Attacking the British strategy in Helmand, the officer claims that soldiers are now so laden with equipment they are unable to launch effective attacks against insurgents.
The controversial account of situation in Afghanistan appears in the latest issue British Army Review, a restricted military publication designed to provoke debate within the Army.
Writing anonymously, the author reveals that the Taliban have dubbed British soldiers "donkeys" who move in a tactical "waddle" because they now carry an average weight of 110lbs worth of equipment into battle.
The consequences of the strategy, he says, is that "our infantry find it almost impossible to close with the enemy because the bad guys are twice as mobile".
The officer claims that by the end of a routine four hour patrol, soldiers struggle to make basic tactical judgements because they are physically and mentally exhausted.
Under oath and under the gun last week, the executive from Black & Veatch Corp. sat before a federal commission formed to find out why billions spent in Afghanistan haven't done more to rebuild the war-torn land.
William Van Dyke, president of the company's special projects division, kept his tone cool. He wanted to talk about company successes time and again. Sure, his questioners said in repeatedly interrupting him, but there's something else.
The Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan kept raising an awkward juxtaposition: After poor marks and stern warnings about cost overruns and delays on a generating plant near Kabul, Overland Park-based Black & Veatch still landed a $266 million no-bid contract to beef up electrical power in southern Afghanistan.
Van Dyke responded that the company had improved its performance and its standing with the U.S. Agency for International Development overseeing the Afghanistan rebuilding. And, he emphasized, Black & Veatch, one of the largest U.S. engineering firms, stood alone in its ability to get an urgent job done quickly.
"We don't," he said, "subcontract responsibility."
The twist-and-turn story that delivered the no-bid deal to Black & Veatch reveals that powering up Afghanistan, uncomfortably bridging the 12th and 21st centuries, is a pricey and dicey venture.
Although billions of American dollars spent since the 2001 fall of the Taliban regime have more than doubled electric capacity, the juice remains rare and unreliable. That's despite declarations from the highest U.S. authorities that delivering electricity stands as a keystone to stamping down the Islamist insurgency and clearing a way for the planned American troop withdrawal by the end of 2014.
Despite some progress, government audits conclude that tens of millions in U.S. tax dollars have been squandered by ill-planned projects, the inevitable waste that plagues war-zone construction and outright fraud. No deceit has been alleged against Black & Veatch or its subcontractors, but that hasn't spared the company or its patron agency from other criticism.
Van Dyke had to defend why Black & Veatch's work on the Tarakhil power plant near Kabul finished with an 18-month delay that added $40 million to the cost. The company was ultimately forced to absorb $1.6 million in added expenses.
So when Black & Veatch landed the no-bid contract in December to add electrical muscle in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, eyebrows raised -- at both USAID for awarding the contract and at Black & Veatch.
Why, a commissioner asked Van Dyke, would the government give a no-bid contract to a company that the same agency a year earlier had sharply criticized?
USAID rated Black & Veatch as "poor" for the quality of its service on the Kabul plant and "unsatisfactory" for its lagging construction schedule. In a separate matter, the agency gave the company an "unsatisfactory" rating on a study of an Afghan gas field.
Even as the commission questioned Van Dyke, it was clear that the company didn't decide to award itself a no-bid deal. USAID made that call. The agency official who signed off on giving the job to Black & Veatch said, essentially, the government had little choice.
"It's not that it was a no-brainer. ... But we really felt that, both in terms of the partners we had on the ground already, and the compelling nature of this decision, that that was certainly the best option," J. Alexander Thier, a key administrator for USAID in Afghanistan and Pakistan, told The Star.
He added: "We stand by that decision."
The choice was ultimately made, the agency said, because Black & Veatch was "uniquely qualified" and "uniquely positioned" to get vital and urgent work done quickly.
Not all would agree. As with much of what goes in on Afghan construction, neither confirmation nor refutation is easily found.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2011 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI: The owners of a hijacked ship said on Saturday that they were perplexed by the continuing detention of some of their crew members by Somali pirates despite their paying a multimillion-dollar ransom.
