Sunday - August 31, 2008

Hundreds of terrorists have been killed by the SAS waging a “secret war”

I don’t know about you folks but .... I’m not certain the paper should have published this story.  But once it’s out and picked up by others as it will be, I guess there isn’t anything wrong about my posting it here.  Thing I do not understand is why the Brit military allowed it and since they did , who am I to question them?  I have to believe they know what they’re doing.  I hope they do.  Anyway, these guys are no pussy cats and it is heartening to read that there exists a camaraderie between our Delta Force and the SAS.  So much so that the SAS raised $20,000 for American widows and orphans.  I hadn’t read about that anywhere in the past.

I have to say however, I hate the very idea that things have come down, as they have, to the need for lawyers that need consulting before ops.
Hey ... have military lawyers ever been fragged?  Just askin is all.

SAS kills hundreds of terrorists in ‘secret war’ against al-Qaeda in IraqHundreds of terrorists have been killed by the SAS waging a “secret war” against al-Qaeda in Iraq,
The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.

By Sean Rayment, Defence Correspondent
Last Updated: 3:50PM BST 31 Aug 2008

The SAS had played a key part in defeating a network of car bombers in Baghdad that had brought devastation to the capital Photo: AFP/GETTY More than 3,500 insurgents have been “taken off the streets of Baghdad” by the elite British force in a series of audacious “Black Ops” over the past two years.

It is understood that while the majority of the terrorists were captured, several hundred, who were mainly members of the organisation known as “al-Qa’eda in Iraq” have been killed by the SAS.

The SAS is part of a highly secretive unit called “Task Force Black” which also includes Delta Force, the US equivalent of the SAS.

The prime targets have been those intent on joining the wave of suicide car bombers that claimed around 3,000 lives a month in Baghdad at the height of the terrorist campaign in 2006.

Using intelligence gleaned from spies and informers, Task Force Black has nearly broken the back of the terrorist network and reduced bombings in Baghdad from about 150 a month to just two.

But the success of the covert mission came at a price – six members of the SAS were killed and more than 30 were injured. Delta Force has suffered in the region of 20 per cent casualties.

A senior British officer told The Sunday Telegraph: “We took over 3,500 terrorists off the streets of Baghdad in around 18 months.
“You could say it was a very successful period. But the butcher’s bill was high. The attrition rate is equivalent to that experienced by the SAS during the Malayan insurgency 50 years ago.

“The relationship between the SAS and Delta Force is very close,” he added. “If anything, the attrition rate in Delta Force is higher.

Two years ago the SAS made a donation to Delta Force’s ‘widows and orphans’ fund of £10,000.”

Senior sources denied that the SAS was taking part in “extra-judicial killings” and added that any incident which appeared to be in breach of the British Army’s rules of engagement would be investigated internally by the unit and by the Royal Military Police if any wrongdoing was suspected.

The source said: “There is no shoot-to-kill policy in Iraq,

(I strongly hope he’s lying!!)

but there are only a few ways of stopping a suicide bomber. A British lawyer is present during the planning stages of every operation and our troops operate under British rules, not American rules.”

The SAS began to concentrate almost exclusively on reducing the car bomb threat in Iraq at the same time that the US military launched its so-called “surge”, which saw an additional 30,000 American troops move into the most dangerous areas of Baghdad, in early 2007.

Gen David Petraeus, the head of the US forces in Iraq, who is due to leave his post shortly, has praised the courage of the SAS.

He said: “They have helped immensely in Baghdad … they have done a phenomenal job.”

In one incident, SAS troops rented a pink pick-up truck, removed their body armour to blend in with locals, and drove through the traffic to catch a key target.

“It was brilliant, actually,” Gen Petraeus said. “They have exceptional initiative, exceptional skill, exceptional courage and, I think, exceptional savvy. I can’t say enough about how impressive they are in thinking on their feet.”

http://tinyurl.com/6x52uj

Posted by Drew458     on 08/31/2008 at 10:02 AM   
Filed Under: • UK • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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   Tuesday - August 26, 2008

Iraq police catch teenage girl in suicide bomber vest. (Welcome to Tuesday BMEWSers)

Well, maybe she thought she’d be better off dead then married at 13 to some grizzly bearded, smelly beast.  Who knows.

Yeah I know. Isn’t funny. 

Is everyone tired of these terror type stories? Seems to me that these would be or actual bomber stories are hardly news anymore.
Of course, often times we get a different take on the same story over here.  Sometimes we may get more detail.  Every now and then someone will write and say hey ... we didn’t see that here (USA).  So that’s generally one reason for me posting them. 
But I’m not certain how much real interest there is in this sort of thing. After all, everyone surfs the net and this can be seen under intl. news I’m sure.

Iraqi police have released video footage and photographs showing a teenage girl chained to railings and wearing an explosives vest.
David Williams and agencies
Daily Telegraph

In video footage released by Iraqi police in the city of Baqouba, the girl is seen handcuffed to a metal grid, her head repeatedly falling forward as policemen surround her.

After several minutes, the officers lift her flowered robe, remove the white vest hidden underneath and then take her for questioning. The interrogation, which took place in the presence of reporters, was also videotaped.

