[TheHill] Arab and Chechen fighters are flowing into a restive province in southern Afghanistan, as American and Afghan forces make their final push to flush Taliban forces from the area.
Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF), backed by U.S. military units, expect to clear Sangin province in southern Afghanistan cleared of all Taliban fighters by this week, Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Lee Miller, head of Regional Command-Southwest, said on Wednesday.
[An Nahar] Three European women with radical activist group Femen, who were placed in durance vile Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! after baring their breasts in Tunis, will be tried next week for public indecency and could be nabbed Please don't kill me! , their lawyer said Friday.
"They will appear in court in Tunis on June 5... The trial will be an open hearing," Souheib Bahri told Agence La Belle France Presse, information confirmed by French consular officials in Tunis.
They will be tried for "public indecency" and an "attack on public morals", crimes both punishable by six months in jail in socially conservative Tunisia, where the coalition government is headed by an Islamist party.
They risk another 15 days in detention for offences against the Tunisian authorities.
The three young women were identified by the Femen movement in Gay Paree as Pauline Hillier and Marguerite Stern, both French, and Josephine Markmann from Germany.
They were arrested on Wednesday as they staged a topless protest outside the central courthouse in Tunis, the first such protest organised by radical feminist group in the Arab world.
Their demonstration was held to demand the release of Amina Sboui, an 18-year-old Tunisian activist with their group who was locked away Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! earlier this month after protesting against Tunisia's main Salafist group and allegedly painting the word "Femen" on a wall near a cemetery in Kairouan.
The hardline Salafists ...Salafists are ostentatiously devout Moslems who figure the ostentation of their piety gives them the right to tell others how to do it and to kill those who don't listen to them... had planned to hold their annual congress in the historic city south of Tunis, which is considered the country's religious capital, despite a government ban.
Sboui, better known by her pseudonym Tyler, went on trial on Wednesday for illegal possession of pepper spray -- for which she received a fine -- amid tensions outside the court, where dozens of angry Islamists demonstrated against the topless protests.
The judge ordered that she be remanded in jug, to face separate charges next week of indecency and desecrating a cemetery, crimes punishable respectively by six months and two years in jail.
But he also left the door open for heavier sentences, referring to the "criminal conspiracy" section of the penal code and indicating that Sboui could be accused of acting as part of an organised gang.
Amnesia Amnesty International on Friday called for Sboui to be released immediately, saying she was being investigated for exercising her right to freedom of expression and should not face imprisonment for doing so.
"Accusing her of belonging to a criminal organization is also extremely worrying, since under (ousted president Zine El Abidine) Ben Ali such charges were used to crack down on peaceful political opponents," the rights group added.
Sboui sparked a scandal in March -- and also a wave of international support -- after posting topless pictures of herself on Facebook, drawing threats from Tunisia's radical Islamists.
Her mother, whom the young woman accused of holding her in captivity, later said her daughter suffers from chronic depression.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Sboui sparked a scandal in March -- and also a wave of international support -- after posting topless pictures of herself on Facebook, drawing threats from Tunisia's radical Islamists.
#2
De-Boob them, let them show the scars.
(They won't)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/01/2013 13:23 Comments ||
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#3
Amnesty International on Friday called for Sboui to be released immediately, saying she was being investigated for exercising her right to freedom of expression
Apparently 'respecting other cultures' is optional.
[Ynet] Local population in Africa's No. 1 oil producer appears to have had enough of being caught in crossfire of Islamist rebellion that has killed thousands
Nuradin Mohammed used to resent and fear the troops who swept past his fish stall in this northeast Nigeria ... a particularly crimson stretch of Islam's bloody border... n city on the trail of Islamist snuffies Boko Haram
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... 's King Abdullah traveled to Morocco on Friday for an "official visit", state news agency SPA reported, refuting rumors that the octogenarian monarch's health was deteriorating. Guess he's not dead yet. It won't be long now.
The king, who was born in 1924, has spent time in Morocco recovering after operations in recent years.
But SPA published pictures showing princes and officials greeting the king at Jeddah airport before his departure for Morocco, where the royal family has properties in Casablanca and the southwestern port of Agadir.
The report challenged rumors in the media that the ageing monarch's health had deteriorated seriously.
King Abdullah is still having difficulty walking after two operations in October 2011 and November 2012 to correct a "ligamentary slackening" in the upper back.
Doctors discharged him from hospital in December last year.
The king's age and his hospitalizations regularly give rise to rumors about the future leadership of the conservative Moslem kingdom, the world top oil exporter and a key player in the Middle East.
His half-brother Prince Salman, born in 1935, was named crown prince in June last year after the death of Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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[An Nahar] The second suspect in the murder of a British soldier in London last week was released from hospital on Friday and taken into custody, Scotland Yard said.
Michael Adebolajo, 28, who was shot and injured by police in the incident on May 22, faces questioning over the killing of Lee Rigby and the attempted murder of a police officer, the force said in a statement.
Fellow suspect Michael Adebowale, 22, was also shot at the scene and was discharged from hospital on Tuesday, before being charged the following day over the killing.
Police investigating the soldier's murder also on Friday tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! two men on suspicion of being involved in the supply of illegal firearms, Scotland Yard said.
A 42-year-old man was arrested in north London and a 46-year-old man was arrested in east London this afternoon and were both being questioned.
Searches of two houses are still underway, police said.
They were the eleventh and twelfth people arrested as part of the probe into Rigby's murder, which is being investigated by Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism branch.
Of the other people arrested, two women were released without charge and six men accused of conspiracy to murder are out on bail.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Out on Bail?
Be sure to lock the Borders, or they'll vanish.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/01/2013 13:03 Comments ||
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[Ynet] Venezuela's government has launched three surveillance drones equipped with small cameras as part of an initiative to curb drug trafficking.
President Nicolas Maduro says the drones were built with help from Iran and will be used to monitor Venezuela's borders. Venezuela is a major drug trafficking hub.
So we can assume Iran has such things as well.
A small drone with a camera is no big deal: essentially a souped-up model airplane with more sophisticated radio control. That technology has been around for a while.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#2
In the mid-sixties, our middle school Model Rocket Club had one of the Estes models with a small camera in the second stage nosecone. When the stage ejected the nose, the camera was triggered by the chute deployment and took a single photo on a small negative. As we had a darkroom at school (with all those nifty chemicals that they actually let us use!), we could all look at the photo later the same day. It was a great learning experience and pretty cool for a 12-14 year old.
