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How The West Was Won The rapid and unexpected decline of the Sunni insurgency in Iraq was officially recognized this week, when Maj. Gen. John Kelly, commanding the Marine Expeditionary Force, turned operational control of Anbar Province over to the Iraqi army and police. Anbar, a vast expanse of desert the size of North Carolina, had been the stronghold of the Sunni insurgency. For years, foreign fighters loyal to al-Qaida had sneaked across Iraq's northwestern border with Syria, into Anbar and down a "rat line" of safe houses in Haditha, Ramadi and Hit. From Fallujah, the arch terrorist Zarqawi...

A new al-Qaida video identifies the Saudi purportedly behind a suicide bombing at the Danish Embassy in Pakistan, and he is shown warning in a taped last testament that more attacks will punish Denmark over newspaper caricatures of Islam's founder. In the 55-minute video posted on the Internet late Thursday, the alleged bomber is referred to both by a nom de guerre, Abu Ghareeb al-Makki, and by his real name, Kamal Saleem Atiyyah al-Fudli al-Hathli. He appears in an explosives vest as he recounts his plan for the attack. "As for my final message to the worshippers of the cross...

Israeli settlers will no longer be invited to events at the British Embassy in Tel Aviv. Crispin Blunt, a member of the British Parliament who is closely involved with Arab lobby groups, had complained after finding out that three leaders of the settlers' movement were among the guests at a party to mark the 82nd birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. Blunt, a longtime supporter of the Arab and Palestinian causes, raised the issue in Parliament last month and in a letter to Dr. Kim Howell, the minister at the British Foreign Office. Blunt wrote that the invitation gives the impression...

John McCain said he would move the U.S. embassy to Israel to Jerusalem upon being elected president. "Right away," Sen. McCain (R-Ariz.) the presumptive Republican nominee for president told CNN Friday. "I've been committed to that proposition for years."

Armed men have opened fire from a vehicle outside the U.S. consulate in Istanbul killing four people, according to CNN-Turk. CNN-Turk initially reported that at least three of the attackers were killed and one police officer later died from his injuries in a hospital. Police returned fire on the gunmen who were traveling in a white car ..."

Excerpt - A suicide bomber has rammed a car full of explosives into the gates of the Indian embassy in the Afghan capital, killing 28 people, officials say. A spokesman for the health ministry said 141 people were injured, including civilians and security forces. The attack is one of the deadliest - after a relatively quiet period in Kabul. The Taleban have vowed to step up their attacks on the capital. ~ snip ~

Berlin - The United States opened a monumental new embassy in Berlin on Friday, returning the diplomats to their rightful place, 67 years after Washington declared war on the Nazis. Former US president George HW Bush, the ambassador to Germany William Timken, and his wife Sue Timken together cut a ribbon to symbolically let VIP guests enter the 130-million-dollar chancery. The multi-storey building occupies a commanding site between the Holocaust Memorial and Brandenburg Gate. US diplomats had left the site in 1941. During the decades of communism, the empty land had been part of a desolate no-man's land along the...

WASHINGTON, June 13, 2008 – Tomorrow the United States observes National Flag Day, an annual tribute to the American flag, the ideals it stands for and the sacrifices made to preserve them. President and Nancy Reagan file by the flag-draped caskets of victims of the April 18, 1983, bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon in an April 23, 1983 file photo. Photo courtesy Ronald Reagan Presidential Library  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. President Woodrow Wilson recognized during his first Flag Day address in 1915 that the freedoms the U.S. flag stands for weren’t and never would...

As the American Israel Public Affairs Committee met in Washington, U.S. President George Bush Wednesday suspended plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. The White House released a memo to the secretary of state ordering a six-month suspension in preparations for moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv. The order also coincided with a visit to the Oval Office by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. "I hereby determine that it is necessary, in order to protect the national security interests of the United States, to suspend for a period of six months" plans to move the embassy, the president's...

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

ISLAMABAD (AFP) — A blast occurred Monday outside the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, causing casualties, police and security officials said. "Yes, there has been a blast at the Danish embassy but we are not sure whether it was inside or out," local police official Mohammad Shabir told AFP. Security officials said there were several casualties.

Afghanistan to Ask NATO for Bigger Army Afghan officials will go to the NATO summit in Romania Thursday with a request: pay to increase our national Army by 40 percent. A bigger Army, Afghan officials argue, will allow the US and other coalition members to scale back in the coming years. This appeal comes amid pleas from the US and Canada for other NATO members to commit more to the Afghanistan mission, which many analysts say has floundered over the past year for lack of resources and a coherent strategy. France is expected to contribute another 1,000 forces and...

