Yochi J. Dreazen reports for the Wall Street Journal:
The new U.S. commander in Afghanistan is finalizing a far-reaching change in tactics that will generally require U.S. troops taking fire in populated areas to break contact rather than risk civilian casualties, military officials said.
Exceptions will be made when the lives of U.S. and allied personnel are in danger.
The rules being crafted by Gen. Stanley McChrystal are the clearest indication yet of how the new U.S. command team in Afghanistan plans to reduce civilian fatalities, a cause of public anger against U.S. efforts there.
Military officials in Kabul said the "tactical directive," to be released this week, came in response to incidents such as one last month that killed dozens of civilians. Under the new rules, the incident's deadliest strikes wouldn't have been authorized.
"We don't want another Granai," a senior military official in Kabul said, naming the village where last month's incident occurred. "The tactical gains simply don't outweigh the costs."
U.S. officials said the rules were designed to reduce the use of bombs, missiles and other heavy weaponry in populated areas. They will require U.S. forces that come under fire from militants operating out of houses and other buildings that may contain civilians to end the engagement and leave the area, officials said.
The restrictions could force commanders to be more cautious in the mission-planning stage and eschew operations likely to require operations in populated areas, according to an officer serving in Afghanistan.
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Tuesday, June 23, 2009
U.S. revisits Afghan battle rules
Police State: Arrested for asking a policeman for his badge number
Police footage of Emily Apple and Val Swain being arrested by surveillance officers after asking for their badge numbers at the Kingsnorth climate camp last year. The two women speak to Paul Lewis from the Guardian about their arrest, imprisonment and official complaint.
Story in The Guardian.
Links:
Fit Watch
Fit Watch are a fluid group of people who have come together to resist and oppose the tactics of the Forward Intelligence Teams (cops who harass protesters).
NETCU Watch
NETCU, WECTU and NPOIU: Britain’s Secretive Police Force (PDF report)
The Welsh Extremism and Counter Terrorism Unit, and
The National Public Order Intelligence Unit
– all parts of a private organisation (ACPO) that is exercising public functions in relation to policing policy
– can be seen from two extreme points of view:
groups working on policy and in a policing support role to protect the public; or, under the guise of countering “extremism”, developing policies to crack down on campaigning groups in a way that could be seen as the kernel of what could ventually become a truly “secret” police force.
This report examines what NETCU, WECTU and NPOIU are, and poses the question as to whether private organisations working unaccountably outside of the mainstream police service are compatible with the operation of a free, open and accountable society.
Monday, June 22, 2009
PakAlert: CIA has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution
According to Pak Alert Press:
Former Pakistani Army General Mirza Aslam Beig claims the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has distributed 400 million dollars inside Iran to evoke a revolution.
In a phone interview with the Pashto Radio on Monday, General Beig said that there is undisputed intelligence proving the US interference in Iran.
“The documents prove that the CIA spent 400 million dollars inside Iran to prop up a colorful-hollow revolution following the election,” he added.
Pakistan’s former army chief of joint staff went on to say that the US wanted to disturb the situation in Iran and bring
to power a pro-US government.
He congratulated President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on his re- election for the second term in office, noting that Pakistan relationship with Iran has improved during his 4-year presidency.
“Ahmadinejad’s re-election is a decisive point in regional policy and if Pakistan and Afghanistan unite with Iran, the US
has to leave the area, especially the occupied Afghanistan,” Beig added.
Mysterious death sparks 70,000 to protest in China’s Hubei Province
Corruption, torture, and murder charged by Shishou City residents
By Zhou Meihua (Epoch Times - 20 Jun, 2009)
The mysterious cause of the death of a young man who fell from the third floor of a hotel in China's Hubei province on Wednesday has prompted as many as 70,000 people to attempt to bar the police from taking the young man's body away.
Local authorities have mobilized thousands of riot police to cope with the chaos. The public's reaction appears to have been sparked by outrage at what is believed to be a case of corruption, torture, and murder.
Around 3 p.m. on June 20 a Public Security Office statement was released on the official Web site of Shishou City that says the corpse of a man was discovered in front of the entrance of the local Yonglong Grand Hotel on June 17.
The deceased was the hotel's 24-year-old chef Tu Yuangao, who the statement says had left a letter expressing his pessimism and decision to commit suicide. The preliminary medical examination, according to the statement, sees no other fatal wounds on the body and has ruled out the possibility of murder.
According to the statement, the police's attempt to remove the body for autopsy has been rejected by the man's relatives, adding that many people who do not know the true story have gathered around the hotel, jammed traffic, and caused much commotion.
Eyewitness Reports
Eyewitnesses are raising serious doubts about the credibility of the police account.
According to China's bloggers, those who witnessed the fall of the man and reported it to the police said they did not see any blood stain on the ground where the body landed. Instead, they found blood clots around the deceased's mouth, nose, and ears. The lower part of body showed signs of severe torture, they said.
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Photos taken by civilians also available here.
Leftists and police clash at Tempelhof
Deutsche Welle report:
Police in Berlin say they have thwarted an overnight attempt by many hundreds of militant left-wing demonstrators trying to occupy former Tempelhof airport.
The former hub of the 1948-49 Berlin Airlift, once one of three Berlin airports, was shut down last year, prompting renewed debate about what should happen to the site, including its iconic 1,200 meter-long terminal building built during the Nazi era. The city center airport has an area equivalent to 400 football fields and is now considered a prime property development site.
On Saturday, a leftist alliance calling itself "Squat Tempelhof", which wants the grounds to be opened to the public, was confronted by a large deployment of police. A spokesman for the police said demonstrators had repeatedly tried but failed to tear down a perimeter fence. Numerous arrests were made, police said.
The incident coincides with an ongoing debate about the legendary airfield. Last November, the Berlin state government decided to turn a chunk of the site into a 250-hectare park. Events planned include pop concerts and equestrian competitions. Other ideas have included a zoo, a private hospital, a film studio and even a red-light district. The terminal itself is a protected heritage site.
Tempelhof became the world's first airport with regular passenger service in 1923.
Shortly after World War Two, a Soviet blockade of West Berlin forced American and British aircraft to fly in foodstuffs, fuel and other goods for the 2.2 million residents in order to ensure their survival.
Tempelhof's closure in 2008 was part of a plan to move Berlin's new international airport to Schoenefeld on the city's southern fringe in what was earlier communist East Germany. The new Berlin Brandenburg International airport is scheduled to open in 2011.
ipj/AFP/AP/dpa/Reuters
Editor: Greg Benzow
image from http://www.spitting-image.net
