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POPSAngry Pakistani tribesmen attack Taliban after bombing Militants have unleashed a new wave of violence in Pakistan in recent months after the military launched major offensives against them in the rugged northwest including Bajaur and Swat regions. The mounting militant threat prompted the government to convene a closed joint session of the two-chambered parliament for a briefing by intelligence officials on internal security. The parliamentarians are due to begin debate on the situation after Pakistan's newly appointed intelligence chief briefed them this week on the militant threat. The growing violence comes amidst a stepped-up campaign by the United States against militant targets inside Pakistan
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POPSThe Savagery of a Surge That Failed He didn't scream. Instead, the sight induced a sort of catatonia; he picked up the head, cradled it in his arms, and started walking aimlessly. He carried on like this for days, until tribal elders pried the head from his hands and convinced him to deal with his loss more constructively. He decided he would get revenge by becoming a suicide bomber and inflicting a loss on some American family as painful as the one he had just suffered. The Taliban are as uninterested in social services and human rights as the Karzai government or the international forces, but they know how to turn a world of poverty, insecurity, and death from laser-guided missiles to their advantage. Washington spends about $100 million a day on this war - close to $36 billion a year - but only five cents of every dollar goes towards aid. From this paltry sum, "a staggering 40% has returned to donor countries in corporate profits and salaries".
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POPSGroup Claims Responsibility for Paki Marriott Bombing Interesting, while Pakistan blames Al Qaeda this "little known" group emerges (from Dubai) and takes responsibility. Interestingly they disclose what the MSM thus far has not: had targeted 250 U.S. Marines and NATO officials which he said had been at the hotel
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POPSOn the US search for Bin Laden and Pakistan Pashtuns suffered heavy casualties in the bombing campaign of 2001. They resent the recent Predator attacks that are resulting in civilian casualties. As a result, the $25 million reward on Osama’s head has failed to elicit cooperation leading to the capture of the Al Qaeda leader.
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POPSTaliban Launches Large Coordinated Assaults The Taliban claimed responsibility for all three attacks in Khost. Their spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahed, reached by telephone at an unknown location, said that 15 suicide bombers, equipped with machine guns and vests packed with explosives, with 30 militants backing them up, attacked the base, one of the largest foreign military bases in Afghanistan. He claimed that some of the bombers had gotten inside the base and had killed a number of American soldiers and destroyed equipment and helicopters. This last claim was denied by General Azimi of the Afghan military.
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POPSMy Country, Tis Of Thee, Sweet Land Of Liberty Long before the Hamdan trial, we already knew that we were offered bin Laden in transit from Sudan to Afghanistan. But we did not want him. Our lawyers had no battle, our leaders no mettle. Most of us, though not all, have learned nothing. After thousands smote and seven years of war, we are back to our superior ways, demanding Habeas Corpus and noting in the very first trial that bin Laden’s deputy was read no Miranda rights upon his capture - or was it arrest? They say history repeats itself. Never before has it applied so swiftly, within the same generation and within the same conflict. A selfish society incapable of sacrifice is equally incapable of self-defense. Our greatest concern is not the pursuit of madmen or the states which feed them. It is not even the cost of oil and its affect on our economy and future.
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POPSTerrorists' Assignment: Protect Barack Obama The Israeli Defense Forces, working with U.S. security coordinators, will protect the main West Bank highway Obama's convoy will use to approach Ramallah. Security for Obama will be largely turned over to the Palestinians once he enters Ramallah, although security plans are being heavily coordinated with the U.S.
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POPSWar Photographer "Disembedded The Marine commanders who saw the photograph were not happy, saying it violated a "trust" between the military and journalists. The reason the Marines gave--that Zoriah had "provided the enemy with specific information on the effectiveness of the attack and the response of U.S. and Iraqi forces to the attack"--was nonsense. Now, I don't like seeing dead Americans at all. But if the country is going to fight a war, then the population needs to see the cost. What's next? Should we also ban combat-wounded paraplegics, amputees, and burn victims from going out in public after they return home? Is it just too shocking? Would not banning them from public allow the terrorists to achieve a victory on our own soil by inflicting dangerously low morale on the American public? Would it help al Qaeda with their battle damage assessments? And we certainly don't want the kids to see that kind of stuff--like Purple Heart awardees walking around without body parts.
