#1
"If you think of the New York Times reporter who was kidnapped in November last year and released for $8m, this was a criminal act and has nothing to do with the Taliban as a political and military force.
Well, isn't that interesting. I thought he "escaped"?
A New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the Taliban has escaped and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
According to CQ Politics, the New York Times was prepared to pay Taliban kidnappers a $5 million ransom to free its reporter David Rohde, who escaped Friday after seven months of captivity, according to a source with direct knowledge of the case.
Over months of secret contacts with Rohde's captors preceding his escape, The New York Times accepted the prospect of paying the ransom to free Rohde, said the source, who was involved in the hunt for Rohde. The source insisted on anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case.
Bill Keller, the executive editor of the Times, refused to comment Saturday on the circumstances that led to Rohde's release, but said, "We paid no ransom."
#5
The interesting thing I've noticed about the few Al Jiz articles I've seen, is they all seemed to be straight reporting, unlike US/European/Russian/Chinese MSM which says "here's some of the things that happened that support the message we want to to carry away with you ... and here's some things that didn't happen but we're gonna pretend they did.."
#8
they must really be hurting. They thrive in fear and chaos, so I'm surprised they are trying to act civilized now, I see this as the beginning of their end.
#1
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan has struck its first ceasefire with the Taliban in a remote province before a presidential election next month, the government said on Monday, but the truce lasted only hours before clashes broke out.
#2
ION PAKISTANI DEFENCE FORUMS > INDIAN ARMY MAJOR-GENERAL RUNNING TERROR CAMPS IN AFGHANISTAN??? ARTIC = INDIA, a Nation with no borders wid Afghanistan, is repor second only to the US CIA in having a sizable INTEL local presence. EIGHT FOREIGN INTEL AGENCIES OPER IN AFGHANISTAN.
* SAME > INDIA TRYING TO [covertly legally] OCCUPY BANGLADESH TERRITORY.
[Quqnoos] Afghan soldiers killed 16 insurgents in a restive district of the eastern Nooristan province, the Defence Ministry said Sunday. The militants were killed on Saturday as Afghan troops backed by international forces pounded their positions with artillery in the Barg-e Matal district of Nooristan, according to a Defence Ministry statement.
"The enemy launched several rockets on a military station. The troops responded and killed 16 enemy fighters," the statement noted.
Barg-e Matal district was temporarily captured by militants as dozens of Taliban militants attacked and killed several policemen few weeks ago.
Afghan and foreign forces recaptured the area days later in an assault which saw several rebels and police killed.
Italians Wounded
In western corner of Afghanistan, at least four Italian soldiers have been wounded on Saturday night after their vehicle hit a roadside bomb. A spokesman for the troops in the western Herat province said the explosives were rigged into an motorbike and went off while the troops were heading to a relatively unstable district of Shindand.
The health status of the soldiers is termed stable.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Taliban
[Al Arabiya Latest] Egyptian prosecutors referred 26 men to an emergency state security court on terrorism and espionage-related charges, a prosecution statement said on Sunday.
The bulk of the men "conspired... to carry out terrorist activities within Egypt," led by Hezbollah operatives Mohamed Qublan and Sami Shihab to attack "vessels passing through the Suez Canal, foreign tourists and tourist establishments," the statement said.
Hezbollah Sami Shihab is a member of the group who had been providing military supplies to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip with the help of up to 10 others but denied targeting Egypt.
The prosecution said the men included Egyptians, Palestinians, Lebanese and Sudanese, and that four were not in custody.
In April Egypt detained 49 Egyptian, Palestinian and Lebanese men linked to Hezbollah it accused of planning attacks in Egypt.
Tensions between predominantly Sunni Egypt and Shiite opposition group Hezbollah have been running high since Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah accused Cairo of complicity with Israel in its siege of Gaza earlier this year.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"the number 7 truncheon, pulease, abdul"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/27/2009 16:28 Comments ||
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#2
In April Egypt detained 49 Egyptian, Palestinian and Lebanese men linked to Hezbollah it accused of planning attacks in Egypt.
