FullosseousFlap’s Dental Blog

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates “REMINDS” Iran with a second carrier group in the Persian Gulf.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that sending a second aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf could serve as a “reminder” to Iran, but he said it is not an escalation of force.

Speaking to reporters after meeting with Mexican leaders, Gates said heightening U.S. criticism of Iran and its support for terrorist groups is not a signal that the administration is laying the groundwork for a strike against Tehran.

Still, he said Iran continues to back the Taliban in Afghanistan.

“I do not have a sense at this point of a significant increase in Iranian support for the Taliban and others opposing the government in Afghanistan,” Gates said. “There is, as best I can tell, a continuing flow, but I would still characterize it as relatively modest.”

In other words, the United States is now exposing the “PROXY WAR” which Iran has been conducting in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The slow playing of an Iranian conflict MAY be drawing to a close.

Stay tuned………

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U.S.: NATO has intercepted Iranian arms

NATO has intercepted Iranian weapons shipments to Afghanistan’s Taliban insurgents, providing evidence Iran is violating international law to aid a group it once considered a bitter enemy, a senior U.S. diplomat said Wednesday.

“There’s irrefutable evidence the Iranians are now doing this,” Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said on CNN. “It’s certainly coming from the government of Iran. It’s coming from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard corps command, which is a basic unit of the Iranian government.”
Speaking separately to The Associated Press, Burns said NATO must act to stop the shipments. The Iran-Afghanistan frontier is “a very long border. But the Iranians need to know that we are there and that we’re going to oppose this.”

“It’s a very serious question,” he said, adding that Iran is in “outright violation” of
U.N. Security Council resolutions.

The State Department later appeared to step back from Burns’ assertion the Iranian government was directly involved in the transfers but stressed Washington has proof that weapons from Iran were being sent to Taliban fighters in Afghanistan.

“We absolutely are certain that there are Iranian-origin weapons flowing into Afghanistan to the Taliban,” spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters.

“We do not know the extent of any Iranian government involvement at this point, but given the nature of the regime and also some of its past behaviors elsehwhere — whether in the Palestinian areas or in Iraq — it certainly raises very serious questions and we are quite concerned about it,” he said.

Tehran, which is also in a dispute with the West over its nuclear program, denies it is aiding the Taliban, calling the accusation part of a broad anti-Iranian campaign. Iran says it makes no sense that a Shiite-led government like itself would help the fundamentalist Sunni movement of the Taliban.

Burns acknowledged that it was “curious” that Iran would aid the Taliban. “It’s quite surprising,” he told CNN. “The Iranians had said that they were the mortal enemies of the Taliban in 2001 and ‘02.”

And Iran is helping Iraq insurgents kill America soldiers in Iraq. The United States is now in a two front proxy war against Iran.

President Bush, when will you call Ahmadinejad and the Iranian Mullahs out? When will direct military intervention begin?

Flap bets soon.

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Iran Nuclear Watch: Lieberman - “Aggressive Military Action” Against Iran

British soldiers in Afghanistan. A military aide to the British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan has been accused of passing secrets to Iran, press reports said.

AFP: British aide in Afghanistan accused of spying for Iran

A close aide to the British commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan has been accused of passing secrets about activities there to Iran, press reports said.

Thursday’s reports come as British-led forces struggle against fiercer than expected Taliban insurgents in the south of the country, invaded by US-led forces following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Corporal Daniel James, an interpreter to Lieutenant General David Richards, the head of NATO’s more than 30,000-strong force in Afghanistan, has been charged under the Official Secrets Act with “prejudicing the safety of the state.”

Specifically he is accused of passing information “calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy” by communicating with a “foreign power”, believed to be Iran, said The Daily Telegraph and other newspapers.

James, 44, appeared at London’s City of Westminster magistrates’ court Wednesday but details of the case were not revealed as the judge ordered reporters out of court because of a “possible prejudice to national security”.

Just a reminder that the Global War on Terror is as broad and SERIOUS as the Cold War with the Soviet Union.

How many more Iranian spies will be discovered?

And people wondered and worried about interrogation tactics at Guantanamo?

Please…….

Lieutenant General David Richards, the British commander of NATO in Afghanistan , gestures as he addresses a press conference in Kabul, October 2006. A close aide to Richards has been accused of passing secrets about activities there to Iran.

The Telegraph reported that James, who lived in the southern English resort town of Brighton, was of Iranian descent and spoke fluent Pashtun, the main language in Afghanistan.

The specific charge against him alleges that on November 2, for a purpose prejudicial to the safety of the state, he “communicated to another person information calculated to be directly or indirectly useful to the enemy”.

James, who appeared in court dressed smartly in a quilted jacket and spoke only to confirm his name and date of birth, was remanded in custody until December 27. There was no application for bail.

The Times: British soldier ‘gave Army secrets to Iran’

Corporal James’s appearance before Senior District Judge Timothy Workman was surrounded by secrecy. The case was not on the court list and police refused to give the defendant’s name before the hearings.

One hearing was held in camera to hear argument about why large parts of the case should also be heard in secret. The judge decided that national security was involved, and only a few minutes of a session lasting nearly two hours were open to press and public.

Corporal James said nothing during the hearing other than “Yes, sir”, when confirming his name and date of birth and that he understood he would be remanded. After the closed hearing, the judge said: “I have been given certain information which leads me to the conclusion that it will be necessary to hear certain facts in camera as there is a possible prejudice to national security.” The prosecution, he said, was asking for a remand to obtain the Attorney-General’s consent for prosecution.

Corporal James stood at ease as the judge told him he would be remanded in custody until December 27. Four Special Branch officers were in court and the defendant sat in the dock with two guards. Martyn Fischer, Corporal James’s lawyer, would not comment.

