The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

The mysterious identity of the "King of the North" and "Small Horn" discussed here. The "Great War" of Daniel 10:1 (NIV) discussed here. The heavenly & earthly establishment of God's Kingdom discussed here at length. Answers such questions as when does Jesus' Kingdom Rule begin and end.

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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#181 Post by Sunshine » Wed Feb 22, 2012 10:23 am

Four Killed, Many Wounded In Afghan Koran Protests - Report

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Afghan protesters hold rocks during a protest near a U.S. military base in Kabul February 22, 2012. Several people were wounded on Wednesday, witnesses said, when shots were fired as hundreds of angry Afghans gathered in a second day of violent clashes after copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, were burned at NATO's main base in Afghanistan. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
Reuters
By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi
Article Source
Wednesday, February 22, 2012

KABUL (Reuters) - Four people were shot dead and dozens wounded in protests in Afghanistan which flared for a second day on Wednesday in several cities over the burning of copies of the Koran, Islam's holy book, at NATO's main base in the country, officials said.

The American Embassy said its staff were in "lockdown" and travel had been suspended as thousands of people expressed fury over the burning, a public relations disaster for U.S.-led NATO forces fighting Taliban militants ahead of the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by the end of 2014.

The U.S. government and the American commander of NATO-led forces in Afghanistan apologized after Afghan laborers found charred copies of the Koran while collecting rubbish at the sprawling Bagram Airbase about an hour's drive north of Kabul.

The apologies failed to contain the anger. Thousands of Afghans took to the streets again, chanting anti-American slogans.

Winning the hearts and minds of Afghans is critical to efforts to defeat the Taliban. Similar incidents in the past have caused deep divisions and resentment among Afghans towards the tens of thousands of foreign troops in Afghanistan.

Seven foreign UN workers were killed during protests that raged across Afghanistan for three days in April 2011 after a U.S. pastor burned a Koran in Florida.

A senior Afghan security official, citing reports from police, told Reuters that Western security contractors working at a U.S. military camp in Kabul opened fire on protesters and wounded several.

Witness Rahimullah, 17, said his brother, Ghafar, 23, was shot by one of the contractors in the right leg when he was throwing stones during the demonstration.

"He is right now in Daoud Khan Hospital," Rahimullah said of the central Kabul hospital.

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) officials said they were unaware of the shootings.

Later, wounded protesters along the busy Jalalabad road on the fringe of Kabul said Afghan police had fired on them.

CULTURAL SENSITIVITIES

Twenty-one people, including 11 policemen, were wounded in the capital, said Mohammad Zahir, head of Kabul police's crimes unit. They included the city police chief, Ayoub Salangi, who was hit in the ankle by a stone.

In Parwan province, home Bagram, two people were shot dead by Afghan police and 13 wounded while attacking offices, provincial spokesman Roshan Khalid said.

A protester was shot dead by police in Logar province, east of the capital, the governor's spokesman, Deen Mohammad Darwish, said.

***To see ABC News Video on this story, please click here: http://news.yahoo.com/video/us-15749625/28383593

Afghan health ministry spokesman Ghulam Sakhi Kargar said one person also died in hospital in Kabul from gunshot wounds received during one of two shooting incidents at protests in at least four areas of the capital.

Critics say Western troops often fail to grasp the country's religious and cultural sensitivities. Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.

Demonstrations by as many as 2,000 people broke out as word of the Bagram find spread.

Police said most injuries were caused by flying stones and sticks hurled by protesters. Demonstrators had charged police lines and nearby military bases at a protest on the edge of Kabul, burning tires and smashing vehicles and building windows.

Protesters shouted "Death to America!" and "Death to (President Hamid) Karzai" in a large demonstration on the outskirts of the Afghan capital.

"When the Americans insult us to this degree, we will join the insurgents," said Ajmal, an 18-year-old protester in Kabul.

Demonstrators set fire to part of a housing compound used by foreign contract workers. A Reuters witness said the fire damaged part of a guesthouse at the Green Village complex, where 1,500 mostly foreign contractors live and work.

Outrage also spilled over in the Afghan parliament, where several members shouted "death to America" inside the legislative chamber.

The protests spread to several cities. In Jalalabad in the east, demonstrators praised the leader of the Afghan Taliban, the secretive Mullah Mohammad Omar, screaming "Long live Mullah Omar!", Reuters witnesses said. Five people were wounded, the governor's spokesman said.

Afghan media said demonstrations had also erupted in the province of Parwan, near the capital.

In Logar province, hundreds protested in front of the governor's office. Some threw stones. Separate protests were also under way in Jalalabad in the east.

Some protesters burned U.S. flags and shouted "Death to America". Others torched fuel tankers near the city's airport.

In neighboring Pakistan's largest city Karachi, around a hundred Islamic seminary students protested against the Koran burnings.

"Pakistan's government should summon the American ambassador and demand an apology. And if he doesn't apologize, he should be kicked out of the country," said Abdul Basit, one of the protest leaders.

Others took a harder line.

"No forgiveness for the desecrators of the Koran," a section of the crowd shouted. "Only death."


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#182 Post by Sunshine » Thu Feb 23, 2012 11:59 am

Attacks Across Baghdad, Iraq Provinces Kill 48

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Associated Press
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA and SAMEER N. YACOUB
Article Source
February 23, 2012

BAGHDAD (AP) — Officials say attacks across Baghdad and several Iraqi provinces have killed 48 people and wounded more than 200 in an unrelenting wave of violence that mostly appeared to target security forces.

Thursday's attacks unfolded over a two-and-a-half-hour period, showing the extremists' continued ability to coordinate violence and sow chaos and fear through Iraq's communities.

Most of the deaths were in Baghdad but militants also struck 10 other cities, hitting security patrols, government offices, restaurants and a school.

The casualties were tallied by local security and hospital officials in the cities where the attacks occurred.

Nearly all spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to release the information.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BAGHDAD (AP) — A swift series of bombings and shootings killed 35 people across the Iraqi capital early Thursday in attacks that mostly appeared to target police, officials said.

In the worst attack, a car bomb went off near a security checkpoint in Baghdad's downtown shopping district of Karradah killing nine people. Twenty-six people were wounded in that attack, including four policemen, the officials said.

Associated Press footage of the scene showed blood-covered people walking away, and storefronts at several nearby shops were damaged. A gray cloud of smoke hung over the blast site where cars were charred and crumpled.

At least eight more bombs exploded during the morning across Baghdad, killing 18 more people.

And on opposite sides of the capital, gunmen with silenced pistols killed a total of eight policemen at security checkpoints, officials said.

The casualties were confirmed by Baghdad hospital officials. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

The violence did not stop at Baghdad. Attacks in Baqouba, Kirkuk and in Salahuddin provinces were also reported in the relentless string of assaults that unfolded over a two-hour period.

Officials in Baqouba, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of the capital, said a suicide bomber blew up his car outside a police station near a market. Two people were killed and eight wounded.

In the ethnically mixed city of Kirkuk, 180 miles (290 kilometers) north of Baghdad, two police patrols hit roadside bombs. Twenty policemen were injured in the attacks, said police Maj. Gen. Sarhat Qadir.

Bombs in the town of Tuz Khormato outside Kirkuk, wounded three guards outside the office of a Kurdish political party. And south of Baghdad, eight policemen were wounded by a roadside bomb in the town of Madain, said Mayor Jalal Baban. Madain is about 14 miles (20 kilometers) southeast of the capital.

