News from the Long War, Thread 4

Various | 4/15/07 | Knitting a Conundrum and Others

[Knitting A Conundrum]

Thread 4



Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, our nation has fought a global war against violent extremists who use terrorism as their weapon of choice, and who seek to destroy our free way of life. Our enemies seek weapons of mass destruction and, if they are successful, will likely attempt to use them in their conflict with free people everywhere. Currently, the struggle is centered in Iraq and Afghanistan, but we will need to be prepared and arranged to successfully defend our nation and its interests around the globe for years to come. DOD

Our enemies include all the Muslims who dream of knocking Western Civilization off its perch atop humanity’s dung heap. Islam is fractured into any number of sects, tribes and ethnic groups, but the dream of destroying us cuts across all the fault lines. Islamic terrorists are merely the tip of a very large spear.

J. Peter Mulhern, the American Thinker, September 18

The determination behind that fight is real, the hatred is real, and the excuses for doing this are very real in the minds of those who have decided to walk that path. We can respond in two ways: Try to ignore or negotiate with people who do not want to negotiate in good faith, because what they want is our destruction, or to stand up against the darkness of those who see all of us, our way of life, our culture and our aspirations as something worth eliminating.

Either: "And God willing, with the force of God behind it, we shall soon experience a world without the United States and Zionism," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Or: "With vigilance, determination, courage, we will defeat the enemies of freedom, and we will leave behind a more peaceful world for our children and our grandchildren." GW Bush.

Here's where I will post news and info about the Long War. Let me know if you're interested.

Thread 1

Thread 2

Thread 3

[Bahbah]

May. 21, 2007 10:08 | Updated May. 21, 2007 15:03
Hamas: Israel will be wiped off the map
By JPOST.COM STAFF

Voices from within Hamas called out loudly for Israel’s destruction on Monday, following an IAF attack on a Hamas lawmaker’s home Sunday night as part of ongoing IDF operations against Kassam rocket fire.

A senior Hamas leader in Gaza declared Monday morning that it was signed and sealed within his party that Israel would be wiped off the map and replaced by a Palestinian State, Israel Radio reported. He added that rockets and missiles were the means of removing Israel from the picture.

Meanwhile, a Hamas-affiliated group in the PA parliament called for suicide attacks and other violence against IDF troops in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the strikes. The organization’s armed wing, Izzadin Kassam, threatened the same and warned Sderot residents that even fleeing to Ashkelon would not protect them from rocket attacks.

According to Army Radio, IDF troops operating in Gaza were ordered to keep alert for possible kidnapping attempts or attacks on soldiers.

More at the link: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1178708651048&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

[Bahbah]

Fox is actually covering the Lebanon situation live.

[Bahbah]

Big battle going on in Tripoli. The woman on the phone with Fox is all upset that civilians are going to be hurt. You can hear the gunfire in the background.

Tank fire as well.

I hope that lady on the phone is wearing a helmet and bullet proof vest.

[Bahbah]

Coalition arrests 250 insurgents in wide-scale operation in Al-Anbar
KUNA ^ | May 21 2007

Around 4,000 Marines carried out a wide-scale operation in Al-Anbar province which led to the arrest of 250 insurgents, a Multi-National Forces press release said.

“Regimental Combat Team 2 and elements of the Iraqi Army’s 7th Division completed Operation Harris Ba’sil after eight weeks of interdicting and disrupting enemy routes and safe havens outside of the major cities of the Euphrates River valley in western Al-Anbar province,” the press release added.

The operation, dubbed “Valiant Guardian”, involved nearly 4,000 Marines, soldiers and sailors “covering most of the 30,000 square miles of RCT-2’s operating area.” “We uncovered more than 250 caches, arrested over 250 suspected insurgents and discovered over 100 improvised explosive devices,” said Lt. Col. Michael Manning, operations officer for RCT-2.

