 AUSTRALIAN special forces soldiers are using gunsights with biblical references etched on to them as they fight the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. The ADF has several hundred of the sights, which are prized by elite troops for their accuracy over long range. Their use by US, British and New Zealand troops has raised alarm among military leaders that it could reinforce views among extremists that the West is waging a crusade against Islam. The Australian Defence Force is investigating how to remove biblical references etched on to gunsights, without damaging the weapons. The ADF and military authorities in the US, Britain and elsewhere thought the letters and numbers on the sights were simply stock or model numbers until a US soldier in Afghanistan complained to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation that the initials referred to passage from the Bible. One example was JN8:12 which turned out to be a reference to chapter eight, verse 12 in the Book of John: "When Jesus spoke again to the people he said 'I am the light of the world. While coalition soldiers were unaware of the significance of the initials, military officials quickly became alarmed that religious extremists could take some propaganda advantage from them being proof the West was waging a crusader war against Islam. The ADF confirmed yesterday it had been unaware of the meaning of the inscription when the sights were issued to troops. "The Department of Defence was unaware of the significance of the manufacturer's serial number," the spokesman said. "The sights were procured because they provide mature technology which is highly reliable, in wide use by our allies and best meet Defence requirements. Soldiers are confident in the utility of the sight and the positive and proven effect which it is having on operations." The spokesman said Defence was conscious of the sensitivities over this issue and was assessing how to address them. Another inscription was 2COR4:6, which is an apparent reference to Second Corinthians 4:6 of the New Testament. The passage reads: "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." US military rules prohibit religious proselytising in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn to prevent criticism that the US was on a religious crusade in its war against al-Qa'ida and Iraqi insurgents. The sights are used by US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $US660 million ($725m) multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the US Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the American Army. Trijicon issued a statement saying: "As part of our faith and our belief in service to our country, Trijicon has put scripture references on our products for more than two decades. "As long as we have men and women in danger, we will continue to do everything we can to provide them with both state-of-the-art technology and the never-ending support and prayers of a grateful nation." The Australian
 by Lt.Col. Ralph Peters The Taliban scored a powerful psychological victory yesterday, as fewer than two dozen suicide attackers brought Afghanistan's government and capital city to a standstill. In a dramatic wave of attacks (possibly planned with help from Pakistani intelligence operatives), the Taliban struck Kabul's presidential palace, several government ministries and a multistory shopping complex. And they did it just as President Hamid Karzai was swearing in his new Cabinet (despite a battle with parliament over the legitimacy of his picks).
Think that gave Afghans renewed confidence in their government? We've been told, repeatedly, that Afghanistan's army and police are improving, yet US forces had to rush to their aid in responding to 20 or fewer attackers right in Kabul. Still worse: The attack's planning was meticulous and media savvy. In smooth coordination with simultaneous suicide bombings and small-arms attacks, Taliban public-relations agents popped up online and in the media to thump their chests over their win. When it comes to media relations, these thugs aren't backward barbarians. Indeed, the Taliban does it far better than our military, which slowly issues defensive statements that nobody takes seriously. (And where our bureaucracy's paralytic, NATO's is comatose.) Inevitably, our guys in Kabul will play down the attacks, claiming that "Saigon's back to normal, people are going about their business." But weigh the psychological impact yesterday's strikes had on Afghans unsure of which horse to back in this deadly race. Yesterday's wave of bombings was a mini-Tet Offensive -- a small-scale repeat of the attacks that triggered US public opinion's turn against the Vietnam War. They were designed to explode Western claims of progress and embarrass our leaders -- and it worked. Our self-delusion stinks of the early years in Vietnam, when Gen. Paul Harkins, our man in Saigon, claimed (in 1963) that the Vietnamese army was doing a great job, the war was being won and our troops would be home by 1965. Recently, I read a report by an official US visitor to Afghanistan calling Karzai "brave" and describing him as the leader Afghanistan needs.
