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ISI chief, four corps commanders changed
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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Page 2: WoT Background
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Page 3: Non-WoT
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Page 4: Opinion
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Page 5: Russia-Former Soviet Union
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Good morning
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Much better. More like this (Hepburn, Kelly, Eklund) please.
Posted by: tep || 09/30/2008 1:15 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't care what she's selling, I'll take all of it.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 09/30/2008 4:57 Comments || Top||

#3  apparently, hang-gliding-capable hats and tribbles on steroids. I'm OK with that
Posted by: Frank G || 09/30/2008 7:57 Comments || Top||

#4  But can she iron my shirt?
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/30/2008 8:58 Comments || Top||

#5  Fred has the cure for 72 hours of Nancy Pelosi pics.
Posted by: mrp || 09/30/2008 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  Yes. Thanks Fred. We owe you a debt of gratitude. This does help get the non-stop pictures of those other two gals Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank out of my head.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 9:57 Comments || Top||

#7  Going to a funeral, Martha? No? Just like to wear black, huh? Well, black looks good on you. 'Course, most anything else or even nothing much at all would look good on you, too.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/30/2008 10:59 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Taliban boss makes retreat offer
TALIBAN supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar today offered international forces a safe retreat from Afghanistan if they agree to withdraw from the war-torn country. If US and NATO troops battling the hardline militia failed to take up the offer, they would suffer a defeat like Soviet forces in Afghanistan in the 1980s, said the message posted on the Internet.

"I say to the invaders: if you leave our country, we will provide you the safe context to do so," Omar said in the statement marking the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Fitr. "If you insist on your invasion, you will be defeated like the Russians before you."

There was no immediate reaction from the US-led coalition, which invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban after 9/11, or the separate NATO-led International Security Assistance Force.
We don't react to every fool out there.
Omar, who has been in hiding since the fall of the Taliban Government in late 2001, said in the message that he offered his support to all those fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan.

"The Americans, with their advanced technology, could not have predicted their defeat but now, with God's help, every day they welcome their soldiers' dead bodies and are facing severe losses of lives and finance," he said. "Several years ago, no one thought that Americans and their friends would face such hard resistance, that today the (Afghan) President and his ministers would beg for money, weapons and soldiers while no one gives a positive answer".

"They came to our country seven years ago and they have not succeeded in their targets - and they will never succeed, even in a hundred years," he added.

This year has been the deadliest yet for international forces in Afghanistan since the 2001 invasion, with at least 221 troops dying in the first nine months of 2008, most of them Americans.
This article starring:
Mullah Mohammad Omar
Posted by: tipper || 09/30/2008 05:08 || Comments || Link || [336093 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seven years, huh, Blinky? And your Pakistani hosts are beginning to tire of you. And those pesky drones keep knocking off your buddies. Then there's always the chance that somebody will rat you out. You talk a good fight but my guess is you'll be dead before another seven years go by.
Posted by: treo || 09/30/2008 10:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Methinks that the fighting is fiercest now because this is becoming the only game in town for AQ and their pals. The party's about over in Iraq.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/30/2008 11:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Omar, who has been in hiding since the fall of the Taliban Government in late 2001, said in the message that he offered his support to all those fighting foreign troops in Afghanistan.

I'm with yas all the way, boys. To the last drop of blood! I'll order up room service in honor of you...
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/30/2008 11:27 Comments || Top||

#4  As they say in Kabul - this guy is all turban, no camel.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/30/2008 13:24 Comments || Top||


Afghan policeman opens fire on US troops, kills 1
An Afghan policeman opened fire on US troops inside a police station in eastern Afghanistan, killing an American soldier and wounding several other people, officials said on Monday. US soldiers subsequently killed the policeman. The shooting took place on Sunday in Paktia province. Paktia provincial police chief Gen Esmatullah Alizai confirmed that a policeman had shot an American soldier.

A statement from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) issued on Monday said that an 'altercation' took place in the station. "While at the district centre, there was an altercation during which an ANP (Afghan National Police) officer and one ISAF soldier were killed," the statement said.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336093 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Africa Horn
Navy Warships Monitor Boat Hijacked by Somali Pirates
The U.S. Navy bolstered its force of warships off Somalia on Monday, intensifying its watch over Somali pirates holding a hijacked Ukrainian-operated vessel with crew members, arms and tanks aboard.

Lt. Nathan Christensen, a spokesman for the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet, said "there are now several U.S. ships" within eyesight of the hijacked ship, Faina, which according to the Kenyan government was bound for Kenya when it was seized last week. The pirates are negotiating for ransom with the vessel's owner.

Speaking by telephone from Bahrain, Christensen declined to say how exactly many other U.S. warships had joined the USS Howard, a guided-missile destroyer, off Somalia. The U.S. ships were staying in international waters off Somalia, Christensen said, while the Somali pirates kept the Faina within the 12-mile territorial bounds of Somali waters. U.S. sailors remained close enough to see the ship and had established bridge-to-bridge contact via radio, he said.

Somali pirates hijacked the Faina on Thursday, seizing its 21 Ukrainian, Russian and Lithuanian crew members and an arms cargo that included 33 T-72 tanks. Kenya said the tanks and weapons were for its military. Pirates have anchored the hijacked vessel a few miles off the Somali town of Hobyo.

The U.S. Navy intends to maintain "a vigilant, visual watch of the ship" to make sure pirates don't try to unload the tanks, ammunition and other arms aboard, Christensen said. "We're deeply concerned about the cargo and we don't want it to go into the wrong hands," he said.

Russia has said it is sending a warship as well.

Radio France International said Monday it had spoken, apparently by cellphone, with a pirate aboard the Faina, who said at least three warships were near the hijacked ship. "Ships and troops have surrounded us," said a man identified by RFI as pirate Sugule Ali. He spoke in Somali. "There's a lot of unusual movement surrounding us and planes are flying overhead. I warn anyone who might be tempted by any military operation or use of force, if we're attacked, we'll defend ourselves, until the last one of us dies."
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336114 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "...until the last one of us dies."

Works for us. Sometime this evening, perhaps?
Posted by: PBMcL || 09/30/2008 0:27 Comments || Top||

#2  WTF is this 12-mile territorial boundary crap????!!! Somalia is a non-state, harboring pirates. May Russia will show some stones in dealing with this pestilence.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 09/30/2008 0:47 Comments || Top||

#3  I feel somewhat nostalgic.
Posted by: newc || 09/30/2008 0:55 Comments || Top||

#4  #2 WTF is this 12-mile territorial boundary crap????!!! Somalia is a non-state, harboring pirates. May Russia will show some stones in dealing with this pestilence.
Posted by: Alaska Paul 2008-09-30 00:47


MAP of Somalia, Somalia Coast, Gulf of Aden, Eastern End of the Indian Ocean and A tiny bit of the Red Sea

Click Pic For Larger .JPG

/Too bad we can't click the pic for the entire Civilized World to GROW larger stones..
Posted by: RD || 09/30/2008 4:53 Comments || Top||

#5  So the Barbary Pirates could have thumbed their nose at the marines from just inside the 12 mile demarcation point?

Bullsh*t!!!
Blow them out of the water.
This is getting ridiculous.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 09/30/2008 8:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Any follow-up to the MV Iran Deyanat story?
Posted by: Woozle Unusosing8053 || 09/30/2008 9:07 Comments || Top||

#7  let them try too offload the tanks 12 miles out. couldn't be too easy too do . or better yet just blow their ass out of the water and say it was work related accident
Posted by: sinse || 09/30/2008 10:12 Comments || Top||

#8  The Royal Navy used to instruct it's Captains, with regard to the enemy: "Take, burn, sink or destroy"
Posted by: Grunter || 09/30/2008 10:55 Comments || Top||

#9  Ready the for'ard five-inch gun! Surface action port!
Posted by: mojo || 09/30/2008 11:03 Comments || Top||

#10  Now, now, you guys. There are hostages on board that ship. They may only be Russians but it's still not our way to endanger them. Keep the ship in sight and let the Russians figure out what to do. It's bound to be fun to watch.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 09/30/2008 11:32 Comments || Top||

#11  But after the Russians are finished sink every ship, boat and dinghy in every Somali port. Even if they're not pirates it's what they get for harboring pirates and living in a failed state. It's what they get for being Somalis.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 || 09/30/2008 11:43 Comments || Top||

#12  Update on the MV Iran Deyanat...

The pirates were sickened because of their contact with the seized cargo, according to Hassan Osman, the Somali minister of Minerals and Oil, who met with the pirates to facilitate negotiations. "That ship is unusual," Osman told the Long War Journal, an online news source that covers the War on Terror. "It is not carrying a normal shipment."

The pirates reportedly were in talks to sell the ship back to Iran, but the deal fell through when the pirates were poisoned by the cargo, according to Andrew Mwangura, director of the Kenya-based East African Seafarers' Assistance Program. "Yes, some of them have died," he told the Long War Journal. "Our sources say [the ship] contains chemicals, dangerous chemicals."

Iran has called the allegations a "sheer lie," and said that the ship "had no dangerous consignment on board," according to Iranian news source Press TV. Iran says the merchant vessel was shipping iron ore from a port in China to Amsterdam.

The ship's contents are still unclear, but the reported deaths and skin abrasions have raised concerns that it could be more than meets the eye.

The massive shipping company that controls the vessel, the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Line (IRISL), was recently designated by the U.S. Department of the Treasury over nuclear proliferation concerns. IRISL, which is accused of falsifying documents to facilitate the shipment of weapons and chemicals for use in Iran's missile program, is blocked from moving money through U.S. banks as well as from carrying food and medical supplies as part of U.S. trade sanctions against Iran. "IRISL's actions are part of a broader pattern of deception and fabrication that Iran uses to advance its nuclear and missile programs," said Stuart Levey, Undersecretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence.

The U.S. government has made no accusation against IRISL regarding the Iran Denayat; the State Department would not comment on reports of its suspicious cargo. "I don't have any information on that case," said State Department spokesman Curtis Cooper. "We're aware that there are currently 12 other hijacked ships off the Somali coast. This is obviously something that is disturbing."

