Posted on 10/07/2005 12:25:35 AM PDT by Straight Vermonter
| Large map of Iraq | Large map of Afghanistan | Large Map of Pakistan | Large Map of the Philippines | Large Map of Kasmir |
Supporters of Saddam Hussein are trying to negotiate with the United States a halt to attacks in return for a pledge that the former Iraqi leader will not be executed, Iraq's president was on Thursday quoted as saying.
Jalal Talabani said in an interview with Egypt's al-Ahram newspaper that supporters of Saddam, ousted by U.S.-led forces in 2003, were among those behind insurgent attacks in Iraq.
"Despite that, the Saddamists are trying now to negotiate with the Americans on stopping the operations in exchange for not executing Saddam in the trial which is about to start," Talabani said.
Iraq's special tribunal, the court set up to try Saddam, confirmed on Monday that the former president would be tried on Oct. 19 for crimes against humanity, but said it had the right to delay the trial.
In a statement, the tribunal said Saddam and six others, including his former vice-president and his half-brother, would be tried in connection with the deaths of 143 Shi'ite men from the village of Dujail following an 1982 assassination attempt.
Saddam faces execution if found guilty.
Approximately 1,000 Marines, Soldiers and Sailors are in their sixth day of Operation Kabda Bil Hadid (Iron Fist) in Western Al Anbar.
The force, assigned to Regimental Combat Team -2, is operating in the Al Qa’im region near the village of Sa’dah on the southern banks of the Euphrates River. Sa’dah is approximately 12 km from the Syrian border and near Karabilah and Husaybah.
Yesterday afternoon in Karabilah, a section of M1-A1 Abrams tanks supported Marine infantry who were under small-arms attack. The tanks engaged and killed two of the insurgents.
Marines also engaged insurgents with small-arms fire east of Karabilah yesterday afternoon. The insurgents were firing on the Marines from fighting positions in three buildings. Aviation assets destroyed the buildings killing seven enemy gunmen.
The offensive is part of an overall operation called Sayaid (Hunter), which aims to deny Al Qaeda in Iraq the ability to operate freely in the Euphrates River Valley and to prevent the terrorists from influencing the local population through murder and intimidation.
In other action, Coalition aircraft dropped four precision-guided bombs onto an abandoned hotel commandeered by Al Qaeda in Iraq terrorists last night in Husaybah. The 3-story building was being used for staging attacks and storing weapons. Twenty terrorists have been confirmed killed in the strike. The manner in which the strike was conducted minimized collateral damage.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
Approximately 350 Iraqi Security Force Soldiers and 2,500 Marines, Soldiers and Sailors from Regimental Combat Team – 2 continued Operation Bawwabatu Annaher (River Gate) in the cities of Haditha, Haqlaniyah and Barwana.
Iraqi Security Forces and Marines were attacked with a roadside bomb in Haditha late this afternoon. Examination of the blast site revealed electrical wiring leading to Qaryat Al Khadfah mosque. Iraqi Soldiers and Marines discovered the initiating device for the explosive inside the mosque. In addition, numerous artillery rounds, pre-wired and ready to use as roadside bombs, were hidden on the mosque grounds. No Iraqi Soldiers or Marines were injured by the bomb’s blast.
Iraqi Soldiers and U.S. Marines and Soldiers are clearing the three Euphrates River Valley cities. In the past 24 hours, the combined Iraqi and U.S. forces have discovered two weapons caches, one in Haqlaniyah and the other in Haditha, consisting of more than 40 mortar and artillery rounds, two complete mortar systems, small-arms and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
This morning, Marines discovered an insurgent-planted improvised explosive device. Upon conducting a controlled detonation of the device, electrical service was disrupted in Haqlaniyah and Bani Dahir due to the bomb’s proximity to an electrical source. Marines are working with local officials to restore electrical service in those towns.
Iraqi Soldiers are continuing to provide security for Haditha General Hospital’s patients and personnel.
Since Operation River Gate began, Iraqi Soldiers and U.S. forces have located 10 improvised explosive devices.
