I missed it. You know, work, earning a living, all that jazz. I’m going to read it tonight or tomorrow but I’ve caught enough bits and pieces to feel I can approve of the gist of it.
Strike that. After reading some of the British media reaction, I feel safe in saying I strongly approve.
One of Afghanistan’s most powerful warlords survived an apparent al-Qa’ida assassination attempt when a suicide bomber blew himself up just yards away at a prayer service yesterday.
Twenty five people were injured, two critically, but General Abdul Rashid Dostum was shaken but unharmed after a bearded man, pretending to be a beggar, detonated explosives strapped to his body.
General Dostum told a local television station: “After Eid prayers, I greeted some people and when I wanted to put on my shoes, my bodyguards were trying to stop people coming toward me.
“Suddenly there was a very big explosion. Fortunately, with the grace of God, I was not injured.”
General Dostum’s brother and two of his bodyguards were among the wounded. Qadir Dostum said: “I was embracing my brother, then suddenly something exploded and I was injured in my face.”
The explosion happened just behind General Dostum as worshippers queued up to kiss his lapels, apparently as guards prevented the bomber from approaching the warlord.
The prayers, held in General Dostum’s fiefdom of Sheberghan in northern Afghanistan, were to mark the beginning of the Muslim Festival of Eid al-Adha.
A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it was an act of revenge for General Dostum’s alleged killing of captured Taliban fighters in 2001. Mullah Abdul Hakim Latifi said one of its members had mounted the attack to avenge the alleged slaughter. “Thousands of Taliban had surrendered, but Dostum and his men killed them,” Mullah Latifi said in a satellite telephone call from an undisclosed location. “We will attack any Afghans who are allies of the Americans or the present government.”
The body of the attacker, who was believed to be in his twenties, was too mutilated to be identified. Most suicide attacks in Afghanistan are believed to have been carried out by foreign al-Qa’ida operatives, perhaps at the behest of the Taliban. Police later claimed to have arrested a Bangladeshi in connection with the attack, which coincided with a defiant call to arms from the fugitive Taliban leader, Mullah Omar, who recently scorned talks about amnesties for low-level guerrillas.
General Dostum is one of Afghanistan’s most hated men and has a long list of enemies, although the nature of the assassination bid pointed firmly at al-Qa’ida or one of its allies.
Analysts warned that if a rival warlord was eventually blamed for the attack, further violence could be expected. “The important thing now is Dostum’s perception of this attack, whether he sees this as an attack from the outside, from the Taliban or al-Qa’ida, or from the inside, from his enemies in Kabul,” Reuters quoted one diplomat from northern Afghanistan as saying.
General Dostum is blamed for killing thousands of civilians and is notorious for repeatedly switching sides during the country’s years of civil war until the Taliban drove him into exile. He returned to power as an ally of the US in 2001 and came fourth in last year’s presidential election. The ethnic Uzbek strongman is particularly hated by the Taliban because he stands accused of killing thousands of their fighters by cramming them in metal containers where they suffocated in 2001. He rarely emerges from his fortified palaces and is always surrounded by security guards.
I always love to see failure by the terrorists but, after reading about this warlord, it seems there was no way humanity could’ve lost in this case.
In a related point, Warlords was one of the few paddle-controlled games for the Atari 2600 that was actually fun, especially if you had four players going at it.
A tape, a terrorist pep-rally speech supposedly by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, has shown that one of the top bad guys is now taking that long dirt nap, Fallujah-style.
A speaker believed to be al-Qaida’s leader in Iraq said in an audiotape found on the Internet Thursday that one of his top lieutenants was killed in last year’s U.S.-led assault on the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
The speaker, claiming to be Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, said top aide Omar Hadid was killed during fighting in November when U.S. and Iraqi forces recaptured the city.
It was the first public report by the insurgents that Hadid, a leading guerrilla commander in the city, was dead. It was widely believed that Hadid, who was in his 30s, fled the city as it was being attacked.
“Days after the battle began, one of the commanders suggested to brother Omar Hadid and brother Abu Harith Mohammed Jasem al-Issawi to shave their beards and leave Fallujah through a safe exit so that they can start working from outside,” the speaker said.
“The two heroes refused, saying: ‘By God we will not leave as long as there is one immigrant fighting in the city.’ They were martyred. May God’s mercy be upon them.”
The authenticity of the tape could not immediately be verified.
Al-Zarqawi hinted that the battle of Fallujah was the beginning of a long war.
