Dinah Lord

While I was swanning around NOLA...

While I was swanning around New Orleans like some vapid character out of a F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, brave soldiers were putting their a$$es on the line in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Somalia, and a whole bunch of other third world shi&holes.

I was reminded of that sobering fact when I found this in my email this morning.

Greetings,

The British Ministry of Defence canceled my embed after today's dispatch.  Please Read "Bad Medicine".

Next Stop U.S. Forces.

Your Writer,

Michael

 

Please read Mr. Yon's dispatch, Bad Medicine and thank God for our soldiers everywhere.  Contact the UK Ministry of Defense and tell them how valuable Michael Yon's reports are.  Hit his tip jar if you can. 

After a long, hot day taking Pharmacy Road.

Too good to check: Baitullah Mehsud died getting 'leg massage'?

From AFP:

Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsud was killed last week in a CIA drone attack while getting a leg massage on the roof of his father-in-law's house, CNN said Monday, citing an unnamed US official.

A US counterterrorism official told AFP, meanwhile, that "there are strong indications (Mehsud) is dead" following a drone attack.  "No one is expecting him home for dinner tonight," the official said. (Ed. Note:  Looks like he won't be down for breakfast in the a.m. either.  Bwa-ha-ha!)

US President Barack Obama is being told Mehsud was killed after a "dramatic escalation" of nine unmanned drones specifically targeting the Taliban leader in recent weeks, the US official told CNN television.

On Wednesday night, US surveillance in Pakistan spied a man on the roof of Mehsud's father-in-law's home in South Waziristan.  The description was of a "short, stocky man who was following the physical description" of Mehsud, CNN said, citing the intelligence official.

A woman was massaging the man's leg and the Central Intelligence Agency knew Mehsud had diabetes, experienced pain in his legs, and often sought relief in that way, the report said.

Officials already had authorization from Obama to strike Mehsud if they thought they had a clear shot.

"That's when the CIA decided to move in," the network said the official said.

More at the link.

An update on Pfc Bowe Bergdahl.

12/7/09 Update upthread:  MIA in Afghanistan: Army PFC. Bowe R. Bergdahl - at last an update.

Original post:  You haven't heard much about Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl lately so I was glad to see this in this evening's UK Telegraph.

"It was the first news of Pfc Bowe R Bergdahl, 23, made public since a Taliban video was released on July 18.  (photo from video)

Maulvi Sangin, an insurgent commander for eastern Afghanistan, said the Taliban's governing body was awaiting a response to demands it made to the US for his return.

"The American's fate is in the hand of (leadership), which is waiting until a response from the Americans to its demands," Sangin told The Associated Press.

Sangin would not elaborate on the demands or say if any deadline had been given. A spokesman for Sangin had previously said the soldier would be killed unless the US stops air strikes in two areas of eastern Afghanistan."

The Taliban spokesman, speaking from Pakistan, refused to identify where Pfc. Bergdahl is being held and a spokesman for the U.S. Military had this to say:

"Lt Cmdr Christine Sidenstricker, a US military spokeswoman in Kabul, would not comment on the status of Bergdahl's case. "We do not want to do anything that compromises his safety or efforts to recover him," she said. "Recovery efforts remain one of the largest ongoing operations and we are doing everything we can to get him back safely.""

Amen.

 FYI - yesterday morning the Pocatello POW-MIA Awareness Rally Association teamed up to take part in the "Standing with Bowe motorcycle run.  God bless them.

The ride started in Chubbuck at the Ramada Inn and then headed west picking up riders along the way from Elko, Nevada and other cities around our area.

Hundreds of motorcyclists from throughout the state got together and rode to Hailey to show support for Bowe and his family.  Pocatello POW-MIA riders say the motorcycle run is important to let people know that Bowe is not forgotten.

They aren't the only bikers that have been riding for Bowe.   Dated July 22nd, 2009. (Warning: heartwarming video ahead.)

Islam: Critical virgin shortage in Muslim Paradise

Update 1:46 pm:  Boo. The Long War Journal says to put away our party hats. The fog of Predator War: Baitullah is alive, say Pakistani Taliban.   (I'm still holding out hope, possums. You know what liars and disinformation artists these Talibani schmoes are.)