“We clearly surprised them, the number of caches and detainees attest to that but more importantly, we let the enemy know that they can’t hide from us.” RCT-2’s operating area stretches from the Syrian border city of Al-Qa’im down to the town of Hit, located northwest of Ramadi.

Link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1837186/posts

[Bahbah]

U.S. military: Architect of U.S. troop abductions killed
POSTED: 1:44 a.m. EDT, May 21, 2007

Story Highlights• Sheikh Azhar al-Dulaymi was killed Saturday, U.S. military says

• Al-Dulaymi’s killing came during an operation in Baghdad’s Sadr City

• Suspect also involved in a mass kidnapping at Ministry of Higher Education

• It’s unclear how al-Dulaymi was fatally wounded, according to military release

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — U.S. forces have killed a man identified as the ringleader of the January 20 attack on U.S. troops in Karbala, Iraq, that left five Americans dead, military spokesman Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told CNN’s “Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer.”

Sheikh Azhar al-Dulaymi was killed Saturday during an operation in Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood, according to an unclassified U.S. military presentation obtained by CNN.

But Caldwell said the death occurred Friday. (Watch how the insurgent gunmen carefully orchestrated their attack on U.S. troops )

“We’ve been pursuing this guy relentlessly,” he said. “Anybody who kidnaps an American soldier and murders them we’re going to continue to hunt down.”

In the January attack, a group of armed insurgents “disguised as American soldiers, driving American vehicles, speaking English” raided a military compound in Karbala, killing one U.S. soldier at the scene and kidnapping four others, who were later slain, Caldwell said.

According to the military’s release, al-Dulaymi — who was armed — was trying to hide on the roof of a building when coalition forces arrived on the scene to capture him.

The release did not detail how he was wounded, but said he died as coalition forces were taking him to a military medical facility.

The U.S. military has received intelligence reports that al-Dulaymi received training from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, “including training on how to conduct terrorist-style kidnappings,” the military release said.

The release said al-Dulaymi is suspected of having been involved in a mass kidnapping at Iraq’s Ministry of Higher Education building last November.

As many as 80 gunmen clad in old and new Iraqi National Police uniforms kidnapped approximately 70 people at the Ministry’s building in central Baghdad on November 14.

All of those abducted were later released.

Link: http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/05/20/karbala.dead/index.html

[BurbankKarl]

I am watching coverage of the SECOND car bomb on CNN Pipeline right now. Exploded in a rich area of East Beirut, called Verdun....

Ten wounded as bomb blast rocks Lebanese capital
By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Tuesday, May 22, 2007

BEIRUT, May 21, 2007 (AFP) - ten people were wounded as a bomb blast rocked an upmarket district west Beirut late on Monday, setting cars ablaze and damaging buildings, Lebanese police and medics said.

Police said the bomb placed under a parked car exploded outside the Russian cultural centre in the residential district of Verdun. Ambulances and firefighters with sirens blaring raced to the scene, covered by thick smoke.

Hospital sources revised an earlier casualty toll to 10 wounded, as police said the injuries were mostly light and caused by flying glass.

A fire also broke out on the fourth storey of a commercial centre, with shops on the ground floor and offices above. Windows were shattered in a wide radius of the high-security area which is home to several prominent figures.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb

[Bahbah]

What happened to the cease fire?

[BurbankKarl]

Lebanese tanks pounded the headquarters of a group with suspected links to al Qaeda in a Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli Sunday after the northern city's worst clashes in two decades killed 22 soldiers and 17 militants.

[BurbankKarl]

Cease fire? This is Al Qaeda vs Lebanese Army

[BurbankKarl]

A building burns after an explosion on Verdun street in west Beirut May 21, 2007.

Oh man, a perfectly good Z-28 in the rubble!

[Bahbah]

Cease fire? This is Al Qaeda vs Lebanese Army

Yes, I know, but I saw somewhere that they had agreed to a cease fire. It could have been completely wrong information.