Good God -- he's hiding in his presidential palace, afraid to visit the front lines and see what kind of shape his country's really in. Yesterday, the war came to him. Our insistence on propping up Karzai is so uncanny a replay of our support for South Vietnam's incompetent Diem regime five decades ago that the similarity's unnerving. We saw what we wanted to see then. And we see what we want to see now. The problem is not our troops: They're doing everything we ask and more. But they're pit bulls led by miniature poodles. Senior military leaders refuse to see our enemies for what they are -- religious fanatics with a durable tribal base -- and insist on treating them as 20th-century ideological insurgents. Earth to Gen. Stan McChrystal: Those suicide bombers yesterday weren't Sandinistas. Special Forces and other personnel down-range (far from the gee-whiz briefing rooms) understand that there is no Afghan nation, that we've stuck ourselves in the midst of complex tribal wars super-charged by religious fanaticism among our enemies. And, in tribal wars, you have to pick your tribes. It's not that the war in Afghanistan's unwinnable. It's just not winnable on the ludicrous terms we've imposed upon ourselves. We want to build what can't be built and refuse to do what must be done -- and sacrifice our troops for foreign scoundrels. Poll the Afghans on the streets of Kabul today. Ask them if we're winning. Ralph Peters' latest book is "The War After Armageddon." NYPost
 Taliban fighters have staged a series of attacks in the centre of Kabul, with gunfire and several explosions reported at locations across the Afghan capital. Early reports of the attacks, which began on Monday close to the presidential palace, said that at least four people had been killed and that several people had been injured. Farhad Paiker, an Afghan journalist, told Al Jazeera that the strikes had spread to other parts of the city. "A suicide bomber in a car came towards the foreign ministry. Security forces tried to stop it and it hit a shopping centre," he said. "It is really chaotic in the area." Later a car bomb exploded near another shopping centre, close to the education ministry. A security source was quoted by the Reuters news agency as saying that a suicide bomber had killed "several police and intelligence officials". The Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attacks, saying that 20 of their fighters were involved in the clashes. Afghan security forces have locked down the centre of the city. Nato's international forces were also reportedly helping to secure the area. "We can confirm that four suicide bombers have been killed," Zemarai Bashery, an interior ministry spokesman, told Al Jazeera. He said that two of the attackers had taken refuge in a building and had been killed by security forces. Qais Azimy, Al Jazeera's Kabul producer, reporting about 200m from the secene of some of the fighting, said: "There are hundreds of Afghan army and police and intelligence officials present. Civilians have completely left the area. "It is a big question mark how they [the fighters] got so close to the presidential palace." David Chater, Al Jazeera's correspondent who was at the Serena Hotel surrounded by the fighting, said: "We've heard four large explosions very close to the hotel. I'm told the fighting is close to the presidential palace. "There is fierce gunfire very close to me ... a heavy gunfight going on at the moment. "It is extraordinary that security has been breached to this extent," he said, adding that it showed the Taliban could act at will. The Serena Hotel, which is frequented by foreign journalists, was reported to be on fire shortly after the attacks began. Chater said there had been recent warnings that opposition fighters had hijacked six armoured cars and were planning an attack on the capital. The attack appears to be the most co-orindinated offensive on the capital since the US-led invasion in 2001 that toppled the Taliban from power. But Afghan politicians insisted the Taliban attack held little significance. "They did attack any important ministry," Mir Ahmed Joyenda, an Afghan parliamentarian, told Al Jazeera. "It does not mean the Taliban is strong. It means they can not target military targets only the Afghan people. It means that they are weak." Even so, the attack comes at a sensitive time in Afghan politics with Hamid Karzai, the president, yet to finalise his cabinet after disputed elections. Chater said that the strikes will bring into question the credibility of Karzai's authority and the military strategy in Afghanistan of Barack Obama, the US president. Obama committed 30,000 extra troops to the country at the end of last year, to be focused on training local security forces, after much deliberation. The attack also comes ahead of the London Conference on Afghanistan hosted by the UK, UN and Afghanistan on January 28 on winning the conflict in the country. Al Jazeera
 The Pakistani Taliban has released an audiotape which it says is proof that Hakimullah Mehsud, ( pictured), its leader, was not killed in a US missile attack earlier this week. The tape, purportedly carrying the voice of Mehsud, condemned the rumours of his death, but made no reference to the raid which killed 18 people in North Waziristan. "Sometimes they [the government] launch propaganda about my martyrdom through media and sometimes they say that the operation has been completed in South Waziristan," the recording, released to media on Friday, said. "This can never happen," it continued, referring to military operations against Taliban strongholds launched last year. Reporters familiar with Mehsud said the voice appeared to be his, but it was impossible to confirm if it was recorded before or after Thursday's raid. Mehsud is know to have recorded a number of similar tapes after an attempt on his life in October. Conflicting reports emerged from intelligence agents and security officials on Friday, with some saying Mehsud was injured, while others said the he and some of his senior commanders were probably killed. "So far we do not have confirmation of him either getting killed or getting injured. It will take a little more time to confirm this or otherwise," Major-General Athar Abbas, a military spokesman, told the AFP news agency. The Taliban has issued a number of statements denying Mehsud's death, and Azam Tariq, one of their spokesmen, said his boss had left the Shaktoi area struck by the missiles "40 to 60 minutes" before the raid. "Hakimullah is alive and safe. I met with him last night, there was not even a scratch on him," Tariq told AFP on Friday. Mehsud took over as leader of the Pakistani Taliban five months ago, after Baitullah Mehsud, his predecessor, was killed in a US drone attack. The Taliban denied Baitullah Mehsud's death for weeks, apparently amid fierce infighting over his successor. The "Mehsud audiotape" was released against a backdrop of continued violence in different parts of Pakistan. A suicide bomber attacked a military vehicle in the southern part of Pakistani-administered Kashmir on Saturday, killing two soldiers, security officials said. The bomber attacked the vehicle as it was travelling near the town of Rawalakot, the officials said. "It was a suicide blast, the target was an army vehicle," Sardar Khurshid, a senior police official, told the AFP news agency by telephone. Chaudhry Raqeeb, a senior administrative official, told AFP: "Two security personnel have been injured. The injured were immediately shifted to the nearby hospital." On December 27, a suicide bomber killed seven people outside a Shia Muslim mosque in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. The Kashmir bombing followed US drone raids in North Waziristan in which at least five fighters were killed. One of those killed on Friday was on the FBI's most-wanted list, Pakistani intelligence officials said. Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim was reportedly wanted for his alleged role in a deadly 1986
plane hijacking and had a $5 million bounty on his head. The FBI's website identifies him as a Palestinian with possible Lebanese citizenship, who was a member of the armed Palestinian group Abu Nidal. The Pakistani officials called him an al-Qaeda member. Al Jazeera
 From CAN: The five Americans arrested in Pakistan on their way to try to get training from the Taliban and Al-Qaeda wanted to bomb the Chashma nuclear power plant and other sites in Pakistan, The Daily Times of Pakistan reports.
