I trust that the Special ops Know what they are doing here , 93 was not a good year , The Battle for Mogadishu , remains as a stain on U.S. Military history .
Maybe someone has got the Balls to handle it like it should be handled these days , Unlike Bill Clinton did back in the day .
This could get Ugly , Lets just hope that we Get Ugly Right Back !
Al Jazeera
US special operations forces could help the Somali government with an offensive to dislodge al-Shabab fighters from the capital, Mogadishu, a US newspaper report says.
Citing an unnamed US official on Saturday, the New York Times website said the offensive could begin in a few weeks.
Washington believes al-Shabab has links to al-Qaeda, which has expanded its influence in Yemen across the Red Sea.
"What you are likely to see is air strikes and Special Ops moving in, hitting and getting out," the official is quoted as saying.
American advisers have helped supervise the training of the Somali forces to be deployed in the offensive, the paper said.
Washington has provided covert training to Somali intelligence officers, logistical support to peacekeepers, fuel for the manoevures, intelligence on fighters' positions and money for bullets and guns, the report said.
US officials said it was part of a continuing programme to "build the capacity" of the Somali military, and that there has been no increase in military aid for the coming operations.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
US 'may back Somali offensive'
Up to 300 feared dead in central Nigeria clashes
Hausa-Fulani herders from surrounding hills attacked at about 3 a.m. (10 p.m. EST), shooting into the air before cutting those who came out of their homes with machetes.
Some extreme antics from the religion of Peace !
Women and Children chopped up with Machetes , not a nice way to go , Ultimately what this shows is that Muslims are truly Savages no matter where you go ! this could have happened in any country where there is a large Muslim poppulation .
It does not take much to insight a group of Muslim radicals into a Killing frenzy , just the thought of a Christian in the vicinity of Muslim territory Pushes these animals over the Edge !
(Reuters) - Nigeria's acting president Sunday ordered the security forces to hunt down those behind clashes involving Muslim herders and Christian villagers in which more than 300 people may have been killed.
The latest unrest in Nigeria's central Plateau state comes at a difficult time, with acting leader Goodluck Jonathan trying to assert his authority while ailing President Umaru Yar'Adua remains too sick to govern the oil-producing nation.
Villagers in Dogo Nahawa, just south of the state capital Jos, said Hausa-Fulani herders from surrounding hills attacked at about 3 a.m. (10 p.m. EST), shooting into the air before cutting those who came out of their homes with machetes.
A Red Cross official said at least two other nearby communities were also targeted, in an area close to where sectarian clashes killed hundreds of people in January, but that it was too early to give an overall death toll.
A Reuters witness counted more than 120 bodies -- most lying in Dogo Nahawa, others taken to mortuaries in Jos -- but Plateau State Commissioner for Information Gregory Yenlong said more than 300 people, including women and children, had died.
Jonathan put the security forces on red alert to try to prevent reprisal attacks spreading into neighboring states.
"Reports reaching us indicated marauding bands launched a flurry of attacks on certain communities in the state, causing considerable death and injury," Jonathan's office said.
"The Acting President ... has directed that the security services undertake strategic initiatives to confront and defeat these roving bands of killers," it said in a statement.
Some of the bodies seen by the Reuters witness -- including those of women and children -- were charred, others had machete wounds across their faces. Aid workers said some had been shot.
"The shooting was just meant to bring people from their houses and then when people came out they started cutting them with machetes," said Dogo Nahawa resident Peter Jang, women crying behind him.
Pakistan arrests American-born al-Qaida
Ha Ha ,
Gadahn grew up on a goat farm in Riverside County, California, and converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County.
And he was arrested as a goat molesting wannabe pimp for Al Qaida !
What awesome news , Adam Gadahn hopefully WILL be the first American in 50 Years to be tried for Treason , the death penalty should be the only sentence he gets nothing else is good enough , And is all he deserves for Being a " Mouth Piece " ( In more ways than one ) for Al Qaida .
Boston.com
KARACHI, Pakistan—The American-born spokesman for al-Qaida has been arrested by Pakistani intelligence officers in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said Sunday, the same day Adam Gadahn appeared in a video calling for Muslim violence.
The arrest of Gadahn is a major victory in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi.
Gadahn -- who has often appeared in al-Qaida videos -- was arrested in the sprawling southern metropolis in recent days, two officers who took part in the operation said. A senior government official also confirmed the arrest.
They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.
Gadahn grew up on a goat farm in Riverside County, California, and converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County.
He moved to Pakistan in 1998, according to the FBI, and is said to have attended an al-Qaida training camp six years later, serving as a translator and consultant for the group. He has been wanted by the FBI since 2004, and there is a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.
The 31-year-old is known by various aliases including Yahya Majadin Adams and Azzam al-Amriki.
He has posted videos and messages calling for the destruction of the West and for strikes against targets in the United States. The most recent was posted Sunday, praising the U.S. Army major charged with killing 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, as a role model for other Muslims.