Spokesman of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan Hakimullah Mehsud and another Taliban leader Wali-ur-Rehman have been killed in an armed clash erupted during the Tehreek’s Shura meeting, Geo TV reported Saturday.

At the meeting Hakimullah Mehsud was appointed as TTP Chief after the reported killing of Baitullah Mehsud, the state media reported.

The agenda of the meeting was to appoint successor of Baitullah Mehsud, sources said.

You'll also be pleased to know that it doesn't sound like Baitullah's last days were any picnic...

Baitullah was a known hypertensive and diabetic. Whenever his health deteriorated, he resorted to intravenous infusions and he invited people to amuse him with jokes and funny remarks.

"On that particular night, Baitullah Mehsud was not feeling well and was on an intravenous infusion when a missile strike took place and he became a target. His wife and other three family members were also killed. Baitullah died on the spot," said Raqeebullah.

"Baitullah Mehsud was badly injured and his face was disfigured. He was buried later on in the night at Jangri area in south Waziristan," he added.

This puts me in such a good mood I thought I'd offer up a little tune in honor of the occasion:

(FYI - some additional fun facts on the Islamic Jihad's latest suckers can be found below the fold)

Bad News: Pakistan High court frees purported Mumbai Massacre mastermind.

India is unhappy with the decision.  Really?  Gee, you think they could have at least 'condemned' it or have been 'gravely concerned'.  Something.  This is a travesty and an insult to all who were killed or terrorized by these attacks.  To add insult to injury, the Indian government is making arrangements for the last surviving Mumbai terrorist to get a visit from his Pakistani Mum.  (I wonder how many Indian children wish they could have a visit from their parents but can't because the ir parents were killed by Kasab and his group of murderers.)

From The Asian Age.

"...a high court ordered the release of Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the founder of an outlawed militant group which was accused of organising an assault on the Indian city of Mumbai in November, his lawyer said.

New Delhi had earlier urged nuclear-armed rival Pakistan "dismantle the infrastructure of terrorism" after the Mumbai attacks killed 166 people and said it was "unhappy" with Saeed’s release.

It is also likely to dismay the United States which has been alarmed by deteriorating security in an ally whose help it needs to defeat Al Qaeda and subdue the Taliban in Afghanistan."

Update:  Speaking of the Mumbai massacre... 

Dubai resident funded Mumbai attacks?

Even as details regarding the financial transactions -- which financed the November 26 terror attacks -- emerge, another man who the police suspect could be associated with the financing has been put on the radar of investigating agencies.

Khameez Obaid, a resident of Dubai who was arrested by the Hyderabad Police for possessing fake currency worth Rs 2.36 crore, is said to be involved in financing the 26/11 attack in Mumbai.

Obaid was held by the Hyderabad Police on August 25, 2007 -- the same day the twin blasts rocked the city.

Obaid will be crucial to the Mumbai Police, who are trying to crack the network which financed the Mumbai terror attack. Sources told rediff.com that Obaid may be interrogated by the Mumbai Police regarding the financial links to the attack.

During interrogation, Obaid is believed to have revealed the names of several people involved in financing terror in India. The Hyderabad cops say it does not appear that Obaid was directly involved in any act of terror -- he confined his operations only to financing. 

Obaid had to be re-arrested immediately after his release since a link to the Mumbai attack was emerging. He is believed to be closely linked to Abdul Azeez, the man who funded the Mumbai attack. The Mumbai Police is likely to interrogate him regarding his links to Azeez, who has now been sentenced to life by an Oman court for planning terror strikes in that country.

During interrogation, Obaid revealed that he was part of a Bangladeshi group, which actively financed terror in India. A large chunk of the money, he had been sent across, was from Dubai where he was based prior to his visit to Hyderabad. He is said to have transferred crores of rupees through the sea route to Mumbai, which was later distributed to other parts of the country.

Apart from the Mumbai Police, cops from Bangalore, Delhi and Gujarat are also likely to seek his custody.

Good News: Pakistan Army frees student hostages.

From Asian Age:

Pakistani soldiers on Tuesday rescued scores of students and staff from a military-run college who were abducted by Taliban militants in the northwest of the country, a military spokesman said.

The abduction took place on Monday as the Pakistani Army pressed on with an offensive against the Taliban in the Swat Valley, in another part of the northwest.

