A TEENAGE would-be suicide bomber begged for a presidential pardon in Afghanistan as he was paraded in front of media cameras with his deadly vests displayed behind him. The 18-year-old, named as Hameedullah, said he had worked as a labourer in Pakistan and had been influenced by a villager loyal to the Pakistani Taliban to carry out deadly attacks against foreign troops and "infidel" Afghan forces.
"I came to Afghanistan, to Helmand province," he said at a press conference held by Afghan counter-terrorism police. "I was handed over to other Taliban. They were preaching jihad all day long. They said Afghanistan is invaded by foreign troops and Afghan police are the army are infidels as well.
"After days of preaching one day they said 'who is ready to carry out a suicide attack?' I said I am. I apologise to the Afghan people and President (Hamid) Karzai. I beg them to forgive me."
The teenager was arrested together with another suicide attacker, Alaam Gul who is also from Quetta, Pakistan, 10 days ago in Helmand province. They were plotting suicide attacks against Helmand's governor and foreign troops, and were arrested along with two Afghan associates, he said.
Their suicide vests were wired to remote-controlled detonators and featured a button they could press near the target.
"The explosives in these suicide vests are new to us," counter-terrorism police chief Abdul Manaan Farahi said. "They are very strong, dangerous and powerful and not of the kind available in Afghanistan. It is either provided by a foreign country or they have got it from the black market," he said.
Mr Karzai has previously pardoned a 14-year-old Pakistani who was arrested just before carrying out a suicide attack.
A Taleban commander in Afghanistan responsible for leading attacks on British troops says he has been freed from prison after paying a bribe.
Mullah Sorkh Naqaibullah told the BBC he paid $15,000 (£7,500) to the Afghan authorities to win his freedom. It was the third time that the leader, known as the "Red Mullah", had been captured and released, he said.
Mullah Naqaibullah operates in Helmand province, where there is a large concentration of British troops. He told the BBC he had been released from custody for the third time in three years after paying a bribe to an Afghan National Directorate of Security official.
On the last occasion he said that he had been held for more than five months, but was now back in the Gereshk and surrounding districts of Helmand province leading a group of insurgents. "I was arrested on 24 July and then they sent me into Kabul National Directorate of Security (NDS) custody," he said. "The law is they can keep suspects in the NDS for two months and after that they have to send them to court.
"But I was in NDS custody for five months. On Friday (4 January) a visitor came to see me, and met the NDS officer on the gate.
"He paid $15,000 to the officer, who then released me."
Mullah Naqaibullah also explained how in 2004 he had bribed his way out of Kabul's notorious Pul-e-Charkhi prison, 16 months after being caught in Helmand. He said he did the same thing the following year - 2005 - by bribing police to let him go after he had been caught again.
An NDS spokesman refused to comment on his allegations, saying he could not confirm whether the reports were right or wrong. But another NDS source confirmed that Mullah Naqaibullah had been released, and that an investigation had begun to track down those responsible.
A Taleban spokesman said Mullah Naqaibullah had returned to Helmand.
#2
Been "captured" three times?
Be interesting to see if there's a fourth time or if he's signed his death warrant by bragging about Afghan jurisprudence...
#3
It reads like by law he should have been charged or released within two months; if true, then the bribe could be considered the price to get the prison system to follow the law. The bigger issue may be why they couldn't get him to court within the alloted time - I mean it's not like they are in New Orleans or anything.
#4
It's a funny phenomena isn't it. The majority are working within their two thousand year old trained/indoctrinated/brainwashed religious order of morality of allowable subjigation, theft, murder and bribery, demonstrated again and again, and we expect them to act like US Citizens after less than a decade of exposure to 'higher' learning.
I wonder who is less trainable?
Seems to me two stints in the bag offer lots of opportunity to get snuffed.
TWO British diplomats expelled from Afghanistan over the Christmas holiday were trying to turn a senior Taliban commander, it has emerged. They held secret meetings with Mansoor Dadullah - a thorn in the side of British military in Helmand province - to try to persuade him to break with the Taliban and form his own political party and militia, according to Afghan government sources.
If they had succeeded it would have been a coup for the western allies shoring up the government of Hamid Karzai in Kabul. Instead, Mervyn Patterson, a high-ranking UN official, and Michael Semple, the acting head of the EU mission to Afghanistan, were expelled after an Afghan national confessed to Afghan intelligence that he had accompanied the two to a secret meeting with Dadullah in Musa Qala.
Days later the Taliban sacked Dadullah for refusing to obey orders, according to a statement to the Pakistan-based Islamic Press Agency by a Taliban spokesman. He said that sympathisers of Dadullah should break all contacts with him and continue their jihad.
Dadullah took over the Talibans southern stronghold last May after his brother, Mullah Dadullah, was killed by Afghan forces. Of 86 Britons killed in Afghanistan since October 2001, 27 were killed by the Taliban since Dadullah took charge. He now claims to command more than 25,000 battle-hardened fighters who are loyal to him.
Patterson, from Northern Ireland, and Semple, an Irish passport-holder who has worked as a British diplomat in Pakistan, are regarded as two of the most knowledgeable and experienced political officers in Afghanistan. They speak fluent Dari and Pashtun and have extensive contacts. According to friends, they were visiting Musa Qala on a fact-finding mission. However, the governor of Helmand province, Assadullah Wafa, complained to Karzai that they had met Taliban commanders, and demanded action be taken.
The UN denied the men were involved in an intelligence operation or that they held talks with Dadullah. Dadullah also denied meeting foreigners.
#2
And how's Helmand province doing re. terrorism anyway? This sort of suggests certain folks ought to be keeping more than the usual eye on Assadullah Wafa.
#3
What makes this story more credible than the one that they were giving cash and arms to the taliban? Wanting to believe it don't make it so...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/08/2008 8:08 Comments ||
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#4
What makes this story more credible than the one that they were giving cash and arms to the taliban?
The old IRA were Commie, laundering NK's counterfeit "Superdollars" in conjunction with the Russian Mafia through UK banks. The bills were moved in part in diplomatic bags. Large caches of arms and explosives have been found hidden in rural farmhouses in Ireland's Lake District, revered mystical areas frequented by Germans on holiday. An (former) East German family, traveling the EU for the first time, were staying at the same B&B we were, just down the road from the raid. I'd certainly take a closer look at any high-ranking UN official talking to the Taliban.
#5
While whackjobs here in America are drooling about imagined "conspiracies" of all sorts, the real wheels within wheels are turning, as always, everywhere around the world.
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/08/2008 10:57 Comments ||
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#6
Dadullah also denied meeting foreigners.
I bet he did, but whether he did or not the bug is out.
