When an 18-year-old from Pakistan dismounted his bicycle a couple of kilometres (miles) outside the eastern town of Khost last week, his clothes flapped up, revealing a suicide vest to an alert farmer nearby. Police soon surrounded the teenager and ordered him to remove his vest. He refused, grew increasingly agitated and eventually blew himself up, said Yaqoub Khan, police criminal director for Khost province. No one else was hurt.
A suicide attacker on Monday waited on a roadside in eastern Paktika province, apparently biding his time for a target to appear. When an Afghan army convoy approached, the bomber blew himself up several metres (yards) ahead of the vehicles, said Gov Mohammad Akram Akhpelwak. He caused no injuries or damage.
The nature of the two would-be suicide bombers deaths is strikingly common in Afghanistan. In sharp contrast to attacks in Iraq, scores of suicide strikes across Afghanistan have killed only the attacker, or a very few victims. NATO said that as of last week, 97 suicide attacks this year have killed just 217 people a casualty rate four times lower than in Iraq. These suicide bombers are brainwashed in Pakistan. Thats their only training. They dont know what theyre doing, Khan said.
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Oh, great. Just what we need - the MSM giving pointers to the splodeydopes.
Suspected Taliban gunmen on motorbikes ambushed a female provincial councillors car in southern Afghanistan, killing her husband, police said on Wednesday. The gunmen struck as legislator Zarghona Kakar and her husband stopped at a roadside bakery in Kandahar province late on Tuesday, provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai said.
Meanwhile, one Afghan soldier was killed when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb on Monday night in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province. Separately, NATO forces said they killed 11 Taliban insurgents in the east on Sunday. Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said the Taliban were plotting a fresh offensive against foreign troops in Afghanistan when the bitter winter ends early next year.
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KABUL - Clashes between foreign troops and Taleban fighters in eastern Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of 11 militants, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Wednesday.
ISAF troops discovered the militants gathering Sunday night in the Nari district and engaged them, thwarting three attempts by the militants to attack the international forces, the ISAF said. Each time the enemy attempted to manoeuvre into a new fighting position, ISAF forces destroyed them with artillery and close air support, said Lieutenant Colonel Paul Fitzpatrick, spokesman for the ISAFs eastern command.
Reached out and touched them.
The ISAF also reported a Taleban attack on its bases Monday night in the southern province of Kandahar. The Taleban fired rockets in the strikes in the Panjwaii district, and one destroyed a house in the town of Bazar E Panjwaiik, it said. No casualties were reported, the ISAF said.
Hek's boyz are as good as ever, aren't they?
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2006 00:00 ||
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Another 11 dead Pakistani graduates of the lovely Wahhabi and Deobandi maddrasses.
A court Wednesday convicted 34 men of plotting attacks across Yemen, including one aimed at the U.S. Embassy, and it sentenced the leader of the Shiite rebel group to death. The groups leader, Ibrahim Mohammed Sharafeldeen, was convicted and sentenced to death for forming a terror cell aimed at "disturbing security and weakening the security forces."
Chief judge Najeeb Qaderi of Yemens state security court sentenced 25 others in the case to prison sentences ranging between three to 10 years. Eight other defendants were convicted but released because of time served. After the sentences were pronounced, the defendants began kissing each other on the cheeks and shouting "Holy shit! Allahu akbar," or "God is great," and anti-U.S. slogans.
The defendants were captured in early 2005 in one of the capitals suburbs and security forces found weapons, ammunition and rockets with their possessions, along with recordings of al-Hawthi. Al-Hawthis followers alleged that the government persecuted him for his outspokenness against corruption and Yemens pro-American policies. The government said al-Hawthis death would end the clashes but fighting has continued.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Ruben Shumpert, who federal agents allege made his Rainier Valley barber shop a kind of "anti-American training ground for Muslims" where children were taught "how to shoot and fight the Americans," has telephoned the FBI to say he won't be going to prison anytime soon. "Can you hear me now?"
Shumpert, who faces sentencing on federal counterfeiting and weapons charges, has fled to Somalia. So what happened to the TSA's No Fly List, and why wasn't this sh!t head on it?
A warrant has been issued for the arrest of Shumpert, who is also known as Amir Abdul Muhaimin, Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Redkey said. He was to be sentenced Tuesday. Like that will do any good; something about barn doors and horses
Shumpert -- an African American convert to Islam -- was among more than a dozen, mostly African immigrants from Islamic countries arrested by the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force two years ago on a mix of charges, including immigration fraud and bank fraud. Shumpert was never charged with any terrorism crimes, but court documents paint a picture of his barber shop at 7821 Rainier Ave. S. as a gathering place for adherents of radical Islam where he showed children videotapes of "fighting, shooting and killing with images on Shumpert's computer screen of al-Qaida and the Taliban."
Shumpert had been free on personal recognizance and was facing sentencing under a plea agreement when he fled the country, Redkey said. Shumpert called an FBI agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force from Somalia, Redkey said. But he noted that the United States has no extradition treaty with Somalia. Somalia is considered a fertile breeding ground for radical Islamic terrorists by U.S. intelligence agencies.