Pirates released the ship and some of the crew on Friday. But a Somali pirate told The Associated Press afterward that the Indian crew members hostage ordeal is being prolonged in retaliation for the arrests of more than 100 Somali pirates by the Indian Navy. However, the ship owners said on Saturday that all the crew members of the Asphalt Venture were Indian not just the seven still being held.
All 15 crew members, held hostage after Septembers attack, were Indian, Sunil Puri, a New Delhi-based spokesman for Interglobal, a United Arab Emirates-based company that owns the ship, told the AP. On Friday, Hassan Farah said pirates in stronghold of Haradhere in Somalia had taken a collective decision not to release the Indian crew members.
Puri called the pirates action unprecedented, and said that it wasnt immediately clear why the pirates acted as they did. We are still trying to ascertain why that happened. We kept our side of the bargain. We dont know why they werent released. This is an unprecedented situation. In the past they have always kept their word, Puri said.
While Puri did not reveal the amount of ransom paid, pirates are receiving an average of $5 million to release ships and crew, and a ransom in that ballpark was believed to have been paid on Friday.
The Indian navy has seized around 120 pirates, mostly from Somalia, over the past few months. Last month the Indian navy captured 61 pirates when they attacked a naval ship. Indian warships have been escorting merchant ships as part of international anti-piracy surveillance in the Indian Ocean area since 2008.
[Ennahar] The number two of Al Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Second in command of al-Qaeda, occasionally described as the real brains of the outfit. Formerly the Mister Big of Egyptian Islamic Jihad. Bumped off Abdullah Azzam with a car boom in the course of one of their little disputes. Is thought to have composed bin Laden's fatwa entitled World Islamic Front Against Jews and Crusaders. Currently residing in the North Wazoo area. That is not a horn growing from the middle of his forehead, but a prayer bump, attesting to how devout he is... called on Mohammedans to rise against both the regime of Muammar Qadaffy and NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the style of the American pants... forces in Libya, in a video recorded before the military intervention of the coalition.
The video of one hour and nine minutes was produced by the cell responsible for communications of Al Qaeda, as-Sahab, according to a statement released by the U.S. central monitoring Islamist websites (SITE).
"I want to draw the attention of our Mohammedan brothers in Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, and elsewhere in Mohammedan countries, the fact that if the Americans and NATO forces enter Libya, then its neighbors in Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and the rest of the Mohammedan countries should stand up and fight both the mercenaries of Qadaffy and NATO," he said, according to SITE.
This video is the fifth in a series entitled "A message of hope and good news for the people of Egypt."
In a video released in February as part of this series, he accused the regime of Hosni Mubarak ...The former President-for-Life of Egypt, dumped by popular demand in early 2011... to be totally in the hands of Americans and said that "the real leader is the U.S. Embassy." He described Mubarak as the "leader of all Arab Zionists."
The video also features a separate segment in which American-born radical Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, a key leader of al Qaeda's Yemen branch, shows his support for the revolutions while denouncing U.S. involvement in the Muslim world in general. It's unclear when that portion of the video was made, but it's the first time al-Zawahiri and al-Awlaki have been featured in the same production by as-Sahab, al Qaeda's media wing.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Meanwhile ...
* TOPIX > AL-QAEDA OPERATIONS EXPAND TO VAN
[Nat/Feder province], EASTERN TURKEY. Approxi 10 AQ suspects arrested including alleged Leader, to add to 42 AQ suspects arrested by the ISTANBUL POLICE DEPT.
IOW, TURKEY KEEPS FINDING + ARRESTING 'EM ALL OVER THE PLACE.
#2
Mohammedans of the World Unite! Attack all infidels and apostates in every direction simultaneously! You have nothing to lose but your lives! Allen Snackbar!
Of course not, Glalet Hapsburg3231. Number 2s are much to important to risk actually doing things -- that's for Number 3s and below. Number 2s have beautifully white outfits that take the laundry girl simply hours to get white again after they've been worn. ;-)
This is Dr. al-Zawahiri's first actual video in a while. Perhaps he's feeling the sting of his exchange with former philosopher of jihad, Dr. Fadl. There was an article recently in the Pakistani newspaper Dawn, and a very interesting book review in the Small Wars Journal from last November. The book is a round-up by a former Egyptian jihadi operative of what is now being called "jihadist revisionism" from a variety of terror groups.