“Ferocious wars are not determined by the outcome of days or weeks,” the speaker on the tape said. “They take their time until it’s time to announce the victory of one of the parties.”
Target Centermass translation: “Sure, we got our asses handed to us in our very own base. Sure, the Americans aren’t cutting and running like in Beirut and Mogadishu. Sure, I bailed out before anything even went down but c’mon, guys, you can still rise up and get out there and die. I’ll hopefully still be back here to behead any unarmed, bound folks you can bring me.”
So long, Omar Hadid, we hardly knew ya.
Too much time lost on PC maintenance and laundry. Sorry, folks, maybe tomorrow. I know, I’ve been slacking this week but I’ll make it up to you.
For what it’s worth, I found this an interesting read about censorship and threats in the land of Islam.
Relations are simmering between Iran and the U.S.
Iran has acquired a strong military capability and will deter any attacks against it, Defence Minister Ali Shamkhani said.
Shamkhani, speaking on Monday at a technology conference, said Iran did not fear the United States, which has already toppled the fundamentalist Taliban in Afghanistan and dictator Saddam Hussein in Iraq, both Iran’s enemies.
The defiant comments came the same day that US President George Bush said he would not rule out military action against Iran over its nuclear program.
“We can say we have developed a might that no country can attack us because they do not have accurate information about our military capabilities,” Shamkhani said in the speech, which was made available on Tuesday by the Defence Ministry.
“We have produced equipment at a rapid pace with the minimum investment that has resulted in the greatest deterrent force,” the ministry statement quoted Shamkhani as saying.
Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Seymour Hersh reported in Monday’s edition of The New Yorker magazine that Bush and his national security advisers had been “conducting secret reconnaissance missions inside Iran at least since last summer” for the purpose of gathering intelligence and targeting information.
US Defence Department officials strongly criticised Hersh’s report.
….
The toppling of Saddam in neighbouring Iraq has worried many Iranians about the possibility that Iran would be next in America’s list. Bush has accused Iran of being part of an “axis of evil” with North Korea and prewar Iraq.
The United States has accused Iran of seeking a covert nuclear weapons program. Iran has denied the charge, saying its nuclear program is geared only toward generating electricity, not producing bombs.
Hersh, who broke the story about the Abu Ghraib prisoner torture scandal in Iraq, wrote that he had repeatedly been told by intelligence and military officials, on condition of anonymity that “the next strategic target was Iran.”
Bush administration officials however, rejected the report, saying it was inaccurate.
European Union officials said on Tuesday they would oppose a military option against Iran. Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn, whose country holds the EU presidency, said they hoped to persuade Bush during a summit later this month that the only way to solve a standoff over Iran’s nuclear program was through diplomatic means.
Shamkhani stopped short of predicting the mother of all battles.
I guess I’m just not in the mood tonight for digging through the news. I try to keep in mind that this blog is a hobby — I don’t want it to ever feel like it has become a job that needs to be done, especially since I’m paying to do this. If I ever went the route of adding advertisements, that may be a different matter. Before I say good night, I wanted to call your attention to a couple of links.
First, the big story of the day, the kidnapping of a Catholic archbishop is covered well and updated by Dr. Rusty Shackleford at The Jawa Report (listed as My Pet Jawa in my blogroll).
Second, Eric Cowperthwaite at Eric’s Random Musings contemplates whether he is a milblogger and examines the impact of his military experience on his current life.
Third, you may notice a new button on this site representing C.U.B., the Coalition of Unpaid Bloggers. This idea is courtesy of The Fire Ant Gazette, a new addition to my blogroll, and ties in well with my earlier statement that this blog is a hobby that I enjoy and want to keep enjoying. That said, good night, y’all.
I am tempted to declare that whatever doctrine the Armed Forces are working on, they have got it wrong. I am also tempted to declare that it does not matter that they have got it wrong. What does matter is their capacity to get it right quickly, when the moment arrives.
—Sir Michael Howard
Back in October, I asked the following question:
In a somewhat unrelated aside, how long into the resurrection of the Iraqi government and military expertise do we begin working on the martial aspect needed for eventual success, aviation and air power abilities?
Well, in a very limited sense, the answer is now.
A defunct squadron of the Iraqi air force was reactivated Sunday and received a delivery of three C-130E Hercules cargo planes from the United States, the U.S. military said.
Iraqi airmen celebrated the arrival of the planes by slaughtering five sheep in a ceremony at an airfield and marking the planes with blood.
The 23rd Iraqi air force squadron, first created in 1965, is responsible for airlifting military personnel and equipment. Before accepting the new planes, flight crews and mechanics completed four months of training in neighboring Jordan.