Algeria's General Directorate of National Safety (DGSN) is working to create a new unit to fight terrorism and criminality, El Khabar reported on Monday (January 7th). The DGSN is also restructuring and reorganising the judicial police directorate. As part of a new security plan recently announced by DGSN director general Ali Tounsi, the new unit will comprise some 200,000 security officers with experience and skills in fighting terrorism.
In the aftermath of the December 11th terrorist attacks in Algiers, security services have implemented preventive measures at embassies and institutions and erected barriers around the presidential headquarters and various other strategic buildings in the country.
In related news, the Algerian army killed seven suspected terrorists near their hideout in Tebessa, L'Expression reported on Saturday. Chaib Khmisi, a leader in the El-Feth El-Moubine terror cell, was reportedly killed. The group is believed to be part of al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
#1
Until the secretary is understanding that there is a side that is bad, and another that is useless as well as evil, he he will tread what he is given.
#2
Yes, it takes time and patience to extirpate the wrongdoers and miscreants. No wonder the dems and other leftists are in such a hurry to skeedaddle from the trouble spots. We're killing their friends and allies...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/08/2008 11:00 Comments ||
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#5
As muslims, we're certain Allah doesn't require that we respect your culture. As muslims, we're equally certain that Allah requires you to respect ours.
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/08/2008 12:27 Comments ||
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A 29-year-old man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after he admitted planning to fly to Pakistan to carry out acts of terrorism. Because, if pakistan lacks something, it's acts of terrorism, clearly.
Sohail Qureshi, a qualified dentist, told fellow extremists he planned to "kill many" during a two-to-three week mission, the Old Bailey heard. Qureshi, of Palmerston Road, Forest Gate, east London, was in e-mail contact with Samina Malik, the so-called "lyrical terrorist".
As he prepared to fly out to Islamabad in October 2006, he asked Malik, a WHSmith employee who worked airside at Heathrow airport, about security arrangements. Malik, who wrote poems about martyrdom and beheading unbelievers, was given a suspended jail sentence last year after she was found guilty of storing a library of material for terrorism.
Qureshi was arrested as he prepared to board the plane to Pakistan with nearly �9,000 in cash, a night sight, and military information stored on computer discs.
Jonathan Sharp, prosecuting, said he planned to carry out terrorist activity either in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Waziristan, a tribal region of Pakistan.
The court heard that police found a message on an extremist website in which Qureshi wrote: "Pray that I kill many, brother. Revenge, revenge, revenge." Mr Sharp said: "Sohail Qureshi is a dedicated supporter of Islamist extremism."
Qureshi pleaded guilty to preparing for terrorism under Section 5 of the Terrorism Act 2006, the first time anyone has been convicted of the charge. He also pleaded guilty to possessing an article for a terrorist purpose and possessing a record likely to be useful in terrorism.
The UK Ministry of Defence plans to expand to 13 its fleet of General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper (Predator B) unmanned air vehicles, with the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency having announced the receipt of a $1 billion foreign military sales request for 10 airframes, plus related sensors, equipment and support.
Notified to US Congress on 19 December, the possible sale will also include five ground control stations, nine General Atomics Lynx synthetic aperture radar/ground moving target indication sensors and nine MTS-B multi-spectral targeting system payloads. Produced by Raytheon, the latter system is a turret-housed design which incorporates electro-optical/infrared, laser designator and target illumination sensors.
The British Army was Monday accused of subjecting potential recruits to a "misleading" picture of life in the armed forces by glamorising warfare, leaving out vital information and failing to mention risks.
Children as young as seven are now being targeted with a "glamorised" view of warfare, according to a study backed by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust.
Author David Gee said the British Army faced a bigger challenge to take on new recruits because fewer people wanted to join up, partly because of negative publicity over the conflict in Iraq and improvements to education opportunities in the UK.
Continued on Page 49
A sentencing hearing for convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla and two other men began Tuesday with defense lawyers raising more than 90 objections to a report that could determine whether their clients spend the rest of their lives in prison.
Defense attorneys say the report, which supports prosecutors' requests for life terms, contains inaccuracies and mischaracterizations about evidence introduced during the trial.
The hearing is expected to last at least three days, with U.S. District Judge Marcia Cooke, an appointee of President Bush, planning to hear each objection individually.
"This could be a very complex exercise," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Frazier.
Padilla, 37, a U.S. citizen, has spent more than five years in custody, first as an enemy combatant and purported "dirty bomb" plotter and then after he was charged with being part of a North American support cell for Islamic extremists including al-Qaida.
Padilla was convicted of three terrorism-related charges in August after a three-month trial along with co-defendants Adham Amin Hassoun, 45, and 46-year-old Kifah Wael Jayyousi. Sentencing guidelines recommend 30 years to life for Padilla and life for Hassoun and Jayyousi because of their leadership roles.
Padilla's lawyers say he deserves no more than a 10-year sentence. Hassoun is asking for a term of four to six years, and Jayyousi says he deserves only probation and, at most, 21 months behind bars.
Padilla, a U.S. citizen, was held for 3 1/2 years without criminal charge after his May 2002 arrest at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. Authorities said at the time he was on an al-Qaida mission to detonate a radioactive "dirty bomb" inside the U.S. Those charges were later dropped and Padilla, allegedly recruited by Hassoun for al-Qaida while living in South Florida, was added in late 2005 to a Miami terrorism support case just as challenges to his detention were headed to the U.S Supreme Court.
After a three-month trial, all three men were convicted in August of conspiracy and terrorism material support charges.
Padilla claims he deserves leniency because government agents "intentionally inflicted psychological pain and suffering" during his long, isolated incarceration as an enemy combatant at a Navy brig in South Carolina. Last week, he sued a top Justice Department official who wrote legal memos justifying his detention.
Bush administration officials have repeatedly denied that Padilla was mistreated or tortured in military custody.
The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27, 2007 has created concerns for US intelligence officials, who see US policy toward Pakistan as being held hostage by President Pervez Musharraf and factions of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
Mrs. Bhutto was shot when she stood up through the sunroof of her vehicle after a campaign rally for her Pakistan Peoples Party in Rawalpindi. Immediately after the shooting, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive, killing 25 people as well as himself.
The Musharraf government's initial reaction was to blame either al Qaeda or other terrorists closely linked to al Qaeda. However, contradictions in official statements, as well as the behavior of police who hosed down the streets in Rawalpindi just an hour after Mrs. Bhutto was assassinated quickly began to cast doubt on the official version of what happened, leaving serious questions surrounding Musharraf and the ISI and putting more pressure on the United States to pull back its support for Pakistani leadership.
