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03-11-2012, 06:59 AM   #1
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U.S. serviceman slaughters 16 Afghan civilians in their homes

QuoteQuote:
An American soldier was arrested in southern Afghanistan after walking off his base and opening fire indiscriminately on civilians today, killing 16 people. Among the victims were nine children, killed when the shooter went from house to house at 3am local time.

Eleven of the victims were killed in one home, four were killed in a second home and one other person was killed in a third home, Sky News reported, citing unnamed sources. Five people were wounded in two other houses.
US service member kills 16 Afghans in shooting rampage | News.com.au

QuoteQuote:
"This is a terrible act to enter Afghan homes and to kill their children and women. This will have very dangerous consequences," said Kandahar parliamentarian Mullah Sayed Mohammed Akhund. He added he is urging the local residents not to protest because "Taliban and al Qaeda will misuse people's sentiments and take advantage of it."

The shooting in Panjway happened just weeks after the burning of Qurans by U.S. soldiers at a U.S. detention facility north of Kabul. Anti-American riots rippled across the country in response, leaving some 30 protesters dead. At the time, six U.S. troops were killed in three separate attacks on American personnel by Afghan service members, poisoning the ties between U.S. and Afghan security forces.

Sunday's shooting wasn't the first such incident in Kandahar province. Last year, four U.S. Army soldiers were convicted of deliberately murdering Afghan civilians for sport, and of collecting their body parts as trophies, in a neighboring district of Kandahar province in 2010.
U.S. Service Member Held in Afghan Shooting - WSJ.com

Another hammer-blow for the coalition's plan of leaving behind a stable, pro (or at least not anti) Western Afghanistan. A new low for the reputation of the US military.

03-11-2012, 07:22 AM   #2
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QuoteOriginally posted by ihasa Quote
A new low for the reputation of the US military.
no, I think there were far worse atrocities committed in Vietnam. but certainly a new low for the current conflict. very sad.
03-11-2012, 07:24 AM   #3
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It just goes to show, you give people guns and put them under stress, and sooner or later some of them will crack and misuse their weapons. It happens all the time. Nothing new to see hear. But guns don't kill people, people kill people. That guy would shave killed all those people with a knife if he didn't have a gun. Keep the mantra going.
03-11-2012, 09:43 AM   #4
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It seems like an individual soldier gone insane.

03-11-2012, 10:02 AM   #5
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It will be interesting to see what safeguards the military have in place to prevent such incidents, given previous murderous acts of vigilantism, and the precarious position of the coalition's exit strategy.
03-11-2012, 12:05 PM   #6
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QuoteOriginally posted by normhead Quote
But guns don't kill people, people kill people. That guy would shave killed all those people with a knife if he didn't have a gun. Keep the mantra going.
The point about guns not killing people can hardly be applied in a war zone. Everybody has weapons, soldiers are supposed to have weapons. The place to make that case is in civilian situations (and even then I'd only agree if you get the guns away from criminals first).

A more likely culprit is war, the stress that builds as a result of it, and then watching your countrymen be killed by hateful Afghans protesting over accidentally-burned books, or waiting for some Afghan solder to turn his weapon on you, or constantly on the lookout for a "martyr" strapped with explosives to blow you up. Afghanistan duty must be incredibly stressful, too stressful for some.

Publicly we can't say so, but from allowing the terrorist training strongholds that led to 9/11 to the constant threat of terrorism, corruption, the treatment of women . . . the behavior of Afghans has been many times more atrocious than the Americans. Yet when an American makes a mistake or freaks out, it seems all one hears is how bad the US is.

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03-11-2012, 01:21 PM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by les3547 Quote
the behavior of Afghans has been many times more atrocious than the Americans
I assume you have impartial facts to back that opinion.
Who invaded who in this conflict.

Hell, from what I`ve read the US military don`t even bring the service dogs back home! Now that is beyond low.

03-11-2012, 02:21 PM   #8
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QuoteOriginally posted by riff Quote
Who invaded who in this conflict.
It's an irrelevant question. Who invaded Normandy in WWII? The issue is why, not who, and if the invasion was justified. Afghanistan and the Taliban were using the cloak of national sovereignty to justify allowing Al Qaeda to have a base of operation there. 9/11 was what finally triggered invasion:

QuoteQuote:
The War in Afghanistan, also called the Afghan war, began on October 7, 2001,[37] as the armed forces of the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and the Afghan United Front (Northern Alliance) launched Operation Enduring Freedom. The primary driver of the invasion was the September 11 attacks on the United States, with the stated goal of dismantling the al-Qaeda terrorist organization and ending its use of Afghanistan as a base. The United States also said that it would remove the Taliban regime from power and create a viable democratic state. A decade into the war, the U.S. continues to battle a widespread Taliban insurgency, and the war has expanded into the tribal areas of neighboring Pakistan.[38]

The preludes to the war were the assassination of anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud on September 9, 2001, and the September 11 attacks on the United States, in which nearly 3000 civilians lost their lives in New York City, Arlington, Virginia, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The United States identified members of al-Qaeda, an organization based in, operating out of and allied with the Taliban's Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as the perpetrators of the attacks.