The operation’s goal is to deny Al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) the ability to operate in the three Euphrates River Valley cities and to free the local citizens from the insurgents’ campaign of murder and intimidation of innocent women, children and men.
More information will be released as it becomes available.
By Staff Sgt. Kevin Bromley 3/1 AD PAO
Task Force Baghdad Soldiers searching near previous weapons cache sites unearthed a new cache containing rockets, mortars, rocket-propelled grenades and materials often used to make improvised explosive devices.
The 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division Soldiers continued to uncover munitions in the weapons cache discovered on the afternoon of Sept. 28. Since the 70th Engineer Battalion started excavating, they have unearthed more than 700 mortar rounds ranging from 60-millimeter to 120-millimeter, 700 rocket-propelled grenades, 100 rockets, and 51,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition.
The Soldiers also found several mortar tubes, various explosives, small arms, homemade rocket launchers, wires and timing devices.
The Soldiers secured the site, about 30 kilometers northwest of Baghdad, and consolidated the caches for destruction. They continue to search the site in an ongoing effort to keep weapons out of terrorists’ hands.
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3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division Soldiers continue to uncover munitions in a large weapons cache discovered Sept. 28. Since the 70th Engineer Battalion started excavating, they have unearthed munitions ranging from 60-millimeter to 120-millimeter, 700 rocket-propelled grenades, 100 rockets, and 51,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kevin Bromley, 3/1 AD PAO) |
| Sgt. 1st Class William Shook removes a 122-millimeter rocket tube from a weapons cache. Shook, a native of Kennewick, Wash., and other 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division Soldiers unburied the weapons in a large cache found Sept. 28. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kevin Bromley, 3/1 AD PAO) |
3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division Soldiers continue to uncover munitions in a large weapons cache discovered Sept. 28. The weapons cache was uncovered by C Company, 70th Engineer Battalion after they searched a truck that matched a vehicle used in previous attacks. The 70th Engineer Bn. is deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 3 with 3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kevin Bromley, 3/1 AD PAO) |
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3rd Brigade, 1st Armored Division Soldiers continue to uncover munitions in a large weapons cache discovered Sept. 28. Since the 70th Engineer Battalion started excavating, they have unearthed more than 700 mortar rounds, 700 rocket-propelled grenades, 100 rockets, and 51,000 rounds of anti-aircraft ammunition. The Soldiers also found several mortar tubes, various explosives, small arms, homemade rocket launchers, wires and timing devices. (U.S. Army photo by Staff Sgt. Kevin Bromley, 3/1 AD PAO) |
Members of the Indonesian public have come forward, claiming to recognise one of the three suicide bombers who killed 22 people and injured 104 on the island of Bali on Saturday, according to local authorities on Java. An unnamed individual called police in the Javan town of Solo, claiming to recognise a picture of one of the bomber's severed heads, identifying him as a student named 'Gareng'.
The Indonesian authorities have distributed photos of the three suicide bombers' heads to the public in the hope if identifying the men. The anonymous caller in Solo claimed that the bomber named as Gareng had studied in the area, where many Islamic schools are located.
On Wednesday, Indonesian police announced they are searching for five men involved in a series of terror attacks, including Saturday's Bali blasts, when bombers detonated devices in Jambaran, a popular Bali beach where diners eat out on the sands in the evening, and in the resort of Kuta to the north.
The men, from the far western Javanese province of Banten, are said to be members of a network whose leader is Imam Samudra, already sentenced to death for his role in the October 2002 Bali bombings, which killed 202 people.
Banten police chief, Badrodin Haiti, said three of the wanted men - named Pujata, Supriyanto and Iwan - have previously been in prison for possession of explosives. On their release, they were kept under surveillance by the country's security forces, but are now reported to have disappeared from their homes. The five men are included in a group of more than 20 Banten residents who have been put under surveillance, Haiti said.
While investigators continue to gather evidence from the sites of the three explosions - new appeals have been made to local people to come forward if they recognise any of the three suicide bombers in photographs released to the media.