Our High School R/C club still had vacuum tube transmitters & receivers for the rather large Aero and Sopwith models we flew. Any one of them could probably have housed and carried a Pentax 35mm or B&H 8mm if we wanted, but developing the 8mm would have been pretty expensive, even had we pooled our paper delivery money. Advancing the film of the 35mm would have been problematic too, as no $$ for motor drives.
We would have loved and utilized the heck out of the digital age, had we known.
These guys are certainly not doing anything new.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/01/2013 8:02 Comments ||
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#3
Yur talking to muh soul Mullah, CamRoc well, rocked. Round negatives and massive anticipation. Good times, good times.
President Park Geun-hye will urge the Chinese government to protect North Korean defectors hiding out in China when she visits Beijing next month, a high-ranking government official said Thursday. The move follows the cloak-and-dagger extraction of nine young North Korean refugees from Laos via China by North Korean agents.
"We are looking into adding the issue to the agenda" for Park's meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, the official said.
The summit takes place at the end of June.
In an interview with the Washington Post during her visit to the U.S. early this month, Park said North Korean defectors should not be repatriated to the repressive country and her government hopes China will send them to Seoul.
When 31 North Koreans who defected to China faced deportation back to the North in February of last year, Park wrote to then-Chinese President Hu Jintao urging him to treat them humanely.
But the government does not blame China for the fate of the nine defectors, since they were deported from Laos and merely transited through Kunming and Beijing on valid visas on their way back to North Korea.
"They stayed in China for such a short time that it is unclear whether China assisted in their trip back to the North," a Cheong Wa Dae official said. "We can't raise this particular incident during the summit."
Instead, the Foreign Ministry lodged an official complaint with Laos for deporting the nine North Koreans. Another Cheong Wa Dae official said Seoul is looking into why North Korea went to such lengths to bring back the defectors, who had taken an established and relatively safe refugee trail via Laos to seek freedom in South Korea.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Keep them well and when we succede, we'll take care of them.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/01/2013 13:15 Comments ||
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A long-running hunger strike by detainees at Guantanamo has worsened since Barack Obama promised action to close the controversial prison camp in a landmark speech last Thursday.
On the eve of Obama's address, there were 103 prisoners on hunger strike, with 31 being force-fed by military authorities and one in hospital. Since then, not a single prisoner has stopped their strike, and now 36 of the detainees are being force-fed to keep them alive, with five of them being hospitalised.
The point of a hunger strike is to get ordinary people to care about the 'noble courage' of a person who starves himself to death, and to make the authorities look inhumane by not meeting the demands of the prisoner.
The solution is simple: put the onus back on the prisoner.
Serve three meals a day: fresh, properly prepared, and meeting the requirements of the prisoner's religious faith. Indeed, I'd ensure that the food was mouth-watering, flavorful and aromatic. If they eat, fine. If they don't, retrieve the tray after an hour. Make clear that under no circumstances will we acquiesce to their political demands, and also make clear that under no circumstances will we save them from themselves. If they wish to starve to death they may do so without interference.
Cynical? Yes. Cold? Yes. Effective? You bet. It would take a brave prisoner indeed to be the second one to starve to death after seeing how little the death of the first one moved me.
In telephones calls and letters to their legal representatives, detainees have also described a regime of intimidating body searches and other restrictions they say are designed to prevent them from talking to their lawyers and also to break their resolve.
Ah, the tricks of the prison guards. They should compare and contrast to, say, a Turkish prison...
However, it seems that the hunger strike is showing no signs of ending, despite several promises made by Obama to shutter the camp and release many of those who have been held there without charge for more than a decade. "The numbers of strikers are not moving downwards. Nothing has changed," said Carlos Warner, a lawyer for several detainees.
Of course not. They think they're winning.
Others who work with the detainees said they feared the media spotlight would move on from the issue, despite the fact that nothing concrete has yet emerged from Obama's speech.
The usual state of affairs, as it turns out...
"The hunger strike is the only reason we are talking about Guantanamo. It would be a terrible mistake by the administration to think that they have dealt with this with one speech," said Omar Farah, a lawyer at the Centre for Constitutional Rights
...a communist front organization...
which works with numerous prisoners who are striking.
Obama has now promised a series of measures at Guantanamo, including the lifting of a moratorium on releasing detainees to Yemen, a plan to appoint a senior official to the task of overseeing transfers, the trying those to be charged in the future within the civilian justice system, and the moving of military tribunals to US soil.
In his speech, the president also referenced the strike and portrayed Guantanamo as a moral wrong that needed to be corrected, in accord with American values and to stop harming the country's image abroad.
The only people who think ill of us because of Gitmo are the people who already think ill of us. Closing Gitmo won't fix any of that, it will just demonstrate that we are weak and callow.
There are 166 prisoners currently at the base and 86 of them have been cleared for release, though US security concerns have meant there has been little recent movement to send any prisoners to their home countries or other states willing to take them. Of those 86, 56 are from Yemen, who will now theoretically benefit from the lifting of restrictions on transfers to that country.
How many of the 56 will refrain from being hard boyz once on the ground in Yemen? And how many will get whacked by the security forces there in the first three months? This assumes that none of them are Houthis and go to Syria to fight and be whacked...
But lawyers and human rights activists have said that they need to see firm steps taken after the speech. They point out that Obama first promised to close the base in 2008 and has repeated his desire to do so with the help of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives -- something that many leading figures in the GOP have vowed to stop.
If this latest push fails, some observers say, the impact on the hunger striking prisoners' morale could be catastrophic.
The heart [urp] bleeds...
"In many ways, the most dangerous thing for these prisoners is to offer them hope," said Clive Stafford Smith, a British lawyer at the group Reprieve who works with numerous inmates, including the sole Briton in the camp, Shaker Aamer.
Smith and other lawyers also described harsh regime in the base, including intense body searches of prisoners seeking to make phone calls. Smith said that this appeared designed to intimidate inmates from communicating with the outside world. He reported that of the last six phone calls he had tried to place to clients, four of them had been rejected because detainees had not wanted to go through the process. Warner also said he had had recent difficulty communicating with his clients.
