Backlog posts 08 Oct - 17 Oct 2009

Posted: Oct 9 2009, 05:19 AM
Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,769 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)	War on Terror has destabilized Pakistan QUOTE Former Pakistan strongman Gen. Pervez Musharraf was on PRI's The World last evening talking about how Pakistan must be given due respect by United States and how it's only workable strategy is to strike militants in Pakistan's tribal areas "in serial fashion" via a concentration of forces strategy. It appears to me that Pakistan is becoming more and more unstable, Pakistan's tensions with India are escalating, and the entire South Asia / Central Asia is tender for a regional war that could easily become a world war. The spark for this is the now 8 year long U.S. war of occupation in Afghanistan in pursuit of American hegemony and dominance over the region. Nothing like having a War on Terror morph into regional or world war. United States has reached the limits of its empire and will be repelled just as every expansionist empire is eventually repelled. Official: Pakistan to Attack Militant Bases QUOTE ABC News Interior Minister says Pakistan has 'no option' but to attack militants after Peshawar bombing By RIAZ KHAN The Associated Press ISLAMABAD Pakistan's interior minister says the nation has "no option" but to attack militant strongholds in the wake of a deadly suicide car bombing in Peshawar that killed 41 people. Rehman Malik told reporters Friday that the country has to launch an operation in the area militants are using as a base to launch deadly strikes. He said such an offensive was expected "soon." The government has been threatening to launch an offensive against militants in the South Waziristan region along the border with Afghanistan. THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below. PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide car bomber detonated his vehicle along a road near a well-known market in Pakistan's northwest city of Peshawar on Friday, killing 41 people and underscoring militants' ability to strike in major cities despite U.S.-backed military offensives pressuring their networks. The attack in the Khyber Bazaar area came as Pakistan's army prepares for another major operation in the al-Qaida and Taliban stronghold of South Waziristan tribal region. The militants have threatened bombings if the army doesn't back off, but the U.S. has continued to prod Pakistan to take action against insurgents using its soil to fuel the insurgency in neighboring Afghanistan. Television footage showed the charred skeleton of a bus flipped on its side in the middle of a major road. Twisted remains of a motorbike lay alongside the bus. A nearby vehicle was in flames. Noor Alam saw the vehicle explode, and suffered wounds on his legs and face. "I saw a blood soaked leg landing close to me," Alam told The Associated Press at the overwhelmed Lady Reading hospital. "I understood for the first time in my life what a doomsday would look like." Peshawar Police Chief Liaqat Ali Khan said the attacker was in a car packed with "a huge quantity of explosives and artillery rounds." A minibus apparently carrying passengers nearby was also leveled in the blast. It came days after a suicide attack killed five at a U.N. office in the capital, Islamabad and two weeks after another explosion killed 11 in a Peshawar commercial area. It was the deadliest attack in Pakistan since a suicide bomber demolished a packed mosque near the northwestern town of Jamrud in March, killing about 50. Provincial Health Minister Syed Zahir Ali Shah said 41 people were killed and more than 100 wounded Friday. ~~~cont'd~~~ -------------------- Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then, will you realize that money cannot be eaten!!! (Cree Indian Prophecy)
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synergy	Posted: Oct 11 2009, 07:14 AM
Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,769 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)	I am deeply suspect of the Council on Foreign Relations. The name of Leslie Gelb should be enough to trigger suspicition of this "august" body. The CFR is part of the American elite status quo Establishment. If I am not mistaken they backed the U.S. neocolonial war in Vietnam. IMO Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, and nearly every Senator and Congressman (the exceptions can probably be counted on one hand) are part of the American Establishment. When push comes to shove there is no difference between the policies pursued by Republicans and Democrat Establishment leaders. Obama may want to change course, but he continues the same policies that got us into this mother of all dilemmas. Dick Cheney was right (and did everything in his power to make it so) when he stated that United States would be engaged in a generations long (maybe 20 to 50 years) war between civilizations. This is on a much larger scale than the original crusades. United States can't (or won't) quit Afghanistan because of false pride and fear of humiliation. It would strengthen Russia and China and that isn't tolerable to American Establishment players on the world stage. Two McClatchy pieces make my point that Obama will pursue a military solution in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, and in the so-called global war on terror. We are only in the first throes of this clash of civilizations. No one alive today will see and end to this conflict. There will be no peace in our time. United States is to blame for trying to win a militarily unwinnable struggle. There have to be non-stop communications and negotiations between all parties involved to stem a regional war which will include India and Pakistan and could easily escalate into a world war. JMO. Read the two linked articles below carefully. Are Obama advisers downplaying Afghanistan dangers? By Jonathan S. Landay, John Walcott and Nancy A. Youssef | McClatchy Newspapers | Posted on Sunday, October 11, 2009 Pakistan-based group suspected in Indian Embassy bombing By Sarah Davison and Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers | Posted on Thursday, October 8, 2009 -------------------- Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then, will you realize that money cannot be eaten!!! (Cree Indian Prophecy)
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synergy	Posted: Oct 16 2009, 01:10 PM
Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,769 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)	Musings: Jesus said blessed are the hungry for they shall be filled. My stomach is full, but I remain spiritually hungry and thirsty. -------------------- Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then, will you realize that money cannot be eaten!!! (Cree Indian Prophecy)
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synergy