Of course, before that and after Al Qaeda and other Islamic extremists had been quite busy killing, and it wasn't by some temporarily insane soldier, but rather carefully planned, and often without regard for women and children (not that Al Qaeda shows any sort of respect for women anyway):

QuoteQuote:
AL QAEDA PLOTS AND ATTACKS

-- Dec. 29, 1992
In the first al-Qaida attack against U.S. forces, operatives bomb a hotel where U.S. troops -- on their way to a humanitarian mission in Somalia -- had been staying. Two Austrian tourists are killed. Almost simultaneously, another group of al-Qaida operatives are caught at Aden airport, Yemen, as they prepare to launch rockets at U.S. military planes. U.S. troops quickly leave Aden.

--Feb. 26, 1993
The first World Trade Center attack and the first terrorist attack on America. A bomb built in nearby Jersey City is driven into an underground garage at the trade center and detonated, killing six and wounding 1,500. Yousef, nephew of Khalid Sheik Mohammed, masterminds the attack, working with nearly a dozen local Muslims. While U.S. officials disagree on whether Osama bin Laden instituted the attack and Yousef denies he has met bin Laden, the CIA later learns that Yousef stayed in a bin Laden-owned guest house in Pakistan both before and after the attacks.

--April – June 23, 1993
Militants plan a series of near simultaneous bombings in New York. Among the targets were prominent New York monuments: The Lincoln and Holland tunnels linking New York to New Jersey, the George Washington Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, the United Nations, the last to be planted with the help of diplomats from the Sudanese mission, the Federal Building at 26 Federal Plaza, and finally, one in the Diamond District along 47th Street, populated by mostly Jewish diamond dealers. On June 23, as terrorists mix chemicals for the bombs, FBI agents raid their warehouse and arrest twelve.

-- May - July 28, 1993
After two months of planning, Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the World Trade Center bombing, travels to Karachi, the hometown of Benazir Bhutto, then former prime minister of Pakistan, who is seeking to regain her old job. He and two others are in the process of planting a remote control bomb on the road when the ageing Soviet detonator he obtained in Afghanistan explodes in his face, ending the plot. Financing for the bombing comes from radical Islamic groups in Pakistan, according to Bhutto.

-- June 1993
Al-Qaida reportedly attempts to assassinate then Jordanian Crown Prince Abdullah. He succeeded his father as king of Jordan in February, 1999.

--Oct. 3-4, 1993
In a battle for the streets of Mogadishu, Somalia, a unit of U.S. special operations forces gets pinned down after two U.S. helicopters are shot out of the sky. Eighteen Americans die, killed by Somalis reportedly trained by al-Qaida. “It is true that my colleagues fought with [Somali warlord] Farah Adid’s forces in Somalia,” bin Laden subsequently claims. The al-Qaida leader also insists, with a characteristic exaggeration, that 100 Americans died in the attack, not 18. The attack leads to the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia, a move hailed by bin Laden as a great victory for the Islamic world.

--March 11, 1994
Led by Ramzi Yousef, a group of Islamic militants hijack a delivery truck in downtown Bangkok, strangle the driver and load a one-ton bomb on board. Their target: the Israeli embassy. But the truck has an accident and the hijacker abandons it, leading to the discovery of the bomb and driver’s body. Several of the plotters are arrested, but Yousef escapes again.

--June 1994
Imad Mugniyeh, the military chief of Hezbollah during its 1980’s attacks on U.S. personnel, meets secretly with Bin Laden in Khartoum. Mughniyeh, at that point the most wanted terrorist in the world for his role in the Beirut embassy and Marine Barracks bombing, advises Bin Laden on planning. Ali Mohamed, the al-Qaida security director at the time, later tells U.S. officials that Mughniyeh told bin Laden how the Marine bombing in Beirut led to the U.S. withdrawal from Lebanon and how such a campaign could eventually lead to a similar route of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia and the whole Islamic world.

-- June 20, 1994
Ramzi Yousef, working with the People’s Mujahedin of Iran, blows up the Shrine of Reza, the great grandson of Mohammed and a Shiite saint, in Mashad, Iran. The explosion took out the entire wall of the mausoleum, killing 26 pilgrims, mostly women. At the time, Yousef was motivated as much by hatred of Shiite Muslims as by hatred of America. Also involved in the plot were his father and brother.