In a statement, Smith reported Aamer as telling him last Friday: "To describe you the humiliation ... they tossed me around like a burger. Flat on my back. They started dressing me with small-size underwear."
Did he talk in a high, squeaky voice? I'll bet it wasn't quite that tight...
Other detainees have made allegations that their genitals are touched during the searches and even that they have been subject to body cavity searches.
Ah, so we've hired the TSA to guard them!
"Our private parts are checked and they know is a sensitive matter for us and our religion," said Syrian detainee Abu Wael in a statement passed to the Guardian.
Wael has now filed legal papers alleging a deliberate policy of using the searches as a method of intimidation. In documents sent to a Washington DC court, he stated: "The primary manner in which this has been done has been by instituting a new search protocol that exploits the prisoners' well-known phobia when it comes to anything that might be construed as sexual contact."
The prisoners' well-known phobia? Isn't that a phobia for most of us?
That has been denied by the US military, who say searches are routinely carried out any time a prisoner moves within the camp. "We conduct detention operations in a safe, humane, legal and transparent manner. Any allegations that we are conducting strip searches and cavity searches as a condition of legal phone calls are nonsense," said spokesman Colonel Samuel House.
However, there is little doubt that the strike has been a PR disaster for the Obama administration -- highlighting both its failure to fulfil campaign promises and the conditions at the camp, where scores of men are held indefinitely without charge or prospect of release.
Far better to take the Bush approach: we're jugging them until we're sure they'll behave, and it's up to them to convince us.
That has been heightened by harrowing accounts of the reality of the mass force-feeding that is now being carried out on dozens of the protesters by a military medical team rushed to Cuba to deal with the crisis.
"Sometimes the person on hunger strike vomits as a result of this, which is painful. This happened to me several times when the [feeding] tube goes down from the nose to the throat and strikes the tongue," said Yemeni detainee Samir Mukbel in another statement obtained by Stafford Smith.
Yep. A nasogastric tube is no fun. You could always eat, Samir...
Others have talked of the impact that a prolonged hunger strike has on their health.
Outstanding command of the obvious, these lads...
Pakistani detainee Ahmed Rabbani claimed he weighed just 107lbs -- down from 167lbs before the strike. "I vomit and cough blood ... I have often thought of smashing my head against the wall and cracking it because of [severe pain]," he said.
We're not stopping you...
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, if we'd been able to enforce the Geneva Conventions about illegal combatants several years ago, we wouldn't have this problem. Or any detainees at Gitmo.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
06/01/2013 0:33 Comments ||
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#2
The guards should just barbecue ribs and slow cook pork near them with a constant picnic.,.,,,
#4
Pakistani detainee Ahmed Rabbani claimed he weighed just 107lbs -- down from 167lbs before the strike. "I vomit and cough blood ... I have often thought of smashing my head against the wall and cracking it because of [severe pain]," he said.
Hold off on the "head smashing" until you get down to 104 lbs, thence limit the smashing to one or two per day with water.
#6
Anybody who survives over two months, either has a supplimental "Food" source, or is otherwise cheating, no Patience with them, they want to die in prison, don't attack America.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/01/2013 13:12 Comments ||
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Speaking at The Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., May 29, Amos said he is convinced that the U.S. military during the next two decades will be just as busy as it has been during the past 12 years of war. When asked to forecast the Marine Corps future missions, Amos said, I see much of what were going through right now. I dont see any of it waning away. I dont see major theater wars. I see thorny, difficult, challenging, human intensive not necessarily technology intensive conflicts.
Amos cited the crisis in Syria, the activities of Lebanons Islamist group Hezbollah, developments in Iran, Iraq, Mali and North Korea as potentially requiring U.S. armed intervention over the coming years. Extremist groups continue to threaten the United States, Amos added. We may think we are done with them. But they are not necessarily done with us. The nation might be inclined to cut military spending, but You cant ignore the world I just described, Amos said. You cant turn your back on it.
Amos vision of the future echoes the views of other military leaders who believe the post-Afghanistan era will be one of perpetual war. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, has said the military expects to be on a permanent war footing. Defense officials do not see the end of the Afghanistan war as the beginning of a peaceful era. The military chiefs worldviews, while not diametrically opposed to the one Obama laid out May 23, illustrate the challenge the administration faces as it tries to reshape national security priorities and comply with congressionally mandated budget cuts.
Framing the debate over the future missions of the U.S. military is a defense budget crunch that will squeeze all branches of the armed services. Amos acknowledged that mandatory budget cuts, known as sequestration, are real, and not likely to go away. Nonetheless, he said, it is important for the military to maintain its global presence. The Marine Corps, for instance, will downsize from 202,000 to 182,000. It plans to redeploy forces that are currently in Afghanistan to the Asia-Pacific region. How that will be accomplished with less money remains to be seen. Analysts have criticized Pentagon officials for being unrealistic about what they can afford to do in the future.
Amos said budget cuts will have real impact, but at the same time, there are engagement responsibilities our nation needs to acknowledge, he said. I am not in denial on sequestration [but] we do have global responsibilities."
#2
For those who only have memory, but no history, the military was actively employed pretty much continuously on the frontier from the inception of the republic till the late 1880s.
#4
In fact, Mohammed predicts (and advocates) war with the unbelievers until all are converted. That is why an Islamic country can never be at peace with a Christian one: there can only be hudnas (truces for a specific length of time).
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
06/01/2013 16:32 Comments ||
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#5
Only the dead have seen the end of war
-attributed to Plato, but unconfirmed
Peace is that glorious time every body stands around and reloads.
-attributed to T. Jefferson, but unconfirmed
P2K, I am in the middle of watching The Indian Wars. Quite a deal.
#6
I am convinced that there is a "global war of annihilation" ongoing between Islam, and everything that isn't Islam - and that war will go on until its ultimate conclusion: until one side is annihilated.
Unfortunately, only one side of that existential battle is fighting like they mean it. Even as backward as the Islamic side is, as the only side fighting for keeps, it is starting to look like they may end up being the last side standing.
I choose the word/concept "annihilation" carefully - because I think we are talking about a binary choice - and one with total extermination for the losing side.