Stay tuned…….

Pakistani activists from Islami Jamiat Tulba — the student wing of the Jamaat-i-Islami fundamentalist party — shout slogans after setting US flags alight during a protest in Karachi. Radical Islamic leaders in Pakistan called for mass protests 31 October after around 80 people died in an airstrike on a suspected Al-Qaeda-linked training camp at a religious school.

AP: Pakistani airstrike sparks protests

Pakistan’s army spokesman said Tuesday that the military used intelligence from U.S.-led coalition forces in a helicopter attack that left 80 people dead. Thousands of angry tribesmen decried both governments over the killings.

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the chief army spokesman, told The Associated Press that American forces did not take part in Monday’s attack on a religious school, or madrassa, that Pakistan called a front for an al-Qaida training camp.

But he said his government received intelligence as part of long-standing cooperation with the U.S.-led coalition forces in
Afghanistan to battle terrorists operating along the porous border between the countries.

“Intelligence sharing was definitely there, but to say they (the coalition) have carried out the operation, that is absolutely wrong,” Sultan said. “One doesn’t know … what was the percentage of help (was provided).”

Sultan later contacted the AP to deny he had made the remarks.

Ok, whatever!

How much did the Coalition forces contribute to yesterday’s airstrike is irrelevant. The fact that the airstrike happened and struck into Pakistan is noteworthy. But is it enough?

Pakistani students from Islami Jamiat-e-Talba group shout slogans and burn an effigy of U.S. President George W.Bush during a protest held in Peshawar October 31, 2006 to condemn an army attack on a religious school in the Chenagai area of the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan . Over 15,000 armed Pakistani tribesmen protested on Tuesday against a Pakistan Army helicopter attack on an al-Qaeda-linked madrasa in Bajaur tribal region that killed around 80 suspected militants.

Bill Roggio has more about the airstrikes.

How was the attack carried out?

Also Alexis Debat reports U.S. ‘drones’ – actually this would be Predator UAVs, conducted the strike, and not Pakistani helicopters. An American intelligence source informs us that the Pakistani Army does not possess the capabilities to conduct precision night strikes such as this attack. There are several possibilities here: it could have indeed been a Predator strike, or, more risky would be a strike by U.S. C-130 gunships. Conducting manned strikes over Pakistani airspace has its risks, including that of a shoot down and follow on rescue mission. The Asia Time’s Syed Saleem Shahzad reports this was a ‘NATO airstrike” by “helicopter gunships,” however it is highly unlikely this strike occurred under the aegis of NATO. Look for signs of Task Force 145 having carried out this raid, with unmanned Predators firing Hellfire missiles.

The protests will come (children were killed, the Korans were burned in the attack) but the message is continuing to be pounded into the Taliban and Al Qaeda.

America is the STRONGER HORSE

Debris lies scattered from a collapsed Islamic school which was destroyed by Pakistani helicopters in Khar.

In this photo released by the Press Information Department of Northwest Frontier (NWFP) Province, Senior Minister of Pakistans North West Frontier Province Siraj ul-Haq, who announced he would resign in protest, addresses a gathering, Monday, Oct. 30, 2006, in Chingai village near Khar, the main town of Bajur, at the Pakistani tribal area along the Afghan border. Pakistani troops backed by missile-firing helicopters killed an estimated 80 militants when they destroyed a purported al-Qaida-linked training facility near the Afghan border, the military said.

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Global War on Terror Watch: Zawahiri Was Target in U.S. Pakistan Attack

Global War on Terror Watch: Pakistani Attack on Bajaur Training Camps Kills 80

Satellite map of Bajaur and neighboring Kunar province in Afghanistan. Location of strike in Chenegai in red. Photo Courtesy of Bill Roggio.

ABC News: Zawahiri Was Target in U.S. Attack on Religious School in Pakistan

Ayman al Zawahiri was the target of a Predator missile attack this morning on a religious school in Pakistan, according to Pakistani intelligence sources.

ABC News has learned the raid was launched after U.S. intelligence received tips and examined Predator reconnaissance indicating that al Qaeda’s No. 2 man may have been staying at the school, which is located in the Bajaur region near the village that is thought to be al Qaeda’s winter headquarters.

Despite earlier reports that the missiles had been launched by Pakistani military helicopters, Pakistani intelligence sources now tell ABC News that the missiles were fired from a U.S. Predator drone plane.

Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri

Stay tuned for the demonstrations of American incursion on Pakistan’s sovereign territory. But. some bad guys seem to have bitten the dust.

Between two and five senior al Qaeda militants were killed in the attack, including the mastermind of the airliners plot in the U.K., according to Pakistani intelligence sources.

No word yet on whether or not Zawahiri was killed in the raid, but one Pakistani intelligence source did express doubt that Zawahiri would have been staying in a madrassa, which is an obvious target for strikes against militants. That source, however, did express confidence that Pakistani intelligence is closing in on Zawahiri’s location.

One of the clerics who is believed to have been killed today, Maulana Liaquat, was one of the two main local leaders believed to be protecting Zawahiri.

Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News they believe they have “boxed” Zawahiri in a 40-square-mile area between the Khalozai Valley in Bajaur and the village of Pashat in Kunar, Afghanistan. They hope to capture or kill him in the next few months.

Tribesmen gather near the bodies of those killed during a Pakistan army air strike in Chenagai in the Bajaur tribal region bordering Afghanistan , October 30, 2006.

But, again, is this a show for the Brits and Prince Charles? Or a more forceful resolve of eliminating Al Qaeda and the radical Taliban?

Probably a show……..with some surprising results.

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Global War on Terror Watch: Pakistani Attack on Bajaur Training Camps Kills 80