzon in Sept. 2003 as suspected leader of an al-Qaida cell in Spain. The court upheld a 12-year sentence against Yarkas for belonging to al-Qaida. It acquitted three other suspects who had been convicted of belonging to or collaborating with al-Qaida.
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 17:52 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Concerning what is happening in Spain nowadays, you have to remember that the far-left Zapatero was elected 3 days after the Madrid bombings of March 11th, 2004, and that he is at present discussing with the ETA terrorist organization (which has killed more than 1000 people in 30 years, and is the bloodiest terrorist group of all Europe). A lot of Spanish are disgusted about those talks, but, nevertheless, according to surveys (and to what I have heard in a recent trip in central Spain), they are fanatically anti-American (in fact, more than the French people, no joke). So, they sympathize with the poor terrorists detained in Guantanamo, and their justice system does too. In my country (France), 3 detainees released from Guantanamo are awaiting the decision of the tribunal, but already the judge has said during the trial that their detention in Guantanamo was a crime (yes), and that Guantanamo was a shame for the mankind (no less). By the way, that's the general mood in the vast majority of "old" Europe (Western Europe).
Posted by: leroidavid || 07/24/2006 19:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Spain is the one country in Europe whose ass we have kicked around the block. They're upset about Gitmo because they tyhink it should still belong to them. They hope to set up a Hispanosphere to rival the Anglosphere. But most of the people who would qualify live in this hemisphere and seem to want to get away from things Hispanic for del Norte asap.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 19:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Like Spain, France is dreaming of setting up a Francosphere to rival the Anglosphere. It's a shame that most of Spanish and French people think that it's more important to oppose the US than to oppose islamism and terrorism. They dont want to understand that the US are presently protecting the free world, once more.
Posted by: leroidavid || 07/24/2006 20:01 Comments || Top||

#4  The white Latin upper classes might find some utility in a Hispanosphere, but I can't see the mestizo and indio masses showing any interest at all in such a creature.

I have come to consider, le roi david, the European selection of such an unserious enemy as the United States as a reflection of the silliness of the whole European project. If the Euro elites were serious about defining themselves in opposition to someone, one could surely find a much better example than America.
Posted by: 11A5S || 07/24/2006 20:10 Comments || Top||

#5  Watch how you speak of the Grand Duchy of Fenwick.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 20:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Wow 11A5S. Deep-ish. Impressed I am. No slight. Kick ass, man.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/24/2006 20:16 Comments || Top||

#7  To 11A5S : I think the European project is good in its aim (creating a federation of countries to re-inforce them as a whole), but that it is crippled by the liberal way of thinking of a lot of european leaders and people (for example, more than 64 % of French people think that capitalism is evil, according to a recent survey), and by their will to oppose the US. They should want to positively compete with the US, which would lead to more fundings for research, for science, and for the army to fight terrorism. But the anti-American disinformation is deeply rooten in 'old Europe'. Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not living in an asylum.
Posted by: leroidavid || 07/24/2006 20:28 Comments || Top||

#8  that Guantanamo was a shame for the mankind (no less).

But if I recall correctly, a EU team which reviewed the conditions provided prisoners at Gitmo were among the best in the world, while the same group rated Romania and France near the bottom.
Posted by: Thetch Sperelet4392 || 07/24/2006 20:43 Comments || Top||

#9  "Sometimes, I wonder if I'm not living in an asylum."

You are.

But escape is possible; my own ancestors fled France during the religious troubles, eventually making their way here via England and then Quebec.

The food isn't as good here in Philadelphia, but we do have cheese steaks. C'mon over!

Posted by: Dave D. || 07/24/2006 20:44 Comments || Top||

#10  If "here" is Quebec, then you've got smoked meat, poutine, pea soup and host of other delicacies.
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 07/24/2006 22:01 Comments || Top||

#11  Went to Afghanistan to study? Just like Johnny JIhad. Taliban allowed al-Qaeda free reign in operating terror training camps, and training is the main reason why foreigners went to the country when Taliban was in power. Thousands of Americans of Pakistan descent made extended jihad vacations to the murder camps. And they brought that training back with them.
Posted by: Griper Whegum8464 || 07/24/2006 22:20 Comments || Top||

#12  No one expects the Spanish Inquisition...perhaps the Supremes don't expect the al-Qaida paybacks either...
Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 07/24/2006 23:12 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
US embassy put on terror alert
NEW DELHI: The next few days are likely to be very tense for the US embassy here. For a top IB official has sent a letter to security agencies with a chilling message the American embassy is expected to be targetted any time between now and July 30 by terrorists owing allegiance to an Iranian terror group.

This intelligence input has already sent security agencies scampering to plug real or imagined weaknesses in the security ring around the mission. Sources revealed on Monday that the input was received early last week and has been circulated among all security agencies in Delhi, including the police and paramilitary forces.

"The US embassy has been on an extremely high state of alert and things will remain the same for the next few days. The input has even identified one of the men likely to participate in the attack and efforts are on to establish his presence," said a source.

According to the report, the attack is likely to be carried out by a group of 20 terrorists, some of whom have been part of terror attacks in other parts of the world. This group is headed by a terrorist named Jawad Shah Shanas.

The report also says that these 20 men are of Iranian, Afghan and Kashmiri descent and have been in Delhi since June. They are armed with sophisticated weapons and could cause major damage.

"The threat is that they would launch an all-out assault in the nature of a 'fidayeen' attack. The security review was done in keeping with this possibility," said the official. According to the input, the Iranians in the group of 20 are associated with a Iran terror group comprising terrorists who earlier backed Saddam Hussein.

The alert has also left many wondering if international terrorist groups are trying to join hands with Kashmir terror groups. The letter specifically mentions that people of Kashmiri descent are expected to help the Iranians and Afghans carry out the attack.

This is the first real threat input for the US embassy since the closure of some of embassy offices in August last year because of security concerns. It was then said that some al-Qaida militants arrested in Pakistan had revealed that the US embassy in India was likely to be targeted soon.
Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 16:47 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Send a couple of SFOD-D squadrons, armed to the teeth.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 07/24/2006 20:48 Comments || Top||


Indian Police Arrest 4th Suspect in Blast
BOMBAY, India (AP) -- Indian police have arrested a fourth suspect in connection with the Bombay train blasts that killed more than 200 people, officials said Monday. The suspect, who was identified as Tanvir Ahmed Ansari, appeared in a Bombay court, where the judge remanded him to police custody until Aug. 4.

Ansari, a Bombay-based practitioner of traditional Unani medicine, was among five people picked up for questioning Saturday, said a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Ansari was formally placed under arrest late Sunday, the officer said.

The officer gave no further details about Ansari, but the Press Trust of India news agency reported that Ansari allegedly received training in Pakistan to make bombs and explosives.
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 09:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pak building huge Plutonium production reactor
Pakistan has begun building a powerful new reactor for producing plutonium, a move which signals a major expansion of the country's nuclear weapons capabilities and a potential new escalation in the region's arms race, reports The Washington Post.

'Satellite photos of Pakistan's Khushab nuclear site show what appears to be a partially completed heavy-water reactor capable of producing enough plutonium for 40 to 50 nuclear weapons a year, a 20-fold increase from Pakistan's current capabilities, according to a technical assessment by Washington-based nuclear experts,' says the Post article.

The site is adjacent to Pakistan's only plutonium production reactor, 'a modest, 50-megawatt unit that began operating in 1998. By contrast, the dimensions of the new reactor suggest a capacity of 1,000 megawatts or more, according to the analysis by the Institute for Science and International Security, (ISIS). Pakistan is believed to have 30 to 50 uranium warheads, which tend to be heavier and more difficult than plutonium warheads to mount on missiles,' says the Post.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 08:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Suddenly Pakistan can build a 1000 ME(e) heavy water reactor?
Looks like the Chinese have violated the NPT again...


Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 8:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Way to go, A**Holes.
Posted by: newc || 07/24/2006 10:23 Comments || Top||

#3  Guess they must have finished taking care of all those desperate earthquake victims. Can't leave all that foreign aid money just laying around now, can they? Sounds like they need another major "earthquake" (induced or otherwise), real bad.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/24/2006 11:53 Comments || Top||

#4  a 1000 ME(e) heavy water reactor

Correction, this is 1000 MW Thermal
Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 12:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Guess they must have finished taking care of all those desperate earthquake victims.

According to the Pak physicist Pervez Hoodbhoy, the aid money from the 1971 earthquake was diverted to fund the nuclear weapons program.

He warned last year that a repeat of this was possible.

Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 12:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Thank you for confirming my worst suspicions, john. These Pakistani maggots are one of our major enemies.
Posted by: Zenster || 07/24/2006 12:16 Comments || Top||

#7  Where are the Pakis getting that much heavy water? And why would they, since they can enrich uranium and therefore make more compact reactors? Or did John correct the article and say it is some other type of reactor, like graphite?
Posted by: ed || 07/24/2006 12:56 Comments || Top||

#8  The article claims it is a heavy water reactor and implies they also have the ability to extract tritium from heavy water reactor coolant (something that only two countries - Canada and India are known to have developed the technology for).

Paks don't have a heavy water production plant so they will probably buy it from China, in violation of NSG rules.

The enriched uranium production at Kahuta is not commercial scale. It is enough for a small bomb program but not enough to fuel an entire reactor.
Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 13:36 Comments || Top||

#9  Thanks.
Posted by: ed || 07/24/2006 17:06 Comments || Top||

#10  Where 'ya been Zenman?
Posted by: 6 || 07/24/2006 17:25 Comments || Top||

#11  With that much plutonium..............

I really don't want to think about it.

But you know that when I was at the Prefix 5 class at Oberammergau back in the 70's I had a Brit Commander in the class that said one day when we were learning how to assemble a .75kT tactical nuke "you do know of course Major that one of these days one of those arab nutjob fanatics is going to get their mitts on one of these things and we are all going to have hell to pay for it"
Very Prophetic words that wake me in the middle of the night these days..........OFTEN
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 07/24/2006 19:37 Comments || Top||

#12  Here is the link to the ISIS report with satellite photos.