They will receive additional instruction in flying and maintaining the aircraft from U.S. Air Force commanders in Iraq and on flight simulators in the United States.
Saddam Hussein’s air force all but disappeared during the 1991 Gulf War and efforts have only recently begun to rebuild the fleet. In November, the United Arab Emirates delivered four six-seater Com Air 7SL aircraft, four Bell Jet Ranger Helicopters and several other planes.
I do wonder about the current status of the more lethal aircraft of Saddam’s era. What became of the fighters that were flown to Iran or found in Iraq? Were they destroyed or are we waiting until it’s time to take the training wheels off the Iraqi Air Force? I’ll see if I can find any information but, if anyone has any knowledge in the area, please feel free to contribute in the comments.
You have to love when a stupid act causes an even more pinheaded reaction.
Several German lawmakers have called for a Europe-wide ban on Nazi insignia following widespread outrage after Britain’s Prince Harry wore a swastika as part of a costume at a high-society gathering.
Prince Harry, who went to a costume party dressed in an Afrika Korps uniform with a swastika armband, “really lacked taste,” said Wolfgang Bosbach, deputy leader of Germany’s conservative Christian Democratic parliamentary group.
Bosbach said it was possible European justice ministers at an upcoming meeting would discuss bringing in a European prohibition on displaying the swastika and other Nazi signs. These already are banned in Germany, which nonetheless has a worrying problem of xenophobic neo-Nazi activities, particularly in the former Communist east of the country.
“All of Europe has suffered in the past because of the crimes of the Nazis, therefore it would be logical for Nazi symbols to be banned all over Europe,” added Silvana Koch-Merin, who heads Germany’s liberal Free Democrats in the European Parliament. She also called for the question of a ban to be placed on the agenda of the next meeting of justice ministers.
This calls into question Ms. Koch-Merin’s grasp of the concept of logic.
The Social Democrats deputy parliamentary leader, Michael Müller, agreed that study was needed to find out how a German-style anti-Nazi law could be transposed to the rest of Europe. Dieter Wiefelspütz, a Social Democratic party specialist on justice questions, said Nazi symbols were reminders of a “humiliating” and “deathly” concept of humanity.
But expanding the ban on Nazi symbols across the EU is unlikely to happen, as many countries consider their display — no matter how repugnant — is protected by democratic principles of free speech.
The young prince’s choice of costume was indeed tasteless and poorly thought out for someone so much in the public’s eye. Also, it goes without saying that the history of the Nazis is obviously atrocious. However, to ban a symbol because of this history is ridiculous. What next, a ban on the letter “K” because of its prominent role in the acronym KKK? Beyond the free speech aspect, I would counter that to ban the swastika would only add to its attraction among those seeking to rebel against society.
This is good for a chuckle.
The U.S. military rejected a 1994 proposal to develop an “aphrodisiac” to spur homosexual activity among enemy troops but is hard at work on other less-than-lethal weapons, defense officials said Sunday.
The idea of fostering homosexuality among the enemy figured in a declassified six-year, $7.5 million request from a laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio for funding of non-lethal chemical weapon research.
The proposal, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request, called for developing chemicals affecting human behavior “so that discipline and morale in enemy units is adversely affected.”
“One distasteful but completely non-lethal example would be strong aphrodisiacs, especially if the chemical also caused homosexual behavior,” said the document, obtained by the Sunshine Project. The watchdog group posted the partly blacked-out, three-page document on its Web site.
Lt. Col. Barry Venable of the Army, a Defense Department spokesman, said: “This suggestion arose essentially from a brainstorming session, and it was rejected out of hand.”
The Air Force Research Laboratory also suggested using chemicals that could be sprayed on enemy positions to attract stinging and biting bugs, rodents and larger animals.
Another idea involved creating “severe and lasting halitosis” to help sniff out fighters trying to blend with civilians.
The U.S. military remains committed to developing less-than-lethal weapons that pass stringent legal reviews and are consistent with international treaties, said Captain Dan McSweeny of the Marine Corps, a spokesman for the Pentagon unit spearheading their introduction.
“We feel it’s very important to offer our deployed service members and their commanders a greater range of options in dealing with increasingly complex operational environments,” said McSweeny, of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.
It all seems rather silly, but it’s good to know the folks in defense are putting some creative skullsweat into their efforts.
I wonder, however, had we developed the homosexual aphrodisiac weapon, what would the ramifications be on Don’t Ask-Don’t Tell in a friendly-fire incident?