Redkey said Shumpert also likely is to be charged with failing to appear for his sentencing hearing, a separate felony. A condition of Shumpert's release before sentencing was that he surrender his passport, said Redkey, who noted that in recent years, it has become more common for judges to allow defendants to turn in their passports after they are released from custody. Shumpert never surrendered his passport, Redkey said. Somebody dropped this ball and will probably have some 'splainin' to do
Redkey said the U.S. Attorney's Office is reviewing the practice of allowing people out of custody before they surrender their passport. Seems like there really ins't a lot of 'reviewing' what needs done; but that's just me.
#3
Give the Somalis 48 hours to catch his ass and send it back, or we have a legitimate excuse to ARCLIGHT the he$$ out of Mogadischu. Like we really, REALLY need an excuse, but better to have one than not. Come on, George, do it - you know you want to.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/23/2006 12:06 Comments ||
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#4
So typical of the followers of Allan. Mouth and bluster but never really ready to face the consequences of their actions. Interesting that he chose Somalia, a place we call a country but without any of the actual characteristics of a country. ANd yet, the dumbsh-ts that run the state department hnot only accept somali passports, they still have a program for people from thre who claim "refugee" status! We are letting the most virulent form of evil in our country every day, this has GOT to stop!
NEW DELHI: Two suspected Islamic militants were arrested in the Indian capital on Wednesday with explosives and a large amount of cash, media reports said. The two men, from Indian-held Kashmir, were arrested in a shopping centre in a northwestern suburb of New Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar told the Press Trust of India news agency. The men were carrying 1.5 kilograms of high-grade explosives, two timers and 250,000 rupees, Kumar said. The men are suspected members of Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, he said, adding that police was currently interrogating them.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Lone boomers, just sort-of acting on their own, right? No Pakistani intelligence agency to be seen within a 1,000 miles. *snark*
QUETTA: Police have registered a treason case against Jamil Akbar Bugti, son of the late Nawab Akbar Bugti, the Sariab police SHO said on Wednesday. He said that the case had been registered against Jamil Bugti for speaking against the countrys integrity at a press conference at the residence of former Balochistan chief minister Mir Humayun Marri on November 6. The case has been registered under sections 120-A, 253 and 505 of the Pakistan Penal Code, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
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Pakistani police said on Wednesday they arrested an Afghan who claims that the government in Kabul paid him to fire rockets inside Peshawar. Peshawar police chief Habibur Rahman identified the detainee only as Noorullah, and said at a news conference that the man told police that he and three accomplices, who are still at large, received at least Rs 1 million for firing five rockets in two separate attacks on October 17 and November 6. No casualties were caused by the rockets.
Afghan officials were not immediately available for comment on the allegations. The detainee, an ethnic Pashtun with a beard, was present at Wednesdays news conference, but reporters were not permitted to ask him questions. The police chief said that Noorullah had confessed to carrying out terrorist activities, and he and three others each received Rs 50,000 per missile fired.
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Bombs kill 133 in Baghdad, gunmen storm ministry
Up to six car bombs killed 133 people in a Shi'ite militia stronghold in Baghdad on Thursday, in one of most devastating such attacks since the U.S. invasion.
A further 201 people were wounded, police said, and the Health Minister said the toll could rise. "Many of the dead have been reduced to scattered body parts and are not counted yet," Ali al-Shemari told Reuters.
The blasts, which were followed by a mortar barrage aimed at a nearby Sunni enclave, came at the same time as gunmen mounted a bold daylight raid on the Shi'ite-run Health Ministry.
Six parked vehicles each packed with as much as half a metric ton of explosives, as well as mortars landing in the area, devastated streets and a crowded market in the sprawling Sadr City slum in east Baghdad, Major General Jihad al-Jabori of the Interior Ministry told Iraqiya state television.
The Sadr City blasts destroyed whole streets, leaving bloodied remains amid mangled vehicle wrecks. Fierce fires were left blazing after the attacks.
#1
Don't we have 24/7 aerial surveillance of the whole of Baghdad? We should have real time video of the blasts. Why don't we rewind the tape and see where the trucks came from and take care of the problem.
By now, our analysts should know Baghdad better than their home towns.
#4
Nothing says "Muslim love" better than a mass killing. It's like these stupid fucks just can't help but slaughter each other like sheep. How can anyone fool themselves into believing that Islam is the Religion of Peace? [spit] You'll sooner see the KKK marching in a gay pride parade.
#7
One problem is that Sunnis, globally, are supporting al-Qaeda in Iraq. Americans have to get better intelligence on that association of 9-11 murderers.
Again: land in mass in sectors of Baghdad and pick up 100 young Iraqis from each sector under the cover of investigative detention. Most will not inform on terror financing, incitement or arms caches. Enough will to yield good targets for 500 pounders. Detainees will be suspected of informing, but the terrorist won't kill all of them, in deference to morale, which is extremely high among al-Qaeda. Check out their website:
http://press-release.blogspot.com/
Try anything except maintaining the status quo. If its broke; fix it.