No group has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attacks on the popular holiday island. Two people detained and interrogated in the last few days are not considered suspects.
It is thought however that the bombers may be linked to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), the al-Qaeda affiliated network held responsible for the October 2002 Bali bombings, as well as other bombings in Indonesia.
The Lebanese authorities have lifted banking secrecy on the accounts of three new suspects in the 14 February assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. This will allow the UN commission probing Hariri's death to check the financial dealings of Wasif Abd al-Nabi Sarhan, an official in the presidential guard, Faysal Muhammad Rashid,a state security official, and Ahmad Amin Abd al-Ali, head of the al-Ahbash Islamic charity, considered "close to the Syrian-Lebanese secret services" and their families.
The international commission of inquiry, headed by Detlev Mehlis, is reported to be convinced of ties between these three new suspects and Mustafa Hamdan, former chief of the presidential guard, who was arrested in August in connection with the carbomb killing of Hariri.
Three other former heads of the Lebanese secret services are also being detained on the same charges.
On Wednesday, prime minister Fuad Siniora, addressing parliament on the security situation in the country, publicly admitted that in the past "the Lebanese secret services worked in close collaboration with their Syrian counterparts".
The dialogue for peace in Kashmir is already bearing fruit the Indian government says, and this can be seen by the significant drop in the number of hostile incidents and victims of violence recorded in the past two years. Complete peace still hasn't arrived but the drop in violence in the region, that is the subject of a long-running dispute between India and Pakistan and the scene of a civil conflict for the past 14 years, does leave space for hope, according to official sources in New Delhi.
The recently released data by the Indian government demonstrated that in the first nine months of 2005, the number of armed clashes, attacks and episodes of violence had fallen by more than 50 percent over the same period in 2003, falling from 3,401 cases to 1,415 cases.
(All things are relative but >1,400 incidents still makes Kashmir a very dangerous place)
Provincial police chief General Mohammad Ayub Salangi told Pajhwok Afghan News the accused were arrested in Herat City. He added investigations had been ordered against the detained people.
"We arrested them red handed. The bombs could cause destruction if donated," said the officer. However, he stopped short of divulging identity of the accused.
Prime Minister John Howard warned Australia would feel a "deep and lasting anger" if Indonesia allowed Abu Bakar Bashir another reduction in his 30-month jail term.
Bashir, the spiritual leader of terror group Jemaah Islamiah, could get an automatic remission early next month, as part of commemorations for the holiday which marks the end of Ramadan.
JI is believed to be responsible for the latest Bali bombings which killed 22 people including four Australians.
Australia will again protest to Indonesia about the possible remission after telling Indonesia in August that it objected to the four-and-a-half month cut to Bashir's two and a half year jail sentence.
Indonesia responded by promising to review the process - made by presidential decree in 1999 - to cut prisoners' jail terms on Independence Day and Ramadan each year.
Prime Minister John Howard said he planned to instruct Australia's ambassador in Indonesia David Ritchie to again raise the issue with Jakarta.
"We received assurance from the Indonesian authorities on the last occasion that these automatic remissions wouldn't apply in the future to people in certain categories," he told Newcastle radio 2HD.
"It's certainly been put very forcefully to the Indonesian government that any further remissions, however small, however automatic, however general, given to him (Bashir) will cause very deep and lasting anger in our country."
TERRORIST organisation Jemaah Islamiyah is banned by the UN, US, EU and Australia - but not by the Indonesians.
Something is clearly wrong. The only place JI's terrorists have successfully carried out their murderous policies is within Indonesia.
The biggest stumbling block for Indonesian leaders like President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono grappling with the group is its name.
Jemaah Islamiyah translates as Islamic Community and its members want those in the broader Islamic community in the most populous Islamic nation in the world to believe that invocations to ban JI are directed at every Muslim.
Given the difficulties of selling such a ban, it's pretty easy to understand why Indonesia's politicians baulk at such a prospect.