Experts on Somalia are dubious of claims made by the country's provisional government, whose president, Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, reportedly has family ties to the pirates. "I'm not saying it's impossible that this has happened, but I'd take anything they say with a great deal of salt," said J. Peter Pham, director of the Nelson Institute for International and Public Affairs at James Madison University. "They have made fanciful claims before in the hopes of attracting U.S. and other international attention."

Pham said that the 14 provisional governments that have ruled Somalia since 1991 have all relied on foreign aid for support and profit and could be trying to attract attention by inflating the current crisis."Would it be beyond them to raise the specter of WMDs in order to attract resources and international assistance? The only source of revenue for this government is foreign aid," he told FOXNews.com.

Chemical experts say the reports sound inconsistent with chemical poisoning, but may reflect the effects of exposure to radiation. "It's baffling," said Jonathan Tucker, a senior fellow at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. "I'm not aware of any chemical agent that produces loss of hair within a few days. That's more suggestive of high levels of radioactive waste." Tucker, a chemical and biological weapons expert, said that Chinese companies have been implicated in selling Iran so-called dual-use chemicals, legal ingredients that can be processed into chemical weapons.

The U.S. government says that Iran maintains facilities to process those chemicals as part of a chemical and biological weapons program. "Iran continues to seek dual-use technologies that could be used for biological warfare," said Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell in testimony before Congress in February.

But while Iran has purchased and shipped such chemicals in the past, it remains unclear whether the Iran Deyanat contains any illegal chemicals or harmful agents. "A number of Chinese companies have been implicated in this illicit trade, but I've never heard of extremely toxic chemicals being shipped," Tucker told FOXNews.com. "It's very rare it's very unlikely that a country would ship manufactured weapons from one country to another."
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/30/2008 12:35 Comments || Top||

#13  They are UKRAINIANS not Russians.   Ukraine, who is seeking NATO membership (or was ...)
Posted by: lotp || 09/30/2008 12:39 Comments || Top||

#14  And they've made the big time. An interview with the Times...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/world/africa/01pirates.html?ref=world
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/30/2008 12:45 Comments || Top||

#15  You have to wonder what the ship is transporting.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 13:13 Comments || Top||

#16  From tu's link:

In a 45-minute-long interview, Mr. Sugule expounded on everything from what the pirates want — “just money” — to why they were doing this — “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters” — to what they eat — rice, meat, bread, spaghetti, “you know, normal human-being food.”

He said that so far, in the eyes of the world, the pirates had been misunderstood. “We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits,” he said. “We consider sea bandits those who illegally fish in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas. We are simply patrolling our seas. Think of us like a coast guard.”

When asked why the pirates needed $20 million to protect themselves from hunger, Mr. Sugule laughed over the phone and said: “Because we have a lot of men.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There you have it..

One Human Being's Pirate is a Muslim's Sea Scout!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~`

Heh, Ima stinking now that the Muslim Pirates Invented the entire Toxic Contamination story up...

Muslim Pirate Logic:
An insurance policy to keep the USA-West from firing up the ship and spreading some of the so called "Toxic Trash" up.

If the ship were full of Toxics no pirate would stay aboard even in port!
Posted by: RD || 09/30/2008 14:00 Comments || Top||

#17  Time for a good old fashioned "Q Ship".
Posted by: Total War || 09/30/2008 14:03 Comments || Top||

#18  Re: MV IRAN DEYANET
"The ship set sail from Nanjing, China, at the end of July. According to its manifest,it was heading for Rotterdam where it would unload 42500 tons of iron ore and "industrial products" purchased by a German client."
Were there "cargo stops" along the way??

Posted by: Tom- Pa || 09/30/2008 14:07 Comments || Top||

#19  Time for a good old fashioned "Q Ship".
Foreeeee!
Posted by: .5MT || 09/30/2008 14:13 Comments || Top||

#20  My guess is rocket oxidizer.
Posted by: ed || 09/30/2008 14:24 Comments || Top||

#21  Navy: "Just think of us as your worst friggin' nightmare."
Posted by: mojo || 09/30/2008 14:49 Comments || Top||

#22  How many Seals can dance under the hull of a Ukranian freighter?
Posted by: Javimble Hitler2837 || 09/30/2008 16:16 Comments || Top||

#23  Ummm, as many as needed?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/30/2008 19:27 Comments || Top||

#24  20: My guess is rocket oxidizer.

Hadn't thought about that one, most rocket/missle fuels are poison, many are very nasty poisons.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/30/2008 19:31 Comments || Top||

#25  How many Seals can dance under the hull of a Ukranian freighter?

If they can get the ship-layout plans, they can board it. The crew gets rescued and the Faina then becomes evidence (likely one reason why the Russians have an interest).

But with rehearsals, clearances, orders from national authority, etc. that may take a bit longer than most Rantburgers seem to want.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/30/2008 21:57 Comments || Top||


Somali pirates release Egyptian ship with 25 crew
(SomaliNet) The official MENA news agency said Saturday that Somali pirates have released an Egyptian ship with 25 crew on board which was hijacked earlier this month off Somalia's Puntland region.

The pirates, who had demanded a ransom before releasing the hostages and ship, allowed the vessel to set sail late on Friday, MENA reported, adding that the ship is in international waters on its way back to Egypt. According to MENA, the release came after weeks of negotiations between the pirates and Egyptian intelligence officials. No details were available on whether a ransom was paid.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336082 views] Top|| File under:

#1  is that the ship with the poison/radiation/ deadly something in it's hold?
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/30/2008 10:04 Comments || Top||

#2  Absentee democratic Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and Florida voters, hundreds and hundreds of thousands of them.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/30/2008 10:07 Comments || Top||


Pirates who seized Ukraine ship reduce ransom demand to $20-mln from $35-mln
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336068 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow, that's a pretty good sale price. More than 40% off list.

This economic stuff even effects Somali pirates. ;>)
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 09/30/2008 0:23 Comments || Top||

#2  Don't worry, the Dhimmicrats will modify the Community Reinvestment Act to include any distressed areas in Somalia. That will let the pirates apply for a 0% down, seller-financed mortgage on the ship. Fannie Mae will guarantee it. Lehman Brothers will securitize it. AIG will insure the security. I mean, what could go wrong?
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2008 0:25 Comments || Top||

#3  What goes wrong is they do not have lending power. Old wolves demolish the pittance, Moral Hazard ensues, The US Government has an immediate bill to pay for it's reckless use of regulation.
Posted by: newc || 09/30/2008 1:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Some dissension in the ranks perhaps?

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Pirates holding a Ukrainian ship laden with tanks and weapons claimed Tuesday they were celebrating the Muslim feast of Eid al-Fitr despite being surrounded by American warships and helicopters. They also denied a report of a shootout aboard the seized ship.

"We are happy on the ship and we are celebrating Eid," pirate spokesman Sugule Ali told The Associated Press by satellite phone. "Nothing has changed."

Andrew Mwangura of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Program said there was an unconfirmed report that three Somali pirates were killed Monday night in a dispute over whether to surrender, but he said he had not spoken to any witnesses.

But the pirate spokesman insisted that was not true."We didn't dispute over a single thing, let alone have a shootout," Ali told the AP.

There was no way to independently verify either account. The U.S. 5th Fleet also said it had no new information to report Tuesday on the six-day standoff.
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/30/2008 9:36 Comments || Top||

#5  "We are happy on the ship and we are celebrating Eid," pirate spokesman Sugule Ali told The Associated Press by satellite phone. "Nothing has changed."

So they are muslim, hmm?
Posted by: Ptah || 09/30/2008 10:50 Comments || Top||

#6  So somoli pirates understand risk vs. return...
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/30/2008 11:20 Comments || Top||

#7  I wonder when the SEAL team will get there...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/30/2008 11:53 Comments || Top||

#8  ransom's been marked down...

poor Ukranians, they've been abducted by K-Mart!
Posted by: Querent || 09/30/2008 13:02 Comments || Top||

#9  many more ships anchored out there and Somalia is gonna need a port authority to keep trak of all the comin's and goin's....
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/30/2008 14:09 Comments || Top||

#10  Make 'em a Michael Corleone offer: "Nothing."
Posted by: mojo || 09/30/2008 14:50 Comments || Top||

#11  Pray they aen't smart enough to fire a tank main gun, if yes, they're all smart fish food.
(Chum, if that large, more like a fine mist mixed with steel chunks.)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 09/30/2008 19:36 Comments || Top||


Crew member of hijacked Ukrainian ship dies
A crew member aboard a hijacked Ukrainian ship has died, as Somalia pirates who seized the vessel transporting weapons to Kenya said the vessel has been surrounded by three foreign warships.

Andrew Mwangura, coordinator of the East Africa Seafarers' Association, said the crew member died of natural causes but confirmed that the remaining 20 others are safe. "One of the crew members died on Sunday. We confirmed that he was sick but the remaining crew are safe," Mwangura told Xinhua by telephone on Monday.

Somali news portals quoted Abdi Salan Khalif, commissioner of the coastal town of Harardhere, Somalia, as saying the pirates told town elders the man died of problems relating to high blood pressure.

Khalif said the pirates, who were communicating with the elders and the U.S. Navy by radio, reported they were holding the crew in a hot part of the ship.

Mwangura said the weapons in the Belize-flagged MV Faina vessel carrying an authorized Ukrainian government arms shipment appear to belong to south Sudan, which is barred from arms sales under a 2005 U.N.-brokered peace deal. "One of the cargo arrived at the port of Mombasa in October last year, two in February this year. The seized load of 33 Russian-built T-72 tanks and some ammunition was the fourth cargo with military equipment for southern Sudan," Mwangura said.

But the Kenyan government spokesman Alfred Mutua said pirates are spreading what he called "alarming propaganda" that the seized weapons do not belong to Kenya's armed forces. "There have been alarming propaganda by the pirates to media that the weapons are not for the Kenyan military. This, is a tactic by the terrorists to try and fend off reprisals against them," said Mutua.