Here is the money paragraph from the report:

Based on the apparent rate of construction, the reactor could be finished within a few years. However, nothing suggests that Pakistan is moving quickly to finish this reactor. The driving forces behind the reactor completion schedule could be a shortage of necessary reactor components or other parts of the weapons-production infrastructure, such as the rate of heavy water production, the availability of a sufficient fuel reprocessing capacity or, perhaps, the availability of sufficient modern tritium recovery and packaging facilities. For example, Pakistan may not have enough heavy water for this reactor, which could require about 100-150 tonnes of heavy water. The Khushab site has a heavy water production plant2 able to produce an estimated 13 tonnes of heavy water a year, a relatively small production capability. Pakistan may not be able to reprocess all of the anticipated irradiated fuel from this reactor. It is known to process fuel to separate plutonium at the New Labs facility at Rawalpindi, and this facility was expanded between about 1998 and 2002. However, this increase in capacity was believed to be associated with the smaller, heavy water reactor.

So are the Saudis cutting back on the funding? Is AQ Khan's network still too crippled to deliver the goods? Or are the Pakis just too corrupt and incompetent to finish it off?
Posted by: 11A5S || 07/24/2006 19:39 Comments || Top||

#13  Prefix 5 class at Oberammergau back in the 70's
Any chance of banning the nic thief?
Posted by: 6 || 07/24/2006 20:43 Comments || Top||

#14  So are the Saudis cutting back on the funding? Is AQ Khan's network still too crippled to deliver the goods? Or are the Pakis just too corrupt and incompetent to finish it off?

The reactor and associated facilities require serious industrial infrastructure that Pak just doesn't have.
This is a country that is not able to make a high speed lathe, or a tractor.
It produces less than 50 PhDs per annum at present, in all fields.

During the first 40 years, all the universities and research institutions in Pakistan produced only 128 PhDs in scientific disciplines

According to Hoodbhoy
Although this country is home to 150 million people, there are perhaps fewer than 20 computer scientists of sufficient calibre who could possibly get tenure-track positions at some B-grade US university. In physics, even if one roped in every competent physicist in the country, it would not be possible to staff even one single good department of physics. As for mathematics: it is impossible to find even five real mathematicians in Pakistan. The social sciences are no better.

Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 21:17 Comments || Top||

#15  This has really been a very counterproductive move by China. I am not at all sure that the US and India would be nearly as close were it not for radiant Pakistan. Likewise with their little Korean puppet cementing U. S. relations with Japan. Right there they've made enemies of one third of the world's population and GDP. I doubt this will help their demographic difficulties.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 21:30 Comments || Top||


Top Maoist leader gunned down in Andhra
Posted late Sunday, moved to Monday. AoS.
In a big jolt to the Maoist movement in Andhra Pradesh, police gunned down the topmost guerrilla leader in the state in a gun battle Sunday. Madhav, state committee secretary of the outlawed Communist Party of India -Maoist (CPI-Maoist), and seven other rebels were killed by commandos of Greyhounds, the elite anti-Maoist police force, in Nallamalla forests in Prakasam district, about 250 km from here.

This is the first time in over three decades of Maoist insurgency in the state that their top leader was gunned down by police.

Fearing retaliation by the guerrillas, police have sounded a red alert all over the state, and ministers, legislators and other politicians have been advised to take all precautions for their safety.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: john || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Caught by the Greyhounds, eh? I expect they ran him down.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 07/24/2006 11:31 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi Shi'ite militia ready to join Hizbollah
A senior member of Muqtada al-Sadr's Iraqi Shi'ite militia, the Mahdi Army, says the group is forming a squadron of up to 1,500 elite fighters to go to Lebanon. The plan reflects the potential of the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah to strengthen radical elements in Iraq and neighboring countries and to draw other regional players into the Lebanon conflict.

"We are choosing the men right now," said Abu Mujtaba, who works in the loosely organized following of radical Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. "We are preparing the right men for the job." Mr. Mujtaba, who was interviewed in Baghdad, said some of the men have had special training but did not specify what kind. Sheik al-Sadr's black-clad armed militia numbers in the thousands, operates throughout central and southern Iraq and is thought to be responsible for numerous killings of Sunnis.

A rival Sunni cleric, Abdul Rahman al-Duleimi, said he knew about the militia's recruiting effort and that he had appealed to his own followers to fight Israel. "We know that the Mahdi militia is on this issue since the Lebanon-Israeli crisis started," said Sheik al-Duleimi, whose house in Baghdad contains a large portrait of former ruler Saddam Hussein. The cleric is not related to Adnan al-Dulaimi, also a Sunni cleric and leader of a major faction in parliament. Sheik al-Duleimi said that during prayers on Friday, he "called the people to volunteer, and if they cannot, they should donate anything. I called on people to donate even one bullet, because maybe this one bullet will kill one Israeli."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 09:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "1500 elite fighters."

Haw. Haw haw.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/24/2006 9:21 Comments || Top||

#2  ...just like the 'elite' Republican Guard.

I say let them go without interference. A more target rich environment without the skirt of political correctness found in Sadr City.
Posted by: Omeamble Huporong4781 || 07/24/2006 9:25 Comments || Top||

#3  I say provide transport.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 9:26 Comments || Top||

#4  "Elite" is a relative term.
Posted by: Fordesque || 07/24/2006 9:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Please, Mr Sadr, send your troops to Lebanon as soon as possible.

All of Iraq will be overjoyed when you do.

You might consider going in person, to supervise them.
Posted by: PM Nour Al Maliki || 07/24/2006 9:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Yea, go impale yerselves on the Isreali sword. Saves us the problem.
Posted by: BrerRabbit || 07/24/2006 9:55 Comments || Top||

#7  let the elite Mahdi Army march through Kurdistan

enjoy
Posted by: mhw || 07/24/2006 10:05 Comments || Top||

#8  Provide them 30 old buses for their 1500 terrorists, tell them to provide their own drivers, and then whack them on the road to Damascus. Win-Win situation.
Posted by: DanNY || 07/24/2006 10:14 Comments || Top||

#9  So who do you think'll be in Lebanon sooner? Me or the Mahdi Army?
Place your bets...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/24/2006 10:17 Comments || Top||

#10  Sheik al-Duleimi said the fight in Lebanon extends beyond the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, and that it is a struggle between Muslims and the American-Israeli alliance.

Yep, thats the way we see it too. Please.... "to the death!"
Posted by: Besoeker || 07/24/2006 10:20 Comments || Top||

#11  " . . . we will see who is defending Islam to prove he is a Muslim and who is not."

" . . . urged Iraqis to stand behind Lebanon to confront the "common enemy," Israel."

" . . . I called on people to donate even one bullet, because maybe this one bullet will kill one Israeli."

Sick idiots.
Posted by: ex-lib || 07/24/2006 10:23 Comments || Top||

#12  "We'll defend you with our blood!"
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/24/2006 11:04 Comments || Top||

#13 
Time for Tehran PAIN!


off Tater topic:

salt, supposed hezbi rpg IDF 'chopper vid
Posted by: RD || 07/24/2006 11:21 Comments || Top||

#14  There will be a sea of fire. A plague of locusts. Frogs.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/24/2006 11:53 Comments || Top||

#15  C'mon in boys, it's a big kill box, plenty'a room for ever'one.
Posted by: Mike || 07/24/2006 12:03 Comments || Top||

#16  Can't whack 'em fast enough in Iraq. Might as well let the IDF have a go at them. Nice to see the Israelis peeling off their gloves for a change. GO IDF!!!
Posted by: Zenster || 07/24/2006 12:05 Comments || Top||

#17  Go ahead. Saves us the ammo.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/24/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||

#18  Why stop with 1500 'elite'? Send them all in a glorious crusade against the Jews!

Will the Mahdi Army bring their own civilian shields or will they make do with the local Lebanese civilian shields?

Will the Mahdi Army coordinate with Hezbollah to make sure that there is an equitable division of civilian shields so that no Lion of Islam has to face the enemy without women and children in front of him?

Seriously, it would be good if Tater sent everyone but his personal bodyguard into the meatgrinder. It always helps to have your enemy so declare and step into the kill box. Would make me feel even better about the money we send the IDF every year.
Posted by: RWV || 07/24/2006 12:44 Comments || Top||

#19  NOW can Tater be killed?
Posted by: Mark Z || 07/24/2006 13:07 Comments || Top||

#20  Hezbullah is a militia that was set up in Lebanon in 1982 by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini, of the Muslim Shiite sect. Hezbullah is actually Lebanese. It claimed it's purpose was to drive out Israeli occupation at that time. However, it's true mission is to do someday what in Lebanon what the Ayatollah did in Iran, and what Al Sadr hopes someday to do in Iraq, topple the government and take over the nation.

It is a Lebanese militia, styled after Hamas, that not only has a militant wing but carries out a lot of civil support (hospitals, schools, civil services) in Southern Lebanon. The Lebanonese government actually recognizes the Hezbullah as it's official military in Southern Lebanon, bestowed upon them when they were credited with ousting the Israeli occupation of Southern Lebanon, and the ousting of American forces in Beirut with the barracks bombing that killed 241 Marines, and an attack on the French that killed 58 French soldiers, who also departed after that event.

They are considered "resistance fighters". Their past successes and the result being that foreign elements had left as a result, is what Iran, Syria, Mookie in Iraq, and Al Qaeda contribute to the model that if they confront the West when the West tries to combat Islamic Jihad, the West will "cut and run".

Hence, Bush's desire this time to support Israel in their fight and his desire to see Iraq succeed as a Democracy under his watch. No "cut and run" successes any more for these militias in the M.E. is the coalition's goal.

What Rice and Bush will now do as Israel irradicates Hezbullah in South Lebanon, is offer to let the West support the Lebanese government rebuild the south with Western help, if they will turn away from Syria and Iran and the Hezbullah, which the newly democraticly elected government is more inclined to do now than ever before. The new Lebanese government has blaimed Syria for the recent assasination of a popular Lebanese official/business man. Hezbullah supports Syria. Bush and Rice are now trying to offer an alternative to Hezbullah and the strong Syrian and Iranian influence in South Lebanon.
Posted by: Chomble Grolutch3348 || 07/24/2006 14:09 Comments || Top||

#21  salt, supposed hezbi rpg IDF 'chopper vid

RD, Baghdad Bob has moved to Beirut. A few days ago, 2 helicopters collided in Northern Israel. This would be a video from that. Notice, all the personnel were Israeli, as were the civilian vehicles. BTW, I lost my Cody doll. I expect it to star in a Hezb video anyday.
Posted by: ed || 07/24/2006 16:00 Comments || Top||

#22  By all means, the Sadr's boys should go to Leb. Heck, I'm sure the US Army would even charter busses, put big black Mahdi flags on top, then point them to western Iraq's scenic route.
Posted by: ed || 07/24/2006 16:04 Comments || Top||

#23  Chomble,
"What Rice and Bush will now do as Israel irradicates Hezbullah in South Lebanon, is offer to let the West support the Lebanese government rebuild the south with Western help"

What do you mean by "West"? I hope you don't mean the U.S. As I have stated before, since Lebanon is different from other Arab countries, it is worth rebuilding. But, the U.S. and Israel better not touch the rebuilding with a 10ft pole. Please study the Islamic mindset a bit more, before commenting. They HATE the U.S. and Israel. The time is over for "feel good" politics.