But that will not stop the Australian Government or the Opposition from continuing to encourage and lobby the Indonesian Government to meet its international obligations and proscribe the terrorist organisation, a message Foreign Minister Alexander will reinforce when he visits Jakarta in the next few days.
There are arguments against banning JI, and indeed any terrorist gang, and they generally come back to the lack of success governments had stamping out terrorist groups such as the IRA and the ANC, both of which were banned.
Terrorists don't usually carry membership cards.
Al Qaeda and JI don't go in for such formalities, which makes attempts to ban them much more difficult – but that should not be a reason to stand by idly and do nothing.
Nor should it be a reason to do as the Indonesian Government is now doing in allowing JI leader Abu Bakar Bashir's sentence to be reduced along with those of some of his convicted militant supporters.
(Indonesia is definitely on my $#!% list today.)
Prosecutor's Office in the Sogdi region of Tajkistan has issued official charges to seven members of an extremist grouping that led by a certain Sayedmashkhud Ikromov, who were arrested by operatives of the regional deparment for fighting with organized crime.
Asadullo Urunov, the senior assistant to the regional prosecutor told Itar-Tass all the extremists are accused of organizing a criminal community and instigating the population to a forcible overthrow of state power.
More than 200 copies of anti-government proclamations, 200 audio and video cassettes with calls for a jihad, and 70 sleeping bags of Arabic manufacture were found during searches in the extremists' homes.
The operatives also found evidence that Ikromov, the leader of the grouping had close links with Murod Rustamov, an activist of a fundamentalist Islamic grouping known as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.
A team of investigators from the Interior Ministry, National Security Ministry and the Prosecutor's Office are examining operations of the grouping, Asadullo Urunov said.
(I hesitate to put story from the old Soviet 'Stans on here because the governments are so oppresive and use the WoT as an excuse to crush opposition, so there may not be many more from this area of the world.)
The State Department has authorized rewards totaling up to 11 million dollars for two Jemaah Islamiyah members.
A reward of up to 10 million dollars is offered for Dulmatin, who is believed to be one of the masterminds of the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack announced during a department briefing on Thursday.
In addition, a reward of up to 1 million dollars is being offered for Umar Patek, McCormack said.
"Dulmatin, an electronics specialist with training in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, is a senior figure in the Jemaah Islamiyah terrorist organization, " McCormack said. "Patek is believed to have served as an assistant for the field coordinator of the 2002 bombings in Bali, Indonesia".
Additional information on these two men, as well as sketches, are available at www.rewardsforjustice.net, McCormack said.
Al-Qaeda has translated into French a video message by its number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri's, evidence that it is stepping up its propaganda activities in France, a document obtained by Adnkronos International (AKI) - has revealed. Al-Zawahiri's message, in which Osama bin Laden's voice can be heard claiming the 7 July attacks on London's transport system, has been issued with French subtitles.
This is not the first sign of the attention of al-Qaeda and other terror formations towards French Muslims. Several weeks ago the Algerian Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) published a statement on the Internet asking French Muslims to help their cause by carrying out attacks against Algerian diplomats in France.
In addition, readers of Islamist internet forums were promptly advised in reent days of the arrests by French police of Algerian nationals accused of carrying out attakcs in their country.
(How's that appeasement thing working out for you Jacques?)
The first provisional results of the Afghan parliamentary elections were released on Thursday by election officials. A number of those who won a seat in the 249-member National Assembly were announced, including a prominent women's rights activist who had publically denounced the powerful warlords in the country. The election officials also confirmed a number of ballot boxes had been tampered with and there were reports of fraud at certain polling stations.
A total of 27,000 polling stations were involved in the election which took place on 18 September. Officials said that fraud had been detected in 299 polling stations and the ballot boxes from some 700 polling stations are being quarantined until further investigation.
(Elections are the penicillin to the infection of tyranny. They are the greatest weapon the west has against lawlessness and despotism.)
The Turkish authorities are reported to have thwarted a series of terrorist attacks planned for the month of Ramadan, according to Saudi daily al-Watan. The paper quotes a security source in Ankara as saying that they had uncovered training operations by groups linked to al-Qaeda, who were recruiting 50 women for bombing missions. The report said that their task was preparing explosive devices to place in tourist spots frequented by foreigners but the source gave no further details.
