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« Reply #150 on Nov 5, 2011, 8:08am » | |
CIA Drones Kill Large Groups Without Knowing Who They Are
* By Spencer Ackerman
* November 4, 2011
![[image]](http://img535.imageshack.us/img535/9534/dronesun8297919.jpg "[image]")
The expansion of the CIA’s undeclared drone war in the tribal areas of Pakistan required a big expansion of who can be marked for death. Once the standard for targeted killing was top-level leadership in al-Qaeda or one of its allies. That’s long gone, especially as the number of people targeted at once has grown.
This is the new standard, according to a blockbuster piece in the Wall Street Journal: “men believed to be militants associated with terrorist groups, but whose identities aren’t always known.” The CIA is now killing people without knowing who they are, on suspicion of association with terrorist groups. The article does not define the standards are for “suspicion” and “association.”
Strikes targeting those people — usually “groups” of such people — are called “signature” strikes. “The bulk of CIA’s drone strikes are signature strikes,” the Journal’s Adam Entous, Siobhan Gorman and Julian E. Barnes report.
And bulk really means bulk. The Journal reports that the growth in clusters of people targeted by the CIA has required the agency to tell its Pakistani counterparts about mass attacks. When the agency expects to kill 20 or more people at once, then it’s got to give the Pakistanis notice.
Determining who is a target not a question of intelligence collection. The cameras on the CIA fleet of Predators and Reapers work just fine. It’s a question of intelligence analysis — interpreting the imagery collected from the drones, and from the spies and spotters below, to understand who’s a terrorist and who, say, drops off the terrorists’ laundry. Admittedly, in a war with a shadowy enemy, it can be difficult to distinguish between the two.
Fundamentally, though, it’s a question of policy: whether it’s acceptable for the CIA to kill someone without truly knowing if he’s the bombsmith or the laundry guy.
The Journal reports that the CIA’s willingness to strike without such knowledge — sanctioned, in full, by President Barack Obama — is causing problems for the State Department and the military.
As we’ve written this week, the high volume of drone strikes in the Pakistani tribal areas contributes to Pakistani intransigence on another issue of huge importance to the U.S.: convincing Pakistan to deliver the insurgent groups it sponsors to peace talks aimed at ending the Afghanistan war. The drones don’t cause that intransigence. Pakistan’s leaders, after all, cooperate with the drones and exploit popular anti-American sentiment to shake down Washington. The strikes become cards for Pakistan to play, however cynically.
The State Department is sick of it. It fears the rise of really anti-American leadership in Pakistan, riding into power on a wave of outrage over the drones. The Journal reports that earlier this year, the State Department gained greater say over targeting. So did the military, which fears Pakistan cutting off the supply routes to Afghanistan that run through its territory.
The CIA is still in control. Not only has it beefed up its drone patrols to 14 “orbits,” each consisting of three Predators or Reapers, but it’s moved many of its drones out of Pakistan and onto Afghanistan bases. That’s a statement of unilateral control, even as it gives the Pakistanis a bit more insight into drone operations.
“It’s not like they took the car keys away from the CIA,” an anonymous senior official tells the Journal. “There are just more people in the car.”
And the basic question — Who should be targeted? — hasn’t changed. The default answer, to put it bluntly, is: Whomever the CIA can. Clive Stafford Smith, a human rights lawyer, points to a consequence: A young man named Tariq was killed in a drone strike with his 12-year old cousin, Waheed Khan, while driving their aunt home.
“Tariq was a good kid, and courageous,” Stafford Smith writes. “My warm hand recently touched his in friendship; yet, within three days, his would be cold in death, the rigor mortis inflicted by my government.”
As long as the CIA — now backed by the military and the State Department — has a free hand to wage the secret drone war in tribal Pakistan, it will continue to bottle up al-Qaida and its allies, degrading the threat they pose. They will also kill more Tariqs and Waheeds. And because the drone war remains a classified CIA program, the CIA will not have to account for its actions to anybody, least of all the U.S. or Pakistani publics.
Photo: U.S. Army Central Command
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/cia-drones-marked-for-death/
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #151 on Nov 6, 2011, 10:50am » | |
How we killed 'Bert' Laden: Navy Seals reveal truth about raid against Osama Bin Laden
* From: news.com.au
* November 06, 2011 1:58PM
US NAVY Seals have revealed for the first time that they killed Osama bin Laden within 90 seconds of entering his fortress-like home in Pakistan.
The men who killed the al-Qaeda chief have decided to speak out because they are tired of their "shabby treatment" by politicians who claim they were on a "kill mission".
They insisted there was no lengthy gun-fight in the compound and claimed they would have captured Bin Laden if he had surrendered, The Sunday Times in the UK reports (behind a paywall).
They were not on a "kill mission", they said, and fired only 12 bullets in the entire operation.
The details of the raid, which was codenamed Operation Neptune’s Spear, are revealed in a book by the Seals' former commander, Chuck Pfarrer.
"I've been a Seal for 30 years and I never heard the words 'kill mission'. It's a fantasy word. If it was a kill mission you don’t need Seal Team 6; you need a box of hand grenades."
He said the men were angry with President Barack Obama for announcing Bin Laden’s death on TV just hours after they completed the mission on May 1.
"There isn't a politician in the world who could resist trying to take credit for getting Bin Laden but it devalued the 'intel' and gave time for every other Al-Qaeda leader to scurry to another bolthole," he said.
"The men who did this and their valorous act deserve better. It's a pretty shabby way to treat these guys."
Pfarrer's books also reveals that the Seals' nickname for Bin Laden and his deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri were Bert and Ernie, after the two Muppets in Sesame Street (Bin Laden was tall and skinny like Bert and al-Zawahiri was short like Ernie).
When they were first told they were going to Pakistan to pick up a high-value person who was holed up in high-walled compound, they asked: "So is this Bert or Ernie?"
Pfarrer said the squad's nickname was Jedi.
His account of the mission makes for terrifying reading. Here is an extract from The Sunday Times report, detailing the death of Bin Laden:
Bin Laden’s bedroom was along a short hall. The door opened; he popped out and then slammed the door shut. “Geronimo, Geronimo, Geronimo,” radioed one Seal, meaning “eyes on target”.
Two Seals kicked in Bin Laden’s door. The room, they later recalled, "smelt like old clothing, like a guest bedroom in a grandmother’s house". Inside was the al-Qaeda leader and his youngest wife, Amal, who was screaming as he pushed her in front of him.
"No, no, don’t do this!” she shouted as her husband reached across the king-size bed for his AK-47 assault rifle.
The Seals reacted instantly, firing in the same second. One round thudded into the mattress. The other, aimed at Bin Laden’s head, grazed Amal in the calf. As his hand reached for the gun, they each fired again: one shot hit his breastbone, the other his skull, killing him instantly and blowing out the back of his head.
Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/navy-seals-....#ixzz1cwORQIW w
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #152 on Nov 6, 2011, 11:14pm » | |
Exclusive: U.S. considers unusual arms deal for Turkey
By Jim Wolf
Posted 2011/10/27 at 5:55 pm EDT
WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2011 (Reuters) — The Obama administration is consulting Congress on an unusual proposal to transfer U.S. Marine Corps attack helicopters to Turkey, U.S. officials said on Thursday, as Ankara tries to exact revenge for a major attack by Kurdish separatists.