The arrest of the girl, who gave her first name as Rania and claimed to be born in 1993, heightened concern about a rise in suicide bombings by women in Iraq.

US commanders believe al-Qaida in Iraq is increasingly seeking to exploit women unable to deal with the grief of losing husbands, children and others to the violence.

The number of female bombers has more than tripled, from eight in 2007 to 29 this year, according to US military officials. They counted only four woman bombers in 2005 and 2006 combined.

On August 14, a woman suicide bomber struck a group of Shi’ite pilgrims south of Baghdad, killing at least 17 people and wounding dozens of others. On July 28, four female suicide bombers struck at a Shi’ite pilgrimage in Baghdad and a Kurdish protest rally in northern Iraq, killing at least 57 people and wounding nearly 300.

Police in Baqouba said the girl told them she was fitted with the explosives by female relatives of her husband. One police official alleged that some in the girl’s family had links to al-Qaida.

Officials said police wanted to “show the desperate level al-Qaida has reached, with members of one family driving each other to death,” said Ibrahim Bajilan, head of the provincial council in the Diyala province, of which Baqouba is the capital.

US and Iraqi forces have struggled for years to contain Sunni insurgents in Diyala. The province has been the scene of much of the recent violence in Iraq, even as the rest of the country witnessed a significant drop in attacks.

Many Iraqi women wear long robes, and Iraqi policemen are reluctant to pat them down at checkpoints because of cultural taboos.

( and the bad guys know that, don’t they?  why honor cultural taboos when killers are using same to do you in? maybe it’s past time to ignore those taboos.)

The exact circumstances of the girl’s arrest remains unclear. US officials said she turned herself in after being hooked to the explosives against her will. But local police said she was caught after arousing suspicion while walking in downtown Baqouba. A police officer is heard on the videotape saying she appeared to have been drugged.

Police later said the vest was packed with 33 pounds of explosives. The garment had six compartments, including two stuffed with what looked like tubes and four holding packages wrapped in celophane.

The girl insisted at first she did not know the women who gave her the vest.

“I swear to Allah that I do not know them. They were strangers,” she is heard saying. However, when pressed whether she knew the woman who put the vest on her, she replied: “Yes.”

Police asked if she intended to blow herself up. “No, no, they put it on me and told me to take it off at home,” she said. “They did not tell me to explode myself.”

Reporters attended part of another interrogation session yesterday, in which the girl told police that the explosives were strapped to her by female relatives of her husband.

http://tinyurl.com/5zjw9r

Posted by Drew458     on 08/26/2008 at 04:12 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • War On Terror •  
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   Wednesday - August 20, 2008

Resignation of Pervez Musharraf leaves US policy in a vacuum.  (Some serious reading here)

SO, WHERE EXACTLY DOES THIS LEAVE US?  ANY GUESSES?

The resignation of Pakistan’s resident, Pervez Musharraf, has left a void in US-Pakistani relations at a critical time when Western security officials claim that al-Qaeda has rebuilt its sanctuary on the country’s border with Afghanistan.

By Isambard Wilkinson in Islamabad

A suicide bomber blew himself up at a hospital in a northwestern Pakistani town that has been plagued by sectarian violence, killing at least 23 people. Five soldiers and 13 Taliban militants were killed in the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan.

Relations with Pakistan and the US got off to a rocky start after the Sept 11 attacks Richard Armitage, the then US deputy secretary of state, forced Mr Musharraf to reverse his country’s pro-Taliban policy.

With typical bravado, Mr Musharraf later remarked of America’s stance: “It goes against the grain of a soldier not to be able to tell anyone giving him an ultimatum to go forth and multiply, or words to that effect.”

Mr Musharraf’s tone underscored the frustration, resentment and distrust that characterise the two allies’ relationship.

But the two countries’ partnership, however flawed, delivered to America limited access to Pakistan’s nuclear programme and the arrest of some leading al-Qaeda members.

A senior Western military official based in the capital, Islamabad, said that the alliance had also helped to foster deeper links with the current Pakistan’s senior military command, in particular, the army chief, Gen Ashfaq Kiyani.

But Mr Musharraf failed to galvanise popular support for the ‘war on terror’ and is suspected of allowing military intelligence to play a double game by maintaining covert support for jihadis and the Taliban.

If true, it has been a ruthlessly cynical policy as Pakistan has sacrificed nearly 2,000 soldiers and paramilitaries fighting in its tribal areas.

The former president most probably harboured a belief commonly-held among Pakistan’s top brass: that America’s anti-terror policy is insincere and is mainly a mask for its strategic regional designs.

The New York Times quoted a senior White House official in a report yesterday who regretted that the US had “stuck with Mr. Musharraf for too long and developed few other relationships in Pakistan to fall back on”.

It cited other senior American officials expressing concern over “the durability of new controls over Pakistan’s nuclear program” and doubts over Gen Kiyani’s commitment to prosecuting the war.

The US will continue its fraught relationship with Pakistan’s military but it will have to forge a new one with its civilian coalition government.

Hussain Haqqani, now Pakistan’s ambassador to Washington, was one of the lobbyists who attempted to sell America the idea of “democracy as counter-insurgency”.