The Haia are Saudi Arabia's morality police. I'm not sure how that relates to Muttawa, which is what I long thought they were called.
Members should know how to deal tactfully with an ever-changing world
The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) should be commended for his efforts to improve his organization and his instructions to its members to behave with understanding and tact in all situations. Abdul Aziz Al-Humain made his position clear when he addressed 70 field operatives recently in Riyadh and called on them to act with good will and due consideration for the feelings of the people while discharging their duties.
The Haia are Saudi Arabia's morality police. I'm not sure how that relates to Muttawa, which is what I long thought they were called.
Members should know how to deal tactfully with an ever-changing world
The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) should be commended for his efforts to improve his organization and his instructions to its members to behave with understanding and tact in all situations. Abdul Aziz Al-Humain made his position clear when he addressed 70 field operatives recently in Riyadh and called on them to act with good will and due consideration for the feelings of the people while discharging their duties.
The Haia are Saudi Arabia's morality police. I'm not sure how that relates to Muttawa, which is what I long thought they were called.
Members should know how to deal tactfully with an ever-changing world
The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) should be commended for his efforts to improve his organization and his instructions to its members to behave with understanding and tact in all situations. Abdul Aziz Al-Humain made his position clear when he addressed 70 field operatives recently in Riyadh and called on them to act with good will and due consideration for the feelings of the people while discharging their duties.
[Bangla Daily Star] Fazlul Huq Amini, chief of Islami Ain Bastabayan Committee, yesterday threatened to paralyse the country if the government does not annul the National Women Development Policy.
"We can create an impasse in the country by a one-hour notice as there are 20,000 madrasas which will respond to our call immediately," he said while addressing a rally at Jatiya Press Club auditorium in the capital.
Dhaka city unit of Islami Ain Bastabayan Committee organised the rally with its Ameer Moulana Abul Kashem in the chair.
Amini, also chairman of an Islami Oikya Jote ... a political party in Bangladesh. In the 2001 elections the party won 2 out of 300 elected members in an alliance with the Bangladesh Nationalist Party. It has a focus on building an islamic state, and has used the madrassas to gain support... (IOJ) faction, said they would hold an Olema-Mashaekh rally on April 20 in the city and announce next programme of the party.
Urging the government to disclose whereabouts of his son immediately, Amini warned that counter attacks would be carried out if his son is hit.
"We will not retreat from the movement for implementing the Islamic law in the country regardless of my family is kidnapped or destroyed," the IOJ chief vowed, saying no anti-Islamic forces would be allowed to assume the state power in the future.
He said they do not oppose the development of the women but those must be formulated in the light of holy Koran and Hadith (Sunnah).
The members of the present cabinet do not understand the holy Koran and its language and, therefore, they are giving its wrong interpretations, he alleged.
Referring to the celebration of Pahela Baishakh, Amini said, "We are not against celebrating the occasion but anti-Islamic activities were seen on that day."
The rally was organised to protest the alleged killing, abduction and repression on party workers.
Moulana Mohammad Ishaq, Mufti Mohammad Wakkas, Moulana Abdul Latif Nizami and Moulana Sheikh Lokman Hossain, among others, addressed the function.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2011 00:00 ||
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* TOPIX > [Azerbaijan]BAKU: "UNREGISTERED" CHRISTIANS FORBIDDEN TO PRAY TOGETHER, or gather. Azeri Law orginally intended for use agz Radical Islamists also being used to religiously suppress Protestant Christian, Other Non-Muslim Groups, even agz Govt-deemed "heretical" select Muslim Sects???
#2
1. You have the right to DIE and remain DEAD
2. Any remaining alive will require a tribunal.
3. You have the right to STINK
4. You have the right to NOTHING
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
04/16/2011 9:39 Comments ||
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#3
It aint torture if afterwords all you need is a comb, towel and Kleenex. Pussification of the military at work.
Posted by: Jack Salami ||
04/16/2011 10:14 Comments ||
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#4
If you want to die killing people for a made up moon god, than you surrendered your right to Life.