Turkey, a NATO ally, has been seeking AH-1 SuperCobra helicopters to replace those lost in its long struggle against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK.
Under the administration's plan, the Marines would get two new, late-model Textron Inc Bell AH-1Z SuperCobras in exchange for the three AH-1W aircraft that would be transferred to Ankara from current inventory, a congressional official said.
The officials declined to be identified because of the matter's sensitivity and because they were not authorized to speak on the record. The idea to take weapons from the U.S. arsenal was rare, they said.
The proposal has been held up amid lawmakers' questions about increasingly distant relations between Muslim-majority Turkey and Israel, a key U.S. ally, among other matters.
The AH-1W has sold previously for about $10 million. Turkey bought 10 of them in the 1990s. The larger, twin-engine AH-IZ may sell for about $30 million, according to industry sources.
Under the U.S. Arms Export Control Act, the executive branch must provide 15 days' formal notice to Congress before going ahead with significant arms transfers to a NATO partner. It was not immediately clear when such notice might take place, with informal congressional consultations continuing.
Turkey last week launched air and ground assaults on Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, vowing to exact "great revenge" after 24 Turkish troops were killed on October 19 in one of the deadliest Kurdish attacks in years.
The PKK is designated a terrorist group by the United States. It is waging a 27-year-old war from bases inside Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region. The administration's proposal to transfer the helicopters pre-dates the October 19 attack on Turkish forces near the border with Iraq.
The United States and Turkey have a strong tradition of military cooperation, both bilaterally and inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Turkey agreed last month to host a powerful U.S.-supplied radar system to act as advanced eyes for a layered shield against ballistic missiles coming from outside Europe.
The AN/TPY-2 surveillance radar in Turkey will boost the shield's capability against Iran, which Washington alleges is seeking to build nuclear weapons, a charge Tehran denies.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre79q7gc-us-turkey-usa-helicopters/
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #153 on Nov 7, 2011, 7:28pm » | |
Yellow balloons bring some cheer to jittery Kenyans
07-Nov-11, 9:25 PM | Tom Odula, Associated Press
![[image]](http://img819.imageshack.us/img819/4134/interphoto1320672272194.jpg "[image]")
A Kenyan man smiles as he holds a yellow balloon handed out as part of an art project by American artist Yazmany Arboleda in Nairobi, Kenya Monday, Nov. 7, 2011. Thousands of yellow balloons are floating above commuters in downtown Nairobi, igniting smiles among Kenyans wary of bomb warnings after two recent grenade attacks, in the third in a series of seven art projects around the world known as "Monday Morning." (AP Photo/Khalil Senosi)
NAIROBI — A U.S. artist handed out thousands of yellow balloons to Nairobi's blue-collar commuters Monday, igniting broad smiles among Kenyans weighed down by two recent grenade blasts and warnings of an impending terror attack.
Bunches of yellow balloons floated above walking workers and hung out of minibus taxis. The giveaway took place near a bus stop where one person was killed in late October in a grenade attack blamed on a man who said he is a member of al-Shabab, Somalia's most powerful militant group.
Al-Shabab has threatened to carry out a large terrorist attack in Nairobi after Kenyan military forces moved into southern Somalia last month to hunt militants.
Yazmany Arboleda, an American contemporary and multimedia artist who organized the balloon giveaway, said the Nairobi project was the third in series of seven giveaways around the world known as "Monday Morning." He said the Nairobi giveaway took on more significance in the light of the terror threats.
"I think that negative energy of fear, this horrible energy of fear needs to be countered with something beautiful and colorful and something that speaks to heart of the people and beauty and I think that is what art is about," Arboleda said.
Arboleda previously staged large-scale giveaways of bright orange balloons in Bangalore, India and bright green balloons in Yamaguchi, Japan. He enlisted dozens of Kenyan artists to help hand out the balloons Monday.
Bus driver Ecklund Mwandoe said he tied a balloon to his rearview mirror as a statement to those who have attacked Kenyans with grenades. The 40-year-old said there is no need for fighting.
Nutritionist Miriam Muthoni, 30, marveled at her unexpected gift of a bright bunch of balloons.
"I feel it has given me the energy to work. It may be a blessing," she said.
Samuel Mwangi, a 23-year-old who collects money on a small minibus, said he was happy to get a balloon after starting his day at 4 a.m. and having no one ask how his morning was.
Arboleda said the idea behind "Monday Morning" is to explore the relationship between living and working.
"We punctuate our lives with balloons during happy times — for anniversaries, birthdays. So it is taking a balloon and inserting it in this weak moment ... to change the way somebody thinks about Monday mornings," he said.
Kenya sent hundred of troops into Somalia in mid-October to pursue al-Shabab, whom it blames for a string of kidnappings in Kenya. Al-Shabab's warnings of a retaliatory strike are being taken seriously in Nairobi. The U.S. Embassy has warned Americans to stay away from potential targets like shopping malls.
Al-Shabab suicide bombers blew themselves up among Ugandans watching the 2010 World Cup final in Kampala, killing 76 people. The militants said the strikes were in retaliation for the deployment of Ugandan troops to Somalia.
Nairobi was rattled last month when two grenade blasts went off on the same day.
"I believe strongly that countering grenades with balloons could send an important message to the Nairobi community and the world at large," Arboleda said. "The message is to put down a grenade, and pick up a balloon. As a community we choose to stand up for peace and our right to work, live, and prosper in spite of terrorism."
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/16830....jittery-kenyans
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #154 on Nov 13, 2011, 11:45pm » | |
US officials worried about security at London 2012 Olympics
US plans to send 500 FBI agents to protect its athletes as organisers admit underestimating number of security guards needed
* Nick Hopkins and Richard Norton-Taylor
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 13 November 2011 20.30 GMT
The US has raised repeated concerns about security at the London Olympics and is preparing to send up to 1,000 of its agents, including 500 from the FBI, to provide protection for America's contestants and diplomats, the Guardian has learned.
American officials have expressed deep unease that the UK has had to restrict the scope of anti-terrorism "stop and search" powers, and have sought a breakdown of the number of British police and other security personnel that will be available next summer.
The prime minister and other senior members of the cabinet, including home secretary Theresa May and culture and sport secretary Jeremy Hunt, are taking turns to chair security meetings about the Olympics, which are often dominated by the latest questions from the US, sources said. But Washington's need for reassurance is exasperating British officials and anti-terrorism officials, who have privately raised concerns about the meddling, as well as the size of the US "footprint" in the UK during the games next year.
"We are not equal partners in this," said one security official. "They are being very demanding."
The friction is adding to the pressures on the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Locog), which is responsible for preparing and staging the event. The Guardian has learned the committee is attempting to resolve a potential crisis over venue security, after conceding it had underestimated the number of security guards needed at the 32 sites across the country. Originally it had thought 10,000 guards would be enough, but after a review over the summer it now believes it will need up to 21,000.
Venue safety is not the responsibility of the police, so the firm G4S was awarded the contract to find and train the initial group. The company will this week begin an advertising campaign to meet that target. But the organising committee does not have the money to pay G4S to make up the shortfall, and does not believe the firm has enough time to do so, forcing ministers to turn to the Ministry of Defence for help.
The MoD has offered 3,000 soldiers, and another 2,000 in reserve – half the total required. The ministry is working within its own tight budget, and the late request for help has irritated some officials.