If by "West," you mean Europe, then we're on the same page. Since you mention Bush, Rice and West in the same sentence, I am assuming you meant the U.S. If not, use separate sentences. Thanks.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 07/24/2006 16:26 Comments || Top||

#24  Wicked graphic.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 07/24/2006 16:31 Comments || Top||

#25  These people are insane.
Posted by: kelly || 07/24/2006 17:36 Comments || Top||


Iraqi forces free two hostages, arrest eight death squad members
(KUNA) -- The US army said on Sunday the Iraqi forces were able to free two hostages and arrest the kidnappers who are involved in death squads east of Baghdad. A statement by the Multinational Forces in Iraq said Iraqi security forces backed up by the Multi-National Forces carried out two raid operations against individuals involved in death squads and racial violence east of Baghdad. The forces were confronted by heavy continuous fire and RPG missiles during the raids, the statement added. The joint forces were able to raid its targets without any casualties among its soldiers, it added. According to the statement two Iraqi hostages were freed and eight kidnappers were arrested.

Iraqi security forces said fierce raids broke out this morning when US-Iraqi forces raided Al-Sadr town east of Baghdad. The sources said the joint forces backed up by US helicopters raided in the early hours of Sunday morning Al-Sadr town.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Arrested, tried, executed.
Posted by: anymouse || 07/24/2006 1:39 Comments || Top||

#2  RAB 'em.
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 1:44 Comments || Top||


Eastern Baghdad car blast toll up to 32 dead, 63 injured
(KUNA) -- The latest reports bring up the death toll in the car blast earlier in the day in Sadr City, eastern Baghdad, to 32 and the number of those injured to 63 people, according to Interior Ministry sources. The sources said the explosives team thinks it is most probable the car was rigged with 200 kilograms of explosives. They said this 'preliminary' tally of victims was provided by Kindi and Sadr Hospitals and from medical teams who took part in rescue and recovery at the scene. The sources said the blast set fire to seven civilian vehicles, including a minibus that was transporting passengers from Sadr City and caused damage to a nearby building and 10 shops in close proximity.

The American Army had in a statement today reported that Iraqi forces managed to free two hostages and arrest eight of the kidnappers involved in the so-called death squads in Sadr City. It said confrontations erupted in the area between Iraqi and US forces on the one hand and militants on the other. The joint forces, it said, came under heavy shooting from several locations using small arms, automatic weapons, and RPGs. The statement would not say whether the confrontations were actually in Sadr City but Iraqi Police sources said there were raids and violent confrontations this morning when Iraqi-US forces broke into the city. The sources said that joint forces backed up with helicopters broke into sector seven of the city early this morning, which led to the heavy confrontations, and added the toll is yet to be known.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Soon, if the stars are aligned correctly, the Iraqis will figure out that there are two modern conveniences which they will either have to do without - or they will have to continue to endure the Arab-on-Arab / Muslim-on-Muslim killing.

Cars and cellphones.

Ban them both in all but Kurdistan, return to the 7th century where they all long to be, and they will know much more peace than they do now.

Technology and Arabs / Muslims just do not mix.

Oh, and two ideas to safeguard the rest of us:

1) Some have strongly suggested that the civilized world (heh) enforce a total blockade on Islam ala Hotel California: You can check in, but you can never leave. You can debate who to include in the "civilized world", though I'd suggest the UK and Olde Europe be excluded as they are infected.

2) Take their children away from them. You can debate what means will be employed to stop the Baby Factory that is Islam from producing more. Raise them in the US. Teach them rule of law, logic, science, math, honest history.

That would end this, otherwise, endless shit.
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 0:20 Comments || Top||

#2  What about all those nice kids raised in the UK? Rule of law and all that. Turns out they thought mom and dad's place was not for them and they should turn to "the old ways". That would be the splodydope way. Better to terminate the line.
Posted by: Remoteman || 07/24/2006 0:29 Comments || Top||

#3  "I'd suggest the UK and Olde Europe be excluded as they are infected."

I sort of addressed that in item 1, but you're right -- I wasn't clear enough in item 2, LOL. :-/
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 0:36 Comments || Top||

#4  So they haven't got the hang of democracy yet then?
Posted by: Spike || 07/24/2006 0:42 Comments || Top||

#5  The Kurds have. Bless that bunch of Islam's misfits. The truest form of exception to the rule.

The Arabs never will. Same for those who take Islam seriously.

I empathize with the attempt, the effort, to give them the chance and choice, but they are miserable failures and miserable excuses for humans. They've shown promise only in dribs and drabs, individuals here and there. Time to partition this shithole and offer sanctuary to those few who are capable of lifting themselves from the muck and mire of Arab "society and customs" and Islam.

Embargo the remainder as a leper colony.
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 0:52 Comments || Top||

#6  My headline of choice: IRAQI OIL STILL FLOWING.
Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133 || 07/24/2006 1:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Great, Champ. I like that leper colony idea.
Some of the women should be pulled from the group along with the young children. No sense letting them reproduce as lepers. They (the lepers) would also be a source of stem cells.
Posted by: wxjames || 07/24/2006 7:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Champ: "Raise them in the US. Teach them rule of law, logic, science, math, honest history."

ROFLMAO. I gather you don't live in the USA.
Posted by: KBK || 07/24/2006 10:25 Comments || Top||

#9  KBK - Sure I do. You could enroll them in Catholic schools, Jewish schools, or to make a point of one of your recent comments - put them in Utah public schools, pick a few of those solid Moromon Wards where they'd also learn patriotism and civic responsibility.
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 10:37 Comments || Top||

#10  They will not do without the cell phones or motorized vehicles, Champ Angeger5024, because without them they aren't kewl, y'know. And they will keep getting caught as a result. As for taking the children away -- unless you get them before they know who they are, enough will grow up hating as a matter of principle those who kidnapped them, and legitimately so. I have no interest in going there.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/24/2006 15:44 Comments || Top||

#11 
"Better to terminate the line."

Sterilize and quarantine, then let them kill each other off.

Arabs are a defective branch of the human line, 14 centuries of inbreeding haven't helped matters either. Time to do what is necessary.

I see all of this coming to a blowup a lot faster than I had originally thought it would. We may be enjoying the last days or modern society right now. All because we won't do what is needed. Pity.

-M
Posted by: Manolo || 07/24/2006 20:59 Comments || Top||


Multinational forces arrest 154 suspected terrorists in Kirkuk
(KUNA) -- Multinational Forces (MNF) arrested more than 150 insurgents in cooperation with Iraqi security forces south west of Kirkuk northern Iraq, on Sunday. In a joint military operation, more than 3000 Iraqi and US soldiers besieged Al-Riyadh city and Al-Huwijah, western Kirkuk, in search for Al-Qaeda activists, a statement by the multinational forces said today. The forces arrested 154 suspected terrorists and seized more than 350 weapons including mortar shells, guns, missiles, and RPGs.

The military operation was in response to the calls of tribal leaders in the two cities who requested the intervention of military forces, especially after a series of terrorist attacks. The operation was also based on specific intelligence information that indicated the deployment of Al-Qaeda members in western Kirkuk. Over the last five weeks, 31 Iraqi soldiers were killed in attacks. During the past three days, six policemen were killed in Al-Huweija
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hope most, if not all, check out to be actual terrs. Certainly the MNF in the north are composed substantially of Kurds, so my congratulations, I'm sure they did very well in this Operation. They mean business and "get it".

Elsewhere in Iraq color me cynical... the sect and tribe of the suspect will determine the treatment, if Iraqi. Hell, they'll probably apologize for not recognizing them from the last militia meeting.
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  This isn't going to do much good if they are just released in the next wave of "goodwill" prisoner releases.
Posted by: crosspatch || 07/24/2006 0:46 Comments || Top||

#3  LOL, crosspatch. My original comment was twice as long before editing. I held forth on the Shia "Govt" Revolving Door Rest Farm, LOL. I decided to cut it short with the "Elsewhere" close... :-)
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 0:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Shake loose any PKK boys while you were there?
Posted by: mojo || 07/24/2006 10:39 Comments || Top||


Casualty count rises: 16 killed, 150 injured in Kirkuk car explosion
(KUNA) -- The casualties from the booby-trapped car in Kirkuk reached 170 people, according to Iraqi police. Kirkuk police chief, Sard Qader, told KUNA, 19 people have been killed and 150 people injured. Many of the injuries are severe, he added. Two storeys of the Kirkuk court building were damaged. Thirty civilian vehicles caught fire in the area. According to Qader, this bomb is one of the most violent witnessed in Kirkuk.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So Kirkuk is heating up. Now that is a Kurd town, or at least they want it to be. The Turks seem to be getting their knickers in a rather large twist these last few days. Maybe the Turk "Special Forces" are doing a bit of extra work and making it look like Tater did it. Prolly not, but enquiring minds would like to know.
Posted by: Remoteman || 07/24/2006 0:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps it is the Turks' "new friends".
Posted by: Fordesque || 07/24/2006 1:13 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey, at least they're modernizing. Over half the recent car bombs have been hybrids.

Bah-dum-bum
Posted by: Zenster || 07/24/2006 12:23 Comments || Top||


Three civilians injured in separate attacks in Kirkuk
(KUNA) -- Three Iraqis were injured in two separate attacks southwestern Kirkuk, said police on Sunday. In the area of Nehyat al-Riyadh, a mortar shell hit the market area, injuring two civilians who were transferred later for al-Hwuaijah hospital for treatment, an Iraqi police source told KUNA.

Meanwhile, another civilian was injured when a timed-bomb exploded in the Kirkuk-Hwuaijah highway. The explosion also damaged a civilian car.