While President Musharraf initially declined help from the British in investigating the assassination of Mrs. Bhutto, pressure from a distrusting public and a crumbling explanation caused a turnaround this week. An agreement was reached allowing the British to conduct their own investigation, and police from Scotland Yard arrived over the weekend.
US intelligence officials say, however, that very little evidence will be found, especially if investigators are looking for the suspected shooter. Three former US intelligence officials have told Raw Story that not only is the gunman dead, he was likely the actual target of the suicide bomber.
According to a former high ranking US intelligence official, who wishes to remain anonymous due to the delicate nature of the information, the US intelligence community understands the gunman to have been killed in the blast following Mrs. Bhutto's assassination.
"He was killed, probably not knowing that the suicide bomber was there," said this source. "We don't know for sure if the two men arrived together. We do know that the assassin died in the explosion, and was probably meant to."
Several other US intelligence officials concur that the bomber was likely "inserted" to "clean up" evidence of the shooting, including eliminating the gunman.
When asked why it was important to determine the relationship between the gunman and the suicide bomber, one former CIA officer explained that such details are the key to understanding what happened, how it happened, and who was ultimately responsible. Such details also enable investigators to document patterns and methods used, in order to determine if a terrorist attack has indeed taken place or something else has occurred.
On Thursday evening, just hours after Mrs. Bhutto was assassinated, the FBI and DHS issued a bulletin indicating that the attack had originated from the terrorist group al Qaeda and was carried out by a suicide bomber. That information, which the US acquired from Pakistani intelligence and government officials, came originally from an Italian news agency which claimed to have received a phone call from an al Qaeda representative and was never substantiated.
On Friday, the Pakistani Interior Ministry offered a slightly different version, saying the suicide bomber was associated with Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a terrorist group linked to al Qaeda. This initial belief that an act of terrorism was responsible for the tragedy that killed Mrs. Bhutto and 25 of her supporters caused a great deal of confusion.
Intelligence sources say that it is precisely these kinds of unsubstantiated claims that create the impression that it is "all al Qaeda, all the time," as one former official noted.
The reports that an al Qaeda suicide bomber had killed Mrs. Bhutto disappeared as quickly as they had surfaced, when footage showing a gunman and an audio capture which clearly indicated several shots fired prior to the explosion began to circulate online and in news accounts.
According to a former high ranking US intelligence official, the involvement of a gunman undercuts the official story that a terrorist attack was responsible for the murder of Mrs. Bhutto.
"Traditionally, al Qaeda coordinates multiple targets and suicide bombers," said the source during a Wednesday conversation. "While it is possible that al Qaeda was behind the assassination, it is not likely, given the operational elements."
A former CIA officer agreed that employing gunmen to assassinate targets is not the way al Qaeda generally operates, saying, "[shooting] at close range is not a traditional al Qaeda technique."
Both sources agreed that it is the general belief within the US intelligence community that the gunman was killed in the attack.
A current US official, who wishes to not be identified for this article, confirmed that the gunman died in the blast but was unable to say whether the suicide bomber was targeting the gunman as suggested by the intelligence officials. "The working assumption is that the gunman [is] dead. But it's by no means clear that the gunman was ignorant of the bomber. I can't confirm that at all."
I wish we could just confiscate all their nukes, build a wall around that sh**hole and let them Sharia themselves back into the 7th century like they want. Once your in, you can never come back out.
A large moderate middle-bloc of Pakistanis support government reform of religious schools known as madrassas, which have been blamed for spreading Islamist militancy, according to a poll released on Monday.
The poll, funded by the US Institute of Peace (USIP), was conducted in the country before President Pervez Musharrafs six-week state of emergency and the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto last month.
The poll results, released about six weeks before the elections scheduled for February 18, show that 64 percent of Pakistanis wanted madrassas reform by the government.
Islamic democracy: Most Pakistanis want their country to be a democratic Islamic state, but are deeply distrustful of the United States and its war on terrorism, the results reveal.
The results also show that a large majority of Pakistanis see democracy as fully compatible with Islam. Democracy ranked especially high among the 60 percent of respondents who wanted Muslim-based Sharia law to play a larger role in legal affairs of the country.
The survey finds strong public support for a wider role for Islam. Asked to gauge the importance of living in a country that is governed according to Islamic principles on a 10-point scale, 61 percent give an answer of 10 (meaning absolutely important). The mean response is 9.0. However, when asked to gauge the degree to which Pakistan is currently governed by Islamic principles, the mean score is just 4.6 (on a 0-10 scale with 10 meaning completely). Sixty percent want Sharia to play a larger role, as compared to current Pakistan law.
It shows there is no major Western-oriented secular sub-group in Pakistan. People want more Islam. They dont think Pakistan is pious enough or that Islamic values are adequately expressed in daily life, said Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, a non-profit group affiliated with the University of Maryland that conducted the poll for the USIP.
No Talibanisation: The poll showed that 59 percent of the public want to hold the line against the encroachment of conservative Muslim mores known as Talibanisation, he said.
Three in five (60-62 percent) view the activities of Al Qaeda, local Taliban, and Pakistani Islamist militant groups as threats to Pakistans vital interests. However, a significant 14 to 18 percent do not view these groups as a threat to Pakistan.
Eighty-one percent say it is important for Pakistan to protect religious minorities and three quarters (75-78 percent) say that attacks on specific religious minorities are never justified.
Pakistanis also say it is important to live in a country where the decisions of the courts are independent from influence by political and military authorities, giving it a mean score of 8.6 on the 10-point scale.
The poll, which has a 3.3 percentage point margin of error, surveyed 907 adults in 19 Pakistani cities from September 12-28. About 49 percent of the respondents were women.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under: Govt of Pakistan
#1
Find someone that can run a big state like Pakiland, take two valuum, and call me in the morning.
#2
Close the madrassas. Bulldoze them. Cut out the "teachers" tongues. Give all the "students" 10 years at hard labor. Reform accomplished...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/08/2008 8:10 Comments ||
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#3
". Democracy ranked especially high among the 60 percent of respondents who wanted Muslim-based Sharia law to play a larger role in legal affairs of the country."
I think my head just exploded....how many times have we been told by the mullahs that democracy was NOT compatible with Islam? How, exactly, is Sharia compatible with a free legislature?
This gives cognative dissonance a whole new meaning.
Caretaker Interior Minister Hamid Nawaz said on Monday that a major operation is being started in Waziristan to arrest Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud. Nawaz said a major operation to capture Mehsud is being started, adding that the operation would be launched soon after revealing his hideout in Waziristan. Nawaz said intelligence agencies were hunting Mehsud, adding, We will try our level best to capture him alive so that his accomplices can be traced. He said no foreign forces would be allowed to launch an operation in Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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[10 views]
Top|| File under: Taliban
#1
Call me when you've got a perp walk or a toe tag.