The following account of history is taken from the website THE HOSTAGE RESCUE ATTEMPT. I was one of the Marines off Iran for this event and created this website for all to remember the events of the day, the history of the events leading up to this fateful day, and most importantly, to remember the lives of the men who died in this valiant attempt to rescue 52 Americans held hostage illegally by the nation of IranFrom a History Channel Account. Note: the link is dead now The Iran hostage crisis began November 4, 1979, when a mob of Iranians...

(KUNA) -- Ambassador Robert Dillon, who served during the explosion of the US embassy in Beirut in 1983, recalled on Friday how this incident shaped US foreign policy in this embattled country 25 years ago, and indicated that Washington possessed information about the culprits. In an interview with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA), Dillon said the misinterpretation of US foreign policy towards the Israeli invasion of Beirut in 1982 and the "Iranian grievances" against the United States are the two main motivations behind this attack. [SNIP] He said that investigations revealed that a Shiite family and an emerging radical group from...

U.S. Embassy in Baghdad Declared Ready, With Nudge by RocketsBy Glenn Kessler Washington Post Staff Writer Friday, April 18, 2008; Page A19 The troubled effort to build the giant U.S. Embassy in Baghdad seemed to be months away from completion when a team of top State Department officials flew to Iraq on March 20 to meet with senior staff from the prime contractor, First Kuwaiti General Trading & Contracting. But as insurgent rockets began to rain down on the flimsy trailers housing diplomats inside the Green Zone, the two sides suddenly found ways to settle many of the major issues...

AN ALLEGED attempt to kill a former Russian spy who defected to Britain was being investigated by police last night. Oleg Gordievsky was admitted to a hospital in Guildford after falling ill in November last year. And yesterday he claimed he had been poisoned with the highly toxic metal thallium in a botched assassination attempt. Gordievsky, a KGB double agent who spied on Russia for British intelligence during the 1980s, claims he was targeted by a Russian assassin who visited him at his safe house in Surrey. The 69-year-old was unconscious for 34 hours after falling ill last year and...

Enjoy your stay... at North Korean embassy By Harry de Quetteville in Berlin Last Updated: 1:52am BST 05/04/2008 North Korea, one of the poorest countries in the world, is reportedly raising much needed funds by transforming parts of its Berlin embassy complex into a backpacker hostel. The deal would see North Korea, famous for the secretive regime of dictator Kim Jong-il, throwing open the doors of former diplomatic buildings to budget travellers from around the world. The large embassy compound is located in former East Berlin close to tourist attractions including Checkpoint Charlie and the Brandenburg Gate. A display case...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush told Bahrain's king after an Oval Office meeting on Tuesday that the Gulf island state showed leadership by deciding to reopen its embassy in Iraq and name a new ambassador there. Bush said Bahrain's announcement on Monday was "a very strong move that indicates a willingness to lead, as well as a willingness to send a signal that when a young democracy like Iraq is beginning to make progress, that it is important for the neighborhood to recognize that progress." Bahrain's charge d'affaires was shot and wounded in an attack on a convoy...

An American financial analyst working for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has died of his wounds from an Easter Day rocket attack against the heavily fortified Green Zone, a spokeswoman said Tuesday. ADVERTISEMENT Paul Converse, 56, was hit when rockets fired by suspected Shiite militia fighters rained down on the U.S.-protected area in central Baghdad Sunday. His parents, Dick and Leona Converse of Corvallis, Ore., told the Gazette-Times newspaper they learned Sunday that their son had been wounded and likely wouldn't survive. On Monday, two officers from the Oregon Army National Guard arrived at their door to inform them of...

A Milwaukee businessman has complained to the Indian Embassy in Washington, D.C., about what he claims is a passport-selling scheme involving individuals at the Indian consulate in Chicago.Amrit N. Patel, who owns a local accounting firm and is president of the India Cultural Society, outlined the suspected scheme in a letter to Indian Ambassador Ronen Sen last March. Milwaukee has a large Punjabi community, many members of which have come here with political asylum, which does not make them eligible for an Indian passport, he said in the letter. But over the last two years, Patel said, the Chicago consulate...

SAN'A, Yemen (AP) - An Al-Qaida terror cell was behind a mortar strike against the U.S. embassy in Yemen that missed its target but killed a security guard and wounded 13 students at a nearby school, an Interior Ministry official said Saturday. The official, speaking on customary condition of anonymity, said al- Qaida militant Hamza al-Dayan launched three mortars at the embassy Tuesday before fleeing the scene in a vehicle with three accomplices. The mortar shells crashed into the school in the downtown Sawan district of San'a, killing the security guard and wounding 13 schoolgirls, three grievously. On Thursday, the...