"The Kenyan government will not engage in answering back to terrorists who have hijacked important military equipment paid for by the Kenyan tax payer for use by the Kenyan Military," he added.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Was the ship carrying a load of toxic paper from Wall Street?
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 13:11 Comments || Top||


Third Greek ship seized off Somalia
(SomaliNet) In just over a week, a third Greek ship has been hijacked off Somalia, it was reported on Saturday, as the surge in the activity of pirates in the Indian Ocean continues.

A Greek chemical tanker with 19 crew on board was seized on Friday after being ambushed, chased and fired upon, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Center. The ship, which was not named, was carrying refined petroleum from Europe to the Middle East.

Last week, the Merchant Marine Ministry asked the Foreign and Defense ministries to send a navy ship to the Indian Ocean to patrol waters as part of an international force already operating off Somalia after two Greek-flagged tankers were taken over by pirates.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336113 views] Top|| File under:

#1  seems the Greeks have been paying too many ransoms. Looks like the shipping industry would kinda strt=ay around somalia coast
Posted by: sinse || 09/30/2008 10:14 Comments || Top||

#2  The Greeks must pay without much bellyaching.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 09/30/2008 23:14 Comments || Top||


Helicopter gunship joins US navy off Somalia to monitor pirates
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sugule Ali: "It is true we are surrounded by three foreign military vessels and there are some others we can see [in the] distance," he said.

"We are not afraid of their presence that will not make us to abandon the ship or to refrain from asking the money.

"There is no shortage of food supply and all the crew members are healthy and well including ours."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
*You Little Rag Head Are Living On Borrowed Time.!*

MAP of Somalia, Somalia Coast, Gulf of Aden, Eastern End of the Indian Ocean and A tiny bit of the Red Sea

Click Map For A Larger Image.
Posted by: RD || 09/30/2008 4:38 Comments || Top||

#2  "We are not afraid of their presence"
Then you are very, very stupid.
Posted by: Darrell || 09/30/2008 9:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Keep 'em concentrating on those warships, while we slip in a dozen or so BUFFs making a run across their home port. Let's see how popular they are after that.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 09/30/2008 11:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Old Patriot

Oh How I wish we could FOR ONCE really show these pecker-woods what sheer terror is..

AND VIDEO TAPE THE WHOLE THING WITH AT LEAST 5 CAMERAS;
1) 1 camera: aerial overhead,
2) 2nd camera: 1/2 mile away on the ground,
3) And every other camera twain the two!

If Muslim Terrorists are, as they are quick to whine about now, loosing sleep in Wazoo Country because of a few Predators flying overhead..

then..

These Somali Pirate's future ancestors will still be shaking in their sandals over that BUFF STRIKE IN Somali!
:)
Posted by: RD || 09/30/2008 14:27 Comments || Top||


US surrounds hijacked Ukrainian ship
The Ukrainian cargo vessel, Faina which was hijacked by Somali pirates on Thursday has been surrounded by US warships and helicopters.

The US government believes that the Faina, which is transporting military equipment, including 33 T-72 tanks, munitions, grenade launchers and other armaments is intended for Sudan and not Kenya as previously thought.

Lieutenant Nathan Christensen, a deputy spokesman for the U.S. Navy's Bahrain-based 5th Fleet says US destroyers and cruisers have been deployed to within 16 kilometers of the Faina. Helicopters were also circling the vessel. Christensen says that although initial reports indicated that the ship was headed for the Kenyan port of Mombasa, further information leads them to believe that Sudan is the final destination.

There is currently a US arms embargo in place on weapons headed to Sudan's Darfur conflict region. The embargo does not cover sales to Khartoum or partially independent Southern Sudan, however.

Press TV's Somalia correspondent reports that the US government has accused Kenya of knowing the final destination of the shipment. Meanwhile, Kenyan officials have declined to discuss the matter.

Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman, Valentyn Mandriyevsky, said the ministry was not trading in weapons and is not privy to the final destination of the cargo.

The ship-jackers, who have already reduced their ransom demand from 35 million dollars to 20 million are in standard bridge-to-bridge communication with the US navy.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336087 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder what the SEALs are up to beneath the surface of this situation.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 09/30/2008 11:22 Comments || Top||

#2  update at the url below says 3 pirates died in shootout.
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2008208948_apafsomaliapiracy.html
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/30/2008 15:12 Comments || Top||


4 killed as Somali Islamist attack AU peacekeepers, govt troops
SomaliNet) Witnesses said on Monday that Somali Islamist insurgents attacked African Union peacekeepers and government forces in the capital Mogadishu, and at least four people were killed in the clashes.

According to the witnesses, two civilians and a soldier died in an attack overnight near the presidential palace, Villa Baidoa. "Three people, one of them a Somali government soldier, died near Villa Baidoa when two mortar shells struck buildings," said Hamad Ali Ahmed, a witness.

Meanwhile, another civilian died in crossfire in southern Mogadishu's Holwadag district, bringing the death toll to four. At least seven others were wounded, residents said.

Islamist rebels confirmed they first attacked the base hosting African Union, Somali and Ethiopian troops. "We attacked the bases of Ugandan forces, Ethiopians and the Somali stooges. Five of our men were wounded, but they sustained heavy casualties," Islamist commander Mohamed Mohamud Dulyadeyn told AFP.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under: Islamic Courts


Africa North
Algeria: Three soldiers die in suicide bomb attack
(AKI) - A suicide blast in an Algerian village has killed at least three soldiers and wounded six others, reported Algerian state media on Monday.

A suicide car bomber allegedly struck a checkpoint in the village of Dellys, following 'iftar', the meal that breaks the fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. Ramadan is scheduled to end in the North African country on Tuesday.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack, but previous attacks have been claimed by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb organisation.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa


Egypt: Freed hostages flown to Cairo
(AKI) - The 19 hostages, including five German and five Italian tourists, who were abducted in southern Egypt over a week ago were freed on Monday and flown to Cairo. The hostages who were kidnapped in Egypt's Western Desert ten days ago arrived in Cairo aboard a military aircraft following their rescue. Egyptian officials and foreign diplomats welcomed the 11 tourists - five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian woman - along with the eight Egyptians from their tour group, after their arrival at a military airport in the capital.

Italy's Foreign Minister, Franco Frattini, confirmed Egyptian media reports that the hostages were freed on Monday morning. Their captors allegedly took them to neighbouring Sudan. The minister said the hostages' release was the result of "international collaboration".

The five Italians, five Germans and a Romanian - and their guides were kidnapped on 19 September on the Gilf al-Kebir plateau, close to the Libyan and Sudanese borders. Since then, they have reportedly been moved around a lawless desert region touching on the borders of Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Chad. There were reports that six of their captors were shot dead on Sunday.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:


Africa Subsaharan
Cameroon: One killed as pirates raid coastal city
(SomaliNet) One person was killed when gunmen in speedboats raided a coastal city in south-west Cameroon, and robbing four banks. The incident was at least the third sea-borne raid in less than a year on banks in Gulf of Guinea countries.

A police officer said the raiders on Limbe, described as "suspected pirates" by Cameroon state radio, arrived in six speedboats under cover of darkness early on Sunday. "Residents were awakened from sleep at about 1am by sustained heavy gunfire that lasted about 30 minutes, followed by sporadic firing into the air for over one hour," he said.

The attackers shot dead a hotel driver taking customers to a nightclub. Using explosives, they blasted their way into four banks in central Limbe, seizing large sums of money. They barricaded roads leading into the town and repelled a group of soldiers.

State radio added that a sack marked "Port Harcourt Flour Mill Ltd" was left behind in one of the banks.

Port Harcourt is one of the main cities in Nigeria's oil-producing Niger Delta where militants this month stepped up attacks on oil installations. In the past they have raided ships and rigs far out to sea in the Gulf of Guinea.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front: Politix
Ohio Battles Over Tuesday's Early Voting
COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sept. 28, 2008

The court decisions were a victory for Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner, a Democrat who was criticized by Republicans for telling county election boards to allow same-day registration and voting through Oct. 6.

"This ruling is a victory for all Ohio voters," Brunner said in a statement. "It should send a message to the forces of confusion and chaos that our top goal must be protecting Ohioans' voting rights."


(CBS/AP) A battle over early voting in Ohio has brought a law passed by that state's Republican-controlled legislature three years ago to be challenged by the GOP before a federal court, while a separate lawsuit brought before the Republican-dominated Ohio Supreme Court is expected to be decided Monday.

The prize could be thousands of traditionally elusive voters in hard-fought Ohio who would have the chance to register and vote on the same day.

The one-stop voting Tuesday through Oct. 6 would be especially convenient for those Democratic-leaning voters who have traditionally had more trouble getting to the polls.

This is an invitation to recruit the homeless and the dead. This basically means people can vote absentee the same day they register. There had been a 30 day period previously. I doubt there is much checking the legitimacy of the voter. So now I know what "Community Organizer" means. The ACLU is involved. I wonder if ACORN is also involved.

It's a reality not lost on two parties locked in a tight race four years after President Bush's 118,000 vote victory in Ohio gave him a second term.

Ohio is one of more than 30 states that allow registered voters to cast an early ballot. Eight states allow voters to register and vote on Election Day, while North Carolina allows the practice during early voting.

On Wednesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio filed a lawsuit asking a federal court in Cleveland to declare that newly-registered Ohio voters must be allowed to vote absentee. The ACLU is concerned about the lawsuit before the Ohio Supreme Court, and filed the federal suit as a backstop measure in case the court rules against Brunner.

This can be called the resurrection of the dead ruling. Maybe I will go to Ohio to pick up some "walking around money."

Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 12:40 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Its primary target is college students. Large university population in Ohio. I believe Ohio State is the largest university in America. It allows them to register and vote on same day even if they are paying out of state tuition. So, all those kids from out of state get to vote today in Ohio. Obama 96% vs. McCain 4% as of now.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 09/30/2008 13:34 Comments || Top||

#2  In addition to "early voting" from ACORN:

....Ohio had more than 4.7 million initial applications and recertifications for Food Stamps (each of which should have been accompanied by voter registration services), and that is just one of many public assistance programs at which voter registration services must be offered.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/30/2008 13:38 Comments || Top||

#3  and how many of the out of staters will also vote at home, 'forgetting' they already voted?
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/30/2008 14:12 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't know, I've lost all faith/trust in our government. The "Chicago Machine" goes national.
I could only hope that there are more votes cast than population of the country. (snark)
Posted by: Tom- Pa || 09/30/2008 14:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Is it even possible to check if people have voted at home and also at their out-of-state home? I see shenanigans, hijinks, stuffed ballot boxes, voter fraud, and lawsuits. After all the donk party is the home of Kos Kids, William Ayers, Code Pink, MoveOn.org, George Soros, Barney and Nancy, etc, etc.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 14:45 Comments || Top||

#6  The ACLU is involved. I wonder if ACORN is also involved.


Yes. I heard they have cleared 200,000 invalid names from the voter rolls left over from 2004 and 2006.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/30/2008 15:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Baitullah Mehsud now worm food?
Be still my beating heart ...
(CNN) -- The leader of Pakistan's Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, is dead from kidney failure, sources told CNN. An unnamed Islamabad-based source with connections within the Mehsud tribe in South Waziristan said Mehsud died about 1 a.m. Wednesday. Military officials in the field confirmed to CNN that Mehsud had died. Geo Television of Pakistan and other local stations also reported his death.

But some reports also had the Taliban denying Mehsud's death.

Earlier reports said the leader of the Taliban in Pakistan was ill and was expected to die within a day. Mehsud is said to have succumbed to kidney failure and was believed to be about 34 years old.

The Pakistan government blamed Mehsud for the December 27, 2007, assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, but Mehsud denied involvement. In his first television interview, conducted by Al-Jazeera last year, Mehsud said his ultimate aim was to attack New York and London, England.

He led thousands of militants in South Waziristan, the mountainous region of northwest Pakistan that borders Afghanistan and where the Taliban and al Qaeda are active.

Mehsud's death would leave a power vacuum within the Mehsud tribe and the Pakistani Taliban, analysts say. Since there was no second in command of the Mehsud tribe, tribal splits are expected. Mehsud's death also is expected to spark a power struggle and the appointment of a new Taliban leader in Pakistan, but whoever replaces Mehsud is not expected to have as much influence and control in the region.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2008 18:21 || Comments || Link || [336127 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Worm food? I think of ol' Baitbreath as more like a worm who such bad breath that he attracts stinky fish who think it smells gooood.

buthey
Posted by: Betty Grating2215 || 09/30/2008 18:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Planted story or someone got to his food. Either way, I wouldn't hold my breath.
Posted by: Marzipan || 09/30/2008 19:55 Comments || Top||

#3  That's why we have the Accordion Lady out ...
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2008 20:12 Comments || Top||

#4  prolly from eating that pie he always had on his head
Posted by: Frank G || 09/30/2008 20:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Prolly inbred, thats why the kidney probs.
Posted by: Jack Shaiting9543 || 09/30/2008 20:56 Comments || Top||

#6  Or maybe the mountain life. Bin Laden's kidneys like to cause him to die every other year or so.
Posted by: Marzipan || 09/30/2008 21:08 Comments || Top||

#7  Those are people who died, died...
Posted by: Jim Carroll || 09/30/2008 23:23 Comments || Top||

#8  Toxic exposure to chemicals cause liver and kidney damage.
Posted by: Danielle || 09/30/2008 23:39 Comments || Top||


U.S. drone strike kills five in Pakistan: officials
A U.S. pilotless drone fired two missiles at a house in northwest Pakistan killing five people, Pakistani intelligence agency officials said Wednesday.

Frustrated by an intensifying Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan,
Reuters: the very essence of impartiality
U.S. forces have in the past month carried out seven missile strikes by pilotless drones and a commando raid on the Pakistani side of the border.

In the latest attack, a drone fired two missiles at a house near the town of Mir Ali in North Waziristan, at about midnight Tuesday (1800 GMT), two intelligence agency officials said. The area is a known sanctuary for Pakistani Taliban and foreign militants near the Afghan border.

"We have reports of five dead including foreign militants," said one of the officers, who declined to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media. ...

Same strike: Suspected US drone strike kills four in Pakistan: officials
It happened shortly after Pashtun tribesmen shot at three drones circling the village of Khusali Toorikhel in North Waziristan, a known haunt of Taliban and Al-Qaeda militants.

"After the drones came under fire a missile hit a house in the village. We have four dead now and another nine people were injured," a local security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Thanks for the targeting beacon, Sheiky
Posted by: ed || 09/30/2008 17:14 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh for gosh sakes. Anybody believe this? Next we'll be told Karzai wants the Soodies to smooth things over with the Taliban and offer Mullah Omar a peace deal where he gets to be a minister in the Karzai gov't and gurantees Omar's safety from the USA.

Oh, wait....
Posted by: MarkZ || 09/30/2008 18:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Hmmm, was Mehsud's rumored kidney failure brought about by Hellfire missile?
Posted by: Glenmore || 09/30/2008 18:56 Comments || Top||

#3  These drones seem more like Ferret or Wild Weasel missions now :)
Posted by: macofromoc || 09/30/2008 19:50 Comments || Top||


'Terrorist trainer' remanded in transporter's kidnapping case
The alleged terrorist-trainer arrested in the Baldia Town encounter, Raheemullah alias Naeem alias Ali Hasan, was remanded to the custody of investigators till October 6, in connection with the kidnapping of Shaukat Afridi, who was abducted from Clifton on May 9.

The accused was produced again before the Anti Terrorism Courts Administrative Judge (AJ) Justice Khawaja Naveed Ahmed on Monday. The accused was booked under section 365, 365-A/34/302 P.P.C, read with section 7 of ATA. The police sought remand of the accused from today till October 6 and the AJ granted the request.

Inspector Qamar-uz-Zaman of Clifton Police Station is investigating the case. According to the police, Shaukat Afridi, who was supplying oil to the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) was kidnapped and a ransom of Rs 50 million demanded. He died when the terrorists blasted their hide out in Baldia Town on Friday afternoon, after a shootout with a joint raiding party. The body of the victim was recovered with his hands and legs chained.

Accused remanded in murder of cousin: The same court also remanded Jahanzaib Hussain to judicial custody for the kidnapping for ransom and murder of his cousin, Ali Nawaz, son of complainant, Iftikhar Ali. The accused had called his cousin to the Clifton area and killed him by throttling him using a piece of cloth. He later demanded a ransom of Rs10 million but was arrested after the police tracked phone records.

The Investigating Officer (IO), seeking further remand, produced the accused before the court and submitted that the cloth used for the murder has been recovered and that there were no accomplices. The AJ, noting that that the investigation into the case has been closed, remanded the accused to judicial custody till October 6 and directed the IO to submit a charge sheet against the accused by that date.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336069 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan


Swat curfew lifted, Taliban announce ceasefire
Security forces have lifted the curfew in Swat whereas a unilateral ceasefire has also been announced by the Taliban for Eid. An army spokesman said the curfew had been lifted to help the population over Eid, APP reported. The Taliban ceasefire will end on the third day of Eid. Unidentified people torched a bank after looting gold worth Rs 50 million from its safes early on Monday, police sources said. The Taliban stole an Edhi foundation ambulance in the Allahabad area of Swat's Charbagh tehsil. The ambulance was answering an emergency call at the time, Edhi officials said. Sources at WAPDA said electricity was being supplied to Swat at regular intervals, but that a large part of the district was still without electricity. Three shops were blown up in Upper Dir. No casualty was reported. NWFP Chief Minister Haider Khan Hoti said basic amenities had been provided in aid camps established for the people of Bajaur who have left their homes following the military operation. Hoti said a new relief camp for 7,000 people has been established in Kacha Garhi, Peshawar with the co-operation of the United Nation High Commissioner for Refugees.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under: TTP

#1  well i guess all the shooting better stop immediately since it is yet another muslim holiday. bad thing is the pakis will go by the "cease fire"
Posted by: sinse || 09/30/2008 10:09 Comments || Top||


Kayani tours tribal region as fierce clashes continue
(AKI/Dawn) - Pakistan's Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited the troubled Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan, where 15 militants were killed on Sunday.

Troops backed by helicopter gunships and air force planes targeted militant hideouts in Rashakai, Tang Khatta, Bicheena, and other locations at the weekend. There were no immediate reports of military casualties.

Officials said that over the past month, up to 1,000 militants, including some top Al-Qaeda and Taliban 'commanders', had been killed in battles in Bajaur. Clashes were reported in Charmang, Bicheena and Delay areas where the militants had regrouped and hundreds of them attacked a number of military posts on Saturday. Troops repelled the attacks using artillery and mortar fire.

Early on Sunday, the militants attacked some security outposts but were forced to retreat. Helicopter gunships and planes shelled militant hideouts, destroying their key positions, sources said.

The army chief visited the region and met commanders and troops engaged in the operation. He also met a 30-member jirga or tribal meeting of Tarkhani and Utmankhel tribes in Khar.

Kayani praised the role of tribal elders who had opposed the militants and said that the tribal people had always fought shoulder to shoulder with the army to protect the borders of the country. Addressing the jirga, Kayani expressed satisfaction with the tribesmen's support for the troops in their operation to root out militancy and eradicate them in their region.

The army chief said the militants were enemies of Islam, Pakistan and the people, adding that they were against the economic development of the region. The militants, he said, were attacking not only security forces and government installations but were also attacking girls' schools and health centres.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: TTP


ISI chief, four corps commanders changed
In a major reshuffle in the Pakistan Army, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Nadeem Taj has been replaced by newly promoted Lt Gen Ahmed Shujaa Pasha.

According to the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), the corps commanders of Karachi, Gujranwala, Bahawalpur and Rawalpindi have also been changed.

Taj has been appointed Gujranwala Corps Commander.

Lt Gen Muhammad Yousaf has been appointed Bahawalpur Corps Commander and his predecessor Lt Gen Raza Muhammad has been appointed Joint Staff Director General at the Joint Staff Headquarters.