The aspiring terrorists came from the northern Virginia and Washington D.C. areas. TIME Magazine reported in December when the arrests occurred that the group was arrested by Pakistani police in Sargodha owned by one of the suspects’ uncle. This uncle belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist group, which according to ABC News, originally rejected the five men as did Jamaat ud-Dawa, a group that’s connected to the Lashkar-e-Taiba group that carried out the Mumbai bombings. The Americans were not rejected because the two terrorist groups disagreed with their objectives, but because they could not provide references from other members.
However, terrorism experts caution that Pakistani and Kashmiri terrorist groups often collaborate with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda and could also be a source of “homegrown” terrorism. For example, in 2004, a man in Colorado was deported after it was learned that he had received training at a camp operated by Jaish-e-Mohammed. “The U.S. and British governments have both acquired overwhelming evidence that ‘homegrown’ terror cells seeking instruction at ‘real’ terror training camps frequently end up at either facilities run by LET [Lashkar-e-Taiba] or JEM,” the Investigative Project on Terrorism quoted terrorism expert Evan Kohlmann as saying. The two aforementioned groups openly operate in Pakistan and own religious schools called madrasses.
The Pakistani government has launched military offensives against elements aligned to the Taliban but is accused of turning a blind eye to other terrorist organizations that have sympathizers in the military and intelligence service. World Threats
Gingrich: "Where In The Muslim World Have We Seen Any Battle Cry ... To Condemn? Where Is The Condemnation? At What Point Do You Have To Say 'Enough?" Everyone must watch this! I think this may be the best speech I have ever seen, by any politician, on the threat we face from Islam.
Former Republican congressional leader Newt Gingrich discusses the war on terror at the National Press Club. Still very much applicable.
Jim Hoft The Taliban released a video today of the Jordanian doctor and Al-Qaeda blogger before he killed 7 CIA officers in a suicide bombing. In the video Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi says the attack will be the first of revenge operations against the Americans and their drone teams outside the Pakistani border. The CIA bomber also says in the video that he can not be bought off by the West before his suicide attack:
The Taliban said that the attack was a revenge operation for drone attacks in the Pakistani border regions ordered by President Obama.
…But weren’t we told they hated us because of Gitmo? The BBC reported on the video: The Jordanian “double agent” who killed himself and seven American Central Intelligence Agency officials in Afghanistan’s Khost province last month must have been very sure of the success of his mission. “This… attack will be the first of revenge operations against the Americans and their drone teams outside the Pakistani border, after they killed the Amir [chief] of Tehrik Taliban Pakistan (TTP), Baitullah Mehsud, may God’s beneficence be upon him,” he apparently said in a video broadcast released on Saturday. The video shows the purported Jordanian suicide bomber sitting next to Baitullah Mehsud’s successor and the new Pakistani Taliban, or TTP, chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, and reading from written text. “We [the Jordanian himself and the Taliban, whom he describes as Mujahideen or the holy warriors] arranged together this attack to let the Americans understand that our belief in Allah… cannot be exchanged for all the wealth in the world,” he says. It would appear that he had already set the trap for the CIA agents at the time he made the video. …The father of the accused Jordanian has said that the man who appears on the video is definitely his son. The Pakistani Taliban has claimed responsibility for the Khost attack, alongside similar claims by the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaeda. All of them said that the attack was planned to avenge the 6 August 2009 killing of Baitullah Mehsud in a drone strike. With thanks to Gateway Pundit
 On Christmas Day a brave Dutchman, Jasper Schuringa, played a very big role in preventing yet another terrorist triumph. He was able to subdue the young Islamist Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and stop him from murdering a plane-load of people and then getting his virgins, raisins, or whatever these brain-washed Islamists think is waiting for them in Paradise.
Now the airlines of the world have to think hard about what they can do, yet again, to keep the airlines safe.
But can they? Christopher Hitchens doubts it, and wonders why the majority of us have to endure these basically useless procedures. People who follow the activities of Islamists worldwide would not have been at all surprised.
Thwarted terror plots and Islamist Militants' incidents are almost daily occurrences. The only surprises are the out-of-the-box methods that are constantly updated. It seems these people have nothing better to do than figure out new ways of killing people they hate and disagree with!
