Afghan forces have trapped up to 200 Taliban fighters in a southern village, possibly including the militia's military commander, (Mullah Dadullah?)
demanding they surrender or come under attack, Afghan officials said Monday. Afghan police and government officials said the suspected Taliban fighters were surrounded as they gathered for a meeting in the mountain village of Keshay in Uruzgan province on Saturday.
Provincial police chief Gen. Mohammad Qasim Khan said NATO troops were also involved in the siege, but NATO spokeswoman Lt. Col. Angela Billings said she had no such information. Yup.
Khan told The Associated Press that Mullah Dadullah, a close aide to Taliban supreme leader Mullah Omar, and other regional Taliban commanders were at the meeting when the village was surrounded. The security forces were still positioned around the village on Monday, he said. "We are trying to get him to surrender and to arrest these Taliban without fighting," he said. Why? Whack the whole bunch. Abdul Hadi Khalid, the deputy interior minister for security, told a security commission in parliament on Monday that it was "possible that Mullah Dadullah is among" those who were attending the meeting. He said Afghan officials had demanded that the Taliban surrender or face military action. He did not mention any deadline for negotiations. A Taliban spokesman in the south could not immediately be reached for comment. He's at the meeting, too?
Khan said the Taliban fighters had gone into hiding in villagers' homes. "Wot the...? Hey! Youse can't come in here!"
"Shuddup! Where's yer wife's clothes?"
After a winter lull in violence, Afghan, NATO and U.S.-led forces have stepped up operations in recent weeks, hoping to pre-empt a feared spring offensive by militants that threatened the already shaky grip of President Hamid Karzai's government. Killing or capturing Dadullah would be a major victory for the Afghan government and its foreign backers. A NATO airstrike killed senior Taliban commander Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani in southern Helmand province in December.
This article starring:
Abdul Hadi Khalid, the deputy interior minister for security
#6
It's worth making a surrender demand. If they surrender:
-- the Taliban cannon fodder remaining in the field realize that all that "fight to the death" rhetoric from Dadullah is BS;
-- we can interrogate Dadullah and maybe he fats out the other Talibunnies;
-- even if he doesn't, we can spread the rumor that he did, and thereby increase the enemy's FUD factor; and,
-- fewer friendly casualties that way.
Posted by: Mike ||
04/23/2007 15:13 Comments ||
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#7
If he surrenders, then we should shave his beard.
#13
How about a 1 hour interval to think it over? I do not want to see another Konduz or Mazar-e-Sharif goat rope. The enemy respects power and force. And a saturation bombing of 200 rats would send a better message than anything else. Time is NOT on our side in these situations.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
04/23/2007 15:54 Comments ||
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#14
"Abdullah, my brother! Fancy meeting you here!"
"Mahmoud, my old friend. Why are you here with the traitors and the forces of the Great Satan?"
"Oh, them? Why, I'm not really with them at all, Abdullah. It's just a way for me to steal back the millions that the Great Satan has taken from the Islamic peoples."
"Ah, I see. So, Mahmoud, you're not here to arrest me or demand I surrender?"
"Me, old friend? Of course not! You there, minion of Satan! Yes, you! This is my old friend Abdulla al Waziri al Mohammed al Dubari. He is an old friend of mine and you can trust him. He is not Talibani, no, sir. Let him pass."
"Thank you, Mahmoud. I trust we will see you at the meeting this weekend? Perhaps together we can behead an infidel spy?"
"Of, course, Abdullah, my brother. I will be at the meeting and I'm sure we can find an infidel spy to behead. Perhaps that old baker down in the village of al Dakira?"
"Oh, yes, he would make an excellent choice! Until this weekend then?"
ISLAMABAD - Pakistan hopes that a meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and his Afghan counterpart Hamid Karzai in Turkey next week will help snooker the Afghans clear up misunderstandings, the foreign office said Monday.
The two key allies of the US-led war on terror have been at loggerheads for months over Kabuls claims that Islamabad is either failing to tackle or is actively fostering a growing Taleban insurgency. It is always useful to maintain dialogue, foreign office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said at a weekly briefing when asked what Pakistans aims were from the meeting due on April 29.
Aslam said statements from Afghanistan reflect a lack of understanding about Pakistan and our policy and what we are doing to ensure that there is no cross-border movement by undesirable elements.
Pakistan says it has 80,000 troops stationed on the frontier with Afghanistan to stop insurgents crossing and that pro-government tribesmen recently killed 300 foreign militants in the region.
But Pakistans plans to fence part of the border have angered Afghanistan. On Thursday Kabul said its troops had torn down some fencing and clashed with Pakistani soldiers. So if Afghanistan is having a problem with Islamist gunmen crossing from Pakiland, and the Paks start putting up a fence to help make them stop, isn't that in Afghanistan's best interest? Why tear it down? Think I'm missing some part of this story...
Afghanistan doesn't accept the Durrand line as the border. Neither does Pakland, except when they think it's in their interest. The Paks are building the fence in what the Afghans regard as their back yard.
#2
Pak elites are very concerned about 'image' and how they are perceived by the west.
Unfortunately the very personable, whiskey drinking Generals are the same ones who use the jihadis.
Mohammed Ali Jinnah, a bacon and eggs in the morning, whiskey in the afternoon, practically atheist, westernized lawyer launched the "Direct Action day" - the first anti-hindu pogrom in support of his muslim state.
The Paks are very good at meetings. Many state department types love em. "The Paks are good old boys. The Indians are bastards" is one memorable quote.
But behind the image lies the feudal mindset.
And the mask is dropping. More and more people are seeing their true nature.
No amount of meetings will help now...
Posted by: John Frum ||
04/23/2007 17:34 Comments ||
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Two bomb blasts killed 11 people in Afghanistans eastern city of Khost on Sunday, while five Taliban fighters rebels and a policeman died in a battle elsewhere, officials said.