A U.S. court charged Gadahn with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years. He could face the death penalty if convicted. He was also charged with two counts of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.
Gadahn has appeared in more than half a dozen al-Qaida videos. The video released Sunday appeared to have been made after the end of the year, but it was unclear exactly when.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
'Jihadis' Have Hamas Running Scared in Gaza Strip
And now for the funniest story of the Day !
you read the headline correctly , Hamas is running Scared from some Jihadis !
WTF does hamas think ? they are not Jihadis ? these Dumbass's are being hunted down and killed by their own people ! Normal (?) everyday Palestinians who are fed up with these nimrods Destroying everything around them !
And they act like they are Innocent !
Foxnews
Hamas -- the Palestinian militant group whose history of violence toward Israel landed it on the United States' terror list -- seems to be dealing with its own terrorism problem.
The commander of Hamas' armed wing recently penned an urgent letter to Hamas leadership in Damascus lamenting what he called Hamas' "deteriorating" authority in the Gaza Strip.
In the dispatch, Ahmed Ja’abri claims that Hamas is losing control over the territory, according to reports by London-based Arab-language newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat quoted by the Jerusalem Post.
"Several worrisome explosions recently occurred in Gaza, security anarchy is extensive, and al-Kassam men are being killed," Ja'abri said in the letter, according to reports.
The letter comes after a series of assassinations and explosions near the offices of senior Hamas military commanders and of Hamas prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, according to the Jerusalem Post. No individual or group has taken credit for the attacks.
Hamas leadership in Gaza alleges that radical "jihadi" Islamist movements are to blame for the bombings, A-Sharq Al-Awsat reports.
Ja’abri also told Hamas leadership in his dispatch that he believes Hamas had made several serious errors in ruling the Gaza Strip.
Hamas seized control of the region in the summer 2007 following a bloody confrontation with rival Palestinian movement, the secular Fatah party.
U.S. Hunts for Citizens Training With Terror Groups
What do you do about Americans who have left the country for pakistan or Yemen , and trained with those goat loving rejects known as Al Qaida ?
Especially when you don't know who they are or where they are at or even how many !
PSSST ... ( Kill The Little Jihadi Bastards when you find them )
Foxnews
LOS ANGELES - The top U.S. diplomat in Pakistan said Friday that the Obama administration does not know how many Americans might have disappeared overseas to train with Al Qaeda or other terrorist groups, but the number is not thought to be large.
Speaking to the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, Ambassador to Pakistan Anne Patterson outlined a "nightmare scenario" in which people holding U.S. passports receive terrorist training then return legally to the U.S. to commit violent acts.
"They can easily infiltrate back into the United States and, frankly, we don't know what to do about them," Patterson said. "We think there are more out there than we know about."
"We just have to keep working at it," she said.
Patterson said the U.S. is gathering information with Pakistan and other governments to identify and locate such people.
"It's not very many. But it's hard to get a precise number," Patterson said.
Earlier this month, prosecutors in Pakistan seeking to indict five Americans on terrorist charges submitted their case to a judge, accusing the men from the Washington, D.C., area of waging war against Pakistan and plotting to attack the country.
The men were arrested in December in Punjab province not long after reaching Pakistan. They were reported missing by their families in November after one left behind a farewell video showing scenes of war and casualties and saying Muslims must be defended.
A U.S. Senate report earlier this year said authorities believe as many as three dozen Americans who converted to Islam in prison have traveled to Yemen, possibly to train with Al Qaeda. Some vanished for weeks at a time but still hold their U.S. passports.
Russia says Islamist rebel leader killed
Oh Yeah , Another POS Islamic radical goes on to meet His 72 Male virgin Goats !
That is kind of an Oxymoron isn't it ?
when you are talking about Islamic Radicals , and you use the term ,
" Male Virgin Goats "
(Reuters) - Russia's Federal Security Service chief on Saturday confirmed the death of a prominent Islamist rebel who he accused of plotting a bomb attack on a Moscow-to-St Petersburg train that killed 26 people last year.
Alexander Tikhomirov, also known as Said Buryatsky, was among eight rebels killed in a two-day raid in the volatile Caucasus region of Ingushetia in early March, FSB head Alexander Bortnikov told Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
"Material evidence was found on the scene of the special operation directly connected to the train blast organised by this group of bandits in November last year," Bortnikov said in comments broadcast on the Russian TV channel Rossiya 24.
Islamic militants from Russia's North Caucasus claimed responsibility for the attack on the Nevsky Express and vowed further "acts of sabotage." No major attacks have followed.
But Buryatsky himself had never claimed responsibility for the bombing, and Bortnikov's comments were the first time he had been directly linked to the attack.
Buryatsky's death is a major victory for the Kremlin in its battle against an Islamist insurgency in the North Caucasus, which analysts have said appears to be mutating from a grassroots separatist movement toward global jihad.
Violence in the North Caucasus region in the form of shootings and suicide bombs, particularly in the Muslim-majority republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia and Dagestan, has escalated over the last year.