What a "noble goal" in life that must be!
This is a global problem yet the leaders of the world simply don't want to know about it, let alone deal with it effectively.
Yes, there is a river in Egypt called "Denial".
Another fact often overlooked is that these attempts at mass murder do not only occur in the west, but in many Islamic countries. Pakistan is a good example of this. Muslim on Muslim murder. And of course who can forget the beheadings by the Taliban.
In 2009 there was quite a string of such plots and incidents and they have been well-documented by those who follow these issues.
It is indeed astonishing that people, Moderate Muslims and non-Muslims alike, do not protest in front of their respective government agencies constantly and say "enough already!"
It is quite unbelievable. Is it fear? Political Correctness? Apathy? Ignorance? All of these and maybe more? Why should any civilized person have to put up with any form of medieval behavior in the twenty-first century?
Mention must also be made here of the "gifts" bestowed on Israel and the rest of the world by Jimmy Carter. His apology for his comments about Israel, and his role in adding to the global jihad should not be underestimated.
It is as if they are totally ignorant of what is actually happening, and ignorant of the fact that not only the Israelis, but also the Egyptians control the crossings to Gaza. It is not just ignorance. It is deceit, and it is affecting many people who live in the Middle East: Muslims, Jews and Christians alike.
But I forget: Gaza is a fashionable cause, and Israel, that tiny strip of democratic land in an ocean of Islamic theocracies and dictatorships, is the cause of ALL the problems in the world - yep,,sure it is! All those "occupied territories"..err.."disputed territories" are the root cause of it all!!
And please dismiss from your mind the thousands of rockets that were launched into Israel which eventually lead to the Gaza war and the infamous Goldstone Report. I am not trying to demean the suffering of the Palestinians, especially the Gazans, who, under Hamas have indeed suffered, yet most of this is due to their leaders who are obsessed with maintaining power, accumulating wealth, and are totally disinterested in the welfare of their citizens.
Corruption is king. Teach your children to hate. Get money for weapons from the West and build almost NO infrastructure. Make sure the United Nations helps you all the way, and perpetuates this ridiculous situation. Can't have a bunch of UN employees out of a job, can we?
Yesterday I read that New Zealand is protesting an Israeli tennis player, Shahar Peer. This is not this first instance of "Tennis Jihad". It has happened in Sweden too.
Is it not strange that two western democracies allow politics to interfere with a sporting event in this day and age? Am I being naive? Are all sporting events tied to politics like they were in Hitler's time? They shouldn't be. Is history repeating itself? .
This is the disconnect: every day we hear of Islamist terrorism all over the world. No one says a word; no one protests, no one minds being patted down and removing their shoes at airports.
People of all races and creeds everywhere are threatened by radical Islamist extremists who are willing to kill and die in the name of their belief system. (I hesitate to call it a religion).
Blame must also go to the left-wing post-modernists who ably support them in the name of political correctness and self-loathing.
But one Israeli tennis player in New Zealand, and one in Sweden, cause demonstrations. These two countries, fine examples of Western liberal democracies, should hang their heads in shame.
This situation is very hard to comprehend.
"You can't be serious!" Indeed, Mr McEnroe!
 WASHINGTON: The suicide bomber who killed eight people inside a CIA base in Afghanistan was a Jordan-born terrorist double-agent who had been invited to the base because he claimed to have information targeting Osama bin Laden's second-in-command. The bomber had been recruited by the Jordanian intelligence service and taken to Afghanistan to infiltrate al-Qa'ida by posing as a foreign jihadi, US officials said. The attacker, a physician-turned-mole, had been recruited to infiltrate al-Qa'ida's senior circles and had gained the trust of his CIA and Jordanian handlers with a stream of useful intelligence leads, two former senior officials briefed on the agency's internal investigation told The Washington Post. His track record as an informant apparently allowed him to enter a key CIA post without a thorough search, the sources said. An Afghan security official identified the bomber as Hammam Khalil Abu Mallal al-Balawi, also known as Abu Dujana al-Khurasani. The Pakistani Taliban also claimed Balawi was the bomber, Arabic-language websites reported. The bomber appears to have been invited to an operational planning meeting on al-Qa'ida, a former senior US intelligence official said. "It looks like an al-Qa'ida double-agent," the former official said. "It's very sophisticated for a terrorist group that's supposedly on the run." The blast on December 30 killed four CIA officers, including the Khost base chief; three CIA contractors; and Mr bin Zeid, officials said. Six CIA employees were wounded in the attack. The Al Jazeera television network reported the bomber had initially been recruited to provide intelligence on the whereabouts of bin Laden's top deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri. The CIA's deputy chief of station from Kabul travelled to the meeting at the CIA Khost base, Forward Operating Base Chapman, according to former intelligence officials, pointing to the meeting's importance. The officer was wounded in the attack, according to informed sources. Both the Pakistani Taliban and the Afghan Taliban have claimed responsibility for the attack. The Afghan Taliban fights alongside an array of militants, including the Haqqani network, an Islamic extremist group that operates in Afghanistan and Pakistan and maintains close ties to al-Qa'ida. The US and Jordanian intelligence services have worked closely together for years, said a former senior intelligence official. "There's a confidence level with them," the former official said. Officials said Balawi had been jointly managed by US and Jordanian agencies and had provided "actionable intelligence" over several weeks of undercover work along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. "This is someone they obviously trusted very, very much," a former official said. Balawi was an active recruiter and an "elite writer" on al-Qa'ida's password-protected al-Hisba website, where he went by the name Abu Dujana al-Khurasani, according to the journal of the US Military Academy at West Point's Combating Terrorism Centre. In a posting on the site in May 2007, Balawi sought to persuade people from a variety of backgrounds, including African-Americans, Native Americans, Vietnamese and poor immigrants, to join the fight against their "oppressor", the US, the West Point analysts found. Balawi had studied medicine in Turkey with government funding, according to a translation of the Jordanian website Jerasa News by the Middle East Media Research Institute. He left Jordan about a year ago after being detained for a few months by Jordanian intelligence officers.