[BurbankKarl]

oh, they are trying to scuttle the Int’l tribunal

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

Games are over. Good video.

[Uncle Ike]

Good morning, everybody!!

Is it possible?? Be still, my heart!!

Israeli minister says Palestinian PM a target
Reuters ^ | May 22, 2007

Posted on 05/22/2007 12:39:14 AM CDT by West Coast Conservative

Israel could kill Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas as part of a retaliation campaign for rocket salvoes by the dominant Islamist group in the Gaza Strip, an Israeli minister said on Tuesday.

Israel has escalated its threats against Hamas political leaders and launched air strikes and ground fire that have killed 27 Palestinians during a week-old flare-up in cross-border violence.

Asked if Haniyeh was on Israel’s hit-list, Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh said in a radio interview: “I’ll put it like this — there is no one who is in the circle of commanders and leaders in Hamas who is immune from a strike.

“For what does political Hamas do? It gives the operational approval, if not the actual ratification, to those who are doing the fighting,” Sneh told Israel Radio.

“When someone preaches that the State of Israel should be destroyed, he is not in the political echelon, he is a terrorist in a suit.”

Hamas’s 1988 founding charter calls for the Jewish state’s destruction but, since taking power in Palestinian elections last year, the group has proposed a long-term truce with Israel.

A senior Israeli defence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters last June that Israel did not hold Haniyeh responsible for the actions of Hamas’s armed wing.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1837614/posts

[Uncle Ike]

And more good news....

Lebanese government orders army to finish off Fatah Islam
Reuters ^ | May 22, 2007

Posted on 05/22/2007 3:05:05 AM CDT by West Coast Conservative

The Lebanese government has authorized the army to “finish off” Islamic militants fighting Lebanese troops for the third straight day Tuesday in a refugee camp in the country’s north.

The decision by the Cabinet of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora reflected the government’s determination to pursue the Islamic militants who staged attacks on Lebanese troops on Sunday and Monday, killing 29 soldiers. Some 20 militants have also been killed, as well as an undetermined number of civilians.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1837636/posts
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First the Ethiopians in Somalia, and now the Lebanese, have successfully ignored the handwringing about “hearts and minds”....

Could this be a trend??

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

Good morning Ike - late guzzling coffee.

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

"First the Ethiopians in Somalia, and now the Lebanese, have successfully ignored the handwringing about “hearts and minds”...."

I hope so. It seems the will to survive overcame the fear of reprisals.

[Uncle Ike]

” late guzzling coffee. “

Good morning, Workerbee —

Never too late to guzzle coffee.....

(I woke up this morning before the coffee-maker timer went off, and had to suffer while it was a-brewin’.. How spoiled is that??)

;~)

[Uncle Ike]

This is one to keep half-an-eye on —

England - Charge In ‘Extraordinarily Grave Crime’ (Litvinenko polonium murder)
Sky News (excerpt) ^ | May 22, 2007

Posted on 05/22/2007 4:52:43 AM CDT by HAL9000

Excerpt -

A Moscow based man is to be charged in connection with the murder of the former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) has said it will ask for the extradition of a former KGB agent Andrei Lugovoy.

At a news conference Director of Public Prosecutions Sir Ken Macdonald said: “ I have today concluded that the evidence given to us by the police is sufficient to charge Andrei Lugovoy with the murder of Mr Litvinenko by deliberate poisoning.

“I have instructed CPS lawyers to take immediate steps to seek the early extradition of Andrei Lugovoy from Russia to the United Kingdom, so that he may be charged with murder - and be brought swiftly before a court in London to be prosecuted for this extraordinarily grave crime.”

~ snip ~

(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1837657/posts
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Putin’s response to this should be instructive — stonewall or cooperate??

[WorkerbeeCitizen]

I don’t believe Putin will stonewall - Firs he will deny it, then he’ll tell England to pound sand or just NO.