Russia's most wanted guerrilla, Chechen-born Doku Umarov, has vowed on Islamist websites to spread his attacks from the region to other parts of Russia.
Friday, March 5, 2010
6 die in Valley of Juárez assault: Attackers with AK-47s kill men at ranch
So seeing as spring break is coming up , I have found a wonderful place for everyone to visit !
Check out the description of a few Days activities in the Beautiful City of Jaurez Mexico !
El Paso Times
Six men were shot and killed Wednesday night at a ranch near the village of Praxedis G. Guerrero in the Valley of Juárez.
The gunmen, armed with AK-47s, arrived in a truck or a van and opened fire on the victims at Rancho Nuevo, a spokesman for the Chihuahua state attorney general's office said Thursday.
Killed were Saul Martinez Rodriguez, 40; his brother Ernesto MartĂnez RodrĂguez, 37; Gerardo Hernández Rosales, 37; Julio Ruiz, 60; Victor Manuel Rosales, 37; and an unidentified man in his late 20s.
Investigators counted 30 bullet casings and seized a black Ford Ranger with Texas plates. It is unclear whether any of the victims are from Texas.
Six other homicides were reported Wednesday in the Juárez area.
Murders continued Thursday afternoon when two men were killed within 90 minutes near the village of Porvenir across the border from Fort Hancock.
At 2:21 p.m., Benito Favela Montoya, 32, was found shot to death on the side of a road.
About 3:50 p.m., Fidel Montoya Favela, 69, was fatally shot with an assault rifle in a home, police said.
The valley, east of Juárez, is a battleground in the war between the Sinaloa and Juárez cartels for control of the lucrative drug-smuggling corridor.
The control of that corridor has been a topic raised in a drug-smuggling trial under way in U.S. District Court in El Paso.
In other news, a man was unhurt in a Juárez street shooting in which his wife was killed and their 9-month-old daughter was wounded.
Former police captain: Juárez, Chihuahua state authorities took cartels' cash
And why again is Mexico such an unsafe place ?
El Paso Times
EL PASO -- A former Juárez police captain testified in U.S. District Court on Thursday that all police in Juárez and Chihuahua state were on the payrolls of drug cartels.
JesĂşs Fierro-MĂ©ndez, alias "Puma," testified that drug cartels paid the police agencies a monthly fee to protect the drug traffickers.
Fierro-Méndez took in the stand in the drug-smuggling trial of Fernando Ontiveros-Arámbula and Manuel Chávez-Betancourt.
"Any (cop) who did not want to be on their payroll still had to obey orders," Fierro-MĂ©ndez said. "If they did not obey, they would be killed."
The DEA arrested Fierro-MĂ©ndez in October 2008 on a conspiracy charge out of Indiana related to cocaine. He allegedly had a loaded AK-47 rifle and cocaine at his house when agents arrested him in El Paso.
Before his arrest, Fierro-Méndez testified, he was an informant for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and kept the agency updated on drug cartel activities in Juárez.
Fierro-Méndez said Mexican kingpin Joaquin "Chapo" Guzmán authorized him and others in his organization to provide U.S. officials with information about the rival Vicente Carrillo Fuentes cartel.
That rivalry has led to more than 4,700 slayings in two years in Juárez alone.
Fierro-Méndez worked for the Juárez city police for 10 years and was a captain before leaving.
While he and others kept ICE informed of what Guzmán's competitors were doing in Juárez, they continued to smuggle drugs into the United States, he testified.
Texas police warn spring breakers: Stay out of Mexico border towns
Sounds like a no-brainer , but it still needs to be said .
Mexico is a much worse place to go than some countries that are having major conflicts with Radical Islamists !
(CNN) -- The Texas Department of Public Safety took the unprecedented step Thursday of telling college students not to visit Mexican border cities during spring break because they are just too dangerous.
Several universities issued similar warnings last year, but this was the first time the Texas law enforcement agency had issued the specific advisory against travel, said spokeswoman Tela Mange. In the past, she said, Texas authorities had just urged students to be careful.
"Because of the increased violence, we decided to step it up a little bit and say, 'Parents, bad idea,'" Mange said.
DPS Director Steven C. McCraw said, "Parents should not allow their children to visit these Mexican cities because their safety cannot be guaranteed."
The State Department renewed a travel alert to Mexico last month, citing increased violence in the country -- border areas in particular.
"Recent violent attacks have caused the U.S. Embassy to urge U.S. citizens to delay unnecessary travel to parts of Michoacan, Durango, Coahuila and Chihuahua ... and to advise U.S. citizens residing or traveling in those areas to exercise extreme caution," the alert says.
Canada drops plans for politically correct anthem
Good for the people of the Great white North !
Did someone in Canada have a problem with the Anthem ?
Who was spearheading the "Make the 100 year old Anthem gender neutral" Campaign ?
