From the blog 'In This Dimension':
[T]he laser designators used by SpecOps only work -- they only lase the target -- when synced with an attack asset overhead...
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/02/2012
21:08 ||
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#1
Is this true? 'cause I recently read... maybe an alternate view of this las discussion....
That --- the SEALs knew there was no help coming and "painted" the enemy to get them to move the mortar.... taking time to break it down, reset, etc... etc.... thus buying as much time as an hour for escape for all.
And that lasing cost them their lives... cause they got spotted... seemingly, the mortar was a "true" hit...
#2
Unless countermeasures are available, I am not aware that the very small IR signal from a Laser Target Designator can be seen or detected by anyone. Using one of these devices for anything other than it's intended purpose (actual kinetic targeting) expends valuable battery life.
My knowledge is very dated, so if anyone has additional updates or corrections, please jump in.
#4
I read that smartphone cameras lack certain filters, which the hard boyz in Afghanistan have learned to use to visualize IR and hence spot good guy positions (can't find the link now). I don't think IR and laser wavelengths are the same, but if LTDs also emit an IR signal . . . Maybe the mortar team had a spotter with a smartphone?
#5
If you are receiving machinegun fire from the top of a building, it automatically moves to the top of the list as a mortar or indirect fires target.
#6
Random and Bosoeker,
The Taliban's use of smartphone to detect IR is dicussed by Michael Yon. LTDs DO use an IR signal.
The other interesting part of the post is its discussion of how the approval process works when an ambassador is in danger:
1) An ambassador is considered the equivelent of a 4 star general. When he is in danger everyone stops what they're doing and proceeds to rescue him.
2) The POTUS does not order people to commence rescue operations. That happens automatically. The affected commands have their contingency plans and troops on call, and they go through their preplanned tasks.
3) If the POTUS says "go ahead" the troops proceed to rescue the personnel.
4) If the POTUS DOES NOTHING the troops proceed to rescue the personnel.
5) The only way the rescue attempt can be aborted is if the POTUS gives on actual order to stand down. Apparently this had to be done several times because the troops were so anxious to go in.
6) While the SOS is culpable for events leading up to the attack, she had no chain of command role in the events of 9/11.
7) While I originally thought that simply froze when the attack happened, it appears he was actively involved PREVENTING rescue attempts from succeeding.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/02/2012 11:58
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#7
Whatever frequency of light it may be, it is designed to be picked up by something. Dust/Particulates in the air would scatter that light, creating the ability to trace back.
We are also in an era where ultra high speed video recorders are not only available to the general public, but there is a TV series where people are filmed doing mundane tasks, such as playing the drums, and reviewed.
#8
Frozen Al: I concur. POTUS would have definately had to intervene to stop (stand down) the normal security and evacuation process. Proof of that may be found in the actions of loyal soldiers of the regime such as Panetta's (early on) gag order on DoD and the Generals. Add to that the Susan Rice now infamous road tour with the Allah video story. Rice's statements compliment by the Hildebeast and Champ's lame performance at Dover AFB, the House and Senate Permanent Select Committees on Intgelligence stale lunch and wave off by Intelligence community (IC), and lastly, the DNI, the Champ and Willard, all going silent.
Perhaps what we are seeing here is what many at the Burg and elsewhere have warned of for years. We have an out of control, unlimited budget organization, which answers to no one controlling the action.
#10
Yes Glen, there are bound to be "real reasons". Obfuscating, manipulation, and lying to the Congress and the American people are not the methods which should be used to avoid disclosure.
#12
Newc,
Your article is a discussion of the CIA's "Friday document dump". It does a pretty good job of absolving the CIA. However as the article says:
What is missing from this account? Any details at all about the military or White Houses situational awareness and decision-making.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
11/02/2012 16:43
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#13
Well, This is CIA. They left the door open on CINC. It is time for the Officers that have been appointed to do something about this CINC decision.
It's time during Command and Staff to hold utter silence until the Chief cracks, and he will crack.
Hell, Hillary and He watched their Friend die on live feed and she was quite torn up about it.
That article debunked some of my questions but am hoping that I no longer have to shake the tree on this.
I would want to see good Officers tangled in this thing when it all meshes out. After all, we all swore the same Oath.
The matter is important both for the security of all staff serving overseas and contingency planning.
Sometimes with a Commander like him, it's better to just ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
#14
Would not want to see Good Officers tangled up in this. I watched Petraus choke back and deliver the Administrations line about the video, and it was far from convincing. They set him up as fall guy, but it's going to backfire, and hard.
#16
Twitter is ever more valuable by the week too TW. I'm pimping out Rantburg there. Thanks for putting up with me. I may have lost my mind if not for this forum.
#6
Harry's too radioactive! Time to move him into Yucca Mountain waste storage.
Posted by: Water Modem ||
11/02/2012 14:46
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#7
If the Donks retain a majority in the Senate, nothing stops the Trunks from backing a small group of bi-partisan oriented Senators [most likely to face reelection in 2014] to get a new Senate leader. Seen this done at the state level.
#8
If the Democrats achieve minority status in the Senate as well the House, they'll toss Mr. Reid like an unmatched old sock. No one does revenge like a bunch of formerly powerful politicians with someone to blame.
#9
Don't just want Harry demoted. Want him publicly humiliated, run out of town, prosecuted and left to rot in ignominy. I want his family name to be political poison for 100 years. I want the state of Nevada to quietly plow his childhood home into the sand and use the site to store toxic waste.
It seems only fitting that the country that created it has finally found a cure for it. The Pakistanis deserve a few Nobel Prizes all around and a tribute to the brilliant Islamic science that made it all possible.
After three months of sessions with psychologists, Islamic religious scholars and vocational counselors, Ahmed says hes cured.
I would never admire what I did 11 years ago, he said. It was a blunder on my part. I was immature, but it was my decision and I am still paying the price for it.
And the secret ingredient behind this amazing success story is money.
Participants were paid a three-month stipend of about $255. Upon graduation, they return to their hometowns and villages, where local counter-terrorism officers now check on them monthly.
The only setback so far, the official said, has been the failure to follow through on a promise of interest-free loans of about $320 to help start a small business. Provincial officials said they didnt have enough money.
The average annual income in Pakistan is $420.
The Jihadis, some of whom were paid mercenaries to begin with, made over half a years salary in three months by attending a bunch of classes for show. Some of them now have more engineering skills than they did before. All of them have more money than they did before.
And the United States diplomatic corps gets to celebrate the power of soft power when all they did was pay terrorists who were paid to be terrorists to stop being terrorists, even though theres nothing keeping the terrorists from becoming terrorists again.
Best of all, the money from the deradicalization courses was undoubtedly diverted by Pakistans intelligence and military apparatus to fund Islamic terrorism.
But lets not quibble. Money is a well-known cure for Islamic extremism. Weve been paying out money in exchange for peace in Iraq and Afghanistan for quite a while. But like most politicians, the Islamic extremists dont stay bought.
#2
Yeah, if the liberal voting plantation believes all this hokum, I've got plenty of worthless stuff to sell em. I have seen propaganda put out that is laughable because of its absurdity. There may be some rubes who actually believe this stuff: gays are going to be sterilized, old people are going to be killed by R & R, Mexicans will be sent back to Mexico, the rich (1%) are going to steal from the poor, all the free stuff is going to be taken away, the unions are going to be destroyed (although a worthy thought to ponder, it won't happen), Education, EPA, DOE, etc. will be dismantled (another worthy thought to ponder but it won't happen), the environment is going to be polluted, we are going to sucumb from global warming, women are going to be held as sexual slaves with no control over their lady parts, and on and on.
Indeed, the education system is failing us if people believe the crap that has been put out by Donk operatives. On the other hand, look at the long line of failures in the Obama administration that were sold as snake oil and so gullibly and easily accepted.
#3
I think it would be a good thing if the unemployed did go back to the fields to pick the crops, and whether they're black or not makes no difference to me. Displace the Mexicans to make room for them. If nothing else, it would help some of our fat and sedentary unemployed get in better shape.
#5
I'll take the 40 acres and a mule fields. I never felt better than I did when I was bailing hay, feeding hogs, and hoeing corn and beans. Had a nice dog and a couple of cat too! :-)
Classified United States military units are operating in the region near Libya since the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, according to the director of operations for the Pentagons Joint Staff.
The disclosure that secret U.S. military forces were dispatched to Libya recently was revealed in a letter sent Wednesday to the House Armed Services Committee by Vice Adm. Kurt Tidd, director of operations for the Pentagons Joint Staff.
Tidd said that after the attack in Benghazi, the U.S. European Command sent a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team (FAST) platoon to reinforce security at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli.
Additional classified capabilities were deployed to the region, Tidd said, in what other defense officials said was a reference to the deployment of special operations commandos.
Tidd was responding to a letter from Rep. Howard P. Buck McKeon (R., Calif.) about whether the military recommended bolstering security in Libya prior to the Sept. 11 attack that killed U.S. ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens and three other Americans.
A U.S. official would not provide details on the classified unit in the region but said it includes elite U.S. special operations commandos trained for counterterrorism missions, like the Navys Seal Team Six, known formally as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
The CIA also is said to be secretly setting up covert armed aerial drone units in the country.
Posted by: Au Auric ||
11/02/2012
10:14 ||
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#1
but shhhhh - it's a secret
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/02/2012 13:31
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#2
in a word ... GOOD! Hope they see some action :-)
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2012 13:49
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#4
The region near Libya. Is that like a quarter of a hemisphere or something?
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2012 13:51
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A U.S. official would not provide details on the classified unit in the region but said it includes elite U.S. special operations commandos trained for counterterrorism missions, like the Navy's Seal Team Six, known formally as the Naval Special Warfare Development Group.
Good. Glad we're not revealing any details on this classified unit...
#9
That's OK, Sherry. I don't care if I don't hear about it, as long as the bad guys end up dead.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/02/2012 16:07
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#10
If its THE bad boys we'll hear it on the 24 news cycle for weeks, as the peanut gallery gives a legacy to their chosen child. Ra-ra-ra. Secrecy, my eye. They'll have it carved in stone like Ramses II.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal, Nevada's largest daily newspaper, has some extremely harsh words for President Obama in a new editorial. The words come in response to President Obama's leadership in the past four years, but specifically in response to his handling of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi known to the Review-Journal as Obama's "blunder."
This administration is an embarrassment on foreign policy and incompetent at best on the economy - though a more careful analysis shows what can only be a perverse and willful attempt to destroy our prosperity. Back in January 2008, Barack Obama told the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle that under his cap-and-trade plan, "If somebody wants to build a coal-fired power plant, they can. It's just that it will bankrupt them." He added, "Under my plan ... electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket." It was also in 2008 that Mr. Obama's future Energy Secretary, Steven Chu, famously said it would be necessary to "figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe" - $9 a gallon.
Yet the president now claims he's in favor of oil development and pipelines, taking credit for increased oil production on private lands where he's powerless to block it, after he halted the Keystone XL Pipeline and oversaw a 50 percent reduction in oil leases on public lands.
These behaviors go far beyond "spin." They amount to a pack of lies. To return to office a narcissistic amateur who seeks to ride this nation's economy and international esteem to oblivion, like Slim Pickens riding the nuclear bomb to its target at the end of the movie "Dr. Strangelove," would be disastrous.
#2
As opposed to Assad's forces distribution of rainbows and glitter?
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/02/2012 8:47
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#3
When you 'lead from behind' and have no cohesive influence, once one side starts with the crap, there's nothing to inhibit the other side from matching the level of the game as established by their opponents.
#4
The UN, itself, is a crime against humanity. Humanity does a spectacular ongoing job of committing crimes against itself.
Time to rip off the Band-Aid (UN) and accept that pain is the norm...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2012 9:23
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#5
As opposed to Assad's forces distribution of rainbows and glitter?
Assad's fighting this war by WWII rules. He tells the civilian population to get out and then he pounds the area. The opposition isn't "liberating" cities like Aleppo and Damascus - it's bringing the war to those areas by occupying them instead of sticking to attacks on military outposts and looting civilian homes if the inhabitants abandon these war zones. This is probably why support for the rebels has been limited and grudging - these people are like locusts who destroy everything they touch.
#6
The whole idea of "war crime" is an oxymoron. There are no rules to war that aren't purely pragmatic.
Don't use poison gas cause your enemy will double down on it, mutually assured destruction.
The original Star Trek had a good episode where the horror of war was reintroduced to a culture where it had become a clinical bit of background noise.
War SHOULD be horrible so people will think twice about engaging in it AND so that if you do go, you go all out to win.
Thousands of Iranians chanting "Death to America" burned US flags to mark the 33rd anniversary of the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran, just days before the presidential election.
The protesters also chanted anti-British and anti-Israeli slogans, and burned Israeli flags, in front of the site of the former embassy, dubbed the "den of spies" by the officials who sponsor the commemoration every year.
At Friday's demonstration, the commander of Iran's Basij militia, Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi, said the Islamic tyranny republic will face the sanctions directly. He said, "The Iranian nation has chosen its path and will overcome the sanctions by adopting the 'economy of resistance'," he said, referring to Ayatollah Khamenei's policy toward the punitive measures.