Widespread violence has decreased since just a few years ago when Iraq teetered on the brink of civil war. But bombings and deadly shootings still happen almost daily.

Iraq's police are generally considered to be the weakest element of the country's security forces. Earlier this week, 20 policemen and recruits were killed by a suicide bomber outside the Baghdad police academy that angry residents blamed on political feuding that is roiling Iraq.

The country has been besieged by political turbulence that began the day after U.S. troops pulled out of Iraq, when an arrest warrant was issued for Sunni Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi on charges he commandeered death squads targeting security forces and government officials.

Al-Hashemi, the country's highest-ranking Sunni, has denied the charges that he described as politically motivated, and blamed the Shiite-led government of trying to unseat him.

Experts worry the case will hike Iraq's already-simmering sectarian tensions.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#183 Post by Sunshine » Thu Feb 23, 2012 12:13 pm

Syrian Tanks Attack Homs, World Outrage Grows

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Syrian tanks are seen in Bab Amro near the city of Homs.
Reuters
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis and Alistair Lyon
Article Source
February 23, 2012

AMMAN/BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian tanks pushed into a rebel stronghold in the battered city of Homs on Thursday and U.N. investigators accused President Bashar al-Assad's government of crimes against humanity.

Rockets, shells and mortar rounds rained on the Baba Amro district, where armed insurgents are holed up with terrified civilians, for the 20th day in a row, activists said. The Sunni Muslim quarters of Inshaat and Khalidiya also came under fire.

Homs-based activist Abu Imad said tanks had entered the Jobar area in the south of Baba Amro.

"Explosions are shaking the whole of Homs. God have mercy," Abdallah al-Hadi said from the city, where more than 80 people, including two Western journalists and Syrian opposition citizen journalist Rami al-Sayed, were reported killed on Wednesday.

Western diplomats said it had not yet been possible to extract the bodies of Marie Colvin, an American working for Britain's Sunday Times, and French photographer Remi Ochlik.

Three journalists wounded in the same attack - British photographer Paul Conroy, French reporter Edith Bouvier and Paris-based photographer William Daniels - were also awaiting evacuation from the wrecked Baba Amro neighborhood.

The Syrian Information Ministry said it "rejects accusations that Syria is responsible for the deaths of journalists who infiltrated into the country on their own responsibility, without the authorities knowing about their entry or location."

The plight of Homs and other embattled towns will dominate "Friends of Syria" talks in Tunis on Friday involving the United States, European and Arab countries, Turkey and other nations demanding that Assad halt the bloodshed and relinquish power.

Russia, which along with China has vetoed two U.N. Security Council resolutions on Syria, has said it will not attend.

DEMAND FOR ACCESS

U.S. officials said the Friends of Syria group would challenge Assad to provide humanitarian access within days to civilians embroiled in the intensifying conflict.

The army is blocking medical supplies to parts of Homs and electricity is cut off 15 hours a day, activists say. Hospitals, schools, shops and government offices are closed.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has been trying to get the government and rebel forces to agree daily two-hour ceasefires. Access for aid workers will also be the focus of a planned visit to Syria by U.N. humanitarian chief Valerie Amos.

France said the Tunis conference would illustrate Assad's isolation. "It will recall that the international community has condemned the regime's venture into criminality," Foreign Ministry spokesman Romain Nadal told an online news briefing.

World outrage has swelled over the carnage in Syria, where thousands have been killed since the anti-Assad uprising flared in March, inspired by revolts against Arab autocrats elsewhere.

U.N. investigators said Syrian forces had shot dead unarmed women and children, shelled residential areas and tortured wounded protesters in hospital under orders issued at the "highest levels" of the army and government.

In their report to the U.N. Human Rights Council, they called for perpetrators of such crimes against humanity to face prosecution and said they had drawn up a confidential list of names of commanders and officials alleged to be responsible.

The commission, led by Brazilian Paulo Pinheiro, found that Free Syrian Army rebels had also committed abuses including killings and abductions, "although not comparable in scale."

Syrian authorities could not be immediately reached for comment on the commission's latest findings, but they rejected its previous report in November as "totally false."

DESOLATE SCENES

Footage shot by activists in Homs shows blasted buildings, empty streets and doctors treating casualties in makeshift clinics in Baba Amro after nearly three weeks of bombardment.

In violence elsewhere, a youth and a five-year-old boy were killed when troops fought army deserters in the southern city of Deraa, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

The British-based group said a 35-year-old man was killed and six people were wounded by the security forces in the town of Maarat Numan in the northwestern province of Idlib.

The state news agency SANA said three members of the security forces were killed and seven wounded by a bomb planted by "armed terrorists" near the city of Idlib.

It also reported the funerals of 16 members of the security forces it said had been killed by insurgents in Homs, Deraa, Hama, Suweida and the Damascus countryside.

Army deserters and other rebels have taken up arms in some parts of Syria to resist a violent response by the authorities to what began as mostly peaceful protests against Assad's 11-year rule and decades of dominance by his minority Alawite sect.

In the United States, Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich advocated arming Syrian insurgents.

"We need to work with Saudi Arabia and with Turkey to say, 'You guys provide the kind of weaponry that's needed to help the rebels inside Syria,'" Romney said.

The White House, which so far has been against military intervention in Syria, has hinted that if a political solution were impossible it might have to consider other options.

Several hundred people have been killed in Homs by troops using artillery, tanks, rockets and sniper fire.

Residents fear Assad will subject the city to the same fate his late father Hafez inflicted on Hama, where many thousands were killed in the crushing of an armed Islamist revolt in 1982.

Assad has called a referendum on a new constitution on Sunday, to be followed by a multi-party parliamentary election, which he says is a response to calls for reform. The plan is supported by his allies Russia and China but Western powers have dismissed it and the Syrian opposition has called for a boycott.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#184 Post by Sunshine » Thu Feb 23, 2012 2:17 pm

Obama Apologizes to Karzai Over Bagram Koran Burnings

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Yahoo News
By Olivier Knox
Article Source
February 23, 2012

President Obama apologized Thursday in a letter to Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the burning of Korans at the largest American military base in Afghanistan. The incident at Bagram Air Base has fueled days of angry protests in the war-torn country, according to the White House and Karzai's office.

"I wish to express my deep regret for the reported incident," Karzai's office quoted Obama as saying in the message. "The error was inadvertent; I assure you that we will take the appropriate steps to avoid any recurrence, to include holding accountable those responsible."

Three days of protests over the incident have left 14 people dead, including two American soldiers shot dead when an Afghan soldier turned his weapon on them at their base in Khogyani in eastern Nangarhar province, district governor Mohammad Hassan told AFP.

White House officials declined to challenge the wording.

US Ambassador Ryan Crocker delivered the letter to Karzai on Thursday afternoon, local time, according to US National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor.

Obama "expressed our regret and apologies over the incident in which religious materials were unintentionally mishandled at Bagram Airbase," Vietor said in an emailed statement.