(Reuters) - Don't mess with a century-old tradition even if it is sexist, Canadians told the Conservative government this week, forcing Ottawa to scrap plans to make the country's national anthem gender-neutral.
The government tucked the idea into a major policy speech on Tuesday and by Friday the public outcry was so strong Prime Minister Stephen Harper backtracked.
"We offered to hear from Canadians on this issue and they have already spoken loud and clear," said Dimitri Soudas, Harper's spokesman.
"They overwhelmingly do not want to open the issue. The government will not proceed any further to change our national anthem," he said.
For nearly 100 years, the anthem has included the line, "True patriot love in all thy sons' command."
Harper wanted to start a public discussion on whether to change the wording in a way that would not exclude the nation's daughters. He took the initiative on the advice of a female senator, according to National Post columnist Don Martin.
The opposition Liberals called it a gimmick proving the Conservatives were not serious about women's rights.
Complaints from irked citizens poured in to radio and television shows, invoking the sanctity of national symbols and tradition. Many said the timing was particularly unfortunate, coming the week the Vancouver Winter Olympics ended.
Canadians took home a record 14 gold medals during the Games, and the country heard the anthem repeatedly during flag-raising ceremonies for the winners.
Key Taliban Political Mastermind Arrested in Pakistan
It is so very nice to hear of Another top Taliban Ass Monkey , being arrested !
Foxnews
Pakistan security forces arrested a suspected Taliban mastermind on Thursday, Fox News has learned.
Mohtasim Agha Jan is thought to be a chief Taliban political strategist in Karachi.
"He is a close aide of spiritual leader Mullah Omar and ranked number seven on the post 9/11 watch list," a U.S. intelligence official told Fox News.
His arrest may be due in part to the CIA's interrogation of suspected terrorist Abdul Ghani Baradar, who was arrested in early February.
After the arrest of Ghani Baradar, Mohtasim Agha Jan's name surfaced in discussions about who might replace the Afghan Taliban's No. 2.
He is a former Taliban finance minister who is reported to have family links to Taliban leader Mullah Omar. As a government official, he had the power to control the flow of money and appoint deputy ministers. He was born in the late 1960s in Kandahar city.
The arrests have been hailed by U.S. officials and many analysts as a major blow to the Taliban in Afghanistan, though they caution that the group has rebounded from the death or detention of previous leaders.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
China says defense spending rise slows to 7.5 percent
Why is there always a doubt in your mind about what China is really saying or doing ?
Here again with another Military Budget announcement we are left wondering if they are telling the truth !
Reuters
China kept the rise in its military budget to 7.5 percent in 2010, a spokesman said on Thursday, a slowdown that left observers skeptical after an increase in tensions with the United States.
Some foreign analysts were surprised by the figure after more than two decades of nearly unbroken double-digit rises in China's defense budget, and said the announced numbers were unlikely to show the growing power's real military spending.
"All the evidence suggests that they are on a very powerful trajectory of expansion in substantive terms, and they seem to use this figure for political purposes almost, to send signals," said Ron Huisken, a China defense expert at the Australian National University in Canberra.
The announcement came after quarrels with the United States over human rights, Internet censorship, Tibet and Washington's arms sales to Taiwan, the self-ruled island Beijing claims as its own.
Chinese parliamentary spokesman Li Zhaoxing said the increase would bring the country's defense budget for the year to 532.1 billion yuan ($77.95 billion), or 37.1 billion yuan more than what was actually spent on defense in 2009.
The budget for the People's Liberation Army (PLA) showed Beijing was not seeking confrontation, Li told a news conference a day ahead of the opening of China's annual parliament, or National People's Congress.
China has 2.3 million personnel in its armed forces, more than any other nation. The government has sought to slim numbers and lift troop quality by offering better benefits.
"I think the (Chinese) armed forces will be dissatisfied," Ikuo Kayahara, a retired Japanese major-general who teaches security studies at Takushoku University, said.
"The world has been criticizing China for increasing its defense budget by more than 10 percent every year," he said. "China may be reacting to this by trying to show that it is not focused only on expanding its armed forces."
Greek police fire teargas at protesters in Athens
President Obama should pay a little attention to what is going on in Greece .
If these protests are happening in a small country , because the Government feels like it's citizens are helpless to help themselves , and it is up to them to wipe their ass's with social benefit programs that can not sustain themselves ,
What the Hell is going to happen here ?
ATHENS (Reuters) - Greek police fired teargas on Thursday to disperse about 50 demonstrators in central Athens after clashes broke out during protests against government austerity measures, a police official said.
Left-wing groups and communist trade unions rallied in the Greek capital a day after the government announced 4.8 billion euros ($6.5 billion) in wage cuts, a pension freeze and tax increases to reduce its huge fiscal deficit.
"There were clashes between police and protesters," the official said. "Police fired teargas. There were a few arrests."
Opposition to THE austerity measures has so far been relatively muted for a country with a tradition of street protests but one pollster said it should move quickly to counter a general sense of shock.