The deadliest explosion was caused by a suicide bomber, wearing police uniform and riding a motorcycle, who detonated his explosives in a busy meat market in Khost, provincial deputy intelligence director Mira Jan said. Ten people were killed, all of them civilians, provincial public health director Gul Mohammad Mohammadi said. Four died at the scene and six died in hospital, he said adding that more than 40 were wounded, four of whom were in coma. Police said however only five people were killed in the blast.
Security forces immediately sealed off the area, said a reporter behind the cordon. Ambulances and police vehicles carried away bodies. Officials had been on the lookout for an attacker since Saturday after a tip-off that one was in the city, Jan said. At least three of the dead were shopkeepers, he said.
Hours before the suicide attack, a bomb in a camera exploded in a shop in a central market in the city, killing one man and wounding seven, officials said. Mohammadi, the Khost health director, said wounded victims had said the blast was linked to a private argument, not the Taliban insurgency, and had followed a fight between two rival groups late on Saturday. Police said the cause of the blast was being investigated.
In the neighbouring province of Paktia meanwhile, a mob of Taliban fighters ambushed a police patrol early on Sunday, kicking off a three-hour battle, a government spokesman said. Five enemies were killed and their bodies were left at the battlefield, Din Mohammad Darwaish said. One policeman was also martyred and another was wounded.
Seven rockets were also fired at a US-led military base, Camp Salerno, north of Khost city overnight. There were no casualties reported.
Violence linked to the Taliban has steadily increased in the past few years. The growing Afghan army said however on Sunday it was in a better position to confront the violence. Now we have 46,200 soldiers and the number will increase to 64,000 by the end of the year, Defence Ministry spokesman Mohammad Zahir Azimi told reporters. The government had more than five billion dollars for its development, much of which would be spent on equipping the ground and air forces, he said. On the contrary, the enemy is in a much worse position. They have lost their hideouts, last years operations has also weakened the enemy. The enemy does not have the capacity to fight us, that is why they resort to roadside bombings or suicide attacks.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
the taliban transformation from mere ignorant, religious dictators to blind islamic, satanic murderers is almost complete.
At least 51 people were killed on Sunday as clashes between Ethiopian forces and Islamist insurgents raged in the Somali capital, bringing the toll to more than 219 after five days of fighting.
Scores of rotting corpses lay abandoned in the streets as the rival forces exchanged artillery and machinegun fire, demolishing buildings in northern and southern Mogadishu. Hundreds of terrified civilians were streaming out of the city, adding to scores of thousands who have been forced from their homes in recent weeks amid some of the worst violence in the battle-scarred port city for 15 years.
The latest deaths brought the death toll from the past five days to 219, said Sudan Ali Ahmed, head of the Elman Peace and Human Rights Organisation that tracks casualty figures. Sixty-two injured civilians were taken to hospital. As of today, we gave collected the bodies of 42 civilians and nine of the opposition (insurgents), Ahmed said.
Witnesses said the toll could be much higher as wounded and dead people lay in areas too dangerous to reach, while hospitals were being overwhelmed with casualties. Bodies are lying rotting in areas we cannot access. We are appealing to both sides to stop the fighting. This is unacceptable, the civilians are bearing the brunt, said Ahmed.
Residents said both sides were firing without regard for the consequences to civilians. We can see Ethiopian tanks firing ... towards civilian areas. They are firing indiscriminately and the mortars are landing everywhere, said Abdulkarim Ali, a resident of southern Mogadishus Gupta area.
ROE definitely looser for the Aethiops ...
The fighting is going on heavily in this area. Both sides are using machineguns and anti-aircraft guns and many people are trapped in their houses, said Mukhtar Mohamed, a resident of Fagah in northern Mogadishu. May Allah save us because He is the only one who knows when this fighting will end, he said, adding that casualties were apparently increasing in this neighbourhood and people are fleeing.
The UN says at least 321,000 people have fled Mogadishu since February. Many are camped under trees and makeshift hovels in the citys outskirts, without supplies and where disease outbreaks have been reported.
Prospects for a ceasefire were shattered last week after the Ethiopian forces refused to meet elders from Mogadishus dominant Hawiye clan until commanders of the insurgency attended. Ethiopian-backed Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi vowed to crack down on insurgents, some of whom are allegedly linked to the Al Qaeda terror network of Osama Bin Laden.
Ethiopian troops helped Somalias UN-backed transitional government to oust Islamists from Mogadishu in January. But since then fighting has steadily grown worse as insurgents and clan warlords have waged a guerrilla war. Some 1,500 African Union peacekeepers from Uganda, deployed in the seaside capital since early March, have been unable to stem the escalating violence. The Ugandans are an advance contingent of about 8,000 peacekeepers who the AU plans to deploy in Somalia. But in a blow to African unity in the face of Somalias crisis, Ethiopias archrival, Eritrea, announced its withdrawal from the east African peacemaking bloc known as the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
I hate to say it, but I think this is what Somalia (and the whole mme) need - a taste of what modern warfare is all about. The Ethiopians are fighting with tank cannon fire, APCs, machine guns, mortars, heavy artillery, and aircraft. They are destroying "safe havens" and putting a serious hurt on clans whose fighters are causing the problem. Smashing the whole clan, instead of trying just to kill the "fighters", will give the tribal leaders a very good reason to stop the fighting or lose their leadership positions. War is controlled ruthlessness to rout and destroy an enemy's will to fight. We were far too "easy" on the Iraqis, and the rabble see no reason NOT to take up arms against us. Wiping out a medium-sized city with air power may have led to a smaller number of casualties overall than playing this cat-and-mouse nonsense. The perception of power is all-important to the Arab mind. We failed to show that we were the most powerful force on the surface of this planet, and we're treated with contempt. It's a mistake that needs to be corrected.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/23/2007 14:48 Comments ||
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Law enforcers yesterday arrested at least four alleged Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants from Jhenidah, Kurigram and Rajshahi and recovered some bomb-making materials. Law enforcers yesterday arrested at least four alleged Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) militants from Jhenidah, Kurigram and Rajshahi and recovered some bomb-making materials.
Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel arrested two alleged activists of JMB raiding Ullapara of Kaliganj upazila early Saturday, our Jhenidah correspondent reports. The arrestees are: Abu Hasan, 48, an Iman of Ullapara mosque, Jakir Hossain, 25, of Kannyadah of Harinakunda upazila.
Major Hafiz of Rab-6 said acting on a tip-off they raided the house of Abu Hasan in Ullapara around 2:00am yesterday and arrested him and Jakir Hossain. They also recovered bomb-making materials including phosphorus powder, iron shrapnel and other materials including booklets on Jihad written by the now executed JMB leader Khalid Saifullah.
Meanwhile, Abu Hasan allegedly told law enforcers that Jakir came to his house as a labour and the seized materials belong to Jakir. He said he was not aware of the materials being there. Jakir claimed that he is a student of a madrasa and he is not a labour. He said a youth left the materials at the house. Kurigram police around yesterday noon arrested an alleged JMB militant Ujjal, 17, son of Khalilur Rahman of Natan Para of Raumari Bazar, a correspondent from Kurigram reports.
Meanwhile, the 13 JMB militants, who were arrested from different places of Kurigram on Saturday, were placed on a four-day remand yesterday. Police sources said they are interrogating them.
Police yesterday arrested a suspected JMB militant from Bagmara upazila in Rajshahi, our staff correspondent in Rajshahi reports. The arrestee was identified as Abdul Jalil, 36, son of Jamsed Ali of the village Hamirkutsa. He is accused in several criminal cases including murder, torture, extortion and cases filed in connection with assault on policemen, police sources claimed.
This article starring:
ABDUL JALIL
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
ABU HASAN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
JAKIR HUSEIN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
KHALID SAIFULLAH
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Major Hafiz of Rab-6
UJJAL, 17, SON OF KHALILUR RAHMAN
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Sadly, no mention is made as to whether a trip was made to the secret arms cache and the resulting wildly aimed gunfire from the evaporatorial accomplices. Maybe document recovery is as close as the accused's parlor....
SAN ANTONIO: About 100 passengers were evacuated from a plane destined for Dallas after San Antonio International Airport received a bomb threat, authorities said. The airport received several calls on Saturday, saying that a bomb was in Terminal One, airport spokesman David Hebert said. At around 10:30am, a caller referred specifically to the Dallas-bound flight. Hebert declined to release the name of the airline, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The passengers were evacuated and the plane was taken to a safe zone where airport police and a canine unit found nothing during a search.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Trace the calls, arrest the caller(s), and severely question all his/their friends and relations about their activities and associations. Oh, and when convicted, in addition to, say, a year of prison time, fine the hoaxer(s) for the full cost of responding to the claim: police to track him down, the airline to land, disembark passengers and crew, search, re-embark... and the lost opportunity cost of the passengers because of the diversion, not to mention the subsequent heart attack that old man had because of the stressful situation.
A homemade bomb blew up three video and music shops in a market in Swabi, about 100 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, late on Saturday night, police said on Sunday. The blast destroyed one shop and partially damaged two others, but there were no casualties as the market was closed, said local police chief Fazal Elahi Badshah.
The blast occurred in the Gulzada Market which has some 80 shops of CDs, DVDs, tape recorders and also houses groups of bands usually hired to perform in wedding ceremonies, residents said. Islamic hardliners who say music and movies are un-Islamic have dubbed the shopping complex the Hell market, they said, adding that some shopkeepers had received warning letters in the past.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
welcome to the wonderful world of kool-aid drinking islamic murderers.
Angry protesters set fire to five security check posts, plundered several shops and exchanged fire with security forces here following the end of a two-day deadline given by Lashkar-e-Islami (LI) chief Mangal Bagh to the Frontier Corps (FC) and Khasadars to vacate seized centres of the LI.
Mangal Bagh had warned the security forces in an announcement on FM radio two days ago that the organisation would start protests if the LI centres were not vacated by 6am on Sunday. Soon after the deadline ended, several people, most of them children from various tribes, reached Bara Bazaar from Qambarabad, Shaikhan and Alhaj market and set five check posts ablaze. The protesters plundered several shops in the bazaar and also damaged government property. The security personnel fired tear gas and used batons to disperse the mob. The protesters later moved into a settled area near Bara and destroyed several music and video shops there.
During the same protests, activists of the LI set four houses of their rivals on fire while the FC managed to protect the house of Pir Saifur Rehman after a two-hour shootout. Four LI activists and a passer-by were injured in the gunbattle.
As the protesters entered Bara Bazaar, some LI activists demolished the house of Khalifa Majid Malang, a former leader of the Afridi tribe, and tried to enter Arjli Naddi Centre in Shalober, but returned after holding talks with FC and Khasadar personnel. The LI activists then demolished the nearby houses of Ansarul Islam supporters Ghani Malang and Shahbaz Khan. They also set fire to the house of another rival, Zamindar Badshah, in the Sipah area of Bara.
Meanwhile, the Malakdin Khel tribe has announced that it will not cooperate with the government until it reconstructs a demolished market and compensates the tribesmen. Addressing a press conference, Malakdin Khel supreme commander Haji Amal Gul Afridi said his tribe had cooperated with the government and complied with a notice to vacate the market without resistance, but the government destroyed the market with dynamite instead of discussing the issue with them.
This article starring:
GHANI MALANG
Ansarul Islam
Khalifa Majid Malang
Malakdin Khel supreme commander Haji Amal Gul Afridi
MANGAL BAGH
Lashkar-e-Islami
SHAHBAZ KHAN
Ansarul Islam
ZAMINDAR BADSHAH,
Ansarul Islam
Ansarul Islam
Lashkar-e-Islami
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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Via InstaPundit
Just back inside some civilized wire (Camp Fallujah) and am reading Harry Reid's declaration then track back on the war in Iraq being lost. The odd thing--is that I think there are parts of Al Anbar province where the war may be over and we just don't realize it. The following post explains.