Iranian leaders are now beginning to acknowledge the extent of the damage and denouncing what they say is an "economic war" against the Islamic tyranny republic.
Naqdi said, "Those who say that by compromising with the US, the economic situation will improve... (should know that) this is a big lie and deceit. We have declared a 10 kilo (22 pounds) in gold reward for researchers and historians, who have 10 years to prove that there is a more criminal country than America in the world... the US is the most hated among all nations."
#2
Carter should have taken the city of Qom hostage in 1979 with a nuke. A deadline should have been given for the release of the hostages. If they were not released, take out Qom. If they were harmed, then go on to the next city. I have trouble imagining Carter ever contemplating that option.
I have trouble imagining Carter ever contemplating that option.
One of Carter's conditions for a rescue mission to take place was that the rescuers only use non-lethal methods when trying to beat feet out of Tehran.
#1
Not going to happen, but I'd love to see all the "Obama phones" turned off at noon on Inauguration Day, For a start...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2012 9:34
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And let's please remember that the usual squishy RINO suspects in the Senate will take a Romney win as a signal to "embrace bipartisanship with a new fervor..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2012 9:36
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#3
Tut! I've seen bigger tits in the Rose Garden ;)
Merci, J'aime lire Francais, si je ne parle pas Francais bon.
I coudn't care less about RINOs, DINOS or blue dogs. What I car about is if my children will b e obliterated by a nuclear attack or if my daughters will have to wear burkha. Obama has done everything in his power for America losing the war against islamism. If I were American I would vote for Genghis Khan sooner than for him.
#5
how about if Pickering focuses on why members of the Libyan police detachment that were supposed to be guarding the embassy - actually had the place under hostile surveillance???
setting aside all epithets - for and against - let's get down to some proper investigation here.
#6
Ima looking around checking the polls, sniffing the streets, buying the burgers, listening to WLS... I come to the conclusions that we're pretty much doomed.
I am still optimistic in the long run since progressives need way more gas than the average voter and will change sides accordingly.
New Jersey Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez had loud sex with different women nightly in his Washington, D.C., apartment, his former neighbor told the liberal gossip website Gawker.
We lived below him, the former neighbor said, according to the website. It was outrageous. When it started, we thought it was a one-time thing. But it went on for months hours and hours of headbanging sex.
The report in the liberal Gawker comes on the heels of The Daily Callers early Thursday article about how Menendez allegedly paid two women in the Dominican Republic for sex.
The women told TheDC that Menendez agreed to pay them $500 for sex acts earlier this year, but in the end they each received only $100. The women said this happened around Easter time at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic.
Menendez spokeswoman Tricia Enright has refused to answer any questions about TheDCs initial reports: Were not going to respond to a completely false accusation, she wrote by email on Wednesday evening.
Then, after the initial report ran, Menendez spokesman Michael Soliman attacked TheDC.
It is disgusting that on a day when New Jerseyans are focused on responding to one of the worst disasters to ever hit the state, [Republican Senate candidate] Joe Kyrillos and the right-wing smear machine are peddling lies about Bob Menendez, Soliman said, according to PolitickerNJ.
Lets be clear: The accusations Kyrillos and his friends in the right-wing media are peddling are absolutely false. This unsubstantiated, untrue attack is a new low, and we hope that Kyrillos will pull his campaign out of the gutter and join us and other leaders in helping get this state back on its feet. Bob Menendez is going to continue to focus on helping New Jersey recover from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy and will not be distracted by desperate smears from a flailing campaign in the final days before an election.
Now that left-wing blogs are reporting on the senators sex life, the Menendez team is quiet. Enright has not returned TheDCs request for comment about the allegations in the Gawker article, and Gawker reported that a Menendez spokesperson ignored its request.
#1
While I don't agree with his politics Project Vote Smart would indicate he was present for duty and voted for nearly every bill. Since that's his day job, something to be said for showing up, "head banger" or no. Go for it amigo!
#8
I can't get to excited by what some neighbor says. Maybe they have some beef. Just as long as he's not screwing us. Can't say that for most of the Dems. Occasionally, some Pubs also show stupidity--most of them get drummed out of politics by the party.
[Daily Nation (Kenya)] A mother and father in Pakistain-administered Kashmire killed their 15-year-old daughter by dousing her with acid after seeing her talking to a young man, police said Thursday.
Local police officer Tahir Ayub told AFP the father, Mohammad Zafar, had suspicions about his daughter Anvu Sha and became enraged when he saw her with a boy outside their home on Monday.
"Zafar beat her up and then poured acid over her with the help of his wife. She was badly burnt but they did not take her to hospital until the next morning, and she died on Wednesday," Ayub said.
Doctor Mohammad Jahangir of the state run Kotli hospital confirmed the death, saying the girl was brought to hospital in a "very critical condition" with almost 70 percent burns.
Anvu Sha's married elder sister alerted police and demanded they investigate the incident in Khoi Ratta district, 140 kilometres (87 miles) north of the state capital Muzaffarabad.
"The parents have confessed, saying that they suspected the girl had illicit relations with a boy," Ayub said. "We have registered a murder case against the girl's father and mother."
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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[Tolo News] Kabul Bank's receivership manager on Thursday said that the efforts to auction the bank's properties as soon as possible are happening both inside and outside the country, but the asset sale is challenging.
Hamidullah Mohebbi said Kabul Bank currently holds eleven properties worth more than 119 million Emirati Dirhams (US$32.4 million) in Dubai.
Following President Karzai's order on Wednesday for urgent action of the Kabul Bank assets still pending sale, as well as the sale of the properties of its former shareholders in Dubai, Mohebbi said the receivership managers were making a serious effort for enact this order, given little had been done on these properties since the beginning of the bank's crisis two years ago.
He said that in the first step, the properties of its former shareholders in Dubai will be put into auction.
"We are putting a lot of effort into asking from Dubai Land Department for a close date, but it depends on them. They fix the auction date and the mechanism of sale according to their rules and systems. This is related to them according to the laws in Dubai. We will try our best to have it sooner," Mohebbi told TOLOnews Thursday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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A member of the Fatah movement was severely injured Thursday when unidentified gunmen shot him in a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, sources said.
The Palestinian sources identified the victim as Imad al-Saidi, who was transferred from the Ain al-Hilweh camp to a nearby hospital for treatment, DPA reported.
Pray for sepsis...
Fatah has accused the al-Qaeda-inspired group Jund al-Sham, which is based in the camp, of involvement in the shooting, raising tensions between the two groups, the sources said.
The camp's security committee said an investigation would be launched into the incident, the National News Agency reported.
"Legume! Fetch my cape, the game is afoot. And bring me my saxophone!"
The Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp, situated in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, is home to around 70,000 Palestinian refugees. Some 367,000 Palestinian refugees live in brotherly Arabic love miserable conditions in 12 camps across Lebanon.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2012
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#1
Fatah has never been the same since they lost Arafat. They need to climb a mountain, do some Zen, and contemplate their bellybuttons. This thing just isn't working for them :-)
#2
Aaaah! Where is Abu Nidal when we need him?
Nobody, but nobody fuck a muslim so good as another muslim...the fond memories of Abu Nidal...Abu used to bury his followers alive in a casket, then fill the casket with battery acid...shoot bullets down the pipe and other fun things
Damn you, Saddam, why kill him? we'd have had so much fun with Abu!!!
[Dawn] The Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. High Court on Wednesday directed Fata Secretariat to appropriately compensate families of the levies force slain personnel and other officials within a week and warned that strict action would be taken against the relevant officials in case of noncompliance.
A bench comprising acting Chief Justice Miftauddin Khan and Justice Waqar Ahmad Seth fixed for Nov 7 the next hearing into three contempt of court petitions filed by families of several personnel of levies force and an official of tribal administration in Kurram Agency ...home of an intricately interconnected web of poverty, ignorance, and religious fanaticism, where the laws of cause and effect are assumed to be suspended, conveniently located adjacent to Tora Bora... , who were killed in different acts of terrorism.
Earlier on different occasions, the court ordered payment of appropriate compensation under the shuhada package equivalent to the one paid to families of slain personnel of armed forces and police.
Deputy attorney general Muzamil Khan said the ministry of state and frontier region had released Rs120 million to Fata Secretariat for payment of compensation in accordance with the courts earlier orders. He said it was up to Fata Secretariat to pay the said compensation.
Representative of Fata Secretariat Abdul Qayyum said the secretariat had received the money and had been distributing it in accordance with the compensation policy formulated by the government in 2010. He said some compensation cases belonged to the pre-2010 period and that the relevant families had been demanding compensation in accordance with the current policy.The bench observed that Fata Secretariat had no option but to implement the court orders in the said cases in letter and spirit.
Hashim Mengal, lawyer for petitioner Maryam, said his clients husband Naseeb Shah was a peon in the tribal administration at Parachinar (Kurram Agency) and was killed in a blast on Nov 16, 2007, but until now, compensation hadnt been paid to her.
Another petition is filed by families of around 42 slain personnel of Bajaur Levies seeking compensation equivalent to that of police and armed forces. The petitioners said their family members had been killed in different acts of terrorism over the last few years but the administration had provided very nominal compensation to some families only.
They said on the directives of the high court, a summary was approved by the government wherein it was stated that the personnel of levies force would be compensated under the shuhada package on a par with that of police, but the summary awaited implementation.
Another petition of the contempt of the court is filed by widow of havaldar Gulzar Ali, who was killed in an encounter with bully boyz in Mohmand Agency ... Named for the Mohmand clan of the Sarban Pahstuns, a truculent, quarrelsome lot. In Pakistain, the Mohmands infest their eponymous Agency, metastasizing as far as the plains of Peshawar, Charsadda, and Mardan. Mohmands are also scattered throughout Pakistan in urban areas including Karachi, Lahore, and Quetta. In Afghanistan they are mainly found in Nangarhar and Kunar... on Mar 7, 2009.
The petitioner was paid compensation on the orders of the court but the compensation was not equivalent to that of the armed forces and therefore, she moved the court for orders for payment of enhanced compensation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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[Dawn] The authorities on Tuesday locked away You have the right to remain silent... head of a pro-government peace committee in Khyber Agency for his alleged involvement in kidnapping cases.
Officials said that Essa Khan, the head of peace committee, kidnapped a resident of Bajaur Agency, aka Turban Central ...Smallest of the agencies in FATA. The Agency administration is located in Khar. Bajaur is inhabited almost exclusively by Tarkani Pashtuns, which are divided into multiple bickering subtribes. Its 52 km border border with Afghanistan's Kunar Province makes it of strategic importance to Pakistain's strategic depth... some time ago and kept him in habeas corpus. They said that Essa Khan was lodged at Jamrud lockup where he would be interrogated for his involvement in illegal activities.
Essa Khan formed a peace committee with the assistance of local administration in Chora after security forces destroyed a hideout of faceless myrmidons in the area and killed a number of orcs, who had taken refuge there after fleeing upper Orakzai Agency ... crawling with holy men, home to Darra Adam Khel, the world's largest illegal arms bazaar. 14 distinct tribes of beturbanned primitives inhabit Orakzai agency's 1500 or so square kilometers... 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... a nine-year-old student was injured critically when he was hit by a stray bullet during a wedding party in Mirdadkhel area of Landi Kotal on Tuesday.
The injured boy identified as Shehzad was shifted to Beautiful Downtown Peshawar ...capital of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), administrative and economic hub for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas of Pakistan. Peshawar is situated near the eastern end of the Khyber Pass, convenient to the Pak-Afghan border. Peshawar has evolved into one of Pakistan's most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities, which means lots of gunfire. after doctors at the local hospital declared his condition critical. The local administration claims to have imposed a ban on firing in the air in Landi Kotal.
However, a hangover is the wrath of grapes... the ban was flouted by local residents as Landi Kotal and its surrounding areas reverberated with frequent bursts of Kalashnikovs and other weapons during wedding ceremonies on Eid days.
Local officials, when contacted, insisted that no one had so far lodged any complaint with them about firing in the air.
Also, curfew remained imposed in most parts of Malikdinkhel, Sipah and Shalobar areas in Bara on Wednesday as security forces continued search and cordon operation there for the fourth consecutive day.
Officials said that about 250 rustics from Sipah tribe were locked away You have the right to remain silent... during the operation from different areas. They said that all the locked away You have the right to remain silent... rustics were shifted to Fort Salop for questioning.
Security forces made announcements through loudspeakers, asking residents of Shalobar, Sipah and Malikdinkhel to remain indoors and avoid coming out of their homes.
Forces also plugged all the entry and exit routes to the areas where curfew was imposed. The imposition of curfew caused acute shortage of food and other daily use items in the region.
Local sources said that hundreds of families had gone to Bara to celebrate Eid with their relatives but they were stranded there owing to imposition of curfew and launching of search operation.
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... Al-Khidmat Foundation distributed meat of sacrificial animals among 4,000 displaced families from Bara, presently living at Jalozai camp, on the second and third days of Eidul Azha.
A blurb issued by Al-Khidmat Foundation said that a total of 733 animals including 578 sheep, 71 goats and 85 buffaloes were slaughtered at Jalozai camp on the second day of Eid.