#12
Again: land in mass in sectors of Baghdad and pick up 100 young Iraqis from each sector under the cover of investigative detention. Most will not inform on terror financing, incitement or arms caches. Enough will to yield good targets for 500 pounders. Detainees will be suspected of informing, but the terrorist won't kill all of them, in deference to morale, which is extremely high among al-Qaeda.
Sounds like something Saddam would have done - except he'd have executed the 100 picked up and then gone back to kill their families too.
I believe the Israeli's have some experience doing this and it hasn't gotten them very far with the Paleo's either.
I do not want our soldiers to use these kinds of tactics. I want them to win, but not at the cost of our humanity.
Far better just to gun them down in the street than foment the kind of outcry and outright rebellion and complete hatred these kinds of tactics would inevitably generate IMO.
#14
I do not know what time-line we are thinking about now for giving democracy a chance.
If we lose patience:
Take the oilfields and distribution facilities not only in Iraq but in Saudi and Iran. Alternatively, deny Iranian production by knocking out their island distribution center in the Gulf. Any UN member who objects (esp. China) is denied the oil. All oil proceeds can either be kept in escrow for some hypothetical future states in the region capable of civilized behavior. Alternately, we simply keep the oil as a cost of the policing the high-seas and for other worthy causes such as weapons systems procurement, space exploration or hookers for every member of the US armed forces.
#15
I want them to win, but not at the cost of our humanity.
And if the cost of our humanity is our lives or our civilization/nation, will you sleep peacefully then?
You do not win against animals that crave death, by holding the moral high ground. You win by killing them and their support systems without mercy. And you continue to kill them until they give up or there are none left. Pity we have forgotten that.
#16
Latest update (AP via JlemPost) Civil war feared after bombers kill 161
Sunni insurgents blew up five car bombs - three of them suicide attacks - in Baghdad's Shi'ite Sadr City slum Thursday, killing at least 161 and wounding 257 in an act of carnage that sent the US ambassador racing to meet with Iraqi leaders and moved Iraq a step closer to all-out civil war.
Shi'ite mortar teams quickly retaliated, firing 10 shells at Sunni Islam's most important shrine in Baghdad, badly damaging the revered Abu Hanifa mosque and killing one person. Eight more mortar rounds slammed to earth near the west Baghdad headquarters of the Association of Muslim Scholars, the top Sunni Muslim organization in Iraq. Nearby houses were set on fire
#18
My favourite bit of history nobody bothered to teach me is an aside in a book about the "Werewolves"; Nazi dead-enders during the Allied occupation. It involved Canadian troops using bulldozers to level houses as a reprisal for sniping against Canadian troops.
If anything, Canada was more civilized at the time than it is today.
#19
You do not win against animals that crave death, by holding the moral high ground. You win by killing them and their support systems without mercy. And you continue to kill them until they give up or there are none left.
Weren't we supposed to have learned this lesson fighting the Japanese in WWII?
I have no fear of us losing our humanity. I'm concerned about us losing our lives to a bunch of intolerant suicidal zealots. Our culture is strongly enough based in honor and decency whereby we can always pull back to those norms once we're finished mopping up our enemies.
Jihad is the precise equivalent of the Lord's Supper in Christianity and the Jewish Sabbath, the defining expression of sacrifice that opens the prospect of eternity to the mortal believer. To ask Islam to become moderate, to reform, to become a peaceful religion of personal conscience is the precise equivalent of asking Catholics to abolish Mass.
It is increasingly clear that Islam has ZERO intention of reforming itself. There is no will to do so and I cannot foresee it arising any time in the near future. There are far too many obstacles implanted within the very creed itself that effectively prohibit even minor reinterpretation of its call to violence and global domination.
The West needs to face this fact and understand that neither containment nor isolationism will provide sufficient security against this virulent threat. The uncertainty and fear that terrorists mean to instill in the West should be repaid in spades. The entire MME (Muslim Middle East) needs to quake collectively under a nuclear sword of Damocles. We have already wasted enough precious blood and treasure on the matter as it stands. No further proof is needed to show that this intractable situation will only come back to haunt us should we abandon the field to our enemies.
Islam must be made to understand that it is skirting disaster in the form of nuclear annihilation should they refuse to curtail international terrorism. Each new Islamic atrocity should be repaid with stunningly disproportionate reprisal. Only when thousands of Muslims are dying for each victim of these endless atrocities will the ummah rise up against its zealot masters and demand a halt. Until then massive reprisals are in order.