The Iraqi city of Kirkuk has witnessed this afternoon the most violent explosion that took place near the city's court, which resulted in the killing and injuring of some 120 civilians, including three judges, according to the latest figures. The explosion also resulted in severely damaging surrounding buildings, cars and nearby stores.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraqi judge escapes life bid
(KUNA) -- An Iraqi judge escaped an assassination attempt in Mosul on Sunday, Iraqi police said. A source at the police said justice Mohammad Hamadi Hindi was driving to work in eastern Mosul when unknown gunmen sprayed his car with bullets injuring him but killing his driver.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
No injuries in Gaza City explosion
An explosion in a house in eastern Gaza City on Monday caused no casualties, witnesses said. It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.
Posted by: Seafarious || 07/24/2006 18:49 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too bad. :-(
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/24/2006 19:15 Comments || Top||

#2  It was not immediately clear what caused the blast.

Bad wiring - gotta hired licensed electricians...
Posted by: Raj || 07/24/2006 19:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Oyyyyyyyyyyyy...
Posted by: Mutual of Gaza City || 07/24/2006 21:39 Comments || Top||

#4  No casualties, no problem. Timer error while Mo went out for some falafel.
Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 07/24/2006 23:03 Comments || Top||


Israeli Forces Attack Islamic Jihad Weapons Warehouse in Gaza
The Israel Air Force and IDF Southern Command carried out a joint attack on an Islamic Jihad weapons factory and warehouse in the Zeitous neighborhood in Gaza on Monday. Secondary explosions were seen at the site following the IDF attack, confirming the existence of explosives in the warehouse.

Five terrorists were eliminated and 9 injured during an IDF strike in Beit Lahiya, where at least 7 Kassam rockets were fired at southern Israel earlier in the day. PA Arabs in northern Gaza said that dozens of families were leaving their homes in the Awdah neighborhood near Beit Lahiya in anticipation of IDF attacks in the area. Two rockets were fired from Beit Lahiya at Ashkelon, with one landing close to a strategic facility in the fifth-largest city. The second landed in an open area. No injuries or damage was reported.

Two Kassams landed in the city of Sderot, which has absorbed hundreds of rockets in the past year alone. One rocket fell near the entrance to the city. The other landed in the Rabin neighborhood. There, too, no one was hurt and no damage was reported. Later in the day, another rocket fell in the area of Kibbutz Zikkim. No injuries or damage reported.
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 16:23 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Three Terrorists Killed in Gaza
(IsraelNN.com) Three terrorists were killed in Gaza Monday afternoon by the Israeli Defense Forces. The terrorists were killed by artillery fire directed at the house in which they were hiding in Beit Lahiya in the Gaza strip.

The IDF is conducting attacks against terrorists in Gaza in order to stop rocket fire directed at Israeli towns.
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 08:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Obviously, they were hoping that the Israeli artillery was going to inaccurate as the Hezbollah rockets.

"Hey Mahmoud, I think if we hold our breath and bend over, the shell may pass over us"
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 07/24/2006 16:33 Comments || Top||


IDF: Terrorists running out of rockets
IDF Military Intelligence (MI) believes the army has 10 days left before diplomatic pressure puts an end to Operation Change of Direction against Hizbullah, The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday.

In addition, MI - reflecting its latest strategic assessment - believes that the Islamist group has already been dealt a severe blow by the IDF operation launched 12 days ago, and that within a month it will run out of Katyusha rockets to fire at Israel.

Hizbullah is organized along military lines, with regional commands in southern, northern and central Lebanon. The unit in the south, called the "Katyusha Unit" by the IDF, consists of some 1,000 fighters who have been responsible for most of the rocket attacks on communities north of Acre and Amiad.

The unit has been able to recruit reserves, but MI has noticed that it has run into difficulty convincing members of the terror group who reside in northern Lebanon to travel south to participate in the fighting.

Once the unit exhausts the missiles currently in its possession, it will, MI believes, have difficulty acquiring more, since most of the roads and supply routes have been destroyed by the IDF. Several Syrian and Iranian attempts to send supplies to Hizbullah have been thwarted by the IDF.

North of the Litani River, Hizbullah operates a unit called the "medium-range rocket unit" believed to be responsible for firing Katyushas at Haifa and Israel's northern coast. Most of that unit's missiles were supplied by Syria prior to the current conflict.

This unit is also believed to have an arsenal of long-range rockets - Iranian-made Fajr 5 and Zelzal missiles capable of reaching targets 200 km. away.

Hizbullah still has several functioning military command centers in different regions in Lebanon, according to MI assessments. Officials in these centers are still able to command Hizbullah's men in the field.

Military Intelligence has set up a team to oversee targeted killings of Hizbullah officials, but the unit has had limited success. MI does not believe that killing Hizbullah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah would necessarily end the conflict.

MI believes that Hizbullah has been dealt a "critical blow" to its image in Lebanon and throughout the Arab world. Lebanese leaders blame Nasrallah for provoking Israel and "bringing a disaster upon their country," MI believes.

Hizbullah also reportedly has three units charged with intelligence operations. One unit is in charge of espionage against Israel, including the recruitment of agents who gather intelligence on IDF bases and other strategic installations.
A unit called "1800" is reportedly responsible for the recruitment of Palestinians in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

There is also reportedly a third unit, in charge of counter-intelligence operations.
Posted by: Slolutch Omavising4399 || 07/24/2006 08:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A Grad rocket costs 200$
Posted by: Clerert Uneamp2772 || 07/24/2006 9:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Where does that value come from? Did you check eBay, Clerert?
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 9:40 Comments || Top||

#3  The trick is to make sure that Hezbollah runs out of rocketeers as well as rockets.
Posted by: Mike || 07/24/2006 10:53 Comments || Top||

#4  Ok. I'm no military expert but if MI knows where these 'command centers' are why doesnt the IDF destroy them? Are they too dug in or is Israel not really taking the gloves off like we'd hoped here at Rantburg.
Posted by: JAB || 07/24/2006 11:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Bulgarian prices...
Posted by: Clerert Uneamp2772 || 07/24/2006 11:07 Comments || Top||

#6  I'll bet that makes for some lively fireworks shows as it's cheaper than some of the more elaborate rounds... :)
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 11:11 Comments || Top||

#7  I love when a plan comes together.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/24/2006 11:53 Comments || Top||

#8  If Hezb still has 30 days of rockets left, I wouldn't say they are running out of rockets.

More like depleting inventory.
Posted by: mhw || 07/24/2006 11:54 Comments || Top||

#9  As Israel steps up her search and destroy missions in Lebanon, I expect that the pace of the "inventory depletion" will pick up.
Posted by: crosspatch || 07/24/2006 13:11 Comments || Top||

#10  What's the point? How long will it take Syria / Iran to resupply?

Gotta remove the source.
Posted by: Iblis || 07/24/2006 14:56 Comments || Top||

#11  We'll know HB is running out of rockets when they start launching Estes "X-Ray"s.

On a more dour note, what's keeping HB from mounting chem and bio weapons on their Fajrs besides the IRG's say-so?
Posted by: mrp || 07/24/2006 16:52 Comments || Top||

#12  what's keeping HB from mounting chem and bio weapons on their Fajrs besides the IRG's say-so?

Perhaps that's the plan for August 22nd. Or they were never given any, or Israel already blew them up, or Nasrullah's command-and-control is as out of commission as he is. Or, someone critical got the message that if WMD were used, the US would not stop at the Iraqi border. But I'm just guessing -- nobody tells little suburban housewives anything important. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/24/2006 19:15 Comments || Top||

#13  Do we have enough power in the Persian Gulf theater to take on HB, Iran, and Syria simultaneously after an Iranian-Syrian first strike against US forces in Iraq and Kuwait?
Posted by: mrp || 07/24/2006 19:48 Comments || Top||

#14  Replace HB with "Shi'a militias".
Posted by: mrp || 07/24/2006 19:52 Comments || Top||

#15  IDF has tried and maybe successfully cut the suppy lines for HEZ weapons. They have a navy presence at sea. They have bombed the airport. They have bombed the roads to Syria. They have bombed bridges. If there is a cease fire--I don't know if the IDF can control resupply of rockets and other weapons. It depends if the rest of the world takes off the blinders and steps up to the plate. A lot of people don't yet realize this is WW III.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/24/2006 21:42 Comments || Top||


Hizballah Brings Iwo Jima Tactics to Baffle Israeli Forces
Israeli forces have pushed forward from the mountaintop village of Maroun er Ras captured Sunday to the fringes of Bint Jubeil, Hizballah’s south Lebanese capital. Monday they suffered nine wounded in face to face combat. Whereas TV cameras showed much footage of the Maroun er Ras engagement, the IDF’s other battle pockets are kept under wraps.

Hizballah chief Hassan Nasrallah, who has an overall view, warned Israel in an interview to the Lebanese A Safir Monday, July 24, that its ground incursions in Lebanon would not stop Hizballah rocket fire against its cities. He certainly meant this as a morale-depressant for Israel troops. At the same time, DEBKAfile’s military experts say that what he says is correct and must be taken into account in any diplomatic formula sought to end the warfare.
1. He could go on firing his rockets even when a multinational force is posted on the Lebanese-Israeli border. The force currently contemplated by Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert at this early stage of international diplomacy would consist of German, French and Czech units.

2. And even if multinational troops were deployed additionally on the Lebanese-Syrian border, they would not hamper Hizballah’s rocket offensive. Therefore a buffer zone would offer no solution to a cessation of cross-border hostilities.

Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve || 07/24/2006 08:19 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Burn the goddam vegetation with incendiaries. Stop pussyfooting around, Israel.
Posted by: Apostate || 07/24/2006 8:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Nape.
Posted by: RD || 07/24/2006 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3  The Marines at Iwo didn't have air fuel bombs. The heavier gas will naturally go into tunnels and bunkers.

Hey, Ackmed, what's that strange smell?

*Flash Bang*
Posted by: Omeamble Huporong4781 || 07/24/2006 9:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Since a lot of the world would get their panties wadded over flame throwers and napalm such as were used in WWII, Fuel-Air Explosives [FAE]might be the answer to these tunnels and camo and whatever Japanese tactics Hizballah has adopted.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/24/2006 9:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Or ground penetrating radar etc.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/24/2006 9:46 Comments || Top||

#6  "Since a lot of the world would get their panties wadded over flame throwers and napalm such as were used in WWII,"
Hizbollah are using WWII rockets with ball bearings.
Besides, I seem to remember, that Monty Python had a way to find camouflaged soldiers and blow them up.
Posted by: plainslow || 07/24/2006 9:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Dogs and D-9s.
Posted by: mrp || 07/24/2006 10:15 Comments || Top||

#8  Hezbollah is not using WWII rockets. They stopped making BM13 rockets 50 years ago, stopped making the rockets themselves 30 years ago. What Hezbollah is using are the FROG 3 and FROG 5 missiles in the 122mm and the 220 mm range. Those do come in single rail launchers and in towable launchers.

