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Pak Talibs say they're in tactical retreat
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Africa North
YouTube: Ghadaffi Admits Political Asylum is a Hoax
Posted by: tipper || 11/19/2009 16:16 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Genuine Patriots, Paragons of Songun Era
(KCNA) -- True patriots, the pacemakers of the times are growing in number year after year nay, century after century in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

President Kim Il Sung brought up many people as the models of the times in the days of building a new country after the liberation, the Fatherland Liberation War against U.S. imperialism and the grand Chollima march after the war.

The army and people of Korea have made brilliant victory and proud successes in the struggle for protecting socialism and in the building of a rich and powerful country under the leadership of the Workers' Party of Korea. All these successes are associated with strenuous efforts made by the people of merit who are devoting themselves for the Party and the leader, the country and the people in the Songun era.

Work-team head Ri Ho Chol of the Taehung Youth Hero Mine made a great contribution to making the refractory industry of the country Juche-oriented at the end of trial production numbering 149.

Ju Pok Sun, director of the Manpho Spinning Mill, though she was busy with factory affairs, reared many orphans with maternal affection as pillars of the mill.

Among the persons of merit in the Songun era are Jo Yong Hwan, a work-team head of the Songjong Co-op Farm in Pongchon County, who is devotedly working on the cooperative fields; Ri Kil Son, a tunneling worker of pit No. 10 under the Jenam Coal Mine, who is registering big successes at the underground cutting face, an important post for building a prosperous country; Ri Un Hui, a merited nurse of the Kaesong City People's Hospital, who has nursed many patients with might and main so that they can work on the socialist construction site; merited teacher Ri Yong Chol, principal of Kim Jong Suk Secondary School No. 1, who trains students as pillars of the great, prosperous and powerful nation with a determination to prop up the country throughout his life; and Kim Phyong Gil, director of the Cableway Management Office for Revolutionary Battle Site on Mt. Paektu, who is obediently devoting his all for the visitors to the sacred land of revolution.

Jang Tu Il, a designer of the designing office under the Chollima Steel Complex, exerted his all wisdom and energy to the work for establishing a modern steel production process by Korean-style UHP electric arc furnace. And Paek Nam Chol of the Moranbong Bus Company is faithful to his duties to ensure passenger transport for the Pyongyang citizens with the spirit of devoted service to the people.

Today the meritorious persons of the Songun era with a noble revolutionary character are creating miracles and innovations in the construction of a thriving socialist nation as the paragons of the times under the guidance of the Workers' Party of Korea.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Jeebus, factual history aside the writing style-format reminds me of all those COLD WAR COMMIE-SOVIET PROPAGANDA organs.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/19/2009 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  6.5
Posted by: Pappy || 11/19/2009 0:23 Comments || Top||

#3  7.5. He stuck the landing.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/19/2009 10:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Let us now praise famous mien
Posted by: .5MT || 11/19/2009 11:42 Comments || Top||

#5  Chow mien? MMMMMMMM
Posted by: whitecollar redneck || 11/19/2009 16:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Chow Mien is Chinese, whitecollar redneck. It's Cho Mi En in that land of pure blood and genuine patriots, North Korea. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/19/2009 17:32 Comments || Top||

#7  That would of course be Cho Mi En, famed amongst the proletariat for her beautifully patriotic face, glowing with love for Beloved President Kim [or whatever it is we're calling the latest personage whose bottom is so firmly seated upon the Plutonium Throne].
Posted by: trailing wife || 11/19/2009 17:37 Comments || Top||

#8  If they had just included "Sea of Fire" and "runnning-do Yankee Imperialists" it would have been perfect....
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 11/19/2009 19:18 Comments || Top||

#9  aaargh...
running-dog....
Posted by: NoMoreBS || 11/19/2009 19:18 Comments || Top||


Europe
Ocalan's decade of solitary confinement ends
Turkey has decided to end the decade of solitary confinement of the jailed leader of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), Abdullah Ocalan.

Ocalan is serving a life sentence for treason in a prison on the island of Imrali, just off Istanbul in the Marmara Sea.

Turkish security forces have transferred five convicted Kurdish terrorists to a high-security island prison where Ocalan, is serving a life sentence for treason.