His argument was that a popularly elected government will be able to win support for counter-terrorism operations more effectively.

Mr Haqqani also claimed that a civilian government would have less incentive than the military to prolong the “war on terror” as it would not receive billions in military aid.

However, the coalition government has so far proven itself incapable of governing as its two main partners been engrossed in horse-trading and bickering.

After taking power in March, the government tried to use negotiations instead of force to end violence across the country which over the past several years has killed thousands of Pakistanis.

The negotiations brought a lull in violence but also raised concern among allies and in Afghanistan that the talks would only give militants breathing space to regroup and organise cross-border attacks on Western forces in Afghanistan.

“While the two sides wrangle in the full glare of the media, two critical issues are likely to fall by the wayside. The first has to do with bread and butter issues the second has to do with the war on terror which concerns America and the Pakistan Army,” said Najam Sethi, a political analyst and newspaper editor.

“This is an unpopular war. That is why the Army and Mr Musharraf quickly handed over its “ownership to the civilians shortly after the government was formed. I don’t think Mr Zardari will have the time or the inclination to articulate an anti-terror policy that satisfies America,” he added.

Referring to increasing US missile strikes in the tribal areas, Mr Sethi said that the US will probably take further unilateral action on Pakistani soil “regardless of its blowback on Mr Zardari.” Ends

http://tinyurl.com/6rp7nu

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 09:07 AM   
Filed Under: • Terrorists • War On Terror •  
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French paratroopers killed in an ambush in Afghanistan.

It really is quite difficult, speaking for myself here, to crack wise with French jokes.  Sure, we have issues. I’m still PO’d after all this time, that their govt. wouldn’t allow air space to our guys flying on a mission to strike Lybia.  I do understand why they did it, I just don’t agree that it was the good thing and it cost us one of ours. So I don’t forget things like that.  But things like this make me think that not all and maybe not even the majority are SMs.  Anyway, some of em died horribly as you will read here.  I also think they’re frightened tho I have no personal knowledge, of the large numbers of life forms who belong FIRST to the ROP and maybe only second to France.  Maybe.

France suffered its biggest loss of life on the battlefield in 25 years when 10 paratroopers were killed in an ambush in Afghanistan.

By Peter Allen in Paris
Last Updated: 9:57PM BST 19 Aug 2008

French troops on patrol with the Nato-led forces in Afghanistan. President Nicolas Sarkozy flew to the country yesterday after 10 paratroopers died in battle Photo: EPA

Another 21 soldiers were injured and 13 Taliban fighters killed during the ensuing battle in the Sarobi district, 30 miles east of Kabul, which began on Monday afternoon.

France, which has more than 1,500 personnel in the country and has promised 700 more later this year.

The scale of the casualities prompted President Nicolas Sarkozy to fly to Afghanistan immediately to visit the wounded and speak to military commanders.

“In its fight against terrorism, France has been dealt a harsh blow,” said Mr Sarkozy as he prepared to board a plane to Kabul from Paris.

“I acknowledge with respect and emotion the courage of these men, who fulfilled their duty to the point of the supreme sacrifice.

“My determination is intact. France is determined to pursue the struggle against terrorism, for democracy, and freedom.”
The 8th Infantry Parachute Regiment was on a joint reconnaissance mission with the Afghan army when they were ambushed.

After an initial three hour gun battle, shooting continued sporadically overnight.

Around 100 Taliban fighters were involved, and a spokesman for the group later claimed they had destroyed five armoured personnel carriers using land mines in an area known as a militant stronghold.

Rocket launchers and machine guns were also used against the French, who responded by calling in air strikes by Nato warplanes.

At one point in the two-day battle four of the French soldiers, all part of a Nato force, are believed to have been captured before being killed.

The latest deaths will mean France has so far lost 24 service personnel during Operation Enduring Freedom, the campaign to rid Afghanistan of terrorist insurgents.

This compares to 116 British fatalities since the US-led invasion in 2001, 574 Americans and 89 Canadians among 40 countries operating in the International Security Assistance Force (Isaf).

The French losses underscore Mr Sarkozy’s effort to reverse the perception that his country is not doing enough to assist its Nato allies.

Farnce withdrew its special forces soldiers previously deployed in the country after taking high casualties. Some of their dead were reported to have been skinned alive after being captured.

(This isn’t the first time I have read or heard about this kind of atrocity committed by these sub-humans in that country. Apparently it’s the done thing against those seen as the enemy. I do not envy any troops of any nationality fighting this scum.  They and their rop are the cancer eating away the planet.)

The latest attack was the deadliest against international troops in Afghanistan since June 2005, when 16 Americans were killed in Kunar province when their helicopter was shot down.

The battle on Monday was the bloodiest for the French army since a 1983 bombing in Lebanon in which 58 French paratroopers were killed.

http://tinyurl.com/5zycrn

Posted by Drew458     on 08/20/2008 at 08:09 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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   Monday - August 18, 2008

Britain’s ‘youngest terrorist’ jailed.  Some damned serious stuff here. Trust NONE of them. EVER!

