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POPSU.S. Forces Conduct Offensive in Pakistani Border Region This is, however, a sensitive issue. It is assumable that the moderates within the Pakistani government want the Taliban removed from Southern Waziristan. The problem is the more hardline elements of the Pakistani citizenry are sure to be unhappy about this. The unrest amongst the fundamentalists combined with the corrupt officials and Taliban sympathizers within the Pakistani government creates a unique situation that must be handled delicately. But this does not discount the need for military action in Southern Waziristan.
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POPSPakistan's PM Gilani's motorcade attacked. "The prime minister was coming back from Lahore. The firing took place on the Islamabad highway. At this point, we believe the firing was from a small hill on the roadside." A statement issued by the prime minister's office said: "Of the multiple sniper shots fired on the prime minister's vehicle, two hit the window on the driver's side. "However, because of the robust and comprehensive security measures, the prime minister and all the members of his motorcade remained unharmed."
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POPSal-Qaeda Confirms Death Of Arms Expert: report DUBAI (AFP) — Al-Qaeda has confirmed the death of a chemical and biological weapons expert whose killing in a suspected US strike was reported by Pakistan, an Islamist militant website said on Sunday. Abu Khabab al-Masri was among a group of "heroes" who joined "the caravans of martyrs," said a statement signed by Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, Al-Qaeda's general commander in Afghanistan. Its authenticity could not be independently confirmed. Pakistani officials had said that a July 28 missile strike in Pakistan's South Waziristan tribal area killed Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose full name was Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar.
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POPSPakistan Strikes At Taliban In Khyber Agency Roadblocks and checkpoints have been established in Peshawar in an effort to halt the movement of Taliban into the provincial capital. Government and security officials, business leaders, and residents have said the Taliban are poised to take Peshawar. The Pakistani government has "given full authority" to General Pervaiz Kayani, the Army Chief of Staff, to conduct operations to secure Peshawar. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Syed Yusaf Raza Gilani said the federal government fully supports efforts by the provincial government of the Northwest Frontier Province to conduct peace talks with the Taliban. Khyber has seen increased Taliban activity this year. Seventeen me members of the Frontier Corps were captured just days ago after they refused to abandon their checkpoints. In March, the Taliban blew up 42 trucks transporting fuel to NATO forces in Afghanistan. Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan was kidnapped in Khyber in February.
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POPSKarzai Says He'll Send Troops to Pakistan Karzai said in recent fighting in the Garmser district of Helmand province - where hundreds of U.S. Marines have been battling insurgents the last two months - that most of the fighters came from Pakistan. Karzai called Pakistan a "brother government" and "friend," but also urged it to "act against those elements that are making Pakistan and Afghanistan insecure." He said it was better for Afghan troops to be killed during offensive operations into Pakistan than in militant attacks in Afghanistan. His comments come as Pakistan is seeking peace deals with militants in its borders, including with Mehsud. The deals have come under criticism from U.S. officials, who warn they will simply give militants time to regroup and intensify attacks inside Afghanistan. But Pakistan insists it's not negotiating with "terrorists," rather militants willing to lay down their arms. Karzai is talkative and good for nothing
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POPS'cowardly and unprovoked attack' USA Friends A group of militants attacked the coalition troops as they were retreating and American assault helicopters came to their aid, killing eight insurgents. However, some of the missiles hit the Pakistani checkpoint and destroyed it. This was the most Pakistani soldiers killed in an attack by US-led coalition forces, and Islamabad used its strongest language yet to condemn the American actions as violating its sovereignty. “We will take a stand for sovereignty, integrity and self-respect and we will not allow our soil ,” Yousaf Raza Gilani, the Prime Minister, told Parliament. “The violent attack hit at the very basis of co-operation and sacrifice with which Pakistani soldiers are supporting the coalition forces,” Major-General Athar Abbas, the chief military spokesman, said. He denied that the insurgents had struck from Pakistan or that there had been any attack launched from the border post.
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POPSOne Of The Top Six Leaders In al-Qaeda's Global Structure Killed There was no official word in Washington on the circumstances of Libi's death, which coincided with intensive contacts between US and Pakistani security officials after a year in which violence escalated sharply in Afghanistan. A Pakistani daily, The News, said the suspected US strike on Monday had targeted Libi and another senior figure, Obaidah al Masri, though residents in the tribal area had said the attack had targeted second or third tier al-Qaeda leaders. Tribesmen had said a deputy of Libi had been staying in the area, which borders Afghanistan, and was among the dead, according to an intelligence official.
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POPSFor Sale: West’s Deadly Nuclear Secrets The Pakistani operation was led by General Mahmoud Ahmad, then the ISI chief. (Inter-Service Intelligence) Intelligence analysts say that members of the ISI were close to Al-Qaeda before and after 9/11. Indeed, Ahmad was accused of sanctioning a $100,000 wire payment to Mohammed Atta, one of the 9/11 hijackers, immediately before the attacks. The results of the espionage were almost certainly passed to Abdul Qadeer Khan, the Pakistani nuclear scientist. Khan was close to Ahmad and the ISI. While running Pakistan’s nuclear programme, he became a millionaire by selling atomic secrets to Libya, Iran and North Korea. Edmonds says packages containing nuclear secrets were delivered by Turkish operatives, using their cover as members of the diplomatic and military community, to contacts at the Pakistani embassy in Washington. Edmonds also claims that a number of senior officials in the Pentagon had helped Israeli and Turkish agents.
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POPSPakistan On The Brink I won't be long before most people in referring to Muharraf will join that long and inglorious line of petty despots as one of "our bastards". There is a pattern that has evolved over the years that highlights our countries ability to choose the most expedient solution to complicated socio-governmental issues and end up with ineffectual and corrupt swindlers in place as heads of failed governments. The people of Pakistan appear to be screaming for a democratic rule of law in their country to the deaf ears of Musharraf and his military regime. It will be to our advantage to pay close attention to where this all leads.
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POPSMess with the Bushes & NeoCons: Your life is ruined. Barlow wrote an analysis for then-Secretary Dick Cheney that concluded the planned F-16 sale violated this law. Drawing on detailed, classified studies, Barlow wrote about Pakistan's ability, intentions and activities to deliver nuclear bombs using F-16s it had acquired before the law was passed. Barlow discovered later that someone rewrote his analysis so that it endorsed the sale of the F-16s. Arthur Hughes, the deputy assistant secretary of defense, testified to Congress that using the F-16s to deliver nuclear weapons "far exceeded the state of art in Pakistan" -- something Barlow knew to be untrue In the summer of 1989, Barlow told Brubaker, Rostow and Michael MacMurray, the Pakistan desk officer in charge of military sales to Pakistan who prepared Hughes's testimony, that Congress had been misled. Within days, Barlow was fired
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POPSReligions Effect on Children When Richard Dawkins described religion as a form of child abuse he was roundly criticized. In this short clip we are witness to children (10 and 14 years old) who are "willing to die for Islam". I'd like to hear how Dawkins critics rationalize that.
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POPSFEAR FACTOR: Crying wolf about the British airline terrorist plot Still waiting to be proved wrong that citizens were in danger of anything on August 10 besides a massive dose of manufactured hysteria. There are, of course, other details that came out, but these are the main ones; and, over the last three weeks, doubts have been raised about each one of them. If the initial story offered by Chertoff and Townsend--and their British and Pakistani counterparts--represents a house, then that house is now tottering on its foundations and ready to collapse in ruins.
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POPSDetails of the August 22 plot Security chiefs launched pre-dawn raids to foil the terrorists after intercepting a message from Pakistan that said: "Do your attacks now".
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