Katyushas are 132mm and have never, repeat, never had a single rail launcher.

Hezbollah is not using WWII technology. They are using as modern weapons as can be had.
Posted by: badanov || 07/24/2006 11:06 Comments || Top||

#9  And I didn't know the Japanese fired artillery on civilians...
Posted by: badanov || 07/24/2006 11:10 Comments || Top||

#10  Yeah, the international force is a great idea. Just like the last time they tried it in Southern Lebanon. Hizb grew a national forest right under the force's noses---only this time it wasn't cedars, it was rockets, thousands of 'em.

A ceasefire would be a disaster for Israel. The cancer that is Hizb'Allah has metasticized into the whole of Lebanon. To get rid of the cancer, the patient may die, but that is what happens when this plague on humanity is left to grow for 20 years. Yeah, the UN has done a great job---of enabling terrorists. They are going to get us all killed.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/24/2006 11:14 Comments || Top||

#11  Also, thermal imaging was not available to the the Marines at Iwo Jima, nor were M203 grenade launchers or SMAWs with thermobaric warheads. There is a lot of good and very nasty equipment in the Western arsenal that can be used against entrenched positions. However, Debka got one point right : clearing tunnels does mean you will lose people, and that is Hiz b'Allah's one ace in this whole war - the Israelis' aversion to taking casualties.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 07/24/2006 11:56 Comments || Top||

#12  And #9, just ask the Chinese about the Imperial Japanese Army's tactics regarding civilian populations - Nanking comes to mind.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 07/24/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#13  And I didn't know the Japanese fired artillery on civilians...

It's not that but the tunnels and camo and rockets in general, that are reminiscent of Iwo Jima.
Posted by: J. D. Lux || 07/24/2006 11:57 Comments || Top||

#14  Since we can see that this is the Iranian military producing and co-ordinating this campaign, a decision must be made. This is a theatre warzone. Nothing can stop a dug in enemy but troops who painfully take every yard of turf. Recall the Pacific campaigns where days and days of aerial bombardment by aircraft, followed by days of bombardment by our big battleships and cruisers really did very little damage to the enemy who used tunnels and caves for protection. Only troops blasting and sealing tunnels, flamethrowers, napalm, etc. cleared these tunnels. The fact that they've used these ceasefires to implement these dug in positions and are using IED's which literally disintegrate the Merkava tanks indicates Iranian military tactics. There will be leadership required here. Can Bush provide it ? I think Israeli military simply does not have the manpower to do this. When they mobilize a large percentage of their populace for duty, the economy takes a major hit. This is not sustainable for long periods of time. This slow bleeding of our troops and capital is not wise. This needs to be accelerated and finished.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 07/24/2006 12:25 Comments || Top||

#15  Couldn't the Israelis just find the entrances and seal them with concrete?
Posted by: Apostate || 07/24/2006 12:25 Comments || Top||

#16  We have much better stuff for dealing with caves and tunnels nowdays.
Burn baby, burn!
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/24/2006 12:31 Comments || Top||

#17  The sealing argument sounds good on paper, but won't work in real life. A well designed tunnel system will have lots of alternate openings. It may have tunnel branches that are dug within a few feet of the surface that can dug be dug out in an emergency. Ventilation shafts can also be widened in an emergency.
Posted by: 11A5S || 07/24/2006 12:44 Comments || Top||

#18  My point is that the Japanese were at Iwo Jima to hold territory. Hezbollah is there to kill Jews. Japanese war crimes against the Chinese and other civilians notwithstanding. that is a tremendous difference.
Posted by: badanov || 07/24/2006 12:58 Comments || Top||

#19  DEBKA is not a news source. As for this statement:

"DEBKAfile’s military analysts say that the way the Israel-Hizballah war has been prosecuted up until Monday, July 24, is more likely to bring Nassrallah closer to his war objectives than Olmert."

I disagree. I believe Israel has started down the road of reducing the missile threat in a way that keeps Israeli military casualties to a minimum. Yes, you are going to take casualties when clearing people from fortified positions but once that is done, it is relatively easy to prevent reinfiltration. Once the civilian occupants are evacuated, you simply hammer anything that moves toward the town. At that point you have destroyed the weapons stores in the area and are preventing any reinfiltration. The troops are then free to move on to the next area to be cleared or pull back to a safe location for rest. I posted my own speculation on what I think is going on at my blog.
Posted by: crosspatch || 07/24/2006 13:07 Comments || Top||

#20  Just fill the tunnels with Water, or Nitrogen or C01
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/24/2006 13:10 Comments || Top||

#21  I suggested yesterday they use propane followed by oxygen.
Posted by: crosspatch || 07/24/2006 13:11 Comments || Top||

#22  Can those little bomb disposal robots be equipped with flame throwers? You wouldn't even need to expose trrops to the direct line of fire out of the bunkers. They just escort them up and remote flame them to start the clear. Might save on a few casualties trying to clear the bunkers. And would also give the Imams something to do in trying to figure out if robots counted as infidels.

"I'm terribly sorry, but martyrdom by robot does not warrant 72 virgins, but here's some raisins as a parting gift."
Posted by: Ulomoter Phath1782 || 07/24/2006 13:55 Comments || Top||

#23  I would think that if some tunnel entrances were sealed and others had a hot (say 1000F) fire for a few seconds the oxygen in the tunnels would deplete so fast that the tunnel occupants would pass out and likely not recover.

Is that correct?
Posted by: mhw || 07/24/2006 14:05 Comments || Top||

#24  Oh, how boring...Black hawk down-3 to date..(the poor hardworking American tax payers.)Today, six "Iraelis" sent to hell-20 to the vegetable ward. Yawn (excuse me). Total "Israeli" "soldiers" (ha! ha!) sent to the fire-50, total sent to the vegetable ward (I lost count). Well, the "Israelis" were so busy flexing their muscles on Palestinian toddlers and pre-schoolers from a 26,000 feet altitude-suddenly they had to fight MEN! Poor "Israelis". They don't want to fight. They only want to make bagels in peace. Awwwwww. But Bush boy and Condy R. won't have it. No sir. 2,500 rockets and missiles already landed on Israeli cities. (less than 1% of the Hizbullah arsenal). Israeli cities are getting empty. Awwwwww. 22,000 settlers have already applied to go back to America (to make their bagels). Awwwwwwww. Now the "Israelis" are willing to accept a diplomatic solution. (UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to patrol southern Lebanon.). Awwww. We knew you could'nt fight men. Want to keep killing pre-scoolers huh? Saw on T.V. an "Israeli" "soldier" ha! ha! almost drop a tank shell on his toes today. Soooo sad. Pathos...really-
Posted by: the Levant. || 07/24/2006 14:59 Comments || Top||

#25  Oooh, oooh - look, children! It's a native Syrian troll! Get out your cameras, because they're almost extinct.

poor things, they just couldn't adapt to the modern world. Pity, but there it is.
Posted by: tour guide || 07/24/2006 15:04 Comments || Top||

#26  Drop flaming ham patties by the thousands.
Posted by: Mike N. || 07/24/2006 15:06 Comments || Top||

#27  mhw: You can defeat that one by using fairly airtight, fireproof doors. That's why the tunnels were such a huge casualty producer on Iwo Jima and in Vietnam. They are incredibly survivable. Don't get me wrong, by going to a tunnel-based defense, you've given up _all_ of your tactical initiative and mobility outside of the confines of the tunnel network. It's a suicidal gesture. You're telling your opponent, yeah I'm going to die, but I'm going to take as many of you bastards with me as I can. It only works when your opponent doesn't have the will to take high casualties.
Posted by: 11A5S || 07/24/2006 15:18 Comments || Top||

#28  Forget the tunnels. Find out where the Hizb'Allah house their families and lay waste to it. Enough of this concern for innocents, there are none.

This PC BS is a modern day phenomenon, time go Roman on the Arab/Islamic scum. Death they crave, then give it to them and their families. All they can take. They would not hesitate to do the same, time to fight on our enemies level.

Posted by: Thraper Croper9914 || 07/24/2006 15:47 Comments || Top||

#29  Pump them full of pig piss.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/24/2006 15:49 Comments || Top||

#30  Watching one of those WW2 Documentation DVD sets. It was a cheap set I picked up at some store awhile back for a few bucks and just got around to watching it (in glorious B&W!). Haven't come to the Iwo Jima part yet. Kind of backfilling my knowledge (its amazing how much they skipped over in history class). Anyway...

On one of the Pacific Islands (punja or something like that) there was a ridge called Bloody Nose Ridge where the Japanese had dug tunnels and were resisting fircely. After fighting them for 21 days or so the marines simply buldozed all the entrances closed and kept them closed.

Instant Tomb.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/24/2006 16:15 Comments || Top||

#31  Our grand daddy's were pretty smart. Pour gasoline in the tunnels, light it and let it get very hot. Then blow the tunnel entrance. The fuel will smolder, produce choking smoke and suck oxygen for days. Sometimes the old ways are the best ways, including chasing off every living soul within 20km.
Posted by: ed || 07/24/2006 16:25 Comments || Top||

#32  The only way to defeat Hezbollah is with napalm, by the millions of gallons. Drop it everywhere you suspect a tunnel or bunker. See a tree move? Bathe the entire hillside with napalm. The Israelis need to re-introduce the A-1E. IIRC, it can carry 12 150-gal. napalm canisters, and has an unbelievable loiter capacity.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/24/2006 17:02 Comments || Top||

#33 
DEBKA is not a news source.
Bingo. Every post quoting them needs the salt girl warning.
Posted by: JSU || 07/24/2006 17:43 Comments || Top||

#34  I know that Levant is a troll and an enemy. I really hate to say this, but I agree with some of the things he/Allah's Virgin/thing has posted on #24. The only way to shut people like them up is to take Old Patriot's advice on #32. Right now, Levant is truly is representing the satanic Islamic society. Currently, the Islamists does not have any fear of the IDF.