The Foundation selected 4,000 deserving and needy families and distributed the meat among them through its workers.
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[Bangla Daily Star] An investigator of the international crimes tribunal yesterday said he had evidence that the Jamaat-e-Islami ...The Islamic Society, founded in 1941 in Lahore by Maulana Sayyid Abul Ala Maududi, aka The Great Apostosizer. The Jamaat opposed the independence of Bangladesh but has operated an independent branch there since 1975. It maintains close ties with international Mohammedan groups such as the Moslem Brotherhood. the Taliban, and al-Qaeda. The Jamaat's objectives are the establishment of a pure Islamic state, governed by Sharia law. It is distinguished by its xenophobia, and its opposition to Westernization, capitalism, socialism, secularism, and liberalist social mores... worked as an auxiliary force of the Mighty Pak Army during the Liberation War.
Additional Superintendent of Police Matiur Rahman said this when a defence counsel asked him whether he knew about any gazette issued by the Mighty Pak Army saying Al-Badr, Al-Shams, Peoples' Democratic Party, Nezam-e-Islami, Mohammedan League and Jamaat-e-Islami were its eastern command.
No, I don't have any evidence in this regard. But during my investigation I got evidence that Al-Badr, Al-Shams, Peoples' Democratic Party, Nezami Islami, Mohammedan League and Jamaat-e-Islami worked as auxiliary forces during the Liberation War, he said.
Matiur was being cross-examined in the case against Ghulam Azam filed in connection with crimes against humanity.
According to prosecution documents, the auxiliary forces, in collaboration with the Pakistain army, committed killings, genocide and other crimes against humanity during the nine-month-long war.
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[Dawn] Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Qamar Zaman Kaira on Thursday lashed out at former chief of the Inter Service Intelligence (ISI) Gen (Retd) Hamid Gul The nutty former head of Pakistain's ISI, now Godfather to Mullah Omar's Talibs and good buddy and consultant to al-Qaeda's high command... , asking his institution to take notice of his activities during his time as a serving general.
If his office, his home, and his institution were used in the formation of the Islami Jamhoori Ittehad (IJI), then he is answerable to the nation, said the minister.
No one has the right to become the security adviser of the nation himself; this is the job of the state.
Kairas comments come two days after the former ISI chief , in an interview with DawnNews, admitted responsibility for creating the IJI to allegedly prevent former prime minister Benazir Bhutto ... 11th Prime Minister of Pakistain in two non-consecutive terms from 1988 until 1990 and 1993 until 1996. She was the daughter of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, founder of the Pakistain People's Party, who was murdered at the instigation of General Ayub Khan. She was murdered in her turn by person or persons unknown while campaigning in late 2007. Suspects include, to note just a few, Baitullah Mehsud, General Pervez Musharraf, the ISI, al-Qaeda in Pakistain, and her husband, Asif Ali Zardari, who shows remarkably little curiosity about who done her in... from coming into power through the 1990 polls.
The minister said the IJI was formed to steal the mandate of the people through ulterior motives by preventing the Pakistain Peoples Party (PPP) from winning the elections.
During the interview, the former ISI chief had also alleged that Pak politicians were crooks and that if they continued to tread the path they were on, the army would also continue to intervene in the states affairs.
Kaira said Gul had created problems for the nation in the past and should refrain from issuing such irresponsible statements, advising him to be careful in his choice of diction and tone.
Pakistain has had three bloodless military coups in its history and has been ruled by four military dictators, the last being former president Pervez Perv Musharraf ... former dictator of Pakistain, who was less dictatorial and corrupt than any Pak civilian government to date ... . The powerful army and its intelligence agency have been accused of interfering in national politics and election rigging.
In a landmark ruling on Oct 19, the Supreme Court ordered legal action against former intelligence chief Asad Durrani and former army chief Mirza Aslam Beg ...occasionally incoherent retired four-star general who was the Chief of Army Staff of the Mighty Pak Army, succeeding the creepy General Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, after the latter was rubbed out died in an air crash in 1988. The general was involved up to his hairy ears in the Mehran bank scandal, shuffling millions in public money to buy or lease politicians, and is believed one of the prime movers in the sale of Pak nuclear technology to Iran. He ranks second only to Hamid Gul in the volume and flavor of his anti-Western vitriol.. over allegations of bankrolling politicians to rig the 1990 election. The verdict was announced 16 years after retired air marshal Asghar Khan originally filed the case, accusing the ISI of doling out money to a group of politicians who joined together under the IJI banner to prevent the PPP from getting elected.
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#1
I once asked a British Soldier why the IRA never targeted Iain Paisley,a staunch enemy.His response was that every time he opened his mouth he gained the IRA support.
A group of 11 suspected terrorists arrested in Indonesia in the past week for allegedly planning to attack the U.S. Embassy and other American targets is likely connected to remnants of Jemaah Islamiyah, according to Indonesia's counterterrorism head.
Ansyaad Mbai said interrogation of the group would probably show they are linked with Jemaah Islamiyah, which was al Qaeda's chief franchise in Southeast Asia and the group that carried out the Bali bombings 10 years ago. He said the group "looked new at first, but we've found that they're connected to the previous terrorist networks."
The arrests came as government forces stepped up operations on the northern island of Sulawesi. Police on Wednesday killed one suspect and arrested two others in a shootout in the Sulawesi town of Poso.
Mbai said Poso is the new front in Indonesia's fight against Islamism. Officials say militants are fomenting sectarian unrest between Muslims and Christians in Poso to destabilize the country and advance their ultimate goal of creating an Islamic nation.
Mbai said, "The center of gravity for terrorism in Indonesia is Solo [in Central Java], but Poso is used as the training grounds now. The situation is already critical. People are scared."
He said it was possible that some of the men apprehended during the past week in the plot against the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta received training in Poso. The 11 suspects were all arrested in cities on Java: Bogor, Solo and Madiun.
Indonesian police said the suspects were planning attacks on the embassy, the U.S. Consulate in Surabaya and an office of the Indonesian arm of a U.S. mining company.
Indonesian police identified the suspects as being from a little-known group called Haraqah Sunni for Indonesian Society, or Hasmi. The group targeted American interests in part for revenge following the anti-Islam video clip, that triggered protests around the Muslim world.
Amar said, "From the investigation so far, we know that one of the reasons why they will launch the act of terrorism is this movie, which they view is a blasphemy against Islam.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, in a speech on Tuesday, called on Indonesia's citizens to fight terrorism but added that the rest of the world needs to be careful about angering extremist elements. He said, "I am also calling on to the world, to countries to uphold mutual respect and be sensitive to [values] in other communities, in other nations, in other religions. Stop blasphemies."
Southeast Asia's terror situation is not confined to Indonesia. Lebanese officials last week arrested two Malaysians in Beirut on suspicion of having links with al Qaeda. Marwan Sinno, the lawyer representing the two Malaysians, said they had been accused of working for al Qaeda and planning a terrorist act in Syria.
Posted by: ryuge ||
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[Ynet] Shin Bet, police trace Gazook iron merchant that used his Israeli visa to transfer millions of dollars and iron to Hamas, always the voice of sweet reason, military wing
Gazoo resident Maher Abu Ghaba, 41, has been abusing his Israeli visa to transfer money to Hamas, apparently for years. Reportedly, Abu Ghaba has also been transferring iron to the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas' military wing, which was using the iron in the construction of tunnels and bunkers.
On Thursday, it was cleared for publication that Abu Ghaba was locked away Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! in a joint operation of the Shin Bet and the Lachish District Police.
Abu Ghaba, who has been importing and marketing iron in the Gazoo Strip, was locked away Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! at the Erez crossing on September 6, carrying NIS 114,000 (roughly $29, 400). When questioned by the Shin Bet, he confessed to transferring money and iron to Hamas. The accumulated amount of money is estimated to have reached some $3 million.
Abu Ghaba utilized many methods in his schemes, one of which was taking money that Hamas wired to his family in Egypt for his iron business and handing it over in cash to Gazook Hamas representatives.
Ever since Morsi assumed power in Egypt, Abu Ghaba confessed, money transfer has become easier, as Hamas officials would leave to Egypt through Rafah and carry the money in suitcases back to the Strip.
3,000 tons of iron found on a ship arriving from turkey
The Shin Bet, the police, customs, and the State Prosecutor ran a joint operation last month, thwarting an attempt to smuggle some 3,000 tons of iron into the Gazoo Strip. The iron, imported by Abu Ghaba, was used by Hamas to build bunkers under mosques.
The South District Attorney's Office filed an indictment in September, charging Abu Ghaba with conspiracy, support of a terror organization and funding terror. According to the indictment, Abu Ghaba imported the iron from different countries into the Ashdod Port, stored the iron in sheds in Israel and gradually transported it in trucks to the Gazoo Strip through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
Senior NCO Motti Asor, of the Southern District Police, said that "Intelligence information led us to arrest the man carrying NIS 114,000 in cash. He claimed it was payment for iron, but later confessed under questioning to have transferred $3-4 million through his brother in Egypt and another middleman."
"By purchasing iron," Asor added, "Hamas would in fact launder money. Hamas would later use the iron to build shelters and posts to prepare for war or conflict with the IDF." According to Asor, police forces unloaded 3,000 tons of iron from a ship arriving from Turkey in October, amounting to some 42 tons of iron that police intercepted and which will be confiscated.
The Shin Bet and police expressed their concern that goods, such as iron for construction, imported through Israeli ports, may make their way to the Hamas military wing.
"Abu Ghaba's arrest," an official said, "indicates that Hamas has been abusing Israel's policy of granting visas to merchants, by which traders would go into Israel on a daily basis," pointing out that Hamas can in fact smuggle goods and money into the Strip for military purposes.
According to the official, Hamas builds bunkers under mosques, presumably assuming that Israel will avoid attacking places of worship in case of war.
[Ynet] To Abbas, only important historical fact is 'grave injustice' inflicted by Jews
In 1948 Secretary General of the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... Azzam Pasha articulated the Arab recipe for long term success when he stated, "we have a secret weapon which we can use better than guns and machine guns, and this is time. As long as we do not make peace with the Zionists, the war is not over, and as long as the war is not over, there is neither a victor nor vanquished. As soon as we recognize the existence of the State of Israel, we recognize by this act that we are conquered."
Of all the Arabs, Arab-Paleostinians embraced Azzam Pasha's message and continue to follow it religiously today. Out waiting Israel is the Paleostinian strategy. It is no coincidence that the ineffectual Mahmoud Abbas ... a graduate of the prestigious unaccredited Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow with a doctorate in Holocaust Denial... ' trial balloon to see if the UN would consider upgrading the status of the Paleostinian Authority to that of a state is set to be voted on November 29th 2012. Ironically, this will happen on the same date the partition of Paleostine was voted on 65 years ago. Partition was flatly rejected by Paleostinians and their Arab cousins.
Had the Arabs accepted partition in 1947 we would not be debating these very issues today; there would have been an Arab-Paleostinian state and no refugee problem. It was on November 29th 1947 that the United Nations ...When talk is your weapon it's hard to make yourself heard over the artillery... General Assembly Resolution 181 recommended the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states. A closer look at the General Assembly's final tally in 1947 underscores the same rejectionism: 33 countries voted for partition, 13 against and 10 abstained. It's no surprise that the countries that rejected co-existence and blocked Arab-Paleostinian statehood overwhelmingly came from the Arab/Mohammedan world: Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Leb, Pakistain, 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 their national face... , Syria, Turkey and Yemen.
Today Abbas is working under the assumption that the world has a short term memory and that this history does not matter, that the only important fact from the past is the "grave injustice" that Jews have inflicted on the Paleostinian people. This is supposed to suffice for the UN to again support Paleostinian statehood.
In the process Abbas is diligently working to convince the world and Paleostinian society that he is the savior of the Paleostinian cause. He recently wrote to US President Barack Obama Ready to Rule from Day One... assuring him that the Paleostinians are committed to a two-state solution with Israel. A statement given by Abbas' political adviser Nimer Hammad stressed that the bid for statehood would "solidify the right of the Paleostinian people to their land, which is under occupation, and not disputed territories," and also argued that this move would not isolate the State of Israel.
While Paleostinian representative are using soft power to sell Paleostinian victim-hood through flotillas and social media outlets there is little said about the Paleostinian nation-state or actual state-building. In contrast, the Zionist movement worked to build a state from the 1880s when the first wave of Russian Jewish immigrants moved to Paleostine to re-build the ancient Promised Land until 1948.
Many Arabs of Paleostine had friendly ties with the early Jewish settlers and did not engage in state-building until there was a Jewish State. This development, the product of decades of hard work, was then pointed to in order to claim that Jews created a state not as a Jewish homeland but as a means to rid Paleostine of its Arabs. This zero-sum world view was galvanized by the Arab narrative that the Zionists viewed the Land of Israel as a "land without a people."
The late Paleostinian professor of English literature, Edward Said, took it one step further and shortened the phrase to "a land without people" to imply that Zionists actually believed there were essentially no people in Ottoman Paleostine. But mainstream Zionists from the beginning attempted to work with the Arab population and then favored an Arab state alongside Israel. Paleostinians and Arab countries rejected this completely on November 29th, 1947 and thereafter.