In August, the Turkish authorities arrested Syrian Lui Sakka, considered the head of Osama bin-Laden's netowrk in Turkey. He was caught at Diyarbakir airport and interrogated by the Istanbul police as he was preparing an attack against Israeli passenger ships.
Sakka was later charged by an Istanbul court for being a member of the al-Qaeda terror organization.
Pakistani investigators were grilling the Taleban's top spokesman yesterday, hoping to uncover his links with militant leaders and determine how he was operating in Pakistan, government and security officials said.
Pakistani security forces arrested Abdul Latif Hakimi in the southwestern province of Baluchistan on Tuesday and Afghan President Hamid Karzai said his country would seek Hakimi's extradition.
"Evidently we should ask for the extradition of this individual ... to try him," Karzai told France's LCI television, saying Hakimi "was responsible for so many atrocities in Afghanistan."
Hakimi was detained with five other suspected Taleban members in a raid on a house on the outskirts of Quetta, capital of Balochistan, an intelligence official said. A satellite phone, two mobile phones and a fax machine were seized in the raid.
"He was using the fax machine to send messages from Mullah Omar and statements on Taleban activities to newspapers in Pakistan and other countries," said an intelligence official who declined to be identified.
The passage from FM 34-52 that I assume is upsetting everyone is the following:
PROHIBITION AGAINST USE OF FORCE
The use of force, mental torture, threats, insults, or exposure to unpleasant and inhumane treatment of any kind is prohibited by law and is neither authorized nor condoned by the US Government. Experience indicates that the use of force is not necessary to gain the cooperation of sources for interrogation. Therefore, the use of force is a poor technique, as it yields unreliable results, may damage subsequent collection efforts, and can induce the source to say whatever he thinks the interrogator wants to hear. However, the use of force is not to be confused with psychological ploys, verbal trickery, or other nonviolent and noncoercive ruses used by the interrogator in questioning hesitant or uncooperative sources.The psychological techniques and principles outlined should neither be confused with, nor construed to be synonymous with, unauthorized techniques such as brainwashing, mental torture, or any other form of mental coercion to include drugs. These techniques and principles are intended to serve as guides in obtaining the willing cooperation of a source. The absence of threats in interrogation is intentional, as their enforcement and use normally constitute violations of international law and may result in prosecution under the UCMJ.
Additionally, the inability to carry out a threat of violence or force renders an interrogator ineffective should the source challenge the threat. Consequently, from both legal and moral viewpoints, the restrictions established by international law, agreements, and customs render threats of force, violence, and deprivation useless as interrogation techniques.
FM 34-52 has been the law governing all soldiers for years. As far as I am aware they have not indicated that it has been unduly restrictive of their efforts.
I thought it would be handy for everyone to have access to the actual text of the documents in question rather than relying on the spin from the media.
Ping
BTTT
Ok I'm back in the game...Harriet Miers can wait.
I'd like to see a video of that.
Thanks for all of the above. We are winning in Afghanistan, wonderful.
Thanks for your work and for the text from FM34-52. I was hoping that McCain wouldn't be so stupid as to handcuff the interrogators from doing their job, but knowing McCain's recent history....
Fortunately, we are not dealing with the smartest people on earth. Why lead us to a stash of their weapons?
I wonder if Saddam will try to use their location as a bargaining chip?
You may want to differentiate between the Stans.
Tajikistan went thru a vicious civil war in the mid90's, unnoticed by most of the world, and eventually put down a jihadi rebellion.
They're trending towards democratic secularism of a sort, more so than anyplace else.
The US is still maintaining a quiet presence there Dushanbe AF base, IIRC, with no controversy about leaving.
RE: #1 ... grrrrrrrrr
Thanks SV for all your work getting this report out to us.
So the Saddamist say they will stop fighting if Saddam is spared execurtion. What makes anyone believe they will keep their word about this?
Thanks for that.
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