(CNN) -- The U.S. Embassy in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, closed Tuesday after three mortar rounds detonated near the embassy compound, according to an embassy statement. No embassy personnel were injured in the incident, which happened around 12:40 p.m. local time, it said. "There are reports of injuries at a girls school in the neighborhood and to Yemeni security personnel stationed around the embassy's perimeter," the statement said -snip-

Petraeus: Al Qaida Trying to 'Come Back In' U.S. military officials said there will be no significant reduction in coalition troops in the Baghdad area as part of an effort to stop the Al Qaida offensive in northern Iraq. They said Al Qaida was trying to reenter Baghdad and reverse its losses in 2007. "Al Qaida is trying to come back in," U.S. military commander Gen. David Petraeus said. "We can feel it and see it, and what we're trying to do is rip out any roots before they can get deeply into the ground." Read More Militants Assert...

Kim Jong-il visits Chinese embassy in Pyongyang: report SEOUL, March 1 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il visited the Chinese Embassy in Pyongyang Saturday amid efforts to restart the stalled six-party talks on denuclearizing the North, the communist state's official news media said. "Kim Jong-il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the DPRK National Defense Commission, visited the Chinese embassy here at the request of Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Liu Xiaoming on Saturday," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported. DPRK stands for the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, North Korea's official...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25, 2008 – The U.S Embassy in Baghdad and Multinational Force Iraq today strongly condemned al Qaeda’s attacks on Iraqi citizens making their way to Karbala for a Shiite holy festival yesterday. A suicide bomber struck near Iskandariyah, killing 40 and injuring 60, according to initial reports from local officials. Hours earlier, a suicide-bomb attack in southern Baghdad killed three and wounded 36 others, according to other news sources. The violence reflects the nature of an enemy who will target even those practicing their religion in an effort to reignite sectarian strife in Iraq, the statement said. “Yesterday’s...

... Zoran Vujovic, a lanky, outgoing, sports-crazy college student, was the only person to die in the attack on the embassy. His death was a family tragedy. But the history of violence that has engulfed families such as the Vujovics also helps explain the burst of anti-American anger now sweeping Serbia. This latest spasm to wrack the Balkans began with Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia on Feb. 17. The U.S. and much of Europe quickly supported the Kosovars, enraging many Serbs. But their anti-Western grievances have deeper roots. Zoran and his family were part of the Serb minority...

BELGRADE -- Zoran Vujović, 21, has been identified as the victim in Thursday's fire at the U.S. embassy in Belgrade. Vujović, whose family now resides in Novi Sad, was a Kosovo Serb, forced out of the province when he was 12 years old. His identity was determined through DNA analysis, a spokesman for a district court in Belgrade said. The exact cause and circumstances of his death were not given, according to agencies' reports. Vujović's charred body was recovered from the embassy, which was vandalized and set on fire Thursday, after several hundred rioters attacked the building, while a mass...

Angry Serbs broke into the U.S. Embassy and set fire to an office Thursday night as rioters rampaged through Belgrade's streets, putting an exclamation point of violence to a day of mass protest against Western support for an independent Kosovo. At least 150,000 people rallied in Belgrade, waving Serbian flags and signs proclaiming "Stop USA terror," to denounce the bid by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to create their own state out of what Serbs consider the ancient heartland of their culture. Protesters burned American flags and the mob that attacked the embassy tore down the U.S. flag there. Crowds also...

BELGRADE, Serbia - A handful of protesters broke into the U.S. embassy in Belgrade on Thursday, cheered on by crowds outside, in a protest at U.S. support for Kosovo's independence.

MOSCOW. Feb 18 (Interfax) - About 50 members of the Young Russia movement protested against the unilateral recognition of independent Kosovo near the Serbian embassy in Moscow on Sunday. The action started with a three-minute film about Kosovo. Then a girl in a black wig, black paint on her face and a sign reading Condoleezza Rice on her chest and back sawed chains off a 'Pandora's box' and let out a young man dressed as death. Ten people wearing military uniforms and American flags on their chests surrounded the duo. The 'death' stabbed Serbia on the globe with scythe...

NAIROBI, Kenya As combat raged in Chad's capital last weekend, U.S. Embassy staffers were busily shredding sensitive documents in the ambassador's office when a rocket blasted through a wall, roared across the room and burst out the opposite wall before exploding. No one was injured in the blast, or when two stray artillery shells hit two residences inside the embassy compound, the evacuated public affairs officer, Solomon Atayi, says in an email letter written Thursday to colleagues and friends. The Associated Press obtained a copy Friday, and Atayi also posted it on the State Department's blog site. U.S. officials had...