Lt Gen Shahid Iqbal has replaced Lt Gen Ahsan Azhar Hyat as Karachi Corps Commander, while Hyat has been appointed Inspector General (IG) Training and Evaluation at the General Headquarters (GHQ).

Lt Gen Muhammad Zaki has been appointed IG Arms at GHQ and Lt Gen Javed Zia has been appointed Quarter-Master General at the GHQ.

Lt Gen Mohsin Kamal has been appointed Military Secretary at the GHQ while Lt Gen Tahir Mehmood has been appointed Rawalpindi Corps Commander. Lt Gen Muhammad Zahid has been appointed the Adjutant General at the GHQ.

Lt Gen Muhammad Mustafa has been appointed as Chief of General Staff at the GHQ. Lt Gen Tanvir Tahir has been appointed as IG Communication and IT at GHQ. Lt Gen Ayyaz Salim Rana has been appointed Chairman of the Heavy Industries Taxila in place of Lt Gen Israr Ahmad Ghumman, who will retire in November.

Promoted: Earlier, Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani recommended the promotion of seven major generals of the Pakistan Army to the rank of lieutenant generals.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336108 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  That sounds like a lot of Lt. Gens. How big is the Pak army anyway - top heavy?
Posted by: Spot || 09/30/2008 8:04 Comments || Top||

#2  sprockets and sashes for everyone!
Posted by: Frank G || 09/30/2008 8:44 Comments || Top||

#3  You have to have twice as many when you are playing both sides.
Posted by: Darrell || 09/30/2008 9:55 Comments || Top||

#4  Shuffle city, but who's dealin' the cards?
Posted by: mojo || 09/30/2008 11:04 Comments || Top||

#5  LINKY: Taliban chief offers safe exit to allied forces : Karzai seeks Saudi help for talks with Mullah Omar
* Afghan president denies reports of negotiations with Taliban
* Assures protection to Taliban if they come back for talks

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai has made a call for peace to Taliban leader Mullah Omar and has asked the king of Saudi Arabia to help in talks with the group responsible for a surge in violence.
Posted by: RD || 09/30/2008 16:59 Comments || Top||


Man killed in blast near minister's house
A bomb blast killed a man outside a compact disc (CD) shop near a federal minister's house on Monday. According to details, the blast occurred outside Maqsoud CDs shop in Chatto Chowk near the residence of Federal Minister Khawaja Muhammad Khan Hoti. The blast also destroyed the CD shop and two other shops nearby. Police later found a mutilated body near the spot. It was beyond identification.

It has not yet been ascertained whether the explosion was a result of a bomb planted near the shop or that it a suicide attack. Law enforcement agencies surrounded the area after the blast and security was tightened.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under: TTP


Two Killed as Maoist Rebels Trigger Landmine Blast
Between the Maoists, the Islamicists and the Anarchists here at home, we've got all the troubles in the world .. identified.
Raipur —Suspected Maoist insurgents triggered a landmine to blow up a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) vehicle in Bastar region of Chhattisgarh on Monday, hours before President Pratibha Patil was scheduled to visit the area. A CRPF deputy commandant and a driver were killed, while five other troopers were injured.

“Insurgents blew up a Bolero vehicle at about 12 noon at a forested area near Mardum in Bastar. The driver and a CRPF deputy commandant were killed instantly,” Girdhari Nayak, chief of the state’s anti-Maoist operations, told IANS by phone. 


The deputy commandant, of the 41st CRPF battalion, was identified as Diwakar Mahapatra. All the victims are from the 41st battalion who were returning after a road-opening assignment in the area, some 340km from state capital Raipur.

Patil was in Bastar on Monday to visit the famous Chitrakote waterfall on Indravati river, just 27 km from the blast site.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under:


Bombings kill 6, injure 80 in Maharashtra, Gujarat
At least six people have been killed and 80 others injured in two suspected bomb blasts in two neighboring states of western India. Two mysterious blasts on Monday night at around 9.30 pm killed four people and injured 70 others near a mosque in Malegaon town of the Maharashtra state, local media reports said. The explosion took place when Ramadan special prayers were being offered in all mosques across the town. The wounded were rushed to the nearby Noor and Faran Hospitals, witnesses said.

The situation was tense around Malegaon after the blasts and police had to fire in the air to control the situation, sources said. Curfew was imposed in the eastern part of the town after the blasts and stone-pelting by a mob.

This is the second time that Malegaon has been hit by explosions. Earlier, on September 8, 2006, four bombs had been planted on bicycles and went off in the textile town, killing 31 and injuring 297 others.

In a separate incident, two were killed and ten others injured in an explosion in Modassa town in the neighboring state of Gujarat. Gujarat Home Minister Amit Shah told NDTV that there has been no prior intelligence about the blast. Gujarat's commercial capital Ahmedabad had been hit by a string of 16 bombs on July 27 that killed 45 and injured over 160.

Police in Ahmedabad had also announced Monday they had found 17 "crude explosive devices" dumped in rubbish. The incidents come after Indian government recently unveiled new security measures to tackle what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said were "vast gaps" in intelligence gathering on home-grown militancy.

Several other Indian cities -- Jaipur, Bangalore and New Delhi -- have been hit by serial bombings since May, also claimed by the Indian militants.

India has been hit by several waves of bombings in recent years. Targets have ranged from mosques and Hindu temples to trains and courthouses. More than 450 people have died in separate attacks since October 2005, according to an official count.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistan: Kidnapped Afghan envoy 'freed'
(AKI) - By Syed Saleem Shahzad - Afghanistan's kidnapped ambassador to Pakistan, Abdul Khaliq Farahi, has been released, informed sources told AKI. Farahi returned to the northern city of Peshawar late on Monday, the sources said. No further details were available as Pakistani Government officials declined to comment on Farahi's release.

Farahi was kidnapped by unidentified gunmen a week ago in Peshawar, in volatile North West Frontier Province. His driver was killed in the ambush. No group claimed Farahi's abduction, which took place in the upscale Hayatabad area of Peshawar.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336073 views] Top|| File under: Taliban


Iraq
Weaponization of country girls of Iraq
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 09/30/2008 11:19 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sad but old news.

Nice to know that the ROP has such respect for it's women and children. /s
Posted by: tipover || 09/30/2008 12:41 Comments || Top||

#2  She definitely lacks the grace, savoir faire, and charm of Fred's "Good Morning" women.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 13:15 Comments || Top||

#3  “I came to Baquba on August 23 with my husband, who was looking for money from relatives for a hernia operation."


Didn't the left claim we were giving them 'free healthcare'?
Posted by: Beavis || 09/30/2008 13:23 Comments || Top||


Al-Qaeda suspects killed in military raid in Baaquba
(AKI) - Three suspected members of Al-Qaeda, including a leading operative, were killed in a raid conducted by Iraqi army forces outside Baaquba, north of Baghdad on Monday. The raid, reported by the news agency Voices of Iraq, came after a dramatic resurgence of violence in Iraq at the weekend.

"Troops from the Iraqi army's 5th Division in Diyala raided some strongholds of Al-Qaeda in the area of Anjar, 45 km east of Baaquba, killing three members, including an emir (leader)," Brig. Khaled Jawad told VOI.

Meanwhile, at least 27 people were killed and another 84 were wounded when five bomb attacks struck Baghdad on Sunday. Iraqi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Qassim Atta said that the attacks included a car bomb and a homemade roadside bomb.

The worst of the bombings centred on a market in the central Karada district where people were preparing to celebrate the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336092 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq


US frees 2,400 detainees in Iraq during Ramadan
BAGHDAD - US authorities have freed 2,404 detainees in the four weeks of Ramadan, the American military said on Monday, still short of the 3,000 they promised to release during the Muslim fasting month. Releases accelerated in the past week as 955 were freed, compared to a total of 1,449 for the first three weeks of Ramadan, the military said in a statement.

At the begining of the fasting month, the US military promised to free about 3,000 detainees during Ramadan which ends this week. However, the US military said they expected more people to be released in the next few days.

"The projections for the final few days of the Ramadan release period are ambitious and assume no delays or unexpected interruptions to the release process," the statement added.

The US military, however, warned against haste. "These are not mass releases, but fair releases," US military spokesman Brigadier General David Quantock said in a separate statement. He added they have speeded up the process of reviewing cases against detainees.

With the latest releases, the number of detainees in US custody has dropped to 17,900, the statement said. Since the start of 2008, some 14,200 detainees have been freed.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336075 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I hate that they tie releases to Ramadan. It smacks of the whims of the Caliph rather than equal treatment under the law. That whole mills of justice thingy ought to mean that as soon as someone is known to be innocent of a charge they are released -- neither held back to make a bigger number during Ramadan, nor released before a proper determination is made, again just to increase the Ramadan number.
Posted by: trailing wife || 09/30/2008 15:44 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Gaza rocket boys blast...Gaza

Ooooooops...
Gaza - Ma'an - Militants in Gaza fired rockets on Monday in what appeared to be a new violation of the truce between Israel and Hamas, according to an Army Radio broadcast on Tuesday. However, the reported rockets never reached Israeli territory as they exploded within the Gaza Strip, according to the station. The attacks came hours before the Jewish holiday Rosh Hoshana, it said.
Must've been some kinda super secret Mossad operation I'll bet...
A leading Hamas official told a Saudi newspaper on Monday that the movement would take action against any group or individual that threatened the ceasefire, Israeli newspapers reported on Tuesday. Warty Nosed Mahmoud Al-Zahar said that Hamas would "move against any armed group that attempts to violate the ceasefire with Israel."
Ya got your rocket shooting license boys? Ya wanna buy one?
"Any Palestinian group who deviates from the national consensus and harms the interests of the Palestinian people can no longer be considered a part of the Resistance™, but rather as someone who seeks to harm it," he said.
Especially if it blows up one of our own guys...
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/30/2008 10:59 || Comments || Link || [336074 views] Top|| File under:

#1  muslims killing muslims. Now that's a new one.
Posted by: anymouse || 09/30/2008 11:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Shooting oneself in the foot is so, yesterday; wee needed to take it up a notch.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/30/2008 12:14 Comments || Top||

#3  "You'll put your eye out!"
Posted by: mojo || 09/30/2008 14:47 Comments || Top||


Israeli police blame grenade accident for Palestinian shepherd's death
Israeli police on Monday denied claims that Jewish settlers shot a Palestinian shepherd, saying the teenager found dead in the West Bank was killed by shrapnel from a grenade that he was handling. "The autopsy showed the shepherd was killed from shrapnel from an explosion and not from gunshots," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP. "Investigations at the scene confirmed that the young man was killed by the explosion of a rifle grenade which he handled and that he either found there or was given to him," he said.