The private sector GSEE union and its sister public sector union ADEDY, which represent half of Greece's 5-million workforce, called workers to stop work from midday on Friday and attend a rally outside parliament.
Afghan Officials Say Former Gitmo Detainee Now a Taliban Commander
Now is this just special or what ?
When will the Idiot's in charge of this country realize that a Muslim will lie as much as he has to in order to get what he want's , especially Prison !
Oh well looks like we just have to deal with it , Obama knows best .
Foxnews
LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan — A man freed from Guantanamo more than two years ago after he claimed he only wanted to go home and help his family is now a senior commander running Taliban resistance to the U.S.-led offensive in southern Afghanistan, two senior Afghan intelligence officials say.
Abdul Qayyum is also seen as a leading candidate to be the next No. 2 in the Afghan Taliban hierarchy, said the officials, interviewed last week by The Associated Press.
The story of Abdul Qayyum could add to the complications President Barack Obama is facing in fulfilling his pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo by sending some prisoners back to their home countries or to other willing nations, while putting others on trial.
U.S. intelligence asserts that 20 percent of suspects released from the Guantanamo Bay prison have returned to the fight and the number has been steadily increasing.
Qayyum's key aide in plotting attacks on Afghan and international forces is another former Guantanamo prisoner, said the Afghan intelligence officials as well as a former Helmand governor, Sher Mohammed Akundzada. Abdul Rauf, who told his U.S. interrogators he had only loose connections to the Taliban, spent time in an Afghan jail before being freed last year.
He rejoined the Taliban, they said. Akundzada said he warned authorities against releasing both him and Qayyum.
Like Qayyum, Rauf is from Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. During the Taliban's rule, which ended in late 2001, Rauf was a corps commander in the western province of Herat and in the Afghan capital, Kabul, said Akhundzada.
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Troops kill suicide jacket supplier near Peshawar
Excellent news , to bad they could not have just blown him to bits though !
Dawn.com
PESHAWAR: The military said Wednesday that a supplier of suicide jackets and explosives who operated a key inter-city network had been killed during a gun battle with soldiers.
“Two important terrorist commanders named Mohammad Tufail alias Abdullah and Mohammad Iqbal were killed by security forces in an exchange of fire,” the military announced overnight in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
The gun battle happened late Monday on the outskirts of Peshawar, a military spokesman told AFP.
The military said Iqbal belonged to Pakistan's Tehrik-i-Taliban faction in the lawless district of Khyber, which straddles the main supply line for Nato troops fighting against the Taliban in neighbouring Afghanistan.
“He was a key supplier of suicide bomb jackets and explosives to Islamabad and other cities of Pakistan,” the army said.
He was accused of supplying explosives for “21 suicide vehicles” to northwest district Swat, where Pakistan launched an offensive last year to quell a Taliban insurgency, Balochistan province and other cities.
The military said Tufail, alias Abdullah, had been a Taliban commander in the northwestern district of Nowshera, where he had been involved in missile and rocket assaults and a car suicide attack on an army mosque last June.
U.N. council ready to tackle Iran nuclear issue
Blah , Blah , Blah !
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The president of the U.N. Security Council said on Tuesday it was ready to tackle proposals for new sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program, while U.S. diplomats worked to persuade China that action is needed.
Gabon's U.N. Ambassador Emanuel Issoze-Ngondet, president of the Security Council for March, said the Iranian nuclear issue was not on the agenda of the 15-nation panel this month, but council members might still hold a meeting on it.
"We think the question could come to the table" in March, Issoze-Ngondet told reporters through an interpreter. "But right now we are waiting. We're following the process that's ongoing. We're waiting for the right time to bring the Security Council to deal with it."
Speaking on condition of anonymity, Western diplomats told Reuters the United States, Britain, France and Germany have prepared a draft proposal -- which they hope China and Russia will support -- for a fourth round of sanctions against Iran for defying U.N. demands that it stop enriching uranium.
If the four Western powers win the support of Russia and China on a draft proposal, negotiations on the first new U.N. sanctions resolution in two years could begin immediately.
Suicide bombers kill 33 in Iraqi city before poll
How nice , the religion of peace shows the world once again how peaceful it really is , and how do these peaceful Muslims prove it , well by sploding themselves up in the middle of a crowd Thats how !
It just does not get any more pieceful than that !
Allah frickin ackbar !
BAQUBA, Iraq (Reuters) - Suicide bombers struck Iraq on Wednesday just days before a national election, killing 33 people and wounding 55 as the war-scarred nation seeks to cement its frail democracy before a U.S. troop pullout.
The parliamentary poll on Sunday is viewed as pivotal for Iraq as U.S. forces prepare to end combat operations in August ahead of a full withdrawal by end-2011, and Iraq starts to lure foreign investors in an effort to rebuild.
The bombings could damage the campaign of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has partly based his hopes of re-election on improved security throughout Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi officials say attacks by suspected Sunni Islamist insurgents are aimed at undermining his Shi'ite-led government.