Since then Paleostinian identity has been rooted in three ideas. One is that resistance to Israel is permanent and sacrosanct. Another is that Paleostinians are, individually and communally, refugees, made so at the hands of Israel. The third is that the world, specifically the UN and Western countries, must support these refugees until they can return to a future Paleostine and to homes in what is now Israel. State-building does not figure into this.
While a functioning Paleostinian State remains desirable, the fact that Paleostinian leadership has refused to directly negotiate with Israel and uses bodies like the UN to endorse a "virtual" state that has no viable infrastructure is telling. Is the Paleostinian goal a state of their own, or just the erasure of Israel, to be followed by what? Insisting upon a Paleostinian state must go hand in hand with reviving the flat-lining Paleostinian political system and institutions that would support it. If not the odds of success are slim to none.
Asaf Romirowsky is an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Forum and the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
[Dawn] Two more coppers were rubbed out in the city on Wednesday, police said.
They said that armed riders targeted 42-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector Rafiq Khaskheli when he was passing through the main market of the rural suburbs of the city.
Clad in shalwar-kameez, the ASI suffered a single bullet wound in the head and died while being shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC).
According to witnesses, two men on a cycle of violence intercepted him in a service lane along the main market of the area, said the station investigation officer, Haroon-ur-Rasheed.
He was hit by a bullet in the head that proved fatal. He was associated with the investigation arm of the Murad Memon Goth cop shoppe. He was quite active in taking action against area criminals.
He said he had little doubt that criminal gangs mainly involved in drug trafficking and extortion were responsible for the murder.
The victim was a resident of Jam Kando Goth in Malir and father of five.
Earlier in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, a constable of the CID police was killed while resisting a robbery bid.
Police said that 40-year-old CID constable Saeed Mansoori was also associated with a private school in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 15 as a physical trainer. He was about to leave the school when he saw two armed motorcyclists attempting to rob a woman on the road.
The constable along with a school watchman, Mumtaz Ali, challenged the armed bandidos, said DSP Shakil Awan.
After a brief scuffle, one of the two bandidos fired shots and the constable and watchman suffered bullet wounds. They were shifted to a nearby private hospital where the constable died.
He said that the victim was a resident of North Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... s Sector-3 and had been associated with the anti-extremist cell of the CID police since 2009.
A total of 80 coppers have been killed in the city this year. Nineteen of them were targeted in October 2012.
Woman killed in attack on house
An elderly woman was killed and her daughter and two grandsons were maimed in an armed attack on her house in Ittehad Town on Wednesday, police said.
They said that two neighbouring families had developed a dispute last week near Jhangwi Chowk in Ittehad Town that turned ugly on Wednesday evening when members of one of the families fired shots at the other one.
The two families belong to the Mehsud and Afridi tribes, said Inspector Imtiaz Mir Jatt, the SHO of the Mockho cop shoppe.
The male members of the Mehsud family with some of their aides stormed Allah Khan Afridis home and fired shots indiscriminately. There were only women and kiddies and the firing killed Allah Khans 65-year-old mother Zul Farosh and left her daughter Asna Bibi and her two sons eight-year-old Ashfaq and 10-year-old Shahid maimed. The attackers bravely ran away after the firing.
He said that the police after initial investigations raided multiple places and locked away Book 'im, Mahmoud! two suspects Khalid and Abdullah.
The nature of dispute is not yet clear but we have identified the attackers and will arrest them very soon, added the area SHO.
Young man rubbed out
A young man was rubbed out under mysterious circumstances in North Nazimabad on Wednesday, police said.
They said that 37-year-old Shabbir Saifuddin was riding a motorbike as a pillion rider with his friend Ali Asghar, who found the former maimed when they reached near Five Star Chowrangi.
The victim was coming from UP Mor with his friend sitting on the rear seat of the motorbike, said North Nazimabad SP Latif Siddiqi. When they reached near Five Star Chowrangi, Ali Asghar found his friend falling on him unconsciously. He stopped the bike and found his head oozing blood.
Saifuddin was brought to the Abbasi Shaheed Hospital where he was pronounced dead. He's dead, Jim! Doctors said a single bullet hit the victim in the head.
The killing sounded suspicious to the police Sherlocks, who remained clueless about the incident.
We dont know exactly what had really happened. His friend is the only eyewitness to the incident who said he did not see any attacker neither did he hear a gunshot. The victim was a resident of North Nazimabads Bock C. We are still in the process of collect information before reaching any conclusion, added the area SP.
Boy found strangulated
The body of an unidentified boy, aged between 10 and 12 years, was found in the bushes in Gulistan-e-Jauhar on Wednesday, officials said.
They said that a police patrol was informed about the body.
The boy was dressed in shalwar-kameez, said an official at the Sharea Faisal cop shoppe. There were visible wounds on the body, which was shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre.
He said that apparently the boy was strangulated, but the exact cause of death could only be known in a couple of days in the final report of the post-mortem examination.
The body was moved to the Edhi morgue in Sohrab Goth for a want of identification. We are tracing the family links of the victim before lodging an FIR, added the official.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[An Nahar] The head of the main opposition Syrian National Council on Thursday blamed the international community's failure to react to the country's conflict for fueling Islamic thug sentiment.
The comments came a day after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton ... sometimes described as America's Blond Eminence and at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as Another John Foster Dulles ... said the opposition should "strongly resist the efforts by the hard boyz to hijack the Syrian revolution".
Speaking to Agence La Belle France Presse on the phone, SNC chairman Abdel Basset Sayda said the situation resulted from the international community's inaction on Syria.
"The international community is responsible, through its lack of support for the Syrian people, for the growth of extremism in Syria," said the head of the mainly exiled opposition group.
"The international community should criticize itself, and ask itself: What did it give the Syrian people? How has it helped the Syrians to stop the regime's crazy killing?" he added.
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CBS News has learned that during the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. Mission in Benghazi, the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource: the Counterterrorism Security Group, (CSG).
So Champ's administration ignored requests to protect our people prior to the attack, and didn't respond in any effective way during the attack. And we all know how they handled things afterwards...
"The CSG is the one group that's supposed to know what resources every agency has. They know of multiple options and have the ability to coordinate counterterrorism assets across all the agencies," a high-ranking government official told CBS News. "They were not allowed to do their job. They were not called upon."
Counterterrorism sources and internal emails reviewed by CBS News express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help in the attack. As to why the Counterterrorism Security Group was not convened, National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor told CBS News "From the moment the President was briefed on the Benghazi attack, the response effort was handled by the most senior national security officials in governments. Members of the CSG were of course involved in these meetings and discussions to support their bosses."
Sure, they were briefed. But what did they do?
Absent coordination from Counterterrorism Security Group, a senior US counterterrorism official says the response to the crisis became more confused. The official says the FBI received a call during the attack representing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and requesting agents be deployed. But he and his colleagues agreed the agents "would not make any difference without security and other enablers to get them in the country and synch their efforts with military and diplomatic efforts to maximize their success."
Another senior counter terrorism official says a hostage rescue team was alternately asked to get ready and then stand down throughout the night, as officials seemed unable to make up their minds.
A third potential responder from a counter-terror force stationed in Europe says components of AFICOM -- the military's Africa Command based in Stuttgart, Germany -- were working on course of action during the assault. But no plan was put to use.
"Forces were positioned after the fact but not much good to those that needed it," the military source told CBS News.
"The response process was isolated at the most senior level," says an official referring to top officials in the executive branch. "My fellow counterterrorism professionals and I (were) not consulted."
The official says a protocol set forth in a classified presidential directive calls for the Counterterrorism Security Group (CSG) to be convened in the event of a possible terrorist attack. According to a public military document, the directive was designed to "synchronize the efforts of all the government agencies that have a role to play in the Global War on Terrorism."
The Administration also didn't call on the only interagency, on-call, short notice team poised to respond to terrorist incidents worldwide: the Foreign Emergency Support Team (FEST). FEST's seasoned experts leave within four hours of notification and can provide "the fastest assistance possible."
FEST Teams deployed immediately after al Qaeda bombings of US embassies in East Africa in 1998, and the USS Cole in 2000, but were not used for Benghazi, to the chagrin of some insiders. It's likely that the CSG task force, if contacted, would have recommended FEST aid.
"First a tactical response was needed," says a senior U.S. counterterrorism official, "and while that was being implemented, the holistic response could have been developed and deployed within hours" which could have allowed the FBI investigate safely on site well ahead of the "24 days it took."
When asked why the FEST wasn't utilized, a State Department official said it was used previously in East Africa because of damage sustained to a US embassy "to help restore communications and other infrastructure support. In this case, that was unnecessary at Embassy Tripoli."
Of course it was unnecessary in Tripoli. The attack was in Benghazi.
A White House official told us that at the start of the attack, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Martin Dempsey and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta "looked at available options, and the ones we exercised had our military forces arrive in less than 24 hours, well ahead of timelines laid out in established policies." He also said a "small group of reinforcements" was sent from Tripoli to Benghazi, but declined to say how many or what time they arrived. The Pentagon moved a team of special operators from central Europe to Sigonella, Italy but gave no other details.
Ambassador Stevens and three other Americans died in a protracted battle over the course of eight hours. It's believed two of the victims, Navy SEALs Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, died in a mortar attack some six or seven hours after the US Mission was first overrun by a terrorist mob that burned buildings and used AK-47 rifles, bombs, and mortars.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2012
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#1
The big question. Hussein has Panetta, Hillary, Holder and almost half of Congress in his back pocket.
What do you say are the viable options to bring out the answers and hold people, even him accountable?
#3
A conscience decision was made early in the crisis to execute a CIA adhoc self-extraction vs classic off-the-shelf professional In-Extemis NEO evacuation.
A conscience decision was made to link a video of Allah to the event as a cause and cover for action.
A conscience decision has been made to systematically leak bits and pieces of information to the media over time to diffuse and wear down the issue.
A conscience decision will soon be made to site "National Security Concerns" and lower the cone of silence.
#4
I gather that 23 of the 30 people evacuated from the "consulate" in Benghazi were CIA folks working under dipomatic cover. Is it possible that there was confusion or conflict between State and CIA over whose turf it was - over which agency had primary responsibility to secure and respond?
Yet - CIA says they did everything possible, and Hillary took responsibility. But it's kinda like the Administration doesn't want anyone asking why two dozen CIA people and the US ambassdor himself set up shop in a nondescript villa in AQ territory in the first place. As more details drip out, I am increasingly curious what they were all doing there.
I am somewhat hopeful that we'll get to the bottom of this. Four US agents are dead and Ogabe has been a dick about it. Their colleagues, their families, and a number of senators are angry. The first group is, I presume, where all the leaked emails and cables are coming from, which I expect to continue so long as the Administration continues stonewalling.
#5
A conscience decision has been made to systematically leak bits and pieces of information to the media over time to diffuse and wear down the issue.
They are certainly wearing me down. I think we all know by now that the response during the attack and the security that was in place before the attack were both inadequate.
But the lack of MFM coverage makes me feel like I'm some kind of isolated right wing whacko because I'm seething about it but nobody else seems to care. Benghazi should be the lead story in all of the media every day (OK, Sandy was a big story, but still). There should be a nationwide outrage and Champ's poll numbers should be plummeting but it's not happening. Nobody talks about it. Nobody cares. I get tired of feeling that way. I wanna be normal. But all I can do is vote next Tuesday.
[An Nahar] Nigerian security forces have committed massive rights violations including summary executions in trying to crush the insurgency by the Islamist bad turban group Boko Haram ... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality... , Amnesia Amnesty International said Thursday.
In a report, the London based rights groups charged Nigeria's military with carrying out extra-judicial killings and showing "little regard for the rule of law or human rights ...which are usually entirely different from personal liberty... " in its campaign against Boko Haram.
"The cycle of attack and counter-attack has been marked by unlawful violence on both sides, with devastating consequences for the human rights of those trapped in the middle," said Salil Shetty, Amnesty's secretary general.
Violence linked to the Boko Haram insurgency is believed to have left more than 2,800 people dead since 2009, including killings by security forces.
Nigeria has deployed special military units to several areas hit hardest by the group, including the northeastern city of Maiduguri, considered the Islamists' base.
"Amnesia Amnesty International received consistent accounts of witnesses who saw people summarily executed outside their homes, rubbed out during operations, after arrest, or beaten to death in detention or in the street by security forces in Maiduguri," the rights group said.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#1
...Nigeria must be doing well, then. Carry on.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
11/02/2012 5:53
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#2
Law of the Jungle rules in Nigeria
Posted by: Large Darling of the Antelope3345 ||
11/02/2012 11:26
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#3
Does Amnesia International have anything to say about the murdered Christians and destroyed churches?
I didn't think so.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
11/02/2012 16:10
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#4
If you aren't accused of "Massive Rights Abuses" when fighting Islam, you ain't half trying.
[Ynet] Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency addresses report by which Iran completed installing centrifuges at underground nuclear plant
Iran admitted to completing the installation of centrifuges in the underground Fordo nuclear site. Following a Wednesday cabinet meeting in Tehran, the Head of Iran's Atomic Energy Agency Fereydoun Abbasi said the Iranians were perfecting their nuclear abilities as planned, Iranian media reported.