Four of the transferred inmates, Bayram Kaymaz, Cumali Karsu, Seymuz Poyraz, and Hasbi Aydemir, are convicted PKK members. The fifth, Hakki Alkan, is from the outlawed Turkish Workers and Peasants' Liberation Army (TIKKO), according to a report published by the Turkish newspaper Hurriyet on Tuesday.

Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahceli has described the move AS shameful. "I think this is a shame. The Justice and Development Party [or AKP], its prime minister and the government have been considering it for a long time," Bahceli said Tuesday. "It is a result of pressure arising from the European Union membership process."

Meanwhile, Ahmet Turk, the co-chairman of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP), called the decision a constructive move.

"This sort of action should have been taken 12 years ago. We were against [Ocalan's] isolation from the very beginning," he said. "At this moment there is a different approach. We see it as a positive move."

Ocalan was captured by Turkish security agents in 1999 while he was headed to the airport from the Greek Embassy in Kenya. He was sentenced to death, but when Turkey subsequently abolished the death penalty, his sentence was commuted to life in prison.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party is listed as a terrorist organization by much of the international community, including Turkey, Iran, the United States, and European Union member states.

Over 40,000 people have lost their lives since the militant group launched its armed campaign against Ankara in 1984 as part of a quest to establish an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where is my femto-violin?
Posted by: abu do you love || 11/19/2009 2:25 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Shooter had 'poor job performance'
THE US army major accused of the deadly shooting spree in the Fort Hood army base which left 13 dead was warned repeatedly over his poor job performance.

National Public Radio published on its website a transcript of a memo dating from May 2007 that raises "serious concerns" about the "professionalism and work ethic" of suspect army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan.

"Clinically he is competent to deliver safe patient care," read the report, dated May 17, 2007. "But he demonstrates a pattern of poor judgment and lack of professionalism."

The memo is signed by Hasan's supervisor at the time, Major Scott Moran, a senior military psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington DC, where Hasan was being trained.

At one point Hasan "was counselled for inappropriately discussing religious topics with his assigned patients," the memo said.

He was warned for "having a poor record of attendance at didactics and lower than expected ... scores," as well as for being "consistently late" to morning reports and for being overweight.

"Taken together, these issues demonstrate a lack of professionalism and work ethics," read the report.

"In spite of all this, I am not able to say he is not competent to graduate nor do I think a period of academic probation now at the end of his training will be beneficial," wrote Moran.

The report was issued when Hasan was a captain and had not yet been promoted to the rank of major.

Hasan has been charged with the murder of 13 people in the November 5 rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, in which 42 people were also wounde
Posted by: tipper || 11/19/2009 13:52 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Maj Hasan almost certainly thought his job evals were evidence of anti muslim bias
Posted by: lord garth || 11/19/2009 14:26 Comments || Top||

#2  This sack of $hit should have been drummed out long ago. Pi$$ poor excuse for a doctor. PC has run rampant.
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/19/2009 15:34 Comments || Top||



NPR Shocker: Attorney General Holder Stumped By Lindsey Graham
Or the Senator finally does his job.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.): If bin Laden were caught tomorrow, would it be the position of this administration that he would be brought to justice?

Attorney General Eric Holder: He would certainly be brought to justice, absolutely.

GRAHAM: Where would you try him?

HOLDER: Well, we'd go through our protocol. And we'd make the determination about where he should appropriately be tried. [...]

GRAHAM: If we captured bin Laden tomorrow, would he be entitled to Miranda warnings at the moment of capture?

HOLDER: Again I'm not -- that all depends. I mean, the notion that we --

GRAHAM: Well, it does not depend. If you're going to prosecute anybody in civilian court, our law is clear that the moment custodial interrogation occurs the defendant, the criminal defendant, is entitled to a lawyer and to be informed of their right to remain silent.

The big problem I have is that you're criminalizing the war, that if we caught bin Laden tomorrow, we'd have mixed theories and we couldn't turn him over -- to the CIA, the FBI or military intelligence -- for an interrogation on the battlefield, because now we're saying that he is subject to criminal court in the United States. And you're confusing the people fighting this war.
Posted by: ed || 11/19/2009 10:10 || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Via InstaPundit
Posted by: ed || 11/19/2009 10:15 Comments || Top||

#2  So we all have complaints about Graham, but I for one appreciated what he did to Holder.
Posted by: Steve White || 11/19/2009 11:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Yes indeed! More please. Much, much more.
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/19/2009 11:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Kinda funny, isn't it, that a purported Constitutional Law prof and his top justice official are so clueless about basic aspects of the law.