Sporadic political violence and assassinations have marred the immediate run-up to the election, especially in Baghdad and the western province of Anbar.
But until Wednesday the campaign had not seen major assaults by suicide bombers like those that devastated public buildings and hotels in Baghdad in January, December, October and August.
Police said the first two attackers drove explosives-packed cars at police stations in the center and west of the turbulent city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) northeast of Baghdad.
The third assailant rode in an ambulance from one of the first blast sites to the city's main hospital, where he detonated his bomb as casualties from the earlier explosions were ferried there.
"He was disguised as a wounded person. He was wearing a camouflage uniform. He blew himself up when he got out of the ambulance at the entrance of the hospital," police spokesman Major Ghalib al-Jubouri said.
The bomber had tried to target the provincial police chief, who had been visiting the hospital, but security guards stopped him. Many people were killed or wounded. More chaos erupted as the police chief's bodyguards shot randomly in the air.
"The suicide attacker was wearing a police uniform, with the rank of lieutenant," Ali Mohammed, a wounded policeman receiving treatment at the hospital, told Reuters.
At least 12 of the dead were police officers.
Time off ?
No I'm not leaving again (Yet)
While Kyros is MIA I have been doing my best to keep up .
Even while suffering from a Serious case of flu/bronchitis/pneumonia/ or something I should have been hospitalized for AGAIN !
And my better half came to town , nursed me back to health , all while seeing some of the most awesome sites of the country ! 
Pictures Just don't do things justice sometimes !
44 miles of winding road to get to the Middle of the Gila national Forrest , no noise , only a couple of people ( Rangers ) and NO CELL PHONES ! absolutely beautiful .
All to see this , The Gila national Cliff Dwellings in New Mexico ! 
These dwellings were constructed by Mogollon Indians ( Not Mongolian ) Some 700 years ago !
Taliban’s Bajaur base falls, army eyes Tirah, Orakzai
Hell yeah ! don't you just love hearing about the Taliban being pushed around where ever they go !
Dawn.com
DAMADOLA: Security forces have taken control of Bajaur’s Damadola, known as the nerve-centre of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, and are now bracing themselves for an offensive in Orakzai Agency and Tirah valley of Khyber Agency.
“We are facing problems in Orakzai and Tirah and will launch operations there in the near future,” Frontier Corps Inspector General Maj-Gen Tariq Khan told a media team from Islamabad here on Tuesday. The ISPR’s director general, Maj-Gen Athar Abbas, was also present.
The capture of Damadola, near the Afghan border, has boosted the morale of troops and the military leadership is now contemplating an all-out offensive in other agencies where militants are strengthening their positions.
With the success in Damadola, once a no-go area and thought to be insurmountable, the entire Bajaur agency stands cleared of militants.
The most significant feature of the episode was the capture of a key Taliban complex in Damadola, the stronghold of TTP leader Maulvi Faqir Mohammad. The complex had a number of caves used by militants as hideouts and ammunition dumps.
A large quantity of explosives, weapons and currency notes were found in the caves. The complex faces ice-capped mountains straddling Pakistan’s border with eastern Afghanistan.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
N. Korean Soldier Defects to South Over Militarized Border
Everytime this happens it is like a Giant slap in the face of North Korea.
Foxnews
A North Korean soldier defected to the South across the heavily militarized border separating the two on Tuesday, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported, citing a government source.
The soldier crossed into the eastern province of Gangwon on Tuesday evening and expressed a wish to defect, the unidentified source said.
The circumstances of the reported defection were being investigated.
North Korean soldiers have periodically defected to the South in recent years. Numerous civilians have also defected, usually via a more circuitous route through China.
Al's Latest Global-Warming Whopper / or how Al Gore is a big fat Liar !
O.k. so Al gore is a liar , we know this now !
what is to be done now that Global warming has been exposed as the Biggest hoax perpetrated by a politician ?
What about all the tax Dollars that have been wasted ?
A Refund ?
protecting the environment is very important , but should we be subject to ridicule , extreme legislation and badgering in the name of a lie ?
no we should not .
How about some real science , let us try that for a change instead of hearing Bullshit out of a Jackass like Al Gore !
....
Al Gore's defense of global-warming hysteria in Sunday's New York Times has many flaws, but I'll focus on just one whopper -- where the "Inconvenient Truth" man states the opposite of scientific fact.
Gore wrote, "The heavy snowfalls this month have been used as fodder for ridicule by those who argue that global warming is a myth, yet scientists have long pointed out that warmer global temperatures have been increasing the rate of evaporation from the oceans, putting significantly more moisture into the atmosphere -- thus causing heavier downfalls of both rain and snow in particular regions, including the Northeastern United States."
It's an interesting theory, but where are the facts?
According to "State of the Climate" from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, "Global precipitation in 2009 was near the 1961-1990 average." And there was certainly no pattern of increasing rain and snow on America's East Coast during the post-1976 years, when NOAA says the globe began to heat up.
