"War on Terror" Thread

[WORDISM45]

well my friend i have no reason to get involved in the specifics of this argument but the impression i got when i read this thread was that everyone that was arguing against 'anarchism' had absolutely no idea what it actually consisted of. Maybe people should read up on topics before they pass judgment (I'm not saying i haven;t done this myself before, however i like to think that i am willing to correct myself when i do)

 

anyway i'll leave it to you guys to argue about it I can't really be bothered today.

[Theo Huxtable.]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/world/asia/22pakistan.html?hp

 

December 22, 2007

 

At Least 50 Killed in Pakistan Attack

 

By DAVID ROHDE

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- A suicide attacker detonated a powerful bomb inside a crowded mosque in northwestern Pakistan on Friday, killing at least 50 people and injuring 80 as they celebrated one of Islam's major holidays with the country's former interior minister, Pakistani officials said.

 

The official, Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao, was unhurt, but his son and two grandnephews were injured in the attack. The bombing was the second assassination attempt in eight months on Mr. Sherpao, who served as the country's top law enforcement official until last month.

 

In a telephone interview, Mr. Sherpao said that the bomb exploded as he and his relatives prayed in the front row of worshipers. He said he believed that the attacker had detonated the bomb in the third or fourth row of worshipers.

 

"It was a massacre," Mr. Sherpao said, his voice shaking with anger. "I can tell you that."

 

Independent Pakistani television stations showed images of blood-spattered prayer caps and clothes scattered across a white marble courtyard outside the mosque. Trails of scarlet blood marked where the injured were dragged from the building. Dozens of pairs of shoes – those of the dead and wounded -- lay abandoned.

 

The mosque, a modest white structure, was in the former minister's family compound in his ancestral village of Sherpao. A local police official estimated that hundreds of people were inside the mosque at the time of the attack, celebrating the holiday with him. The number of dead was expected to rise through the day.

 

In an interview on a local Pakistani television station, Farman Ali, a local government official, expressed "shock" that better security arrangements were not made during Mr. Sherpao's visit.

 

In April, a suicide bomber killed 28 people in an attack on Mr. Sherpao's political party in the nearby town of Charsadda. Mr. Sherpao was slightly injured in that attack.

 

Mr. Ali, the local official, said scores of maimed and injured overwhelmed hospitals in the area, prompting local officials to declare a state of emergency. Ambulances ferried to hospitals in Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, roughly 25 miles away.

 

Four people died while being transported to Peshawar, an independent Pakistani television news station reported. It also showed images of Mr. Sherpao visiting hospital wards jammed with bewilldered men and boys maimed in the attack.

 

An attack inside a mosque during Id al-Adha, one of the most important Muslim holidays, represents an escalation of violence by militants who have carried out an unprecedented number of suicide bombings this year. Hundreds of Pakistani civilians have died in the attacks.

 

The holiday, which means "Festival of Sacrifice," marks the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage in the city of Mecca and celebrates Ibrahim's willingness to sacrifice his son when ordered to do so by God. Islam views Ibrahim, who is known as Abraham in the bible, Jesus and other biblical figures as minor prophets.

 

This year's deadliest suicide bombing occurred during a procession celebrating the return of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto to Pakistan in October. The attack, which is believed to have involved two suicide bombers, killed at least 134 people and wounded another 450, most of them volunteers in Mrs. Bhutto's party. Mrs. Bhutto was not hurt in the attack.

 

Mr. Sherpao is running for parliament in nationwide elections scheduled for Jan. 8. He and all other minister's in Mr. Musharraf's government resigned last month to allow a caretaker government to oversee elections. The practice is common in parliamentary democracies.

 

Many of the suicide bombers are believed to be trained in the country's lawless tribal areas, where 100,000 Pakistani troops have been deployed to drive out Taliban and foreign militants. Backed by members of Al Qaeda, Taliban militants based in the tribal areas have carried out a record number of suicide bombings in Pakistan and Afghanistan this year. The Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is also believed to be hiding in the area.

[Theo Huxtable.]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/21/world/europe/22belgium.html?hp

 

December 21, 2007

 

Belgium Arrests 14 in Terrorist Plot

 

By STEPHEN CASTLE and GRAHAM BOWLEY

BRUSSELS — Fourteen Islamist extremists were being held Friday on suspicion of planning to use explosives to free a convicted bomb plotter from prison, the Belgian Interior Ministry and a federal prosecutor said.