The incident, which occurred on Tuesday, led the Taliban to call on Afghans to retaliate against the US-led coalition forces in Afghanistan and drew a stern rebuke from Karzai himself earlier this week.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#185 Post by Sunshine » Sat Feb 25, 2012 2:42 am

Twelve Killed In Protests Across Afghanistan

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Afghan protesters carry a wounded man during clashes with the police in Kabul February 24, 2012. Nine more people were killed on Friday in protests in Afghanistan over the burning of copies of the Koran at a NATO base, officials said. REUTERS/Ahmad Masood
Reuters
By Mirwais Harooni and Hamid Shalizi
Article Source
February 25, 2012

KABUL (Reuters) - Twelve people were killed on Friday in the bloodiest day yet in protests that have raged across Afghanistan over the desecration of copies of the Muslim holy book at a NATO military base with riot police and soldiers on high alert braced for more violence.

The burning of the Korans at the Bagram compound earlier this week has deepened public mistrust of NATO forces struggling to stabilize Afghanistan before foreign combat troops withdraw in 2014.

Hundreds of Afghans marched toward the palace of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul, while on the other side of the capital protesters hoisted the white flag of the Taliban.
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Supporters of the political and religious party Jamat-e-Islami burn an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama while others beat it with sticks during an anti-U.S. rally in Peshawar February 24, 2012. About 100 protesters gathered on the streets of Peshawar to condemn the burning of copies of the Koran at NATO's main base in Afghanistan on Tuesday. REUTERS/Fayaz Aziz
Chanting "Death to America!" and "Long live Islam!," protesters also threw rocks at police in Kabul, while Afghan army helicopters circled above.

Friday is a holy day and the official weekly holiday in Afghanistan and mosques in the capital drew large crowds, with police in pick-up trucks posted on nearby streets.

Armed protesters took refuge in shops in the eastern part of the city, where they killed one demonstrator, said police at the scene. In another Kabul rally, police said they were unsure who fired the shots that killed a second protester.

Seven more protesters were killed in the western province of Herat, two more in eastern Khost province and one in the relatively peaceful northern Baghlan province, health and local officials said. In Herat, around 500 men charged at the U.S. consulate.

U.S. President Barack Obama had sent a letter to Karzai apologizing for the unintentional burning of the Korans at NATO's main Bagram air base, north of Kabul, after Afghan laborers found charred copies while collecting rubbish.

Muslims consider the Koran to be the literal word of God and treat each copy with deep reverence. Desecration is considered one of the worst forms of blasphemy.

Afghanistan wants NATO to put those responsible on public trial.
Image
Afghans shout anti-US slogans during a demonstration in Mehterlam, Laghman province east of Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012. Afghan police on Thursday fired shots in the air to disperse hundreds of protesters who tried to break into an American military base in the country's east to vent their anger over this week's Quran burnings incident. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
In neighboring U.S. ally Pakistan, about 400 members of a hardline Islamist group staged protests. "If you burn the Koran, we will burn you," they shouted.

To Afghanistan's west, Iranian cleric Ahmad Khatami said the U.S. had purposely burned the Korans. "These apologies are fake. The world should know that America is against Islam," he said in a speech broadcast live on state radio.

"It (the Koran burning) was not a mistake. It was an intentional move, done on purpose."

Most Westerners have been confined to their heavily fortified compounds, including at the sprawling U.S. embassy complex and other diplomatic missions, as protests that have killed a total of 23 people, including two U.S. soldiers, rolled into their fourth day. The embassy, in a message on the microblogging site Twitter, urged U.S. citizens to "please be safe out there" and expanded movement restrictions to relatively peaceful northern provinces, where large demonstrations also occurred Thursday, including the attempted storming of a Norwegian military base.

The Taliban urged Afghan security forces Thursday to "turn their guns on the foreign infidel invaders" and repeatedly urged Afghans to kill, beat and capture NATO soldiers.

Germany, which has the third-largest foreign presence in the NATO-led war, pulled out several weeks early of a small base in the northern Takhar province Friday over security concerns, a defense ministry spokesman said.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#186 Post by Sunshine » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:16 pm

U.S. Soldier Accused of Killing 16 Afghans, Including Women and Children

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An elderly Afghan man sits next to a covered body, who was allegedly killed by a U.S. service member, in a minibus in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, March 11, 2012. (Allauddin Khan/AP Photo)
ABC News
Article Source
By MUHAMMAD LILA (@muhammadlila) and MARTHA RADDATZ (@martharaddatz)
March 11, 2012

Investigators are trying to learn what set off an Army veteran of three tours in Iraq who left his base in the middle of the night and methodically massacred 16 Afghan civilians -- most of them children and women.

The attack comes just as outrage over the burning of several Korans by members of the U.S. military seemed to be calming down, but now there are new fears of retaliation against U.S. troops.

Local villagers responded with outrage, saying American forces are supposed to be there to protect them, not enter their homes and slaughter their families in the middle of the night.

Nine of the victims were children, and three were women, all shot while they slept in their beds, according to villagers and the Afghan president's office.

One grieving mother, holding a dead baby in her arms, said, "They killed a child, was this child the Taliban? Believe me, I haven't seen a 2-year-old member of the Taliban yet."

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called it "an assassination -- one that can not be forgiven."

U.S. officials were quick to condemn the attack.

"I offer my profound regret and deepest condolences to the victims and their families," Gen. John Allen, head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

"This deeply appalling incident in no way represents the values of ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and coalition troops or the abiding respect we feel for the Afghan people."

After the alleged shooting spree, it's believed the soldier returned to the base on his own, and calmly turned himself in. He remains in NATO custody. It's unclear whether the soldier knew the victims or whether the alleged attack was spontaneous and unprovoked. It's also unknown whether he had any accomplices.

The soldier's name has not been released, but a U.S. official told ABC News he is a 38-year-old staff sergeant who is married with two children, and served three tours in Iraq. This was his first tour in Afghanistan, where he has been since early December, the official said.

The shooting took place at 3 a.m. in two villages in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, a hotbed for the Taliban insurgency against U.S .forces. The two villages are a short walk away from the U.S. base where the soldier was stationed.

Photos from the scene show blood-splattered floors and walls inside a villagers home, one of three believed to have been attached, and blood-soaked bodies of victims, including the elderly and young children, wrapped in blankets and placed in the backseat of a van. Some of the bodies appear to have been burned.

NATO has launched its own investigation, and Karzai has sent his delegation to Kandahar for its own inquiry.

President Obama "was was informed this morning of the incident by his senior national security staff and received a briefing from them early this afternoon before calling President Karzai," deputy National Security Council spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said of the Afghanistan shooting. "This afternoon's meeting included National Security Adviser Tom Donilon, Deputy National Security Adviser Denis McDonough, and Special Assistant to the President for Afghanistan and Pakistan Doug Lute."

In a seperate statement, the White House said that Obama called "President Karzai to express his shock and sadness at the reported killing and wounding of Afghan civilians. President Obama extended his condolences to the people of Afghanistan, and made clear his Administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible. The president reaffirmed our deep respect for the Afghan people and the bonds between our two countries."

Meanwhile, the U.S. Embassy posted a warning today for U.S. citizens to avoid Kandahar in anticipation of "Anti-American sentiment."

The shooting is certain to further strain U.S.-Afghan relations, already suffering from weeks of mistrust after U.S. forces burned Korans and other religious materials at a detention center near Kabul.

U.S. officials, including Gen. Allen and Obama apologized for the incident, insisting it was done unintentionally, but it led to deadly riots in many cities and towns, leaving at least 30 Afghans dead.