I know the U.S. would have brought in the Warthogs and the "Death from the Air" C-130's" and would've quickly resolved the resistance on the hill sides of southern Lebanon.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 07/24/2006 17:47 Comments || Top||

#35  PR, I just re-read 24 and I can't figure out what you find to agree with. Take OP's advice and there will be a cease fire in 24 hours, not to Israel's advantage.

The Israelis have to clear these tunnels out one at a time. It's going to take a long time and it isn't really good TV. Israel cannot afford casualties. What Hezb'Allah seeks to do is inflict as many casualties as possible on the IDF.

A week ago some in the IDF didn't want to send ground forces into Lebanon at all, for fear of losses, I suspect. Now at least they have. They need time and the right munitions. I suspect that's why there is a rush order on PGMs. Cool as a flame thower looks, I suspect aiming an undetectable laser to pinpoint delivery of a bomb is a lot more effective amd incurs a lot less friendly casualites.

What Israel needs is time to do this right. If Israel looses this, we'll be fighting tunnels for a long time. Let them develop the tactics that work in today's world.

Iwo Jima was invaded on February 16. Operation completed was March 26 and mopping up went on till June. Over 5,000 Marines were killed taking the island from the 20,000 Japanese who held it to virtually the last man. While I wouldn't mind seeing that many hizzies die, Israel cannot afford to lose that many IDF.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 18:16 Comments || Top||

#36  NS,

Levant sez: "Now the "Israelis" are willing to accept a diplomatic solution. (UN peacekeepers and the Lebanese army to patrol southern Lebanon.)."

Ok, maybe I shouldn't used the word "some" instead used the word "one."

If, as you say, is just a issue of "time" to get the proper munitons to the field, then we are on the same page. But, if its a matter of will and international appeasement, then I got major problems with Olmert. Israel have a horrible track record of making unnecessary peace treaties after they have or close to clearly winning a war. Some of the peace treaties are suicidal. I just hope it's for all the marbles this time. The only reason I am confident is because Bush is running this war and not Olmert.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 07/24/2006 18:57 Comments || Top||

#37  I agree that there is definitely a will issue for Israel. I'm not sure it's Olmert. He seems to want to do the right thing. But that guy Kaplinski, who's gone dark, didn't want to put ground troops in Lebanon at all! And there's definitely more accomodating noises coming from Tel Aviv than I'd like, but that's life in a democracy.

Agreeing to a diplomatic solution including a peacekeeping force (from NATO) is accepting the obvious. But the strings attached mean that it won't be accepted till Israel has had time to deal with Hezb'Allah.

Israel makes treaties after they get close to winning wars because the Americans tell them to. We do that because we don't want to humiliate the Arabs. We are the arsenal of Israel's democracy and if we shut the door they stop fighting two days later. That's why they have to worry about how the MSM portrays them on the evening brainwashing.

We also agree that what is different this time is Bush. He knows we've got to stomp Hezb'Allah now. If we don't the next match may be in Dearborn.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 19:22 Comments || Top||

#38  There's some boys in Montana that would love to go to Dearborn.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 07/24/2006 19:27 Comments || Top||

#39  Really, Mr. Levant! Did your mother teach you no manners at all?
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/24/2006 19:28 Comments || Top||

#40  I have to disagree, badanov, the Japanese were not trying to hold territory at Iwo Jima. They didn't have the Navy they needed. The sole aim of the Japanese forces on Iwo Jima was to kill as many Americans as they could. The order was "10 Americans for every Japanese". They knew they couldn't hold Iwo so they did the next best thing. Make the Americans pay a very heavy price. Seems to me that's what Hezbollah is trying to do. Kill as many Jews as possible.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 07/24/2006 20:48 Comments || Top||

#41  Hezb'Allah does not want to kill Jews, per se. They want to kill enough Israelis, citizen or military, so that the IDF reacts in a manner the International Community will condemn so greatly that it will force Israel to accept an unsatisfactory outcome that Hezb'Allah will characterize as a victory. It will then be sufficiently entrenched in Lebanon that it can begin offensive operations in Israel.

Managing the MSM perception is why this is going so slowly.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 21:02 Comments || Top||

#42 
"If we don't the next match may be in Dearborn."

And there are definitely some boys in Texas that would love to take a road trip to Dearborn. After we clean out our own Rats nest in Houston and a few other places.

-M
Posted by: Manolo || 07/24/2006 21:11 Comments || Top||

#43  Since this Debka article is about 50% speculative crap, I won't comment on that. However, the analogy with Pacific Island tactics is appropriate. Because of the presence of hidden fighters it was important to take the high ground, and be on the alert for clues. On the Jap occupied islands, US combat groups would do top-down sweeps, incendiary grenades on tunnels they found. The other weapon was the flame-thrower. The sweeps were decidedly one-sided, as Hizbollah is no doubt finding out. I am getting sick of hearing professional renderings by the IDF, being referred to as the invasion being "bogged down" by the "surprising skill" of Hizbollah. Debka is partly run by ex-soldiers with an ax to grind. A mix of fact and fiction, leads to fiction being treated as fact.
Posted by: Griper Whegum8464 || 07/24/2006 22:39 Comments || Top||

#44  The terror orgs will only replace their simple Katyusha rockets with bigger, more sophisticated weapons. Both FOX and CNN had reported this week that Russia continues to produce the Katyusha series/family of rockets for export. The Katyusha is popular becuz its not only cheap to mfg + easy to handle/hide + can be fired from confined or limited spaces, but also remains capable of continous upgrades, i.e. IMPROV OR CONVERSION FOR USE WITH COLD WAR WMD = NBC WARHEADS. Even wid a buffer zone in Southern-Middle Lebanon, the IDF must be aware that the Radics can switch to longer-range [dual-use/NBC?]rockets - a buffer zone is hence at best temporary solution for the Israelis. The Syrians know this which is why they warned Israel not to get too close to the Syrian border. Short of IDF and MOssad units being sent on "search-and-destroy" missions agz terror arsenals into sovereign Syrian andor Iranian, etc. territories, pragmatically Israel may have to end up invading and conquering the whole of Lebanon, which in reality is likely the only way the Lebanese govt per se can escape the clutches of radical terror groups oper within its sovereign nation. THE TERROR GROUPS MAY BE MUSLIM, BUT MANY ARE ALSO FOR IRAN, SHIA ISLAM, AND RADICAL ISLAMIST FUNDAMENTALISM, NOT SUNNI ISLAM OR LOCAL DEMOCRACY-PLURALISM!? LEBANON 9-11 > HATRED OF ISRAEL-WEST VS. LOSS OF LEBANESE-SPECIFIC SOVEREIGNTY-INDEPENDENCE TO RADICAL IRAN + SHIA-BASED RADICAL ISLAMISM!?
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/24/2006 23:38 Comments || Top||


Palestinian resistance fighters attack Sderot
(KUNA) -- Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas movement, on Sunday claimed responsibility for attacking the Israeli Sderot settlement. The brigades said in a statement that four missiles were launched against the settlement as a confrontation of the Israeli aggression on Gaza.

For its part, Al-Quds Brigades, the military arm of Islamic Jihad and Al-Mujahideen Brigades declared in a statement joint responsibility for also launching three missiles against Sderot. The statement said that this operation comes in retaliation to the Israeli aggression on Palestine and Lebanon.

Meanwhile, spokesman of the Israeli army said that two Palestinian missiles fell in the western Negev in south Israel. The spokesman claimed that no casualties or damage have been reported.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From the title alone, you know it's KUNA.

Just tossing shit in the air constitutes an "attack" - worthy of adulation or emulation, I presume. Then divvying up the "glory" requires additional press releases.

Next up: press releases and glory to those still breathing after Israel decides enough is enough. That would be something to see.

Add the US into the mix regards the real issue: Iran.

When will that be? Well, as SR71 said in late comments yesterday, "Why not now?" Pithy. Spot on.

Amen, bro.
Posted by: Slaith Shomong8325 || 07/24/2006 0:07 Comments || Top||


Palestinian missiles target Israeli military monitoring tower
(KUNA) -- Spokesman of the Israeli Army announced that three explosions occurred Sunday afternoon near the Erez crossing north of Gaza as a result of Palestinian shelling. The spokesman told Radio Israel that Israeli soldiers, stationed near the crossing that joins Gaza and Israel, opened fire everywhere and closed the crossing soon after the explosions occurred. He claimed the explosions did not cause any casualties or damage.

Meanwhile, Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) organization, claimed responsibility of launching two RPGs at a military monitoring tower north of Earz crossing. It said in a release that the shelling comes in retaliation to the continuous Israeli attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and on Lebanon.

The Izzuddine Al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas's military wing, announced it shelled the Israeli settlement of Netiv Esra with Qassam missiles Sunday afternoon. It emphasized in a release that it vowed to resist any Israeli attack on Gaza and to "teach the enemy a lesson he will never forget".
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  More press releases about firing shit -- and hitting nothing.

All these Brave Lions, Brigades of this, Armies of that, and basically nothing to show for it but KUNA's Glorious Spittle statements.

Yo, Mullas, Royals, Ummah - you're getting completely screwed on the ROI thing, LOL.
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 1:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Look, you don't 'shell' things with missles. You shell them with SHELLS. Artillery shells. Sea shells. Some kind of shells.

Is that so hard for the media to figure out?
Posted by: Oldcat || 07/24/2006 2:11 Comments || Top||

#3  The slammers' religion keeps them too backward too do targetting, we should call them MISSiles.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 07/24/2006 7:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Mmmm.. no targeting mathematics in the Koran... gotta be a disadvantage.
Posted by: Howard UK || 07/24/2006 8:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Algebra is an Arabic word however. Calculus on the other hand is an Anglo invention, care of Newton and the other guy whose name eludes me.
Posted by: Spasing Snaper6564 || 07/24/2006 11:21 Comments || Top||

#6  Leibniz
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 07/24/2006 11:23 Comments || Top||

#7  "teach the enemy a lesson he will never forget".

They already know the lesson. You can't shoot worth shit. Probably why they're not afraid of you.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/24/2006 13:09 Comments || Top||

#8  Line up those A-109s 11A5 is so fond of all across the northern border of Gaza, have them start shelling in barrage fire mode, and just move south 100 yards a day. have a few bulldozers out in front to level the ground. In a few weeks, there won't be any Gaza problem. There won't be any Gaza, either, which is what it's going to take.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 07/24/2006 17:06 Comments || Top||

#9  The lesson is that basic physics and geometry are way beyond what the Arab schools are teaching kids nowadays.