 

The Belgian prime minister, Guy Verhofstadt, said in a statement, “Other acts of violence are not ruled out.”

 

The authorities put the capital, Brussels, on a high state of alert, increasing security at main train stations, the airport and major public places where people were gathering to do their Christmas shopping.

 

The arrests came after the police raided 15 locations, most of them in Brussels, seizing explosives and arms.

 

Those detained were suspected of planning to try to break into a prison to free Nizar Trabelsi, a Tunisian former pro soccer player who was arrested days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States, in connection with a plot to drive a car bomb into an American air base in northeast Belgium. Mr. Trabelsi was convicted in 2003 and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

 

The authorities did not offer any evidence or details about their suspicions, or name the prison where Mr. Trabelsi was being held. A spokesman for the Interior Ministry, Peter Mertens, said the convict was “moved regularly.”

 

Europe is already on a state of alert because of the Christmas holidays, and the Algerian bombings last week, which killed dozens in the capital, Algiers. France and Belgium share concerns of terrorist threats from extremists among some parts of its Islamic population. France has large Algerian and Moroccan populations, and many Moroccans also live in Belgium.

 

On Thursday, the French police said they were holding five men believed to be members of a logistical support cell for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Agence France-Presse reported. That group is a longstanding terrorist network, previously called the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, which changed its name after affiliating with Osama bin Laden’s network this year.

 

The five men were part of a group of eight people — six French citizens, an Algerian and a Tunisian — who were detained early Tuesday in Paris, its outlying districts and in the Rouen region of northwest France, the news agency said, although three men were released Wednesday.

 

The newspaper Le Figaro described the arrest of the eight as “one of the biggest in 2007,” and capped months of investigation, the agency reported.

 

In November 2005, the Belgian police arrested 14 suspects in a series of raids aimed at breaking a terrorist network that the authorities said was involved in attacks on American targets in Iraq, including a suicide bombing by a Belgian woman in Baghdad in 2005. At the time, the Belgian police said the group was recruiting volunteers across Europe to assist Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, an extremist group of Sunni Iraqis that is a major force in the Iraq insurgency and that American intelligence says is foreign led.

 

Those arrests — in the cities of Charleroi, Antwerp and Riemst, as well as in Brussels — involved suspects of Belgian, Tunisian and Moroccan origin, the police said at the time.

 

Terrorist cells were believed to be using Belgium at that time as a recruiting ground and as an easy source of fake passports and other documents.

 

Stephen Castle reported from Brussels, and Graham Bowley from New York.

[metronome]

England invaded in early 19th century right? any time apart from that? (apart from september 11)

 

don't forget the war of 1812

[Theo Huxtable.]

that is the war of 1812

[angelofdeath]

"arguing against 'anarchism' :"

 

i can sympathize with anarchism, but i would advocate anarcho capitalism... so its the communist part that i have a problem with, aka abolition of private property mainly

[Blood Feast Island Man]

Warning over Pentagon war funding

 

US Defence Secretary Robert Gates has warned that the US military is in danger of running out of money for its operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

He said Congressional funding for the wars was inadequate and budget constraints were undermining planning.

 

Congress this week approved $70bn (£35bn) - just half the sum that US President George W Bush had sought.

 

But Mr Gates also said many troops could be pulled out of Iraq as planned next year thanks to better security.

 

He raised the possibility of five combat brigades returning home by July next year, with the first unit due to leave this month.

 

'Fit and starts'

 

However he said during an end-of-year news conference: "Funding the war in fits and starts is requiring us to make short-term plans and short-term decisions."

 

The defence secretary said in September he hoped US troop levels might be reduced to 100,000 by the end of 2008.

 

There are currently almost 160,000 US troops in Iraq.

 

Asked whether he still hoped to see troop levels down to 100,000 by the end of 2008, Mr Gates said he now regretted having used a specific number.

 

But he said he expected to see a reduction in the number of brigade combat teams.

 

The current declared US plan is to cut these from 20 to 15 by the middle of next year, leaving troop levels in Iraq at approximately 130,000.

 

The deployment of 30,000 extra troops in the Baghdad area this year - the so-called surge strategy - has led to a lull in the violence.

 

Mr Gates said the improvement meant that Gen David Petraeus, the senior US commander in Iraq, could "decide to bring out the first five teams by July".