The ignorant will chortle "there are 1.6 billion Muslims (or whatever the number), and we couldn't possibly kill them all ..." to which I reply "Sure you can; one at a time, in small groups, in large masses, with bullets, with disease, with clubs, with knives, with carpet bombing, with napalm, with nuclear strikes, etc. It will take a while, but we have the rest of our eternity to proceed with this grisly task, and the sooner we get started, the sooner that the pestilence of Islam will be wiped from the earth. As they say 'A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step'".
Battles of annihilation are not situations in which to take half-measures. We need to fight like we mean it. And - the first/best way to fight is to first inspire Shias and Sunnis to go after each others' throats - human wave attacks into machine guns are ideal - and (thankfully) those two barbarian beliefs are happy to slaughter each other wholesale, at the drop of a hat. Supply arms and ammunition to both sides - and let them mow each other down. When one side is wiped out in a given theater of conflict, we should provide transport to move the victors to a new theater of conflict.
My fondest dream would be to run a global recruiting program for Islamic terrorist, to whit: Join our jihad now. Sign up, and we will send you to Afghanistan (or the wastes of Somalia, or similar). You will fly first class. You will be picked up and moved to the training site in air-conditioned limos, with a favorite meal of your choice en route. We will issue you with a gold-plated AK-47 or RPG - your choice. At the training site, you will be housed in a grand, circular encampment, in an air-conditioned, first-class tent city. And - when the training center is full, there will be a grand prayer service at dawn, at you will have the honor of watching - far overhead - a flight of B52 Stratofortresses making their final approach for a nuclear bombing run to deliver this entire "graduating" class of jihadi wannabees to their eternal paradise.
Amina Ismail, a former Egyptian reporter who somehow got credentialed by the Secret Service to cover the White House as a "special correspondent" for the liberal McClatchy Newspapers. Ismail formerly worked in Cairo for a pro-Muslim Brotherhood rag called Al-Masry Al-Youm, where she wrote anti-American propaganda.
Hina Shamsi, head of the ACLU's National Security Project and a regular on MSNBC and other media. Shamsi and her stable of Muslim lawyers have even defended 9/11 co-conspirator Anwar Awlaki in a campaign to save the al-Qaida leader from drone targeting
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, formerly Canadian spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which the Justice Department lists as a Brotherhood and Hamas front and an unindicted terrorist co-conspirator. She has written anti-Israel, pro-Brotherhood pieces for the Associated Press.
Sharaf Mowjood, a former CAIR government-relations coordinator who has written or produced pro-Islamist pieces for the New York Times, ABC News and NBC News, where he works as an associate producer.
[FoxNews] It was the B.O. regime that sealed the fate of the Pak doctor jugged Please don't kill me! for helping nail Osama Bin Laden, by divulging key details after the fact and dooming any chance Shakil Afridi's cover story could win his freedom, according to a confidential Pak report.
When former Secretary of Defense and ex-CIA Director Leon Panetta ...current SecDef, previously Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Panetta served as President Bill Clinton's White House Chief of Staff from 1994 to 1997 and was a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993.... publicly acknowledged Afridi's role in the ruse which helped the CIA pinpoint Bin Laden's presence in an Abbottabad ... A pleasant city located only 30 convenient miles from Islamabad. The city is noted for its nice weather and good schools. It is the site of Pakistain's military academy, which was within comfortable walking distance of the residence of the late Osama bin Laden.... compound, any chance that Pak authorities could help him get out of the country vanished, according to what some have called Pakistain's version of the 9/11 Commission, a 357-page report from an independent body set up to probe the aftermath of the 2011 raid by Navy SEALs in which the Al Qaeda leader was killed.
"The statement by the U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta, who was the CIA Director when May 2 happened, confirming the role of Dr. Afridi in making the U.S. liquidation mission a success, rendered much of what Afridi told the Commission very questionable if not outright lies," states the report, which has not been released, but which FoxNews.com has viewed.
#1
Dr. Afridi is part of the PAK government and administration drama. There had to be a treacherous Pakistani goat. Afridi is the goat. Panetta simply put him first page, above the fold.
The poor darling. And after he devoted his life to the cause, too.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's new National Assembly will be sworn in on Saturday, completing the country's first ever democratic transition of power, but for President Asif Ali Zardari the political future looks bleak.
Pakistan's 65-year history has been punctuated by three periods of military rule and Zardari was credited with steering the country to its democratic milestone by holding together the fractious coalition government led by his Pakistan People's Party (PPP) for its full five-year term.
But the PPP was routed at the polls, blamed by voters for five years of apathy and drift which saw crippling power shortages worsen and militancy continue almost unabated.
Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) romped to victory and will command 186 of the 342 seats in the new assembly, giving it significant leverage to oust Zardari from the president's house when his term expires in September.
The president is chosen by an electoral college comprising the National Assembly, Senate and four provincial assemblies.
In the run-up to the May 11 election there had been suggestions the PML-N would allow Zardari, the widower of PPP icon Benazir Bhutto, to stay on in return for his party's cooperation in the lower house.
But analyst Imtiaz Gul said that while the PML-N was unlikely to seek an immediate confrontation with Zardari, his days in the top job were numbered. Veteran PML-N leader Sartaj Aziz has been tipped as a possible replacement.
"Based on past experiences, PML-N is likely to let Zardari complete his term rather than gunning for him or forcing him out of his office prematurely," Gul said. But he added: "Zardari's future as president has become bleak following routing of his party in the election".
Sharif will be sworn in as prime minister for an unprecedented third term on Wednesday. During his two previous administrations he earned a reputation for hotheadedness and pugnacity.
And got tossed both times by a general...
But the problems facing his new government are enormous -- a failing economy, endless power cuts and rampant militancy -- and analysts say the 63-year-old is likely to seek a more conciliatory path.
"With ample challenges and limited resources at their disposal, the government will have to play cool with the opposition by avoiding any confrontation and focusing more on the economy," said political commentator Hasan Askari.
Another key question is how Sharif will handle the Pakistani Taleban. He had mooted the idea of talks with the militants but on Thursday they withdrew their offer of dialogue after their number two was killed in a US drone strike.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
And he looks a tad depressed by the news of his bleak political future.... He has taken to wearing a doily on his head.