Then again, in this case maybe the "con" in Con Law has a different correlative
Posted by: lex || 11/19/2009 11:33 Comments || Top||

#5  Well, one Senator doing his job. add Joe Lieberman, and there are only 98 left to 'get with the program'.

This kind of questioning needed to be done BEFORE his confirmation. asshats.
Posted by: abu do you love || 11/19/2009 13:14 Comments || Top||

#6  Holder's look was priceless. I think Graham was a JAG. And I think the military has jurisdiction over enemy combatants because they were picked up overseas and tribunals the way to go.
Posted by: Lumpy Elmoluck5091 || 11/19/2009 13:41 Comments || Top||

#7  Another priceless exchange recently:
At a Joint Economic Committee hearing in Congress, in which House and Senate lawmakers sit on a panel, Mr. Brady (R-TX) opened up his questioning by telling Mr. Geithner Republicans, Democrats, and the American people had lost confidence in the Treasury Secretary and asked him to resign.

“It is a great privilege to serve this president,” Mr. Geithner responded. “I agree with almost nothing you said.”

Mr. Geithner then took it a step further: “You gave this president an economy falling off the cliff.”

Mr. Brady wasn’t done: “Remind me, Mr. Secretary, what post were you holding when President Obama took office?”

Geithner: “I was the President of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.”

Brady then accused him of “shirking responsibility for the design of this bailout.”

Brady's knife would have done more damage had he properly accused Geithner of helping to cause the economic crisis in the first place.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 || 11/19/2009 14:10 Comments || Top||

#8  Geithner will be gone in a month. Holder should be axed too, but 0bama won't fire him.
Posted by: Parabellum || 11/19/2009 15:57 Comments || Top||


Giuliani against trying Mohammed in civilian court
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani said Thursday that trying self-professed Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a federal civilian court in New York is unwise and unnecessary.

"There's no reason to put New York through this," said Giuliani, who was mayor when terrorists flew two hijacked planes into the World Trade Center and one struck the Pentagon. A fourth jet crashed in western Pennsylvania.

"If President Barack Obama had concluded that military tribunals were impermissible," Giuliani said on NBC's "Today" show, "I would have been in favor of it." He called the decision to use the federal court system "unprecedented" and said that in the Civil War and in both World War I and World War II, the United States relied on military courts.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft, in an interview with NBC, said the administration's decision to turn to the civilian court system "may be a new level of repudiation" of the notion that the United States is undertaking a war on terror.

Obama said in network interviews Wednesday that the move was just and that critics of the prosecutorial decision will better understand when Mohammed is convicted. The president then backed off slightly, noting that he would not be a participant in that trial.

His attorney general, Eric Holder, strenuously defended the decision before skeptical members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, voicing confidence there would be a conviction and saying the decision was right.

Giuliani said he had no doubt that authorities would keep New York safe during the trial. But he said there will be "tens of millions of dollars in additional burden" for security, nevertheless. He said that at a previous trial of a terrorist suspect in New York in the 1990s, he had to close the streets to the public near City Hall and in the Wall Street area and that he "was pilloried" for that.

Giuliani, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican presidential nomination last year, told NBC's "Today" show: "The reality is, we are breaking precedent here. ... The reality is, he would get a fair trial there (in a military tribunal). A case like this, the government is put on trial. The more exciting headlines will be the headlines against the government. The headlines will be, '180 Waterboardings. The CIA did this terrible thing and that terrible thing to me.' Some of it will be lies and some of it will be true."

In an interview on CBS's "The Early Show," he said, "It's a political decision because I believe this is being done to satisfy left-wing critics who all during the last two or three years have campaigned against these military tribunals."
Posted by: ed || 11/19/2009 09:56 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


2 Men Arrested in Chicago May Have Links to Mumbai Attack
Investigators here are retracing the steps of two men arrested in Chicago by the Federal Bureau of Investigation to see if they helped plan the attacks here that killed more than 160 people in November 2008.

Officials in Mumbai said that the two suspects, David Coleman Headley, an American with links of Pakistan, and Tahawwur Hussain Rana, who was born in Pakistan but is a Canadian citizen, both visited Mumbai and several other Indian cities in before the attacks, and may have visited some of the sites that were attacked.