#22
I am just a soldier. The battlefield looks like a neighborhood. People pass by going about their business. I am one of a unit who is assigned to hold this corner and take out enemy combatants. I am just a soldier. I have a family back home. I don't want to die, and I don't want to make a mistake. Some are men, some women, some children. Some are walking, some are standing and talking, some are on the rooftops looking around at their city. Two blocks away, a boy approaches a parked tank. If I knew who the enemy was, I would point my weapon toward them. I wonder how I can tell who is the enemy. As he approaches the tank, he rolls his soccer ball under it, then runs. The tank explodes. The enemy is not dressed like me, but they are all dressed like civilians. I am just a soldier. Must I kill them all ? This question begs an answer. The great leaders and conquerors of history said yes. Those who said no are not remembered. They grieve over the dead men in the tank and say we are not like them.
(KUNA) -- A US soldier was killed in a non-combat situation in Salahuddine Province north of Baghdad, announced the US Army on Wednesday. A US Army press release said the soldier, member of the Thunder Task Force, was killed on Tuesday, but didn't give further details. The total number of US soldiers killed in November reached 43.
In western Mosul, three Iraqi policemen were wounded when an explosive device blew up targeting a police patrol, said police sources. In another incident, a security source said the Iraqi forces in Kirkuk arrested on Tuesday an armed cell working for the Tawheed and Jihad Group and is responsible for executing a number of armed operations in the city.
Meanwhile, unknown gunmen assassinated on Wednesday a bodyguard for Speaker of the Iraqi General Assembly Dr. Mahmoud Al-Mashhadani. A press release issued by Al-Mashhadani's office said that another bodyguard was wounded in the attack, noting that both bodyguards were heading to work when the gunmen showered their vehicle with bullets. Earlier today, Al-Mashhadani announced during a parliamentary session that a new security force, dubbed Parliamentary Police, will be formed to provide more protection for members of the General Assembly.
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"...a new security force, dubbed Parliamentary Police."
(KUNA) -- A bomb exploded on Wednesday killing seven guards of industrial sites in Babel Governorate to the south of Baghdad, police said. The US Army said in a statement 64 militants were arrested in two combat operations on November 21, one at the restive Lutufiyah village, where 45 gunmen where arrested and the other one in Al-Anbar Province, north of Fallujah, where 13 militants were apprehended. Six other suspects were arrested close to Al-Habbaniyah village near Fallujah.
Separately, Iraqi government forces arrested a leader of a shadowy group, active against the state, called "Omar's Army," southwest of Baghdad.
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Darn, I would have preferred an inversion: blast kills 65 militants, 7 people arrested.
(KUNA) -- Israel on Wednesday ordered the army to carry out a full-fledged military operation against Gaza, the Israeli radio announced. It said that this plan would be carried out against anyone behind the "terrorist attacks" in a bid to counter Palestinian rocket fire. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz has given the green light for the army to launch an intensive military crack down on suspected spots in Gaza and asked to be furnished with a special plan in this regard.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#2
Just more yo-yo's my guess. Olmert's still in charge.
Posted by: Fred ||
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#3
It will come down to killing enough Paleos to stop the rockets. Does Israel have what it takes to wear the 'international condemnation'. I very much doubt it, but we shall see?
BTW, recent Hamas comments indicate they are convinced they are winning the Kassam war. This is not rhetoric. They believe this, because they believe Israel doesn't have what it takes to stop them. I suspect they are right.
A Jordanian accused of opening fire on Western tourists in Amman's Roman amphitheater, killing a Briton and wounding six other people, insisted in court on Wednesday that God "blesses" him for the attack, saying the British are enemies of Islam.
Prosecutors say Nabeel Ahmed Issa al-Jaourah fired a pistol at Western tourists at the historic site in September, while shouting, "Allahu akbar," or "God is great." British accountant Christopher Stokes died in the attack, and five people from Australia, Britain, the Netherlands and New Zealand, as well as a Jordanian tourist police officer, were wounded. "God blessed me when I killed a British man and hurt others, because they are fighting the Prophet and his soldiers since Balfour Declaration," al-Jaourah told the military court, referring to a 1917 document by the British government promising support for the creation of Israel.
"The British people ... insulted the honorable Quran and women who wear the head cover," said al-Jaourah, who is a Jordanian citizen of Palestinian origin. He was apparently referring to comments in October by British House of Commons leader Jack Straw, who said he believes that face-covering Muslim veils inhibit communication. Al-Jaourah has pleaded innocent to murder charges. But after his comments, the prosecutor said he had confessed and urged the court "to hand him the harshest punishment."
Posted by: Fred ||
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the concept of jihad, in which the congregation of Islam is also the army, states that every single Muslim must sacrifice himself personally. Jihad is the precise equivalent of the Lord's Supper in Christianity and the Jewish Sabbath, the defining expression of sacrifice that opens the prospect of eternity to the mortal believer. To ask Islam to become moderate, to reform, to become a peaceful religion of personal conscience is the precise equivalent of asking Catholics to abolish Mass.