Posted by: ed ||
04/23/2007 18:09 ||
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#1
A Marine Officer offered this thought to me, "could it be that we have won the war but are too dense to realize it?" From what I saw in Khalidiyah, I would say we are on track. Time will tell if the watchmen and IP will continue to progress and eventually choke out the jihadists. But from what I saw in my time, maybe they already have.
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Iraq's prime minister said Sunday that he has ordered a halt to the U.S. military construction of a barrier separating a Sunni enclave from surrounding Shiite areas in Baghdad after fierce criticism over the project at home. Democracy in action. Do we get credit for this?
The challenge to the U.S. initiative came as Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki began a regional tour to shore up support from mostly Sunni Arab nations for his Shiite-dominated government as sectarian violence persists despite a nearly 10-week-old security crackdown.
The U.S. military announced last week that it was building a three-mile-long and 12-foot-tall concrete wall in Azamiyah, a Sunni stronghold in northern Baghdad whose residents have often been the victims of retaliatory mortar attacks by Shiite militants following bombings usually blamed on Sunni insurgents. I've been wondering how a wall would protect against mortar attacks.
U.S. and Iraqi officials defended plans for the barrier as an effort to protect the neighborhood, but residents and Sunni leaders complained it was a form of discrimination that would isolate the community. A large protest was scheduled for Monday in the area. Great. Another large gathering, another target for terrorists.
In his first public comments on the issue, al-Maliki said Sunday that he had ordered the construction to stop.
"I oppose the building of the wall and its construction will stop," al-Maliki said during a joint news conference with the secretary-general of the Arab League. "There are other methods to protect neighborhoods, but I should point out that the goal was not to separate, but to protect." Well put.
He did not elaborate but added "this wall reminds us of other walls that prevent our brethren from terrorizing evil Joos that we reject, so I've ordered it to stop and to find other means of protection for the neighborhoods." He wasn't more specific but apparently was referring to the Berlin Wall during the Cold War and Israel's construction of a barrier in the West Bank to keep out suicide bombers.
U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Christopher Garver declined to comment on whether construction of the wall would stop, saying only that all security measures were constantly under discussion.
"We will coordinate with the Iraqi government and Iraqi commanders in order to establish effective, appropriate security measures," he said.
It was not the first time al-Maliki has flexed his political muscle in a bid to force the Americans to back down. Nor the first time he has invoked the Joos card to gain support and to appear Muslimer than thou.
In October, U.S. forces pulled down roadblocks around Baghdad's Shiite slum of Sadr City hours after al-Maliki gave the order. The prime minister was said to have feared an explosion of violence among members of the Mahdi Army that is headquartered in Sadr City and was loyal to anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr. How well did that work?
It was not immediately clear if the announcement by al-Maliki in Cairo was part of an effort to win Arab Sunni support. Al-Maliki is said to fear rising support among U.S.-allied Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan for a rumored Iraqi national salvation government led by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a favorite of Washington. Quite a mercurial and wicked stick they got there, eh al-Maliki? Just don't forget who your daddy is now.
Al-Maliki was told by key Arab leaders in Cairo on Sunday that his government needs to step up reconciliation efforts to include Sunni insurgents if he expects Arab support. Arab diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the talks, said al-Maliki was told that Arabs will link their support to a package of demands before they give him help. And the Sunnis ought to reciprocate and take advantage of that offer, too.
The Sunni Iraqi Islamic Party had denounced the wall's construction earlier Sunday.
"Isolating parts of Baghdad with barbed wire and concrete barriers will inflict social and economic damage and it will lead to more sectarian tension," it said. "This measure will harm the residents and it will have a negative impact on the areas instead of solving the problems." No whining when more die, right?
Aides to al-Sadr, who had been a key al-Maliki backer but has since withdrawn his support, also criticized the barrier as an "unacceptable" move by the United States, saying they feared Shiite areas in Baghdad like Sadr City would be next. "Hey General Petraeus, whatever shall we do with all these extra barriers we suddenly have?"
The military said in a statement earlier this week that U.S. soldiers had begun building the wall to protect the minority community on the eastern side of the Tigris River. When the wall is finished, Azamiyah will be gated and traffic control points manned by Iraqi soldiers will be the only entries, it said, stressing that the decision had been made in coordination with the Iraqis.
U.S. and Iraqi forces have long erected cement barriers around marketplaces and coalition bases and outposts in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities to prevent attacks. U.S. forces also have built huge sand barriers around towns such as Tal Afar, an insurgent stronghold near the Syrian border. Sounds like we're gettin' pretty good at it.
But many residents were alarmed by the plan, and said they had not been consulted. "This will make the whole district a prison. This is collective punishment on the residents of Azamiyah," Ahmed al-Dulaimi, a 41-year-old engineer who lives in the area, said on Saturday. Why not have several strategic openings with bomb-sniffing dogs and do a body cavity search on anyone who wants through?
#1
I've been wondering how a wall would protect against mortar attacks.
The wall itself wouldn't but choke points could help in interdicting the transportation of such weapons in and out of the enclaves that deploy them.
No whining when more die, right?
As if! Their whining will be enough to supply Seattle's street art festivals for years. All that's missing is the cheese.
Why not have several strategic openings with bomb-sniffing dogs and do a body cavity search on anyone who wants through?
That was the idea in the first place. Choke points to limit intramural festivities. Without this barrier in place, it'll be more slaughter as usual. Worst of all is that Coalition troops will undergo increased causalties that otherwise could have been avoided.
So long as we're doing all of the heavy lifting in Iraq, there needs to be a modicum of self-interest asserted in these operations. If Iraq wants to play catch-and-release with terrorist suspects that are rounded up, then we have the right to implement measures that further constrain their operations.