Rosenfeld ruled out the possibility that the grenade, of the type used by the Israeli Army, was fired by residents of a nearby Jewish settlement.

Palestinian security officials said Sunday the shepherd, identified as Yehia Apa Riham, 18, was shot dead by Israeli settlers. The young man was among a group of shepherds grazing flocks south of the city of Nablus and near Itamar settlement on Saturday when they were attacked by settlers, the security sources said.

Several violent attacks by settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank have been reported in recent months. -
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336090 views] Top|| File under:


Science & Technology
ICBMs for everyone?
A private enterprise company, funded by a California internet entrepreneur, has successfully boosted a payload into orbit:


"Fourth time's a charm," said Elon Musk, the multimillionaire who started up Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, to make space launches more affordable.

The Falcon 1 rocket carried a 364-pound dummy payload designed and built by SpaceX for the launch. Musk pledged to continue getting rockets into orbit, saying the company has resolved design issues that plagued previous attempts.

[…]

Falcon 1, a 70-foot-long rocket powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene, is the first in a family of low-cost launch vehicles priced at $7.9 million each.

Besides the Falcon 1, SpaceX is developing for NASA a larger launch vehicle, Falcon 9, capable of flying to the international space station when the current space shuttle fleet retires in 2010.

Although upfront development costs were undoubtedly substantial, $7.9 million for an orbital launcher does not seem much of an obstacle. The implication is that orbital payload capability would seem to be within reach for a long list of both state and non-state actors.

Such a prospect results in an immense challenge for defense planners. Although the U.S. has made great achievements over the past several years on missile defense, this progress was aided by being able to make certain reasonable assumptions about the enemy’s launch locations. Missile interception with kinetic kill vehicles is an exercise in physics and geometry. Locating interceptors in Alaska and California takes care of the North Korean threat, while interceptors in central Europe cover the future Iranian threat. But the interceptors at these sites cannot cover threats from other locations, due to the limitations of physics.

If non-state actors can establish intercontinental ballistic missile-range launch sites in any direction, the current U.S. missile defense scheme would become untenable. Pentagon planners would need to design an entirely new approach to the problem.

And the threat of proliferating ICBM capability makes the menace of an electro-magnetic pulse attack especially worrisome.

Naturally, potential terror adversaries still have many technical hurdles to overcome. Nuclear warheads are very complicated and very difficult to miniaturize. Rocket science isn’t easy. It would be very difficult for an adversary to keep secret his testing program and missile-basing projects.

But the lesson from the SpaceX success is that the barriers to entry for many dangerous technologies are falling rapidly. ICBMs used to be available to only the most wealthy and technically sophisticated nation-states. Soon, it seems like anyone will be able to get them.
Posted by: Uncle Phester || 09/30/2008 13:42 || Comments || Link || [336096 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One can only hope DoS is on this and watching for any potential sales. This is already on the Arms Control List for ITAR and if a fraudulent shipping document is discovered these guys need to be hammered and hard. and if the good have already left the US, then they need found and hammered, hard also.
Posted by: USN, Ret. || 09/30/2008 14:17 Comments || Top||

#2  SpaceX didn't get a _working_ booster until they built a regeneratively cooled liquid fueled rocket engine.

This is a non-trivial piece of technology, and they burned through over a hundred million or so dollars building it, going through several iterations.
Posted by: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti || 09/30/2008 14:26 Comments || Top||

#3  It's the 21ist century and it's nuts to be against ballistic missile defense.

And I still want my flying car, dammit.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks || 09/30/2008 14:41 Comments || Top||

#4  That is why laser based space, air and ground systems are necessary as well.
Posted by: DarthVader || 09/30/2008 14:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Cost-per-pound to: LEO? Higher orbits? Escape velocity?

Press releases are mostly info-free zones.
Posted by: mojo || 09/30/2008 14:46 Comments || Top||

#6  We cannot keep nukes, ICBMs, etc., out of the hands of others forever woth present social structures. DarthVarder is right. We need to develop effective defenses against these these weapons as soon as possible after getting the offense weapons developed. Defensive lasers now!
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/30/2008 14:54 Comments || Top||

#7  Tranquil Mechanical Yeti welcome aboard.

Rather interesting & facinating name BTW...

Is this your first incarnation here at Rantburg?

or is it your current iteration's first visit to Rantburg? >:)
Posted by: RD || 09/30/2008 15:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Minister funny walks is our most amusing hilarious nym!
Posted by: RD || 09/30/2008 15:04 Comments || Top||

#9  I'm partial to "Sock Puppet of Doom" myself.
Posted by: Darrell || 09/30/2008 15:57 Comments || Top||

#10  Maybe we should build a new civilization deep underground.
Posted by: Ulusoling Hatfield4645 || 09/30/2008 16:01 Comments || Top||

#11  If the rocket has a stupid little picture of a house in the clouds and road leading up to it, I will be concerned.
Posted by: swksvolFF || 09/30/2008 16:09 Comments || Top||

#12  No, I'm not new. Apparently there was starting to be confusion between Abdominal Snowman and AutoBartender, since one abbreviated to AB and the other to AS.

I switched to this one to avoid having him blamed for my catastrophic posts.

(Although if you believe I'm mechanical I guess I have a shot at making you believe I'm tranquil.


HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. But I digress.)
Posted by: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti || 09/30/2008 16:10 Comments || Top||

#13  You can find payload and pricing information.
Falcon 1
Falcon 9
Falcon 9 Heavy

The Falcon 1 is sized halfway between a Trident C4 and D5. Pricing says:
LEO (185km)
Falcon 1: 420kg $7.9M
Falcon 1e: 1010kg $9.1M

That's less than 1/2 the often quoted $10,000/lb commercial rate but the altitude is also a lot less than an LEO orbit of 250-300km. More interesting is the Falcon 9 launching 4-5000kg to geosynchronous orbit for $47-57M. That's the price range the Russians used to charge in the early 2000's with their decommissioned ICBMs. If Space-X can meet that then it is probably 60-80% what the Russians/Ukrainians are now charging.
Posted by: ed || 09/30/2008 17:01 Comments || Top||

#14  cue the Far Side, "now the Hendersons have the Bomb!"
Posted by: Querent || 09/30/2008 17:17 Comments || Top||

#15  The Russkies won't like that. But I do.
Posted by: mojo || 09/30/2008 17:18 Comments || Top||

#16  I am all for SpaceX.

NASA has been a disaster except for JPL stuff.

SpaceX will have a crewed rocket to ISS before NASA even gets blueprints done for it's shuttle replacement.

Let free enterprise go into space!
The state has dropped the ball on space!
Posted by: 3dc || 09/30/2008 18:18 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Village leader gunned down in southern Thailand
A village headman was shot to death by presumed terrorists insurgents in Tala's Raman district Monday afternoon, and empty cooking gas cylinders brought an unspecified number of police and other security personnel in a response that proved to be a false alarm in Narathiwat province.

Yala's Raman district village chief Rosa Esawmuso, 47, was gunned down by attackers assumed to be terrorists insurgents as he drove his motorcycle on the Kotabaru-Wangpaya Road to a roadside market.

Two empty cooking gas cylinders, suspected of being homemade bombs in the making, were found hidden behind a tree on a Narathiwat roadside Monday afternoon, but proved not to be bombs. Security closed connecting roads and cut mobile phone signals before inspecting the cylinders, hidden close to the bypass. The cylinders were thought to be made into improvised explosive devices. A cooking gas cylinder bomb was used at the Sungai Kolok police station on August 21, killing two persons and injuring more than 30.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/30/2008 06:21 || Comments || Link || [336072 views] Top|| File under:


Sri Lanka
30 Tigers killed in Lankan fighting
Tamil Tigers have suffered heavy losses in a major Sri Lankan government push into their northern fiefdom, with the latest clashes leaving 30 rebels dead, the defence ministry said yesterday.

The ministry said 17 rebels were killed in air and ground attacks against the guerrilla's northern capital of Kilinochchi on Sunday. The ministry said three soldiers also died in the fighting, while 80 were wounded. Troops also killed 11 rebels and lost one soldier during fighting elsewhere in the north on Sunday, the ministry said, adding two more rebels died in the eastern town of Ampara.

There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who were too busy dying. The pro-rebel Tamilnet website, however, said the guerrillas killed six soldiers during a confrontation in the eastern coastal district of Batticaloa on Sunday.

The separatist rebels were pushed out of the east last summer, but continue to infiltrate the area.

According to the government, some 7,013 rebels have been killed in combat since January, when Colombo pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire. The defence ministry has acknowledged the loss of 686 of its soldiers over the same period. The tolls cannot be independently verified since the ministry blocks independent journalists from travelling to the front lines.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336086 views] Top|| File under:


3 injured in explosion in Colombo
(Xinhua) -- At least three civilians were injured in an explosion happened in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, the military said on Monday. Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said that a minor explosion occurred in a public car park in the Colombo fort at around 12:30 p.m. local time (0630 GMT). A small quantity of explosives placed in the rear of a stationary van had caused the explosion, the military spokesman said, adding that six vehicles were also partly damaged.

He said that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels was blamed on the attack. Hector Weerasinghe, the Director of the National Hospital, said that all three admitted after the explosion were having minor injuries.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336079 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
MKO members arrested in Europe
Members of the notorious Mujahedin Khalq Organization have been arrested in France and Switzerland on charges of money laundering. Ten people close to the MKO were in police custody on Monday on both sides of the border, Reuters reported without citing any sources.