In a simpler time, telling the bad guy where and when you would be looking for him might have been considered bad form by sticklers for operational security and successful outcomes. In Pakiland he gets to stay in good with the hoods while trying to scrape together a little credibility for trying. This keeps the graft coming while accomplishing the goal of doing nothing.
Posted by: Baba Tutu ||
01/08/2008 3:10 Comments ||
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#2
We will try our level best to capture him alive so that his accomplices can be traced.
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim said on Monday that elements involved in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto wanted to disintegrate Pakistan.
In a telephonic address to Pakistani community gathered outside the UN Office, he said Benazir had sacrificed her life for democracy and the integrity of Pakistan. He said the PPP did not fear from giving sacrifices in order to complete Benazirs mission.
Fahim said the government had made a plan to rig the elections, adding that the PPP would win the polls if they were fair.
He urged party workers to unite, adding that the party was moving in the right direction under the leadership of PPP Chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari. Speaking on the occasion, PPP US leaders demanded a United Nations team investigate the murder of Benazir. The PPP would also stage a hunger strike camp outside the UN Office, they said.
Later, the participants signed a resolution and handed it over to UN officials.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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[12 views]
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Indonesian trade unions will give their full support to two arrested Iranian trade unionists, Mansour Osanloo and Mahmoud Salehi, a top Indonesian trade union official, Hanafi Rustandi told Adnkronos International (AKI). "There have been some positive signs from the Iranian government, but the international pressure must continue: Indonesia is the country with the worlds largest Muslim population and cannot allow Iran to blemish the name of Islam," Rustandi said.
Rustandi is spearheading a major campaign to secure Osanloo and Salehi's release. He is the coordinator of the Indonesian chapter of the International Transportation Workers Federation (ITF),and the director of the Indonesia Seafarer Union. "We are not going to stop. Our duty is to fight for the rights or workers worldwide," Rustandi underlined.
He recalled that two other Iranian trade unionists, Ebrahim Madadi and Reza Dehghan, were released on 16 December, in a "positive signal" from Tehran.
Osanloo and Salehi were arrested on 12 July last year for belonging to a trade union and are reported to be in need of urgent medical attention. Osanloo is president of the Syndicate of Workers of the Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company. Salehi is president of the Saquez Bakers Union.
Rustandi, who recently visited the Iranian capital, Tehran, said his organisation intends to keep up public awareness of Osanloo and Salehi's plight. "We prepared a DVD and we are thinking about a petition to gather signatures," Rustandi said.
But the strongest pressure is being put on politicians. The ITF-Indonesia recently organised protests outside the presidential palace. "We did this to show the president the risks in having relations with a country that abuses the human rights of his people," Rustandi stated.
ITF-Indonesia also delivered a letter to Indonesia's president, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono urging him to intercede with the Iranian authorities on Osanloo and Salehi's behalf. Yudhoyono cancelled at the last minute an official visit to Iran, which was due to take place on 11 January.
#3
Do the Indonesian trade unions understand that UNIONS are also against Islam? Iran understands there's no way a trade union can survive under sharia. They really don't give a sh$$ what the Indonesians do, and will care less once they begin to build nukes.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/08/2008 22:33 Comments ||
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BAIJI, Iraq - An explosion at a fuel storage tank caused a huge blaze at Iraqs largest refinery on Monday, inflicting burns on at least 36 workers and killing one before being brought under control, witnesses said.
An engineer at the government-owned the Baiji refinery complex, some 180 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, said the fire, which had been brought under control, was an accident and not the result of an attack. There was no sabotage. It was caused by a technical fault, said the engineer, who declined to be named.
This is the biggest fire I have ever seen at Baiji refinery. We have not had a fire like this before, said the engineer, employed at the complex since 2003. He said one worker had been killed and 24 injured.
The initial explosion was at a storage tank containing 5 million litres of fuel. The engineer said the blast had destroyed the refinerys liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) unit, where the fire had broken out, but other operations at the complex were continuing.
The refineries at Baiji in north-central Iraq have capacity of 310,000 barrels a day, according to the US Energy Information Administration, and have been operating at less than full capacity due to power cuts and other problems including fires.
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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[3 views]
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#1
Refineries are dangerous places. Even without terrorist threats and insh'Allah maintainance.
The Islamic Army, the main Sunni insurgent group in Iraq, is adamant it will not make common cause with the Sunni militias tackling Al Qaeda with US support, and will instead fight the Americans to the end.
The Islamic Army has nothing to do with the Awakening councils, Ibrahim al-Shimmari, official spokesman of the Islamic Army in Iraq, told AFP in an email interview.
Self defence: No one can be a member of the Islamic Army and the Awakening at the same time. Our war is for self-defence and we are targeting those who attacked us.
The Islamic Army is the most powerful Sunni insurgent group in Iraq. Well-established in the west and mainly Sunni centre-north of the country, the movement represents the nationalist wing of the countrys resistance. French academic Jean-Pierre Filiu, an expert on the insurgency, says there are signs of cross-membership between the Awakening and the Islamic Army. On the evidence, the Islamic Army has a foot in these militia, Filiu told AFP. And in any case, they do not fight them. According to Shimmari, the so-called Sahwa or Awakening forces - Sunni paramilitaries organised by the US military to fight Al Qaeda - have emerged due to the misconduct of Al Qaeda. Made up largely of former insurgents, the Awakening councils began their rise more than a year ago in the west of the country, where they put Al Qaeda to flight. They have since proliferated in Baghdad and to the north of the capital with American military support. The occupation forces seized the opportunity (the conflict between Al Qaeda and Sunni insurgents) and supported the Awakening to help the troop surge strategy of (US President George W.) Bush, said Shimmari.
This article starring:
Islamic Army in Iraq
Ibrahim al-Shimmari
Islamic Army in Iraq
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
Top|| File under: Iraqi Insurgency
#1
Ok, if that's the way they want it,
send in the Wolf's Head Brigade to occupy their neighborhoods.
"OUR main concern is to find the rat lines, says General David Petraeus as he pores over maps at a US military base on the banks of the Euphrates River, and having found them, to close them.
The rat lines, Washingtons top general in Iraq explains, are routes used by Al Qaeda to move men, money, weapons and ammunition from the west, across the Euphrates and into Baghdad and beyond. The palm-sprinkled Sunni village of Owesat lies on the banks of the Euphrates about 25 kilometres southwest of Baghdad near the town of Yusufiyah. Until November or so it was right on a rat line.
This was a small Al Qaeda sanctuary that offered an opportunity to go right across the river and on into Baghdad, Petraeus said during a tour of the village this week. But this rat line is now pretty much shut.