People I’m tellin ya.
Any community that puts out the welcome mat for anyone belonging to the ROP, is building the bomb that’ll kill them.

This creep btw, as you’ll see, was born in this country.  Doesn’t matter though. 
The article doesn’t say how long the jail term is for but what does it matter?  It won’t change this bastard one little bit.  He’ll see himself as a martyr.
What’s so wrong about a firing squad?  There are sure to be ppl who’d happily carry out that simple and much needed task.  Drew and myself for two. Well, I can’t speak for Drew but I’d be happy to introduce the SOB to his 72 virgins.

Britain’s youngest terrorist has been jailed after a guide to death and explosives was found his home.

Last Updated: 2:25PM BST 18 Aug 2008

Hammaad Munshi, just 16 and taking GCSEs when arrested, was part of a cell of cyber groomers that set out to brainwash the vulnerable to kill “non-believers”.

For nearly a year the teenager, whose grandfather is a leading Islamic scholar, led a double life.

By day he attended lessons at the local comprehensive and did as he was told.

But in the evening he spent hours surfing jihadist sites and distributing material to others as part of what the Crown branded a “worldwide conspiracy” to “wipe out” non-Muslims.

London’s Blackfriars Crown Court heard it contained detailed instructions about making napalm, other high explosives, detonators, and grenades, and “how to kill”.

He was 15 when recruited by Aabid Khan, 23, a “key player” in radicalising the impressionable and vulnerable here and abroad with his message of “violent jihad”.

They lived 10 miles apart, phoned each other during 2005 and 2006, and swapped documents about “black powder explosives”.

Khan wanted to fulfil the teenager’s wish to go abroad and “fight jihad”, and during one internet exchange discussed how the schoolboy might smuggle a sword through airport security.

The Dewsbury-born teenager was detained a day after Khan as he and friends returned from local Westborough High School.

The IT whizz-kid - whose online Arabic profile “fidadee” means a “person ready to sacrifice themselves for a particular cause” - ran a website selling hunting knives and Islamic flags and was the cell’s computer specialist.

Two bags of ball-bearings - the shrapnel of choice for suicide bombers - were found in one of his pockets

On his PC were al-Qa’eda propaganda videos and recordings promoting “murder and destruction”.

The teenager, whose grandfather is Sheikh Yakub Munshi, president of the Islamic Research Institute of Great Britain at the Markazi Mosque, Dewsbury, also stored notes on martyrdom under his bed.

“One who is not taking part in the battle nor has the sheer intention to die is in the branch of hypocrisy,” they read.

“I don’t want to be a person like it has been mentioned about, I don’t want to be deprived of the huge amounts or lessons Allah has prepared for the believers in the hereafter.”

http://tinyurl.com/6owklf

Posted by Drew458     on 08/18/2008 at 10:26 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • UK • War On Terror •  
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   Thursday - July 31, 2008

Allah Is Angry! No bread for you!

Syria resorted to the international wheat market last week for the first time in 15 years to compensate for one of its smallest harvests on record.
A commodities official told newswire al-Reuters the harvest would fall to around two million tonnes this year compared with an earlier estimate of three million tonnes and 4.1 million tonnes last year. It would be even less than the 2.5 million tonnes produced in 1999.

As a result, the government’s cereal division has issued a tender to buy 120,000 tonnes of soft wheat of any origin.
...
Syria resorted to the international wheat market last week for the first time in 15 years to compensate for one of its smallest harvests on record.  Drought and unstable weather hit Syria’s harvests in the last two years, undermining the country’s role as a food and farm commodities player in the Middle East.

Syria touts food security as a major achievement and the agriculture minister told government newspapers that Syria’s strategic wheat stocks would last until 2010.  But the country’s new import needs underline the economic challenges faced by the Baathist government, which has been under sanctions from Washington since 2004 for supporting anti-US groups in the Middle East.

The sanctions, which were expanded this year, do not ban US agricultural exports to Syria.

The wheat harvest is in across Syria and the Middle East and the situation looks grim. The most recent Syrian estimates place the harvest at 2 million metric tons - less than half the 4.1 million ton harvest of 2007, and the 2007 harvest was almost 1 million tons below a peak harvest.

The culprit is a devastating drought that has left soil dry and dusty. The early stages of the drought affected the 2007 harvest and it has now intensified and decimated the 2008 Syrian harvest. The strength of the drought increases eastward towards the Iraqi border. Everywhere here precipitation has been less than 50 % of normal. Even weeds are sparse in dry empty fields.

The drought is also affecting pasture lands putting pressure on the Bedouin and their sheep. In Syria both shepherds and farmers face an uncertain future. Irrigation has helped in some cases, but less that 50% of fields are irrigated and irrigation water often disappears in the dry winds. In addition, groundwater and reservoir supplies are under pressure, some reservoirs are now mere puddles compared to their former capacity. Even the mighty Euphrates is not immune to the drought, discharge has decreased and pumps run incessantly drawing water from the river. Syria has promised to aid Iraqi farmers with releases of water, but by the time the flow reaches the border the salt content has doubled.