Until America is willing to override local concerns in order enforce measures necessary for the protection of its own troops we will not be fighting this war in an efficient fashion. Garnering the political cooperation of traitorous Islamic bastards like Maliki has little to do with our long term objectives.
#4
ME NEWS ONLINE > Baghdad Wall first of TEN similar US-proposed barriers; + SYRIA ACQUIRES C-802 MISSLE FROM IRAN. Iran's version of Chinese missle. DEBKA > up to 40 high-ranking Syrian generals on visit to Iran for talks.
WAFF.com/DEFENSENEWS > RUSSIA OFFERING SU-32/MIG-35's advanced military aircraft to prospective ME buyers. KOMMERSANT > RUSSIA'S RS-20B MISSLES TO REMAIN PART OF STRATEGIC ROCKET FORCES + Russia's new G5 STRATEGIC BOMBER.
This Email To Me, Harry, And America, Direct From A Grunt On The Front Lines Of Ramadi, Is Just Hours Old.
A view from OP Horea, Most Dangerous Spot On Earth, Downtown Ramadi. I no shit watched several terrorists die, on several different days, on this small strip of asphalt. We also took many IED strikes on it. This photo is from Corporal Rock.
Today, from Corporal Tyler Rock in an outpost in downtown Ramadi. His first sentence is in response to an email from me:
yeah i know how you feel. its going to be very weird leaving this place and going back to america. weve been here for almost an entire year and have lived in the center of it the whole time. its crazy that when we got here it was so hectic and now its calmed down so much. so it was awesome to be able to see that turn out.
yeah news worth reporting . well ramadi was once dubbed by everyone as the worst city in the world. but we have done such a great job here that all the families in the area have worked with us on driving out the insurgency and that we work directly with the IA and the IPs. the city has been cleaned up so well that the IPs do most of the patrols now and we go out with them to hand out candy and toys to the children. you can tell that the people want us here to protect them from the thugs and gangs (insurgents). granted they would rather have peace and quit but they know that if we arent here they will be thrown around by the insurgents. a good example is this one mission we did. long story short we got blown up in multiple buildings and had to run into a families house. i spent my christmas holidays covered in ash from the mortar fire and the IEDs, sleeping under a dirty rug i found in the house. everyone was sleeping way to close for comfort just to stay warm. anyways. a family was there and they obviously didnt want us there. atleast at first. the daughters were very sick so our corpsman treated them. they didnt have electricity so we got them a generator for power, they were cold so we got them gas heaters, we got them food and water and then we gave them $500. by the end of the week long visit with them we were drinking tea with them. when we left we cleaned their house better than it was when we got there. i even have pictures with the family. they told us that they liked marines and they would help us as much as they could and they gave us some information on the insurgents in the area. we ended up catching a HUGE target down the road from there house because of it.
yeah and i got a qoute for that douche harry reid. these families need us here. obviously he has never been in iraq. or atleast the area worth seeing. the parts where insurgency is rampant and the buildings are blown to pieces. we need to stay here and help rebuild. if iraq didnt want us here then why do we have IPs voluntering everyday to rebuild their cities. and working directly with us too. same with the IAs. it sucks that iraqis have more patriotism for a country that has turned to complete shit more than the people in america who drink starbucks everyday. we could leave this place and say we are sorry to the terrorists. and then we could wait for 3,000 more american civilians to die before we say hey thats not nice again. and the sad thing is after we WIN this war. people like him will say he was there for us the whole time.
and for messages back home. i have a wife back home who is going through a tough time. i just cant wait to be back home and see everyone. haha and i cant wait to go back home and get some starbucks. i love it when those people serve me. hahaha
US forces conducted air and ground strikes against a suspected meeting of Al-Qaeda militants south of Baghdad on Monday, killing 18 of them, the military said. "Coalition forces conducted air strikes on a known Al-Qaeda meeting location south of Baghdad that killed 15 terrorists," the military said. "Later in the operation, ground forces killed three terrorists loading a vehicle carrying an anti-aircraft weapon."
Seven other suspected militants believed responsible for kidnappings or helping to bring in foreign fighters were detained, the military added. The raid also uncovered several weapons caches and a second anti-aircraft gun. Another individual was detained in a separate raid north of Baghdad, near Taji.
#2
That sort of actionable intel means we have broken the code with Sunnis who are tired of AQ's indiscriminat killing. I hope this is not an isolated incident.
Baghdad 23 April (AKI) - The self proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq, which includes the al-Qaeda cell in Iraq and several insurgent groups, has announced the creation of its 'government'. Despite the fact that most of the Iraqi Sunni insurgency have refused to join the recent umbrella formation and are edging closer to the tribes involved in a tentative dialogue with the Baghdad government, the group's emir Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is uninterred undeterred. He has announced the formation of an 'executive' whose members have been introduced via the Internet in recent days in a video prepared by the groups's 'information office'. Press Release: To the Arch-Crusader Reynolds - Please include us in your blogroll!
"In this phase during which we are dealing fierce blows to the crusaders" said a spokesman for the group, with his face covered, Just like their womenfolk
"it is time to create a government of the Islamic state by naming the ministers. It is the first Islamic government that will launch anathemas [curses] against the tyrants and will conduct a Jihad for the application of Sharia law." Oh, the irony
In the video, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi is confirmed as emir or head of the group. Abu Abdel Rahman al-Falahi will deal with the Baghdad government, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, will coordinate jihadi activities as 'war minister'. Abu Uthman al-Tamimi, familiar to Islamist cybernauts for a web lecture in recent weeks on Sharia (Islamic law) and Jihad, has been named minister for application of Sharia. The other portfolios of the mock executive include public relations, internal security, oil, health, information. There is also a minister dedicated to suicide bombers and their families. The Minister Of Boom!
The names given are code-names or noms-de-guerre but tend to link each individual to one of the most important Sunni tribes in Iraq, a sign that the al-Qaeda organisation feels the need to show that it is not a foreign body in the ongoing insurgency as other groups, which shun it, would argue. Covered faces and code-named: These are the Lions of Islam.