[IsraelTimes] Amid heightened tensions with Syria, PM concludes nationwide chemical defense drill by ordering ministries to equip 100% of residents with protective kits.
Only 58% percent of Israelis have gas masks, and it is estimated that it will take NIS 1.3 billion (some $350 million) to cover the rest of the population. In addition, it will cost NIS 300 million (some $80 million) annually to maintain the kits.
Facing the threat of thousands of enemy rockets, Israel's home front is more vulnerable than ever, Netanyahu added at the meeting.
"We are deep in the era of missiles that are aimed at civilian population areas," Netanyahu said during a meeting of the Emergency Economy Committee. "We must prepare defensively and offensively for the new era of warfare. The state of Israel is the most threatened state in the world. Around us are tens of thousands of missiles and rockets that could hit our home front."
Netanyahu said that November's Operation Pillar of Defense, during which Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason,gunnies fired hundreds of rockets from Gazoo at Israeli civilian areas, was a small example of the change in the nature of the threats Israel faces.
In addition to training the military and emergency services, the three-day exercise also sought to prepare the civilian population. Air-raid sirens sounded twice, drilling the civilian population in finding shelter at home, work and school.
The prime minister explained that maintaining high public morale was a key element of national security.
"Defensive preparations, first of all, mean preparing the spirit of the nation to be steadfast in order to allow the military to strike the enemy that wants to destroy us," Netanyahu said. "It is important to maintain functional continuity in the home front that is under fire. The Israeli home front is more accessible to the enemy than it has been.
"Defense demands many resources and this requires a change in our national priorities, including legislative changes," Netanyahu added in an apparent reference to ongoing political turmoil surrounding a universal draft law that would induct ultra-Orthodox youth into the army.
"It is the responsibility of government ministries to work together and see to it that the vital enterprises under their purview continue to operate even in emergencies in order to create functional continuity in time of emergency," said Home Front Defense Minister Gilad Erdan.
The Emergency Economy Committee, led by Erdan, is composed of the director-generals of all government ministries, as well as representatives of other business and industry organizations. The committee is tasked with evaluating and ensuring the functional continuity of the economy and government ministries in times of emergency.
[An Nahar] The United Nations ...a formerly good idea gone bad... Security Council on Friday added the Syrian myrmidon group Al-Nusra Front to its global sanctions list because of its links to al-Qaeda.
The group, a feared force battling Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Leveler of Latakia... , is now subject to an international asset freeze and arms embargo, according to an announcement made by the Security Council's al-Qaeda Sanctions Committee.
La Belle France and Britannia jointly sought Al-Nusra's designation after blocking a demand by the Syrian government.
Al-Nusra leader Abu Mohammed al-Jawlani last month pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri ... Formerly second in command of al-Qaeda, now the head cheese, 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... , confirming suspicions of ties between the rebel group and the myrmidon group founded by the late the late Osama bin Laden ... who doesn't live anywhere anymore... Experts have said Al-Nusra gets aid from al-Qaeda's Iraqi affiliate and the Security Council announcement specifically mentions links to al-Qaeda in Iraq.
The U.S. government designated Al-Nusra a terrorist organization last year and added al-Jawlani to its terrorist blacklist this month.
Western nations are acting against Al-Nusra in a bid to shore up moderate opponents of Assad. The 26-month old Syrian conflict has left more than 94,000 dead, according to Syrian activists.
La Belle France and Britannia welcomed the Security Council move.
The designation "underlines the clear distinction that has to be made between the democratic opposition, which has our full support and which we want to strengthen, and the terrorist element that we condemn without ambiguity," said French foreign ministry front man Philippe Lalliot in Gay Paree.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
A move Britain & France may live to regret when weapons they helped purchase are discovered in the hands of al-Nusra.
Posted by: American Delight ||
06/01/2013 5:59 Comments ||
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[An Nahar] U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Friday that Russia's planned delivery of S-300 air defense missiles to Syria is "not helpful" for efforts to convene a peace conference. Pie is "not helpful" to my waistline...
Kerry's comments at a news conference with German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle came ahead of a preparatory meeting in Geneva next week on a U.S.-Russian bid for talks to end Syria's two-year-old civil war.
"In Geneva, we will test who is serious. Are Russians serious about pushing for that? I believe they are. President (Vladimir) Putin said they are, (Foreign Minister) Sergei Lavrov has said it," Kerry said.
"Now, it is not helpful to have the S-300 transferred to the region while you are trying to organize this peace and create peace," he added.
"It is not helpful to have a lot of other ammunition and other supplies overtly going in not just from the Russians -- and they are supplying that kind of thing -- but also from the Iranians and Hizbullah."
Westerwelle expressed similar concern about the move to supply anti-aircraft missiles to Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... 's embattled regime.
"I would like to make this absolutely clear. We tell our Russian colleagues, don't endanger the conference in Geneva. The delivery of weapons to the Assad regime is totally wrong," he said.
Assad suggested this week that his government has already received the advanced air defense missiles, but on Friday, Russian media reported they had not yet been delivered.
Russia vowed to supply the missiles -- which would complicate any effort by Western countries to intervene militarily in the conflict -- after the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... lifted a ban on providing arms to Syrian rebels.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Kerry's "Not Helpful" to anything.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/01/2013 2:31 Comments ||
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#2
Actually they can be very helpful in stooping repeat of "no flight zone" a la Libia.
#3
Russia vowed to supply the missiles -- which would complicate any effort by Western countries to intervene militarily in the conflict -- after the European Union
Their plan for assistance has worked. Our plan for assistance [in Benghazi] failed.
#4
It is not helpful to have a lot of other ammunition and other supplies overtly going in not just from the Russians -- and they are supplying that kind of thing -- but also from the Iranians and Hizbullah.
Of course, theres no mention that the EU recently lifted its embargo against arming Syrian rebels. And what about the Quatari pipeline is that helpful John?
[An Nahar] The family of a U.S. woman believed to have been killed in Syria was anxiously awaiting news of her fate Friday, after reports that she was rubbed out by regime forces near the border with Turkey.
"Keep us in your prayers," Carole Mansfield told Agence La Belle France Presse as she awaited confirmation from U.S. officials that her granddaughter, Nicole Lynn Mansfield, was among three Westerners reportedly killed on Wednesday.