 

"The first of those is coming out this month. My hope has been that the circumstances on the ground will continue to improve," he added.

 

Mr Gates told reporters the challenge for next year would be "to sustain the gains we have achieved".

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7157017.stm

[El Mamerro]

Benazir Bhutto just got smoked by a suicide bomb.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7161590.stm

[Theo Huxtable.]

wow that's sad. didn't she just survive a suicide attack just a couple weeks ago?

 

and it was fucked how he did it. shot her first then set off the bomb. wanting to make sure she was killed.

 

pakistan seems to be the new al qaeda base.

 

personally i think pakistan should let US troops go into the northern tribal areas.

[WORDISM45]

 

personally i think pakistan should let US troops go into the northern tribal areas.

 

assuming the interests of pervez consist of maintaining power I don;t think US forces in his country would od him any favours with his popularity among the people. Not that this was ever the crucial factor behind his rule, however it would look very hypocritical of the US to continue supporting this dictator when he has even lower approval after a US incursion

[Theo Huxtable.]

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jkg42P4XnvVzsg1BEarlO-scsJ8A

 

New Bin Laden Tape Expected To Be Released Soon; Addressing Iraq

 

1 hour ago

 

WASHINGTON (AFP) — The head of the Al-Qaeda network Osama bin Laden is expected to release a taped message on Iraq, a group monitoring extremist online forums said Thursday.

 

The 56-minute tape by the hunted militant is addressed to Iraq and an extremist organization based there, the Islamic State of Iraq, said the US-based SITE monitoring institute, citing announcements on "jihadist forums."

 

It said the release was "impending" but did not say whether the message was an audio or video tape.

 

The message is titled "The Way to Contain the Conspiracies" and is produced by Al-Qaeda's "multimedia arm" As-Sahab, it added.

 

Bin Laden has claimed responsibility for the attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001, which killed nearly 3,000 people and prompted the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.

 

Despite a massive manhunt and a 25-million-dollar bounty on his head, he has evaded capture and has regularly taunted the United States and its allies through warnings issued on video and audio cassettes.

 

He was last heard from at the end of November in a message aired on the Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera, warning Europeans to break with the United States and leave Afghanistan.

[lord_casek]

that "organization" is based in virginia and seems to get ahold of bin laden tapes pretty regularly. a lot of them have been known fakes they put together from old footage.

[Theo Huxtable.]

[Theo Huxtable.]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4256675597508654859&q=world+trade+center+site%3Avideo.google.com&total=1185&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=0

 

couple films what they saw on 9/11 from their apartment (looks like it's filmed from Battery Park City)

[Theo Huxtable.]

i have always wondered why al qaeda has never really done much when it came to targetting israel. i mean, i think most radical muslim groups and even moderates view israel with great disdain. yet, most attacks within israel usually come from local muslim extremist groups. some of these groups may be inspired and/or supported by al qaeda though, but why hasn't al qaeda itself carried out large scale terror attacks within israel?

 

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/12/29/binladen.message.ap/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

 

Purported bin Laden message has warnings for Iraq, Israel

 

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Osama bin Laden warned Iraq's Sunni Arabs against fighting al Qaeda and vowed to expand the terror group's holy war to Israel in a new audiotape Saturday, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."

 

Most of the 56-minute tape dealt with Iraq, apparently al Qaeda's latest attempt to keep supporters in Iraq unified at a time when the U.S. military claims to have al Qaeda's Iraq branch on the run.

 

The tape did not mention Pakistan or the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, though Pakistan's government has blamed al Qaeda and the Taliban for her death on Thursday.

 

That suggested the tape was made before the assassination.

 

Bin Laden's comments offered an unusually direct attack on Israel, stepping up al Qaeda's attempts to use the Israeli-Arab conflict to rally supporters.

 

Israel has warned of growing al Qaeda activity in Palestinian territory, though terror network is not believed to have taken a strong role there so far.

 

"We intend to liberate Palestine, the whole of Palestine from the (Jordan) river to the sea," he said, threatening "blood for blood, destruction for destruction."

 

"We will not recognize even one inch for Jews in the land of Palestine as other Muslim leaders have," bin Laden said.

 

In Iraq, a number of Sunni Arab tribes in western Anbar province have formed a coalition fighting al Qaeda-linked insurgents that U.S. officials credit for deeply reducing violence in the province. The U.S. military has been working to form similar "Awakening Councils" in other areas of Iraq.