WASHINGTON: On the instructions of Pakistans Ambassador to the United States Hussain Haqqani, Pakistani Consul General in Houston Aqil Nadeem visited Dr Aafia Siddiqui in Carswell detention facility in Texas on Friday.
In a two-hour meeting, Aafia informed the consul general that she was medically fine and was pleased to speak by phone to her mother and children in Karachi on Thursday. According to a Pakistani embassy official, Aafia will also be able to meet her brother at her request. The consul general informed her that the Pakistani Embassy in Washington had coordinated consular access for her through the authorities concerned. Dr Aafia Siddiqui asked the diplomat to convey her thanks to ambassador Haqqani for his concern for her welfare, the official said. app
[Arab News] Pakistain will take up the issue of US drone attacks with Afghanistan when Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani will be in Kabul on a one-day visit to neighboring landlocked state.
An indication was given by Gilani himself Wednesday evening while addressing the National Assembly and it was confirmed by the Foreign Office Spokeswoman Tehmina Janjua Thursday during weekly media here.
She said, "Pak Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani will visit Afghanistan for weekend talks with President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai. ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
The visit comes ahead of the main fighting season in neighboring Afghanistan, where 130,000 US-led troops are battling Taliban bully boyz whose leaders are widely believed to be based in the tribal areas of Pakistain.
Relations have been strained over insecurity, with both accusing each other of destabilizing their countries, where Death Eaters are increasingly active.
Gilani will fly to Kabul on Saturday at the invitation of Karzai.
Tehmina said, "This visit is part of our joint commitment to consult, cooperate and coordinate on all issues of mutual interest and concern," Janjua said, adding that both countries were "determined to promote development" in Afghanistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
... adding that both countries were "determined to promote development" in Afghanistan.
Development of what?
The Paks would like to continue to develop a Taliban that gives them a measure of control over Afghanistan. You know, the same model that Syria follows with Hezbollah and Lebanon.
The Afgan's would like to cutout the middle man and just take the money directly.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
04/16/2011 16:59 Comments ||
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BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq: Iraqi President Jalal Talabani discussed with Jeffrey D.
Feltman on Friday ways to expand strategic cooperation between the two countries, according to a presidential release.
Talabani and Feltman, during their talks attended by U.S. ambassador in Baghdad James Jeffrey, tackled bilateral relations and ways to enhance vistas of strategic cooperation between the two friendly countries, read the release as received by Aswat al-Iraq news agency.
Talabani said during the meeting that Iraq seeks to develop its positive ties with neighboring and Arab countries to the interests of all parties, according to the presidential statement.
Feltman expressed the keenness of U.S. President Barack Obamas administration to continue its support for Iraqs political process and democratic march.
Until he sells Iraq out completely to the Iranians...
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/16/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Until he", i.e. Bambi, "sells Iraq out completely to the Iranians..."
Selling implies that you get something in return. Bambi isn't selling, he is donating.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
04/16/2011 17:28 Comments ||
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The IDF has drawn up a comprehensive multi-year strategy; planners hope their prudence will help protect Israel from all fresh dangers.
[jpost] - The IDFs multi-year plan, unveiled to the press this week, was for the most part a continuation of the last plan, Tefen, initiated in 2007 under former chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. (res.) Gabi Ashkenazi.
Then, the IDF was reeling from its failures and mistakes following the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and Ashkenazi decided to invest in the ground forces by manufacturing more Merkava tanks, developing a new armored personnel carrier (APC) called the Namer and significantly boosting training.
An emphasis was also put on missile defense, the benefits of which we witnessed last week when the Iron Dome intercepted eight rockets fired from the Gaza Strip.
This has paid off, and the IDF is unquestionably better prepared today for another ground war in Syria, Lebanon or the Gaza Strip.
During his term as chief of staff, Ashkenazi oversaw nearly 100 different brigade-level exercises. In 2006, by comparison, the IDF held a total of two brigade-level exercises. The IDF has already received the first batch of Namer APCs and has equipped some of its tanks with the Trophy active-protection system. The ground forces are ready.