Mansfield, 33, grew up in Flint, Michigan and was raised a Baptist. She converted to Islam about five or six years ago and briefly married an Arab immigrant, her grandmother said.
"She was a caring person. A firm believer in what she believed in. And a giving person," Carole Mansfield said.
"If you were down and out she would have been the first to come to your rescue."
FBI agents came to Mansfield's home Thursday trying to piece together how -- or if -- her granddaughter ended up in Syria. They warned the family that the reported death was not yet confirmed, Mansfield said.
U.S. Secretary of State John F. I was in Vietnam, you know Kerry Former Senator-for-Life from Massachussetts, self-defined war hero, speaker of French, owner of a lucky hat, conqueror of Cambodia, and current Secretary of State... said Friday he could not confirm the woman's death.
"I know there were reports today of this American woman who allegedly was killed fighting for the opposition... I don't have the details as I stand here now," he told news hounds.
An FBI front man contacted by AFP on Friday declined to comment on the report.
Mansfield said she hadn't seen her granddaughter in months and had no idea that she was in Syria -- or why she would be there.
Nicole Mansfield apparently called her aunt in Cincinnati about a month ago and told her that she was out of the country but would be home "soon" and would stop by to see her when she got back.
Her 18-year-old daughter is taking the reports of her death particularly hard, while her father remains in denial, Carole Mansfield said.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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#1
Mansfield, 33, grew up in Flint, Michigan and was raised a Baptist. She converted to Islam about five or six years ago and briefly married an Arab immigrant......
President Bashar al-Assad said he will run in the leadership election scheduled for 2014 if the Syrian people want him to contest the polls, in a television interview broadcast on Thursday.
This question will be decided at the given moment... If I feel there is any need for my candidacy, and that will be decided after consulting the people, and if I feel they want my candidacy, I will not hesitate to stand, the embattled leader told Al-Manar television of Lebanons Hezbollah movement.
But if I feel that the Syrian people does not want it... I will not stand, he added.
"We're taking a poll."
"A poll?"
"Yeah. Would youse like the Boss to be president again, or would youse like us to tear down your house?"
"Umm..."
Assad said that any agreement between his regime and the opposition at the proposed Geneva-2 conference backed by Washington and Moscow would be subject to a referendum.
"Would youse like to vote yes and live, or vote no and inhale dis poison gas?"
They say they want a transitional government where the president has no role, he said, referring to calls from the opposition and Western countries for him to quit.
But, he added, the powers of the president are fixed by the constitution and the president cannot abandon his powers, the constitution does not belong to him.
But it's just a dead piece of paper...
(A change) in the referendum requires a popular referendum... if they want to talk about these matters, they will be presented during the conference (Geneva-2), and when and if we reach an agreement, we will put it to a referendum to see what the reaction of the Syrian people is. But if they are asking in advance for a change in the constitution, the president, the government cannot do that, Assad said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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[6 views]
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#1
Already had this once.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/01/2013 2:30 Comments ||
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Replacements for the ones shot down by the rebels or new target drones for the Israelis?
MOSCOW -- Russia's MiG aircraft maker said Friday it plans to sign a new agreement to ship at least 10 fighter jets to Syria, a move that comes amid international criticism of earlier Russian weapons deals with Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime.
MiG's director general, Sergei Korotkov, said a Syrian delegation was in Moscow to discuss the details of a new contract for the delivery of MiG-29 M/M2 fighters. In remarks carried by Russian news agencies, he said Syria wants to buy "more than 10" such fighters, but wouldn't give the exact number.
Formerly known as the MiG-33, the M/M2 is considered a Generation 4+ fighter. It retains the air-to-air role of the original MiG-29 but also has more advanced air-to-ground capability and can deliver precision-guided munitions. That last part is why Pencilneck would like to have them.
Russia has said it's only providing Assad with weapons intended to protect Syria from a foreign invasion, such as air defense missile systems. It has claimed it is not delivering weapons that could be used in Syria's two-year civil war, which has killed more 70,000 people and sent millions fleeing the country.
Because you would never use a MiG fighter to bomb an enemy...
A MiG spokesman wouldn't comment on Korotkov's statement, and the MiG chief could be referring to a deal the company previously negotiated with Syria that apparently has been put on hold amid the civil war.
Russian media reports say Syria placed an order a few years ago for 12 MiG-29 M/M2 fighters with an option of buying another 12. The Stockholm Peace Research Institute also has reported that Russia planned to provide Syria with 24 of the aircraft.
The MiG-29 M/M2 is an advanced version of the MiG-29 twin-engine fighter jet, which has been a mainstay of the Soviet and Russian air force since mid-1980s. Syria had about 20 fighters of the original make among scores of other Soviet- and Russian-built aircraft.
Other Russian weapons deals have apparently been put on hold during Syria's civil war, including a recent contract to deliver Yak-130 combat training jets that could also be used for ground attacks.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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[Jpost] Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is "God is Great, Death to America", Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews" ... rebels arrive to Syria through Hezbollah camps in Leb.
Yemen Shi'ite Houthi rebels are fighting alongside Syrian president Bashir al-Assad's forces in Syria according to a a report on Thursday in the London based daily Asharq Al-Awsat.
A Yemeni official told the paper that hundreds of Houthi rebels are fighting in Syria and they view the fighting there as a "holy jihad."
The source said that the fighters first travel to Hezbollah camps in Leb and then cross the border into Syria.
"The arrival of Houthi fighters in Syria coincided with the announcement of Hezbollah's involvement in the fighting alongside the Syrian regime," said the source.
He also said that the Houthis have a relationship extending back before the current civil war, as they would use Syria as "a way-station through which they traveled to Tehran and south Leb for combat training."
He also said that the Houthis have a relationship extending back before the current civil war, as they would use Syria as "a way-station through which they traveled to Tehran and south Leb for combat training."
He said they "would use Iranian documents to travel from Damascus so that Yemeni authorities would not know where they had been when they returned home."
The source added that Iran is using two Eritrea ...is run by the People's Front for Democracy and Justice (PFDJ), with about the amounts of democracy and justice you'd expect from a party with that name. National elections have been periodically scheduled and cancelled; none have ever been held in the country. The president, Isaias Afewerki, has been in office since independence in 1993 and will probably die there of old age... n islands in the Red Sea for training purposes and to store weapons for the Houthi rebels. Last week 200 Houthi fighters left Yemen to fight in Syria, according to the report.