It looks like Abdul and the #7 truncheon have already done one job of work.
[Maghrebia] Mauritanian police charged a third suspect Friday (July 24th) in Nouakchott with the murder of American NGO worker Christopher Leggett, local and international press reported. Police Commissioner Mohamed Ould Ghassem Bezeid said Didi Ould Bezeid, aka Abu Ghatada, 26, is the third suspected member of an al-Qaida Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb cell that claimed responsibility for the daytime shooting of Leggett last month outside his Nouakchott IT school. Two other murder suspects were arrested on July 17th. One was wearing a suicide bombing belt when he was seized following a firefight in El Kasr.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in North Africa
[Al Arabiya Latest] Security forces killed at least 32 Nigerians in northeast Bauchi state on Sunday after an armed gang attacked a police station in retaliation for the arrests of their leaders.
Around 70 Nigerians armed with guns and hand grenades attacked a local police station in the city of Bauchi, the state's capital, early Sunday but retreated after a gun battle with security forces, the police said. Security forces responded by raiding the group's neighborhoods and hideouts, arresting hundreds.
A Reuters reporter counted 32 bodies at two Bauchi police stations and said dozens were wounded among the more than 200 arrested.
Bauchi police spokesman Mohammed Barau said the armed gang belonged to Boko Haram, a local group that wants Islamic law to be imposed on all of Nigeria. "The situation is now under control. More members of the organization are being arrested," Barau said.
A member of the gang who was wounded during the initial attack on the police station told Reuters the group wanted to "clean the (Nigerian) system which is polluted by western education and uphold sharia all over the country."
"The police has been arresting our leaders that is why we decided to retaliate," said the man, who gave his name only as Abdullah.
Perhaps they would have been wiser to wait for the return of their leaders before making such a decision.
Religious strife impacts oil producer
Bauchi is one of 12 states in the predominately Muslim north that started a stricter enforcement of sharia in 2000 -- a decision that alienated sizable Christian minorities and sparked bouts of sectarian violence that killed thousands.
Nigeria, the world's eighth largest oil producer, is roughly equally split between Christians and Muslims, although traditional animist beliefs underpin many people's faith.
More than 200 ethnic groups generally live peacefully side by side in the West African country, although civil war left one million people dead between 1967 and 1970 and there have been bouts of religious unrest since then.Last November, hundreds were killed in two days of clashes in the central city of Jos after a disputed election triggered the worst fighting between Muslim and Christian gangs in years in Africa's most populous country.
Militant attacks have slashed the country's oil revenue in half in the first quarter of 2009 compared to the previous quarter, official statistics released last week showed, with falling global prices adding to the pressure. Reflecting the strain on its finances, Nigeria's foreign reserves fell to $43 billion in the first half from $53 billion at the end of December.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Nigeria's foreign reserves fell to $43 billion in the first half from $53 billion
And if you send me your bank account information I can put a big chunk of what's left into it, but act now before it's all gone!
#2
Nothing sez stable country as having mobs attack police with guns and grenade; what is deathtoll, now, at the nigerian bloody frontiers of islam? It was above 10 000 a bit after 9/11, surely, they've done better since.
[Jakarta Post] Authorities say four militants were found dead after an explosion in the violence-plagued Ingushetia province in southern Russia. The regional interior ministry said a makeshift bomb exploded early Sunday in a car in the Nazran district, killing the four passengers, including a member of a militant group previously convicted for illegal arms possession.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Chechen Republic of Ichkeria
#1
He has been acquitted of arms possession now.
Posted by: Steven ||
07/27/2009 17:36 Comments ||
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[Geo News] Twenty-three militants were killed during the operation by the security forces in district Dir Bala while Qaumi Lashkar has also claimed tokill three militants and destroy their training centre.