Western diplomats reported last week that Tehran appears to have nearly finished installing centrifuges in Fordo, a move that brings the Islamic Theocratic Republic closer to building a nuclear bomb, though according to reports, the new centrifuges have yet to be activated.
Iran disclosed the existence of the Fordo facility in 2009, after learning that Western intelligence services had detected it.
Concern has been expressed in the West in regards to the facility, as it is built inside a mountain, making it a difficult target in case Israel or the US decide to launch an attack on Iran.
Iran has been enriching uranium up to a level of 20% -- just short of what is considered a military level. Every effort to increase production in Fordo is expected to reduce the chances for a diplomatic solution to the nuclear crisis.
The ineffective International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has yet to comment, but according to its last report, released in August, the number of centrifuges in Fordo has doubled, reaching 2,140.
#1
ineffective IAEA ... that has to be the understaement of the century. quite literally.
you have to wonder why the Iranians are reporting their progress at Fordo. why don't they just shut up about it?? it's almost as if they are spoiling to start a war with the West.
[An Nahar] Israel has for the first time admitted assassinating the PLO's former number two, Abu Jihad, in a raid on the movement's Tunis headquarters in 1988, a newspaper reported on Thursday.
The report, published in Israel's top-selling Yediot Aharonot, said the operation was planned by the Mossad spy agency and carried out by the Sayeret Matkal commando unit.
Abu Jihad, whose real name was Khalil al-Wazir, was rubbed out in the early hours of April 16, 1988 in a commando raid on the PLO headquarters by what was presumed to be Israeli agents.
"Israel killed the number two man in the PLO, Abu Jihad, in Tunis in 1988, it can now be reported. The intelligence part of the liquidation was overseen by the Mossad, and the operational side was carried out by Sayeret Matkal," the paper said.
The operation was commanded by Nahum Lev who, in an interview before his death in 2000, spoke frankly about his role in the operation although it was never published.
"I had read every page of the file on him," he said. "Abu Jihad was connected to horrific acts against civilians. He was marked for death. I shot him with no hesitation."
A long-time friend and deputy to the veteran leader Yasser Arafat who headed the Paleostine Liberation Organization, Abu Jihad had played a leading role in directing the 1987-1994 intifada uprising against the Israeli occupation.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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#1
So they killed a guy named Uncle Jihad a quarter century ago. Historical interest, but what's the BFD? And yeah, I'm glad he's dead.
[Dawn] A large number of protesters including religious groups activists ransacked a private schools three buildings and torched owners car allegedly on charges of committing blasphemy in Ravi Road area on Wednesday.
It was alleged that the private school administration had distributed a paper among the students, which carried derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet ((PTUI!)) a few days ago.
Police have started the paperwork but haven't done much else against the schoolteacher and the principal under section 295-C (blasphemy) of Pakistain Penal Code.
The principal has been booked and placed in long-term storage Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! under abetment charges because he did not take any action, when the incident came into his knowledge. Sources said both the teacher and the principal were in police custody. The police have also started the paperwork but haven't done much else against unidentified protesters for taking law into their hands.
Sources in the police told Dawn that the protesters including religious groups activists took law into their hands and ransacked schools three buildings and burnt owners car without investigating the issue.
Sources alleged that the case had been built on the basis of a photocopy, which carried derogatory remarks about the Holy Prophet. They claimed that the photocopy was of a book, of which a page was torn and the available pages text became blasphemous. Sources alleged that the person, who distributed the photocopy, had also translated the available English text into Urdu.
The residents of Ravi Road area had besieged the school building late on Tuesday night and continued to protest on Wednesday and eventually torched owners car and ransacked schools three buildings in the area. The fire brigade was denied access to the area. A heavy contingent of police also clashed with protesters.
MNA Mian Marghoob and MPA Khwaja Imran Nazir urged the protesters to let the police investigate the matter. They assured the protesters that the government would also hold an inquiry into the incident and all those involved would be brought to book.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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On November 1, 2012, Alaan TV, a UAE channel, stated in a report on the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi that letters found inside the consulate, written by the U.S. Consular staff and addressed to the Libyan Foreign Ministry and the Benghazi police chief, revealed security breaches at the consulate.
According to the letters, not only had a Libyan policeman photographed the compound 15 hours prior to the attack, but the Libyan government had not provided the security at the consulate requested by the consular staff prior to Ambassador Chris Stevens' arrival in Benghazi. According to the report, the letter stated, "We are saddened to report that we have only received an occasional police presence at our main gate. Many hours pass when we have no police support at all."
Alaan TV, which operates from Dubai, began broadcasting in August 2006. It states that its aim is the cultural enrichment of Arab women, and it has often focused on Al-Qaeda and other terror organization from a critical point of view, inter alia interviewing family members of jihadi leaders. Video excerpts at the link.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2012
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[An Nahar] Internal Security Forces thwarted a jail break attempt by a Fatah al-Islam A Syrian-incubated al-Qaeda work-alike that they think can be turned off if no longer needed to keep the Leb pot stirred. inmate from Roumieh prison, the oldest and largest of Leb's overcrowded prisons, the National News Agency reported on Thursday.
According to the news agency, the ISF revealed the scheme on Wednesday by one of the prisoners, who was planning to wear a black chador and climb down using a rope from the bloc that the Islamist inmates are held in.
The ISF found the Islamic veil and the rope that the prisoner was planning to use in his escape attempt, NNA said.
Security sources told Voice of Leb radio (100.5) that three Fatah al-Islam inmates, a Paleostinian, a Syrian and an Algerian, who fled the prison at least a month before security guards found out in October, might have used the same technique.
At least thirteen security personnel were set to sit in solemn silence in a dull, dark dock, in a pestilential prison with a life-long lock Drop the gat, Rocky, or you're a dead 'un! over suspicions of being involved in helping the 3 detainees flee the prison complex.
Posted by: Fred ||
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[Dawn] The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Thursday adjourned the hearing of a petition filed against US drone attacks to Nov 28, DawnNews reported.
The petition, filed by the Jamaat-ud-Dawa ...the front organization of Lashkar-e-Taiba... a (JuD), was heard by LHC Chief Justice Umar Ata Bandial.
The petition states that despite a resolution passed by the Parliament, drone attacks had been continually violating Pakistains illusory sovereignty.
The petition also stated that drone attacks had cost thousands of innocent Pak lives and requested that the court must attempt to prevent them through its orders.
During the hearing, the court was informed that A K Dogar, the lawyer representing the petitioner, could not appear for the hearing due to a prior commitment at the Supreme Court.
The court, subsequently, adjourned the hearing to Nov 28 and summoned the counsels representing those parties to the case to present their arguments.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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David Ignatius at WaPo reviews the timeline given to him by the CIA.
A companion article provides a longer time frame with both the events of the attack and the politics afterwards.
Ignatius says in his piece --
While there were multiple errors that led to the final tragedy, there's no evidence that the White House or CIA leadership deliberately delayed or impeded rescue efforts.
I don't know how he can say that when we don't have all the facts yet. It's clear that the CIA Global Response Staff moved smartly towards the sound of gunfire. That's all anyone can ask of them. But we don't know from this what the White House, State Department, or Langley did, what Africom did, and what our military in Europe had available.
Posted by: Steve White ||
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#1
Pretty much agrees with the official version except that the 2 agents were killed around 4 a.m: They take up their positions. And somewhere around 5:45 in the morning sorry, somewhere around 4 o'clock in the morning I have my timeline wrong somewhere around 4 o'clock in the morning the annex takes mortar fire. It is precise and some of the mortar fire lands on the roof of the annex. It immediately killed two security personnel that are there, severely wounds one of the agents thats come from the compound.
At that point, a decision is made at the annex that they are going to have to evacuate the whole enterprise. And the next hours are spent, one, securing the annex, and then two, moving in a significant and large convoy of vehicles everybody to the airport, where they are evacuated on two flights.
And this version says around 5:15 a.m:
5:15 a.m.: A new Libyan assault begins, this time with mortars. Two rounds miss and the next three hit the roof. The rooftop defenders never laser the mortars, as has been reported. They dont know the weapons are in place until the indirect fire begins, nor are the mortars observed by the drone overhead. The defenders have focused their laser sights earlier on several Libyan attackers, as warnings not to fire. At 5:26 the attack is over. Woods and Doherty are dead and two others are wounded.
●6 a.m.: Libyan forces from the military intelligence service finally arrive, now with 50 vehicles. They escort the Americans to the airport. A first group of 18, including two wounded, depart at 7 a.m. A second group of 12, plus the four dead, leave at 10 a.m. for Tripoli and then the long flight back to America.
#2
While it obviously does not discuss the planning cycle or decision making process, this (conveniently leaked) timeline is plausible, and likely quite accurate. It is now obvious that a NEO (Non-Combatant Evacuation) was not authorized by the White House and that an adhoc (hastilly planned and under-resourced) CIA effort involving a contract aircraft, a handful of operators, along with local national malitia, became the EXFIL plan.
The presence of a LTD (Laser Target Designator) in the hands of trained, former SOF personnel, could indicate protective fires or kinetic action was at least discussed or planned for.
It is now obvious that two EXFIL plans may have been presented to the White House as possible solutions:
Plan-A: A standard on-the-shelf NEO involving In-Extremis forces US Military perosnnel with kinetic capabilities.
Plan-B: A covert CIA EXFIL involving local agency, para-military personnel.
Had no one turned up dead, the Benghazi "Plan- B" would have likely become another "GM is alive and UBL is dead" campaign slogan with follow-on Hollywood movie rights. As it turned out, we are very lucky the entire mission was not lost.
#4
there's no evidence that the White House or CIA leadership deliberately delayed or impeded rescue efforts
Sounds kind of defensive, no? Maybe he omitted the "despite what you may have read on the internet."
Posted by: Bobby ||
11/02/2012 8:22
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#5
Its a story of individual bravery, but also of a CIA misjudgment in relying on Libyan militias and a newly formed Libyan intelligence organization to keep Americans safe in Benghazi.
That is not the whole story. There are too many unanswered questions. Benghazi is still the clusterMess it appears to be. This is being kicked down the road until after the election.
1. Why didn't State respond to requests for beefed up security before 911 since the situation on the ground had gone dangerous in the run-up to 911? Who made the decision to not respond to requests for enhanced security?
2. Why weren't the military assets called into play to take part in the rescue?
3. Where was the coordinating efforts and shared intel between agencies that supposedly had been set up by George W. Bush after the first 911 to respond to terrorism?
4. What were the decision-maker's (Obama, Biden, Panetta, Clinton, and Petraeus) responses to this emergency as it unfolded? Where were they any when the 3:00 a.m. (or 9:40 p.m. or whatever it was) call came? What did they do?
5. Let all the information come out. Enhanced timelines, people in the government involved, where they were to develop accountability for the failure. Still need answers to the who, what, where, when, why. These events cannot be reconstructed and used to prevent further such abortions without these kind of efforts.
Geraldo was on Fox this a.m. waving his arms and getting hysterical about this entire mess. It is so evident that he is an apologist for Obama. He acts like he knows everything while knowing nothing. He got quite steamed when asked about Bengahzigate. He is not a reporter but just adds noise to the investigative process.
There is a saying:
I have six honest men
They taught me all I know
Their names are who and what and when
And why and where and how.
Let's hear the answers instead of obfuscations and beating around the bush. This is owed to the dead heroes and their families, the American people, and the voters.
#7
Exactly Pappy. A low-level Walmart rescue mission gone bad.
I can almost hear someone saying, "Hey boss, our bad, but we've got your back on this one. Let's keep the Fort Bragg knuckledragger footprint low and the noise level down. We'll work with our on site host-nation sources. We're on it"!
#8
By no means do I take 4 American deaths lightly. But absent increased security in the weeks prior, they were sitting ducks. Under those circumstances, with the deck stacked against them in multiple ways, I think "only" 4 friendly KIA is pretty decent for an ad hoc Wal-Mart rescue, facing resistance on two fronts (armed attackers, and up the chain). I'm sure you don't disagree - just stressing that the guys on the ground did good. Real good, if it's true that Woods and Doherty wiped out half the attacking force.
#9
Unfortunately, this is most likely true. Instead of funneling all the money after green energy crappy projects that failed and created few to no jobs, and electric cars that caught fire when flooded over, why not make sure our embassies were secure?
#10
JQC, I am wondering if the answer to that question is that "someone" was concerned that increased security would increase visibility. Seems that keeping the Benghazi villa casual and unofficial took priority over all else. Why?
#11
@RandomJD - 2 reasons - to keep up the meme of OBL is dead and AQ is on the run and perhaps to cover the possible gun running that may have been going on.
#12
Over at the Free Republic site (yeah, I know), they have a slightly different take on the events. They cite Nonie Darwish (Egyptian-American human rights activist and founder of Arabs for Israel) as saying that a snippet of a video from the beginning of the Benghazi attack shows the terrorists coming in through the conjectured unlocked front gate and the guards lowering their weapons at them, at which point one man says, Dont shoot, dont shoot. Morsi sent us!