"What have they been doing for the last five years?" asked one. "There is less than a year to go and they've only just realised they need twice the number of security guards they first thought. Where is the money to pay for this coming from? It is an extra burden on the defence budget that we could well do without."
Another source said: "Everyone has now realised 10,000 was an underestimate. This is one of the biggest problems facing the Olympic authorities because there is an absolute dearth of vetted and qualified private security guards. Senior police had advised ministers and the committee that 10,000 was too few, but nobody wanted to listen because of the cost involved.
"The military will have to stand up some people. Otherwise G4S have got the Olympic committee over a barrel."
The problem will do little to reassure Washington, which will be supplementing its FBI personnel with an equal number of diplomatic security officials, some of whom will be armed. Though the UK's Joint Terrorism Analysis Centre has lowered the threat of attack to "substantial" – the third level on the scale – western intelligence agencies remain wary.
They know it is possible that al-Qaida, or one of its affiliates, may attempt to disrupt the Olympics, with members of the US team being obvious targets.
The Home Office and Scotland Yard believe the UK has a robust security strategy, but this has not stopped American officials voicing their concerns.
The police response to the London riots, the arrest of a security guard at the London Olympics site earlier this year, and the arrests made shortly before the visit of the Pope last year have provoked anxiety among US officials. The repeal of section 44 of the Terrorism Act, which allowed police to stop and search suspects with near impunity, also raised alarm. One well-placed Whitehall source said the entire Olympic security operation was being prepared "with the US in mind", adding: "The US will have no qualms in saying it is unsafe. If something happens and we say we did not have enough people, we are finished."
Another official said: "The Americans are risk-averse, with a capital A and underlined. They want to see everything. We are not equal partners in this. They want to be on top of everything – building protection, counter-terrorism strategy and VIP security – everything." Asked about the size of the US contingent heading to London next year, the official said: "They don't do things by halves."
In addition to the official American security entourage, the sponsors of the Games, including Coca-Cola, will have their own private security details, adding to the complexity of the policing operation.
The Ministry of Defence and the Home Office said no final decisions had been taken on the number of soldiers that might be needed to beef up security at some of the Olympic sites.An official said the need for an increase at the venues had become apparent when the Olympic committee began to role-play scenarios at some of the completed sites over the summer.
"The focus of the government and everyone involved is to deliver a safe and secure Olympic and Paralympic Games that London, the UK and the world can enjoy," a government spokesman said.
"Ministers and officials from across government are working closely with the police and Locog to ensure we have a robust safety and security strategy."
Officials said ministers, the Olympic committee and G4S were working together "to finalise the requirements for Olympic venue security". "As with all significant national events, we will make the best and most appropriate use of available resources," a statement said. "The Ministry of Defence have been fully involved in supporting Olympic security planning work."
G4S said it was confident of recruiting 10,000 security guards, and could recruit more, as long as the Olympic authorities gave the company enough time. "We need to know as soon as possible," said a spokesman.
The US state department declined to comment.
Locog said detailed security plans were being drawn up in collaboration with the government and security agencies.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/nov....s-security-2012
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #155 on Nov 14, 2011, 12:16pm » | |
14 November 2011 Last updated at 16:49 GMT
Ground-to-air missiles 'may protect' London 2012 games
Defence Secretary Philip Hammond has told MPs that ground-to-air missiles will be deployed to protect the 2012 Olympic Games in London if deemed operationally necessary.
He was asked to confirm this by the former defence secretary Liam Fox.
It was Mr Hammond's first appearance at Defence Questions since taking over from Mr Fox.
The comments follow reports of concern in the United States about security plans for the Games.
The Guardian claimed the US was furious about security plans and wanted to send up to 1,000 of its own people, including 500 FBI agents but the Home Office says it has "full confidence" in the plans.
'All necessary measures'
Mr Hammond was asked by his predecessor to confirm whether there would be a "full range of multilayered defence and deterrents" in place for the 2012 Games including surface-to-air missiles.
He replied: "I can assure him that all necessary measures to ensure the security and safety of the London Olympic Games will be taken including - if the advice of the military is that it is required - appropriate ground-to-air defences."
The BBC's Political Correspondent Robin Brant said Mr Fox would almost certainly have been aware of the security plans for the event - so the exchange may have been designed to show how seriously the UK's contingency planning was being taken.
The deployment of overseas security officers at the Olympics has become standard procedure in recent years but final responsibility for security rests with the host government.
National Olympic security co-ordinator Chris Allison said there would be a small amount of "foreign security liaison officers" in London to act as a link between their national teams and UK police.
But he insisted their numbers would not be on the scale reported
"The Games will be delivered by the British police service, working with Games organisers Locog," he told the BBC. "We will have support from other colleagues up and down the country but it is the British police service that will be doing it."
The US was providing "great support", Mr Allison added, and their officials did not "recognise" the concerns expressed in the newspaper.
The Guardian article says the London riots, the arrest of a security guard at the Olympic site and arrests before the visit of the Pope last year have raised US anxieties while the restriction of the scope of anti-terrorism stop-and-search powers was also claimed to have caused concerns.
'Safe and secure'
In response, the Home Office said security planning was "on track" and funding had been protected.
"The government is committed to delivering a safe and secure Games that London, the UK and the world can enjoy," a spokesman said.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC), which undertakes detailed inspections of security preparations, had "full confidence" in the UK's plans, he added.
Responding to claims in the article, the games organisers Locog said precise numbers of security officers are only now being finalised because the venues themselves have only just been completed.
The US Embassy has declined to comment.
Earlier this year Mr Allison said 12,000 officers may be needed nationally to police the event and another 10,000-15,000 security officials could also be deployed by private security firm G4S.
The BBC's security correspondent Gordon Corera said: "The US is understood to be taking a close interest in the plans and is intending to send over hundreds of personnel to protect its athletes."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-15724639
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #156 on Nov 15, 2011, 10:42am » | |
Britain sends officials to Libya to help destroy chemical weapons
Size of stockpile found by NTC suggests Tony Blair was misled by Colonel Gaddifi's promise to destroy weapons in 2004
* Patrick Wintour
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 November 2011 22.03 GMT
Britain is sending officials to Libya to help the government to investigate the scale of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's secret chemical weapons stockpile, retained by the Libyan dictator in breach of promises made to the international community.
The size of the stockpile – including mustard gas – suggests Gaddafi totally misled Tony Blair when he promised to destroy weapons of mass destruction in return for being brought back in from the diplomatic cold in 2004.
The Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons reported a week ago that the National Transitional Council had informed it further stocks of what are believed to be chemical weapons had been found.
Foreign Office sources suggested the weapons stockpile was much larger than had been thought, and covered more than one site.
David Cameron made reference to the hidden stockpile in his speech at the Lord Mayor's banquet. He said: "Although Gaddafi agreed to declare and dismantle all his weapons of mass destruction and although we made real progress diminishing the threat he posed, in the last few days we have learnt that the new Libyan authorities have found chemical weapons that were kept hidden from the world".
The OPCW team was despatched to Libya initially because it feared the Nato air campaign might have destabilised mustard gas known to be held in the south-east of the country.
It was the first visit to Libya by the OPCW since February 2011. When Libya joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in 2004, it was required to declare all chemical warfare materials, and once the OPCW confirmed the declaration, to destroy them.