Is the U.S. Failing in Afghanistan? It was malice in wonderland at the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday as Bush Administration envoys insisted things are getting better in Afghanistan, while angry lawmakers from both parties cited facts and figures showing just the opposite. Even the senior Republican on the panel, Senator Richard Lugar, found the Administration's claims wanting. "I'm not sure that we have a plan for Afghanistan," he said. Long seen as the "forgotten war" eclipsed by Iraq in U.S. priorities, Afghanistan is in the Washington spotlight this week with the release of three independent reports concluding...

AUSTRALIAN diplomatic workers based at a hotel in the Afghan capital Kabul have escaped injury during a suicide bomb attack which killed several people. The five-star Serena Hotel in the centre of Kabul was the target of an attack by Taliban extremists yesterday, the Australian Department of Defence has confirmed. "The (Australian) embassy is based within the hotel,'' a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesman said. "We've confirmed that all staff of the embassy are safe and we have also started to contact Australians registered in Kabul to ensure they are safe, although we have no information to suggest...

The arrested 15 members of a Wahhabi terror group have been charged by the Serbian authorities for planning terror attacks on various locations in the capital Belgrade that were to include bombings of the US Embassy in Serbia. According to the indictment, the arrested Muslims have engaged in terror planning and the evidence includes confiscated weapons, various communication intercepts between the members inside Serbia, Bosnia and Saudi Arabia and detailed maps with specific markings for potential targets. "The indicted ones have established a close network with the similarly minded individuals, commanders, ideologues and mentors abroad - in Bosnia and Herzegovina,...

About two dozen protesters angry over a rape case involving a Marine stormed the American Embassy on Sunday, hitting a U.S. government seal on the gate with fists and a brick before surprised policemen pushed them away, police and witnesses said. The protesters demanded the transfer to a Philippine jail of Marine Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith, who was convicted a year ago of raping a Filipino woman but has remained under U.S. government custody and detained at the heavily fortified embassy. Taking advantage of the absence of policemen, who usually stand guard outside the embassy, the protesters ran toward the...

CORRECTED: Japanese embassy, airlines staff nabbed for aiding smuggling+ Nov 1 12:36 AM US/Eastern smuggling+ (AP) - CHIBA, Japan, Oct. 31 (Kyodo)—Police have arrested a local staff member of the Japanese Embassy in Indonesia and a Garuda Indonesia Airline flight attendant on suspicion of helping three compatriots enter Japan illegally in September, they said Wednesday. The two are Rosita Yulia Patricia Rembeth, 50, a member of the embassy staff, and the 39-year-old flight attendant Carrand Christo Tangka. The two, together with the three entrants, have already been indicted for violating Japan's immigration law. According to the Chiba prefectural police, Rembeth...

NEW YORK (AP) - Two improvised explosives were thrown into the rear of the Mexican Consulate early Friday, causing small explosions that blew out some windows, authorities said. No injuries were reported. Police believe someone on a bicycle threw the devices—made from replica grenades packed with explosive powder—at 3 a.m., New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said. The commissioner said witnesses reported seeing someone on a bike at that time near the consulate in Midtown Manhattan. Edgar Trujillo, the press attache with the Mexican Consulate, said three windows were shattered. Police and FBI agents were at the scene. The block...

The opening of the mammoth new U.S. Embassy in Baghdad has been delayed indefinitely while its Kuwaiti contractor fixes a punch list of problems, the State Department said on Tuesday. The sprawling complex, whose cost is edging toward $750 million, was set to open last month but U.S. lawmakers say shoddy work by the contractor and poor oversight by the State Department have delayed it. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack rejected claims of inadequate oversight and said there was no indication how long it would be before the new embassy opened. "I can't tell you when the embassy is going...

Al Qaeda 'Re-Emerging' in Pakistan Sanctuaries The U.S. military said Tuesday it expected Al Qaeda to continue its "re-emergence" in sanctuaries in Pakistan's tribal areas from where it supported attacks in Afghanistan. Sanctuary was provided to Al Qaeda and Taliban rebels after Islamabad signed a peace deal with militants in a desperate attempt to quell the unrest in its federally administered areas in September 2006, a U.S. military official said. The militants called off the deal in July this year after Pakistani security forces raided a radical mosque in Islamabad where rebels had massed. Dozens were killed in those...