The Australian
 A SUICIDE car bomber has killed at least 88 people in a crowd attending a volleyball game in a northwest Pakistan village in the deadliest strike in more than two months. A man detonated his vehicle, which was packed with explosives, as fans gathered at a field to watch two local teams face off at a volleyball tournament in the village of Shah Hasan Khan, in Bannu district, which borders the Taliban stronghold South Waziristan. Britain immediately condemned the attack as "horrific" and vowed to work with Islamabad to tackle the threat posed by violent extremism. The latest bombing marked a bloody start to 2010 for Pakistan, which has seen a surge in attacks blamed on the Taliban in recent months as Islamist fighters avenge military operations aimed at crushing their northwest strongholds. "The villagers were watching the match between the two village teams when the bomber rashly drove his double-cabin pick-up vehicle into them and blew it up," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP. Six children and five paramilitary soldiers were among the dead, he added. Khan said that more than 20 houses on both sides of the open ground where the match was being played had collapsed, some with families inside. The tournament was organised by the local peace committee, who had supported a government operation to expel militants from the area, Khan said. It was the highest death toll from a suspected militant strike since a massive car bomb on October 28 killed 125 people in a crowded market in the northwestern provincial capital Peshawar. Ramzan Bittani, a 33-year-old driver, told AFP by telephone from a local hospital that he had left the match to take a call. "As I was listening, I saw a huge blue and white spark followed by an ear-piercing blast. When I was able to figure out what had happened, I saw bodies and smoke all around. My hand was fractured," he said. Anwer Khan, 18, a student, said that he had just stepped out of his house and he saw a black pick-up speeding up towards the spectators. "A giant flame leaped towards the sky. There was bright light everywhere, just like a flash, and then a very huge blast shook everything. Two pellets hit my forehead and blood started flowing," Khan said. District police chief Khan blamed the bomb on Islamist extremists who were the target of a military operation in Bannu district last year. Security has plummeted over the last two-and-a-half years in Pakistan, where militant violence has killed more than 2,800 people since July 2007. The northwest has suffered the brunt of the militant campaign, with suicide bombings increasingly targeting civilians. The military is now locked in its most ambitious assault yet on Taliban strongholds in South Waziristan, sending 30,000 troops into battle in the district on the Afghan border on October 17. Washington, however, is urging Pakistan to do more to also stamp out al-Qaeda sanctuaries and dismantle havens of militants who cross the border and attack US and NATO troops stationed in Afghanistan. On Friday in North Waziristan district, missiles fired from a US drone air craft killed three suspected militants 15 kilometres east of Miranshah, the main district town close to the Afghan border. "A US drone fired two missiles, targeting a vehicle and killing three militants," a senior security official in the area told AFP. The official requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the US strikes in Pakistan, which have killed at least 662 people since August 2008 and greatly inflame anti-American sentiment in the Muslim nation. A separate, earlier US drone attack killed four militants in Machikhel village, about 25 kilometres east of Miranshah. Also on Friday, an anti-Taliban tribal leader and four others were killed in a roadside bomb in Bajaur tribal district, the latest in a wave of attacks against respected elders allied with the government against the extremists. The Australian
 A SUSPECTED suicide blast today killed three people and injured 11 others at a volleyball match in a small northwestern Pakistani town, police said. The blast struck in Banu district in the North West Frontier Province, which is plagued by attacks and bombings by Taliban rebels. "The blast took place during a volleyball match and according to initial reports it appears to be a suicide attack," district police chief Mohammad Ayub Khan told AFP. "Three people were killed and 11 others were injured." Police spokesman Shahid Hameed confirmed it was a suicide attack, while another police official said early reports suggested a man drove a car packed with explosives onto the field as people gathered to watch the match. The Australian
 SUSPECTED Taliban militants have kidnapped two French journalists working for France's public television broadcaster and three Afghan companions in the east of the war-torn country, a colleague says. Gunmen snatched the group as they were travelling about 60km from the Afghan capital, a French journalist working with them said. Criminal groups and Taliban insurgents have kidnapped several dozen foreigners, many of them journalists, since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban regime in Kabul, sparking a nine-year insurgency. "The two journalists, accompanied by their Afghan translator, and the translator's brother and cousin, were kidnapped on the road between Surobi and Tagab," their French colleague said. She blamed the kidnapping on the Taliban, saying they had laid an ambush for the group in Kapisa province. French defence minister Herve Morin, who was visiting French troops in Afghanistan to mark the New Year, confirmed only that the journalists had been missing since Wednesday. "We can't rule out any hypothesis and are doing everything to make contact with them." The journalists' employer, public broadcaster France Televisions, did not formally confirm their abduction. "We have had no news of them for 48 hours," said Paul Nahon, director of documentaries. The journalist and cameraman had been working on a documentary for about two weeks, he said. French troops deployed in Kapisa have launched a manhunt for the five. The Australian