The former Libyan government declared possession of 25 metric tonnes of bulk mustard agent and 1,400 metric tonnes of precursor chemicals, which are used to make chemical weapons. It also declared more than 3,500 unfilled aerial bombs designed for use with chemical warfare agents such as sulphur mustard, and three chemical weapons production facilities.
The Foreign Office said it was waiting to see the scale to which Gaddafi misled the international community, but one source said the find was big.
At the weekend Blair, speaking on BBC's Andrew Marr Show, defended the British rapprochement with Gaddafi on the basis that he had abandoned his weapons of mass destruction.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov....hemical-weapons
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #157 on Nov 15, 2011, 10:49am » | |
Massive explosion sparks exodus from Somali town
Al-Shabaab insurgents claim blast caused by missile strike on one of their bases in Afgoye
* Clar Ni Chonghaile in Nairobi
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 14 November 2011 15.01 GMT
Scores of people have fled the Somali town of Afgoye after a massive explosion which al-Shabaab insurgents said was caused by a missile strike on one of their bases.
Military officials said they were trying to find out what caused the blast on Sunday night. Al-Shabaab, which is linked to al-Qaida and controls large sections of central and south Somalia, is fighting African Union peacekeepers, Somali government forces and Kenyan troops, while foreign warships are also active offshore, battling pirate gangs.
At least two regional news agencies reported that senior al-Shabaab commanders had been killed in the explosion, although it was not immediately possible to confirm this.
Some residents of Afgoye said there had been a flurry of insurgent activity in the area on Sunday amid rumours that rebel commanders were meeting.
"I am sure there was a meeting going on in the base near the orphanage. Armoured cars and expensive 4x4s were buzzing around," Afgoye resident Osman Odowa told Reuters.
"One of the missiles struck right around there," Odowa said.
Mogadishu-based media company Suna Times said on its website that al-Shabaab leaders were killed in what it described as an air strike by a US drone on Afgoye.
A US source said the United States was not involved.
A senior al-Shabaab official said two missiles were launched from warships offshore.
"Enemy warships in the Indian Ocean fired two missiles at us," the official told Reuters. There were no casualties, he said. It was not possible to verify his account.
The Kenyan army, which has deployed thousands of troops inside Somalia, said it did not attack Afgoye, 12 miles (19km) from the capital Mogadishu.
"Yes, there was an explosion but it was not carried out by Kenyans," said spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir. He did not have information on any casualties.
Kenya blames Islamist al-Shabaab rebels for a series of kidnappings and cross-border raids that threaten to damage east Africa's largest economy. Al-Shabaab has denied involvement in the kidnappings but has threatened to attack Kenya in retaliation for the incursion.
Two weeks ago Kenya warned it would launch air strikes on 10 Somali towns where al-Shabaab has bases, including Afgoye.
Lieutenant Colonel Paddy Ankunda, a spokesman for the 9,000-strong African Union (Amisom) peacekeeping mission in Mogadishu, said he was seeking confirmation of what had happened in Afgoye.
"We don't know if it was a premature blast inside the al-Shabaab or an air strike. We are still trying to gather information."
Amisom troops support Somalia's transitional federal government, which is backed by the international community but has failed to extend its reach beyond the capital.
One of the scores of people fleeing Afgoye on Monday was mother-of-five Samira Farah, who was heading to Mogadishu. She said there was a column of minibuses laden with mattresses behind her.
"Who dares to stay in a place which is a target of planes and warships?" she said.
Some people in the area between Afgoye and Mogadishu said they had seen a bright light streaking through the sky before the explosion on Sunday night.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/14/missile-blast-exodus-somalia
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #158 on Nov 15, 2011, 11:49am » | |
Empty Threat of Drones Saved the CIA in Somalia
* By David Axe
* November 15, 2011
![[image]](http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/4551/predatorbdronemq9reaper.jpg "[image]")
The threat of drone attacks was all that protected CIA agents in the early years of the Agency’s continuing efforts to take out al-Qaeda operatives in Somalia. The thing is, the threat was a hollow one. The drones weren’t there.
That’s just one of the surprising revelations in the latest installment in Army Times reporter Sean Naylor’s investigation of U.S. intelligence operations in Somalia and Kenya.
The U.S. was heavily involved in East Africa in the early 1990s, even spearheading a large-scale humanitarian and peacekeeping operation aimed at stabilizing Somalia during the early phases of its ongoing civil war. But the deaths of 18 U.S. service members in Mogadishu in October 1993 — a tragedy explored in the book and film Black Hawk Down — ended all that. For nearly a decade, the U.S. all but abandoned Somalia. “Nobody had the stomach for it,” a Special Operations source told Naylor.
The CIA returned to Somalia in fits and starts in the years immediately following the 9/11 attacks. The main goal: to track down and capture or kill the growing number of al-Qaeda operatives seeking refuge among Somalia’s extremists. Starting in 2003, small teams of CIA agents, commandos and interpreters flew into Somalia from Kenya aboard the daily flights that delivered khat, a popular narcotic.
American agents used a carrot-and-stick approach to drawing information out of Somali warlords with knowledge of al-Qaeda’s East African operations. Cash payments to warlords represented the “carrot.” U.S. air power was the “stick.”
But until recently, there weren’t any military or CIA drones over Somalia. “We really didn’t have a stick,” an unnamed veteran of U.S. intel ops told Naylor. All of America’s Predator drones were tied up in the skies over Iraq, he explained. In other words, the CIA was bluffing. “But it worked,” the intel official said.
Working with Somali warlords required a light touch and plenty of precautions. John Bennett, the CIA’s station chief in Nairobi, drew up four rules, which Naylor lists:
* “We will work with warlords.”
* “We don’t play favorites.”
* “They don’t play us.”
* “We don’t go after Somali nationals, just [foreign] al-Qaeda.”
Protected by a effective bluff and constrained by Bennett’s rules, the CIA’s Somali operations succeeded in buying up dangerous surface-to-air missiles previously in extremists’ hands. U.S. agents also developed information and targeting data that allowed the military to take out several high-profile terror leaders, including Aden Hashi Ayro, killed by a Navy cruise missile strike in 2008.
The CIA’s Somali ops are undoubtedly much more extensive today, now that the U.S. is openly pouring military and intelligence resources into Africa. For one, agents are no longer bluffing when they say there are drone warplanes overhead.
Photo: Air Force
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/11/us-somalia-cia/
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #159 on Nov 15, 2011, 7:02pm » | |
Osama bin Laden raid: SEAL book 'a lie'
November 16, 2011 - 8:41AM
The US military is denouncing a former Navy SEAL's book that claims to describe the "real" version of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
"It's just not true," US Special Operations Command spokesman Colonel Tim Nye said. "It's not how it happened."
Loaded with conspiracy theories and attacks on the Obama White House, Chuck Pfarrer's SEAL Target Geronimo claims an alternative version of the raid in which the SEAL team shot bin Laden within 90 seconds of arriving at the Pakistan compound where the al-Qaeda mastermind was holed up.
Pfarrer claims the White House issued a fictional and damaging account of the raid that made the SEALs looks inept. He says President Barack Obama's speedy acknowledgment of the raid was a craven political move that rendered much of the intelligence gathered on the raid useless.