THE NEW plan, called Halamish and constructed under new Chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Benny Gantz some IDF officers have joked that Halamish is the Hebrew acronym for I am missing 1 billion shekels continues the same line of thinking as Tefen, but may contain another focal point.
While both plans identify Iran as the greatest threat and challenge for Israel followed by the northern front, which includes Syria and Lebanon and then the Palestinians Halamish may be unique if it places Egypt on the list as well.
In the meantime, Gantz has decided to take the cautious and not hysterical approach vis à vis Egypt. This was done with the understanding that even if the Muslim Brotherhood takes over in upcoming elections considered unlikely it will still take some time before Egypt threatens Israel again like it did in the days leading up to the Yom Kippur War in 1973.
For that reason, the upcoming year will be spent mostly on learning about Egypt, dusting off old maps, remembering what it was like being in the Sinai and preparing conceptually for the future.
When it comes to Egypt, if the worst-case scenario comes true, the IDF will have plans in place to embark on an unprecedented procurement campaign that, in short, will set the establishment of new divisions, fighter jet squadrons and other military capabilities. If that doesnt work and Egyptian tanks roll through the Sinai, Israel could always call on the US for intervention.
BUT WHERE Halamish breaks from Tefen is in the following assessment, which serves as the introduction of the new multi-year plan: There is an increasing probability of conflict on multiple fronts. While this concept war on several fronts simultaneously is not a new one for Israel, it is significant when it appears in a military multi-year plan for the first time in 15 years.
What are the chances for war? 50-50? 70-30? No one in the IDF will say. If they could, there would be no purpose in maintaining a massive branch in the IDF called Military Intelligence.
The new plan, though, is sophisticated and recognizes that the IDF is already at war on some of its fronts. It is waging a war against Irans nuclear program mostly in the shadows and below the surface and is also, at the same time, fighting on the high seas against weapons smuggling to Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon demonstrated by the seizure of Iranian arms on the Victoria cargo ship last month.
But if a larger-scale conflict breaks out in the coming years, the IDF has a very clear idea of the way it wants to see it play out. The first principle will be to ensure a short conflict with a clear and decisive victory for Israel at its end.
What this means, though, is unclear, mainly because the IDF no longer really talks in terms of victory and defeat in the conventional, historic sense of the terms. Years ago, after one sides military surrendered and it had lost significant territory to its adversary, it was obvious who had won. Nowadays, when an enemy does not really own territory as is the case with Hamas and Hezbollah and when it cannot conquer Israeli territory, how is it possible to determine the outcome of a war?
That is why when the IDF talks about terms like victory and defeat, what it means is that the other side has been so badly beaten that it will be deterred for an extended period before engaging Israel again. While the IDF made major mistakes during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, the quiet that has prevailed in the five years since proves that the war was something of a victory. The countrys difficulty in understanding this new concept likely added to the public sense of failure at the time.
THIS UNDERSTANDING of the nature of conflicts was demonstrated during Operation Cast Lead in 2009, which, while it did not destroy Hamas, did create deterrence and restore quiet for the residents of the South. Unfortunately this deterrence eroded over the past month, culminating in last weekends cycle of violence, which included over 120 rocket and mortar attacks against Israel in just two days.
Then, too, the IDFs entire operation was aimed at restoring deterrence and postponing what many in the defense establishment believe is inevitable a large-scale Cast Lead-like operation in the Gaza Strip.
The IDF knew that it was facing a new round of violence two weeks ago after it bombed a car in the southern Gaza Strip carrying three senior Hamas operatives and suitcases full of money. The terrorists were planning to kidnap Israelis in the Sinai and then smuggle them under the border and into the Gaza Strip.
Knowing the group would try to exact revenge one of the slain terrorists was a close confidant of Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari the IDF removed troops and equipment away from the border, trying hard not to provide Hamas with a target. But by last Thursday, Hamas had had enough and, in the absence of a military target, decided to fire a Russian-made Kornet anti-tank missile at a school bus near Nahal Oz.
The IDF then began responding, but throughout the entire weekend did not attack major Hamas targets like bases or military compounds. Even though it killed nearly 20 Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives, none was killed in targeted killings, but rather in routine bombings and air strikes against cells spotted in real time launching, or preparing to launch, rockets into Israel.
