Operation Phantom Fury--Day 653 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 548

Various Media Outlets | 8/22/06

[Gucho]

Extremists using Internet to plot, Gonzales says

Over 5,000 Web sites, attorney general warns

By Josh Meyer

Originally published August 17, 2006

WASHINGTON // Attorney Gen. Alberto R. Gonzales said yesterday that Islamic extremists take advantage of more than 5,000 Web sites to train and coordinate internationally, filling the gap caused by the crackdown on the al-Qaida terrorist network.

He also rebutted the implied criticism circulating in recent days that the United States somehow prompted British authorities to move prematurely against a London-area cell allegedly planning attacks on multiple airliners with homemade liquid bombs.

Gonzales' Web site estimate suggests a significant expansion of the Internet infrastructure used by Islamic extremists in recent years to mobilize their efforts against Western interests. Several counterterrorism officials inside and outside the U.S. government said they were not familiar with the specific numbers quoted by the nation's top law enforcement official, but added that they, too, have seen a drastic increase in the use of the Internet by Islamic extremists. more......

[freema]

: )

[Gucho]

Russia airliner with 170 aboard crashes in Ukraine

8/22/06

Moscow, Russia -- A Russian plane crashed in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine Tuesday afternoon, according to the news agency Interfax, quoting the Ukrainian Emergencies Ministry.

Russia's state-run RIA Novosti reported wreckage has been found in Ukraine.

Interfax said the Tupolev TU-154 aircraft had about 170 people on board when it crashed shortly after 3:30 p.m.

Flight 612 was en route from the Black Sea resort town of Anapa to St. Petersburg.

Interfax quoted Irina Andrianovaa, a senior spokeswoman for the ministry, as saying the plane likely had 160 passengers and 10 crew members on board.v "Early reports say the plane crashed 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Donetsk," she said. Andrianovaa said the plane belonged to Pulkovo airlines, which is based in St. Petersburg.

"At 3:37 p.m. Moscow time the plane sent an SOS signal and at 3:39 it disappeared from radar screens," Andrianova said.

[Gucho]

US troops arrest Saudi 'Al-Qaeda terrorist' in Iraq

AFP

Tuesday, August 22, 2006 - 20:37 IST

BAGHDAD: US forces in Iraq captured a Saudi national suspected of belonging to the Al-Qaeda network and of training and equipping suicide bombers, a statement from US headquarters said on Tuesday.

Soldiers stormed a compound in the restive city of Ramadi on Sunday, killing one suspect and rounding up 14 more, including the Saudi, it said.

"A subsequent search of the target area led to the discovery of one suicide vest, multiple small arms and a vehicle rigged as a car bomb that was destroyed on site," the statement added.

"Credible and compelling intelligence indicated the Saudi Al-Qaeda member, also known for previous terrorist activity in Afghanistan and Chechnya, was harbouring men preparing for suicide operations," it added.

In recent weeks, US and Iraqi forces have arrested hundreds of suspected militants in raids across the country.

Nevertheless, the number of violent attacks against civilians and security forces continues to mount.

[Gucho]

Iraq Experiencing Sectarian Violence, But Not Civil War, British General Says

By Gerry J. Gilmore - American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Aug. 22, 2006 – Iraq is experiencing some localized sectarian strife, but it’s not embroiled in a full-blown civil war as reported by some news media, a senior coalition officer said here today.

“In my judgment, we are not in a situation of civil war,” said British Royal Marine Lt. Gen. Robert Fry, deputy commander of Multinational Force Iraq and the senior British military representative in Iraq. He spoke to Pentagon reporters via a satellite connection from his Baghdad headquarters.

Fry acknowledged a “very intense sectarian conflict” in Iraq and said violence is mostly occurring in an area that includes Baghdad and its environs and reaches 40 miles or so north to Baqubah.

He said a collapse of central government and large-scale population migrations are hallmarks of civil wars. So Iraq is not in a civil war because the Iraqi government is intact and functioning, Fry said. Also, there’s no mass movement of Iraqis milling about the land or leaving the country, he added.

Iraq’s elected leaders are in control and are busily addressing pressing national issues, he said.

Most of Iraq is stable, Fry pointed out, noting 14 of the country’s 18 provinces experience little or no violence. He also cited the Iraqi police takeover of security duties in Muthanna province at the end of July as another positive step. Japanese military engineers that had worked in that province have been sent home.

Fry said he gives credit to the Iraqi government for its efforts to unify the country’s Shiite, Sunni and Kurdish citizens. He praised Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s reconciliation policy that reaches out to all elements of Iraqi society, regardless of sectarian background.

Yet, insurgent attacks on religious shrines, such as the Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite mosque in Samarra, have stoked animosity between Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni citizens, causing the current sectarian violence.

A majority of Iraq’s citizens are Shiite, and they were persecuted for years by Saddam Hussein’s pro-Sunni regime. Al Qaeda, the likely culprit of the Samarra bombing, has been transparent in its desire to start a Shiite-vs.-Sunni civil war –- at first to fend off elections, and then, having failed in that aim, to bring down Iraq’s democratically elected government.

Other forces also would like to incite violence between Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni population. Fry called out the Shiite Iranian government for stirring up trouble in Iraq. He said Iran is sending money, weapons and personnel into Iraq to assist pro-Shiite insurgents.

“I think that we can see a very clear Iranian role in stoking up violence inside Iraq,” Fry said, citing continuing anti-Iraqi government rhetoric voiced by senior Iranian officials. Some anti-terrorist military operations in Iraq are aimed at interdicting Iranian-sourced weaponry and training cadre, he said.

Fry said statements from Maliki and other senior Iraqi officials, who have vigorously denounced Iranian meddling in Iraqi affairs, encourage him. Such outspokenness by Iraqi officials demonstrates Iranians aren’t pulling the strings of a “puppet” Iraqi government, he said.

The future of Iraq won’t be settled by military force alone, Fry said. U.S., British and other coalition forces are providing stability until the new Iraqi government and its security forces achieve traction.

After violence in Iraq subsides, there will “need to be a certain process of settlement as people find their level in political terms and economic terms, and indeed, in terms of just the social and cultural accommodation of living together,” Fry said.

That process is already under way, the British general said.

“And, I think the government is making every attempt that it possibly can to accelerate that process,” he added. “Our function here is to provide the framework to permit that to happen.”

Multinational Force Iraq

[Gucho]

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Operation Phantom Fury--Day 654 - Now Operations River Blitz; Matador--Day 549

[BanLibDems]

I am very glad that her purple heart was not awarded POSTHUMOUSLY. As much as I appreciate the significant contributions that women in the military have made, they don’t belong in a combat zone. And you just heard that from a REGULAR ARMY VET AND FIELD ARTILLERYMAN. I RELUCTANTLY ACCEPT THE FACT THAT FEMALE TROOPS ARE NEEDED IN COMBAT SUPPORT UNITS, BUT I DONT LIKE IT. Isn’t it enough that young American men die in combat?