Six U.S. soldiers were also killed, all by members of Afghanistan's national security forces, in alleged revenge attacks.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#187 Post by Sunshine » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:30 pm

U.S. Soldier's Alleged Deadly Rampage: Taliban Vow Revenge


By MUHAMMAD LILA and MARTHA RADDATZ
Article Source
Good Morning America
Monday, March 12, 2012, 16 hours ago


The Taliban has vowed revenge against "sick-minded American savages" after a U.S. soldier was accused of going on a deadly shooting rampage Sunday.

The group said it would "take revenge from the invaders and the savage murderers for every single martyr," according to a statement posted on its website, the Times of London reported.

An Army veteran of three tours in Iraq who left his base in the middle of the night is suspected of methodically killing 16 Afghan civilians, most of them children and women.

The soldier's name has not been released, but a U.S. official told ABC News he is a 38-year-old staff sergeant who is married with two children. He is apparently based at Fort Lewis in Washington state.

The soldier wore night-vision goggles during the alleged rampage and has "lawyered up" and declined to talk, according to a source.

The fear now is that this latest incident could set off a fresh wave of violence.

The attack comes just as outrage stemming from burning of several Korans by members of the U.S. military seemed to be calming down.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has warned foreigners to keep a low profile.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called it "an assassination, one that cannot be forgiven."

The Afghan parliament has passed a resolution in protest of the killings, and asked for a public trial of the U.S. soldier.

U.S. officials were quick to condemn the attack Sunday.

"I offer my profound regret and deepest condolences to the victims and their families," Gen. John Allen, head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

"This deeply appalling incident in no way represents the values of ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and coalition troops or the abiding respect we feel for the Afghan people."

Shooting in Afghanistan

The shooting took place at 3 a.m. in two villages in the Panjwai district of southern Kandahar province, a hotbed for the Taliban insurgency against U.S .forces.

The two villages are a short walk away from the U.S. base where the soldier was stationed.

Nine of the victims were children, and three were women, all shot while they slept in their beds, according to villagers and the Afghan president's office.

Photos from the scene show blood-splattered floors and walls inside a villagers home, one of three believed to have been attached, and blood-soaked bodies of victims, including the elderly and young children, wrapped in blankets and placed in the backseat of a van. Some of the bodies appear to have been burned.

John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman said officials "don't know what his [soldier's] motivation was, we are looking into that."

After the alleged shooting spree, it's believed the soldier returned to the base on his own, and calmly turned himself in. He remains in NATO custody.

It's unclear whether the soldier knew the victims or whether the alleged attack was spontaneous and unprovoked. It's also unknown whether he had any accomplices.

This was his first tour in Afghanistan, where he has been since early December, the official said.

NATO has launched its own investigation, and Karzai has sent his delegation to Kandahar for its own inquiry.

The White House said Sunday that Obama called "President Karzai to express his shock and sadness at the reported killing and wounding of Afghan civilians. President Obama extended his condolences to the people of Afghanistan, and made clear his Administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible. The president reaffirmed our deep respect for the Afghan people and the bonds between our two countries."


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#188 Post by Sunshine » Mon Mar 12, 2012 5:45 pm

Soldier Held in Afghan Massacre Had Brain Injury, Marital Problems

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Soldier Held in Afghan Massacre Had Brain Injury, Marital Problems (ABC News)
By MUHAMMAD LILA, NICK SCHIFRIN and MARTHA RADDATZ
Article Source
Good Morning America
Monday, March 12, 2012, 16 hours ago

The Army staff sergeant who allegedly went on a rampage and killed 16 Afghans as they slept in their homes had a traumatic brain injury at one point and had problems at home after his last deployment, officials told ABC News.

But the soldier, who is based at Fort Lewis in Washington, was considered fit for combat duty and deployed to Afghanistan in December, officials said.

Details about the staff sergeant, who has not been identified, emerged as the Taliban vowed revenge against "sick-minded American savages" after the mass killing.

What has trickled about the suspect is that he was 38, on his fourth combat deployment in 10 years, the first three in Iraq. He was on his first tour in Afghanistan, where he'd been since December.

When the massacre took place he was assigned to Camp Belambay, a remote combat outpost where his job was to be protection for Special Operations Forces who were creating local militias. He was not a member of the special forces unit.

An official told ABC News that the soldier has suffered a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the past, either from hitting his head on the hatch of a vehicle or in a car accident. He went through the advanced TBI treatment at Fort Lewis and was deemed to be fine.

He also underwent mental health screening necessary to become a sniper and passed in 2008. He had routine behavioral health screening after that and was cleared, the official said.

When the soldier returned from his last deployment in Iraq he had difficulty reintegrating, including marital problems, the source told ABC News, . But officials concluded that he had worked through those issues before deploying to Afghanistan.

The shooting occurred at 3 a.m. in three houses in two villages in the Panjway district of southern Kandahar province, an area that was once a Taliban safe haven but has recently become more safe after a surge of troops in 2009.

The soldier left the base in the middle of the night and wore night-vision goggles during the alleged rampage, according to a source.

The first village was more than a mile south of the base. While there, he allegedly killed four people in the first house. In the second house, he allegedly killed 11 family members -- four girls, four boys and three adults.

He then walked back to another village past his base where he allegedly killed one more person, according to a member of the Afghan investigation team and ABC News' interviews with villagers.

All of the victims were shot in their homes, according to villagers and the Afghan president's office.

Video from the scene show blood-splattered floors and walls inside a villagers home and blood-soaked bodies of victims, including the elderly and young children, wrapped in blankets and placed in the backseat of a van. Some of the bodies appear to have been burned.

John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, said officials "don't know what his [soldier's] motivation was. We are looking into that."

After the alleged shooting spree, it's believed the soldier returned to the base on his own and calmly turned himself in. He remains in NATO custody. One source told ABC News that the soldier had "lawyered up" and declined to talk.

Because of the soldier's role as supporting security for the special operations forces, he is not believed to have known the victims. But it's not clear whether the alleged attack was spontaneous and unprovoked.

Shooting in Afghanistan

The Taliban vowed revenge against "sick-minded American savages" after the mass killing.

The group said it would "take revenge from the invaders and the savage murderers for every single martyr," according to a statement posted on its website, the Times of London reported.

The fear now is that this latest incident could set off a fresh wave of violence.

The attack comes just as outrage stemming from burning of several Korans by members of the U.S. military seemed to be calming down.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul has warned foreigners to keep a low profile.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai called it "an assassination, one that cannot be forgiven."

The Afghan parliament has passed a resolution in protest of the killings, and asked for a public trial of the U.S. soldier.

U.S. officials were quick to condemn the attack Sunday.

"I offer my profound regret and deepest condolences to the victims and their families," Gen. John Allen, head of NATO forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement.

"This deeply appalling incident in no way represents the values of ISAF [International Security Assistance Force] and coalition troops or the abiding respect we feel for the Afghan people."

NATO has launched its own investigation, and Karzai has sent his delegation to Kandahar for its own inquiry.

The White House said Sunday that Obama called "President Karzai to express his shock and sadness at the reported killing and wounding of Afghan civilians. President Obama extended his condolences to the people of Afghanistan, and made clear his Administration's commitment to establish the facts as quickly as possible and to hold fully accountable anyone responsible. The president reaffirmed our deep respect for the Afghan people and the bonds between our two countries."