Posted: Oct 16 2009, 05:48 PM

Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,769 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)

Judging by rising violence in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and in Pakistan, the global war on terror seems to have backfired on Uncle Sam. The entire strategy in the legitimate struggle against terrorism need to be rethought. Massive military action including occupation of entire countries and endless wars for hegemony will not turn the tide in United States' favor. The root causes of terrorism have to be addressed and solved. War fever, propaganda, and hatred of Muslims are not smart or winning strategies. Settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the sine qua non for peace in the Middle East. Addressing poverty and development in a humanitarian manner (rather than as an afterthought in the wake of efforts to provide "security" by military action) along with negotiation must be at the forefront of American foreign policy. New violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan QUOTE Examiner.com October 16, 12:50 PM [Tampa Political Buzz Examiner] Kyle Sennett Taliban claims at least 33 lives in Pakistan Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani, briefing government officials, reported Friday that a suicide car bomber in Peshawar killed at least 13 people Friday morning, most of them civilians. The day before, Thursday, Taliban militants also orchestrated a string of attacks that killed 30, ten of which were police officers. Interior Minister Rehman Malik confirmed that Taliban spokespersons claimed responsibility for the attacks. These fresh deaths come after a week plus of intense fighting and violence, including a 22-hour stand-off at a military base, followed by the death of 41 people in the Swat Valley. Four US troops killed in Afghanistan NATO has reported that 4 American service members have been killed in the southern Kandahar Province in Afghanistan. A bombing caused the death, killing two instantly and two more died from wounds sustained. NATO has not released names or details, pending US authorities notifying next-of-kin. Kandahar Province hosts the Fort Lewis based 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, although other US troops are in the area as well. Suicide bomber kills 13, injures 65 in Iraq A suicide bomber at the Taqwa mosque in Tal Afar stood up during prayer services, shot the prayer leader at point blank then detonated a bomb, killing 12 more, and injuring 65. Akram Haseeb, one of the injured victims recounts, "“I was sitting in the back rows in the mosque when one of the worshipers in the front stood up and loudly interrupted the imam while he was preaching. He raised his assault rifle and shot the imam dead first, and then turned and shot the people around him. When the ammo was finished, he blew himself up.” The mosque at Tal Afar is one of many Sunni Arab mosques, the main denomination of the area. On Thursday, a more violence and deaths broke out across Iraq as well. Xinhuanet News reports that 2 were killed and 12 more injured by a roadside bomb in Baghdad and Diyala province, another killed and two wounded by a bomb in the Diyala capital city of Baquba, two wounded in Saadiyah, and three more soldiers wounded in the town of Baladruz. Here is video covering the Peshawar attack today: Click on link above for original Examiner.com post which contains a video embedded here.