#2
Thanks AH9418,
Many of us here realize what Spengler is saying. There is no compromise with Islamic world. That's why we call for the destruction of all Muslims...1.2 Billion, 1.7 Billion..who cares. The weak minds who do not yet grasp this are only contributing to our downfall. Be tahnkful today you live in a land of freedom and opportunity. What if it ends? What will your children and grandchildren do ? Wake the hell up. We need to deport all Muslims from US as fast as possible. They can renounce being muzzies or they can go. We need to destroy every moskk in this land asap. And Happy Thanksgiving to all Christian believers, may you be allowed to live long, peaceful, prosperous lives.
#3
Fred, you need a photo of a Brazil nut - not the indivdual segments on the inside, but the full, seven-inch sphere (kinda looks a bit like a shaved cocoanut). Hey, even a cocoanut would suffice! These people are REALLY nuts, not just a small bowl.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/23/2006 12:27 Comments ||
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#4
To ask Islam to become moderate, to reform, to become a peaceful religion of personal conscience is the precise equivalent of asking Catholics to abolish Mass.
This is why I continue to predict a Muslim holocaust. It is literally a given that an unreformed Islam somehow will manage to commit an atrocity of such stunningly horrendous magnitude that nuclear incineration will seem like a kindness to them.
Do the math; 25% of this world's population wants to install their beliefs as 100% of this world's religion. Such an act will likely result in the death of 50% of this planet's human population.
50% of this world's peaceful inhabitants or 25% of its most violent and intolerant zealots. How would you choose?
Efforts to resume coalition talks between Fatah and Hamas suffered a major setback on Wednesday when an attempt was made to assassinate a senior Fatah leader in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who returned to the Strip on Wednesday from a brief visit to Saudi Arabia, said the attempt to kill Abu Ali Shaheen, a former PA minister, underscored the need for a Palestinian unity government.
A planned meeting between Abbas and PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was postponed in the aftermath of the attack. Sources close to Abbas said the meeting could take place as early as Thursday. "We need a unity government that will tackle the state of anarchy and lawlessness in our areas," Abbas told reporters after visiting Shaheen at the Al-Quds Hospital in Gaza City. "There are many forces that are playing with fire and harm our national interests. A unity government will be able to solve most of the problems."
Shaheen, who served 15 years in Israeli prisons for security offenses, was moderately wounded when unidentified gunmen shot him in Gaza City late Tuesday night. The attack took place shortly after he left a local radio station where he had strongly criticized Hamas in an interview. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Fatah representatives were quick to accuse Hamas and its 3,000-strong "executive force." They noted that Shaheen has been one of the most outspoken critics of the Hamas government and its security force.
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A 35-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy, who were shot by the IDF in two separate incidents in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, died of their wounds on Thursday night, Palestinian sources reported. Reportedly, the woman was hit by a shell fired from an IDF tank at members of a Kassam rocket-launching cell. The circumstances in which the boy was shot were unclear.
Meanwhile, IDF troops killed a Palestinian gunman during a battle in the West Bank town of Jenin, the Islamic Jihad said. A second gunman, a senior commander, was wounded. Another group, the Aksa Martyrs' Brigades, linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement, also claimed that the gunman was a affiliated with their group and began marching in Jenin in protest over his death. The IDF said that troops stationed in the town spotted two armed Palestinians and opened fire, hitting both of them.
Earlier Wednesday, as ground troops, tanks, and other armored vehicles advanced into Gaza, the IDF killed two Palestinian gunmen. In Beit Hanun, troops fired on a group of Hamas terrorists as they were attempting to launch a Kassam rocket into Israel.The troops managed to prevent the launch and killed one of the terrorists.
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Kuwaiti Newspaper Alseyassah has reported that a SANA (Syrian Arab News Agency) editor has contacted a Lebanese pro-Syrian newspaper 55 minutes prior to the assassination. The call took place at 3:05 pm Beirut local time. Alseyassah did not name the Lebanese newspaper to protect its identity. The Alseyassah added that the Lebanese newspaper was extremely surprised about SANAs call which prompted the SANA reporter to call 10 minutes later and apologize for the original call.
Both PSP leader Walid Jumblatt and parliament majority leader Saad Hariri have accused Syria of being behind the murder in order to avoid the implementation of the UN tribunal for trying the murderers of former PM Hariri.
Social Affairs Minister Nayla Moawad also laid blame on Damascus for seeking to kill ministers to force the collapse of Siniora's government.
It is clearly obvious that if SANA knew in advance of the murder, the Syrian regime of Bashar el Assad must have been behind the murder.
As if to confirm of being behind the murder, Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Fayssal Mekdad rejected any of his citizens be brought to justice by an international tribunal into former PM Rafik Hariri's murder, al Hayat newspaper reported Wednesday. "Syria will not allow to turn in any of its citizens before an international judiciary because we are confident of our" judicial system, Mekdad was quoted as saying by the daily.
Alseyassah was the first newspaper to report about the involvement in Hariri murder of the 4 generals that report directly to president Lahoud. All the 4 generals are now in jail pending trial.
#1
OK. And the point is...what? Nobody is going to do anything. Assad and Syria will continue to do as they pleaase...emboldened by successful forays with Iran in Iraq and Isreal.