Strap bomb to self and go blewy is pretty much their curriculum.
Posted by: DarthVader || 07/24/2006 17:22 Comments || Top||

#10  While the word Algebra comes from Arabic, it is believed to originate from someone from modern day Uzbekistan. Whether Algebra oriniated there is unknown.
Posted by: phil_b || 07/24/2006 20:09 Comments || Top||

#11  How about al-cohol?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 20:10 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Buddhist teacher gunned down in classroom in southern Thailand
A suspected Muslim insurgent shot to death a primary school teacher Monday in a classroom full of children in violence-plagued southern Thailand, police said. The gunman disguised himself in a student uniform, entered the fourth grade classroom and killed Prasarn Martchu, a 46-year-old Buddhist teacher, while he was teaching at a public school in Narathiwat's Rue So district, said police Col. Banlue Chawej. "The teacher was still holding a piece of chalk'' when he was killed, Banlue said. The gunman fled on a motorcycle with a getaway driver.

The primary school, which has 11 teachers and about 250 students, was temporarily closed after the shooting, police said. Prasarn had worked at the school for more than 20 years. Prasarn is the 44th teacher to have been killed by suspected Muslim militants since 2004, said Sanguan Jintarat, head of the Narathiwat Teachers' Association.
Posted by: ryuge || 07/24/2006 06:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Scorched earth all the way to the Malaysian border.. The Israelis are showing the right way to deal with Islamo-nazis.
Posted by: Wheaque Whaper3112 || 07/24/2006 8:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Amen WW3112.
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/24/2006 8:16 Comments || Top||

#3  I think this calls for a new acronym. ROPMA Religion of Peace my A$$.
Posted by: Canaveral Dan || 07/24/2006 18:39 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Israel takes aim at Hezbollah stronghold
Posted by: Oztralian || 07/24/2006 18:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Time for US to loan some A10's to the IAF. Firepower personified.
Posted by: Flert Angereck8542 || 07/24/2006 19:44 Comments || Top||

#2  By now, I bet that place is just rotten with IEDs.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/24/2006 19:45 Comments || Top||

#3  U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland has appealed for a cease-fire. The damage in Lebanon is "far beyond what we normally see in wars,"

What wars you watchin Jan ?... This ain't no freakin pillow fight.
Posted by: Capsu 78 || 07/24/2006 19:52 Comments || Top||

#4  Anybody got an extra copy of World at War they can send Jan so he can see what happens in real wars?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 20:03 Comments || Top||

#5  U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland has appealed for a cease-fire. The damage in Lebanon is "far beyond what we normally see in wars"

when you stop and think about how ludicrous that statement is, it makes you shudder as to how biased he must be against Israel. After all, what would drive someone to make such a dramatic statement? There must be so much hate coloring his perception.

"far beyond what we normally see in wars."

In other words, this is the worst war ever. Any other war pales in comparison. A war to end all wars. Devastating carnage, the likes of which humanity has never imagined, let alone seen.

I'll bet bile wells up in his throat when he thinks of Israel. Let him choke on it.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 07/24/2006 20:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Do these UN idiots ever read history? The damage in Lebanon is worse than the Blitz in London? The Siege of Stalingrad? The Firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo? What drugs is Jan Egeland on, anyway?
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 07/24/2006 22:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Apparently Egeland never saw pictures of World War II or Korea or Vietnam or Iraq. He's a moron.
Posted by: crosspatch || 07/24/2006 23:03 Comments || Top||

#8  The dude that said "#5 U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland has appealed for a cease-fire. The damage in Lebanon is "far beyond what we normally see in wars"

Is just another member of the Socialist international or u n if your already enlightened. That is the real war, Socialists at the u. n. and all thier instructions. Did you ever stop to think that we THE USA have subordinated our own history to a bunch of apointees coming from oligarchic societies based on one simple concept....loot as much as you can; while you can. We need a New N not the old u n.....and we need it now.

Decapitate the head of the snake and enjoy the rest....not surpisingly, tastes like chicken.

On Monday of last week Darfur had more casualties in a day, than nearly the total here 8 days hence.

The counting and analysis of useful idiots like this, is always skewed to the loot available at the end of the process.
Posted by: Thravirong Sloluling4860 || 07/24/2006 23:04 Comments || Top||


UN humanitarian chief accused Hizbullah of 'cowardly blending' among civilians
The U.N. humanitarian chief, returing from a visit to Beirut, accused Hizbullah on Monday of "cowardly blending" among Lebanese civilians and causing the deaths of hundreds.

"Consistently, from the Hizbullah heartland, my message was that Hizbullah must stop this cowardly blending ... among women and children," Egeland said, shortly before departing for Israel. "I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."
Posted by: twobyfour || 07/24/2006 17:07 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I think that a functioning surprise meter would be appropriate. Or maybe that bunny rabbit with his jaw on the floor.
Posted by: Secret Master || 07/24/2006 17:47 Comments || Top||

#2  agreed. What went wrong
right here??
Posted by: 2b || 07/24/2006 17:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Was that a herd of pigs flying by my window?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/24/2006 17:51 Comments || Top||

#4  Brave Sir Robin ran away.
Bravely ran away, away!
When danger reared its ugly head,
He bravely turned his tail and fled.
Yes, brave Sir Robin turned about
And gallantly he chickened out.
Bravely taking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat,
Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin!
Posted by: Traveling Minstrel || 07/24/2006 17:54 Comments || Top||

#5  Egeland said that? {8^0

Must be a mis-quote or something...
Posted by: Parabellum || 07/24/2006 18:14 Comments || Top||

#6  My gowd, what was he drinking... and can I have a bottle or two of it?
Posted by: Sgt. Mom || 07/24/2006 18:28 Comments || Top||

#7  I think Kofi and Co. will get this guy re-assigned damn quick unfortunately.
Posted by: Dar || 07/24/2006 18:43 Comments || Top||

#8  That pegged the suprise meter!
Posted by: CrazyFool || 07/24/2006 18:44 Comments || Top||

#9  Egeland's thought process: If I don't say something like this, Bolton's gonna kick my ass up and down the stairs.
Posted by: Matt || 07/24/2006 18:47 Comments || Top||

#10  So much for bringing Israel in front of the Hague. With this statement, the UN just ruined their lies war crimes case. Any possible war crimes against Israel is definitely DOA.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 07/24/2006 19:06 Comments || Top||

#11  Kofi's a short timer. Jan wants to make sure he's safe with the new guy and that if Bolton goes permanent he'll put in a good world for Jan with the new honcho. Gotta keep those bribes coming.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 07/24/2006 19:06 Comments || Top||

#12  Egeland is a UN prick who sometimes gets it right in spite of himself. This is the guy who was very unjustly critical of the USA for failing to respond to the Indo tsunami a couple years back (when the US and Aussie navies were on the scene in 48 hours whereas a month later the UN was still nwhere to be found). For him to make a statement like this means someone has pictures of him in bed with a live little boy or a dead woman.
Posted by: Mark Z || 07/24/2006 20:03 Comments || Top||

#13  Basic principle of guerilla warfare, folks.
Posted by: Shomonter Angeater9659 || 07/24/2006 20:10 Comments || Top||

#14  "For him to make a statement like this means someone has pictures of him in bed with a live little boy or a dead woman."
Eh, whatever works. The truth will out.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 07/24/2006 20:21 Comments || Top||

#15  I heard they were proud because they lost very few fighters and that it was the civilians bearing the brunt of this. I don't think anyone should be proud of having many more children and women dead than armed men."

Read the subtext. He's still saying -- confirming -- that Israel killed women and children (while Israel says the "civilians" they killed were actually hezzies -- that they didn't kill as many "civilians" as the media says they did)
Posted by: PlanetDan || 07/24/2006 20:30 Comments || Top||

#16  For some reason this didn't make the NBC Evening News.
Posted by: KBK || 07/24/2006 20:33 Comments || Top||

#17  "The U.N. humanitarian chief, returing from a visit to Beirut"

The key phrase is "returning from". He did not dare utter that while he was in Beirut.
Posted by: Fordesque || 07/24/2006 20:45 Comments || Top||

#18  Yea, definitely up for reassignment. Jus like the original UN guy investigating the Assad killing of Hariri
Posted by: Captain America || 07/24/2006 22:20 Comments || Top||

#19  Yes, but you must pair this with what he said about Israel after returning too. I didn't know Egeland was capable of the "Arab double-speak"...say one thing in English, and the complete opposite in Arabic after the MSM cameras turn away. Turd.
Posted by: BA || 07/24/2006 22:34 Comments || Top||

#20  "For him to make a statement like this means someone has pictures of him in bed with a live little boy or a dead woman."

Whiskey Mike, neither of those situations would bother a UN peacekeeper.
Posted by: RWV || 07/24/2006 23:31 Comments || Top||


IRG War Dead Flown to Iran
JERUSALEM — The bodies of Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers killed by the Israeli army in Lebanon have been transported to Syria and flown to Tehran, senior Lebanese political sources said.

Israeli and Egyptian security officials confirmed the news, which follows a report that first appeared in The New York Sun, that Iranian forces posted to southern Lebanon have been aiding Hezbollah terrorists in their attacks against Israel, including helping to fire rockets into Israeli population centers.

The Lebanese sources said between six and nine dead Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were brought in trucks last week into Syria for a flight back to Iran. They said the bodies were transported along with the tens of thousands of Lebanese civilians fleeing to Syria.

Israeli officials said Iranian Revolutionary Guards directed the firing two weeks ago of a radar-guided C–802 missile that hit an Israeli navy vessel off the coast of Lebanon, killing four soldiers. Israel says Iran acquired the missile from China.

The officials said the Iranian soldiers' duties include keeping custody of long-range missiles within Hezbollah's arsenal, including Zalzal rockets that are said to have a range of 125 miles, placing Tel Aviv within firing range.

Jordanian officials told the Sun they are "100% sure" Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers have fired rockets into Israel. They also said the Syrian army has provided Hezbollah with intelligence information on the locations of strategic Israeli targets to aid in Hezbollah rocket fire.

A Baath Party official operating out of the Golan Heights told the Sun he has information that Iranian soldiers have been firing rockets into Israel.

It would be "very logical" if Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were helping Hezbollah fire the rockets, a senior Egyptian security official told the Sun.