 

Bin Laden said Sunni Arabs who have joined the Awakening Councils "have betrayed the nation and brought disgrace and shame to their people. They will suffer in life and in the afterlife."

 

White House spokesman Tony Fratto said bin Laden's tape shows that al Qaeda's aim is to block democracy and freedom for all Iraqis.

 

"It also reminds us that the mission to defeat al Qaeda in Iraq is critically important and must succeed," Fratto said. "The Iraqi people -- every day, and in increasing numbers -- are choosing freedom and standing against the murderous, hateful ideology of AQI. And we stand with them."

 

Several hours before the tape was issued, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, said al Qaeda was becoming increasingly fearful of losing the support of Sunni Arabs and had begun targeting the leaders of the Awakening Councils.

 

Petraeus said al Qaeda attaches "enormous importance" to "these tribes that have turned against them, and to the general sense that Sunni Arab communities have rejected them more and more around Iraq."

 

"They are trying to counter this, and they have done so by attacking them," which is increasingly turning Sunnis against al Qaeda, he said.

 

In the audiotape, bin Laden denounced Abdul-Sattar Abu Risha, the former leader of the Anbar Awakening Council, who was killed in a September bombing claimed by al Qaeda.

 

"The most evil of the traitors are those who trade away their religion for the sake of their mortal life," bin Laden said.

 

Bin Laden said U.S. and Iraqi officials are seeking to set up a "national unity government" joining the country's Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds.

 

"Our duty is to foil these dangerous schemes, which try to prevent the establishment of an Islamic state in Iraq, which would be a wall of resistance against American schemes to divide Iraq," he said.

 

He called on Iraq's Sunni Arabs to rally behind the Islamic State of Iraq, the insurgent umbrella group led by al Qaeda. Besides the Awakening Councils, some Sunni insurgent groups that continue to fight the Americans have rejected the Islamic State.

 

Bin Laden said Sunnis should pledge their allegiance to Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, the little known "emir" or leader of the Islamic State of Iraq. U.S. officials have claimed that al-Baghdadi does not exist, saying al Qaeda created the name to give its coalition the illusion of an Iraqi leadership.

 

"Failure to give allegiance to the emir after he has been endorsed leads to great evils," bin Laden warned. "Emir Abu Omar would rather have his neck severed than betray the Muslims ... Emir Abu Omar and his brothers are not one of those who accept compromise or meeting the enemy halfway."

 

The authenticity of the tape could not be independently confirmed. But the voice resembled that of bin Laden. The tape was posted on an Islamic militant Web site where al Qaeda's media arm, Al-Sahab, issues the group's messages.

 

The tape was the fifth message released by bin Laden this year, a flurry of activity after he went more than a year without issuing any tapes. The messages began with a September 8 video that showed bin Laden for the first time in nearly three years. The other messages this year have been audiotapes.

 

 

In an October tape, bin Laden sought to patch up splits between Iraqi insurgent factions, urging them to unite with the Islamic State of Iraq -- the insurgent coalition led by al Qaeda. He took a conciliatory stance, chiding even al Qaeda's followers for being too "extremist" in their positions toward other insurgents.

 

Bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri took a sharper tone in a December 16 video, branding as "traitors" those who work with the anti-al Qaeda tribal councils and calling for Sunnis to purge anyone cooperating with the Americans.

[Theo Huxtable.]

i think december will be the least deadliest month for US troops in iraq since the war began.

 

at the end of the month let's see how close i am to being right.

 

"al qaeda in iraq" has been getting their asses handed to them from so many different angles that they no longer have the propensity to ignite violence to the same scale that they once did. however, al qaeda in iraq may be down, but don't count them out.

 

 

 

my prediction came true. december '07 had the lowest rate of U.S. deaths in the entire Iraq War, with 21 deaths in 31 days; an average of 0.68 deaths per day. february 2004 was once the least deadliest month of the war, and although it had 20 deaths, it only had 29 days in that month; an average of 0.69 deaths per month.

 

i think we will continue see a downward trend, and in the coming months we'll see months with less than 20 U.S. deaths per day.

[Guest shai_hulud]

I still think that's twenty too many, Theo.

 

I just hope this madness ends before the decade is over. For the sake of the Iraqis, and for the sake of the troops.