In November, troops from the US 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment took up positions at a huge power station being built by the Russians across the river, and immediately threw a floating bridge across the Euphrates. It took only eight to 10 hours to build, recalls Command Sergeant Major Dennis Defrees.
US and Iraqi troops, he says, quickly pushed across the river and chased Al Qaeda out of the Owesat farmlands, allowing villagers to resume their vegetable farming, schools to reopen and people who had fled to return.
Villagers were also enlisted into a concerned local citizens group - one of many anti-Qaeda fronts the US military is establishing across Iraq - and are now taking charge of security. The concern now, says battalion commander Lieutenant-Colonel Andrew Rohling, is to secure the nearby Janabi area - known for its Hittite ruins - which is still troubled by insurgents.
A sheikh was killed there a while ago, he tells Petraeus. Now no one wants to step up to the plate. We are struggling to find leadership. An operation in the area a few days ago pushed the insurgents into an area of thick reeds, he added.
These are resolute people who can stay for a long time underground. Three or four guys in ski masks can undo everything we achieved in four weeks, he adds with a sigh. Petraeus urges Rohling to push on and clear out the pockets of Al Qaeda so that the road to Baghdad is cleared. The farmers need to get their produce to the market, he says before setting off down dusty roads and across the bridge to meet some of the villagers.
What are your main problems? How do you get your goods to the market? the general asks 37-year-old farmer Najim Obei Jasim as his three wives and 15 children peer out from behind the gateway into their small compound.
My main problem is that we need a clinic here, answers Jasim, dressed in warm blue and red tracksuit, as his children shyly accept a football from Petraeus and start kicking it about. I also need to be able to get my produce to Baghdad. The general pulls no punches. It is time, he says, that all the tribes in the area make peace.
A tribe to the north, feuding with the people of Owesa for decades, if not centuries, refuses to allow them access to the Baghdad roads. This means they have to take a longer and more dangerous trip through Fallujah. We need you to make up with the tribes, Petraeus tells Jasim. It takes two hands coming together. If you extend your hand, someone may take it.
After 15 minutes more chatting and taking notes, Petraeus moves through the palm groves past the fields of peas and lucerne to a crowd of youths standing on an embankment. He is accompanied by Iraqi Assistant Interior Minister Fakher Maroush, who was assessing the policing needs of the community.
Are you going to school? asks the general. The youths answer that the school is about two kilometres (just over a mile) from their homes and that they head that way five times a week. Petraeus, at 55 still fit and lean and tanned from his endless battlefield tours, nods approvingly.
About an hour later, darkness starts rolling up the valley and cold creeps in from the Euphrates. The general heads towards the Kemple patrol base the Americans erected on the Owesat side of the river after they secured the area.
On the way he speaks to some gun-toting concerned local citizens, who are on the payroll of the US military. In their distinctive bright orange over-vests, they tell him their main wants are economic - they need fresh water and electricity. He again stresses that peace among area tribes is essential for economic development.
Later, Petraeus tells a small group of reporters accompanying him that he finds these walkabouts essential to gain a better understanding of the situation on the ground. You (gain knowledge) that is just impossible to get if you arent out here.
Just these few conversations we have had in the past hour or so - the contact with people - is of enormous importance, he adds. This is about protecting the people from the insurgents - so we can cut them off, (so that) over time people become part of the solution and not part of the problem. Then its over to the mess hall and a lengthy working dinner with local tribal sheikhs and further discussions with the battalions company commanders - people the general sees as being central to the progress made in 2007.
Much later, his helicopters take off into the darkness and fly without lights back to Baghdad, where most of the rat lines end. We do this just about every day, at a different place. The general never stops, says one his interpreters.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Iraq
#1
He's my Person of The Year, no matter what anyone else says.
#2
I can't decide if it's him that is doing something different, or if the govt. simply started letting him do the things that all of our Generals know how to do.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Quriea, but the meeting got off to a bad start after Israeli officials stopped Mr. Quriea, also known as Abu Ala, as he was crossing from Jordan into the West Bank - a delay he said was politically motivated.
Israel apologized for the incident. The meeting went ahead with the two sides forming working groups that will deal with specific negotiating issues as the two sides proceed with peace talks later this year.
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas are scheduled to meet Tuesday, just a day before President Bush begins his visit to the region.
Mahdi Abdel Hadi, who heads the Palestinian policy group PASSIA says the two men are trying to reach agreement on some issues before they meet with Mr. Bush later this week.
"This meeting comes not as rescheduling the agenda but testing the waters, will they go angry and frustrated to their meeting with President Bush or will they come with something mutually agreed upon," said Hadi.
Since they agreed to restart negotiations at the Annapolis peace conference last November, the two sides have found little common ground. Israeli officials have accused Palestinians of not doing enough to control militant activity in the West Bank, and have voiced frustration and anger at continuing rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip which is under the control of Hamas militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
Ma'an 48 hours remain before George Bush arrives in the Palestinian territories and Israel. Taxi drivers began to ask journalists about whether the Palestinian Authority will impose curfew on the residents of the West Bank during Bush's visit to Ramallah and Bethlehem. Journalists reply, smilingly, no.
The Israeli media has been busy covering the news and expectations for the visit. The Israeli government is also trying to benefit from the activity of the Israeli media in forming a front to exert pressure on the U.S administration so as to prevent any exaggerated US promises from Bush to the Palestinians.
Palestinian officials and media outlets address the issue with unjustified caution, translating or quoting what the foreign and the Israeli media write on the topic. It seems the Palestinian media believe that abstention from commenting positively or negatively on the visit will be helpful to Palestinians or Americans. What has been written by the Palestinians was not more than exaggerated positive or negative comments without addressing the necessary questions on the visit.
US helicopters and security guards landed on Monday in Ramallah and fled over Bethlehem arousing a smile amongst Palestinians. People wonder, "Are those the U.S choppers?" Many called their friends and relatives to tell them to watch these helicopters and the Americans coming to visit us from the windows.
These feelings remind some of us of the visit by former US president Bill Clinton to Gaza Strip, Ramallah and Bethlehem in 1998. He was then received in great hospitality by then-Palestinian President Yasser Arafat. So warm was the welcome that Palestinians joked with one another, "Oh guest, had you visited us, you would have discovered that we were the guests and you were the host."
A Palestinian security officer told Ma'an: "Frankly speaking, we do not know what this visit could produce. On the one hand, Bush promises to establish a Palestinian state before his term is over and that is good, yet when we watch the Israeli conducts on the ground, we become overwhelmed with despair and we fail to believe what Bush says."
A Fatah official in Ramallah told us after we pressured him to comment, "We expect the U.S president to lay flowers on Yasser Araft's grave which is the least that a visitor who respects the people he is visitng, can do."