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POPSDeadliest Attack in Afghanistan The Afghan Interior Ministry hinted that the attack was carried out with help from Pakistan's intelligence service, saying that "terrorists have carried out this attack in coordination and consultation with some of the active intelligence circles in the region." The Foreign Minister of Pakistan, Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, said Pakistan condemned the attack and terrorism in all forms. Unfortunately we have no more troops to send to Afghanistan.
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POPSMilitants Attack Afghan Prison With Car Bomb, Free Inmates Lawmaker Habibullah Jan said some of the hunger strikers had been held without trial for more than two years. Others were given lengthy prison sentences after short trials. Jan said 47 of the prisoners had stitched their mouths shut during the hunger strike in May.
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POPSRadical Muslims for Obama It's worth reading the whole piece; we see a connection to HAMAS (which keeps coming up), a link to Aswat Al-Islam, which features the works of such Islamist luminaries as: “Uninidicted Co-conspirators” of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, Siraj Wahhaj and Bilal Philips; anti-Christian bigot, Ahmed Deedat; pro-wife beating author, Jamal Badawi; suicide bombing supporter, Yusuf Al-Qaradawi; and the chief cleric of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, who has called for the murders of Jews, Christians and Americans and has described Jews as “the scum of the human race, the rats of the world, the killers of prophets, and the grandsons of monkeys and pigs,” Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais. The connections to radical Islam are seemingly endless, on this; just in this article alone there is a lot.
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POPS Ops Yield 13 Enemy Killed, 14 Captured American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON — Coalition and Iraqi troops killed 13 enemy fighters and captured 14 others during recent operations, military officials said. -- Members of a “Sons of Iraq” citizen security group killed nine enemy fighters during a firefight at a checkpoint near Owja, south of Tikrit. Members of the group were attacked when a fuel truck approached the checkpoint and engaged the guards with small-arms fire. The driver then got out and detonated a suicide vest. The remaining enemy fighters continued to target the security group, and Iraqi Army Soldiers and police responded to the firefight, eliminating the threat, officials said.
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POPSKhaled Abou El Fadl: Jihad Gone Wrong Khaled Abou el Fadl is a professor at the School of Law at the University of California. He is a prominent Islamic scholar and intellectual. In this interview, El Fadl talks about suicide bombings, misinterpretations of 'jihad' and the humanist tradition of Islam. Deutsche Fassung: Interview Khaled Abou El Fadl - Der missverstandene Dschihad Der Begriff des Dschihad geistert seit Jahren durch die Presse. Dass seine wahre Bedeutung weder etwas mit Selbstmordattentaten noch mit "heiligem Krieg" zu tun hat, erklärt Khaled Abou El Fadl im Gespräch. Das, was Selbstmordattentäter als Dschihad verkaufen, ist nichts anderes als eine Strategie offensiver Bombenanschläge, die von der revolutionären Ideologie der 60er Jahre beeinflusst ist, meint Khaled Abou El Fadl. Prof. Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl ist Professor für islamisches Recht an der Universität von Los Angeles (UCLA)
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POPSFive Years of Suicide Bombings in Iraq Never before has the Arab world witnessed a phenomenon of suicide-death on this scale. During Israel's occupation of Lebanon after 1982, one Hizbollah suicide-bombing a month was considered remarkable. During the Palestinian intifadas of the 1980s and 1990s, four per month was regarded as unprecedented. But suicide bombers in Iraq have been attacking at the average rate of two every three days since the 2003 Anglo-American invasion.
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POPSCultural Differences Now imagine you’re a Jewish country, wherein the prevailing attitude is to value life, and on your borders are a large population that embraces a philosophy in which death trumps. Seems to me that building a wall is the most moderate approach that comes to mind.
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POPSStarving GAZA Rats bit Hand that doesn't Feed them!
"Three Palestinian resistance groups have claimed responsibility for the Dimona bombing, including the Al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades, an off-shot of Fatah, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, the Abu Ali Mustafa brigades, the armed wing of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and a new group called the national resistance brigades. In a joint statement, faxed to the press, the three groups named the suicide bombers as Mosa Arafat from Khan Younis, and Loay al-Aghwani from Gaza city. Al-Aqsa Martyrs brigades, Fatah's armed wing, held a press conference in Gaza, stating that today's attack is a part of Palestinian resistance operations which will continue "as long as the Israeli occupation continues attacks on the Palestinian people." Abu Alwalid, spokesperson of the Al-Aqsa brigades, speaking to reporters on Monday said, " we confirm that this operation has been already planned since December of last year, and it was about to be carried out on December 20th, yet it has bee