 

That's all I want. I don't want any more killing.

[Theo Huxtable.]

new video of al qaeda member adam gadahn, aka azzam the american (azzam al amiriki) tearing up his u.s. passport

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3o-ylD4wuoY

[>>TYEsR1<<]

fuck iraq kill them all

[Theo Huxtable.]

Iraq PM says his troops are preparing for major operation and a "decisive" battle with Al Qaeda...

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/01/25/iraq.main/

[Dawood]

new video of al qaeda member adam gadahn, aka azzam the american (azzam al amiriki) tearing up his u.s. passport

 

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3o-ylD4wuoY

 

I can't say for sure, but what I do know is, either this guy is a kharijee extremist following the ways of the blood thirsty maniacs or he's a Jewish agent dressing up as a muslim.

 

I found this as a comment on youtube........Adam Gadahn is none other than Adam Pearlman, the grandson of former Anti-Defamation League Board member. Pearlman used to write Neo-Zionist articles which used to bash Islam and Muslims. He even beat-up some Muslims in a Mosque. He is a Mossad, CIA, or some type of agent. A fake Muslim out to deceive the ignorant.

 

And Allah knows best

[Theo Huxtable.]

Al Qaeda's "No. 3", behind Osama Bin Laden & Ayman Al Zawahiri, Killed In Pakistan

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/31/alqaeda.death/index.html

 

 

The FBI ranked him as the 4th most wanted terrorist, behind Bin Laden, Al Zawahri, and Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

 

 

What the fuck ever happened to Mullah Omar? That dude just disappeared. At least we still hear about Bin Laden and Al Zawahri.

[Theo Huxtable.]

"Demonic" militants in Iraq take advantage of mentally-handicapped women and use them as bombers, detonted with remote control,

in yesterday's bombings in Baghdad that killed 98 and wounded over 200:

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/02/01/iraq.main/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

[WORDISM45]

If it is true that they used mentally disabled women as unwitting bombers that is by far the most disgusting thing i've heard to date in relation to terrorism

[Theo Huxtable.]

If it is true that they used mentally disabled women as unwitting bombers that is by far the most disgusting thing i've heard to date in relation to terrorism

 

 

Disgusting, yes. But not surprising to me in the least. I never put any boundries on the disgusting deeds that these terrorists could contrive. These people are evil selfish animals and the only language they understand is violence, and thus the only way we should deal with them is by either killing them or placing them in prisons for life.

[Juan Fuentes]

http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/01/31/6768/

 

over 1 million iraqi deaths due to the conflict

[lord_casek]

I can't say for sure, but what I do know is, either this guy is a kharijee extremist following the ways of the blood thirsty maniacs or he's a Jewish agent dressing up as a muslim.

 

I found this as a comment on youtube........Adam Gadahn is none other than Adam Pearlman, the grandson of former Anti-Defamation League Board member. Pearlman used to write Neo-Zionist articles which used to bash Islam and Muslims. He even beat-up some Muslims in a Mosque. He is a Mossad, CIA, or some type of agent. A fake Muslim out to deceive the ignorant.

 

And Allah knows best

 

 

 

dude, he was writing anti-arab shit before he was an al-qaeda agent. then he was into death metal.

 

suddenly he's an al-qaeda media man?

 

his grandpa was a chief intelligence agent for the israeli's....and work for the ADL.

[ILOTSMYBRAIN]

Ya if that is true that is pretty terrible.

 

Honestly doesn't go against everything they preach, that is to strap bombs to mentally disturbed women and sacrifice them instead of themselves?

[MayorMeanBeans]

juan cole's take on the bombing- http://www.juancole.com/

 

"Contrary to what this AP squib implies, the bombings suggest neither that "al-Qaeda" is running out of men nor that it is desperate. Women were used because they would be less likely to be closely searched, in a society where gender segregation and female honor and chastity are important values. The story that the women had Downs syndrome seems unlikely to be true; you wouldn't trust a sensitive terror plot to someone without their full faculties. Rather, the bombings show that the Sunni Arab guerrillas seeking to destabilize Iraq have not been defeated and are still capable of making a big strike right under the noses of the surge troops. And that is how guerrilla war is-- large conventional forces find it difficult to curb it."

[Juan Fuentes]

is there any hard evidence showing women or anyone where responsible for those attacks yet?