As per Dir Media Centre, the security forces carried out shelling on hideouts of militants in Dogdara and Ghazi, areas of Upper Dir while 23 militants were killed and their many hideouts were also destroyed in the operation.
Nearly all persons migrated from tehsisl Owainzai have returned home and the life has again come to normalcy in the area.
However, return of IDPs in tehsil Maidan is still in progress.
Meanwhile, curfew has been relaxed up to 6-00 pm in Mingora, Fazaghat, Charbagh, Matta, Khwazakhela and Bedra, the areas of Swat.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TTP
The Capital City Police, in collaboration with other law-enforcement agencies, on Sunday arrested three suspected terrorists and recovered explosives and ammunition from them. Sources in Islamabad police said intelligence agencies intercepted a phone call by terrorists and discovered that the call was made from a house in Barakahu police precincts. The Islamabad police and personnel of anti-terrorists squad raided the area and arrested the suspects, identified as Saleem Iqbal, Zahid and Amad.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda in Pakistan
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Scores of local Taliban militants were arrested along with their leader as the security forces continued operation for the second consecutive day in the Shah Hassankhel village, 25 kilometres from here Sunday.
Police said security forces continued an operation against the militants in the hilly area of Shah Hassankhel, shelling the hideouts of the militants. The sources said the security forces raided the Madrassa Usmania located at Michankhel and arrested a leader of the militants, Maulana Abdul Mateen, along with scores of Taliban and took them to an undisclosed location for interrogation.
Maulana Mateen belongs to the JUI-F. Shah Hassankhel was the stronghold of the militants where they had established their compounds and hideouts in a nearby mountain. The sources said the security forces shelled the hideouts of the insurgents on the mountain and destroyed houses on Saturday.
The security forces set up a temporary base at the Government High School Isakkhel, 15 kilometres from Lakki Marwat town, from where heavy artillery and other weapons were used to fire at the mountainous hideouts of the militants.
Our Kohat correspondent adds: Security forces in a joint search operation with police arrested 45 suspected persons, including 20 activists of banned outfits, on Sunday. They said 20 activists of banned Jaish-e-Muhammad and Sipah-e-Sahaba were taken into custody and shifted to an unidentified location for interrogation. Meanwhile, 25 suspected persons were nabbed from various villages in Kohat district on charges of having links with militants.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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[Geo News] Amir banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi Maulana Sufi Muhammad along with his two sons has been taken into custody from an area of Peshawar.
According to sources, heavy police contingent carried out a raid in City Town area located next to G.T. Road in Peshawar and took into custody Maulana Sufi Muhammad along with his two sons, Ziaullah and Rizwanullah. An accomplice identified as Tahir has also been apprehended. They have been shifted to an unknown location.
The Pervez Musharraf Presidential Suite at the Peshawar Hilton?
They don't have an Intercontinental hotel there? Intercontinental used to be nicer. Still, if one is trying to fly under the radar...
However, CCPO Peshawar Safwat Ghayoor said he had no knowledge about the above development. It may be mentioned here that it was disclosed a day earlier that Maulana Sufi Muhammad has a residence in Peshawar. Sources say he has been living in the Peshawar residence for the last one and a half month.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: TNSM
Soldiers from an Army unit that had 10 infantrymen accused of murder, attempted murder or manslaughter after returning to civilian life described a breakdown in discipline during their Iraq deployment in which troops murdered civilians, a newspaper reported Sunday.
Some Fort Carson, Colo.-based soldiers have had trouble adjusting to life back in the United States, saying they refused to seek help, or were belittled or punished for seeking help. Others say they were ignored by their commanders, or coped through drug and alcohol abuse before they allegedly committed crimes, The Gazette of Colorado Springs said.
The Gazette based its report on months of interviews with soldiers and their families, medical and military records, court documents and photographs.
Several soldiers said unit discipline deteriorated while in Iraq.