Israel has long maintained that Iranian Revolutionary Guard units have traveled regularly to south Lebanon to help train local Hezbollah fighters in terrorist tactics and to fortify Hezbollah positions along Israel's northern border.

At times, Revolutionary Guard soldiers have been seen operating openly at Hezbollah outposts in plain view from the Israeli side, military officials say.

Earlier, an Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman, Mark Regev, said Israel has information that Hezbollah was trying to transfer the two soldiers it kidnapped to Iran.
Posted by: DanNY || 07/24/2006 11:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hey, they left out "elite"...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/24/2006 13:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Iran will deny it then will give the dead IRGers a mass ceremony complete with the 12th Iman in attendence.
Posted by: mhw || 07/24/2006 14:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Let's see if Iran remains mum about this or decries the unnecessary deaths of their innocent civilians on vacation in Syria who just happen to have their hands clutched in the shape of an iranian RPG launcher handle.
Posted by: gorb || 07/24/2006 14:29 Comments || Top||

#4  The guys carrying the coffins in the pic are out of line and look unsteady -- sloshing the guys inside around like that isn't very military.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/24/2006 14:49 Comments || Top||

#5  I just hope to high heaven that the unconventional forces in Iran are prepared some serious payback against their regime for this.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 07/24/2006 16:20 Comments || Top||

#6  The Lebanese sources said between six and nine dead Iranian Revolutionary Guard soldiers were brought in trucks last week into Syria for a flight back to Iran.

I didn't see that picture at the link, but if it is the real thing, there are at least 31 coffins being carried.
Posted by: trailing wife || 07/24/2006 19:34 Comments || Top||

#7  May there be many, many more of such IRG war dead. As many as there are stars in the heavens. Isarel - send them all to hell.
Posted by: Lone Ranger || 07/24/2006 20:51 Comments || Top||

#8  The picture was not with the article.
I was just looking around for one with coffins draped with the Iranian flag for illustration.
Don't read too much into it.
Posted by: DanNY || 07/24/2006 21:25 Comments || Top||

#9  The Hezzies = Hizzies = Hamies, etc. armed proxies get the lite stuff, the IRG gets the real stuff - no different in principle than NORTH KOREA'S armed forces and principal weapon systems being advised and controlled by CHINA AND PLA. The hard boyz won't fire the big stuff wid out IRG approval , neither will the NorKors wid out China's approval.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/24/2006 23:46 Comments || Top||


Sleeper Hizbullah cells activated
Hizbullah "sleeper" terror cells set up outside Lebanon with Iranian assistance have been put on standby The Jerusalem Post learned on Sunday, and are likely planning attacks against Jewish and Israeli targets throughout the world. The Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) confirmed to the Post Sunday night that it had instructed embassies, consulates and Jewish institutions it was responsible for abroad to raise their level of awareness in light of the conflict in the North.

The assumption within Military Intelligence is that Hizbullah would only attack targets abroad if it felt pushed into a corner. According to this thinking, the Islamist group hesitates to carry out such attacks because it does not want to be associated with Global Jihad and al-Qaida.

Hizbullah has attacked Jewish and Israeli targets abroad in the past. The organization is believed to have been behind the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992 during which a suicide bomber drove a pick-up truck filled with explosives into the building, killing 29 people and wounding 242, following Israel's assassination of the group's leader at the time, Sheikh Abbas Musawi. Hizbullah is also thought to have been responsible for the attack on the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association building in Buenos Aires in 1994, when an explosives-laden van rammed into the structure and killed 85 people. Another attack attributed to the group was the 1985 hijacking of TWA flight 847. One passenger was murdered; the remainder of the hostages were released over a two-week period.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Also read - Dubya & GOP, watch your American Hiroshima(s) arses. The Radics want a pro-isolationism, "Global Retreat-OWG is good for America", DemoLeftie in Washington.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 07/24/2006 0:57 Comments || Top||

#2  No Ayatollahs; no Hizbollah. No Diplomacy; no future Homeland ICBM threat
Posted by: Anginens Threreng8133 || 07/24/2006 1:01 Comments || Top||

#3  Nothing I'd like more than a few black hats vaporized in a microsecond. Let them have their 72 virgins and "Little Man"/12th iman a little early.
Posted by: anymouse || 07/24/2006 1:38 Comments || Top||

#4  if it ends in "-llah," barrel first boyos
Posted by: rich || 07/24/2006 3:28 Comments || Top||

#5  The large scale terrorism in Argentina was made possible partly as a result of local anti semites who aided the Hizb in combination with an incompetant police force.

If Hizb wants to commit terror in the US, it will probably be smaller scale.
Posted by: mhw || 07/24/2006 8:08 Comments || Top||

#6  When is "open season" or has it started already? Is a license necesssary?
Posted by: JohnQC || 07/24/2006 9:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Hey, is that my mascot Bevo on the top of that dudes satchel?
Posted by: texhooey || 07/24/2006 10:06 Comments || Top||


Israeli warplanes strike communication relay station, kill camera-woman
(KUNA) -- Israeli warplanes roared at medium and low altitudes on Sunday and scrambled to hit targets on hills in the coastal town of Naameh, a few kilometers south of the Lebanese capital. The jet fighters also hit antennas of a telephone network, located on a hill close to the southern town of Jezzine, a day after the Israeli air force struck several relay communication stations on high ground throughout the country, security sources reported.

The aircraft, in today's operations, struck the southern village of Shiheen, killing one person and wounding three others. Another air strike on a road leading to the southern village of Qana resulted in the death of the Lebanese camera-woman, Layal Naijb. The warplanes also hit targets in the southern suburbs of Beirut.

Security sources said the jet fighters fired rockets in the direction of the so-called "security square," a spot in the residential region where Hezbollah has main offices and facilities in addition to residents of several leading members of the organization. Several high-rise buildings in this location have been destroyed due to a series of attacks by the Israeli warplanes and gunboats.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Israel captures two Hezbollah men
Israel has captured two Hezbollah fighters as it kept up its air and ground blitz on Lebanon despite accusations from the UN relief chief that it is "violating humanitarian law". The army captured two militants from the Hezbollah group in the south Lebanese village of Marun al-Ras, seized by Israel in a major incursion on Saturday, and brought them back to Israel, the military radio said on Monday. The capture appeared a tit-for-tat response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers on July 12 which started the current crisis and spurred Israel to embark on an offensive to defeat the Shia group.
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Prepare the pork fat hose.
Posted by: Spike || 07/24/2006 0:40 Comments || Top||

#2  The capture appeared a tit-for-tat response to Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers

Of course its Al-Jiz. Uniformed soldiers of a sovereign nation vs. gunnies hiding behind civilians and its all the same. We're even now right?
Posted by: Baba Tutu || 07/24/2006 1:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Right, so will the Hezzies concede that two-for-two is a fair exchange? Or will they imply that an Israeli soldier is worth 100 Hezzies? Interesting dilemma for them.
Posted by: Apostate || 07/24/2006 2:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Meanwhile, Jan Egeland, the UN humanitarian coordinator, made no attempt to hide his fury as he toured bombed-out areas of Beirut.

Mebbe he's mad because he's realized his employer could've prevented this ... if they had enough spine to enforce their own resolutions.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/24/2006 6:36 Comments || Top||

#5  Anyway, the Hezzies won't trade - these are, no doubt, innocent Lebanese civilians. No Hezzie would ever allow himself to be captured. allen wouldn't permit it.
Posted by: Bobby || 07/24/2006 6:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Apostate, I think you're a bit off on the exchange rate: It's closer to 500 Hezzies per Israeli soldier.
Posted by: Ptah || 07/24/2006 11:48 Comments || Top||


UN observer injured in Lebanon fighting
TYRE, Lebanon - A UN military observer was seriously wounded on Sunday in a border village in southern Lebanon, apparently by Hezbollah fire during a clash with the Israeli army, a UN spokesman said.

“One unarmed UN military observer was seriously wounded by small arm fire inside a UN position in Marun Al Ras,” Milos Strugar said in a statement. “He has been evacuated to the nearest hospital in Israel,” he said. “According to primary report, the fire came from Hezbollah during an exchange of fire” with the Israeli army.”

There was no word on his nationality.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/24/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If in Lebanon, why didn't he go to a Lebanese hospital? :-|
Posted by: gorb || 07/24/2006 1:35 Comments || Top||

#2  That's worth 50 points for the Hezbies. 100 points if you shoot through the blue helmet.
Posted by: wxjames || 07/24/2006 7:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I'm sure I left my nano-violin around here someplace....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/24/2006 13:23 Comments || Top||


Good morning....
Afghan district intelligence boss caught with heroinIsrael captures two Hezbollah menAfghan forces kill 19 TalibanIsraeli PM doesn't rule out negotiations with Lebanese counterpartPalestinian resistance fighters attack SderotIraqi forces free two hostages, arrest eight death squad membersBishop of London Declares Fatwa Against Flying In Aircraft
Posted by: Fred || 07/24/2006 00:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Got any Lee Remick pix? Saw The Detective last night. Dreamt a dream. LOL.

8-)
Posted by: Champ Angeger5024 || 07/24/2006 1:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Nice front page, Fred. She's a saucy temptress!
Posted by: anon1 || 07/24/2006 11:34 Comments || Top||

#3  I remember her, she was in
I Want To Link!
Posted by: 6 || 07/24/2006 20:36 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2006-07-24
  Hamas, I-J rocket Sderot. Surprise.
Sun 2006-07-23
  Israel seizes Maroun al-Ras
Sat 2006-07-22
  Gaza groups agree to stop firing at Israel
Fri 2006-07-21
  Ethiopia enters Somalia to back government
Thu 2006-07-20
  Siniora pleads for world's help
Wed 2006-07-19
  IAF foils rocket transports from Syria
Tue 2006-07-18
  Israel flattens Paleo foreign ministry, Hamas offices
Mon 2006-07-17
  Israel attacks Beirut airport with four missiles
Sun 2006-07-16
  Chechens Ready to Hang it Up
Sat 2006-07-15
  IDF targets Beirut, Tripoli ports & Hizbollah leadership
Fri 2006-07-14
  IAF Booms Hezbollah HQ, Misses Nasrallah
Thu 2006-07-13
  Israel bombs Beirut airport, embargos coast
Wed 2006-07-12
  IDF Re-Engages Lebanon, Reserves Called Up
Tue 2006-07-11
  163 dead in Mumbai train booms
Mon 2006-07-10
  Shamil breathes dirt!

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