Syria with its growing and increasingly urbanized population has only months of emergency wheat stores left and for the first time in 15 years is resorting to purchases on the international market - a market that is becoming increasingly expensive.

Similar declining harvests due to drought in Turkey, Lebanon, Iran are driving those countries to purchases on the international market, In Syria and throughout the Middle East, an old enemy, drought, is again challenging an ancient and troubled region.

SYRIA: Wheat Production in 2008/09 Declines Owing to Season-Long Drought

Syria, like its neighbor Iraq, has been experiencing a serious drought during the past 8 months. Drought stress in 2008/09, which was exacerbated by abnormally hot spring temperatures, is expected to cause significant losses to the nation’s winter grain crops. Wheat production is expected to decline 38 percent compared to last year, to the lowest level in the past seventeen years. As the chart at the right illustrates, wheat is the single most important food grain grown in Syria, and this year’s projected shortfall could lead to a significant drawdown in domestic stocks unless the country increases imports or the government raises procurement prices high enough to capture a larger proportion of the domestic crop this year.

Extremely low rainfall conditions have affected much of Syria during the 2008/09 winter grain growing period, with drought conditions increasing in severity as the season progressed. Total rainfall accumulations averaged between 15-30 percent of normal for most of the primary wheat producing areas, with the exception of western coastal regions (minor producing areas) which received more beneficial winter rains. This amounts to an average of about 2 inches or less total rainfall during the 8 months between September 2007 and April 2008 in the major wheat producing provinces.

As in Iraq, there was little to no measurable rainfall this year in the planting period from October-December in the primary wheat producing regions of northeastern Syria (see charts below). The governorates of Al Hasakah, Ar Raqqah, and Aleppo, which together account for 73 percent of total national wheat area and 65 percent of total production, were particularly affected by extremely low rainfall and poor planting conditions.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/31/2008 at 08:40 PM   
Filed Under: • Middle-East • War On Terror •  
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   Thursday - July 17, 2008

AP reluctantly starts to sing Die Walküre

Posted by Drew458     on 07/17/2008 at 07:04 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq • War On Terror •  
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   Monday - July 14, 2008

Associated Press now making snuff films for the Taliban

Anti-war journalism my ass. AP is an active enemy agent. We used to call them “Associated (with terrorists) Press”. Now they should be A(l-Jazeera) Propoganda. Because, well, maybe once or twice you can cross the line. By mistake. Maybe because you don’t know better. But when it becomes a habit, when it becomes regular behavior ... you’re on the other side forever.

Via Dr. Rusty Shackleford at Jawa Report:

AP Stringer Stands by as Taliban Murder 2 Women, Gets Snuff Footage

We would remind the AP that the act of the Taliban inviting a reporter to the murder means they wanted this news out there. The AP was clearly being used as a propaganda outlet for the Taliban.

Once again the AP is aiding and abetting the enemy. This time with a group listed as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the U.S. and which several U.N. Security Council Resolutions forbid giving any assistance to.

Will the AP be given a Pulitzer this time?

Jawa has the grisly Before & After pictures, and the (thankfully taken at night) snuff video with very disturbing audio (don’t watch it). Allah pundit questions AP’s ethics. I don’t. THEY DON’T HAVE ANY.  Ace says they’re “Not anti-American, just pro-terrorist.” I disagree a bit. THEY ARE TERRORISTS, actively working for the other side. The enemy side. This is not objective journalism. At All. Hunt them down, and kill them.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/14/2008 at 04:51 PM   
Filed Under: • Media-Bias • War On Terror •  
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Taliban fighters penetrate US Afghanistan base

I haven’t a clue how or even if the Taliban stories are making the news back home in USA.  Over here, there have been some rather major stories with regard to how sophisticated the Taliban have become.  Their weapons still aren’t up to ours of course, but according to sources here, they are fighting smarter then they have in the past.  The Taliban say one thing they have plenty of is time.  And apparently recruits.

Lets not get too complacent or as bad, too Nazi like in our thinking.  And by that I mean, lets not start to believe that because they are the enemy they aren’t without some smarts.  Or that they’ll be easily defeated simply because we feel superior in so many areas.

Tell ya somethin’ else you all already know.  You don’t see any public protests in that world undermining the Taliban fighter.  And they are very aware of the folks here in the homeland (USA/UK) and the celebrities who say the war is not only illegal but criminal as well.  (referring to Iran) But they carry over that sentiment to their area of Afghanistan.  They firmy believe that all they have to do is NOT QUIT.  Because they have lots of friends in the West.

Taliban fighters penetrate US Afghanistan base to kill nine American troops By Damien McElroy, Foreign Affairs Correspondent
Last Updated: 9:54AM BST 14/07/2008

Taliban fighters breached the defence lines of a small US outpost in eastern Afghanistan in a well-planned attack that killed nine US soldiers, Nato officials have revealed.

The US base is located in Kunar province, a remote and mountainous region along the Pakistani border

An official after-action briefing laid bare Nato commanders’ concerns over a “concerted” attempt to overrun the forward operating base by staging a mass attack involving hundreds of Taliban.

The fighters forced their way into the base during the assault, which was launched before dawn and continued late into the afternoon.