"It seems like there is some connection" between the attacks and the two men's repeated visits to India, Ashok Chavan, the chief minister of Maharashtra State, said in an interview. "But the link has to be established."

Mr. Headley and Mr. Rana were arrested last month in Chicago in connection with a suspected plot to attack the headquarters of the Danish newspaper that published controversial cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2007.

The complaint against Mr. Headley, unsealed last month, said that he was suspected to conspiring with Lashkar-e-Taiba, the militant group based in Pakistan that is believed to have carried out the Mumbai attack, to strike at targets outside the United States.

A senior police official here said that Mr. Headley had stayed at the Taj Palace Hotel, one of the main targets of the Mumbai attack, in 2007.

Indian news reports citing anonymous officials have said that Mr. Headley also visited other sites of the attacks -- a cafe popular with tourists, a luxury hotel and a Jewish community center. Some reports say that Mr. Headley, who changed his name from Daood Gillani, posed as a Jew to visit the Jewish center. But the senior police official said such reports were premature.

"There is a whole lot of kite flying going on," the official said, using an Indian expression for speculation.

India's home minister, P. Chidambaram, told reporters last week that the links were being explored but declined to elaborate.

"He visited India many a times before 26/11," Mr. Chidambaram told reporters, referring to the date of the attacks. "We are investigating probable link between 26/11 and Headley."

According to an F.B.I. affidavit, Mr. Headley traveled to Pakistan and consulted closely with members of Harakat ul-Jihad Islami, a terrorist group affiliated with Al Qaeda. According to the documents Mr. Headley reported to the operational leader of the group, Ilya Kashmiri, on a plot that he and other militants referred to as the "Mickey Mouse" project.

Investigators here have long suspected that the attackers in Mumbai had help in planning and carrying out the attacks beyond the Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders based in Pakistan. Some of their targets, like the Jewish center, were not well known and hard to find.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda

#1  Wow, the 'Paper of Record' finally noticed!
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/19/2009 9:02 Comments || Top||

#2  Chicago (where I lived 10 years) - the city where only criminals carry guns. (Chicago "laws" prohibit firearms to all civilians).
Posted by: borgboy || 11/19/2009 13:09 Comments || Top||

#3  ION TOPIX > {Foxnews]AL-QAEDA MESSAGE SPREADING ON ENGLISH-LANGUAGE [Web-Net]SITES???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/19/2009 23:31 Comments || Top||


Fort Hood incident unrelated to Islam: Activist
The shooting spree at Fort Hood where army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly killed 13 fellow soldiers and injured 29 others, has nothing to do with Islam, says Muslim activist.

"What we saw right after the Fort Hood shooting was a statement by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas that essentially implied that the US military had been quote and quote infiltrated," said Ibrahim Ramey from the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, Press TV's Washington correspondent reported.

"We think that that was something that was a criminal act. It was clearly something that was done by a person who, we believe, had some very serious mental issues. But it had nothing to do with Islam. It had nothing to do with anything that was sanctioned by any responsible Muslim organization."

Ramey maintained that prejudice against Muslims in the military is reflective of prejudice against Muslims in general in the United States.

The Pew Research Center shows nearly six out of every ten Americans believe Muslims are more discriminated against than other religious groups including evangelical Christians, Mormons, Jews and even atheists.

"The US military is involved in wars in both in Afghanistan and Iraq that would mean that Muslims, despite any of their credentials or affiliations or political ideological beliefs, who are in the military can be on occasion looked at as being suspicious," Ramey added.

Officials allege that Maj. Hasan, who was due to be deployed to Afghanistan, opened fire on soldiers who were filling out paperwork in the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood.

Maj. Hasan could face capital punishment if the charges brought against him are proven.

Maj. Hasan's case has been described as the highest-profile court-martial in at least a generation.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Do you think any of us in the military AREN'T keeping our backs away from Muslims after this?
Posted by: Keith G || 11/19/2009 0:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Blaming the victim may work in "criminal" trials but doesn't work well among the victims.
Posted by: Jumbo Slinerong5015 || 11/19/2009 5:09 Comments || Top||

#3  Quite a move afoot to award the WIA/KIA at Fort Hood the Purple Heart. Military personnel killed and wounded on 9/11 did receive the award. I've not heard where it stands this week.