So what was it, exactly, that Gore's nameless scientists "have long pointed out"? A 2008 report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, "Climate Change and Water," says climate models "project precipitation increases in high latitudes and part of the tropics." In other areas, the IPCC reports only "substantial uncertainty in precipitation forecasts."
In other words, the IPCC said that its models predicted some increases in rain or snow -- not observed them. And only in high latitudes or the tropics, which hardly describes New York or Washington, DC.
In fact, recent research actually contradicts Gore's claims about "significantly more water moisture in the atmosphere."
In late January, Scientific American reported: "A mysterious drop in water vapor in the lower stratosphere might be slowing climate change," and noted that "an apparent increase in water vapor in this region in the 1980s and 1990s exacerbated global warming."
The new study came from a group of scientists, mainly from the NOAA lab in Boulder. The scientists found: "Stratospheric water-vapor concentrations decreased by about 10 percent after the year 2000 . . . This acted to slow the rate of increase in global surface temperature over 2000 to 2009 by about 25 percent."
Specifically, the study found that water vapor rising from the tropics has been reduced, because it has gotten cooler there (another inconvenient truth). A Wall Street Journal headline summed it up: "Slowdown in Warming Linked to Water Vapor."
Moisture in the lower stratosphere (about 8 miles above the earth's surface) has been going down, not up.
Aside from clouds, water vapor accounts for as much as two-thirds of the earth's greenhouse-gas effect. Water vapor traps heat from escaping the atmosphere -- but clouds have the opposite effect (called "albedo") by reflecting the sun's energy back into space. And snow on the ground from the IPCC's predicted precipitation in high latitudes would have the same cooling effect as clouds.
What the new research suggests is that changes in water vapor may well trump the effect of carbon dioxide (only a fraction of which is man-made) and methane (which has mysteriously slowed since about 1990).
This raises an intriguing question: Since the Environmental Protection Agency declared that it has the authority to regulation carbon emissions because of their presumed effect on the global climate, why hasn't the EPA also attempted to regulate mist and fog?
Supreme Court Remains Divided Over Gun Control
“A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
Pardon the language ,But This is pretty fucking self explanatory !
well regulated may be considered an issue for some , but really it means nothing More than being kept in check , much like the police , military ,the Government and so on .
So none may rule over the other !
something our Government and some Douchbag lawyers seem to have forgotten !
Just because a person does not like guns , it does not allow them to infringe on my rights , and try to tell me I may not own them !
Who is anyone to say that I may keep and bear arms to protect my country but not myself ?
I could go on , But i need to clean my guns !
the New York Times
WASHINGTON — An unusually intense Supreme Court argument Tuesday showed that the justices remain bitterly divided about the meaning and scope of the Second Amendment. And it suggested that the five-justice majority in the 2008 decision that first identified an individual right to keep and bear arms was prepared to take another major step in subjecting gun control laws to constitutional scrutiny.
The case the justices considered Tuesday was a sequel to the blockbuster 2008 decision, District of Columbia v. Heller.
The Heller case placed limits on what the federal government could do to
regulate guns, and the issue before the court now was whether the Second Amendment applies to state and local laws as well. It seemed plain that at least the five justices in the Heller majority would say yes without reservation.
But the two justices who wrote dissents in Heller, Justices John Paul Stevens and Stephen G. Breyer, peppered the lawyers with questions about how the court might apply the Second Amendment to the states in only a limited way.
Justice Breyer asked Alan Gura, a lawyer for residents of Chicago challenging its strict gun control law, whether the city should remain free to ban guns if it could show that hundreds of lives would be saved. Mr. Gura said no.
Justice Antonin Scalia, who wrote the majority decision in Heller, objected to the inquiry. A constitutional right, he said, cannot be overcome because it may have negative consequences.
But Justice Scalia was less receptive to an idea that has excited constitutional scholars in recent months.
“What you argue,” he told Mr. Gura, “is the darling of the professoriate, for sure, but it’s also contrary to 140 years of our jurisprudence.”
Justice Scalia was referring to Mr. Gura’s assertion that the court has been going about making parts of the Bill of Rights applicable to the states in the wrong way.
The Second Amendment, like the rest of the Bill of Rights, was originally a restriction on only the power of the federal government. The Supreme Court later ruled that most but not all of the protections of the Bill of Rights apply to the states under the due process clause of the 14th Amendment, one of the post-Civil War amendments.
Many judges and scholars, including Justice Scalia, have never found that methodology intellectually satisfactory. “Due process,” after all, would seem to protect only fair procedures and not substance. The very name given to the methodology — substantive due process — sounds like an oxymoron.
Mr. Gura, supported by scholars all along the political spectrum, argued that the court should instead rely on the 14th Amendment’s “privileges or immunities” clause, which says that “no state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” There is evidence that the authors of the clause specifically wanted it to apply to allow freed slaves to have guns to defend themselves.