Military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said the Taliban were taking the kidnapped students to the South Waziristan region, a militant stronghold on the Afghan border, when soldiers challenged them on a road and a clash erupted.

"Under cover of the firing the militants escaped and we have recovered them all," Gen. Abbas said, adding 71 students and nine members of staff had been rescued.

College principal Javed Iqbal Piracha, who was among those rescued, said 10 to 15 students appeared to be still missing.

Taliban fighters seized the students’ convoy heading home for the summer holiday near the Afghan border in North Waziristan.  There are several Taliban- and Al Qaeda-linked groups based in North and South Waziristan in a loose alliance with the Taliban in Swat.  South Waziristan is also the base of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud.

South Waziristan is also the base of Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and officials have said an offensive there was expected after Swat was secured.

Brigadier Zahid Abdullah, who led the rescue and said he believed everyone had been recovered, said the militants might have wanted to use the students as human shields.

Has Beslan come to Pakistan? 400 abducted from boys school in N Waziristan

From Yahoo News:

Suspected militants armed with rockets, grenades and automatic weapons abducted some 400 students, staff and relatives driving away from a boy's school in a troubled tribal region in northwest Pakistan on Monday, police and a witness said.

The brazen abduction came amid rising militant violence in Pakistan's tribal belt — actions the military says are aimed at distracting it from its offensive against the Taliban in the nearby Swat Valley.

Details were still emerging Monday about the nature of the attack. No group immediately claimed responsibility.

Police official Meer Sardar said the abduction occurred about 20 miles (30 kilometers) from Razmak Cadet College in North Waziristan tribal area. The people were leaving the school area after they were warned to get out in a phone call from a man they believed to be a political official, Sardar said, citing accounts from a group of 17 who managed to get away.

Around 30 buses, cars and other vehicles were carrying the students, staff and others when they were stopped along the road by a large group of alleged militants in their own vehicles.

The details were confirmed by a staff member at the school who was among those who escaped. He requested anonymity out of fear of Taliban reprisal but said the school's principal was among those abducted. His vehicle happened to be behind a truck on the road, and it was less visible, so the driver slipped away.

The staffer said the assailants carried rockets, Kalashnikovs, hand grenades and other weapons.

It was unclear how many students were involved, though they made up the majority of the group. Cadet colleges in Pakistan are usually run by retired military officers and educate teenagers. They also typically provide room and board.

North Waziristan is a major Taliban stronghold bordering Afghanistan.

According to The Times of India no group has yet claimed responsibility for the brazen abduction.

About the Cadet College:

Cadet College Razmak, North Waziristan Agency is a prestigious institution located in the heart of FATA. The college is providing quality education to the poor tribal candidates. The college was established Presidential Regulation-II of 1977. this Division sponsors the financil liabilities of the college. The Finance Division allocates sufficient amount in the regular budget of this Division as grant-in-aid . The aforesaid amount is released to the college on the basis of monthly installments. There are 196 employees 35 Gazetted while 161 are non-Gazetted. The Board of Governors regulates the affairs of the college.

The physical plant consists of:

The college is spread over an area of about 154 acres (0.62 km²).The buildings comprise a beautiful mosque, a double-storeyed Academic Block, College Auditorium, six newly constructed hostels called "Houses", one cadets' mess, a beatutiful and newly constructed administration block, and a science block. Sports facilities includes four squash courts and a number of football, hockey, cricket, basketball,volleyball grounds and six tennis courts. The college also has residential accommodation for the teaching and administrative staff.

Islamic religious instruction is compulsory.

More of those Muslim family values we've come to know and hate.

Here's an interesting Muslim family value for you:  Going to the mosque and praying for your sister - after you've strangled her.  Hasibullah Sadiqi's trial continues up in Canada.

"(Witness Payman) Fazli also testified about meeting Sadiqi the morning after the killings at Fazli’s apartment building on Riverside Dr. “He wanted to see me. He sounded sad and upset,” said Fazli. “He said Khatera was gone. I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and he said, ‘Khatera is gone.’ ” Fazli said Sadiqi then admitted he’d shot the couple.  “He asked me if I wanted to go to mosque to say a prayer for her,” said Fazli. “He said, ‘She’ll become a martyr. She’s in paradise now.’”