Scores of Taliban were killed after Nato called in attack helicopters and fixed-wing fighter jets to defend the base.

“It was a complex attack, well organised and planned,” said Captain Michael Finney, spokesman for Nato’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).

“It was clear they wanted to overrun the combat outpost. They chose their positions well. It wasn’t just an attempt to rush the gate.”

The base, manned by the Afghan army and the US-led ISAF, is located in the mountainous and thickly-forested Pech Valley district of Kunar province, the most lethal region in Afghanistan for American soldiers.

As well as the nine US troops killed in the battle, 15 more were wounded along with four Afghan soldiers.

The sophistication of the attack is a fresh indication of the growing strength of the Taliban and its allies in the area.

The attackers were confident enough to warn local villagers to evacuate during the night.

The area has been described as a key staging area in the hunt for al-Qa’eda leader Osama bin Laden, which has intensified in recent weeks.

News of the attack came during a bloody day for Afghanistan. A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up in a bazaar in southern Afghanistan, killing 24 people and injuring dozens more.

A man with bombs strapped to his body rammed his motorcycle into a police vehicle at a busy intersection in Uruzgan province, 250 miles southwest of Kabul, killing shopkeepers and young boys selling cigarettes by the side of the road.

The blast came as Nato and Afghan security forces battled militants on several fronts, with the US-led coalition announcing it had killed at least 40 insurgents in an ongoing operation in the volatile southern province of Helmand.

One soldier from the coalition was killed in a bomb blast in Helmand, taking to 133 the number of international troops to lose their lives in Afghanistan this year.

Recent weeks have seen a spike in attacks by militants, most of whom, Afghan officials claim, are recruited and trained in neighbouring Pakistan.

http://tinyurl.com/68jnj7

Posted by Drew458     on 07/14/2008 at 07:31 AM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • United-Nations • War On Terror • War-Stories •  
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   Thursday - July 10, 2008

The other half of the circle matters too

TEHRAN, Iran - Iran test-fired more long-range missiles overnight in a second round of exercises meant to show that the country can defend itself against any attack by the U.S. or Israel, state television reported Thursday.  The weapons have “special capabilities” and included missiles launched from naval ships in the Persian Gulf, along with torpedoes and surface-to-surface missiles, the broadcast said. It did not elaborate.
...
The director of the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, said Iran’s missile tests have emphasized the urgency of going ahead with plans to place a proposed U.S. missile defense system in Eastern Europe.

Among the missiles Iran said it tested Wednesday was a new version of the Shahab-3, which officials have said has a range of 1,250 miles and is armed with a 1-ton conventional warhead.

That would put Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan all within striking distance.

Get out your Google Earth and play with it. Draw lines 1250 miles long from various points in Iran. You will quickly see that these missiles can target Moscow too. And damn near all of India. And a large part of Western China. And Greece, Bulgaria, and Macedonia. Heck, they can hit Poland. And depending on the quality of their targeting systems, any ship in the whole eastern Mediterranean and the whole northern Indian Ocean. Egypt too. And we’re all enemy infidels as far as Tehran is concerned. Especially those heathen idolaters in India and the godless Chinese. Wake up world, the loonies have gone long range.

And if our estimates are off by as little as 15%, then a large part of Italy, including the Vatican, becomes a target as well. Austria too.  Just another couple hundred miles and they can bomb Finland. The world isn’t that big, and all ICBMs really need to do is go up and then have a little hang time. The world spins all by itself (at more than 700mph over Europe) and gravity takes care of the coming back down part just fine.

So why is it that only Condi seems to be having something to say? Ok, she isn’t all by herself, and (oh gag me, but it’s true) France may be taking the best approach:

Tehran’s standoff with the West took a new toll when French energy giant Total SA said it is too risky to invest in Iran for now. The decision raised questions about the future of major western involvement in developing Iranian gas reserves.

“The conditions are not present for investing in Iran today,” said Total spokeswoman Lisa Wiler. “We hope that the political relations will improve so that we can invest.”

Total had been in discussions for developing a liquefied natural gas project linked to Iran’s South Pars gas field with Malaysia’s Petronas.

Every world leader should be going ape shit. The UN ought to be gathering up armies, not just talking. Instead, they seem to be ignoring this completely.

How bad would it impact oil prices if the whole world stopped buying their crude? I really seriously think we, the planet, need to fully embargo these crazies. Nothing gets in, nothing gets out. Let them starve. Maybe they should have a couple accidental plagues while we’re at it. A side order of Ebola or something.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/10/2008 at 11:35 AM   
Filed Under: • Iran • War On Terror •  
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   Wednesday - July 09, 2008

Chinese Police gear up for the Olympics

Um, what are they steering with? Doesn’t look like much from here!

Who needs an armored, mine-resistant fighting vehicle to fight terrorists when you have a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric scooter? In Jinan, Shandong province yesterday, armed Chinese police were photographed executing counter-terrorism drills riding Segways, reports Danwei. For months now, China has engaged in secret defense training exercises in preparation for an attack in Beijing during the Summer Games. Spectators at the Games can now rest assured that if there is terrorist activity, Chinese forces are equipped to “lean-steer” to the scene of the crime at a maximum speed of 12.5 miles per hour.