"Toward the end, we were so mad and tired and frustrated," said Daniel Freeman. "You came too close, we lit you up. You didn't stop, we ran your car over with the Bradley," an armored fighting vehicle.
With each roadside bombing, soldiers would fire in all directions "and just light the whole area up," said Anthony Marquez, a friend of Freeman in the 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment. "If anyone was around, that was their fault. We smoked 'em."
Taxi drivers got shot for no reason, and others were dropped off bridges after interrogations, said Marcus Mifflin, who was eventually discharged with post traumatic stress syndrome.
"You didn't get blamed unless someone could be absolutely sure you did something wrong," he said. Because AP has got its panties in a bunch about copying their work, I'll stop there with the teaser and let you click on the link to read the rest of the story and to find out how hard the folks at AP worked to substantiate the soldiers' stories. Maybe they didn't really need to go to such great lengths since everyone knows that all Iraq veterans all come back transformed into wild-eyed knuckle-dragging homicidal maniacs. Perhaps they should pull a soldier after few dozen kills or near-death injuries, whichever comes first. Of course, if we did that, we wouldn't have anyone left to fight!
#1
It's not unheard of. My Lai was a case of deterioration of discipline within a unit. Also, I know in the civilian world the act of asking for mental help is very detrimental to one's career (ask Thomas Eagleton) so it would be no surprise if soldiers with PTSD were discouraged from seeking help - though I understand there has been serious pressure lately to overcome that tendency. As far as the rest of it goes, acknowledging that it's wrong even if it's true, I can understand the urge to 'light the whole area up' etc. You spend day after day getting shot at or blown up by people dressed as civilians and tolerated/assisted by essentially all the civilians in the area, and you would about have to get frustrated and rather casual in regarding their lives as having any value.
#2
Never will you see addressed the Geneva Convention [real international law] that legal combatants must wear identifying markings or uniform for the expressed purpose of reducing civilian casualties. Instead the MSM gives a pass to those on the other side who flaunt that law with the intention of creating civilian casualties in a war zone.
Soldiers from an Army unit that had 10 infantrymen..
What size unit/population are we dealing with - platoon, company, battalion, battalion task force. Can we compare the population to, say, another population of the same or similar demographic in civilian life and get a similar result?
"You didn't get blamed unless someone could be absolutely sure you did something wrong," he said.
Well, that's what criminal law is generally about. Not to be confused with being accused and found guilty without a trial by MSM.
#5
This sounds like the "Zoloft defense" that was popular in the 90's. A lawyer said 95%+ of the people using that defense were guilty and just throwing a "Hail Mary" and hoping the jury would buy it.
As for My Lai, it happened among:
1) a unit of draftees(many from "project 100,000")
2) rampant drug use,
3) an obsession with body counts.
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
07/27/2009 11:33 Comments ||
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#6
A unit with 10 men is a squad. Three to 4 squads in a platoon.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
07/27/2009 11:34 Comments ||
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#7
This is the Associated [with terrorists] Press. What do you expect?
Of course they are going to smear the troops - its one of the ways they support their allies.
Just like they (and most of the rest of the MSM) did with Abu Ghraib - never ever mentioning that the problem was already being investigated via offical channels when they 'broke' the story. ABC News f--ked beat that dead horse for 18 months solid.
And then you have to wonder how much of the soldier's mental state was influenced (if not inflamed) by the Media's disgusting treatment of them after they returned.
Both articles are very long - more than 2500 words each - so I won't post them here. They were in our local newspaper, the Colorado Springs "Gazette", yesterday and today. AP appears to add some twists that aren't in the Gazette articles.
All the troops came from Fort Carson, but not necessarily the same unit. There are three brigade combat teams, plus quite a few of the 10th Special Forces stationed at Fort Carson (there are several dozen smaller units, including three or four reserve units assigned there as well, but most of them haven't been deployed overseas).