The Islamic State of Iraq announced its creation last October and al-Baghdadi named four other militant groups as adherents and added that insurgents in 15 cities had pledged allegiance. How does one pledge allegiance to a web server?
Two suicide car bombers rammed their vehicles into an Iraqi police station in south-western Baghdad on Sunday, killing 10 people and wounding 75, police said. The attack in the mostly Shi'ite al-Bayaa neighbourhood was one of the deadliest against Iraqi security forces in the capital since a United States-backed security crackdown was launched in mid-February. Police and civilians were among the dead and wounded, police said. The blasts set several police vehicles on fire and also damaged the police station.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
How were they allowed to get that close....don't answer that I know already.
Insurgents killed 50 people in a new day of carnage in Iraq on Sunday, including 23 members of a non-Muslim minority dragged from a bus and gunned down by the roadside, security officials said. The non-Muslims from Iraqs Yazidi minority were ambushed near the main northern city of Mosul, police Brigadier General Mohammed el-Waqaa said. Workers were travelling back from a textile plant in Mosul to their home in Bashika, east of the city, he said. Several gunmen stopped the buses, chose the Yazidi among the passengers and killed them in front of everybody.
Police said a group of cars blocked the road in the Al-Nur neighbourhood in the east of the city, while others set up a cordon to protect the gang that stormed the convoy. The captives were executed on a field by the road. Three wounded Yazidis survived, officers said.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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I'm torn on this one. This incident probably centered on how a young woman Yezidi who recently converted to Islam was stoned to death for it. I suppose it's easiest to root for the side that isn't Islam. Sort of a default case.
#3
If the woman was realy killed, and I'm not convinced she was, it was an honor thing, not religion. The Yezedi espouse a far differing view of life than most Moslems. I could easily believe that the story was made up, a rumour.
The kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was abducted in the Gaza Strip last month, have demanded a ransom of at least £2.5 million, according to an unconfirmed report yesterday.
The kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was abducted in the Gaza Strip last month, has demanded a ransom of at least £2.5 million, according to an unconfirmed report yesterday.
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/23/2007 2:19 Comments ||
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#6
The BBC should be put on notice by Interpol that any attempt to pay the ransom will be construed as endeavoring to finance a known terrorist organization.
#9
I'm beginning to wonder if this whole thing was dreamed up by the BBC as a way of diverting the feckless license payers' money to the BBC's favourite cause: the Palesplodians. After all, Johnston was the only Western reporter in the whole of Gaza - a bit suspicious, methinks...
#12
This a Beeb plot to give licence payers' money to the Paleos. Pure and simple.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
04/23/2007 10:08 Comments ||
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#13
Said Mr Johnston to his 'captors': "I'll split it with you..."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
04/23/2007 10:42 Comments ||
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#14
Well at least the price is set. Now the Pali's figure out the split, which could take another six months.
And I doubt our boy Alan gets a say or a cut...
#18
I mean a normal everyday job that doesn't involve AK-47s or Semtex.
Thanks to the splodeydopes, those kinds of jobs don't exist any more. Because of the splodeydopes, what few people had any kinds of jobs (government) that did exist now don't get paid. Draw pictures of them as yappy dogs on a leash, held by Iran. That would at least be truthful. Draw them as miniature French Poodles, so the humiliation will be complete.
(Apologies in advance to JFM and a8059)
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
04/23/2007 15:22 Comments ||
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#19
Let's pay them this time but never do it again. That ought to work.
Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military arm of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement on Sunday claimed responsibility for the bombing of an Israeli military site with two mortar rounds' attacks. The raid was executed this evening on the military site of Nahal Oz, a Brigades' statement said. The operation is "a natural retaliation response against the Israeli aggression targeting our people", the movement added.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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Not a successful bomb attack, then. Merely the Aksa-niks shooting off two mortar rounds in the general direction of the IDF site. O brave Lions of Islam!
Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians, at least five of them militants, over the weekend in the most serious flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence in months. The deaths drew a threat on Sunday from a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group that heads the Palestinian coalition government, to strike back through all means of resistance.
In a raid on Sunday, Israeli troops surrounded a house in Nablus in the occupied West Bank and shot dead two members of Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in a gun battle, local residents said. An Israeli military source confirmed that troops killed the two men saying both were wanted for their involvement in planning attacks that included attempted suicide bombings in Israel.
Several hours later, Israeli forces killed a 17-year-old Palestinian near the West Bank city of Ramallah, residents said. An Israeli military spokesman said the Israeli force had been confronted by a crowd of dozens of Palestinians, some of who were holding petrol bombs and others, knives. They spotted a man about to throw a petrol bomb, fired at him and saw that he was hit, the spokesman added.
Israeli forces also killed six Palestinians three armed militants, a policeman, a 17-year-old girl near the West Bank city of Jenin and a civilian motorist with Islamic Jihad gunmen in Gaza, residents and medical officials said. The girl, Huda barghish was killed as 25 army jeeps rolled into the centre of Jenins refugee camp. The civilian, 45, was killed in an air strike, only the second in Gaza since a November truce, which the Israeli military said targeted militants who had fired makeshift rockets at the Israeli border town of Sderot.
A house in Sderot sustained a direct hit from a Qassam rocket. Two people were taken to hospital with light wounds, a spokesman for the Magen David Adom rescue services told AFP. Four other people were also treated for shock at the site.
According to an Israeli army spokesman, Palestinian militants fired three projectiles. The aircraft fired at a vehicle carrying the rocket launching cell shortly after they had fired rockets at the town of Sderot, he said. Prime Minister Ehud Olmerts spokeswoman Miri Eisin said, Israel expects the Palestinian leadership to entirely stop rocket fire from the Gaza Strip. Militants in the Gaza Strip regularly fire rockets against Israel, despite a ceasefire agreement between Palestinian groups and the Jewish state.