Ma'an also got a comment from a source close to the Americans who said, "It was not planned that the U.S president [will stand] before the grave of Yasser Arafat, neither by the Americans nor by the Palestinians."
The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member from Bethlehem Muhammad Al-Lahham said: "We are before a very significant step. We should take advantage of the US president's time and efforts to answer the Palestinian question. If the visitor does not stand before Arafat's grave, it is more important that he answers the Palestinian questions of Jerusalem, independent state, freedom, right of return and Palestinian dignity which Arafat gave his life trying to answer.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
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Link ||
[11 views]
Top|| File under: Palestinian Authority
#1
My only expectation is that they'll try something spectacular. Expecting a big boom.
#5
I think our expectations are lower than the Palestinians ... because of our experience with Palestinians Yes, my expectations are lower. Bush will pledge more of our taxpayer $ and more kid-gloves treatment of paleo killers, for sure. Feh...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
01/08/2008 11:03 Comments ||
Top||
#6
I don't know why he wasting the time.
Well said.
Further, I don't know why anyone is kidding themselves about any "Palestinian" state.
#7
They don't give a rat's ass about a state, why should we? They'd rather murder each other and beg for UN handouts than build a country. If they could act like human beings and at least try to improve the land that they do have instead of fixating on land that they lost 40 years ago they might find that even the Israelis would be more apt to listen.
#9
Are you kidding? Half the country would be cheering until they realized Cheney was still VP.
Posted by: Titus Hayes ||
01/08/2008 19:20 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Palestinians' expectations low for Bush visit
Look for the White House & State Department's Language artists to whip up a batch of righteous sleep apnoea inducing .....
Grist A) It is untenable for Israeli citizens to live in terror. It is untenable for Palestinians to live in squalor and occupation.
¿occupation? isn't "regulating a bunch of squatting psychopaths so they don't murder us", a better descriptor?
Grist B) 2002, In the situation the Palestinian people will grow more and more miserable. My vision is two states, living side by side in peace and security. There is simply no way to achieve that peace until all parties fight terror. Yet, at this critical moment, if all parties will break with the past and set out on a new path, we can overcome the darkness with the light of hope. Peace requires a new and different Palestinian leadership, so that a Palestinian state can be born.
...and the bees will kiss the sheep's knees..
I myself am gonna go out on a limb and predict that the Prez will use the fabulous woid *democracy*.. somewheres in his wonder-bar Address!
Post Visit a week from now... sure as shit stinks the stinking paleo murder culture will be unchanged..
#13
But that's the easiest way to find out she isn't worth the effort, RD. The rude ones never are. A pity the State Department hasn't made that correlation.
A rift is emerging between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Iran's supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggesting that the president no longer enjoys the full backing of Khamenei, as he did in the years after his election in 2005.
In the past, when Ahmadinejad was attacked by political opponents, the criticisms were usually silenced by Khamenei, who has the final word on state matters and who regularly endorsed the president in public speeches. But that public support has been conspicuously absent in recent months.
There are numerous possible reasons for Ahmadinejad's loss of support, but analysts here all point to one overriding factor: the U.S. National Intelligence Report last month, which said that Iran suspended its nuclear weapons program in 2003 in response to international pressure. The report sharply decreased the threat of a military strike against Iran, allowing the authorities to focus on domestic issues, with important parliamentary elections looming in March.
"Now that Iran is not under the threat of a military attack, all contradictions within the establishment are surfacing," said Saeed Leylaz, an economic and political analyst. "The biggest mistake that Americans have constantly made toward Iran was adopting radical approaches, which provided the ground for radicals in the country to take control."
Iran had been under increasing international pressure for its refusal to suspend its uranium enrichment program, which could be pursued for either peaceful or military purposes. In separate speeches last year, American and French officials did not rule out military attack against Iran if it continued its defiance. Those threats have stopped since the National Intelligence Report was released.
While the pressure was on, the leadership was reluctant to let any internal disagreements show. Senior officials, including Khamenei, constantly called for unity and warned that the enemy, a common reference to the United States, could take advantage of such differences.
The Iranian presidency is a largely ceremonial post. But Ahmadinejad used the office as a bully pulpit, espousing an economic populism that built a strong following among the middle and lower classes and made him a political force to be reckoned with. That popularity won him the strong backing of the supreme leader.
But the relationship began to sour even before the National Intelligence Report was released. A source close to Khamenei, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, said Khamenei had been especially disappointed by Ahmadinejad's economic performance, which had led to steep inflation in basic necessities, from food to property values.
"Mr. Khamenei supported Mr. Ahmadinejad because he believed in his slogans of helping the poor," the source said. "But his economic performance has been disastrous. Their honeymoon is certainly over."
Economists have long criticized Ahmadinejad's economic policies, warning that his reliance on oil revenues to finance loans to the poor and to buy cheap imports would lead to inflation and cripple local industries. Inflation has risen from 12 percent in October 2006 to 19 percent this year, according to figures released by the Iranian Central Bank.
Khamenei said Thursday in a speech in the central city of Yazd that "the government has certain unique characteristics, but like any other government there are mistakes and shortcomings."
He added that continuous criticism could undermine the government, but he refrained from praising it as he had in the past.
Recently, the supreme leader appointed a hard-line military leader, Mohammad Zolghadr, as deputy head of the armed forces for Basij, which is a volunteer militia force.
Ahmadinejad dismissed Zolghadr last month as deputy interior minister for security affairs. Ahmadinejad appeared angered last week by interference from Iran's former chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, who visited Egypt as Khamenei's representative at the Supreme National Security Council. Ahmadinejad said Wednesday that his government had a Foreign Ministry that determined the country's foreign policy, and a ministry spokesman said that Larijani's trip had been personal.
Larijani's trip was important because Tehran cut ties with Egypt, a major Sunni country, when Cairo signed a peace agreement with Israel in 1979 and provided asylum for the deposed Shah of Iran. Larijani, who is a close aide to Khamenei, announced that his talks with the Egyptian authorities had gone well.
In the face of rising criticism, Ahmadinejad has for the first time acknowledged that Iran was suffering from rising prices. Previously, he had called inflation a fiction invented by his political enemies.
But he blamed previous governments, Parliament and what he called a 36-percent increase in the prices of goods in international markets.
Mohammad Reza Katouzian, a conservative and onetime supporter of Ahmadinejad, said the president "should offer solutions instead of explaining past mistakes," the semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
Hassan Rassouli, head of Baran, a nongovernment organization created by the previous president, Mohammad Khatami after Khatami left office, said that Ahmadinejad tried only to justify inflation, not do anything about it.