Pfarrer's account broke into Amazon's top 20 book sales list last week, and Pfarrer has appeared on Fox News, CNN and in other venues to promote it.
"I have truth on my side," Pfarrer said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I spoke to the guys on the ground and in the secondary bird," he said, referring to the aircraft full of a second SEAL team that was there to rescue the first if it came under attack so far inside Pakistan's borders.
"This is a fabrication," Nye countered, issuing an on-the-record denial on behalf of Navy SEAL Adm. Bill McRaven, who took command of all special operations this summer.
In his previous role, McRaven executed the raid in May as head of the military's elite Joint Special Operations Command. Nye said McRaven was concerned the book would lead Americans to doubt the administration's version of events. He also disputed Pfarrer's portrayal of friction between the CIA and the military special operations forces who carried out the raid.
"We have never come forward and gone after an author and say that is a lie," Nye said. "That tells you how far off the mark we believe this book is."
Nye says Pfarrer had no access to any troops connected to the mission. He said there will be no investigation into whether individual SEALs spoke to Pfarrer because his account is so off-base.
Among his other claims, Pfarrer insists the stealth helicopter that the White House said crashed within moments of launching the raid - and local Pakistanis reported hearing crash - actually crashed later. He says the SEALs were able to launch their raid as they'd planned it all along, landing on top of the building while another team surged from below.
Pfarrer defended the book as a patriotic way to laud the "heroes of the bin Laden mission". He insists the money he earns will barely cover his medical bills for a long and losing battle with colon cancer. His ruddy complexion and expansive girth bely an illness the personable Pfarrer says has now spread to his lungs.
Pfarrer claims he is still part of the fighting SEAL network, even intimating that he was part of the bin Laden raid preparation.
"In the weeks and months leading up to Neptune's Spear (the code name for the bin Laden mission), it was my privilege to help troops and platoons train for submissions and run parallel HVT (high-value target) missions," Pfarrer writes.
"That is categorically incorrect," spokesman Nye said of the passage. "He was not involved in mission planning, execution or close mission analysis."
Two senior military officials with knowledge of the raid seconded that denial. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the media.
Pfarrer deflected that criticism, saying he was conducting training for the SEAL Team 6's parent organisation, the Naval Special Warfare Command, through his defence security company Acme Ballistics. He refused to describe how closely such training was related to the raid, saying the contracts are classified.
That is Pfarrer's frequent refrain when asked for proof of his controversial claims: that the accounts are from a top secret world only he has access to and that a reader must take his word on faith.
But Pfarrer gets a multitude of facts wrong in describing events that are part of the public record. For instance, Pfarrer states that Obama appointed McRaven as the first Navy SEAL to head JSOC in April of this year. McRaven was actually appointed to that post in early 2008 by President George W Bush. He states that the Army Special Forces Green Berets were established in 1962, instead of 1952. When US special operations forces rehearsed for the famous Son Tay Raid in Vietnam in 1970, they trained at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida, not Offutt in Nebraska.
And a jet bombing run, not a drone strike, killed Iraqi al-Qaeda ringleader Abu Musab al Zarqawi in 2006.
A series of special operations leaders have stepped forward to say Pfarrer is at best misinformed and at worst a profiteering self-promoter.
"The reaction is stunning, chagrined, disappointment," said retired SEAL Rear Admiral George Worthington.
"This is exactly the sort of thing the special operations community does not need," added retired Navy SEAL Captain Rick Woolard, known for commanding some of the most elite units, and a contemporary of Pfarrer's.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/world/osama-bin-la....l#ixzz1dp10aUIR
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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« Reply #160 on Nov 15, 2011, 8:42pm » | |
14 November 2011 Last updated at 19:19 GMT
Israel-Kenya deal to help fight Somalia's al-Shabab
Israel has offered to help Kenya secure its borders as it tackles Somalia's Islamist group, al-Shabab, the Kenyan prime minister's office has said.
It said Kenya got the backing of Israel to "rid its territory of fundamentalist elements" during Prime Minister Raila Odinga's visit to the country.
Last month, Kenya sent troops to neighbouring Somalia to defeat al-Shabab, which is linked to al-Qaeda.
It blames the militants for a spate of abductions on its side of the border.
In a statement, Mr Odinga's office quotes Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as saying that "Kenya's enemies are Israel's enemies".
"We have similar forces planning to bring us down," he is is quoted as saying. "I see it as an opportunity to strengthen ties."
At least 15 people were killed in a suicide bombing on an Israeli-owned hotel in the Kenyan coastal resort of Mombasa in 2002.
Four years earlier, more than 200 people were killed in co-ordinated bomb blasts on the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.
Al-Qaeda carried out the attacks, with some of its senior members operating from Somalia.
'Regional coalition'
Mr Odinga - who is accompanied on the visit by Internal Security Minister George Saitoti - said Israel could help Kenya's police force detect and destroy al-Shabab's networks in Kenya.
Kenya also needed Israel to provide vehicles for border patrols and equipment for sea surveillance to curb piracy off the East African coast, he said.
"We need to be able to convincingly ensure homeland security," Mr Odinga said.
The statement quoted Mr Netanyahu as promising to help build a "coalition against fundamentalism" in East Africa, incorporating Kenya, Ethiopia, South Sudan and Tanzania.
Israel's President Shimon Peres had promised to "make everything available" to Kenya to guarantee its security within its borders, the statement said.
"Consistently, Kenya has shown a very positive attitude towards Israel and Israel is ready to help," the statement quotes Mr Peres saying.
Kenya accuses al-Shabab of abducting several people from its territory since September - including an elderly French woman who suffered from cancer. French authorities say she has since died in Somalia.
Al-Shabab denies involvement in the abductions and has vowed to retaliate against Kenya for sending troops into Somalia. It has accused the Kenyan army of killing civilians.
Last month, a Kenyan man, Elgiva Bwire Oliacha, told a court in Nairobi that he was an al-Shabab member.
He pleaded guilty to carrying out grenade attacks on a nightclub and bus stop in the city, leaving one person dead and 29 others wounded.
Somalia has been without an effective government since 1991, with al-Shabab controlling most of the southern and central regions.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-15725632
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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« Reply #161 on Nov 21, 2011, 9:14pm » | |
21 November 2011 Last updated at 14:23 GMT
Inspire magazine: Who was behind it?
By Gordon Corera Security correspondent, BBC News
![[image]](http://img716.imageshack.us/img716/9210/56844522inspiregetty224.jpg "[image]")
Inspire magazine - Inspire had a glossy look
A 27--year-old New Yorker, arrrested on suspicion of planning a bombing campaign on US soil, was believed to have been influenced by an al-Qaeda magazine called Inspire, say police. So who was behind this publication?
Anwar al-Awlaki may be dead but the arrest of Jose Pimentel shows the influence of one of the most dangerous figures in al-Qaeda has extended even beyond the grave, particularly though Inspire magazine, the "glossy" online publication which served to radicalise and operationalise lone-wolf terrorists.
According to New York authorities, Mr Pimentel was not just radicalised by the al-Qaeda magazine but also found in its pages the instructions he used to build pipe bombs, thanks to a notorious article entitled "How to make a bomb in the kitchen of your mom".