A GRENADE was thrown into an Australian Defence Force (ADF) compound near the Australian embassy in the East Timorese capital Dili. The ADF is reviewing security in Dili after the explosion last night damaged vehicles and a building. A defence spokeswoman confirmed today the explosion was caused by a grenade. "The explosion has been confirmed as the explosion of a grenade," she said. No one was hurt by the explosion, which occurred late yesterday evening in the grounds of a house used by the ADF's military training scheme in East Timor, the defence co-operation program. The house is adjacent to...

(Austrian police say he's a Bosnia native, had Islamic literature) VIENNA, Austria - Austrian authorities said they arrested a man on Monday after he tried to enter the U.S. Embassy in Vienna carrying a backpack with explosives. The man tried to flee after his backpack triggered metal detectors at the embassy entrance. He was arrested nearby and was being questioned.

Vienna - A man was arrested in Vienna Monday after he planted a backpack filled with explosives and nails in a street near the US embassy to Austria, the Austrian press agency reported. According to initial information the suspect, a man with Bosnian background living outside Vienna, suddenly dropped the bag filled with hand grenades and other explosives in Pfluggasse in Vienna's 9th district. Before that he had visited the US-embassy in nearby Boltzmanngasse, police said.

Attack on British embassy in Sudan foiled By David Blair, Diplomatic Correspondent Last Updated: 3:58am BST 21/08/2007 Britain's embassy in Sudan was closed yesterday and expatriates warned to be on their guard after security forces foiled a plot to attack the heavily-guarded building in Khartoum. Eight Sudanese men were arrested in connection with the planned attack. Three stocks of explosives and grenades were uncovered in Khartoum. A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed that the embassy was the group's proposed target. Attacks on the American and French embassies and the office of the United Nations envoy in Sudan are also believed to...

U.S. diplomats in Iraq, increasingly fearful over their personal safety after recent mortar attacks inside the Green Zone, are pointing to new delays and mistakes in the U.S. Embassy construction project in Baghdad as signs that their vulnerability could grow in the months ahead. A toughly worded cable sent from the embassy to State Department headquarters on May 29 highlights a cascade of building and safety blunders in a new facility to house the security guards protecting the embassy. The guards' base, which remains unopened today, is just a small part of a $592 million project to build the largest...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has ordered U.S. Embassy posts in Baghdad filled ahead of others worldwide, saying it's essential diplomats sent to Iraq be the most qualified. In a cable sent to all U.S. missions abroad and obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, Rice disclosed a new hiring plan amid increasing criticism of American efforts in Iraq. It is designed to prevent a potential severe vacancy problem and, in part, reduce resistance from anti-war elements in the State Department who have been accused of holding up appointments and discouraging diplomats from going to Iraq. SNIP Officals familiar with the...

WASHINGTON - Detailed plans for the new U.S. Embassy under construction in Baghdad appeared online Thursday in a breach of the tight security surrounding the sensitive project. Computer-generated projections of the soon-to-be completed, heavily fortified compound were posted on the Web site of the Kansas City, Mo.-based architectural firm that was contracted to design the massive facility in the Iraqi capital. The images were removed by Berger Devine Yaeger Inc. shortly after the company was contacted by the State Department. "We work very hard to ensure the safety and security of our employees overseas," said Gonzalo Gallegos, a department spokesman....

Via translation - Possible retensión of hostages in embajda of Russia San jOse. - Police Authorities have surrounded from 12:45 p.m., the building of the embassy of Russia, in the environs of the Church Santa Teresita, where it is presumed that a armed man entrance and would be retaining personnel of the diplomatic seat.

AFP via translation - ALARM - Iraq: 4 Filipino employees of the US embassy killed in an attack BAGHDAD - Four Filipino employees of the American embassy were killed Wednesday in the explosion of a rocket in the strengthened green Zone of Baghdad, announced Thursday the embassy in an official statement.

A man who called himself "a messenger from space" has tried to blow up the US embassy in Kyrgyzstan. The incident took place today [23 April] at about 0330 hours [2130 gmt 22 April]. The Kyrgyz Interior Ministry's press service has said that two police sergeants who were guarding the embassy heard a cry. They saw a guard at a checkpoint trying to calm down an absolutely naked man, who was holding an object in his hands. Later, it became clear that the man had come to the diplomatic mission's checkpoint and threatened to blow up the building. He then...

Iran has seized the sprawling American Embassy in Tehran on behalf of an Iranian businessman who was abducted 15 years ago in a bungled sting operation by US customs agents. Arrangements are being made to value and sell the compound — prize real estate in central Tehran — at public auction to pay damages to Hossein Alikhani. The Cyprus-based businessman sued the US Government successfully in a Tehran court four years ago and was awarded $550 million (£270 million) in what remains the first lawsuit against America for supporting terrorism. “The property has effectively been seized and is in my...