Mrs. Darwish concluded that as President Morsi of Egypt has called for the release from US custody of Omar Abdel-Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheik, as a gesture of good will, sent the terrorist-affiliated attackers to capture Ambassador Stevens and hold him hostage for the release of the Blind Sheik.
Now she sees why Ansar al Sharia took responsibility only hours into the attack. The only mistake was that there were former active-duty Seals on hand and Stevens was injured worse that they had anticipated. Morsi approved a state abduction identical to what would have been accomplished in Pakistan if bin Laden had been captured rather than killed. And as it happened Stevens was killed rather than captured as well. But she states that this explains why those who pulled Stevens half-dead body out of the consulate were praising Allah that he was still alive: they were not 'friendlies', they were hostage takers, and a dead hostage is no hostage at all.
This is also supposedly why Libya President Mohamed El-Magariaf said that this was a preplanned attack conducted by foreigners that entered Libya weeks before from countries including Algeria and Mali. She questions how he could know this so quickly. One knew from the start that El-Magariafs description of the attack was, in some way, ultimately self-serving. It turns out, he was just explaining what was common knowledge within his circle.
Her view that it is why Obama called for US agents at the scene to stand down: it was all a charade; the objective was to only capture Stevens, not to kill him. That is why we havent gotten a real October surprise yet: Stevens was accidentally killed and so there is no hostage to have returned to victorious praise in the last weeks before the election. (The only course left for an 'October Surprise' is to attack Stevens supposed murderers in the week before the election.)
This is supposedly also why the post-attack narrative was confused for a couple of days: the outcome was not the pre-scripted one. No one was supposed to be looking at the delay in sending military assistance to a murdered ambassador, they were all supposed to be watching breathlessly for the tense negotiations for the ambassadors release.
Again supposedly this is why the film was cast as the cause: it was the preplanned flashpoint to remove blame from both Morsi and his Obama administration co-conspirators. This is also why the consulate's Libyan guard is being held in a US German Base hospital incommunicado: so that he cannot muddy the new narrative.
If Stevens had just lived long enough to be ransomed home, the sun would be shining today. Obama was just waiting for a call from Morsi to heroically mediate Stevens/Abdel-Rahman exchange. And it was just a matter of time before the abduction would be announced and all parties would stand down.
Both Obama and Morsi would have been heroes to both the Western world and the Muslim world. But Stevens dying and the 'unexpected' Seals on scene blew it.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/02/2012 14:51
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#13
I suspect my ranking as a cynic is fairly high Richard, (with regard to the US gov't... possibly among the top .05%) but I simply can't buy the kidnapping theory.
I'll grant you, I could be wrong... I could indeed be wrong. I thought I had most of this Benghazi disaster nailed... but certainly did not.
#14
Hate to say this but if Stevens was kidnapped or taken hostage it would just about be the end of Obama's chances for reelection. The media can forget a dead man but a live hostage is a little different. There might still be something to be done for him and the pressure to do it would have been on Obama.
#15
No problem here. Just transmitting another point of view (even if it is a freeperworld view). It is a little out there, but I do love a conspiracy.
Personally, I'm a little closer in belief to the 'helping a friend of a friend' gun running scenario.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/02/2012 16:38
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#16
Right, I'm aware of (1) the kidnapping hypothesis, (2) the running-guns-to-Syria hypothesis, and (3) the "OBL is dead and AQ is on the run" hypothesis. All are consistent with the facts known so far, but that's not enough to convince me of any of them. Also, all point to BHO as a dangerous cretin, which we already knew, so filling in the big picture is mainly to establish the degree of how dangerous and how cretinous. If he's re-relected, I'd like to think that he's only won the right to be impeached.
#17
If B-Hussein-O gets re-elected, he might get impeached by the House but never prosecuted by the Senate unless the Senate changes hands and there are enough Dems who go along with an impeachment. The best shot at removing "O" from office is voting him out on Tuesday.
#5
I expect Holder's Justice to investigate all claims of election fraud thoroughly---in all places where pubs won by a small margin. The possibility that such investigations will, accidentally, uncover uncounted ballot boxes cannot be ruled out.
#6
Ahhh! If they can't manufacture enough votes BEFORE the election they'll do so AFTER the election. Kinda like Gov Gregoir apparently did in Washington - every recount resulted in an amazing discovery of boxes, trunkloads, and finally an entire precinct of 'lost' ballots (all of which shockingly broke massivley for her) until she had enough to 'win' and then the election was over.
This will go the same way if by some miracle, they haven't gotten it nailed down before hand.
Obama: 29 EV, Romney: 257.
(Or if they really mess up making ballots in Iowa, Obama: 275, Romney: 263)
Lotsa headlines about how the comeback kid Obama managed to overcome racist Republican voter intimidation and negative campaigning to squeak out a victory!
#10
It's a bullshit worry. Ohio won't be close enough that a handful of idiots who can't remember they applied for an absentee ballot will be an issue.
And Romney will win the state.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/02/2012 10:11
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#14
Big sign outside the court house says "Must have photo ID to vote" Thank you Sec of State Kobach, and I don't think machine malfunction will turn the state of Kansas blue.
Long piece from Foreign Policy magazine, so just the first bits here. Some overlap with the UAE TV report.
BENGHAZI, Libya -- More than six weeks after the shocking assault on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi -- and nearly a month after an FBI team arrived to collect evidence about the attack - the battle-scarred, fire-damaged compound where Ambassador Chris Stevens and another Foreign Service officer lost their lives on Sept. 11 still holds sensitive documents and other relics of that traumatic final day, including drafts of two letters worrying that the compound was under "troubling" surveillance and complaining that the Libyan government failed to fulfill requests for additional security.
When we visited on Oct. 26 to prepare a story for Dubai based Al Aan TV, we found not only Stevens's personal copy of the Aug. 6 New Yorker, lying on remnants of the bed in the safe room where Stevens spent his final hours, but several ash-strewn documents beneath rubble in the looted Tactical Operations Center, one of the four main buildings of the partially destroyed compound. Some of the documents -- such as an email from Stevens to his political officer in Benghazi and a flight itinerary sent to Sean Smith, a U.S. diplomat slain in the attack -- are clearly marked as State Department correspondence. Others are unsigned printouts of messages to local and national Libyan authorities. The two unsigned draft letters are both dated Sept. 11 and express strong fears about the security situation at the compound on what would turn out to be a tragic day. They also indicate that Stevens and his team had officially requested additional security at the Benghazi compound for his visit -- and that they apparently did not feel it was being provided.
One letter, written on Sept. 11 and addressed to Mohamed Obeidi, the head of the Libyan Ministry of Foreign Affairs' office in Benghazi, reads:
"Finally, early this morning at 0643, September 11, 2012, one of our diligent guards made a troubling report. Near our main gate, a member of the police force was seen in the upper level of a building across from our compound. It is reported that this person was photographing the inside of the U.S. special mission and furthermore that this person was part of the police unit sent to protect the mission. The police car stationed where this event occurred was number 322."
The account accords with a message written by Smith, the IT officer who was killed in the assault, on a gaming forum on Sept. 11. "Assuming we don't die tonight. We saw one of our 'police' that guard the compound taking pictures," he wrote hours before the assault.
The State Department declined to comment directly on the documents, citing an ongoing investigation. "An independent board is conducting a thorough review of the assault on our post in Benghazi," deputy spokesman Mark Toner said. "Once we have the board's comprehensive account of what happened, findings and recommendations, we can fully address these matters."
Obeidi, the Libyan official named on one of the printouts, said he had not received any such letter, adding, "I did not even know that the U.S. ambassador was visiting Benghazi." However, a spokesman for the Benghazi police confirmed that the ministry had notified the police of the ambassador's visit. "We did not receive that letter from the U.S. consulate. We received a letter from Ministry of Foreign Affairs Benghazi asking for additional security measures around consulate during visit of the ambassador. And the police provided all extra security which was asked for," the spokesman said.
It is not clear whether the U.S. letters were ever sent, and if so, what action was taken before the assault on the evening of Sept. 11. But they speak to a dangerous and uncertain security environment in Benghazi that clearly had many State Department officials worried for their safety.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2012
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#1
Rick Masters in Live and Die in LA "You're livin' like an animal in the f*cking zoo..."
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2012 9:28
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#2
Some of the MSM is beginning to awake from their four year slumber. They should have been asking questions when Benghazi first occurred but they were too busy providing cover for the ONE. Katherine Herridge, Jennifer Griffin have been taking the lead at Fox have been good at taking a look at this and asking many of the right questions. There are still many questions to answer.
#3
very painful to look back at see the warning signs of hostile surveillance. it's really regrettable that they didn't have enough security personnel assigned to handle this. the real solution for Benghazi was to react immediately to these early warning signs.
#4
Well, see, normally, you'd ingratiate the locals by purchasing food, toilet paper and such. But they had none of that to sell. Instead, they had illiterate, unwashed young men toting assault rifles for hire, so that's what got bought...
Posted by: M. Murcek ||
11/02/2012 13:55
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[Dawn] During Thursday's hearing of the Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... law and order case, Justice Gulzar Ahmed remarked that there was not a semblance of law and order in the city, DawnNews reported.
A five-member larger bench of the apex court comprising Justices Jamali, Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Khilji Arif Hussain, Gulzar Ahmed and Amir Hani Moslem was seized with the proceedings for the implementation of the apex court's earlier order in a Bloody Karachi killings suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... case.
Last year, the Supreme Court had given its detailed order in the case after the chief justice had taken suo motu action on the security situation in the city.
During the hearing, the police submitted its report pertaining to assassinations and told the bench that police had been taking targeted action against faceless myrmidons in various areas of the city, including Sohrab Goth and Manghopir.
The bench expressed its displeasure upon reviewing the report and inquired as to what the Rangers personnel had accomplished that Additional Chief Secretary (home) Waseem Ahmed had praised their performance.
The court moreover inquired whether Ahmed's praise meant that the police in Bloody Karachi should be replaced with the Rangers.
The court was informed that faceless myrmidons had targeted high-ranking police officials on several occasions.
The bench stated that anything was possible in a country where those responsible for the killings of police officials could not be placed in long-term storage Yez got nuttin' on me, coppers! Nuttin'! The bench summoned a list of people murdered during the past one year as well as a monthly report on the city's public transport.
Justice Khilji in his remarks said that 90 per cent of the city's population was undergoing immense mental stress, adding that, each killing led to creating fear and panic amongst the public.
He said the police had been labelling murders as assassinations on its whim, adding that, it was ordinary people who had been dying.
Also today, a list of prisoners released on payroll was submitted to the bench. According to the list, 193 convicted, whereas 53 accused prisoners had been released.
The bench directed authorities to act against cars without number plates with immediate effect.
The bench adjourned the hearing sine die.
Earlier on Wednesday, the bench had ordered the Sindh police chief and other authorities to submit a report on infiltration of over 7,000 Taliban activists in Bloody Karachi and release of 150 convicts on parole.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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#1
No semblance of coherence in the Dawn report.
Posted by: lord garth ||
11/02/2012 9:26
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#2
It's the verbal tap dance engaged in whenever the Pak press has to say something negative about the government.
[Dawn] Local police on Wednesday enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! a man for pretending to be a colonel of Inter-Services Intelligence.
ASP (cantonment) Ali Akbar Khan told news hounds here that imposter Amir Murad wanted to acquire 10 kanals of land in Kaghan Valley on lease from the government to open an ISI office and was enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! on inquiry.
He said the enjugged Drop the rosco, Muggsy, or you're one with the ages! man, a resident of Rawalpindi, was a habitual criminal and worked as human resource manger in Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority, vice president in a telephone company, regional manager in a private bank and consultant in some nongovernmental organizations on fake documents.
Mr Ali said the imposter was also involved in extorting money and providing people with fake documents for US and UK visas.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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#1
...habitual criminal and worked as human resource manger (sic)
[An Nahar] Hundreds of officers from several Tunisian security forces demonstrated on Thursday against attacks on them, particularly by 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... , and protested at the lack of resources to protect themselves.
Police, national guard, civil defense and the presidential guard officers protested for an hour in front of the interior ministry, an Agence La Belle France Presse news hound said.
"We denounce the violence against the officers and urge the government to take steps quickly to protect them and their families who are at risk," Sami Gnaoui, an official at the General Union of the National Guard, told AFP.
The protesters were demanding they be given appropriate equipment and proper instructions to enable them to ensure their own safety when attacked.
The discontent was triggered after the head of the area's public security brigade was assaulted in Manouba by a Salafist.
A suspect was tossed in the slammer Keep yer hands where we can see 'em, if yez please! , which sparked violence on Tuesday in which Islamists attacked two guard posts in the Tunis suburb of Manouba.
In the ensuing festivities an attacker was killed and two coppersmaimed.
On Thursday, Imam Khaled Karaoui of Manouba's Ennour mosque, who was among those who attacked the national guard posts, died of wounds sustained that night, local national guard commander Nizar Badis said.
Demonstrators also criticized human rights One man's rights are another man's existential threat. activist Radhia Nasraoui, who has consistently denounced abuses in cop shoppes since the 2011 revolution that ousted former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and who attended the rally.