The magazine, which coincidentally shares its name with a Christian magazine of a very different tone, disappeared from the internet earlier this year due to "issues with its content", according to a message on the now defunct website. It aimed to encourage and help Muslims in the West to carry out acts of violence.
Its articles glorified al-Qaeda, provided justifications for the use of violence and practical advice on how to carry out such acts - all presented in an appealing form that, in terms of production values, rivalled anything you would find in a regular magazine found on a news stand.
Awlaki's understanding of modern media made Osama Bin Laden look positively old-fashioned. In the past, al-Qaeda affiliates would have had reach into the West typically through diasporas and personal ties, but Awlaki provided it through the new means of modern communications.
For instance, he gave the Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan advice by email. Meanwhile, his teachings are believed to have influenced Roshonara Choudhry who stabbed Stephen Timms MP in the UK (although here there is less evidence of direct contact).
Faisal Shahzad, who tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square, was also said to be inspired by him while a British Airways staff member in the UK was in touch with Awlaki directly by email (and was convicted earlier this year).
This was all part of a wider trend in which al-Qaeda as a whole seemed unable to carry out major attacks in the nature of 9/11 and so instead focused on trying to encourage individuals in the West to go it alone and carry out their own attacks, sometimes with training and direction and sometimes entirely independently.
Such lone wolves are a growing headache for western security services since they can be harder to spot. However, they tend to have less capability than groups which have been trained in person by al-Qaeda in Pakistan or elsewhere.
Gibberish
There has been a debate within western intelligence circles about how best to combat the appeal of Inspire.
Some favoured using cyber techniques to target the magazine's publication and prevent people reading its content.
Britain's eavesdropping and cyber intelligence agency GCHQ is believed to have used such techniques to target the first issue in June 2010, including the article "Make a Bomb in the Kitchen of your Mom".
It has been claimed that GCHQ was responsible for temporarily substituting the original text of the magazine with what looked to be gibberish (although the gibberish supposedly contained code for making cupcakes in a kitchen rather than bombs).
In Washington, there is believed to have been more unease with targeting the actual publication itself - some believing it set a dangerous precedent, others believing that it was better to maintain access to use as an intelligence gathering tool, tracking those who downloaded it.
Although Awlaki provided the public face for Inspire, the key individual in actually producing it was believed to have been Samir Khan.
![[image]](http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/8414/56844952awlakiap3047984.jpg "[image]")
Anwar al-Awlaki - Al-Awlaki is believed to have been behind Inspire
Khan was an American who had grown up in New York and his media skills made him the key player in turning Inspire into such a glossy magazine. He was killed in the same strike as Awlaki in late September.
Awlaki's death appears to have acted as a spur to Pimentel to speed up his plans. He had begun planning a bomb in August but surveillance revealed that he began to accelerate his plans after a drone strike killed the al-Qaeda leader.
Awlaki and Khan are in many ways irreplaceable. The hope will be that their influence - along with that of Inspire - diminishes over time but this latest plot shows that for the moment it still remains real.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-15818278
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #162 on Nov 24, 2011, 2:03am » | |
24 November 2011 Last updated at 00:04 GMT
Dagestan - the most dangerous place in Europe
By Lucy Ash BBC News, Makhachkala
![[image]](http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/5021/56866763wideshotbombeds.jpg "[image]")
Bomb-damaged street in Dagestan
Once it was Chechnya, today it is the republic of Dagestan on the Caspian Sea that is the most explosive place in Russia - and in Europe. There are bomb attacks almost daily, shootouts between police and militants, tales of torture and of people going missing.
Two armed men in camouflage holding Kalashnikov rifles enter the shop and tell the customers to leave. The terrified cashier stumbles past as one of the men puts a bomb on the counter and sets the timer.
He does not bother emptying the till, he just walks out of the door.
Seconds later, the shop is filled with smoke.
Attacks like this one caught on supermarket security cameras - in which Islamic fighters punish shops that sell alcohol - have become routine events in Dagestan's capital, Makhachkala.
The owners typically get a warning first, often delivered by text message, or on a USB memory stick thrown through car windows, or into a letterbox.
If they ignore it, there may be a bomb or a shootout or the owners may agree to pay protection money.
"The fighters like to portray themselves as so devout," says a lieutenant colonel in the anti-terrorism police, who I will call Bashir.
"But many are just cynical criminals running protection rackets."
I met Bashir at a football match, watching the Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o - reportedly the world's best-paid footballer - play for Anzhi Makhachkala.
The atmosphere inside the stadium was relaxed, even joyful, with old men munching sunflower seeds and children waving flags, despite the heavy security outside.
After the game, a smiling Eto'o told me he was proud to play in Dagestan - but he does not spend much time here, heading straight back to the safety of Moscow after every match.
Puritanism
In the centre of Makhachkala, there are armed police on almost every corner.
Bashir drives me past a place where two car bombs recently killed a policeman and a young girl and wounded 60 police and passers-by.
"When our guys rushed to the scene of the first explosion, a blast about 12 times more powerful went off," he adds.
"It was a trap. They wanted to get as many of us as possible."
He asks me not to use his real name, or to photograph his face. Government officials and policemen are the main targets of the increasingly ruthless Islamic insurgents.
Many officers are too scared to go on to the street in their uniform. Police who have to stop and search cars often wear masks.
But unlike some of his colleagues, Bashir seems to want to understand why so many young Dagestanis have joined the rebels and gone into hiding - known here as "going into the forest".
At the university, I watch him lecture students about the dangers of fundamentalist websites. He tells them a cautionary tale about a young medical student who made some so-called friends online, and who later forced him to plant a car bomb.
Bashir is joined by an imam, who urges moderation and compliance with Russian law. "If a man only gets secular education he will be heartless - if he only gets religious education he'll be a fanatic," the imam says.
Most Muslims in Dagestan are Sufi but younger people are increasingly drawn to the Salafi branch of Islam, which is less mystical, more puritanical and, crucially, outside the control of the state.
This is seen by the interior ministry as a problem, as I discover in the village of Sovietskoye, three hours south of Makhachkala.
Murder
Said Gereikhanov, the young imam at the village mosque, tells me about a day last May, when dozens of Salafi mosque-goers were detained and beaten by police.
Plain-clothed security officers burst into the mosque in muddy boots, during Friday prayers, and told everyone to leave, he says. Outside, they found themselves surrounded by masked men with guns, and the whole congregation of 150 people, including 15 school boys, was taken to a police station in a neighbouring town.
Police then summoned the headmaster of the village secondary school, Sadikullah Akhmedov. Said says he was shocked by the brutal treatment of the teenagers - and by Mr Akhmedov's failure to intercede on their behalf.
He shows me photographs of bruised bodies and young men with half of their beards shaved off.
On the night of 9 July, two months after the arrests at the mosque, there was a more serious incident - one which sent shock waves through Russia. Mr Akhmedov was gunned down in his own sitting room by unknown assailants.
At the school nobody is keen to talk about it. The headmaster's distraught widow, Djeramat, tells me she has no idea why her husband was killed.
But Said, the imam, says Mr Akhmedov banned the hijab in school and treated girls wearing them as if they "were armed with weapons".
Said believes only the radical fighters could be responsible. He adds wearily: "You can't deliver justice through murders. They just make things worse. This war has already been going on for 20 years."
Persuasion
Like Bashir, Rizvan Kurbanov, Dagestan's deputy premier and the man in charge of police and security, is keen to reach out to disaffected youth.