"Either the president has no idea how inflation has affected people's lives or he prefers to talk unprofessionally, without referring to figures," he said, according to the Mehr press agency.
Alireza Mahjoub, a member of Parliament and the leader of a workers union, dismissed the government's claim that it had lowered the unemployment rate to 9.9 percent and said the real figure should be more than 16 percent, the Fars news agency reported.
"There are 4 million jobless in the country but a 9.9 percent unemployment rate suggests the figure is 2.2 million, out of the 21 million active population," he added. "The figure has only decreased on paper."
The coming parliamentary elections will provide a stark test for Ahmadinejad and his popularity among the poor. The conservative politicians who supported him in 2005 have, in many cases, turned into his fiercest critics and are now worried chiefly that they will be disqualified as candidates before the vote, a power that the government has exercised in the past.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry played down Monday evening the muscles flexing incident at the Strait of Hormuz where Iranian boats made aggressive maneuvers against three U.S. Navy ships. "What has happened on Saturday was an ordinary incident," the Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters here. "It is similar to previous cases. It is an ordinary and normal issue that takes place from time to time between the two naval forces," he asserted. "As usual the incident was resolved after both sides recognized each other, "the spokesman explained while grabbing at his lips as they fell to the floor.
"Herman...is it really you?"
"Yes, yes, of course, Mavis! Put your glasses on! You could hurt someone, swinging like that!"
Meanwhile, a senior officer of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) refuted, in statments to Iran's Al-Alam satellite channel, the U.S. claims on the incident.
The Pentagon deemed the incident as "serious, careless, reckless and potentially hostile." The U.S. side asked Tehran to provide an explanation to the interception by 50 Iranian naval ships of three U.S. warships.
#1
The U.S. side asked Tehran to provide an explanation to the interception by 50 Iranian naval ships of three U.S. warships
BS flag down! The "explanation" should come from the ship's Captains and the Commander, US Central Command for not immediately ordering the Iranian vessels dispatched to the bottom, with stronger message to follow! Roll the footage please.
#2
We do this all the time. Just like we did with the soviets. This is a common thing actually. Ohh, the stories.
Iran, If you EVER do this again, we should pound you hard. If you come within a KM of a vessel, or drop suspicious packages, you are going to drown. Period. Thats ROE.
#3
BS flag down! The "explanation" should come from the ship's Captains and the Commander, US Central Command for not immediately ordering the Iranian vessels dispatched to the bottom, with stronger message to follow!
Do me a favor, Besoeker. Stick to talking sh*t about things you know, 'kay?
#4
Pappy,
You can use CWIS against a small boat can't you? I would think it would just leave an oil slick with a reddish tinge.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2008 1:53 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Do me a favor, Besoeker. Stick to talking sh*t about things you know, 'kay?
An interesting comment from Mr. CBDR himself. Been down to see the Golden Rivet lately Pap's? Hey, I need some relative bearing grease, why don't you pop on down the bo'sun shack pick me up a can?
#9
You can use CWIS against a small boat can't you?
Maybe, but I wouldn't. That seems like massive overkill, especially since Iran has SSM's that might be a better use for the CWIS.
ISTR that 200 yards is well within 50-cal range. If it's not, well, maybe the Marines could use some of their air assets to escort naval assets.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
01/08/2008 7:38 Comments ||
Top||
#10
On the cruisers and destroyers I expect that the response to the SAM's would be the standard missile. You could actually use a standard missile against a surface target, but I think that the Captain would balk at wasting a standard missile for the reason that you described.
If I were planning an attack on three USN ships transitting the Straits of Hormuz, I would use a fishing fleet of dhows as cover for small fast-movers loaded with explosives.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2008 7:53 Comments ||
Top||
#11
An interesting comment from Mr. CBDR himself.
Nice to hear from you again too. How's life in the squeegee business?
SH, you could use CIWS. The chain-gun's probably more appropriate for surface targets.
#16
I don't think they're embarrassed, they think it's some kind of macho thing that they've done. They probably think they have made us look like powerless idiots on an international shipping lane, and that was my first feeling about it as well.
#19
#8: When ashore I'd send the FNG for a jackhammer sparkplug.
Mmmm, you haven't seen those gasoline powered jackhammers, have you?
They DO exist, I see them used pounding dirt for foundations all the time.
Also Pile Drivers now are a big single cylinder Diesel. (No BS, they make a double thump each stroke)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/08/2008 12:13 Comments ||
Top||
#20
#14: What about issuing a LAW to each Bosun Mate in Repair 2 and Repair 3 and have them run topside for a simultaneous broadside?
Posted by: Super Hose|| 2008-01-08 10:44 ||Comments Top||
I would LOVE to see that on tape!
Have them sing something appropriately Gilbert and Sullivanish prior to lock-on.
#23
Stabilizied cannons like the Phalanx and Mk 38 mod 2. Also the Javelin antitank missile could be ideal to lock onto and destroy small craft before they can get within firing range.
Posted by: ed ||
01/08/2008 15:03 Comments ||
Top||
#24
Box of LOBs - make sure they are metric, and a couple yards of flight line.
Prolly worth another day of discussion. Iranian reax here
The US Department of Defense (Pentagon) confirmed on Monday media reports that Iranian boats attempted to provoke the US Navy based in the Arabian Gulf. "Small Iranian fast boats made some aggressive maneuvers against our vessels and indicated some hostile intent", said Pentagon spokesperson Bryan Whitman to reporters.
Iranian Revolutionary Guard gunboats reportedly harassed yesterday three US Navy Warships in the Strait of Hormuz but no fires have been shot.
Certainly glad no fires were shot, though not nearly as glad as I am that no shots were fired.
Whitman further noted that this is "a serious incident" as the fast Iranian boats approached at distances and speed that showed reckless, dangerous and potentially hostile intent". He added that this tension in the Gulf lasted about 15 to 20 minutes where both sides exchanged radio communications.
"This is a reckless and dangerous behavior on the part of the Iranian vessels, and it should cease immediately", said Whitman adding that the US Navy "did take appropriate actions in terms of maneuvering and communicating, and were prepared to take further action if necessary".
This incident comes on the eve of President George W. Bush's visit to the Middle East.
"We urge the Iranians to refrain from such provocative actions that could lead to a dangerous incident in the future," National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in a statement.
#1
ION SPACEWAR > CHINA PLANNING TO SECURE NORTH KOREA'S ARSENAL. More popularly/commonly known as sending in the troops = PLA; + IRAN MOCKS US BID TO BREAK ALLIANCE WID SYRIA.
Looks like CHINA is expecting truble this year vv NOKORS + IRAN-ME + DUBYA VISIT(S), while IRAN is just looking for truble??? TAIWAN???
