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Showing posts from February 20, 2011

Skirting Failure: TERROR WATCH

Source: Calcutta tube Feb 21, 2011 (Calcutta Tube): “…if it weren’t for nuclear weapons, Pakistan would be the Congo…” US State Department note published by Wikileaks For far too long, Western powers – vigorously led by the US – have been party to a comprehensive cover-up, a pretence that has sought to minimize Pakistan’s role in the active sponsorship and export of terrorism, and an effort to distract international attention from the country’s failing institutions, to emphasise, instead, its acts of purported ‘cooperation’ with global counter-terrorism efforts. This farce, and elements of the international community’s real appraisal of Pakistan and the many players in the country, lay fully exposed with the Wikileaks disclosure of US diplomatic correspondence and confidential assessments in 2010. These have fully confirmed the continuing complicity of the Pakistani establishment in terrorism in the South Asian region and beyond; the corruption and mendacity of its various i

Cable: Moammar Gaddafi offered to help U.S. fight against terrorism

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Source: Washington post Moammar Gaddafi through the years Moammar Gaddafi has ruled Lal qaibya for more than 40 years. Now, he is strongly rejecting opposition demands that he give up power, as anti-government demonstrators continue to push for his ouster. By DOUGLAS BIRCH The Associated Press Friday, February 25, 2011; 2:12 PM WASHINGTON -- A secret United States diplomatic message describes Moammar Gadhafi as offering to help the U.S. with counterterrorism operations in Africa just three years after the U.S. removed Libya from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. The brash proposal came during Gadhafi's May 2009 meeting with Gen. William Ward, head of the U.S. Africa Command, according to a memorandum published this week by the website WikiLeaks. It doesn't say whether Ward responded to the offer by the Libyan leader, who seems to have done most of the talking during the hour-long discussions. In the early 1970s Gadhafi supplied weapons, training and safe haven to te

Dozens hurt in Afghan bomb blast

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Source: Press TV Thu Feb 24, 2011 10:0AM A file photo of the aftermath of a car bomb blast in Afghanistan's Jalalabad in February 2011 At least 26 people, mostly civilians, have been wounded in a bomb blast in the border town of Spin Boldak in Afghanistan's southern province of Kandahar. Officials say 24 civilians and two police officers were injured in the bombing on Thursday, a Press TV correspondent reported. Some officials have put the number of police victims at six. The bomb went off after a bomber, who was being chased by the police, detonated his explosive-laden car in a local market in the middle of the town bordering Pakistan. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack yet. The bombing is the latest in a recent string of blasts to hit Afghanistan. More than 100 people have died in several big explosions across the war-torn country over the past few weeks. More than 2,000 civilians were killed in the violence across the war-ravaged country last ye

Terrorism: Whither al-Qaida?

Source; The jerusalem post by  YAAKOV LAPPIN     02/25/2011 16:19   If the current uprisings fail to galvanize the creation of strong states, the terror organization will be quick to move in and set up bases. The tidal wave of revolts that has washed over the Middle East in recent weeks has put al- Qaida in a precarious situation. Since the late 1980s, when Osama bin Laden linked up with former Egyptian Islamic Jihad leader Ayman al-  Zawahiri  to form al-Qaida in Afghanistan, the mantra of the global terror movement has been constant. Arab-Muslim regimes are artificial, the militant Salafis said. The regimes are oppressive, Western-controlled entities, designed to keep “true Islam” in check. Nationalism, state borders that divide Muslims and secularism were all seen by al-Qaida ideologues, like Bin Laden’s mentor Palestinian cleric Abdullah Azzam, as foreign ideas adopted by the Arab regimes and used to keep the Muslims weak. Dislodging the regimes of Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arab

Al Qaeda Cries Banzai

Source: Strategy page February 21, 2011: Without realizing it, al Qaeda is calling on its troops to make a homage to Japanese World War II infantry tactics, by making a Banzai Charge. Al Qaeda has called on all True Believers to make whatever kind of attack they can, especially in the West. This was very similar to a spectacular tactic Japanese troops used when they knew they were beaten. The image most people have of the Japanese army during World War II is a mass of fanatical guys launching a hopeless charge led by officers waving katana (samurai swords). This was the Banzai charge and these attacks did occur, and made a vivid impression on the defending troops. But most of these attacks failed. The zealous Banzai attack was not a pillar of Japanese infantry tactics but rather an expression of frustration and despair. When the Japanese launched a Banzai attack, they were announcing that they were in a hopeless situation and would rather die fighting than surrender. It took a while 

India Finds The Ways : Winning wars

Source: Strategy page February 24, 2011: India, despite numerous rebel and terrorist groups operating in many parts of the country, has managed to steadily reduce the violence (or at least the number of deaths from rebels and terrorists) over the last decade. Back in 2001 there were 5,839 deaths from rebels and terrorist activity in the northwest (Kashmir), the northeast (separatist rebels in the tribal territories that were never really part of India until Britain tacked them on while creating modern India in 1947) and communist (Maoist) rebels throughout rural eastern India. In 2009 the number of deaths had declined to 2,232 and then to 1,902 last year. A combination of diplomacy, money and overwhelming force have greatly reduced the violence in the northeast and northwest. The Maoists are now the main target of government attention. Unfortunately, the Maoists may prove to be the most difficult group to deal with. The northwestern violence was instigated by Pakistan, trying to use