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#189 Post by Sunshine » Tue Mar 13, 2012 11:45 am

Afghan Taliban Threaten To Behead U.S. Soldiers; Government Team Attacked

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Outrage over a murderous rampage by a rogue American soldier who killed 16 villagers gripped Afghanistan Monday as parliament called for a public trial and Taliban insurgents vowed revenge.
Reuters
Article Source
By Rob Taylor and Mirwais Harooni
March 13, 2012, 7 hrs ago

KABUL (Reuters) - Suspected insurgents fired on an Afghan government delegation on Tuesday investigating the massacre of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier, officials said, hours after the Taliban threatened to behead American troops to avenge the killings.

Two of President Hamid Karzai's brothers, Shah Wali Karzai and Addul Qayum Karzai, were with senior defense, intelligence and interior ministry officials travelling to the scene of the massacre in Najiban and Alekozai villages, in Kandahar's Panjwai district, when insurgents opened fire.

Karzai's brothers were unharmed in the brief gunbattle during meetings at a village mosque, but a soldier and a civilian were wounded. The area is a Taliban stronghold and a supply route.

"The Islamic Emirate once again warns the American animals that the mujahideen will avenge them, and with the help of Allah will kill and behead your sadistic murderous soldiers," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in a statement, using the term with which the Islamist group describes itself.

As the first protest broke out in Jalalabad city over the weekend shootings, the Taliban said Afghan government demands for an open trial of the U.S. Army staff sergeant being held for the slayings would not blunt civilian hostility towards Western combat troops.

The unnamed U.S. soldier - said to have only recently arrived in the country - is accused of walking off his base in Kandahar province in the middle of the night and gunning down at least 16 villagers, mostly women and children.

A U.S. official said the accused soldier had suffered a traumatic brain injury while on a previous deployment in Iraq.

The shootings, which came just weeks after deadly protests across the country over the inadvertent burning of Korans by U.S. soldiers, triggered a protest by around 2,000 students in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

The demonstrators chanted "Death to America" and demanded Afghan President Hamid Karzai reject plans to sign a strategic pact with Washington that would allow U.S. advisers and possibly special forces to remain in the country beyond the planned withdrawal in 2014.

U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking after a phone call with Karzai - who is said to be furious over the latest deaths - said the shootings had only increased his determination to get American troops out of Afghanistan.

However, Obama cautioned there should not be a "rush to the exits" for U.S. forces who have been fighting in Afghanistan since late 2001 and that the drawdown set for the end of 2014 should be done in a responsible way.

The soldier, from a conventional unit, was based at a joint U.S.-Afghan base used by elite U.S. troops under a so-called village support programme hailed by NATO as a possible model for U.S. involvement in the country after the 2014 drawdown.

Such bases provide support to local Afghan security units and provide a source of security advice and training, as well as anti-insurgent backup and intelligence.

"CAN NO LONGER BE CALLED ROGUE"

A spokesman for Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wisa said that tribal elders in the area of the massacre would urge against protests and work to dampen public anger if the investigation process was transparent.

"They are supporting the government and will accept any conclusion by the investigators. Today we have meetings with people in the area and all will become clear," spokesman Ahmad Jawid Faisal said.

NATO officials said it was too early to tell if the U.S. soldier would be tried in the United States or Afghanistan if investigators were to find enough evidence to charge him, but he would be under U.S. laws and procedures under an agreement between U.S. and Afghan officials.

Typically, once the initial investigation is completed, prosecutors decide if they have enough evidence to file charges and then could move to an Article 32 or court martial hearing.

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Monday that the death penalty could be sought in the U.S. military justice system against the soldier, but portrayed the shooting as an isolated event that would not alter withdrawal plans.

While Afghan MPs in parliament called for a trial under Afghan law, Karzai's office was understood to accept that a trial in a U.S. court would be acceptable provided the process was transparent and open to media.

Analysts said the incident would complicate U.S. efforts to reach agreement with the Afghan government on a post-2014 security pact before a May summit in the U.S. city of Chicago on the future size and funding of Afghan security forces.

Thomas Ruttig of the Afghanistan Analysts Network said that despite NATO and White House references to the killings as the work of a "rogue" soldier, other similar events had happened before, including a "kill team" apprehended in Kandahar in 2010.

"In the stress of an environment of escalated violence - by both sides, but particularly after Obama's troop surge in early 2009, it looks as if most soldiers simply see Afghanistan as a whole as ‘enemy territory' and every Afghan as a potential terrorist. This can no longer be called ‘rogue'," Ruttig said.

NATO's top commander in Afghanistan, Marine General John Allen, has promised a rapid investigation of the massacre, while security was being reviewed at NATO bases across the country.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#190 Post by Sunshine » Tue Mar 13, 2012 1:18 pm

In Yemen, An Emboldened Al Qaeda

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CNN News
By Paul Cruickshank, Pam Benson and Tim Lister
Article Source
March 13, 2012, 10:07 AM ET

On the maps of Yemen it's called Jaar - a dusty, dilapidated sort of place with a population of some 40,000. But the group that has controlled Jaar for the past year, al Qaeda affiliate Ansar al Shariah, has changed the town's name to the Emirate of Qar.

Now Jaar is in the cross hairs of both U.S. and Saudi counter-terrorism agencies, following Ansar al Shariah's attack on a military base near Zinjibar on the coast about 20 miles (28 kilometers) away. The group seized large amounts of weaponry and took more than 70 Yemeni soldiers hostage. It is threatening to kill its captives unless about 300 al Qaeda members in Yemeni jails are freed.

A video released Monday and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group showed a local leader of Ansar al Shariah addressing some of the bedraggled soldiers.

"Who is managing the security file in Yemen today?" he asks. "It is the Americans. Even the guarding of [President] Abd Rabuh Mansur Hadi, who is responsible for it? It is the Americans," he tells the prisoners.

In recent days, according to local sources, multiple drone strikes have targeted Ansar al Shariah in Jaar (where the group's emir lives) and in neighboring Al Bayda province. Among the dozens killed, they say, were foreign fighters attracted to an area where al Qaeda has freedom to breathe - and plan. One provincial official quoted in Yemeni media said Pakistanis and Egyptians were among those killed.

That fits the assessment of U.S. officials.

"AQAP's (al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula's) outreach to Westerners was significantly damaged by the loss of key propagandists in 2011 - especially (Anwar al) Awlaki," said one official. "It isn't giving up on recruiting Westerners, but the focus may shift somewhat to local Yemeni and Middle Eastern audiences."

American-born Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. drone strike last year in Yemen.

After the Yemeni army's humiliating defeat in Zinjibar last week, Yemen's new president has vowed to stamp out Ansar al Shariah, and Yemen's air force has also been in action in recent days. But dislodging a group that drew strength from the chaos of the last year in Yemen is proving a tall order. Not least because local tribes - for their own reasons - are providing Ansar al Shariah with shelter and space in which to operate.

Some western counter-terrorism officials fear the development of a Pakistani-style situation in southern Yemen,in which al Qaeda and other extremist groups build a stronghold in remote, tribal areas. Like Ansar al Shariah, the Pakistani Taliban has periodically seized territory, attacked and intimidated local security forces, launched suicide bombings, and taken soldiers hostage.

Unlike the leadership of the Pakistani Taliban, which was drawn from local tribes, most of AQAP's recruits are from urban areas of Yemen such as the capital Sanaa, according to a study published by West Point's Combating Terrorism Center in September. The study found that the group had struggled to win over Yemen's powerful southern tribes.