Combine rising fuel costs with escalating security concerns in China, and this makes perfect sense—kind of: ahead of the Olympics, a Chinese anti-terror team has recently been training on specially-outfitted Segways, the electric, gyro-balanced scooters that are more commonly seen zipping across Silicon Valley campuses.

The scooters, which claim a top speed of 12.5 km/hour and which inventor Dean Kamen billed as nearly impossible to tip-over will also be used by officials and security personnel around the main stadium, the partially solar powered Bird’s Nest, come the “Green” Olympics in August.

Yeah, and I’m sure the public will have the utmost respect for these guys. I mean, look at them. A whole squad of cops looking like they have to pee really, really bad. And those flat black Seqways are just so intimidating looking. To get even less respect, they probably should have mounted special flashing lights to their helmets. But if push comes to shove, what do think will happen if, while chasing some terrorists while hanging on and steering with the Kung Fu Gonad Grip of Death, they actually have to fire those guns? I hope their uniforms have abrasion resistant panels in the rear ends.


I think the original plan was for their cops to ride horses instead, but they somehow disappeared just after several new restaurants opened near the Olympic Village.

Not to worry though. Special units have been training hard for months to protect the crowds, and are now masters at stopping fights between ninjas and guys wielding flower pots as weapons:

Posted by Drew458     on 07/09/2008 at 03:10 PM   
Filed Under: • Humor • War On Terror •  
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Osama Bin Laden’s son calls for Britain to be wiped out.

The nut didn’t fall far from the tree.
See? This is just one reason why even the offspring have to be ,,,, contained?

Osama Bin Laden’s son calls for Britain to be wiped out on terror web film By Aislinn Simpson
Last Updated: 9:50AM BST 09/07/2008

The son of terrorist leader Osama Bin Laden has appeared on a terrorist film on the internet calling for Britain and its allies to be wiped out.

Hamza Bin Laden, 16, the youngest of the Saudi-born warlord’s 18 sons, is claimed to be the author of a poem featured on an extremist website to mark the third anniversary of the July 7 London bombings in which 52 people died.

In it, the boy dubbed the Crown Prince of Terror, called for an acceleration in the “destruction” of America, Britain, France and Denmark, the latter singled out for the publishing by its largest selling broadsheet of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed.

“Oh God, reward the fighters hitting the infidels and defectors. Oh God, guide the youth of the Islamic nation and let them assist with the fighters’ plans,” he continued.

“God, be pleased with those who want to go for jihad – and blind those who are watching and want to capture them.

“Grant victory to the Taliban over the gangs of infidels.”

The poem is thought to have been read out by Hamza himself, and is accompanied by a video clip featuring his father.

A short introduction announced: “We now offer you a new poem by Sheikh Hamza Bin Laden, may God protect him.”

Patrick Mercer, the Conservative MP and a former shadow minister for security, said of the reading: “We now have the Crown Prince of Terror taking up his father’s mantle.”

Hamza, the only son from Bin Laden’s marriage to his Saudi wife, is believed to be living on the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the lawless territory of Waziristan.

It is not the first time the boy has been used on film to back his father’s cause.

In 2001, he featured in a joint Taliban and Al-Qaeda video of a militant attack on a Pakistan army camp in South Waziristan.

Earlier this year, in a posthumous autobiography published after she was assassinated in political rally in her home country, the former Pakistani prime minister Benazir Bhutto named the teenager as the leader of one of a number of gangs plotting to kill her.

The allegation, which Bhutto said was reported to her by President Pervez Musharraf and a “friendly muslim government”, bolstered intelligence claims that Hamza is being groomed as a future leader of Al-Qaeda.

http://tinyurl.com/5ha9oy

Posted by Drew458     on 07/09/2008 at 06:34 AM   
Filed Under: • Genocide • RoPMA • Terrorists • War On Terror •  
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   Sunday - July 06, 2008

Cross your fingers, hold your breath

UPDATE at the top! News Item:Iraq proposes temporary US troop withdrawal agreement

The proposed memorandum includes a formula for the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, said the prime minister—an idea opposed by U.S. President George W. Bush. “The goal is to end the presence (of foreign troops),” said al-Maliki.

Ok, this thing is in the early stages, with proposals going back and forth, and lots of details to work out. But the real news is that both Iraq and the US are working on it. Such a step was not even close to the event horizon last year. Could there be a large mezzo-soprano warming up in the wings?

News Item:The last of Saddam’s yellowcake removed from Iraq. It took a lot of effort, and was kept mostly secret, but all 550 tons of yellowcake has been removed from Iraq. Legally. The Iraqi government sold it to a Canadian firm for processing. No, this wasn’t Joe Wilson’s yellowcake, it was older stuff from back in the 80s. Other radioactive material was also taken away as part of this deal.

News Item:United Arab Emirates forgives Iraqi debt.  UAE cancels $4 Billion debt, moves to establish full diplomatic relationship with Iraqi Al-Maliki government. Other arab governments are moving in the same diplomatic direction, at least:

Al-Maliki’s American backers also have pushed Arab states to restore ties with Iraq, where violence has declined by 70 percent over the past year. Neighboring Jordan named an ambassador last week, and Kuwait and Bahrain say they will soon follow suit.