Houthis are Shi'ite Moslems from the Zaydi branch, believing up until the 5th Imam, Zayd ibn Ali. Most Shi'ites are twelver Shia, as is that of the leadership of Iran, which believe that there were twelve divinely guided leaders (Imams), descendants from the prophet Muhammad and his daughter Fatimah and her husband Ali.
The Houthis have been fighting a rebellion from their base in northern Yemen since 2004 with a number of cease-fires and mediation attempts. Yemen's government blames Iran for arming and supporting the Houthis.
Posted by: trailing wife ||
06/01/2013 00:00 ||
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[4 views]
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#1
who cares! more of them deaf sounds like a winner all way round.
Posted by: chris ||
06/01/2013 14:46 Comments ||
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Dated 5. April, 2013, but helpful in understanding why Hizb'allah is reportedly ejecting Hamas from Lebanon.
[Jpost] 'Times' reports the Kassam Brigades have broken ties with former ally Assad, began training members of opposition in Damascus.
The military unit of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, has broken ties with former ally Syrian Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Trampler of Homs... and has begun training members of the opposition's Free Syrian Army in Damascus, The Times of London reported on Friday.
Anonymous diplomatic sources told the Times that members of the Izzadin Kassam Brigades were training Free Syrian Army units in the rebel-held neighborhoods of Yalda, Jaramana and Babbila in the Syrian capital.
"The Kassam Brigades have been training units very close to Damascus. These are specialists.
They are really good," a Western diplomat with contacts in both the Assad regime and the Syrian opposition told the London daily newspaper.
According to the Times, Hamas has been helping the rebels in digging a tunnel beneath Damascus in preparation for an attack on the city, a skill that Hamas has honed by constructing tunnels to smuggle supplies from Egypt into the Gazoo Strip.
A Paleostinian source from Leb's Ain al-Hilweh Paleostinian refugee camp reportedly said that Hamas's aid to the rebels is common knowledge, however Hamas officials have denied any affiliation with Syrian rebels.
"It's a false thing. There are no members of Izzadin Kassam or any krazed killer members of Hamas in Syria... We don't interfere in the internal problems of Syria. Our members there are normal civilians, Syrian Paleostinians, who live with their families there.
From the beginning of what has happened in Syria we rejected as a movement any involvement of any Paleostinian in the current events in Syria," the Times quoted Osama Hamdan, a leading Hamas official based in Leb as saying.
As the initially peaceful uprising in Syria turned into an armed conflict, Khaled Mashaal, Hamas's top political leader, quietly left Damascus in February last year and relocated to Qatar, reported the Times. That same month, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas 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... allegedly declared the movement's support for the Syrian opposition.
Syrian state-run media accused Mashaal of being "ungrateful and treacherous."
German paper Der Spiegel and British daily The Guardian reported in March that the Syrian rebels were also receiving training from Americans in Jordan. The training focused on use of anti-tank weaponry. It was unclear whether the report meant the American army or members of private firms. The reports stated British and French instructors and Jordanian intelligence services were also involved in the training.
Meanwhile, ...back at the desert island, Bert was realizing to his horror that he'd had only one bottle for one message, and he'd forgotten to include a return address... it has been reported that the Syrian government was sending members of its irregular militias for guerrilla combat training at a secret base in Iran in a move to bolster its armed forces drained by two years of fighting and defections.
The discreet program has been described as an open secret in some areas loyal to Assad, who is trying to crush a revolt against his family's four-decade hold on power.
Iranian officials have repeatedly denied military involvement in the Syrian conflict, saying they have only provided humanitarian aid and political support for Assad.
[Jpost] Hezbollah orders Islamist group out of Leb effective immediately.
Lebanese Shi'ite group Hezbollah has ordered Paleostinian Sunni group Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, to have its operatives leave Leb effective immediately.
A senior Hezbollah security official informed Ali Baraka, the Hamas representative in Leb, of the demand, the Middle East Online news agency reported on Thursday.
The move came because of Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, support for the Syrian rebels fighting to oust Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now... , according to the report. Both Hezbollah and Syria are allies of Iran, which provides them with financial and military support.
Baraka denied the report to Lebanese paper Aliwaa, saying Hezbollah officials in Leb were surprised by the Middle East Online story.
Abu Imad Rifai, the Islamic Jihad ...created after many members of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood decided the organization was becoming too moderate. Operations were conducted out of Egypt until 1981 when the group was exiled after the assassination of President Anwar Sadat. They worked out of Gaza until they were exiled to Lebanon in 1987, where they clove tightly to Hezbollah. In 1989 they moved to Damascus, where they remain a subsidiary of Hezbollah... representative in Leb, also stressed to the paper that Hamas remained in Leb and that no changes had been made.
Jonathan Schanzer, vice president for research at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the The Jerusalem Post from Washington, "Whether or not Hamas is being driven out of Leb is not as important as the fact that it has been minimized in the Iranian 'Axis of Resistance.'" Hamas abandoned its headquarters in Damascus last year, in a sign of tension with Iran, Hezbollah and Syria, said Schanzer. Hamas is getting far less aid from Iran now, and more from Sunni sponsors such as Qatar and Turkey, he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the pond, Gloria slowly backed away from the eight-foot bull frog. If the creature croaked she would surely be deafened... Paleostinians in the Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, southeast of Sidon, burned aid that was delivered by Hezbollah, apparently to show their displeasure with the movement's support for the Assad regime.
The spillover of the Syrian war continued on Thursday as rockets hit northern Lebanon while President Michel Suleiman was touring an army checkpoint in Arsal in northeast Lebanon. The attack wounded one person.
[IsraelTimes] Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, on Thursday denied that its members had been told by Hezbollah they were no longer welcome in Leb due to their support for rebels fighting the Syrian government.
Opposition forces reported on Thursday that Hamas representative Ali Baraka was told by Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite group, to leave the country immediately.
Baraka later told Lebanese media that members of Hamas, the terror group that rules the Gazoo Strip, intended to stay in Leb and there was to be no change in the relationship between the two organizations.