The latest deaths brought the overall total to 5,666 since the eruption of the current Palestinian uprising in September 2000, the vast majority of them Palestinians, according to an AFP count.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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Missile launched from Gaza neighborhood: raze the whole block.
Suspected separatist insurgents killed and attempted to behead a Buddhist man on Monday, while 17 soldiers were injured in attacks in Thailand's troubled south, police said.
The 40-year-old Buddhist was shot dead by suspected Islamic rebels as he drove his motorcycle in Yala province. His neck was deeply slashed in an apparent attempt to behead him, police said.
Rebels also staged four separate attacks in one district in Narathiwat province Sunday evening. Within two hours of a school being set on fire, insurgents injured 17 soldiers in three ambushes and bomb attacks across the district.
#1
Are any of these insurgents being killed/captured? The reporting on this subject seems to only tell one half of the score. It sounds like a re-run of Iraq where casualties are only reported on one side of the battle.
Israeli jetfighters buzzed Hizbullah's new bases in south Lebanon and the western flank of the Beqaa valley Sunday, drawing anti-aircraft fire, but no raids or hits were reported.
Local reporters said at least four Israeli jetfighters flew apparent reconnaissance missions at medium-low altitudes over the mountainous range stretching from the southern Shebaa sector to the Jezzine-Chouf region, cracking sonic booms and drawing scattered anti-aircraft fire. Some were shootin', some were cleaning their underwear.
The overflights covered a stretch of the terrain north of the Litani River in south Lebanon, to which Hizbullah was pushed after the July-August war with Israel.
Witnesses in the area told Naharnet the Israeli jetfighters dropped scarlet balloons in a protective tactic designed to deflect heat-seeking anti-aircraft missiles. No such weapons were observed, however.
Anti-aircraft rounds made white puffs of smoke in the clear sky as they exploded around the Israeli jetfighters. No hits were reported, however.
The overflights created panic in the Hizbullah-controlled villages of the Apple Province, east of the southern provincial capital of Sidon, residents told Naharnet. The good news for them is: you have to be alive to be panicked.
The Israeli move was carried out shortly before a visit to neighboring Syria by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to discuss with Damascus officials, among other topics, relations with Lebanon and the alleged smuggling of weapons to re-arm Hizbullah. How droll.
Illegal trafficking of weapons to Lebanon has been banned by U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701 which ended a 34-day war between Hizbullah and Israel last August. More drollitry
The resolution created a weapons-free zone south of the Litani River to prevent Hizbullah from staging cross-border attacks against Israel. Imagine if the UN had declared US university campi to be "weapons-free zones"!!... !!!
The party, however, has set up fortified bases north of the Litani River and in the western region of the Beqaa valley, close to the borders with Syria. Oh, well
A U.N. peacekeeping force created by resolution 1701 patrols the zone south of the Litani rover to support Lebanese army operations in the area.
#3
A U.N. French peacekeeping protection force created by resolution 1701 patrols the zone south of the Litani rover to support Lebanese army Hizbollah operations in the area.
#1
I would pay careful attention to France over the next month. Remember the situation in Spain and then look at the coming run-off elections in France between Sarkozy and Royal. Sarkozy's election would be a threat to the Islamo-fascists and the Socialist would likely be a more favorable candidate that might result in disengagement in Afghanistan.
They could possibly be planning a bombing just before the elections in that country just as they did in Spain. There are also a LOT of Iranians in France.
#2
1) It was not the bombings whno toppled trhe results of Spanish elections but the coupling between the bombings and an agitprop campaign led by the main Spanish MSM group, who happens to be in Socialist hands or more exactly into the hands of a former franquist who got many favors from the Socialists.
2) The clues who led to the oh so opportune arrest of "Islamists" just before the elections appear to have been planted in police locals. More concretly incriminating evidence or more exactly explosives suddenly pop-up at police station not one but two times between objects who werfe supposed to have been thoroughly searched for booby traps and unexploded bombs, (BTW, the Maghrebis arrested that day are probably innocent). I doubt this can happen in France where police is both less partisan and more rightwing than in France while socialsits are less right wing and unlike the Spanish socialists are real democrats (Spanish socialists created a dictatorship in 1936 and that was before the right wing insurrection and only rejected the so-called dictatorship of proletariat in the 70s.
#5
Perhaps George is trolling for anti-Arab foamers-at-the-mouth? But I have to agree with Bright Pebbles....
Posted by: Bobby ||
04/23/2007 8:59 Comments ||
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I wasnt looking forward to my colonoscopy but the doc insisted it needed to be done. Even done I'm not thrilled its something I had to go through or will have to repeat in the future. However, it bets dealing with late term undiagnosed diseases even more.
#9
"Shaking the Roman throne" sounds more like the Vatican to me....and the Iranian bank in Rome was squeezed last week with sanctions. Venting their rage on the "diplomatic solutions" may be what it takes to get serious EU attention and put an end to Muzzy madness.
#10
Danielle...I beleive the islamists generally equate the West with the "Roman throne".
And, IMHO, it will tak more than a devastating WMD attack in France or UK to wake them up. I am not sure even if an islamic army arose, took to the streets, and attempted to subue either the UK or France they would fight back. Look at the response to 1000s of car and building burnings.
#11
some of us are not looking forward to the event that precipitates the complete removal of an entire religion.
With so little chance that Islam will reform its doctrine of violent jihad, such an "event" is as inevitable as the sun rising in the east. Given this almost unavoidable fact, should al Qaeda be so idiotic as to launch yet one more atrocity, avoiding some form of overwhelming retaliation merely allows the Islamic cancer to metastasize.
#12
If they make an attack on the Vatican then the battle lines will be drawn and it will become obvious that this is a western culture vs. muzzie thing. Catholics and most Christians around the world will be enraged if the attack is significant.