Lebanon's prime minister asked UN investigators probing last year's assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri to assist the government's investigation of the latest assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian Cabinet minister, the UN chief said Wednesday. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sent him a letter after Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was shot repeatedly in Beirut on Tuesday requesting "technical assistance" in the government's investigation.
Saniora asked that the UN investigation commission led by Belgian judge Serge Brammertz contact the appropriate Lebanese authorities, Annan said in a letter to the Security Council president. Since the International Independent Investigation Commission reports to the Security Council, Annan said he was transmitting Saniora's request "in order for members to take appropriate action."
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French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to discuss what he said was a "blatant violation of the cease-fire." Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate, traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire. Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force, told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon.
According to the French officer, Nehushtan apologized for an incident on October 31 when an IAF fighter carried out a mock bombing run over a French UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, almost prompting troops to fire anti-aircraft missiles. "There was a reality on the ground and it was important for us to reaffirm what we had seen and explain clearly what are the orders of the French soldiers to protect themselves," the French officer said.
The French told Nehushtan they would view further aggressive flyovers as a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701. "No assurances were made to us that they [the IAF] would stop [the flights]," the French officer said. "The orders that the [French] soldiers have is that their weapons are for self-defense and if a commander will feel threatened, as it was about to happen on the 31st of October, he would have the right to use force."
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#1
If the French troops decide to fire on the Israeli jets they probably won't feel threatened any more. They probably won't feel ANYTHING anymore.
The Israeli's wouldn't have to be doing these flyovers if the UNIFIL troops were doing their job of disarming Hezbollah or at least keeping them from rearming.
#2
Hizb'allah is building new fortifications right next to the French I would bet,and the French are doing nothing, this is what they did to UNIFIL last time.
If France should fire on an Israeli aircraft and hit one she must understand that it will have consequences outside of France and Israel. The Germans too must understand that they put their forces at risk if the French fire on a Israeli aircraft. When Resoltion 1701 is enforced by UNIFIL against Hizb'allah the French can worry about Israel, not until then.
#4
No small wonder that speculation about Israel's Sampson Option has it including parts of Europe along with all of the major MME (Muslim Middle East) capitals. If France looses even a single round against Israeli aircraft, I hope every last one of their installations, troops and escort ships are blown straight to hell. Vichy is alive and well, and it sorely needs another solid dose of post-war treatment.
The eliteist French polity is an enemy of all free people. Where is Madame Lafarge when we need her?
#5
Evidentally, France has grown a pair since recent pummeling delivered against weak, impoverished African neo-colonies (Ivory Coast, for example).
But the Frenchies will soon discover that Israel's military is not some third rate, rag-tag collection of "spray and pray" shooting militiamen.
Alas, this "newfound boldness" from Israel's enemies (I include France among them) stems from the Israeli political leadership's failure to defeat Hezbollah last summer.
Well said, polite, and understated. A point that will be missed entirely by the French. LOL
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/23/2006 9:18 Comments ||
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#9
I hope you guys are right. I'm beginning to doubt Israel's resoluteness in these matters. Sharon said he would not tolerate even one rocket attack after pulling out of Gaza. Look where we are today. We've seen hundreds of rocket attacks, and still, we are waiting for the hammer to fall.
I feel like its the mid 1930s. We are approaching a major disaster and nobody wants to take action.
IAF jets are flying surveillance over Lebanon. One element flies a little too low (thus 'threatening' the French), and French AA units open fire. One Israeli F-15 is downed; the others return to base.
In response, the IAF opens a large can of whupass and over the next 24 hr flattens a number of French UNIFIL sites. Italian and other nationality UNIFIL sites are left untouched. The Israeli PM and FM refuse to apologize and warn the French that any further attacks on Israeli aircraft will be met by a 'disproportionate response.'
Hokay, question:
What do the French do in return?
I ask because, armchair general that I am, I don't see what the French can do with conventional weapons to harm the Israelis. The Chicken of the SeaCharles deGaulle carrier certainly isn't going to sortie for strikes against Haifa. The French might have some long-range strike aircraft but they'd have to refuel somehow, and I don't see the French pulling off a successful long-range strike against an alerted Israel.
They might have cruise missiles on submarines, but so do the Israelis. A tit-for-tat response doesn't help the French at all.
So what do the French do? I see a binary option: nothing or nuclear. That worries me.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2006 10:31 Comments ||
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#11
Dr. White,
The French will not go nuclear on anybody. They still want to live. If a muzzie were in charge, I might be worried.
We'll not see but there'll be a lot of ECM games by both sides before any action like this occurs. If the frogs ever lock onto an Israeli target, I suspect there's going to be HARMs in the strike package from now on to deal with the problem in real time.
I also question your assumption about the Israeli response. If they call Hamas terrorists to tell them they're going to bomb their house, I suspect they'd give the French at least 30 minutes notice, probably via Kofi. Long enough to get the poilus out but not the missiles and radar. France will spew at the UN for failing to protect its peacekeepers and pack up to go home. Spain and Italy will beat them to the docks.