Hezbollah has sided with the forces of embattled President Bashar Assar against the rebels that seek to oust him, and reportedly has 7,000 gunnies fighting in Syria.
At the beginning of April the Times of London reported that Hamas operatives were training rebel fighters in Syria.
Hamas politburo chief Khaled Mashaal has never publicly taken sides, but in early 2012 he slipped out of Syria for Qatar, drawing an angry response from Damascus.
In February 2012, Hamas's Gazoo leader Ismail Haniyeh ...became Prime Minister after the legislative elections of 2006 which Hamas 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... openly called for support of the rebels, aligning himself alongside other Sunni groups that have struck out against the Alawite Assad and his Shiite backers.
[ForeignPolicy] Excerpts of the 11th issue of Inspire magazine, al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's propaganda rag, has leaked to the web, and focus extensively on the April 15 bombing of the Boston Marathon.
According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, which monitors jihadi web forums, the latest issue leaked when Yemeni journalist Abd al-Razzaq Al-Jamal posted excerpts of the issue to his Facebook page. The images of the issue were provded to The Cable by MEMRI.
According to MEMRI, "Al-Rimi also threatens the American people that the Boston bombings, the poisoned letters sent to the White House and two U.S. senators, and other events - regardless of who is behind them - 'prove that your security has lapsed and that the attacks against you are taking a course that nobody can control... [So] save yourselves if you care for your own skin.'"
#3
Gotta use up all those MREs from Katrina that none of the civilians wanted to eat.
REMFs
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
06/01/2013 8:07 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Read the article carefully. They've cut back one of four hot-meal shifts, not all of them: The midnight ration service known there as midrats". Things must be slow there for the fobit stringer to file this.
#5
Psychologically, midrats is probably the most important of all the meals because thats the big social time where first (shift) crew is coming off and second (shift) crew is coming on, Maxwell said."That's where you get the esprit de corps, the camaraderie. It's not just the food you're taking away, it's their social sustenance.
Social time? Must have been some other Bagram..... some other DFAC on Disney Street. I never saw it. If the guy in the field eats MRE's, the FOB wanna-be can get by on two hots per day. Forphuechssake !
#7
Midrats is the most important meal of the day. The first meal for those going on and the last meal of the day for those getting off. MREs in between is no big deal in the field if there's nothing else.
Considering the sacrifices these men have already made, and and the ones they will be called on to make in the future, refusing to furnish them with a decent meal in a secure area is nothing but a slap in the face and an insult.
Drawdown or not, failure to provide midrats is nothing more than poor planning and inexcusable lack of foresight.
Whoever it is up the chain of command who does not understand how demoralizing this kind of slight is for our troops does not deserve the rank he/she currently holds and should be replaced immediately.
#8
When I was Navy, we got to eat WW2 "C" rations (Lifeboat supplies), It was good, the only thing I couldn't eat was some "Canned Bread" they apparently seasoned it with lard, and it turned, other than that "C" rations were good eating.
Despite being 40 Plus years old.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
06/01/2013 13:00 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I believe it was called pound bread or pound cake. The scrambled eggs and ham were equally rancid.
We used to go out on patrol to the local villages and groups of hungry children would come out and beg for food. If you threw them pound bread or scramled eggs they would throw them back at you.
C-rations, LURP-rations and MREs are all pretty good for the first few days. But after about 30 days of getting by on them they all get pretty distasteful.
But that really is not the point.
If you ask a man to go out on a mission that may take his life but refuse to provied him with a hot meal before he goes out or neglect him when he comes back, just because it's an inconvient time of night or day, there is no excuse good enough for that.
Less than 1% of our pupulation has ever served in a combat zone and only a small percentage of those have ever actually been outside the secure perimiter.
There are some things in this world that most people will never ever be able to comprehend unless they have actually walked for a while in a combat veterans boots.
People who have never been in a combat situation should never ever be allowed to judge those brave and honorable men and women who currently endure or have survived those type of situations.
Regardless of the year, war or branch of service.
More than 120 U.S. lawmakers are urging Army brass to reverse a plan under which the service would stop buying Abrams tanks for three years. The collection of Republican and Democratic House members "are deeply concerned to learn that the Army has once again failed to fund production of the [Abrams] tank," they wrote in a May 21 letter to Army Secretary John McHugh.
"This decision neglects the Army's responsibility to modernize the National Guard units, and undervalues the damaging impact to the highly specialized industrial base that supports the program," states the letter.
Under a years-old plan, the Army intends to suspend buying upgraded Abrams tanks in 2016, a freeze that would last until 2019. The service wants to use the savings for other priorities, and believes sales to other nations will keep the production line running. Industry officials and lawmakers with a stake in the program aren't so sure that's the best idea.
Here's a dumb question: do we need more? We have the occasional loss during operations in Iraq, very occasional loss elsewhere, and training losses which should be very occasional indeed. I'm told the Lima plant does a great job of rebuilding them when they need it. If we don't need any more then this is just 'pork' dressed up as 'national security'...
Industry officials and lawmakers are worried that without sustained U.S. Army buys, General Dynamics would be forced to shutter the Lima, Ohio-based production line. Because highly skilled, specially trained workers would likely have to find work elsewhere, stakeholders worry about the cost of restarting the line as US defense budgets are shrinking. They often talk of a worst-case scenario under which the tank plant would never reopen. In addition to Ohio, work is conducted on the Abrams program in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Florida, according to an Army fact sheet.
The Abrams program shows how the U.S. military services and industry have become experts at spreading work on major weapon programs across the country, and thereby locking in the support of sizable numbers in Congress.
Congressional sources and analysts often say the ground service is counting on lawmakers to come up with the funds to keep American tanks rolling off the Lima line. However, that could prove difficult for 2014 since defense budget caps are in place and the 2014 Pentagon budget now would have to be cut by around $50 billion unless sequestration is addressed before Oct. 1.
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.
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan's new National Assembly will be sworn in on Saturday, completing the country's first ever democratic transition of power, but for President Asif Ali Zardari the political future looks bleak.
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Zawahiri
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
[An Nahar] The family of a U.S. woman believed to have been killed in Syria was anxiously awaiting news of her fate Friday, after reports that she was 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
Hereditary President-for-Life Bashir 