Book on counter terrorism in South Asia released

Source: MSN New Delhi, Feb 22 (PTI) A historical perspective on prospects for US-India counter-terrorism cooperation, radical influences in institutional structures and armed forces in the Af-Pak region and related issues form some of the chapters of a book released here today on the thorny issues. Titled ''Counter terrorism in South Asia'', the book is based on a two-day dialogue that took place last year between Indian and US experts in New Delhi organised by Observer Research Foundation and Heritage foundation. The book, with a keynote address by India''s National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and foreword by his predecessor Brajesh Mishra, has chapters by experts like Lisa Curtis, Wilson John and Siddharth Vardharajan among others. Unveiling the book, former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor said that even though the probe into the 26/11 case revealed the role of state players in Pakistan in the terror strike "the use of te

Maoists free collector after govt concedes all demands

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Source: TOI Maoists release Orissa collector See photo BHUBANESWAR/MALKANGIRI: The week-long hostage drama ended with official sources confirming that Maoists released Malkangiri district collector R Vineel Krishna and junior engineer Pabitra Mohan Majhi late on Tuesday night after the Orissa government conceded to all 14 of their demands. Eight demands were accepted on Monday and six were agreed to on Tuesday. (Read: Abducted Orissa collector sends letter to wife, she sends back clothes) The officials` release was confirmed by a senior officer of Andhra Pradesh`s elite Greyhounds. Speaking on condition of anonymity, he said, "The Maoists have set the district collector and junior engineer free." They would be released from different spots, sad sources. (Read: Maoists spreads terror network in AOB) Krishna and Majhi were expected to reach Malkangiri late on Tuesday or Wednesday morning from the Maoist stronghold somewhere near Balimela reservoir amid

Four American hostages killed by pirates: US

Source: zee news Nairobi: Four Americans taken hostage by Somali pirates off East Africa were shot and killed by their captors Tuesday, the US military said, marking the first time US citizens have been killed in a wave of pirate attacks plaguing the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean for years. US naval forces who were trailing the Americans' captured yacht with four warships quickly boarded the vessel after hearing the gunfire. They tried to provide lifesaving care to the Americans, but they died of their wounds, US Central Command in Tampa, Florida said in a statement. A member of a US special operations force killed one of the pirates with a knife as he went inside of the yacht, said Vice Adm. Mark Fox, commander of US naval forces for the Central Command. Fox said in a televised briefing that the violence on Tuesday started when a rocket-propelled grenade was fired from the yacht at the USS Sterett, a guided-missile destroyer which was 600 yards away. The RPG missed and

Somali hijacking: Key similarities to earlier case

Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times Saturday, February 19, 2011 Source; sfgate It is becoming a familiar tale of the Somali seas: A retired couple sets out for the trip of a lifetime, sailing the world and sharing adventures of meeting people, seeing exotic locales and experiencing the thrill of being totally free. This is what drew Jean and Scott Adam, an American couple from Southern California who have been sailing the globe for the past six years, to steer toward the Somali coast. "Djibouti is a big refueling stop," Jean Adam, a retired dentist, wrote on the couple's website. "I have NO idea what will happen in these ports, but perhaps we'll do some local touring." But Friday afternoon, their adventure took a hazardous turn when pirates hijacked their sailboat, attacking several hundred miles off the coast of Oman, the U.S. military said. Also onboard were Phyllis Macay and Robert Riggle of Seattle, according to Scott Stolnitz, a friend of the Adams. T

Inertial Advantage: Terror Watch

Source: Calcutta tube Feb 14, 2011 (Calcutta Tube): Despite enveloping uncertainty, unremitting misgovernance and widespread public perceptions of insecurity, the reality of India’s multiple terrorist and insurgent movements is that most of them are weakening. For the ninth year in a row,   total fatalities   due to terrorist and insurgent conflicts in the country continued their decline, registering a total of 1,902 deaths in 2010, as against 2,232 in 2009, and a peak of 5,839 in 2001 (all data from the South Asia Terrorism Portal database). Fatalities in 2011 currently total 117 (till February 13). The worst and steadily worsening of conflicts in India is, without dispute, the Maoist insurgency, principally spearheaded by the Communist Party of India – Maoist ( CPI-Maoist ), but including at least another 20 minor Left Wing Extremist (LWE, also called Naxalite) factions. Naxalite-related fatalities, at 1,180 in 2010, now significantly outstrip the combined total of all other terro

WikiLeaks cable revives talk of 9/11 support network

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New details surface about Qataris, U.A.E. resident who traveled in U.S. just before attack By   Michael Isikoff National investigative correspondent NBC News A State Department cable released this week by WikiLeaks has revived a lingering debate about whether the 9/11 hijackers may have had a covert “support network” within the United States that was never fully identified by the FBI before its members fled the country. The February 2010 cable, sent from the U.S. Embassy in Qatar to the State Department, asked that the Department of Homeland Security place a United Arab Emirates citizen on the terrorism “watch list” because of suspected links to the 9/11 attacks. The cable states that the suspect, identified as Mohammed Al-Mansoori, was being investigated by the FBI because he had associated with three Qatari men who had flown out of the U.S. on the eve of the attacks after allegedly spending time casing the World Trade Center and the White House. The cable was generated by fresh int