Clutching his iPad, Mr Kurbanov shows me his Facebook account. He says when more than 20 terrorist internet sites are putting pressure on Dagestan, the government has to reclaim cyberspace and use social networks to stop young people from being seduced by online jihadists.
President Dmitry Medvedev President Medvedev visited Dagestan in 2009, days after a sniper killed the republic's interior minister
"No place on earth is safe from terrorism. Today the Caucasus, Dagestan included, is of heightened interest to terrorist organisations and they try to spread unrest here," he says.
An energetic man with a mop of grey hair, he chairs a new commission to persuade fighters to lay down their arms and go back to their families.
"The commission is like a bridge between a person who's lost his way, who's been duped and is in the woods, and society. He can walk across this bridge, say I've done this and that, please forgive me."
This feels like a new approach in the North Caucasus where strong-hand tactics and repression have long been the rule, with the full backing of the Kremlin.
In neighbouring Chechnya, forces loyal to President Ramzan Kadyrov have been accused of burning down the houses of suspected militants, leaving their families homeless.
Mr Kurbanov, on the other hand, urges parents to track down wayward sons and bring them round a table where they can appeal for clemency.
So far though the commission has only dealt with minor figures in the insurgency and government's leniency only goes so far, Mr Kurbanov says.
"Those who don't understand, the ones I call non-people - because like animals they just crave blood and want to fight - they will be dealt with briefly by the necessary power agencies."
Dagestan's violence
![[image]](http://img683.imageshack.us/img683/8135/56885276russiadagestanm.gif "[image]")
* Islamic militants are fighting for independence from Moscow and to establish an Islamic Caliphate across the North Caucasus
* Last year, 378 insurgency-related deaths were recorded in Dagestan, compared with 134 in Ingushetia and 127 in Chechnya
* Russian President Dmitri Medvedev has blamed the insurgency on "monstrous" corruption and called it "the country's main security threat"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15824831
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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« Reply #163 on Nov 26, 2011, 8:02pm » | |
Nato air attack on Pakistani troops was self-defence, says senior western official
US-Pakistan relations strained further after attack allegedly kills up to 28 and prompts ban on Nato trucks crossing Afghan border
* Jon Boone in Kabul
* guardian.co.uk, Saturday 26 November 2011 20.58 GMT
An attack by Nato aircraft on Pakistani troops that allegedly killed as many as 28 soldiers and looks set to further poison relations between the US and Pakistan was an act of self-defence, a senior western official has claimed.
According to the Kabul-based official, a joint US-Afghan force operating in the mountainous Afghan frontier province of Kunar was the first to come under attack in the early hours of Saturday morning, forcing them to return fire.
The high death toll from an incident between two supposed allies suggests Nato helicopters and jets strafed Pakistani positions with heavy weapons.
The deadliest friendly fire incident since the start of the decade-long war also prompted Pakistan to ban Nato supply trucks from crossing into Afghanistan and to issue an order demanding the US quit the remote Shamsi airbase, from which the US has operated some unmanned drone aircraft.
A spokesman for Nato's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said it was "highly likely" that aircraft which had been called into the area to provide "close air support" to troops on the ground was responsible for causing casualties among the Pakistani soldiers.
For their part, a statement by the Pakistani military claimed that it was they who were attacked first, forcing them to respond to Nato's "aggression with all available weapons".
According to Pakistani officials the 40 or so soldiers stationed at the outposts were asleep at the time of the attack. Government officials said the two border posts that were attacked had recently been established to try to stop insurgents who use bases in Afghanistan to attack Pakistan from crossing the border and launching attacks.
Afghan intelligence say the US-Afghan force was conducting operations against suspected Taliban training camps in the area.
The vagueness of the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan is one potential, and relatively innocent, explanation for the incident. Drawn up by the British Raj in 1893, there is little agreement on where the so-called Durand Line actually falls, meaning troops from either side of the border can wander into the neighbouring country without realising it. One senior military official said that, in places, rival maps have discrepancies of "multiples of kilometres – sometimes as much as five kilometres".
Much of the fighting in Afghanistan is conducted by guerrillas based a short distance inside Pakistan. Nato forces are not allowed to cross the border and militants sometimes fire artillery and rockets across the line from locations close to Pakistani army posts.
And yet both sides have worked hard to try and minimise any confusion. The attack happened just a day after John Allen, the US commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, met with Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, the Pakistani army chief, to discuss enhanced co-operation on the border.
But a more troubling explanation would be that insurgents in the area were operating under the nose of Pakistani security forces. Many Afghan officials believe Pakistan helps the Taliban with cross-border operations.
Edrees Momand of the Afghan Border Police said that a US-Afghan force in the area near the Pakistani outposts detained several militants on Saturday morning.
"I am not aware of the casualties on the other side of the border but those we have detained aren't Afghan Taliban," he said, implying they may have been Pakistani or other foreign national Taliban operating in Afghanistan.
Whatever the outcome of investigations, the incident is likely to do yet more damage to the critical relationship between the US and Pakistan. The alliance between the two countries has been repeatedly battered in the past year, first by the jailing of a CIA contractor and then by US special forces who raided deep inside Pakistani territory and killed Osama bin Laden.
More recently the US has accused Pakistan of backing a militant group who launched a 20-hour attack on the US embassy in Kabul.
Washington believes Pakistan continues to support the Taliban, a movement it publicly backed in the 1990s, in order to have influence in Afghanistan. But at the same time as supporting the enemies of the US, Pakistan remains crucial to the military mission in Afghanistan.
John Allen was quick to release a statement saying the incident had his "highest personal attention".
"My most sincere and personal heartfelt condolences go out to the families and loved ones of any members of Pakistan security forces who may have been killed or injured," he said.
Islamabad reacted with fury to the attack.
"This is an attack on Pakistan's sovereignty," said Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani. "We will not let any harm come to Pakistan's sovereignty and solidarity."
In a statement General Kayani promised "all necessary steps be undertaken for an effective response to this irresponsible act.
"A strong protest has been launched with Nato/ISAF in which it has been demanded that strong and urgent action be taken against those responsible for this aggression."
A cabinet committee convened by Gilani said the government would launch a complete review of its diplomatic, political, military and intelligence relationships with the US.
The vast bulk of Nato supplies arrive in Afghanistan by trucks that haul equipment up from the port of Karachi to the Khyber Pass, a key crossing point over the mountainous border into Afghanistan.
The shutting down of the border to Nato traffic has happened in the past during periods of Pakistani displeasure with Afghanistan and its foreign backers.
A similar incident last year in which two Pakistani troops were killed led to the closure of one of Nato's supply routes for ten days.
However, in recent years the alliance has opened up alternative supply routes through Central Asia, reducing its reliance on the route through Pakistan.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/26/nato-air-attack-pakistan-soldiers
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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Big Bunny
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| | Re: The War On Terror II
« Reply #164 on Nov 28, 2011, 10:47am » | |
China supports Pakistan in row over Nato border attack
China says it is 'deeply shocked' by Pakistani soldiers' deaths, as Afghan and Nato officials again say they came under fire first
* Saeed Shah in Karachi and Jon Boone in Kabul
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 28 November 2011 12.02 GMT
China has lent diplomatic support to Pakistan, saying it is "deeply shocked" over the deaths of the Pakistani soldiers bombarded by Nato helicopters.