But al Qaeda appears to be learning. In April 2011, AQAP religious leader Abu Zubayr Adel al Abab announced in an online forum: "The name Ansar al Shariah is what we use to introduce ourselves in areas where we work to tell people about our work and goals."

"Ansar al Shariah is the new face of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula," according to Mustafa Alani, director of security studies at the Gulf Research Center. "It was a way for them to appeal to the religious sense of the tribal leaders and make if more difficult for people to fight against them. It's one thing fighting against al Qaeda and quite another against those trying to bring in Shariah," said Alani, who has extensive contacts inside Saudi counter-terrorism agencies.

The 2011 West Point field study found that "unlike comparisons with al Qaeda in Iraq or Pakistan, AQAP has not attempted to violently coerce support from tribal communities."

"I even say to you that regions far from Abyan wish to be ruled by the Shariah," senior AQAP operative Fahd al Quso told the Yemeni journalist Abdul Razzaq al Jamal in an interview published in February and translated by the SITE Intelligence group.

U.S. intelligence officials have come to the conclusion that the two groups are indistinguishable. For example, videos of Ansar al Shariah's operations have been released by Al Malahem media, AQAP's video production arm.

Noman Benotman, a former Libyan jihadist who is now a senior analyst at the Quilliam Foundation, told CNN last year that he believed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri had persuaded AQAP leader Abu Basir Wuhayshi to rebrand the group to build bridges with the masses in Yemen. Wuhayshi appeared to signal such coordination when he pledged allegiance to Zawahiri in July 2011.

But Alani says Saudi counter-terrorism officials believe AQAP ultimately wants to eclipse al Qaeda's senior leadership in Pakistan as the most powerful node of the international terrorist network.

He says AQAP may have also learned from the mistakes of al Qaeda in Iraq, which tried to hold territory and made itself an easier target. After the attack on the military base in Zinjibar, the Ansar al Shariah fighters quickly made off with weapons and captives rather than try to hold ground.

"(People) are afraid of the (American bombing) that may follow due to our presence. Therefore our presence varies according to the fears of the people," Abu Zubayr said last year.

According to Alani, Saudi counter-terrorism officials believe AQAP's strategy is to create as much ungoverned space as possible in Yemen so that it can better plan attacks in Saudi Arabia, and against the United States. While Yemenis do most of the local fighting, AQAP's cadre of ideologically committed terrorists are building the group's cell structure and a network of safe houses.

Alani says southern tribal leaders are allowing AQAP breathing space in the area as a bargaining chip with the new regime in Sanaa. "The tribes used to have an understanding with the old regime, but with the new one they are not so sure," he said.

In some cases, they have gone as far as supplying the group with fighters.

"The tribes are basically playing a game. They won't allow al Qaeda to operate freely for long. It's basically a way to get their demands: money, projects and power," Alani told CNN.

Earlier this year, Ansar al Shariah fighters agreed to leave the town of Radda - about 100 miles southeast of the capital - after an agreement brokered by local tribal leaders.

But working with al Qaeda is a risky enterprise. Ansar al Shariah's call for jihad to restore Islamic law may resonate in a deeply conservative and economically impoverished region long suspicious of politicians in the capital. And Ansar al Shariah appears to be trying to bring security and services to places like Jaar and Zinjibar.

Casey Coombs, a freelance journalist based in Yemen, is one of the very few westerners to have visited Jaar recently, and has contributed a fascinating photo essay to Foreign Policy magazine.

One photograph shows a framed picture of former al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden at Jaar's gas station. Metal gas cans sit unattended nearby. This was proof of Jaar's safety, according to one Ansar al Sharia member in the town. "We don't even need to guard the gasoline. It's safe from thieves," he told Coombs.

U.S. officials are watching the situation carefully. "In order to set up a safe haven and get recruits, AQAP needs the cooperation of the southern tribes," one said. "AQAP tries to obtain support through alliances, intimidation, and coercion. Whether this is a recipe for success, or a backlash, time will tell."

"AQAP has two main goals: to attack the West and solidify a safe-haven and extremist state in Yemen," said the official. "There is no doubt AQAP will try to use any space it can carve out to plan external attacks."

On that, at least, there may be agreement between the U.S. intelligence community and AQAP.

One of the group's senior operatives, Fahd al Quso, was asked last month why the group stopped exporting operations to the outside. Was it because all efforts were devoted to an internal project?

"The war didn't end between us and our enemies. Wait for what is coming," Quso replied.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#191 Post by Sunshine » Wed Mar 14, 2012 8:29 pm

Accused US soldier Flown Out of Afghanistan

Image
Afghan villagers pray during a prayer ceremony for the victims of Sunday's killing of civilians by a U.S. soldier in Panjwai, Kandahar province south of Kabul, Afghanistan, Tuesday, March. 13, 2012. Taliban militants opened fire Tuesday on a delegation of senior Afghan officials including two of President Hamid Karzai's brothers visiting villages in southern Afghanistan where a U.S. soldier is suspected of killing 16 civilians. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)
Associated Press
By HEIDI VOGT and PAULINE JELINEK
Article Source
March 14, 2012, 1 hr 12 mins ago

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The American soldier accused of shooting 16 Afghan villagers in a pre-dawn killing spree was flown out of Afghanistan on Wednesday to an undisclosed location, even as many Afghans called for him to face justice in their country.

Afghan government officials did not immediately respond to calls for comment on the late-night announcement. The U.S. military said the transfer did not preclude the possibility of trying the case in Afghanistan, and Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has said the soldier could receive capital punishment if convicted.

Many fear a misstep by the U.S. military in handling the case could ignite a firestorm in Afghanistan that would shatter already tense relations between the two countries. The alliance appeared near the breaking point last month when the burning of Qurans in a garbage pit at a U.S. base sparked protests and retaliatory attacks that killed more than 30 people, including six U.S. soldiers.

In recent days the two nations made headway toward an agreement governing a long-term American presence here, but the massacre in Kandahar province on Sunday has called all such negotiations into question.

Afghan lawmakers have demanded that the soldier be publicly tried in Afghanistan to show that he was being brought to justice, calling on President Hamid Karzai to suspend all talks with the U.S. until that happens.

The U.S. staff sergeant, who has not been named or charged, allegedly slipped out of his small base in southern Afghanistan before dawn, crept into three houses and shot men, women and children at close range then burned some of the bodies. By sunrise, there were 16 corpses.

The soldier was held by the U.S. military in Kandahar until Wednesday evening, when he was flown out of Afghanistan to Kuwait "based on a legal recommendation," said Navy Capt. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman.

"We do not have appropriate detention facilities in Afghanistan," Kirby said, explaining that he was referring to a facility for a U.S. service member "in this kind of case."

The soldier was transported aboard a U.S. military aircraft to a "pretrial confinement facility" in another country, a U.S. military official said, without saying where. The official, who spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to release the information publicly, would not confirm if that meant an American military base or another type of facility. He said the Afghan government was informed of the move.

Kirby said the transfer did not necessarily mean the trial would be held outside Afghanistan, but the other military official said legal proceedings would continue outside Afghanistan.

U.S. officials had previously said it would be technically possible to hold proceedings in Afghanistan, noting other court-martial trials held here.

The decision to remove the soldier from the country may complicate the prosecution, said Michael Waddington, an American military defense lawyer who represented a ringleader of the 2010 thrill killings of three Afghan civilians by soldiers from the same Washington state base as the accused staff sergeant.