Swiss and French officials jointly conducted the arrests on the request of Swiss judges examining the funding of the group.

The group, which has been listed as a terrorist organization in Iran, the European Union and the United States, has a long and bloody history of targeting Iranian civilians and government officials. It also reportedly assisted the deposed Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, in the massacre of thousands of innocent Iraqis and is responsible for several acts of terror in Iran including the 1994 bombing of a revered Shia shrine in Mashhad, eastern Iran.

In 2003, French anti-terrorist police arrested 165 members in Paris, including Maryam Rajavi one of the leaders of the group, for 'associating with wrongdoers in relation with a terrorist undertaking.'

In a recent move, Britain removed the banned MKO from its blacklist of terror organizations. According to the Iranian Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, Britain has been provided with ample evidence of MKO involvement in terrorist operations against the Iranian nation.

"They have even met with some of the victims of the MKO terrorist acts. Still, the London Appeals Court has permitted a dangerous terrorist group to operate in Britain," reads a letter by the Head of the Commission, Alaeddin Boroujerdi to his counterpart in the British parliament, Mike Gapes.
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336077 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wow! We are on the same side as the Ieanian government against these guys! They are some bad****s.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/30/2008 10:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Maryam Rajavi one of the leaders of the group, for 'associating with wrongdoers in relation with a terrorist undertaking.'

By that kind of reasoning/law, BO would be in a lot of trouble.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 11:23 Comments || Top||


Car bomb hits bus carrying troops in Lebanon
Adds detail to yesterday's story...
A car bomb blast ripped through a bus carrying soldiers in northern Lebanon on Monday, killing four people, including three soldiers, and wounding 30, an army official said. "Three of those who died were soldiers and among the wounded 24 were soldiers and the rest civilians," the official said. Earlier, a security official had put the death toll at six.

Lebanese troops cordoned off the scene of the explosion at the southern entrance to the city of Tripoli during the morning rush hour and ambulances ferried casualties to hospitals. The blast hurled the mangled remains of the explosive-laden car several meters (yards) away, shattered windows of nearby buildings and damaged several cars.

Military target
Local politicians denounced the attack, saying it targeted the army. "This is a direct targeting of the military institution," former Prime Minister Najib Mikati told a local radio station. No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
My guess would be that they're associated with the guys who boomed Damascus...
Six weeks ago a bomb blast hit a bus in the city, Lebanon's second largest, killing 15 people, including 10 soldiers. That attack was the deadliest against the army since a 15-week battle last year against the al-Qaeda-inspired Muslim militants of Fatah al-Islam at a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli that left 400 people dead, including 168 soldiers.

Continuing sectarian violence
Tripoli has been rocked by deadly sectarian violence in recent months. In June and July, 23 people were killed in battles between Sunni Muslim supporters of Siniora and their Damascus-backed rivals from the Alawite community. The fighting focused on the Sunni stronghold of Bab al-Tebbaneh and the mainly Alawite Jabal Mohsen district which are both a short distance from Masarif Street.

There has been tension between the two communities ever since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam and straddle the border into Syria, whose President Bashar al-Assad is a follower of the faith.

Monday's explosion came as Lebanon's rival factions have been working toward resolving their differences following a long-running political crisis that brought the country to the brink of civil war in May. It also took place amid heightened tensions in the region following a weekend bombing which left 17 people dead in the capital of neighboring Syria, Lebanon's former powerbroker.

The official news agency SANA said the attack was the result of a suicide attack by a "terrorist" with links to an Islamist extremist group.

Comments
1 - HASSAN NASRALLAH AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SUNI,DRUZE,CHRISTIANS=LEBANESE [ Monday, September 29, 2008 ]
HASSAN NASRALLAH AGAIN HE JUST WANNA GIVE UP THE LOVE TO SPLIT THE LEBANESE PEOPLE IF HE WANT TO SPLIT SO PLEASE TO TO HELL HASSAN! TO HASSAN NASRALLAH!!!!!WE ARE 4 MIO IN LEBANON WE HAVE ALMOST ALL OF OR COUNTRY SO WHY WILL YOU HAVE ISRAEL/PALÆSTINA??? ISRAEL IS NOT LEBANON LEBANON IS ALL THE 10.452 km2 WE HAVE UR COUNTRY ISRAEL/PÆLASTINA IS THE PÆLASTIANS AND ISRAELS PROBLEM NOT THE LEBANESE PROBLEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Posted by: Fred || 09/30/2008 00:00 || Comments || Link || [336101 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Some sort of Bizarro Lebanese Joseph Mendiola seems to have inserted a comment into the article itself. Of course, once the mods take it out, this comment will look awfully foolish.

Never mind.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/30/2008 0:35 Comments || Top||

#2  and a run on the world supply of exclamation points. Ima callrn for an intervention!11!

or at least the use of alternative-fuel-characters. Soy-based 1's should be used whenever possible
Posted by: Frank G || 09/30/2008 8:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Basically the commenter (from the source) is blaming Hes'ballah. The group, if you recall, is Shiite.
Posted by: Pappy || 09/30/2008 22:03 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Brits warn Al-Qaeda planning to bomb Atlantis Hotel in Dubai
The Atlantis hotel’s grand opening party is at the centre of a terrorism scare after British spies uncovered plans to target the lavish event in Dubai, to be attended by 2,000 VIPs. There are fears Al-Qaeda is planning to bomb the event on Nov. 20 because it is seen by Islamic extremists as a symbol of decadence in a Muslim country, according to the UK's Sky News television.

Business leaders, politicians, actors, musicians and members of the Dubai royal family have all been invited to the grand opening, which is estimated to be costing $28 million and will be headlined by pop princess Kylie Minogue.

British spies are reportedly monitoring talk of an attack in internet chatrooms and have a number of suspects who pose a credible threat under surveillance. Neither Atlantis or the British embassy in Dubai were immediately available for comment when contacted by Arabian Business.

The resort, located on the Palm Jumeirah, officially opened on Sept. 24, despite a recent fire on Sept. 2 that destroyed the hotel lobby roof and caused smoke damage to the outside of the main hotel building.

The launch of Atlantis has become one of the most talked about events on the Dubai calendar, with several global superstars linked with the grand opening, including Michael Jackson and Madonna. The 1,539-room resort encompasses a 46-hectare site with 17 hectares of water-themed amusement parks, an open air marine habitat, beaches, boutiques and restaurants.

The UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) in June raised its terrorism threat level in the UAE to "high", warning that terrorists could target places frequented by expatriates and foreign travellers such as residential compounds, military, oil, transport and aviation interests. "We believe terrorists may be planning to carry out attacks in the UAE," the FCO said. "Attacks could be indiscriminate and could happen at any time," it said. The FCO said people should "maintain a high level of security awareness, particularly in public places".
Posted by: tu3031 || 09/30/2008 11:22 || Comments || Link || [336095 views] Top|| File under:

#1  decadence in a muslim country. unheard of just unheard of
Posted by: sinse || 09/30/2008 12:44 Comments || Top||

#2  You know, after all the stuff that happened to the _first_ Atlantis resort you'd think they'd stop using the name. Kinda like naming a cruise ship the Titanic.
Posted by: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti || 09/30/2008 12:57 Comments || Top||

#3  And the Brits helped who the most with this revelation?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon || 09/30/2008 14:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Remember that al-Qaeda feels threatened by technology more advanced than 4th Century.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 09/30/2008 16:05 Comments || Top||

#5  The Arabs won't like their playground being bombed. They might regret they funded these AQ in the first place. They might just say pull all the stops out.
Posted by: JohnQC || 09/30/2008 16:11 Comments || Top||


Trying to Fix Stupid-Crazy
by Steve White

The Burg, like most good Americans, has been discussing the 'Bailout' plan promulgated by Secretary Treasury Hank Paulson. Rantburg University has lived up to its name these past few days as we've all learned about mortgage backed securities, commercial paper, the Libor index and the depths of depravity within the soul of the Democratic Party.

I appreciate what some here have said about how fixing the mess is absolutely required to prevent an economic collapse. I think that's right. I also understand those who are skeptical that we have a real crisis, and if we do, how to fix it.

But I decided to see how bad things really were today in a more personal way. Most investments are continuing the decline that's been going on the last year. Yes, the market is up occasionally, even now, but it could plunge tomorrow. A great depression could on the way. Or not. I can't look at the billions and trillions of dollars being tossed about in this plan or that and not have my eyes glaze over. But I can look at the real world at people like me.

A good test, I thought, would be to see how easily John Q Citizen could get a loan. So I took a look.

To start, I checked eLoan and LendingTree to price rates for a new mortgage for a home in my home county (Will County, Illinois). I put in the median price for a new home here and specified 10% down with an excellent credit rating. No problem. Rates are 5.5 - 6%. I didn't click 'submit' but I'm pretty sure that if I did, a perky eLoan agent would get back to me within the promised fifteen minutes.

Then I looked at auto loans. At Chase, a four year loan is 6.2%. At Bank of America the same loan is 5.8%. Those are reasonable rates by any modern historical standard.

I looked into annunities. Within a half-hour I'd found a dozen annuity offers that would take my hypothetical $100K IRA roll-over and turn it into a perpetual $550 a month for life. That's about 6% a year. Maybe I should retire.

And I threw out, in today's mail, three more unsolicited offers for credit cards.

So in real life, I can get credit, finance things I want to buy, and prepare for the future. I can find banks and investors who are, today at least, more than happy to work with me. So where's the crisis?

To apply the Glenn Reynolds rule: "I'll believe there is a crisis when the people who say that there is a crisis start acting as if there is a crisis."

To their credit, Paulson, Bernanke and Bush seem to be acting as if there is a crisis. But the national banks and lenders that deal with John Q Citizen aren't, at least not yet, the Democrats certainly aren't, and a fair number of Republicans aren't either.