News Item:Al-Maliki: Iraq Defeated Terrorism

Iraq’s prime minister said yesterday that the government has defeated terrorism in the country, a sign of growing confidence after recent crackdowns against Sunni extremists and Shiite militias.  Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki began the crackdowns to extend the authority of the government over areas in Baghdad and elsewhere that have largely been under the control of armed groups since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.  “They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it,” al-Maliki said. “But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them.”
...
the Iraqi government held a groundbreaking ceremony yesterday for a major project to refurbish the main road to the Baghdad airport. The road was once considered one of the most dangerous in the world but has become safer with the decline in violence in the country.

News Item: UK Times says “Iraqis lead final purge of Al-Qaeda”

American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.

After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda’s dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant “last stand” in the northern city of Mosul.

A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.

Operation Lion’s Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans’ 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
...
Even in the district of Zanjali, previously a hotbed of the insurgency, it was possible to accompany an Iraqi colonel on foot through streets of breeze-block houses studded with bullet holes. Hundreds of houses were searched without resistance but no bomb was found, only 60kg of explosives.

American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.

Nouri al-Maliki, Iraq’s prime minister, who has also led a crackdown on the Shi’ite Mahdi Army in Basra and Baghdad in recent months, claimed yesterday that his government had “defeated” terrorism.

“They were intending to besiege Baghdad and control it,” Maliki said. “But thanks to the will of the tribes, security forces, army and all Iraqis, we defeated them.”

The number of foreign fighters coming over the border from Syria to bolster Al-Qaeda’s numbers is thought to have declined to as few as 20 a month, compared with 120 a month at its peak.

Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: “We’ve limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they’re mostly not succeeding.”

Major-General Mark Hertling, American commander in the north, said: “I think we’re at the irreversible point.”

News Item: Bill Roggio, from the Long War Journal, reports that Sadrist forces are on the run in Baghdad, with their leaders being busted left and right. While they are still a force to be reckoned with, they’ve suffered major ongoing loses for months now.

The heavy casualties suffered by the Mahdi Army have forced Muqtada al Sadr to change his tactics and disband the Mahdi Army in favor of a small, secretive fighting force.

News Item:AQ in Libya defeated The fight there barely lasted a year; I didn’t even know they were there!



Putting all the pieces together? Strata-Sphere Blog reads between the lines at the Times Online and says that they’re saying the magic words: Mission Accomplished.

al-Qaeda has been defeated in Iraq and Lebanon. They failed to make a serious presence in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia. They and their Taliban cousins have been expunged from 75% of Afghanistan. al-Qaeda has been pushed into its final, small sanctuary inside the tribal areas of Pakistan where it is surrounded by 100,000 Pakistani troops to the south and 100,000 US-NATO and Afghan forces to the north.

And today we learn al-Qaeda is surrendering its efforts in Libya after 13 years of trying to overthrow that OPEC nation

Barack Obama is not going to end the war in Iraq. If he ever gets elected, by the time he takes the oath of office it will be already over - thanks to the US Surge, the Sunni Awakening and PM Malike’s defeat of the Mahdi Militia. Mission Accomplished, with thanks to our military, who never gave up like the liberal, democrat Congress did, to our Iraqi allies who fought and died by our side, and to George Bush who made it clear failure was not an option. To the victors!

I don’t know if I can be bold enough to say that one out loud yet ... but ... wouldn’t it just be fabulous if Bush could start bringing home large numbers of the troops in Iraq before the election? Think that would take a little of the wind out of Barry’s sails? And help reelect such patriotic nay-sayers like SanFran Nan and Murtha and Reid?

Now, that’s what I call ending the day on a positive note.

Posted by Drew458     on 07/06/2008 at 09:33 PM   
Filed Under: • War On Terror •  
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   Saturday - July 05, 2008

Hey Mo, Mo, Mo, Mo!

Hey Mo, watch this! Nyuk nyuk nyuk BOOM! Whoob whoob whoob whoob!

after that, do you even need the news article? Darwin in action again over in Afghanistan. It is to laugh.

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - ... a roadside bomb militants were planting detonated prematurely, killing 10 Taliban, officials said Saturday.

In neighboring Helmand province, militants planting a roadside bomb detonated the device prematurely, killing 10 Taliban, said police chief Mohammad Hussein Andiwal.

The fact one bomb killed so many men appears to reflect the increased size of explosives Taliban fighters have been using in recent months. The bigger bombs — long used in Iraq but a fairly new phenomenon in Afghanistan ...

Ok, joke time is over. “The bigger bombs - long used in Iraq” means only one thing. The Taliban are being supplied with Iranian weaponry. No ifs, ands, buts, or maybes. The mullahs may have realized Iraq is a done deal for now, and are turning their attention to the primitives up on their northern border. Are we ever going to do anything about this country that is actively fighting a proxy war against us? Can’t we at least starve them out or something?

Posted by Drew458     on 07/05/2008 at 11:21 AM   
Filed Under: • War On Terror •  
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