The prosecutors won't be able to use statements from Afghan witnesses unless the defense is able to cross-examine them, he said.

Waddington said the decision to remove the suspect was likely a security call.

"His presence in the country would put himself and other service members in jeopardy," Waddington said.

But the patience of Afghan investigators has already appeared to be wearing thin regarding the shootings in Panjwai district.

The soldier was caught on U.S. surveillance video that showed him walking up to his base, laying down his weapon and raising his arms in surrender, according to an Afghan official who viewed the footage.

The official said Wednesday there were also two to three hours of video footage covering the time of the attack that Afghan investigators are trying to get from the U.S. military. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

U.S. authorities showed their Afghan counterparts the video of the surrender to prove that only one perpetrator was involved in the shootings, the official said.

Some Afghan officials and residents in the villages that were attacked have insisted there was more than one shooter. If the disagreement persists, it could deepen the distrust between the two countries.

Panetta, in a series of meetings with troops and Afghan leaders Wednesday, said the U.S. must never lose sight of its mission in the war, despite recent violence including what appeared to be an attempted attack near the runway of a military base where he was about to land.

It wasn't clear whether it was an attempt to attack the defense chief, whose travel to southern Afghanistan was not made public before he arrived. Panetta was informed of the incident after landing.

"We will not allow individual incidents to undermine our resolve to that mission," he told about 200 Marines at Camp Leatherneck. "We will be tested we will be challenged, we'll be challenged by our enemy, we'll be challenged by ourselves, we'll be challenged by the hell of war itself. But none of that, none of that, must ever deter us from the mission that we must achieve."

According the Pentagon spokesman, an Afghan stole a vehicle at a British airfield in southern Afghanistan and drove it onto a runway, crashing into a ditch about the same time that Leon Panetta's aircraft was landing.

The pickup truck drove at high speed onto the ramp where Panetta's plane was intended to stop, Kirby said. No one in Panetta's party was injured.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#192 Post by Sunshine » Thu Mar 15, 2012 11:40 am

Karzai asks NATO to leave Afghan villages; Taliban scrap talks


Story By Reuters
By Rob Taylor and Jack Kimball | Reuters – 1 hr 59 mins ago..

Source of Article

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai called for NATO troops to leave Afghan villages and confine themselves to major bases after the slaughter of 16 civilians by a U.S. soldier, underscoring fury over the massacre and clouding U.S. exit plans.

In a near-simultaneous announcement, the Afghan Taliban said it was suspending nascent peace talks with the United States seen as a strong chance to end the country's decade-long conflict, blaming "shaky, erratic and vague" U.S. statements.

Karzai, in a statement after meeting U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Kabul, said as a consequence of the weekend massacre, "international security forces have to be taken out of Afghan village outposts and return to (larger) bases".

The soldier accused of carrying out the shooting was attached to a small special forces compound similar to others around the country which underpin NATO's anti-insurgent strategy ahead of a 2014 deadline for Western combat forces to pull out.

The incident has harmed relations between Afghanistan and the United States and "all efforts have to be done to avoid such incident in the future", Karzai said, warning it also had hurt the trust Afghans had in foreign forces.

The night-time killings in Kandahar province on Sunday have raised questions about Western strategy in Afghanistan and intensified calls for the withdrawal of foreign combat troops.

The Taliban decision to suspend the talks was a blow to NATO hopes of a negotiated settlement to the war, which has cost the United States $510 billion and the lives of over 1,900 soldiers.

U.S. diplomats have been seeking to broaden exploratory talks with the Taliban that began clandestinely in Germany in late 2010 after the Taliban offered to open a representative office in Qatar.

"The Islamic Emirate has decided to suspend all talks with Americans taking place in Qatar from (Thursday) onwards until the Americans clarify their stance on the issues concerned and until they show willingness in carrying out their promises instead of wasting time," the group said in a statement.

The Taliban also said the idea of talks with Karzai's government, which it dismissed as a U.S. "stooge", was pointless and none had taken place. Karzai has previously said Afghan representatives had made contact with mid-level Taliban.

Earlier on Thursday, a senior U.S. general defended moving the American soldier accused of the Kandahar village killings to a military detention centre in Kuwait, saying it would help ensure a proper investigation and trial.

Furious Afghan civilians and members of parliament have demanded the staff sergeant be tried in Afghanistan over the shooting, one of the worst of its kind since U.S.-backed Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in late 2001.

Panetta, in Kabul on a two-day visit to try to soothe Afghan anger, discussed the massacre with Karzai at his heavily guarded palace and faced demands from the Afghan leader that any trial be transparent.

"I assured him first and foremost that I shared his regrets about what took place. I again pledged to him that we are proceeding with a full investigation here and that we will bring the individual involved to justice. He accepted that," Panetta told reporters before leaving Afghanistan.

"SHAKY, ERRATIC AND VAGUE STANDPOINT"

Tension has risen sharply since the killings and the burning of copies of the Koran at the main NATO base in the country last month, adding urgency to Panetta's visit. More than 30 people died in the Koran riots around the country.

Karzai said he and Panetta had agreed to work toward a handover of security to Afghan forces in 2013, a year earlier than the 2014 deadline for the NATO pullout.

But the Afghan leader did not rule out signing a strategic agreement with the U.S. which would allow a small number of American advisers and possibly special forces to remain in the country beyond 2014.

An upbeat Panetta had earlier told reporters that he was hopeful a deal would be signed ahead of meeting of NATO leaders in Chicago in late May aimed at reaching agreement on long-term support and funding for Afghan security forces.

There was no immediate reaction from U.S. or NATO officials to Karzai's demands, or the Taliban's decision.

The Taliban said in its statement that the United States had only responded to its demands including the release of Taliban prisoners from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with a list of conditions which were "not only unacceptable, but also in contradiction with the earlier agreed upon points".

"So it was due to their alternating and ever changing position that the Islamic Emirate was compelled to suspend all dialogue with the Americans," the statement said, using the Taliban's name for itself.

The austere Islamist movement said it was fully prepared to continue its "long-term Jihadi strategies" as the traditional summer fighting months approached, following a harsh winter which had dulled fighting in several volatile provinces.

In the latest attack, a roadside bomb killed 13 Afghan civilians, including women and children, and wounded two on Thursday in the south of the country, provincial officials said.

More than 3,000 civilians were killed in the war in Afghanistan in 2011, the fifth year in a row the number has risen, according to the United Nations.

(Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)

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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#193 Post by Sunshine » Wed Aug 15, 2012 1:17 pm

Israel 'Prepared For 30-Day War With Iran'
Image
Iran has the largest and most diverse ballistic missile arsenal in the Middle East - AFP
BBC News
Article Source
15 August 2012 Last updated at 11:42 ET

Israel's outgoing home front defence minister says an attack on Iran would likely trigger a month-long conflict that would leave 500 Israelis dead.

Matan Vilnai told the Maariv newspaper that the fighting would be "on several fronts", with hundreds of missiles fired at Israeli towns and cities.

Israel was prepared, he said, though strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities had to be co-ordinated with the US.

Meanwhile, a US blogger has published what he says are Israel's attack plans.

Richard Silverstein told the BBC he had been given an internal briefing memo for Israel's eight-member security cabinet, which outlined what the Israeli military would do to prevent Iran developing nuclear weapons.

Tehran insists its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.