The Military Order of the Purple Heart is composed of military men and women who received the Purple Heart Medal for wounds suffered in combat.

It so awarded, and I doubt it will be, it would be interesting to read the wording of the citation "for wounds suffered in combat."
Posted by: Besoeker || 11/19/2009 7:42 Comments || Top||

#4  And the words 'Alahu akbar' are unrelated to Islam too?
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/19/2009 9:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Besoeker: Hasan described himself as a "Soldier of Allah" and apparently had and issued business cards bearing same. Sounds like an enemy combatant to me.
Posted by: lex || 11/19/2009 9:47 Comments || Top||

#6  O.K., Yeah sure, I believe you (Sarc). This bonehead expects us to believe that islam isn't at the core of world-wide terrorism. Nearly all terrorist activity in the world is being done by muslims. Right?
Posted by: JohnQC || 11/19/2009 9:59 Comments || Top||

#7  Same over this end of the pond Keith G
Posted by: Oscar || 11/19/2009 10:04 Comments || Top||

#8  No, really, the Buddhists put him up to it. Or the Quakers. Not sure. One of them, though. Pacifists my ass! They promised him an extra grand if he screamed "Allan Snackbar!" to throw everyone off the trail.
Posted by: Cornsilk Blondie || 11/19/2009 10:16 Comments || Top||

#9  Muslim activist says Muslim activism by Muslim activist unrelated to Islam.
Posted by: Grunter || 11/19/2009 12:19 Comments || Top||

#10  Jehovah's Witnesses me thinks - in a protest against the mere existence of the military.
Posted by: borgboy || 11/19/2009 13:12 Comments || Top||

#11  Naahhhh, you're all wrong - it's those pesky Amish.

Or maybe the Lutherans....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 11/19/2009 14:31 Comments || Top||

#12  ION NEWSMAX > GENERAL PAUL VALLELY: ISLMAISTS INFILTRATING THE US MILITARY???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/19/2009 22:21 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
'India sponsoring terrorism in Balochistan, Waziristan'
Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif on Wednesday said India was supporting terror in Balochistan and the government had concrete evidence that New Delhi was involved in destabilising the province and Waziristan Agency.

Shahbaz asked India to behave like a "good neighbour" for greater regional peace and stability.

Addressing a press conference with Balochistan Chief Minister Aslam Raisani at the Chief Minister's Secretariat, Shahbaz accused India of meddling in Balochistan via Afghanistan. "India is playing a heinous role in Balochistan and Waziristan. And yet India keeps shedding crocodile tears in front of the international community by presenting itself as a victim of terrorism. We have extended all possible support to India in fighting terrorism on its soil, but it's very unfortunate that in return New Delhi is bent upon stirring turmoil in Balochistan to disintegrate Pakistan," he added.

Shahbaz said India should recognise the fact that it was impossible to get rid of one's neighbour, therefore, India should stop creating problems that make it difficult for the two countries to coexist peacefully.

"Pakistan seeks friendly ties with all countries of the world, including India and the US," Shahbaz said. The Punjab chief minister said the government should initiate a broad-based dialogue with all stakeholders in Balochistan.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan

#1  So, did India buy off the ISI then? /s
Posted by: tipover || 11/19/2009 1:22 Comments || Top||

#2  Has anyone got time to reel off where Pakistan has been sponsoring terrorism recently?

Thought not.
Posted by: Bulldog || 11/19/2009 2:37 Comments || Top||

#3  The oldest demagogue trick---accuse your opponent of your own sins. Mind you, if India doesn't provide a discrete material support for ethnic separatists in Pakiland---India is not playing with a whole deck.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/19/2009 3:40 Comments || Top||

#4  grom, the Indians would be nuts to want to destabilize their paranoid, borderline deranged cousins with the battery of nukes pointed at their northwestern provinces.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 11/19/2009 16:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Common Mitch. You Americans tried to civilize the beasts---didn't work. Breaking them to tribal level---with intense intertribal warfare, is the only way---short of outright extermination, to handle Islamic threat.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/19/2009 16:20 Comments || Top||

#6  ION WMF > NEPAL MAOIST LEADER BABURAT BHATTARAI WARNS: NEPAL CAN [easily]BECOME ANOTHER
"AFGHANISTAN" [AFPAK] INVOL CHINA AND INDIA IN MILITARY CONFLICT???
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/19/2009 23:20 Comments || Top||


Leave Pak-India ties alone: Govt to meddling US
India reacted sharply on Wednesday to the reference to India-Pakistan ties in the joint statement issued by US President Barack Obama and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao.