 TALIBAN militants have beheaded six Afghans they accused of spying for the government of President Hamid Karzai. Police today confirmed the killings of six "moderate Taliban", saying the men had "cooperated with the authorities". The victims' bodies were found with their heads totally separated in a house near the capital of the southern province of Uruzgan on Thursday, Juma Gul Hema, the provincial police chief, told AFP. One man survived the attack with a deep gash across his throat, he said. "A group of moderate Taliban had gathered in a house near Tirin Kot," he said. "A group of Taliban terrorists went there and beheaded them all. They had separated the heads of six of them." The seventh man was still alive, he said. The Australian
 EIGHT Americans possibly working for the CIA were killed when a suicide bomber blew himself up after sneaking into the gym on a US base in Afghanistan yesterday. And four Canadian soldiers and a woman journalist were also killed when a bomb exploded as their armoured vehicle passed by on Tuesday, in one of the deadliest 24 hours for foreigners in the war-torn country. The attacks come as the number of US and NATO-led foreign troops is set to soar to 150,000 to try to halt an increasingly virulent insurgency by the Taliban militia that has made 2009 the bloodiest year for international forces since the 2001 invasion. Pentagon spokeswoman Lt Col Almarah Belk said the eight Americans died when an attacker detonated a vest packed with explosives on Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province - a key Taliban stronghold. “Eight Americans have been killed in an attack on RC-East,” a US embassy official said, using the military term for a region of eastern Afghanistan. But the Washington Post newspaper said that most of the eight probably worked for the CIA, which it said was using the Chapman base. A suicide bomber managed to penetrate the base's defences, detonating an explosive belt in a room described as a base gym. The Post said US sources confirmed that all the dead and injured were civilians, and that most were probably CIA employees or contractors. It said the attack appears to have killed more US intelligence personnel than have died since the US-led invasion in 2001, adding that the agency has acknowledged the deaths of four CIA officers in Afghanistan since then. Suicide attacks are a hallmark of the hardline Taliban militia, who are waging a major insurgency to topple the Western-backed government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai and oust the foreign troops. The US said last month it had doubled the number of civilian experts working in Afghanistan and was “on track” to meet its goal of nearly 1000 by the new year. Many are to work in provincial military bases alongside military reconstruction teams. The New York Times said an unidentified NATO official described Chapman as “not a regular base,” suggesting it was used by US intelligence agencies. The five Canadians were killed in a roadside bombing in the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar in southeastern Afghanistan, said General Daniel Menard, the head of Canadian forces in the country. “Yesterday Canada lost five citizens,” General Menard said on Canadian television, adding that a Canadian civilian official was also wounded. “Four soldiers and one journalist were killed as a result of an improvised explosive device attack on their armoured vehicle during a community patrol in Kandahar City.” Public television station CBC identified the journalist as Michelle Lang, a reporter with the Calgary Herald. The deaths raised to 138 the number of Canadian soldiers killed in Afghanistan. Canada has some 2800 troops deployed in the Kandahar region, who are supposed to return home in 2011. The Australian
 KARACHI, Pakistan — Authorities appealed for calm Tuesday after a bombing against a Shiite Muslim procession killed 43 in Pakistan's largest city of Karachi, setting off riots and igniting fears of sectarian unrest. Security was tight as thousands of people gathered in central Karachi for funerals of some of those killed in Monday's bombing of a Shiite procession marking the key holy day of Ashoura. The attack sparked riots as people rampaged through the city, setting fire to markets and stores. Firefighters were still battling the flames Tuesday, with authorities calling for reinforcements from the city of Hyderabad, 105 miles north of Karachi, Pakistan's main commercial hub. Karachi Mayor Mustafa Kamal said the city's largest wholesale market was on fire, and that hundreds of shops had been destroyed, with damages estimated to run into millions of dollars. Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who visited Karachi on Tuesday, said authorities were still trying to determine whether the attack had been carried out by a suicide bomber, as he had said Monday. "The investigation is still going on to determine whether it was a suicide attack or some improvised explosive device was used," said Malik, who appealed for calm and said he had ordered an investigation into who was behind the rioting. "If anyone is trying to cripple Karachi, then he is also trying to cripple Pakistan," the minister said. Senior health official Hashim Malik said the death toll increased to 43 on Tuesday. Many among the dozens wounded were critically hurt, and several died overnight and on Tuesday morning. Karachi has largely been spared the Taliban-linked violence that has struck much of the rest of the country, a fact that analysts believe is driven by the group's tendency to use the teeming metropolis as a place to rest and raise money. But the city has been the scene of frequent sectarian, ethnic and political violence. It was unclear who was behind Monday's bombing. Pakistani authorities say sectarian groups have teamed up with Taliban and al-Qaida militants waging war against the government in a joint effort to destabilize Pakistan. More than 500 people have been killed in attacks since mid-October when the army launched a major anti-Taliban offensive in the country's northwest. "A deliberate attempt seems to be afoot by the extremists to turn the fight against militants into a sectarian clash and make the people fight against one another," said President Asif Ali Zardari in a statement Monday. Monday's bombing struck at the start of a procession of Shiites marking Ashoura, the most important day of a monthlong mourning period for the seventh-century death of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein. Minority Shiites have suffered frequent attacks by Sunni extremist groups who regard them as heretical. "I fell down when the bomb went off with a big bang," said Naseem Raza, a 26-year-old who was marching in the procession. "I saw walls stained with blood and splashed with human flesh." Residents in apartments near the blast site tossed down body parts that had been cast into their homes from the explosion, while birds dove down to pick at the flesh amid damaged vehicles and motorbikes. More at FoxNews
 From CAN: Radical Muslim gangs whose members aspire to be suicide bombers have formed in Birmingham in England’s West Mislands County, the Sunday Mercury reports. The new gang, called Bang Bang Taliban, is known for creating YouTube videos with rap songs performed by the group’s members. The report says the members are mostly Asians and are connected to another gang called the Burger Bar Boys. “They’re threatening rivals with violence and talking about becoming suicide bombers,” the Sunday Mercury quoted one anonymous community worker as saying.
Police Chief Superintendent Tom Coughlan is optimistic that the problem can be tackled, surprisingly claiming that the Bang Bang Taliban and Burger Bar Boys gangs could be squashed in a few years. The report quoted another advisor to the government as describing Coughlan’s statement as “strangely naïve.” Muslim gang activity in the United Kingdom caused a huge stir in 2006 when Asian gang members killed a 15-year old boy in Glasgow for no reason. The attack was launched as a reprisal for a fight in a nightclub that was not related to the victim. The boy was kidnapped, at which point witnesses heard him screaming, “I’m only 15, what did I do?” The boy was driven 200 miles away, stabbed, beaten, and then burnt alive. The body was dropped back off in Glasgow. Three of the murderers fled to Pakistan. British prisons are becoming home to quickly-growing Muslim gangs as well. The Observer reported in May that a secret government reported warned that the gangs were taking control of maximum-security prisons. World Threats
 FAILED bomber Umar Abdulmutallab posed for a photo outside Britain's Buckingham Palace, an iconic symbol of Western wealth. It was also a symbol of power the Nigerian grew to despise, it emerged today. The terrorist also visited the British Houses of Parliament and Trafalgar Square, and at age 15 was beginning to adopt the extremist views that would turn him into a potential mass murderer. At the time of the 2001 school trip to London, Abdulmutallab was known as "The Pope" by classmates at the British International School in Togo because of his "saintly" views. He already disagreed with Western foreign policy, a view that would be radicalised a few years later while studying for an engineering degree in London. A former teacher, Briton Michael Rimmer, revealed that in a 2001 discussion about the Taliban Abdulmutallab defended their actions, then excused his radical views saying he was playing devil's advocate. Rimmer also revealed how Abdulmutallab chose to give £50 (A$90) to an orphanage rather than spend it on souvenirs. "His nickname was 'The Pope.' In one way it's totally unsuitable because he's Muslim, but he did have this saintly aura. "He was a good-looking guy, bright, from a good family and heading for a job in a top profession. Somewhere along the line he met fanatics and they turned his mind," he said. Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/2785736/Bomber-Umar-Abdulmutallab-at-Buckingham-Palace.html The Australian
 The Haqqani network in Pakistan which is allied with the Taliban is a central part of the insurgent network. The Pakistani military offensives in Swat and South Waziristan seemed to indicate, for a moment at least, that the Pakistanis were serious about going after Taliban and Al-Qaeda-type elements. Remarkably, despite the fact that these forces have savagely attacked Pakistanis time and time again, the government is resisting American demands for the Haqqani network to be tackled. The excuse is that Haqqani is based in North Waziristan and the military cannot be stretched any further.
The U.S. will probably react to this by giving the CIA greater freedom in using its drones in North Waziristan to try to kill Haqqani and his top commanders.