'Israel prepared'

The purported leaked Israeli memo suggests that the military operation would begin with a massive cyber-attack against Iran's infrastructure, followed by a barrage of ballistic missiles launched at its nuclear facilities.

Military command-and-control systems, research and development facilities, and the homes of senior figures in nuclear and missile development would also be targeted.

Only then would manned aircraft be sent in to attack "a short-list of those targets which require further assault".

BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus says it is not possible to verify the authenticity of the document, but the proposed mission would be huge and have potentially far-reaching consequences.

Iran's government and military have made it clear that if it is attacked either by Israel or the US, it will respond in kind, either directly or through proxies.

In his interview with Maariv, Mr Vilnai said Israel had "prepared as never before".

"There is no room for hysteria," said the former general, who is stepping down at the end of August to become Israel's ambassador to China.

He echoed an assessment by Defence Minister Ehud Barak, who said that it was believed that some 500 people in Israel might be killed.

"There might be fewer dead, or more, perhaps... but this is the scenario for which we are preparing, in accordance with the best expert advice."

"The assessments are for a war that will last 30 days on several fronts," he added, alluding to the possibility of attacks by the Iranian-backed Lebanese Shia Islamist movement, Hezbollah, and Palestinian Islamist militants in the Gaza Strip.

Mr Vilnai also declined to comment on US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta's assertion on Tuesday that Washington did not believe Israel had yet made a decision on whether or not to launch a strike on Iran.

"I don't want to be dragged into the debate," he added. "But the United States is our greatest friend and we will always have to co-ordinate such moves with it."

On Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that Mr Vilnai would be succeeded by Avi Dichter, a former head of Israel's internal security agency, Shin Bet.


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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#194 Post by Sunshine » Tue Sep 11, 2012 8:59 am

Al-Qaida's No. 2 In Yemen Killed In Airstrike
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Associated Press/SITE Intelligence Group, File - FILE - In this undated frame grab from video posted on a militant-leaning Web site, and provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, shows Saeed al-Shihri, deputy leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Yemeni officials say a missile believed to have been fired by a U.S. operated drone on Monday has killed al-Qaida’s No. 2 leader in Yemen along with five others traveling with him in one car. Al-Qaida’s Yemen branch is seen as the world’s most active, planning and carrying out attacks against targets in and outside U.S. territory. (AP Photo/SITE Intelligence Group, File) NO SALES. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS HAS NO WAY OF INDEPENDENTLY VERIFYING THE CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS VIDEO IMAGE
By AHMED AL-HAJ and LOLITA C. BALDOR
Article Source
Associated Press
September 11, 2012

SANAA, Yemen (AP) — An airstrike killed al-Qaida's No. 2 leader in Yemen along with six others traveling with him in one car on Monday, U.S. and Yemeni officials said, a major breakthrough for U.S.-backed efforts to cripple the group in the impoverished Arab nation.

Saeed al-Shihri, a Saudi national who fought in Afghanistan and spent six years in the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, was killed by a missile after leaving a house in the southern province of Hadramawt, according to Yemeni military officials. They said the missile was believed to have been fired by a U.S.-operated, unmanned drone aircraft.

Two senior U.S. officials confirmed al-Shihri's death but could not confirm any U.S. involvement in the airstrike. The U.S. doesn't usually comment on such attacks although it has used drones in the past to go after al-Qaida members in Yemen, which is considered a crucial battleground with the terror network.

Yemeni military officials said that a local forensics team had identified al-Shihri's body with the help of U.S. forensics experts on the ground. The U.S. and Yemeni military officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to release the information to the media.

Late Monday, after speculation surfaced that the attack was carried by a U.S. drone, Yemen's Defense Ministry issued a statement saying al-Shihri and six companions were killed during an operation by Yemeni armed forces in Wadi Hadramawt, but it did not elaborate on how they were killed.

Yemeni military officials said they had believed the United States was behind the operation because their own army does not the capacity to carry out precise aerial attacks and because Yemeni intelligence gathering capabilities on al-Shihri's movements were limited.

A brief Defense Ministry statement sent to Yemeni reporters on their mobile phones earlier in the day only said that an attack had targeted the militants. It did not specify who carried out the attack or when it took place.

Al-Shihri's death is a major blow to al-Qaida's Yemen branch, which is seen as the world's most active, planning and carrying out attacks against targets on and outside U.S. territory. The nation sits on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and is on the doorstep of Saudi Arabia and fellow oil-producing nations of the Gulf and lies on strategic sea routes leading to the Suez Canal.

The group formally known as Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula took advantage of the political vacuum during unrest inspired by the Arab Spring last year to take control of large swaths of land in the south. But the Yemeni military has launched a broad U.S.-backed offensive and driven the militants from several towns.

After leaving Guantanamo in 2007, al-Shihri, who is believed to be in his late 30s, went through Saudi Arabia's famous "rehabilitation" institutes, an indoctrination program that is designed to replace what authorities in Saudi Arabia see as militant ideology with religious moderation.

But he headed south to Yemen upon release and became deputy to Nasser al-Wahishi, the leader of Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula. Al-Wahishi is a Yemeni who once served as Osama bin Laden's personal aide in Afghanistan.

Al-Qaida in Yemen has been linked to several attempted attacks on U.S. targets, including the foiled Christmas Day 2009 bombing of an airliner over Detroit and explosives-laden parcels intercepted aboard cargo flights last year.

Last year, a high-profile U.S. drone strike killed U.S.-born Anwar al-Awlaki, who had been linked to the planning and execution of several attacks targeting U.S. and Western interests, including the attempt to down a Detroit-bound airliner in 2009 and the plot to bomb cargo planes in 2010.

Unlike other al-Qaida branches, the network's militants in Yemen have gone beyond the concept of planting sleeper cells and actively sought to gain a territorial foothold in lawless areas, mainly in the south of Yemen, before they were pushed back by U.S.-backed Yemeni government forces after months of intermittent battles. The fighting has killed hundreds of Yemeni soldiers.

The Yemen-based militants have struck Western targets in the area twice in the past 12 years. In 2000, they bombed the USS Cole destroyer in Aden harbor, killing 17 sailors. Two years later, they struck a French oil tanker, also off Yemen.

U.S. drone strikes have intensified in Yemen in recent months, killing several key al-Qaida operatives, including Samir Khan, an al-Qaida propagandist who was killed in a drone strike last year.

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Re: The "King Of The North" Is Coming!

#195 Post by Sunshine » Fri Sep 14, 2012 10:58 am

In Sudan, Protesters Attack German and British Embassies
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By Adam Martin
Article Source
The Atlantic Wire – 34 mins ago

Germany's embassy in Sudan became the latest target of Muslim outrage against the West on Friday, as thousands of protesters stormed the grounds and set it on fire while others attacked the British embassy there. The details are still trickling in, but according to Der Spiegel about 5,000 protesters penetrated the embassy's grounds and tore down the German flag, raising an Islamist banner and setting the building aflame. The protesters at the British embassy next door are still outside the walls, according to the Associated Press. Fortunately, tweets CNN's RA Greene, the German embassy is likely empty because it's a Friday. Al Jazeera's main Arabic channel is carrying live coverage showing smoke and flames. The New York Times noted that protests were expected to flare up with a vengeance on Friday following Muslim prayers. Meanwhile, in Tripoli, Lebanon, protesters set fire to a KFC (that image to the left) as Pope Benedict arrived to call for peace.

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