The root core problem of the current panic, as I see it, is that the mortgage-backed securities are illiquid. We know why -- stupid Fannie/Freddie rules, bad, bad Community Reinvestment Act, crooked politicians, con-artists at ACORN and other 'community organizations', greedy investors and bankers, and inadequate oversight by the Fed, pension funds, etc. Okay, that's the problem. Nobody can tell what a typical MBS, particularly the sub-A+ tranches, is worth. So by mark-to-market rules they're worth 'zero', which plainly is stupid -- even if every mortgage in an MBS foreclosed, the homes and land would have residual value. But we have, among other stupidities, stupid accounting rules like that '157B' sucker.

That's it in a nutshell. Paulson is right -- the cure is to put a value on the MBS's so as to make them liquid again. If he'd simply come out with that, and had explained why, and told us with some calm what would happen if we didn't -- and if he'd DONE THIS BEFORE FRIGGIN' SEPTEMBER OF AN ELECTION YEAR -- then we could have had a reasonable debate, no more than the usual political skullduggery, and perhaps had a solution.

But Paulson is an investment banker and an arrogant jerk -- I repeat myself, of course -- so he couldn't do that. He said, "gimme the power and I'll decide what's best." Yeah, sure, Hank, we'll give 700 large to the very people who got us into this mess.

So Paulson went public, and Bush had to back him up, and the press and the markets reacted as you might predict. So did the politicians, particularly the Big O, who saw a 2 point deficit in the national polls become a 5 point lead. And clueless people wonder why San Fran Nan behaved the way she did yesterday on the floor of the House. She and the Big O have what they want and they're going to ride that horse all the way to election day if only they can. The Republicans act as if they were forced to suck a very large lemon, which they did, since as is typical for them, they were completely out-played in the political arena. Whoa, that's never happened before.

Now then, the adults in the room, if any are left, might point out that if we don't fix the MBS mess than the entire commercial paper market just might come down, and when it does companies like Boeing, Cat, GM, etc are going to be in big trouble. It is idiocy that Cat can't float its 30 day paper easily, but right now it can't. So Cat and the other big companies, from Boeing to Xerox, will delay plans, slow purchasing, lay-off employees, and in general conserve cash. So will the main street banks over time as the level of mistrust increases. Sure, I have money and you're my best customer, but that doesn't mean I'll loan it to you at any price, even for a month. That thinking will tank the economy.

So for John Q Ciitzen, let me make it clear: I can find an auto loan today. But I might not be able to find one, for any price, in a few months if we don't fix the problem. Not that I'll be able to afford a car if my employer just laid off me and a thousand other people.

The market is in a panic precisely because it is irrational, and you don't fix stupid-crazy by becoming even more stupid-crazy. Behaving that way leads you to goofy people in black bandannas manning the barricades in our urban centers. Our politicians will be even less well behaved. The authoritarian Left will canoodle with the Wall Street cowards which will be easy since many of the latter are already secret admirers of the former. Or not-so-secret, as the Big O's donation list attests. The end result is liberal fascism, a take over of an increasingly big part of the economy by government to be run as government -- that is, the Big O and his friends -- say. Oh, business will still be 'private', they'll just have to do as they're told.

No, not for me, I'll pass.

So here is what you do to fix the MBS problem and stop the liberal fascists (this time). You fix stupid-crazy by grabbing the attention of the panicked people. You might need to clobber them first -- "thanks, I needed that" -- but you then lead them to an orderly resolution. Yes, assets will be written down, some banks and investment houses will go bankrupt, some investors will go broke, some homes will be foreclosed, a few people will need temporary shelter. You can ease the pain for the small players but you make sure the bigger players remember what it was like to touch that hot stove.

Review each MBS, put it up for auction, put a value on each one, and make sure government is there to grease the skids and buy those securities that no one else wants at some price that makes grown people complain but not scream. Government puts a floor under our fall; that's the key feature of any responsible plan. That ensures that people with money can put a value on illiquid securities and buy the ones they want at a price that doesn't in turn break them. You can do it as 'insurance', you can call it a 'bailout', whatever you like, but you make sure that there is a market for that which can't be marketed today.

And do it now. The longer you wait, the worse it gets. The preferred alternative of conservative purists seems to be to let the markets sort it out amongst themselves. Sure, they'll do that, after a while. A long while. That's called a 'recession', and the sorting could take a few years or more of really painful consequences for John Q Citizen, and in the meantime the liberal fascists are always pointing out to John how they could do it better if he would just gave them more power. That's what they always say, and that's how we got into this mess in the first place.

You fix stupid-crazy by stripping what is irrational out of the problem. You save the economy, and perhaps our country, by doing it quickly. That's being responsible. That's what adults do when confronted with panic. Are we that responsible?
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2008 15:23 || Comments || Link || [336207 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You hit the keys Steve..."insurance and mark-to-market." It is NOT penicillin, but if we can convince congress to suspect mark-to-market and provide some FDIC type of mortgage insurance. we'll see some relief and breathing room. Watching Hank Paulson run in and out of the White House with a blank check that no one will sign is disgusting.
Posted by: Besoeker || 09/30/2008 17:16 Comments || Top||

#2  The answer is still no.

Paulson is not the person to put values on anything. That's for the market to do. Right now the Market is staying away because they are overpriced - "illiquid" means unable to sell, and as you have pointed out even the land has value.

This could get bad, but this isn't 1929. We have safety nets that didn't exist back then.

The best answer is bankruptcy. Let the fed govt manage the closure and sale of assets, do it quickly so we can get past this crisis.
Posted by: flash91 || 09/30/2008 17:48 Comments || Top||

#3  Sorry I read to paulson and stopped - thinking that this was another call for bailout.

I think we reached the same endpoint.
Posted by: flash91 || 09/30/2008 17:50 Comments || Top||

#4  I don't know what the answer is. I am, however, extremely reluctant to give a 700 billion dollar check to anyone.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 09/30/2008 19:51 Comments || Top||

#5  My only comment for now is that your test, Dr. Steve, is misleading.

You will not see consumer credit dry up *first*.   First you will see banks failing and indicators such as LIBOR (the London interbank lending rate) rise.   Check the financial news for the last two days on those fronts -- it isn't good.
Posted by: lotp || 09/30/2008 20:55 Comments || Top||

#6  I agree, LIBOR is more important in the world of finance. But the reason John Q. Citizen doesn't care -- yet -- is that HE can still get a loan. That's one of the reasons why the polls show the public is against this whole package. They see it as Wall Street welfare and don't yet see the connection between LIBOR and an auto loan. If the credit market locks up they will, but then it will be too late.
Posted by: Steve White || 09/30/2008 21:01 Comments || Top||

#7  Yes, it will be too late.   Yesterday/today the LIBOR rate averaged 6.88%.   Banks cannot do a whole lot of lending at 5-6% income interest (before the cost of operations) on longterm loans if they have to borrow shortterm at two percentage points more than that.
Posted by: lotp || 09/30/2008 21:20 Comments || Top||

#8  The root core problem of the current panic, as I see it, is that the mortgage-backed securities are illiquid.

That's it in a nutshell. Paulson is right -- the cure is to put a value on the MBS's so as to make them liquid again.


It is not just that mortgage backed securities are illiquid. In fact, I'd bet the Fed would accept them at par at the discount window. But I understand that bankers are afraid to discount notes at the Fed because it would be a sign of weakness.

And that is what this is really all about, fear, not securities. Fear is now as out of control as greed was two years ago. And it is as malevolent.

As lotp notes, the fear is expressed in banks unwillingness to lend to eachother, even over night. That is why LIBOR set a new all time record today. That is what really set the panic off two weeks ago, when the LIBOR market seized. Note that the LIBOR today was higher than the rate for your mortgage and just a tad lower than your car loan. For an overnight loan between banks.

And note that LIBOR applies to banks all around the world, not just US banks. The problem is not limited to the US mortgage backed securities. European banks are failing because of European mortgages. If this were strictly an American problem, the dollar would be falling against the Euro,

So the world wide problem we have here is that there has been a total loss of confidence. The bankers no longer trust eachother. Congress people don't trust their leaders, the people don't trust the government. This is a moral problem, not financial.

That is why this IS 1929, really 1932. We are going to rewrite the social contract that has been in place since the New Deal replaced the contract that had been in place since the Panic of 1837.

Notice how these last 80 years, an adult lifetime. The only people around who remember the Great Depression were children at the time. So we all are going to have to learn those lessons again and build a new social fabric of trust. Because business cannot be conducted without mutual trust. And that trust has been rent by unconstrained greed. Now unconstrained fear will take its place until an equilibrium can be restored. for our children's lifetimes.

Steve is correct that the quicker we get it over with the better. And the government does not help. But the issues of the Panic of 1837 were not fully resolved until 1865 and the issues of the Depression of 1932 were not fully resolved until 1945.


Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/30/2008 21:25 Comments || Top||

#9  bad tags:

If this were strictly an American problem, the dollar would be falling against the Euro, but its not. quite the opposite.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 09/30/2008 21:27 Comments || Top||

#10  Did I yet mention my theory that someone's manipulating the currency markets, and buying up dollars to aggravate the crisis?
Posted by: Tranquil Mechanical Yeti || 09/30/2008 22:15 Comments || Top||

#11  Would that "someone" be named Soros, Tranquil?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 09/30/2008 23:03 Comments || Top||

#12  Steve

Thanks for taking the time to write your informative and well-written essay. And thanks to everyone at Rantburg U, who shares their own perspective and gives us alternative takes for us to investigate and compare to what different economists are saying.
Posted by: ryuge || 09/30/2008 23:07 Comments || Top||

#13  Soros already made $4 billion betting against derivatives.
Posted by: ed || 09/30/2008 23:09 Comments || Top||

#14  Steve,

Well-written and reasoned argument. I'm not sure I buy all of it but it's a cogent defense of a pretty sound position. Agree or not, it's an excellent contribution to Rantburg U.

Thanks.
Posted by: Jolutch Mussolini7800 || 09/30/2008 23:36 Comments || Top||

#15  It's irrational yet logical at the same time, but even the Russians claim Soros is manipulating the global market.
Posted by: Danielle || 09/30/2008 23:47 Comments || Top||



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