#12
Steve, They will surrender, like they always do. LOL
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/23/2006 11:01 Comments ||
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#13
Re: the speculation about the French long range and having to refuel: there would be a certain irony in them requesting IFR assistance from the US and being rejected. Can you say Libya 1980?
the frogs are only going to croak and grumble, the troops on the ground know they don't wnat to be the one to test the IDF's resolve.
It would be an ultimate irony if Europe's strongest proponent of the Eurabia Code were to trigger Israel's Sampson Option with an ill-advised nuclear attack. No one would have to ask the eternal question; "Is Paris burning?". It would be vaporized.
I doubt the French will initiate any attacks as their precious aircraft carrier instantly would become a prime target.
#15
I don't see anything happening. The French Army are pretty much professionals now.
If for some reason there was an incident, I would expect the retaliation to be local. But I would also guess the IDF might expand their recon flights to include the Rhone Valley.
I ask because, armchair general that I am, I don't see what the French can do with conventional weapons to harm the Israelis.
A sizable share of Israel's exports has to get tp Western Mediterranean ie outside the range of the IAF and well in range for the French Navy and Air Force. Of course this would not save the poor guys in Lebanon except as a deterrent.
Mourners wept and showered rice Wednesday on the coffin of a slain government minister who opposed Syrian influence in this divided nation, as his supporters mobilized for a massive show of force at his funeral in the capital, Beirut. A strong turnout Thursday could further fuel the political crisis between anti-Syrian forces who back the Lebanese government and pro-Syrian groups led by the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, which wants to topple the Western-backed prime minister, Fuad Saniora.
Just days before Tuesday's assassination, Hezbollah had threatened to hold mass protests of its own against the government. A Hezbollah official said Wednesday that the group would not carry out any action in the next few days "in order to calm the emotions." The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Still, in the newly charged atmosphere, many feared the crisis could move into the volatile streets. "This is scary. If things continue this way, who knows where we are heading," said Tony Gemayel, a 35-year-old relative participating in mourning ceremonies held by the Maronite Christian family in their ancestral hometown of Bikfaya in the mountains above Beirut.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
11/23/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[11130 views]
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#5
For what it's worth, the lady is 81 and still going strong. Starred with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in Out to Sea in 1997 and was in Touched by an Angel in 2000.
#3
Seafarious also has the 'galloping ewe' pic for Ramadan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/23/2006 1:03 Comments ||
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#4
The very best of Thanksgiving holiday wishes to all at Rantburg. What a joy to live in a nation like America that gives us so much to be truly thankful for.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
11/23/2006 8:54 Comments ||
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#11
Happy Thanksgiving to all Rantburgers and especially to the troops. Go eat till you can't move, then watch football -- it's the American way!
Posted by: Jonathan ||
11/23/2006 9:30 Comments ||
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#12
I am thankful for:
Living in the United States of America.
A decent job that pays pretty well.
The best health-care system in the world. (Where else can you get an MRI on 1 day notice?)
All My friends and family who helped Me so much this year, when I needed it.
Having two obedientwell-behaved loving Samoyeds.
Fred, and all the work he does for Rantburg.
#13
Talked to Anymouse here in Anchorage last night. He is in the Naval Reserve and is heading for 2.5 weeks of active duty in Pearl Harbor. His son is now a 2nd leutenant in the Marines. We have a lot to be thankful for. And we have a lot to do.
It is a good thing to stop every once in a while and give thanks for what we have. All Rantburgers, have a fine thanksgiving! And very happy to see you on the road to recovery, Jackal!
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
11/23/2006 11:15 Comments ||
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#14
Happy Thanksgiving from balmy Colorado Springs to all Rantburgers everywhere, whether you're celebrating with us today or not. Also a most heartfelt happy Thanksgiving to all our troops, all across the globe, that enable so many to give thanks in the manner they personally choose.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/23/2006 11:58 Comments ||
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#15
Thanks to the troops both those alive and especially to all those fallen who gave their all for our freedom, thanks to all my fellow Rantburgers (even though I still consider myself something of a newbie), thanks to our Founding Fathers, and thanks to God for giving us the greatest country on the face of the Earth - ever, and just plain thanks to God for everything else too.
Though I'm working today watching over a quarter billion dollars worth of government computer site I'll be raising a toast to ya'll after I get off later today.
#18
Happy Thanksgiving from Massachusetts! Turkey's out of the oven and the apple pie is in! Hearth is glowing against the wind and rain pounding outside.
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.
When an 18-year-old from Pakistan dismounted his bicycle a couple of kilometres (miles) outside the eastern town of Khost last week, his clothes flapped up, revealing a suicide vest to an alert farmer nearby. Police soon surrounded the teenager and ordered him to remove his vest. He refused, grew increasingly agitated and eventually blew himself up, said Yaqoub Khan, police criminal director for Khost province. No one else was hurt.