If not the Vatican, the reponse will depend on the severity of the attack. The collective response all boils down to the level of threat perceived by the targeted population. Carbeques just don't get the blood flowing enough to overcome the PC/multi-culti constraints. Sadly, only lots of dead folks at one time will do it. The traitors in our midst who keep telling us to look the other way, ignore the obvious warnings and do nothing will have a great deal to answer for. Hopefully we will hold them as well as our enemies to account at that time.
#20
Dubya is entrenching + planting US/US-Allied flags all around Radical Iran - Iran is being isolated and contained, while Radical Islamism is alsolosing sway everywhere. Besides wanting nuke weapons, THE ISRAELIS OVERTLY = ANTI-US RUSSIANS COVERTLY BOTH BELIEVE IRAN = RADICAL ISLAM WILL CHOOSE TO ATTACK WHILE TRYING TO DISGUISE/PREVENT THEIR WEAKNESS = DEFEAT [DEATH THROES???] AS A MOVEMENT, ala "Caged Animal is Dangerous". Put another way, the USA = belabeled as a GREAT SATAN/DEVIL ergo Satan-Devil is stopping Islamism from spreading the word of Islamism = from fulfilling the OWG global destiny of Islamism. SATAN-DEVIL CANNOT BE ALLOWED TO WIN BECUZ THERE IS "NO COMPROMISE" BETWEEN ALLAH + DEVIL, IT IS UN-ISLAMIC = AGAINST ISLAM FOR MUSLIMS INCLUD RADICAL ISLAMISTS TO GIVE IN TO THE DEVEL, CORRECT!? HENCE, MUSLIMS = ISLAMISTS MUST FIGHT THE DEVIL EVEN IFF IT MEANS THEIR OWN DESTRUCTION.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/23/2007 00:00 ||
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Note to the Rantburg readerhip -
Something's a little wonky in the back end of the 'Burg tonight. The front end seems to be ok, but I think someone's knocking hard on the back door, Fred may have to get out the varmint gun.
If you submit an article and don't see it, or if the site and/or comments starts running slow, please be patient and check back later. Thanks and have a happy Monday.
#5
So I chose today to try my very first Rantburg post with California
bill would nix city attempts to block illegal aliens. I clicked on Submit but did not see the post. I figured I either didn't know what I was doing or maybe "they just don't like me." (I'm used to that.)
#7
If Elsa Lancheseter were to sit on that couch, . . . [shudders].
Posted by: Mike ||
04/23/2007 14:49 Comments ||
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#8
Ebbang Uluque6305, if I understand correctly all submitted articles go into the hopper until one of the moderators has a chance to look it over, getting rid of duplicate submissions and such. Oh, and anything submitted in the evening is held over to the midnight roll-over, so Rantburgers in distant time zones have a chance to see it, too.
Oh, and congratulations on trying to lose your virginity. ;-)
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.
Afghan forces have trapped up to 200 Taliban fighters in a southern village, possibly including the militia's military commander, 
Two bomb blasts killed 11 people in Afghanistans eastern city of Khost on Sunday, while five Taliban fighters rebels and a policeman died in a battle elsewhere, officials said. 
At least 51 people were killed on Sunday as clashes between Ethiopian forces and Islamist insurgents raged in the Somali capital, bringing the toll to more than 219 after five days of fighting. 
Law enforcers yesterday arrested at least four alleged 
A homemade bomb blew up three video and music shops in a market in Swabi, about 100 kilometres northeast of Peshawar, late on Saturday night, police said on Sunday. The blast destroyed one shop and partially damaged two others, but there were no casualties as the market was closed, said local police chief Fazal Elahi Badshah.
Angry protesters set fire to five security check posts, plundered several shops and exchanged fire with security forces here following the end of a two-day deadline given by 
yeah and i got a qoute for that douche harry reid. these families need us here. obviously he has never been in iraq. or atleast the area worth seeing. the parts where insurgency is rampant and the buildings are blown to pieces. we need to stay here and help rebuild. if iraq didnt want us here then why do we have IPs voluntering everyday to rebuild their cities. and working directly with us too. same with the IAs. it sucks that iraqis have more patriotism for a country that has turned to complete shit more than the people in america who drink starbucks everyday. we could leave this place and say we are sorry to the terrorists. and then we could wait for 3,000 more american civilians to die before we say hey thats not nice again. and the sad thing is after we WIN this war. people like him will say he was there for us the whole time.
Despite the fact that most of the Iraqi Sunni insurgency have refused to join the recent umbrella formation and are edging closer to the tribes involved in a tentative dialogue with the Baghdad government, the group's emir 
Two suicide car bombers rammed their vehicles into an Iraqi police station in south-western Baghdad on Sunday, killing 10 people and wounding 75, police said. The attack in the mostly Shi'ite al-Bayaa neighbourhood was one of the deadliest against Iraqi security forces in the capital since a United States-backed security crackdown was launched in mid-February. Police and civilians were among the dead and wounded, police said. The blasts set several police vehicles on fire and also damaged the police station.
Insurgents killed 50 people in a new day of carnage in Iraq on Sunday, including 23 members of a non-Muslim minority dragged from a bus and gunned down by the roadside, security officials said. The non-Muslims from Iraqs Yazidi minority were ambushed near the main northern city of Mosul, police Brigadier General Mohammed el-Waqaa said. Workers were travelling back from a textile plant in Mosul to their home in Bashika, east of the city, he said. Several gunmen stopped the buses, chose the Yazidi among the passengers and killed them in front of everybody.
The kidnappers of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston, who was abducted in the Gaza Strip last month, have demanded a ransom of at least £2.5 million, according to an unconfirmed report yesterday.
Israeli forces killed nine Palestinians, at least five of them militants, over the weekend in the most serious flare-up of Israeli-Palestinian violence in months. The deaths drew a threat on Sunday from a spokesman for Hamas, the Islamist group that heads the Palestinian coalition government, to strike back through all means of resistance.