#2
I just heard about the incident. While a harpoon-like weapon could hurt a USN ship, I don't think a RPG would do much damage. During General Quarters, a really lucky hit in the bridge could make casualties of a quarter of the officers and cause some confusion. More than likely the first shot would be a miss and the carnage would commence. A five inch gun would have trouble hitting a small fast target with the first shot, but I'm confident that fire could be adjusted, before a small contact could turn 200m back into 1000m.
I never served on a ship that had CWIS, but I'm confident that it could be used effectively against a fast-moving surface target. Also three ships would have enough harpoons to waste 5 to 8 small ships. The fact that they are small doesn't matter as much as the size of their radar blip. Besides the chainguns and the 50 cals, the ships might also armed with stingers or other surprises.
I am confident that the result would be one-sided. After what happened in the harbor of the Port of Aden, I imagine that my SWO brethern would be happy to kill a bunch of folks and then send the Messenger of the Watch to the Wardroom for a fresh carafe of joe.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2008 1:17 Comments ||
Top||
#3
ASIA TIMES > DOLPHINS:IRAN'S WEAPON AGZ THE USA? Run, FLIPPER, run; + CHINA FLOATS A THREE-CARRIER PLAN, + PAKISTAN SEES US AS THE GREATEST THREAT. The US' "Covert Push" from yesterday.
Here's a video of how much work a Phalanx has to do to take out a "barrage" of two Exocet missiles.
It's my understanding that one of those gun systems only has 900 rounds of ammo, and I'll bet it takes several minutes to reload. It seems to me that even I could design a swarm of some kind to exhaust the ammo and leave the American ships less defended against 100 patrol boats each with 100 RPGs, so what's to prevent Iran or anyone else from doing the same thing?
#5
Although an having a a well-aimed RPG hit would certainly do some topside damage, it certainly wouldn't take out a destroyer. I am also dubious about the homemade swarm weapons. At the start of the Iraqi insugency the weapon of choice was the homemade rocket launcher pulled by a donkey. If the war between the US and Iran errupts into a full-fledged shooting match, the Iranian weapon of choice will be the mine deployed from a dhow. The end result will be a big squeeze on smuggling traffic in the Persian Gulf.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2008 7:31 Comments ||
Top||
#6
How close could 100 small boats get to a destroyer before somebody noticed the dhow armada...
#9
The hull on a destroyer is only a half inch thick If I recall. An RPG would go right through it if so.
Modern warships are built like sponges rather than steel fortresses. A modern day missile has a chance of simply passing through a vessel without even exploding because of that thin armor, but really its there for another reason, once one compartment is punctured most of the energy is displace in that one compartment followed by maybe one or two more (note this is true mainly for shaped warheads and HEAT type warheads not so much boats laden with explosives).
Also as a side note, its pretty damn hard to shoot anything past 50 yards on a vessel without some kind of stabilization for the boats motion.
#10
A modern day missile has a chance of simply passing through a vessel without even exploding because of that thin armor, but really its there for another reason, once one compartment is punctured most of the energy is displace in that one compartment followed by maybe one or two more
With anti-ship missiles, the actual damage is designed to occur after entry. Even if the warhead does not go off, damage is created anyway by the excess propellant (a la the Exocet).
#11
If a jihadi can't hit a thunder-running humvee with an RPG at 100 meters from a standing position, why would he be able to hit a destroyer at 1000 meters from a rocking Boston whaler? If he did get lucky, so what. The damage will be above the waterline in the Persian Gulf which is relatively calm. If the RPM penetrates, the ship isn't going to sink. The hit might waste something or someone that is vital to communications, command and control and or fire control. Then again it might do no damage, spoil the paint job on the quarterdeck, mash the contents of the spud locker or hit the Port Side lookout as he goofs off at GQ instead of paying attention. The most likely damage assessment for a direct hit scenario is for it to cause secondary fires amongst the excessive paperwork that Navy vessels carry.
Rest assured, unless the Boston Whaler is a stealth X-wing fighter that can drop a phonton torpedo down the ship's smoke stack, the ship won't sink. If the jihadis are unlucky enough to knock-out e-mail or damage equipment critical to receiving NFL broadcasts, there is nothing that will save their lives. It will be a Mossad type response. You will have CPO's hunting the dudes in perpetuity.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
01/08/2008 14:37 Comments ||
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#12
Unless it hits something vital like the waveguide feeding the Aegis radars (a single point of failure). Then the navy has a $1 billion dollar sitting duck from air/missile attack.
Posted by: ed ||
01/08/2008 14:47 Comments ||
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#13
Lulz, the Hose is back in top form.
Posted by: Thomas Woof ||
01/08/2008 14:56 Comments ||
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#15
If by 'Cole' you mean suicide craft attacks - yes, that's possible. It won't be as 'easy' as the Cole attack was, but it's possible.
Another possibility not to be discounted are attacks from land-based anti-ship missile installations, either simultaneous with an IRGCN boat-attack, or as a 'supporting/response' effort to IRGCN assets should the USN respond (or had responded) to an IRGCN provocation.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said Sunday he will visit Beirut next Wednesday to discuss an Arab- sponsored plan to end Lebanon's worst political crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war "I will discuss with the Lebanese leaders the three key elements of the plan put forth by the Arab League through the Arab foreign ministers," said Moussa in a press conference early Sunday.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/08/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under: Hezbollah
#1
The entire Arab world is backing Lebanon
Oh Really? How come the Sauoodies haven't ponied up their share of the dough for the Hariri tribunal then?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A Taleban commander in Afghanistan responsible for leading attacks on British troops says he has been freed from prison after paying a bribe. 
A 29-year-old man has been jailed for four-and-a-half years after he admitted planning to fly to Pakistan to carry out acts of terrorism.
A sentencing hearing for convicted terrorism conspirator Jose Padilla and two other men began Tuesday with defense lawyers raising more than 90 objections to a report that could determine whether their clients spend the rest of their lives in prison. 
The assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27, 2007 has created concerns for US intelligence officials, who see US policy toward Pakistan as being held hostage by President Pervez Musharraf and factions of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). 
Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Vice Chairman Makhdoom Amin Fahim said on Monday that elements involved in the assassination of former premier Benazir Bhutto wanted to disintegrate Pakistan. 
BAIJI, Iraq - An explosion at a fuel storage tank caused a huge blaze at Iraqs largest refinery on Monday, inflicting burns on at least 36 workers and killing one before being brought under control, witnesses said.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni held talks with chief Palestinian negotiator Ahmed Quriea, but the meeting got off to a bad start after Israeli officials stopped Mr. Quriea, also known as Abu Ala, as he was crossing from Jordan into the West Bank - a delay he said was politically motivated.