Suspected Taliban gunmen on motorbikes ambushed a female provincial councillors car in southern Afghanistan, killing her husband, police said on Wednesday. The gunmen struck as legislator Zarghona Kakar and her husband stopped at a roadside bakery in Kandahar province late on Tuesday, provincial police chief Esmatullah Alizai said. 
KABUL - Clashes between foreign troops and Taleban fighters in eastern Afghanistan resulted in the deaths of 11 militants, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said Wednesday.
A court Wednesday convicted 34 men of plotting attacks across Yemen, including one aimed at the U.S. Embassy, and it sentenced the leader of the Shiite rebel group to death. The groups leader, Ibrahim Mohammed Sharafeldeen, was convicted and sentenced to death for forming a terror cell aimed at "disturbing security and weakening the security forces." 
NEW DELHI: Two suspected Islamic militants were arrested in the Indian capital on Wednesday with explosives and a large amount of cash, media reports said. The two men, from Indian-held Kashmir, were arrested in a shopping centre in a northwestern suburb of New Delhi, Deputy Commissioner of Police Alok Kumar told the Press Trust of India news agency. The men were carrying 1.5 kilograms of high-grade explosives, two timers and 250,000 rupees, Kumar said. The men are suspected members of Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group, he said, adding that police was currently interrogating them.
Pakistani police said on Wednesday they arrested an Afghan who claims that the government in Kabul paid him to fire rockets inside Peshawar. Peshawar police chief Habibur Rahman identified the detainee only as Noorullah, and said at a news conference that the man told police that he and three accomplices, who are still at large, received at least Rs 1 million for firing five rockets in two separate attacks on October 17 and November 6. No casualties were caused by the rockets. 
(KUNA) -- A US soldier was killed in a non-combat situation in Salahuddine Province north of Baghdad, announced the US Army on Wednesday. A US Army press release said the soldier, member of the Thunder Task Force, was killed on Tuesday, but didn't give further details. The total number of US soldiers killed in November reached 43.
(KUNA) -- A bomb exploded on Wednesday killing seven guards of industrial sites in Babel Governorate to the south of Baghdad, police said. The US Army said in a statement 64 militants were arrested in two combat operations on November 21, one at the restive Lutufiyah village, where 45 gunmen where arrested and the other one in Al-Anbar Province, north of Fallujah, where 13 militants were apprehended. Six other suspects were arrested close to Al-Habbaniyah village near Fallujah.
(KUNA) -- Israel on Wednesday ordered the army to carry out a full-fledged military operation against Gaza, the Israeli radio announced. It said that this plan would be carried out against anyone behind the "terrorist attacks" in a bid to counter Palestinian rocket fire. Israeli Defense Minister Amir Peretz has given the green light for the army to launch an intensive military crack down on suspected spots in Gaza and asked to be furnished with a special plan in this regard.
A Jordanian accused of opening fire on Western tourists in Amman's Roman amphitheater, killing a Briton and wounding six other people, insisted in court on Wednesday that God "blesses" him for the attack, saying the British are enemies of Islam. 
Efforts to resume coalition talks between Fatah and Hamas suffered a major setback on Wednesday when an attempt was made to assassinate a senior Fatah leader in the Gaza Strip. Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who returned to the Strip on Wednesday from a brief visit to Saudi Arabia, said the attempt to kill 
A 35-year-old woman and a 14-year-old boy, who were shot by the IDF in two separate incidents in the northern Gaza Strip town of Beit Lahiya, died of their wounds on Thursday night, Palestinian sources reported. Reportedly, the woman was hit by a shell fired from an IDF tank at members of a Kassam rocket-launching cell. The circumstances in which the boy was shot were unclear. 
Lebanon's prime minister asked UN investigators probing last year's assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri to assist the government's investigation of the latest assassination of a prominent anti-Syrian Cabinet minister, the UN chief said Wednesday. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Prime Minister Fuad Saniora sent him a letter after Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel was shot repeatedly in Beirut on Tuesday requesting "technical assistance" in the government's investigation. 
French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking French military officer told The Jerusalem Post Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to discuss what he said was a "blatant violation of the cease-fire." Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate, traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire. Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force, told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon. 
Mourners wept and showered rice Wednesday on the coffin of a slain government minister who opposed Syrian influence in this divided nation, as his supporters mobilized for a massive show of force at his funeral in the capital, Beirut. A strong turnout Thursday could further fuel the political crisis between anti-Syrian forces who back the Lebanese government and pro-Syrian groups led by the Shiite Muslim group Hezbollah, which wants to topple the Western-backed prime minister, Fuad Saniora.
![Available *SKY* [maneuvering space] for a IAF fighter jet](http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0Je5xWkSGVFYHEBqQyjzbkF;_ylu=X3oDMTA4NDgyNWN0BHNlYwNwcm9m/SIG=123fjrm27/EXP=1164352036/**http%3a//www.un.org/unrwa/refugees/images/map.jpg){kind=link}