I can attest to the stigma of seeking out mental health abuse, and its effect on one's career. I can also say with confidence that most unit commanders don't have a very good feeling for members that repeatedly show up for sick call. There needs to be some changes made in how the military recognizes and treats combat-related physical and mental trauma. The Fort Carson study was one step in that direction.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
07/27/2009 15:04 Comments ||
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#9
No surprise 10Grp is having that compared to line units. Mega-high stress, and a ton more peer pressure to never ever look weak.
[Iran Press TV Latest] The Israeli military has invaded Palestinian towns in the West Bank, forcibly entering homes and ransacking them while arresting scores of civilians.
They forgot the scare quotes around "civilians".
Targeting West Bank communities, Israeli troops on Sunday searched and raided homes in the al-Jalazon refugee camp near the central West Bank city of Ramallah as well as the city of Nablus in the northern West Bank and kidnapped four civilians, witnesses said.
Local sources said that the Israeli military radio had said that troops captured the men and took them to detention camps for questioning.
Meanwhile, a group of Israeli settlers escorted by Israeli troops on Sunday afternoon attacked and took over a Palestinian owned house in East Jerusalem (al-Quds) and kidnapped 12 people who tried to stop the attack.
Reading between the lines, one suspects the Palestinians were squatting illegally. But then, in Dar al Islam, non-believers have no property rights in the face of Muslim desires.
When the home owners of Sheik Jarrah neighborhood and their international supporters tried to stop them, soldiers attacked the residents, witnesses added.
As residents managed to move settlers off a piece of land, other settlers occupied a nearby house and police then arrested 11 international supporters and a Palestinian official, Hateem Abed al-Qader.
International supporters? Tell us all about them, PressTV.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under:
#1
Iran Press TV or Dept of State briefing? The spin is the same
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/27/2009 8:34 Comments ||
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#2
ION BHARAT RAKSHAK > DAILY TIMES.PK > HEZBOLLAH WARNS ISRAEL AGZ FUTURE WAR [NASRALLAH warns TEL AVIV per se will be attacked this time: + IDF will be destroyed iff it invades Southern Lebanon again agz Hezz Hizz Huzz-controlled enclaves].
[Straits Times] TWELVE bombs were found hidden inside a bathroom in a ferry in the central Philippines, raising fears of another bombing campaign by suspected Islamic militants. The improvised explosive devices, made of bottles with gunpowder, blasting caps, shrapnel and wiring, were found in a sack in the bathroom of the Blue Water Princess on Saturday just as it was about to leave the city of Lucena for the central island of Masbate.
Explosives experts and bomb-sniffing dogs were immediately dispatched to check the vessel for other bombs, said coast guard spokesman Armand Balilo. It was unclear if the bombs were intended to go off inside the ferry or to be used elsewhere, said the spokesman, who also declined to identify any suspects. He said it was the coast guard's second discovery of large amounts of explosive material in just two weeks. Last week, a supply of ammonium nitrate and blasting caps was found in a port in the central city of Mandaue.
The discovery of the bombs came just days before President Gloria Arroyo is scheduled to make her annual state of the nation address to Congress today. The government had warned there may be attempts to disrupt the speech and has deployed more security forces as a precaution.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/27/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Abu Sayyaf
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.
[Jakarta Post] Authorities say four militants were found dead after an explosion in the violence-plagued Ingushetia province in southern Russia. The regional interior ministry said a makeshift bomb exploded early Sunday in a car in the Nazran district, killing the four passengers, including a member of a militant group previously convicted for illegal arms possession.
[The News (Pak) Top Stories] Scores of local Taliban militants were arrested along with their leader as the security forces continued operation for the second consecutive day in the Shah Hassankhel village, 25 kilometres from here Sunday.
[Geo News] Amir banned Tehreek Nifaz-e-Shariat-e-Muhammadi Maulana Sufi Muhammad along with his two sons has been taken into custody from an area of Peshawar. 