Tuesday’s joint statement had said the US and China “support the improvement and growth of relations between India and Pakistan”.

The role of any ‘third party’ in bilateral matters between India and Pakistan “cannot be envisaged, nor is it necessary”, a statement from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

“India is committed to resolving all outstanding issues with Pakistan through peaceful dialogue,” the MEA said. “We also believe a meaningful dialogue can take place only in an environment free from terror.”

Defending the joint statement, US Ambassador to India Timothy Roemer said: “I think that is a positive statement.”

But former foreign secretary Kanwar Sibal termed it “ill-timed” and “ill-considered”, and said it disregarded Indian sensitivities. “It tries to project China as a country that can play an important role in South Asia,” he said.

Strategic affairs expert K Subramanyam, however, noted that the US and China have interfered in South Asia many times in the past and “this joint statement is nothing new”.
Posted by: john frum || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Bully for them.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru || 11/19/2009 3:45 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Al Qaeda in Iraq becoming less foreign-U.S. general
Al Qaeda in Iraq is becoming more Iraqi and less dominated by foreigners as the insurgent group increasingly joins forces with Saddam Hussein's outlawed Baath party, the commander of U.S. forces said on Wednesday.
And because the cool jihadis are going to Pakistan... and joining the Houthis in Yemen.
Investigations into massive suicide bombings in Baghdad on Oct. 25, in which more than 150 people died, indicated that explosives or fighters were coming across from Syria, U.S. General Ray Odierno also said.

The U.S. commander's comments reinforced accusations by the government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that al Qaeda and former Baathists were working together to undermine improved security and elections expected to be held in January.

Maliki's government has also accused neighbouring Syria of giving a safe haven to Baathists plotting attacks in Iraq.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq has transformed significantly in the last two years. What once was dominated by foreign individuals has now become more and more dominated by Iraqi citizens," Odierno told reporters at the U.S. military's main base in Baghdad.

"There's still a small foreign element to al Qaeda, there are some who used to be Sunni rejectionists or ex-Baathists who are involved in this because of course they don't want the government to succeed."

Overall violence in Iraq has fallen sharply in the past 18 months and November so far has experienced one of the lowest civilian casualty levels since the 2003 U.S. invasion.

But attacks by suspected Sunni Islamist insurgents like al Qaeda remain common.

The twin suicide bombings in Baghdad on Oct. 25 devastated the Justice Ministry and the Baghdad governorate headquarters, while two similar suicide bombings on Aug. 19 killed almost 100 people at the foreign and finance ministries.

"We believe that there will be attempts to conduct more attacks between now and the elections because they want to destabilise those," Odierno said.

The election is expected to occur between Jan. 18-23 but the date has been cast into doubt after Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi vetoed a law needed for the ballot to take place.

Odierno said multiple investigations had been launched into the Oct. 25 bombings, involving U.S. and Iraqi investigators.

"My experience is there probably was some movement of fighters or explosives coming from Syria," he said when asked if the investigations had indicated any links to Syria.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq

#1  HMMMM, HMMM, I prefer the more fun TOPIX > AL QAEDA IN IRAQ TURNING IRAQI IN IRAQ.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/19/2009 0:03 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Shalit to be swapped with 1000 Palestinian captives
[Iran Press TV Latest] The captive Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, will be set free by the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement, as a deal for his release is in the final agreement stages.
It is possible this is something more than Iranian opium-dreams...
American Arabic-language Alhurra news network on Wednesday reported that Shalit is slated to be released on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which falls on Friday, October 27. The soldier will be released in exchange for "hundreds of prisoners," the network said.

Alhurra further reported that Shalit is slated to be released to Egypt and from there he will make his way to Israel. The details of the agreement will be made public in the coming days.

Gilad Shalit has been in Palestinian custody since he was abducted in a cross-border raid on June 25, 2006 by resistance fighters in Gaza Strip.

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) has demanded that Israel release more than 1,000 Palestinians, including about 450 long-serving inmates, from its detention facilities in exchange for Shalit's freedom.