Words fail:  Bus full of handicapped students bombed by Pakistani Religion of Peace devotees.

"Ahmad Khan, a nine-year-old who had been on the bus, sat shaking on his mother's lap at the Lady Reading hospital as surgeons tried to save the life of a classmate. He struggled to tell her what had happened to him, throwing up his arms to mimic the explosion, then burst into tears and buried his bandaged head in her arms.

"My child is mentally impaired, but we had hope for him and sent him to school. Now I am even more worried for his future," said his veiled mother, Gul Bibi. "How could any human being do this?"

Also from Pakistan:  File this under 'How could any human being do this?  The Sequel"

"In her death statement registered by the police, Saba said, “My mother-in-law grabbed me by hair, while my husband punched and kicked me, making me almost unconscious. When I fell down on the ground and was in a daze, I called for water. But my husband poured a glassful of acid in my mouth.”"

The police are complicit:

"Usman said that the accused were politically influential and pressurizing his family through different tactics to make a compromise with them. Saba’s octogenarian mother Razia Begum told Daily Times that they were often called to the police station in the dead of the night and pressurized to patch things up with the accused."

Here's a new one on me, possums and it's unspeakable.  Honor gang rape.   (It's also Pakistan.  Again.)

"Hamza Lubano had lodged a report at the police station Ubaro under section 354-A, 387-a, 337-F(10 147, 148, 149 of the Pakistan Penal code, FIR 07/2007, stating that a dispute took place between Abdul Sattar and him on a children-related matter, upon which Sattar threatened to violate his honour so that “he could no longer live in society”.

Labano’s relative reportedly kidnapped the daughter of Anwar Khan some time back; and in order to avenge her honour, Anwar Khan and his ten accomplices abducted Nasima, and took her to Sattar’s residence, where ten persons allegedly raped her. The sexual assault by ten persons has also been proved by the medical report."

And it looks like there's still plenty of garden variety Honor killings going on in Pakistan.  Brother kills girl for honour.

"...on Friday morning, Bano (the victim) called home and talked to her mother expressingher desire to return home. The mother agreed. However, as Bano reached home she was beaten up by her father. In the meantime, Bano’s younger brother came and started arguing with her and suddenly he whipped out his handgun, fired a single shot into Bano’s head and killed her.

Afterwards, the police reached the house and conducted legal formalities and lodged a case. Imran, in his statement to the police, said that he had killed his sister because she had eloped with a non-Muslim."

How dare she.

It's official. Seymour Hersh has lost his mind.

Hersh accuses Cheney of ordering hit on Bhutto and is claiming that General Stanley McChrystal headed the death squad.  Whee doggies.  (h/t FReeper RobinMasters)

Former prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on the orders of the special death squad formed by former US vice-president Dick Cheney, which had already killed the Lebanese Prime Minister Rafique Al Hariri and the army chief of that country."

The squad was headed by General Stanley McChrystal, the newly-appointed commander of US army in Afghanistan. It was disclosed by reputed US journalist Seymour Hersh while talking to an Arab TV in an interview.

Hersh said former US vice-president Cheney was the chief of the Joint Special Operation Command and he clear the way for the US by exterminating opponents through the unit and the CIA. General Stanley was the in-charge of the unit.

Pakistan: No judge available to hear Benazir Bhutto assassination case.

Can you believe this sh*&?

From the Daily Times.

Anti Terrorism Court No I (ATC- I) on Saturday put off hearing into Benazir Bhutto’s assassination case till May 30, as there was no judge available to hear the case after transfer of Judge Chaudhry Habibur Rehman. The court is trying Aitzaz Shah, Sher Zaman, Rafaqat Hussain, Hussnain Gul and Abdul Rasheed to ascertain their alleged involvement in Bhutto’s assassination. Bhutto was assassinated in a gun-and-bomb attack on December 27, 2007, outside Liaquat Bagh moments after addressing a public gathering there as part of her election campaign. The incident occurred in the limits of City Police Station and its first information report (FIR) was registered under anti-terrorism act against unidentified suicide bombers. Later, the Joint Investigation Team (JIT) arrested five suspects who confessed to their involvement in the assassination and having links with Pakistani Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsood.

Separately, ATC II adjourned hearing into Police Special Branch attack case till May 30, as two accused in the case were not produced before it.