Beijing's support came as Afghan officials again claimed the air strikes were called in after they were first targeted from the Pakistani side of the border.
Warning of "serious consequences", the Pakistan military said the "unprovoked" attack on a border checkpoint in the Mohmand part of the tribal area on Saturday continued even after it contacted Nato to plead for the firing to stop. The military has not accepted Nato's explanation for what the coalition has called a "tragic incident". Afghan and Nato officials have insisted that they came under fire first.
The incident, which left 24 Pakistani soldiers dead, has thrown the coalition strategy in Afghanistan into crisis, with Pakistani co-operation considered vital in stabilising the country and bringing the Taliban insurgents into talks. Pakistan keeps more than 100,000 soldiers stationed along the Afghan border, supposedly in support of the coalition mission.
On Saturday, Pakistan closed the border for supplies to Nato troops in Afghanistan. There is no indication when the border crossing will be reopened. Half the supplies to coalition soldiers pass by land through Pakistan, including most of the fuel supplies, using local transport companies. On Monday, the All Pakistan Oil Tanker Owners Association said it would only resume transport if Islamabad and the Pakistani military accepted an apology for the incident.
The prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, said Pakistan would "revisit engagement with Nato and the International Security Assistance Force" following the casualties in Mohmand, the deadliest such incident since coalition forces entered Afghanistan in 2001.
Pakistan has suggested it may now boycott the 5 December international conference on Afghanistan's future at Bonn, in Germany.
The Pakistani foreign minister, Hina Rabbani Khar, spoke to her Chinese opposite number, Yang Jiechi, in a "40-minute conversation in which she informed her Chinese counterpart of the extreme outrage in Pakistan on the unprovoked attacks", the foreign ministry said. It added that Yang Jiechi "expressed deep shock and strong concern", adding that "Pakistan's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity must be respected".
Islamabad considers Beijing to be its closest ally and an alternative partner to Washington and the west. China and Pakistan both oppose US plans to have bases in Afghanistan beyond the 2014 date for ending the coalition's combat operations there.
"China is deeply shocked by these events, and expresses strong concern for the victims and profound condolences to Pakistan," a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said. "China believes that Pakistan's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity should be respected and the incident should be thoroughly investigated and be handled properly."
On Monday, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference also condemned the attack on the checkpost, while over the weekend Turkey promised to raise the issue at Nato headquarters in Brussels.
There were further protests on the streets of Pakistan on Monday, including a boycott of the courts by lawyers. The striking lawyers in Karachi and Lahore chanted "Go America, go".
Nato is investigating the incident on the poorly marked border between the Afghan province of Kunar and Mohmand. Coalition and Afghan troops believe they received fire from insurgents operating from close to the Pakistani post, which is located 300 metres into Pakistani territory. Pakistan says there were no militants operating on its side.
A senior Afghan official told the Guardian that a combined Afghan-Nato squad had received incoming fire from "the so-called Pakistani post", prompting them to call for air support. "The most important point here is that they were receiving fire from the direction of that post."
The official, who did not want to be named, added: "The Pakistanis are blowing this thing totally out of proportion by responding the way they have, so severely and strongly. But we hope that they will at least come to Bonn and it will not affect the steps that we have started to take in terms or rebuilding our relationship with Pakistan."
Afghan and coalition officials have accused Pakistan repeatedly in the past of failing to act to stop Taliban militants using its territory.
Afghans living in Kunar said they were delighted by the strike against the bases, saying they believed Taliban fighters were being harboured by the Pakistani army.
"These terrorists wear civilian clothes and then when they have done their attacks in Afghanistan they go to the Pakistan checkpoints," said Qari Ehsanullah Ehsan, a tribal leader from the province. "Some of them wear fake beards and then put on Pakistani military clothes when they finish their operations. The people of Kunar are happy. We have been telling the Americans for a long time that the Pakistanis are bringing the Taliban to our villages."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/28/china-pakistan-nato-border-attack
AND:
Nato braces for reprisals after deadly air strike on Pakistan border post
Concerns the ISI intelligence agency could use its suspected influence over insurgent groups to launch reprisal attacks
* Julian Borger in Kabul and Saeed Shah in Karachi
* guardian.co.uk, Sunday 27 November 2011 20.52 GMT
Nato forces in Afghanistan are bracing for possible reprisals from Pakistani-backed insurgents following the coalition air strike along the border that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.
Senior officers from the Nato-led International Security Assistance Force (Isaf), were scrambling to resume contacts with their Pakistani counterparts in the hopes of setting up a joint investigation into the incident.
But Pakistani officers severed communications and Islamabad cut Isaf's two supply routes running through Pakistan.
It also gave the US two weeks to vacate the Shamsi airbase in Balochistan, which has been used to launch American drone aircraft.
One Isaf source voiced concern that the Pakistani intelligence agency, the ISI, could go much further and use its suspected influence over insurgent groups in the tribal areas along the Afghan border to launch reprisal attacks on Nato. "This will come back at us, and at a time and a place of their [the ISI's] choosing," the source predicted. In September the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, said the ISI was using insurgent groups such as the Haqqani network to wage a "proxy war" in Afghanistan.
The incident, and the subsequent breakdown in relations with Pakistan, is a particular blow to the Isaf commander, US general John Allen, who sees the insurgent sanctuaries in Pakistan as one of the keys to the Afghan conflict and who had been in Pakistan the day before the border incident for talks with the Pakistani army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani, to discuss border co-operation.
In an interview in Kabul on Sunday, Allen refused to discuss details of the incident, saying it was under investigation. But he said: "We don't know where all of this will end up with Pakistan. We have been good friends with them for a long, long time, and this is a tragedy."
Isaf officers say the strike on Pakistani border positions took place when a joint force of Afghan and Isaf special forces carrying out a counterinsurgency operation in southern Kunar province came under fire and called in "close air support" from Nato aircraft. The air strikes hit two Pakistani border posts in the Mohmand tribal area on Saturday.
Pakistan's military refused to accept that its checkposts had been hit by accident, insisting that Isaf knew the location of the posts, on a mountaintop at Salala, next to the Afghan border.
Major General Athar Abbas, chief spokesman for the Pakistan military, told the Guardian on Sunday that he did not believe Isaf or Afghan forces had received fire from the Pakistani side. "I cannot rule out the possibility that this was a deliberate attack by Isaf," said Abbas. "If Isaf was receiving fire, then they must tell us what their losses were."
Pakistani officials said the posts hit are 300 metres into Pakistani territory, but Isaf officers say the border in that area is disputed.
Abbas said, however, that the firing lasted for over an hour, while Isaf made "no attempt" to contact the Pakistani side using an established border co-ordination system to report that they had come under fire. He said that the map references of the posts were previously passed to Isaf.
"This was a totally unprovoked attack. There are no safe havens or hideouts left there [for militants] in Mohmand," he said.
"This was a visible, well-made post, on top of ridges, made of concrete. Militants don't operate from mountaintops, from concrete structures."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/nov/27/nato-reprisals-pakistan-air-strike
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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident."
Arthur Schopenhauer, Philosopher, 1788-1860
"In the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet, breathe the same air, and we all cherish our children’s future."
John F. Kennedy |
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