Posted: Oct 17 2009, 08:03 AM
Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,769 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)	I've noticed that when United States suffers multiple combat deaths in Afghanistan there are immediate reports of a massive number of Taliban killed. I have become skeptical of those often unsubstantiated or exaggerated claims. It has happened again in the most recent deaths (yesterday and today) to 7 American soldiers in Afghanistan. The U.S. military claims to have killed 25 Taliban although the U.S. military has officially stopped issuing body counts of enemy killed. You have to take their word for it. Not me! As of 8:44 am EDT Sat 17 Oct 2009 http://www.icasualties.org/OEF/index.aspx website had raised its tally of U.S. military fatalities from the war in Afghanistan to 880. 10/17/09 AFP: Raids kill 25 Taliban in Afghanistan: officials NATO and Afghan forces have killed 25 Taliban fighters in assaults across southern Afghanistan, a government official and the defence ministry said Saturday. In the deadliest incident, an air strike killed 20 militants late Friday in the Urgun district of Paktika province, said Hamidullah Zawak, spokesman for the provincial governor. 10/17/09 AP: Pakistan sets its sights on Taliban sanctuary The Pakistani military is setting its sights on the Taliban's remote sanctuary after nearly two weeks of big bombings across the country, as hundreds flee the Afghan border region each day before what promises to be the army's riskiest offensive yet. 10/17/09 Guardian: Crisis looms in Kabul over Karzai election results Britain and the United States are attempting to avert a political crisis in Afghanistan as fears mounted in Kabul that Hamid Karzai will refuse to accept the results of an official inquiry into massive electoral fraud that is expected to trigger a fresh round of voting. 10/17/09 LATimes: Bombs kill 3 U.S. troops in Afghanistan The NATO-led coalition says bomb attacks have killed three American troops in Afghanistan. The international force says two U.S. troops were killed Friday in an explosion in the nation's east. Another U.S. service member was killed the same day in a bombing in the 10/16/09 wgal: Lancaster County Grad Killed In Afghanistan Students in a Lancaster County school district are coping with the death of a recent graduate. Military officials said that Brandon Styer, 19, was killed by a roadside bomb while serving in Afghanistan. 10/16/09 Reuters: Afghan woman, child killed in NATO-led operation An Afghan woman and a child were killed in a joint NATO-Afghan operation against insurgents in Afghanistan on Friday, sparking a protest by a group of angry villagers. 10/16/09 MoD: MOD police officer boosts Afghan female police MOD police officer Isabella McManus is the first British female police officer to work in Afghanistan training and mentoring the Afghan National Police. Since her arrival the number of women who want to join Afghanistan's Police Force has doubled. 10/16/09 FT: Pentagon to boost Afghan deployment The administration of US president Barack Obama is to announce the deployment of an additional 40,000 troops to Afghanistan, according to the Afghan ambassador to Washington, as the US steps up its efforts to contain the growing Taliban insurgency. 10/16/09 NYTimes: New Attack in Pakistan Targets Police Station At least 11 people were killed and 15 injured in an apparent suicide attack Friday in Peshawar, according to local government officials...The target of the attack appeared to have been an investigative unit of the Peshawar police in a tightly guarded area of the city. 10/16/09 NYTimes: Pakistan Attacks Show Tightening of Militant Links A wave of attacks against top security installations over the last several days demonstrated that the Taliban, Al Qaeda and militant groups once nurtured by the government are tightening an alliance aimed at bringing down the Pakistani state, government officials and analysts said. -------------------- Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then, will you realize that money cannot be eaten!!! (Cree Indian Prophecy)
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synergy

Posted: Oct 17 2009, 02:36 PM

Advanced Member Group: Admin Posts: 33,769 Member No.: 3 Joined: 20-November 07 Warn: (0%)