"She does not stop insulting us and she comes to a gathering of the security forces," said a police officer.
Since Ben Ali's ouster, radical Islamists have carried out a number of attacks, including against security forces and on cultural events.
The opposition accuses the government, led by Islamist party Ennahda, of failing to rein in violence by Salafists, a hardline branch of Sunni Islam.
The authorities have vowed to crack down on Islamist violence in the wake of a Salafist-led attack on the U.S. embassy in September in which four assailants were killed.
Tunisian security forces are poorly viewed by the people given the repression they carried out under the regime of Ben Ali, and no major reforms have been implemented so far by the present Islamist Ennahda party-led government.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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Two people were killed and four others wounded in a shooting at the Hari Raya fair in Pattani province on Wednesday night.
Police received a report late last night of a shooting at the fair site on Vasukree Beach. Chief of Sai Buri police station Pol Col Arsis Umayee led a joint police and military force, together with a bomb disposal unit, to investigate the scene. Police found spent 9mm cartridge shells and bomb debris in front of a shop.
Witnesses said that six people were seriously wounded in the shooting and were taken to the hospital, where two of them were later pronounced dead.
Witnesses said the victims were working at the bingo shop and nearby gambling shops when two people dressed like Muslim women approached them and then opened fire with handguns. The attackers then placed a metal box containing a 3 kg home-made bomb on the ground in front of the bingo shop and fled.
The bomb was meant to kill police who arrived after the attack, but fortunately it went off too early. No one was hurt in the blast.
Police believed it was the work of separatist terrorists militants who had earlier warned that fairs where gambling is permitted should not be held in the deep South.
[Shabelle] An official in Somalia says government forces launched Thursday a massive crackdown in the port city of Marko, prior to several killing a senior army commander.
Abdi Salan, the official told Shabelle Media Network station by phone that the forces were in successful capturing many people in connection with the recent murder of General Gordan and in security activities during the sweep.
General Farah (Gordan) was killed along with four other soldiers in an ambush last Sunday in Elwaregow area near Marko city, 100 Kilometers (62 miles) northeast of Mogadishu.
Mr. Salan highlighted that Investigations are underway and authorities in Marko have not released a statement on the matter.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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#1
"Polo"
"shoot him"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/02/2012 8:47
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[Dawn] Leader of the opposition in the Balochistan ...the Pak province bordering Kandahar and Uruzgun provinces in Afghanistan and Sistan Baluchistan in Iran. Its native Baloch propulation is being displaced by Pashtuns and Punjabis and they aren't happy about it... Assembly Yar Muhammad Rind was placed in durance vile I ain't sayin' nuttin' widdout me mout'piece! on Thursday from the Supreme Courts building, DawnNews reported.
Rind was in Islamabad for the hearing of his plea against the verdict of an anti-terrorism court in Quetta of handing him life imprisonment.
The court had awarded life imprisonment to the Pakistain Moslem League-Quaid (PML-Q) MPA, his son Sardar Khan Rind and four other people for allegedly kidnapping a man on June 28.
ATC-II Judge Aminuddin Bazai had also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on each of the accused who had kidnapped Imam Din from Sibi in 2009.
They were also sentenced to an additional 10-year term for deliberately avoiding appearing before the court. The court issued perpetual warrants for their arrest. Another accused, Mohammad Din, was acquitted for lack of evidence.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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[Dawn] At least 22 people were killed when a fuel truck crashed into a flyover in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Thursday, triggering an kaboom that brought down an industrial building, Saudi state television ... and if you can't believe state television who can you believe?
reported.
Al-Ekhbariya television quoted a Saudi civil defence official as saying that at least 111 people were also injured in the incident.
The civil defence department confirmed there were deaths from a traffic accident involving a gas tanker that hit a bridge in eastern Riyadh, causing a gas leak and an kaboom in a nearby heavy machinery and vehicles warehouse, according to the state news agency SPA.
The truck driver was surprised by a road accident on its route, causing it to crash into one of the pillars of the bridge, front man Captain Mohamed Hubail Hammadi said.
He said the incident resulted in a number of deaths and injuries, without giving specific details.
The civil defence chief, Saed al-Tweijri, said the fire had been brought under control. He blamed the tanker driver for the accident, which he said had resulted in the gas leak setting off an kaboom in the warehouse.
The building, several storeys high, was almost leveled by the blast, with only one corner left standing. Several adjacent buildings were damaged and nearby vehicles, including a minibus on the flyover, set on fire, witnesses said.
Television footage and pictures posted on social media showed a body lying by burnt-out vehicles and at least two charred bodies seated in a car.
More than 100 emergency personnel were combing the wreckage on the flyover and searching for victims in the rubble of the building, which housed the operations of Zahid Tractor, a distributor of heavy machinery.
I was inside the building when the blast came. Then boom, the building collapsed. Furniture, chairs and cabinets blasted into the room I was in, said survivor Kushnoo Akhtara, a 55-year-old Pak worker, who was covered in dirt and bleeding from multiple cuts over his body. My brother is still inside under the rubble. There are lots of people in there.
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 their national face... is still on holiday after Eid al-Adha, which began last Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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[Tolo News] The US is not only focused on the security transition out of Afghanistan, but it is also driving an economic and trade transition in order to ensure the health of the country's financial system, US Deputy Foreign Secretary Robert Blake said Thursday.
Blake said in a meeting with local officials in northern Balkh province that the US is actively trying to connect Afghanistan to central Asia through building infrastructure such as a railway and implementing electricity projects.
"I am particularly focused on the economic side. We are trying to do everything we can to help develop a private-sector led and a trade-led transition here as the [security transition] proceeds," Blake told the attendees at the gathering in Mazar-e-Sharif.
Afghan traders reiterated their complaints over the problems posed by the lack of electricity and standard rail wagons to carry their materials and produce inside the country.
"A railway has been constructed from Hairatan to Mazar-e-Sharif but unfortunately we do not have the standard wagons to bring the trade materials from Hairatan to Mazar," Ahmad Nawid Barat, Deputy head of Afghan Chamber of Commerce and Industries in Balkh said.
The US officials also revealed plans to invest $300m in a power plant and Sheberghan gas sources in the northern Jawzjan province.
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[Tolo News] Afghanistan's Minister of Energy and Water Mohammad Ismail Khan on Thursday said that the process of creating a military unit made up of the former mujahedeen fighters is underway to protect and secure Afghanistan because NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Originally it was a mutual defense pact directed against an expansionist Soviet Union. In later years it evolved into a mechanism for picking the American pocket while criticizing the cut of the American pants... had failed to do so.
Ismail Khan said in a gathering with former regional Jihadi commanders in west and southwest Afghanistan that the Mujahedeen should also be given more roles in the government as the foreign armies the NATO-led international security assistance force Isaf had failed to ensure stability in the country.
He emphasised that just as the Mujahedeen had previously driven out the foreign invaders, the Soviets, so too there was now a need for the Mujahedeen to again rescue the country from "foreign conspiracies".
"The foreigners sidelined those who had fought for ages," Ismail Khan said in western Herat ...a venerable old Persian-speaking city in western Afghanistan, populated mostly by Tadjiks, which is why it's not as blood-soaked as areas controlled by Pashtuns... province.
"They collected all our weapons, our artillery and tanks, and put them on the rubbish heap. Instead, they brought Dutch girls, French girls, girls from Holland, they armed American girls, they brought white-skinned Western soldiers, and black-skinned American soldiers, and they thought by doing all this they would bring security here but they failed," he added.
Khan claimed that President Hamid Maybe I'll join the Taliban Karzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtun face on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... is aware of the plans to re-form the mujahedeen armed forces.
"We have had detailed discussions with President Hamid Karzai, who is a Mujahed himself. We are planning on this strategy and the registration of people is underway," he said.
He added that the future Afghan president to be introduced at the next election in 2014 should be elected in close collaboration with the Mujahedeen council.
The Council is understood to have been formed by Ismail Khan, himself a former Jihadi commander in Herat.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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#1
Ismail, the problem is to the East ie Pakistan not the West
Iran and Syria have arranged a gasoline-for-diesel swap, helping each other overcome international sanctions that have cut them off from fuel supplies needed to keep their economies afloat and support their armies, Reuters reported.
Tracking data shows that a tanker from Iran arrived in Syria with a cargo of fuel, and a shipper who works in the region said Iran was delivering diesel to Syria in return for gasoline.
U.S. and European Union sanctions have virtually ground Syria's trade in oil and refined products to a halt, while Iran is struggling to sell its crude as buyers around the world cut purchases. Syria's economy has been strangled by a lack of diesel needed to power tanks heavy vehicles and self-propelled artillery machinery used in industries and farming.
Iran's rial faced collapse earlier this month in a sign that economic pressure on the government is building and that oil sales to some of its best customers are in decline.
An Iranian oil tanker called the Hillari arrived in the port of Banias a week ago and delivered a 34,500 tonne cargo of gasoil, an industry term for diesel, the shipper said and tracking data showed. The vessel has now finished loading a similarly sized cargo of gasoline at the Syrian port, the shipper said, and is likely to be bound for Iran, where it will complete another round trip between the two countries with precious supplies of fuel.
While both countries are oil exporters, they lack the capacity to refine certain types of fuel. Syria's light crude means it produces more gasoline and naphtha than it needs, freeing up volumes for export. Iran's sour crude by contrast, is easily refined into heavier fuels such as diesel, leaving it short of gasoline to run vehicles. As a result, the countries are perfectly matched to swap fuels.
A similar trade occurred over the summer, when the same tanker, operating with a different name, arrived in Syria at the end of June and departed in early July to complete an exchange of fuel. The vessel in April made at least one other round trip between Syria and Iran after tighter Western sanctions cut off a stream of Russian deliveries to Syria.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2012
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The US has called for a major overhaul of Syria's beleaguered opposition, saying it was time to move beyond the Syrian National Council (SNC).
Do the Syrian people get a vote in this?
"We've made it clear that the SNC can no longer be viewed as the visible leader of the opposition. They can be part of a larger opposition, but that opposition must include people from inside Syria and others who have a legitimate voice that needs to be heard," US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said at a news conference during a visit to Croatia.
Until those people get killed by Pencilneck ... or by the Islamicists...
Mrs Clinton added that Syrian opposition talks in Qatar next week should lead to a broader coalition that would speak out strongly against "efforts by extremists to hijack the Syrian revolution."
Western patience has been wearing thin with the SNC, a group of largely expatriate Syrian activists who so far have failed to gain much traction with groups inside the country.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/02/2012
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#1
In other words, "PencilNeck and NutJob gave us secret campaign donations."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
11/02/2012 8:51
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#2
Are events in Benghazi not bad enough? Why can they simply not just stay the hell out of it?
#3
Whats the matter, weapons unpack and check clear, now they don't play ball? ClusterF's.
The peace of islam at its borders was the demi-glas of the Obama doctrine of unclenched smart diplomacy, the new appreciation of America. It has been asked, why suddenly so serious about Benghazi when the Rules of Engagement in Afghanistan are killing people too? It is because in the back of everyone's minds, who have a mind for such things no matter their particular affiliation, it call into question every top-down decision. This is not the abstract ROE theory, not so abstract to those killed by Greens. To me, at least, it settles the question of whether he is a D!k or a P@ssy. Now every bad guy and opportunist in the world knows it. Every good guy and Voltairist in the world knows they will be persecuted for any and every agenda pushing measure from a Barry administration. This president can no longer issue an Executive Order and say its for your own good, knowing that when it comes down to getting dirt underneath your nails he won't even bring you cup of water.
Here is what it has done to me. I have advocated Drone Theory, but to picture this particular soul sittting down to poached eggs and a menu of targets should be shuttering to everyone; even if there was good reason to not go his explanation was shut up and don't talk about it. Commodus is not a moral man.
And neither is Mrs. Clinton (although it might be argued that she is more of a man than Commodus, she is certainly no more moral).
As to the SNC, would it not be realistic to assume that the guys who are actually fighting and bleeding are the legitimate representatives of the rebellion while the "gentlemen" who are sipping tea and dining in Qatar should be ignored? I mean, what's going to happen if Assad is ever defeated? Will the US recognize the rebels who control Damascus by force of arms or the weenies who are staying in some nice hotel hundreds of miles away?
#7
How about a government of national unity? It's got to work. It just has to.......
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/02/2012 20:10
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#8
Now the kids are in bed...Furthermore:
This is the second time this administration has attempted to curb our rights as US Citizens, that it is our freedom which makes Barry's job too difficult. I find this abhorrant. Bad guys in Mexico get arms, it is blamed on our Bill of Rights and Calderon is invited to Congress to scold us. Good guys get killed in a bad land and it is blamed on our Bill of Rights and Barry goes in front of the UN and scolds us.
For example, say I find the works of Frank Lloyd Wright offensive. Say I find the concept of blending house into environment as primitive and sub-human, anti-progress. It is the right of others to emulate his work and my right to disagree with it. I could find the works of Tom Hanks offensive or blasphemous, but will not chastice those who think the master of our times was upstaged by a volleyball or his freedom to make a twilight years romantic comedy.