More than 11,500 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently imprisoned in Israeli prisons, suffering harsh and life-threatening conditions.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under: Hamas

#1  An Israeli soldier is worth way more than 1000 Paleostinians, at least on a value basis.
Posted by: Glenmore || 11/19/2009 9:07 Comments || Top||

#2  Even at the wildly optimistic casualty exchange ratio of 100:1, it means 10 other Israelis will die to clean up after this.
Posted by: ed || 11/19/2009 9:28 Comments || Top||

#3  or they will kill Schalit right before they hand him over
Posted by: chris || 11/19/2009 11:12 Comments || Top||

#4  Make damn sure he's alive and well
BEFORE AGREEING TO ANYTHING
Mke sur that if he's killed that thousand they want released are killed before release, or better infect all thousand with AIDS, then release.
Yes I'm tired of animals in human guise killing real Humans.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 11/19/2009 12:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Absurd! releasing unrepentent killers to kill again.
Posted by: borgboy || 11/19/2009 13:16 Comments || Top||

#6  Just make sure you dump them into Gaza instead of the West Bank. They're less likely to hurt anyone there in the pen by the sea. Since as far as I can tell, the Gaza Strip is the world's largest self-incarceration center.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 11/19/2009 16:05 Comments || Top||

#7  "Alhurra news network on Wednesday reported that Shalit is slated to be released on the eve of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, which falls on Friday, October 27." Let me check the calendar...hmmmm...thanks for the heads up.
Posted by: Muggsy Glink || 11/19/2009 19:20 Comments || Top||

#8  That gives them a few hours to arrest 1000 people to release....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 11/19/2009 20:01 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Jundallah leader asks Saudi king for more support
The leader of the Pakistan-based terrorist group, Jundallah, has asked the Saudi king to lend more support to his group.

Abdul-Malek Rigi, in a letter to King Abdullah, the text of which was published by the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan, urged Riyadh to pay more attention to the group.

Jundallah has claimed responsibility for a number of terror attacks in Iran.

Last month, the group carried out a bombing in Iran's south-eastern province of Sistan-Balouchestan that left 42 people killed, including several high-ranking Iranian commanders.

A number of Sunni tribesmen were also killed in the attack.

Saudi-based media outlets, including Al-Arabiyah, have repeatedly broadcast interviews with the group's members in recent weeks.
Posted by: Fred || 11/19/2009 00:00 || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under: Jundullah

#1  PAYVAND > IRAN TOP GENERAL WARNS OF SAUDI ARABIAN WAHABBISM TERRORISM [Yemen],

versus

TOPIX > SAUDI ARABIA IN RACE AGZ TIME [Modernity painfully but most surely catching up wid SAUDI ULTRA-CONSERVATIVE WAHABBIST ISLAM e.g. WOMEN'S RIGHTS, calls for NON-KORAN BASED SECULAR, CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY].
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 11/19/2009 2:15 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
50[untagged]
4al-Qaeda
3TTP
3Pirates
2Hamas
2Govt of Pakistan
1Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan
1Jundullah
1al-Qaeda in Iraq
1Taliban
1Govt of Iran
1Govt of Sudan

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Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2009-11-19
  Pak Talibs say they're in tactical retreat
Wed 2009-11-18
  Mullah Fazlullah escapes to Afghanistan, vows dire revenge™
Tue 2009-11-17
  Pirates seize NKor tanker crew
Mon 2009-11-16
  Yemen, Saudi pound Houthi positions, nab sorcerer
Sun 2009-11-15
  Syrian carrying $880,000, Hezbollah secret decoder ring nabbed
Sat 2009-11-14
  Russia kills 20 militants in Chechnya
Fri 2009-11-13
  Khalid Sheikh Mohammed to Be Sent to New York for Trial
Thu 2009-11-12
  Hasan Charged With 13 Counts of Premeditated Murder
Wed 2009-11-11
  John Allen Muhammad executed
Tue 2009-11-10
  North and South Korean navies 'exchange fire'
Mon 2009-11-09
  Police recover 60,000 kgs of explosives, 6 held
Sun 2009-11-08
  Abbas threatens to dismantle PA, declare peace process failed
Sat 2009-11-07
  Saudi armored force crosses into Yemen to fight Houthis
Fri 2009-11-06
  Dronezap kills four in North Wazoo
Thu 2009-11-05
  Islamist major massacres 13 at Fort Hood


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