QUOTE Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2009 8:43 am What are you "right" about, Brad? You're ecstatic that civil war has broken out in Pakistan. I think it will lead to further chaos. You think the Pakistan army will put down militants/extremists and pacify the land. I don't think so. The violence will only spread. The Pakistan military will require more and more American arms and assistance until United States is embroiled in Pakistan as surely as it is mired in Iraq and Afghanistan. The specter of a regional war involving India also looms. You accused me of exulting in America's failure in Afghanistan "to make a political point". It seems to me that you are guilty of what you accused me of, Brad. Enjoy your ersatz "victory". Pakistan 'to strike at militants'....HURRAH!! Major Ground Offensive Begins In Pakistan But Few Expect It To Turn The Tide In The War QUOTE SHTIAQ MAHSUD and MUNIR AHMAD | 10/17/09 11:25 AM | AP DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan — More than 30,000 Pakistani soldiers launched a ground offensive against al-Qaida and the Taliban's main stronghold along the Afghan border Saturday, officials said, in the country's toughest test yet against a strengthening insurgency. The United States has long pushed the government to carry out an assault in South Waziristan, and it comes after two weeks of militant attacks that have killed more than 175 people across the nuclear-armed country. That has ramped up pressure on the army to act. Pakistan has fought three unsuccessful campaigns since 2001 in the region, which is the nerve-center for Pakistani insurgents fighting the U.S.-backed government. It is also a major base for foreign militants to plan attacks on American and NATO forces in Afghanistan and on targets in the West. After months of aerial bombing, troops moved into the region Saturday from several directions, heading to the insurgent bases of Ladha and Makeen among other targets, intelligence and military officials said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic or because they were not allowed to brief the media. They said the operation was expected to last around two months. Pakistani army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas confirmed Saturday evening that a full-fledged ground operation was under way and said that it aimed to "uproot" the Pakistani Taliban. He said it was too early to discuss what sort of resistance the army was meeting. The United Nations has said it is preparing to help civilians who are fleeing the region. Up to 150,000 civilians have already left in recent months after the army made clear it was planning an assault, but there are perhaps as many as 350,000 remaining. At least 11 suspected insurgents were killed in the jet bombings, while a bomb hit a security convoy, killing one soldier and wounding three others, two local intelligence officials said. A military statement Saturday evening said four soldiers were killed and 12 wounded in exchanges of fire elsewhere in the region. It is nearly impossible to independently verify information from the region, which is largely controlled by local tribes and has little infrastructure or government presence. Foreigners require permission to enter tribal areas, and few Pakistani journalists risk traveling there. Makeen resident Ajmal Khan said people there were terrified but could not leave their homes due to a curfew. "We heard sounds of planes and helicopters early Saturday. Then we heard blasts," Khan said by telephone. "We are also hearing gunshots, and it seems the army is exchanging fire with Taliban." The army has deployed more than 30,000 troops to the region, said one of the intelligence officials. The military already has said it has sealed off many supply and escape routes and has been trying to secure the support of local tribesmen in the fight. Earlier this week, the airport in the nearest major town, Dera Ismail Khan, was closed to civilian aircraft. Recent opinion polls show broad support for military action against the militants, a change from a few years ago. There is also political backing for action. But a long and bloody conflict – and more terrorist attacks around the country – could erode that support. Speaking earlier in the week, army spokesman Abbas said the assault would be limited to slain Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud's holdings – a swath of territory that stretches roughly 1,275 square miles (3,310 square kilometers). That portion covers about half of South Waziristan, which itself is slightly larger than the U.S. state of Delaware. The plan is to capture and hold the area where Abbas estimates 10,000 insurgents are headquartered and reinforced with about 1,500 foreign fighters, most of them of Central Asian origin. "There are Arabs, but the Arabs are basically in the leadership, providing resources and expertise and in the role of trainers," he said. Since 2001, the army's three attempts to dislodge Taliban fighters from South Waziristan have ended in truces that left the Taliban in control. This time the military has said there will be no deals, partly to avoid jeopardizing gains won earlier this year when Pakistani soldiers overpowered the Taliban in the Swat Valley, another northwestern region. Taliban spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment Saturday. Communications in and around the region appeared jammed, making it difficult to reach local residents or other witnesses. Despite sometimes rocky relations with the Pakistani military, the U.S. is trying to rush in equipment for the offensive that would help with mobility, night fighting and precision bombing, a U.S. Embassy official told The Associated Press in a recent interview, speaking on condition of anonymity because the issue is politically sensitive. In addition to night-vision devices, the Pakistan military has said it is seeking additional Cobra helicopter gunships, heliborne lift capability, laser-guided munitions and intelligence equipment to monitor cell and satellite telephones. Even if the operation is successful in South Waziristan, many of the militants could escape to Afghanistan or other parts of Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal belt. Few analysts expect that by itself it will turn the tide in the country's war against militants. ~~~snip~~~