What Barry did was subtle and yet offensive. He says he needs more flexibility not only for a non-electorate defined second term yet from the constraints of the Bill of Rights, and Constitution in general. Forcing people to work for the benefit of others is immoral, and Holder should be ashamed of both commenting on how he marched for rights yet actively or passively works to errode rights of others. I used to think Hillary! as a professional politician who would do what needed to be done to further her agenda yet the comment about prosecuting the maker of the film should hammered in, as it implicitely states than everyone is guilty of something if they do something out of the comfort level of who is in charge.
And anyone who believes that the USA is a lighthouse in stormy weather should take heed to what was conducted. It is here that existentialism can be best achieved; what to do with freedom? By using our freedom we either innovate ourselves or set the bar for others. Yes, there is the bull which comes out, but it is in and of itself a challenge to others to evaluate how they feel. That is their free will, so as they choose. Humans choosing whether to be animals or beings.
We are a beacon. Choose how you may.
For any culture which believes they are more than what they are told to be, more than mere beasts of burdon, this administration is against those concepts.
Barry says that ATMs cost jobs. Technology frees us to become more, same as the printing press, same as the cotton gin. Republicans may not be the best thing ever, but the b&lls!tters are the international collectivists who by order must enforce a lowest common denomenator policy...or else. Authoritarianism, by any other name smells as stink.
[An Nahar] Russia on Thursday put into force a new law on the Internet that allows the government to block websites with banned content, prompting fears that it will be used to suppress free speech.
The law, which was hastily voted in by the parliament despite opposition from major Internet companies, is officially intended to protect children from viewing unsuitable content.
It targets sites that contain child pornography, information on drugs or calls to commit suicide. It also includes sites that a court has ruled myrmidon.
But critics say its wording could be exploited to block opposition websites by planting banned material, potentially shutting down the most lively forum for political debate in Russia.
"We are forced to conclude that no political will exists to resolve the law's contradictions and to eliminate those that pose threats to freedom," Reporters Without Borders said in a critical statement.
Even the communications minister has warned that the law could be used to block a resource such as YouTube in Russia.
The government media watchdog opened a website, www.zapret-info.gov.ru, that will publish the list of banned sites.
It said its experts had blacklisted six sites containing child pornography and that the owners had been informed by e-mail.
Its website does not reveal which sites, since users must enter an exact address to check whether a page or a site is listed.
The owner of the site or web host then has three days to remove content or block access.
If the site is still accessible, Internet service providers are obliged to block it, without any court decision necessary.
The site had been viewed more than 100,000 times and has fought off several hacker attacks, the watchdog said.
When the law was first proposed, the Russian version of the online encyclopaedia Wikipedia protested with a temporary shutdown, while top search engine Yandex.ru ran a black banner on its main page.
The law's wording was then softened to make it less widely applicable.
Yet Communications Minister Nikolai Nikiforov warned in September that the law could be used to block Russians' access to YouTube over its postings of the anti-Islam film that sparked deadly rioting.
"It sounds like a joke, but because of this video ... all of YouTube could be blocked throughout Russia," he wrote on Twitter.
However he later clarified his comment, saying that while this was a theoretical possibility, he expected major Internet resources to abide by the law.
Posted by: Fred ||
11/02/2012
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#1
I've been repeatedly bugged by the Nigerian scammers, there's a site that needs banning, the hell with THEIR "Free"speech.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
11/02/2012 0:40
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[Dawn] The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the Sindh police chief and other authorities to submit a report on infiltration of over 7,000 Taliban activists in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... and release of 150 convicts on parole.
A five-member larger bench, headed by Justice Anwer Zaheer Jamali with Justices Sarmad Jalal Osmany, Khilji Arif Hussain, Gulzar Ahmed and Amir Hani Mohammedan as members, was seized with the proceedings for the implementation of the apex courts earlier order in a suo motu ...a legal term, from the Latin. Roughly translated it means I saw what you did, you bastard... case related to Bloody Karachi killings.
At the outset of the hearing, the court asked Advocate General Fatah Malik to produce a report on land survey in the city. The provincial chief law officer stated that the survey could not be conducted, because a suit was still pending disposal in this regard.
Justice Jamali told the advocate general that the government did not need any court order to conduct the land survey. In fact, it is the duty of the government to safeguard its land, he added.
Sindh Chief Secretary Raja Mohammad Abbas rose to inform the court that the most important task was to get the summary for land survey approved from the chief minister that he had eventually got done.
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[Dawn] Ten gunnies were killed and six injured Thursday as gunship helicopters and jet fighters pounded bad boy hideouts in the remote Tirah Valley in Khyber Agencys Bara Tehsil, security officials said.
The officials said that security forces had also destroyed the house of a bad boy commander while a mortar shell hitting a house injured eight civilians also in Bara.
Sources added that gunship helicopters struck myrmidons in Sairi village of Tirah, destroying four of their bases and killing ten bad boys. Six were also said to be injured.
The security forces claims, however, could not be verified form an independent source, the area being inaccessible to news hounds because of a lack of telecommunication links
Meanwhile, ...back at the pool hall, Peoria Slim had found another sucker... security forces also blew up the house of a bad boy commander known as Javed belonging to the outlawed Lashkar-e-Islam in the Nala Kajori area of Bara.
In another incident a mortar shell hit a house in Malakdin Khel area of Bara, injuring eight members of a family. It was unclear whether the shell was fired by gunnies or security forces.
Khyber is one of Pakistains seven tribal districts near the Afghan border which are rife with homegrown forces of Evil and are alleged to be strongholds of Taliban and Al Qaeda operatives.
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[An Nahar] Syrian rebels killed 28 soldiers in attacks on three army checkpoints on the main road from Damascus ...Capital of the last overtly fascist regime in the world... to the embattled city of Aleppo ...For centuries, Aleppo was Greater Syria's largest city and the Ottoman Empire's third, after Constantinople and Cairo. Although relatively close to Damascus in distance, Aleppans regard Damascenes as country cousins... Thursday, a watchdog said, as a warplane bombed the outskirts of the rebel-held town of Harasta, east of Damascus.
Five rebels were also killed in the attacks near the city of Saraqeb in Syria's northwest, the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
The rebels did not capture the checkpoints, where they would be exposed to regime air strikes, but did seize several armored vehicles, said the Observatory.
Syria's northwestern Idlib province has become a key battleground in the country's conflict, especially after rebel forces seized the town of Maaret al-Numan on the Damascus-Aleppo road early last month.
Fighting has since raged at the Wadi Deif army base near Maaret al-Numan, where rebel forces have laid siege to regime troops.
The air force also bombarded towns in the northwestern province of Idlib, much of which is under rebel control, said observatory.
The violence came a day after at least 152 people were killed across Syria -- 58 civilians, 48 rebels and 46 soldiers, said the Observatory.
"Warplanes dropped three bombs on the outskirts of Harasta" in the Eastern Ghuta area home to some of the rebel Free Syrian Army's best organized and fiercest fighters, it said.
Monday saw the regime carry out its heaviest air strikes since air power was first deployed in mid-summer, and intensive aerial attacks have continued, says the Observatory.
The surge in air raids -- often with the crudest kind of explosives -- is a desperate attempt by the regime to reverse rebel gains and turn populations against them, analysts and rebels say.
On Thursday, fighter jets struck the towns of Talmanas and Maar Shamarin in Idlib province, said the Observatory.
The jihadist al-Nusra Front joined the rebels in festivities near the province's biggest army base at Wadi Daif, a barracks and storehouse for arms and fuel that they have laid siege to since early October.
Meanwhile, ...back at the cheese factory, all the pieces finally fell together in Fluffy's mind... several people were maimed when helicopters pounded the district of al-Hajar al-Aswad in southern Damascus, said the Observatory.
"One of the shells on al-Hajar al-Aswad... fell into the neighborhood's sports center," it said.
The contested neighborhood of al-Hajar al-Aswad was scene of intense mid-summer fighting between rebels and the army.
Elsewhere, festivities broke out in the northern city of Aleppo as the army shelled the rebel-held district of Sukari during the night, the Observatory said, without providing details on casualties.
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11/02/2012
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[Dawn] Three workers of the Awami National Party (ANP) were killed and four activists were maimed in a gun attack carried out by some half a dozen gunnies riding cycle of violences on its party office in Landhi on Wednesday, police and party sources said.
The officials said that about six men riding three motorbikes pulled up outside the ANP ward office in UC-3 of Landhi's Sherpao Colony within the remit of the Quaidabad cop shoppe. Three of them got off the two-wheelers, pulled out 9mm pistols and fired multiple shots at the ANP workers sitting in and outside the office.
"The firing was so intense that it terrorised area people and caused panic in the thickly-populated neighbourhood," said an official at the Quaidabad cop shoppe. "The main victims were those activists who were sitting in chairs outside the office as a matter of routine. The attackers sped away in a flash after firing multiple rounds."
As the guns fell silent, residents and the party workers who escaped the attack rescued the maimed and put them into cars and ambulances to race them to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre (JPMC). Out of the total seven maimed victims, three workers, including the party's area leader, died one after another at the hospital.
"The dear departed have been identified as activist in charge of ANP ward Saleem Khan, Abid Hazarwai and Mohammad Sajid," said the official. "The maimed included Fahim Bangash, Niaz Khan Yousufzai, Arif Khan and Abdul Razzaq. The maimed activist, Niaz Khan, is also coordinator to the ANP politician in the Sindh Assembly Amanullah Mehsood," the police said.
The police authorities suspected 'political reasons' for the deadly attack that also attracted serious criticism from the leadership of the ANP, which parted ways with the Pakistain People's Party-led coalition government only last month while keeping the ruling partnership intact at the centre and in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa ... formerly NWFP, still Terrorism Central... "It was definitely a targeted attack," said DIG (east) Shahid Hayat. "Initially it seems politically motivated but investigations are at their early stage. We are collecting information. Police patrol and deployment in the affected area and other volatile localities have been increased to prevent violence."
Losing workers and area leaders consistently in random attacks in different parts of the city, the ANP sounded worried and angry while blaming the 'security administration' and the 'coalition government' for failing to protect lives of political workers.
"Political activism in Bloody Karachi ...formerly the capital of Pakistain, now merely its most important port and financial center. It may be the largest city in the world, with a population of 18 million, most of whom hate each other and many of whom are armed and dangerous... is being targeted months before general elections," said an ANP front man commenting on the attack on the Landhi office. "It's sheer terrorism, which puts a question mark over the performance of the democratic set-up and the law-enforcement agencies. The party condemns every form of terrorism," he added.
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[Ynet] Interior Ministry says security forces thwarted plan to abduct young Jews in Zarzis, hold them for ransom. Jewish leader: Intimidation campaign underway
Tunisian security forces tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! four people for allegedly plotting to kidnap local Jews and hold them for ransom, an Interior Ministry official said on Thursday.
There are less than 2,000 Jews in Tunisia, mostly living in Zarzis and the nearby island of Djerba in the south of the country.
"The security forces aborted a plan to kidnap young Jews in Zarzis. Police tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! four young men and seized two weapons," the official, Lofi Hidouri, told Rooters.
A Tunisian newspaper reported that security forces managed to stop a "dangerous terror network" that operated against Jews. According to the report, the man behind the activity was a security officer who was in charge of protecting Jews residing in southern Tunisia. He recruited numerous youngsters to the terror network, the newspaper said.
It was further reported that the security officer had already purchased a vehicle from Libya, as well as a weapon, which he planned to use in the attack.
Perez Trabelsi, head of the Jewish community in Djerba, also said a policeman was among the four tossed in the calaboose Drop the rod and step away witcher hands up! "There is a big worry in Djerba and Zarzis. The government should provide us with more protection," Trablesi said.
An "intimidation campaign" was underway to force Jews to leave Tunisia, he said.
"This is our country, we will not leave it", he added.
This strikes me as unwise, as well as untenable.
Tunisia, whose authoritarian president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, was tossed in a street revolt in January 2011, now has an elected Islamist-led government.
Friction has grown between Islamists and secularists, with hardline Salafi Mohammedans clashing with police in street protests.
A few weeks after Ben Ali fled Tunisia, a synagogue in the city of Ghabes was set alight.
No one was hurt and the incident appeared to be isolated, but it revived memories of an al-Qaeda attack in 2002 that killed 21 tourists after an explosive-laden truck Blew up near a synagogue in Djerba.
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.
[Tolo News] Kabul Bank's receivership manager on Thursday said that the efforts to auction the bank's properties as soon as possible are happening both inside and outside the country, but the asset sale is challenging.
Kurram Agency
Mohmand Agency
Orakzai Agency
Hamid Gul
Pervez 
[Dawn] Two more 
cycle of violence
Hillary Clinton
[Dawn] During Thursday's hearing of the 
[Shabelle] An official in Somalia says government forces launched Thursday a massive crackdown in the port city of Marko, prior to several killing a senior army commander.
[Tolo News] The US is not only focused on the security transition out of Afghanistan, but it is also driving an economic and trade transition in order to ensure the health of the country's financial system, US Deputy Foreign Secretary Robert Blake said Thursday.
[An Nahar] Syrian rebels killed 28 soldiers in attacks on three army checkpoints on the main road from 