So does mr Guru , Not like the fact that Freed Slaves were allowed to own guns to protect themselves ?
New Momentum for Iran Sanctions
Now that Mohamed ElBaradei is no longer the Muslim in charge of inspecting muslim interests in nuclear weapons , maybe we will see a little change at the U.N security council .
Being that the IAEA never allowed the proper evidence or reports to be used as evidence against Iran , maybe China will come online with everyone else .
But that is a big maybe .
The Wall Street Journal
VIENNA—The new head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Iran isn't cooperating with U.N. inspectors, and Russia appeared to move closer to supporting sanctions, adding momentum to efforts at the U.N. Security Council to pressure Tehran to rein in its nuclear program.
IAEA chief Yukiya Amano, speaking to reporters at his first scheduled news conference since he took the post in December, defended his agency's impartiality in a Feb. 18 report that said Iran may be working on a missile capable of carrying a nuclear payload.
Yukiya Amano defended his agency's impartiality in a Feb 18. report saying Iran may be working on a missile capable of delivering a nuclear payload.
More on Iran
The IAEA board of governors, which is meeting this week, is expected to recommend that the report be forwarded to the Security Council for consideration during discussions on possible sanctions.
The report and Mr. Amano's speech Monday represent a shift from the less-confrontational stance of Mr. Amano's predecessor, Mohamed ElBaradei, who led the agency for 12 years.
Mr. Amano said Iran is cooperating with the mandate of the IAEA to make sure no known sources of uranium are being diverted for military use. But he said there is much that Iran keeps off limits to inspectors charged with verifying whether its nuclear program is peaceful or military in nature.
The Feb. 18 report listed questions of "concern" that prevent the IAEA from declaring Iran's nuclear program to be peaceful, as Tehran claims. On Monday, Mr. Amano said the report was based on an impartial analysis of credible information from multiple sources.
Iranian Ambassador to the IAEA Ali Asghar Soltanieh said the findings in the report were "unjustified."
U.S. Ambassador Glyn Davies said the report presents a "factual" list of the IAEA's concerns and will "help focus Security Council Members on how far Iran has to go" to meet its international requirements.
Mr. Davies said the international community, led by the U.S., China, Russia, France, the U.K. and Germany would now need to "find new ways to change Iran's direction."
China, however, has opposed sanctions, and Russia has dragged its feet. In Paris Monday, Russian President Dmitri Medvedev said Moscow was ready to consider new sanctions, but insisted that any measures not harm the Iranian population.
Spanish court says Venezuela helped ETA, FARC
Of course the Communist fatman from Venezuela , denies this .
It is the Communist way .
MADRID (Reuters) - Spain demanded Venezuela explain itself after a judge accused the South American government on Monday of helping Basque ETA rebels and Colombian FARC guerrillas plot possible attacks on Spanish soil.
A ruling by Spain's High Court said the Venezuelan government facilitated contacts between the armed groups which led to FARC asking ETA for logistical help in case it tried to assassinate Colombian officials visiting Spain, including President Alvaro Uribe.
High Court Judge Eloy Velasco issued arrest warrants for 13 FARC and ETA suspects, including one Spanish-born employee of the Venezuelan government.
Spain's Socialist government, which at one stage had relatively good relations with Venezuela's left-wing firebrand President Hugo Chavez, demanded an explanation from Caracas.
"The Spanish government will act in accordance with that explanation," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero told a news conference in Hanover, Germany, after meeting German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Afghanistan bans coverage of Taliban attacks
"The government should not hide their inabilities by barring media from covering incidents,"
Censorship will not work in favor of the Afghan Government !
Not when the Taliban are as media savvy as they are .
KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan on Monday announced a ban on news coverage showing Taliban attacks, saying such images embolden the Islamist militants, who have launched strikes around the country as NATO forces seize their southern strongholds.
The announcement came on a day when the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) fighting the Taliban reported six of its service members had been killed in various attacks.
Journalists will be allowed to film only the aftermath of attacks, when given permission by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) spy agency, the agency said. Journalists who film while attacks are under way will be held and their gear seized.
"Live coverage does not benefit the government, but benefits the enemies of Afghanistan," NDS spokesman Saeed Ansari said. The agency summoned a group of reporters to announce the ban.
The move was denounced by Afghan journalism and rights groups, which said it would deprive the public of vital information about the security situation during attacks.
"Such a decision prevents the public from receiving accurate information on any occurrence," said Abdul Hameed Mubarez head of the Afghan National Media Union, a group set up to protect Afghan journalists, who often complain of harassment by authorities.
"The government should not hide their inabilities by barring media from covering incidents," said Laila Noori, who monitors media issues for Afghanistan Rights Monitor, the country's main liberties watchdog. "People want to know all the facts on the ground whenever security incidents take place."
The Afghan government banned reporting violence for a single day during a presidential election last year, but otherwise had not had formal restrictions on filming security incidents. However, journalists have occasionally been beaten by security forces while filming at the scene of incidents in the past.