The idea was to send Hamas a message that Israel could cause it damage on many different levels. If Hamas had not understood the message by Sunday, when the cease-fire went into effect, Israel would have begun to escalate its response, and Hamas likely would have reciprocated. With every Israeli escalation, it is possible that Hamas will, eventually, finally decide to use its long-range Iranian-made rockets that are capable of hitting near Tel Aviv.
At no point during the operation did the IDF mention toppling Hamas or defeating Hamas. Instead, the idea was to restore deterrence and make Hamas understand that it would pay a price for its attacks against Israel. After almost a week of strained and tense quiet, the message seems to have gotten across at least, for the time being.
[Ma'an] Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, won. President Mahmoud Abbas dismissed Haniyeh from office on 14 June 2007 at the height of the Fatah-Hamas festivities, but Haniyeh did not acknowledge the decree and continues as the PM of Gazoo while Abbas maintains a separate PM in the West Bank... in Gazoo said Friday he ordered a swift investigation into the murder of an Italian peace activist and would not tolerate another such incident in the enclave.
Vittorio Arrigoni will be considered a Paleostinian martyr and a street will be named in his honor, Haniyeh told his cabinet. He also called the victim's family to express his condolences, officials in Gazoo said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Wow. A street in Gaza named after you. Now there's an honor.
Move it along, nuthin to see here...
[Ma'an] Salafi leader Iyad Ash-Shami said Friday that Salafi groups were not involved in the murder of an Italian activist in the Gazoo Strip. Even though they were the ones holding him for ransom?
The killing of Vittorio Arrigoni "had nothing to do with Islam," he said, adding that Salafi groups and scholars all agreed that the killing of any man was prohibited. "Yeah, those boyz kill him because he was short!"
The body of Vittorio Arrigoni was found hanged in a home northwest of Gazoo City early Friday morning, hours after the International Solidarity Movement activist was kidnapped in the coastal enclave. "We're holdin' you for ransom, Vittorio! String him up, boyz!"
Salafi forces of Evil were suspected of kidnapping Arrigoni, last seen alive in a video posted online Thursday.
The kidnappers identified themselves in the video as belonging to a previously unknown group called The Brigade of the Gallant Companion of the Prophet Mohammed bin Mohammedana.
They threatened to kill Arrigoni unless Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, released Salafist prisoners by Friday evening. Before the deadline passed, however, Hamas said his body was found.
Ash-Shami said "any government or state anywhere in the world" could have made the video, but said Salafi factions in Gazoo would meet Friday to decide how to respond to the killing.
Earlier Friday, Salafi faction At-Tawheed wa Al-Jihad denied involvement in the abduction and murder of Arrigoni, but said it was "a natural outcome of the policy of the government carried out against the Salafi."
The Hamas-run government in Gazoo has in recent years taken a hard line against Salafists in Gazoo, whose religious observances and refusal to comply with ceasefires with Israel has led to confrontations.
Hamas severed ties with Salafist faction the Army of Islam in 2007 after the group grabbed credit for kidnapping BBC news hound Alan Johnson.
Hamas helped to secure the journalist's release after four months in captivity.
In August 2009, Salafist faction Jund Ansar Allah (Soldiers of the Partisans of God) announced the creation of an Islamist "emirate" in Gazoo, during a sermon at a mosque in the southern city of Rafah.
That prompted a furious response from Hamas, whose forces stormed the mosque, prompting festivities which left 24 people dead.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/16/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Ash-Shami said "any government or state anywhere in the world" could have made the video, but said Salafi factions in Gaza would meet Friday to decide how to respond to the killing.
Sounds like it's gonna be "blame the Joooos and hide under our beds"...
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
04/16/2011 15:49 ||
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#1
The spokesman must be a real intel-u-gence officer. I seem to recall that Iran had to unload its nuclear reactor. Something about "bad batter in the cake". I would assume that more than "a limited number of centrifuges at its main uranium enrichment facility" were affected.
Hee-hee.
Posted by: Mike Ramsey ||
04/16/2011 16:12 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
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.
Zawahiri