The Pakistanis will protest and will face unrest as anti-American sentiment rises, at which point the U.S. can kindly suggest they revise their strategy towards Haqqani. World Threats
 KABUL — In a Christmas Day move, the Taliban on Friday released a video of an American soldier captured in Afghanistan, showing him apparently healthy but spouting criticism about the U.S. military operation. In Idaho, Pfc. Bowe Bergdahl's family pleaded for his release and urged him to "stay strong." Bergdahl disappeared June 30 while based in eastern Afghanistan and is the only known American serviceman in captivity. The Taliban claimed his capture in a video released in mid-July that showed the young Idaho soldier appearing downcast and frightened. He hadn't been heard from until Friday's video, in which he looks well and speaks clearly. The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force confirmed hours later that the man in the video was Bergdahl, but denounced both its timing and content. "This is a horrible act which exploits a young soldier, who was clearly compelled to read a prepared statement," said a statement from U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Gregory Smith, ISAF's spokesman. "To release this video on Christmas Day is an affront to the deeply concerned family and friends of Bowe Bergdahl, demonstrating contempt for religious traditions and the teachings of Islam." Lt. Col. Tim Marsano of the Idaho National Guard issued a statement Friday from the family of Bergdahl, who live outside Hailey, Idaho. In their statement, the family urged the captors "to let our only son come home." And to their son, the family said, "We love you and we believe in you. Stay strong." Marsano met with the family Friday morning at their home. He told the AP that the family had not seen the video but had talked to other relatives who had seen it. In the video, Bergdahl is shown seated, facing the camera, wearing sunglasses and what appears to be a U.S. military helmet and uniform. On one side of the image, it says: "An American soldier imprisoned by the Mujahideen of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan." It also shows him eating while wearing garb characteristic of Afghanistan's Kandahar province, an area where the Taliban emerged in the 1990s. He identifies himself as Bergdahl, born in Sun Valley, Idaho, and gives his rank, birth date, blood type, his unit and mother's maiden name before beginning a lengthy verbal attack on the U.S. conduct of the war in Afghanistan and its relations with Muslims. In the video, Bergdahl says "It's our arrogance and, and our stupidity that has made us so blind that we simply refuse to see the blunders and mistakes that we continue to make over and over again. " "This is just going to be the next Vietnam unless the American people stand up and stop all this nonsense," he said. Although it is unclear where Bergdahl was being held when the video was recorded, he said he had not been abused by his captors and drew a sharp contrast with his own country's treatment of war prisoners. In light of "the brutality and inhumane way my country has ravaged the lands and the people of my captures (sic), the Taliban, one would expect that they would justly treat me as my country's Army has treated their Muslim prisoners in Bagram, in Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib and many other secret prisons hidden around the world," he said. "But I bear witness. I was continuously treated as a human being with dignity," he said. The video, which has an English-language narration in parts, also shows images of prisoners in U.S. custody being abused. The speaker says he did not suffer such ill treatment. A statement read by a Taliban spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, appears at the end of the video and renews demands for a "limited number of prisoners" to be exchanged for Bergdahl. The statement says that more American troops could be captured. The Geneva Conventions, which regulate the conduct of war between regular armies, bar the use of detainees for propaganda purposes and prohibit signatories from putting captured military personnel on display. As an insurgent organization, the Taliban are not party to the treaty. Statements from captives are typically viewed as being made under duress. Bergdahl, who was serving with a unit based in Fort Richardson, Alaska, was 23 when he vanished just five months after arriving in Afghanistan. He was serving at a base in Paktika province near the border with Pakistan in an area known to be a Taliban stronghold. On Friday, NATO said a joint Afghan-international force killed several militants in Paktika while searching for a commander of the Jalaluddin Haqqani militant network that is linked to al-Qaida. U.S. military officials have searched for Bergdahl, but it is not publicly known whether he is even being held in Afghanistan or neighboring Pakistan. FoxNews
 However, the Taliban didn't invent it. Prominent elements of this "dress code" far predate their movement. "Somali militants enforce Taliban-style dress code," from the Associated Press, December 23: MOGADISHU, Somalia -- Residents of a southern Somali town say Islamists are enforcing a Taliban-style dress code. And the sign says, long-haired freaky people need not apply: Kismayo resident Abdulahi Omar Dhere says members of the al-Shabab insurgent group are targeting young men who have long hair, no beards and wear Western-style trousers below the ankle. The demands regarding pants are from Muhammad's own instructions and example -- the example in all things for all time per Qur'an 33:21. Muhammad did not care for trailing lower garments, saying "The part of an Izar which hangs below the ankles is in the Fire" (Sahih Bukhari 7.72.678). As for beards, among other things, Muhammad said "Act against the polytheists, trim closely the moustache and grow [the] beard" (Sahih Muslim 2.500). Dhere said Wednesday that Islamists are publicly cutting off parts of trousers that violate the order and giving haircuts to anyone with long hair. The group has ordered men to grow beards and shave mustaches. Al-Shabab has already banned movie theaters, musical ringtones and dancing at weddings -- echoing rules ones imposed by the Taliban when they ruled most of Afghanistan in the late 1990s, though the group didn't oppose long hair.
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AUSTRALIAN special forces soldiers are using gunsights with biblical references etched on to them as they fight the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan. 
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