-- Nov. 12-14, 1994
Extremists working for bin Laden conduct extensive surveillance of President Bill Clinton and his party during a state visit to Manila in anticipation of mounting an assassination attempt when Clinton returns to the Philippine capital in November 1996 for an already scheduled APEC summit. Bin Laden orders al-Qaida to use still and video cameras to follow Clinton and Secret Service personnel. The Secret Service later learns from an al-Qaida defector that the surveillance was extensive, and the tapes along with maps and notes were sent to bin Laden, who was then living in Sudan. The Secret Service was unaware of the surveillance although there was some concern at the time that the president was exposed during the trip. “We did not know there was a plot to assassinate the president,” said a high-ranking Secret Service official. “We only found out later.”

--Dec. 8, 1994 - Jan. 5, 1995
Ramzi Yousef rents an apartment in the Dona Josefa apartment complex on Quirino Boulevard, in Manila, Philippines, believing that Pope John Paul II will take that route on his way to a huge outdoor mass planned for Jan. 15. The apartment is only 500 feet from the Manila home of the Vatican ambassador to the Philippines where the Pope will stay during his 5-day visit to the country. In addition, he rents a beach house to train his compatriots for the attack and purchases two Bibles, a crucifix, a large poster of the Pope, several priests’ garments — accurate down to the tunic buttons and confessional manuals. The plan, investigators said, was to place a bomb under a manhole cover along Quirino Boulevard. The attack is thwarted when bomb-making materials catch fire in the sink of the apartment kitchen. As it turns out, the pope travels to the Mass by helicopter.

-- Dec. 10, 1994
As part of the planning for the Day of Hate [see below] Yousef plants a crude bomb on board a Philippines Airlines plane from Cebu City, the Philippines, to Tokyo. When the bomb detonates, it kills one passenger, a Japanese businessman, and forces the plane, a 747, to land in Okinawa. Yousef calibrates the damage and increases the size of the bomb so it can take down an entire jumbo jet.

-- Jan. 21-22, 1995
In what would have been an attack with a higher death toll than the Sept. 11 attacks, bombs placed on board 11 jumbo jets are to be detonated by timing devices as the planes fly over the Pacific, killing an estimated 4,000 people. Most of the jets are to be American carriers and most of the dead would have been Americans. The bombs would have been timed to go off over a number of hours to heighten the terror. The plan, called the Day of Hate, was conceived by Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing and his uncle, Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Only a fire in Yousef’s Manila apartment on Jan. 6 thwarts it. Mohammed later modifies the plan and takes it to Osama bin Laden. That modified plan becomes the blueprint for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

--June 26, 1995
Less than an hour after Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak arrives in Addis Ababa to attend the Organization of African Unity summit, several members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, a group working with al-Qaida, attack his motorcade. Ethiopian forces kill five of the attackers and capture three others. Ethiopia and Egypt charge the government of Sudan, where bin Laden is living, with complicity in the attack and harboring suspects. Privately, Egyptian officials tell U.S. intelligence they believe Bin Laden is behind the attack. Later, Egyptian officials learn that the terrorists had conducted surveillance of the last trip Mubarak had made to Ethiopia, just as they had with President Clinton.

-- Nov. 13, 1995
A truck bomb explodes outside the Saudi National Guard Communications Center in central Riyadh, killing five American servicemen and two Indian police. Four Saudi men, all self-described disciples of bin Laden, are quickly executed before the FBI can determine their ties to al-Qaida.

-- June 25, 1996
In an attack whose authorship is still debated by intelligence and law enforcement officials, a truck bomb is detonated at the Khobar Towers complex in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 American servicemen and wounding 400. Although an indictment in early 2001 pins blame on Shiite Muslims backed by Iran, many U.S. officials still believe bin Laden is responsible. Bin Laden himself states in a 1997 interview, “Only Americans were killed in the explosions. No Saudi suffered any injury. When I got the news about these blasts, I was very happy.”

--Aug. 8, 1998
Al-Qaida sends suicide bombers into the U.S. embassies in Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Truck bombs kill more than 240 people, including 12 Americans at the Nairobi embassy. The attack results in the quick arrest of several of the bombers, but not the mastermind, Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. Also known as “Harun,” Mohammed is involved in later al-Qaida attacks.

--Jan. 1-3, 2000
U.S. and Jordanian authorities thwart attacks planned to coincide with the Millennium celebrations. In mid-December, Jordanian authorities arrest more than 20 al-Qaida operatives who are planning to bomb three locations where American tourists gather: Mt. Nebo, where Moses first saw the Promised Land; the Ramada Hotel in Amman, a stopover for tour groups; and the spot on the Jordan River where tradition holds John the Baptist baptized Christ. Later in the month, U.S. authorities seize Ahmed Ressam at a border crossing in Port Angeles, WA. He is carrying bomb-making equipment and later discusses his plan to blow up Los Angeles International Airport on New Year's Eve.

-- Jan. 13, 2000
The cross Africa Dakar-to-Cairo auto race is diverted after the U.S. intelligence community receives word of a planned ambush in the African nation of Niger. Word of the planned ambush was passed to race organizers over the weekend shortly after it was received, leading to a suspension of the race and a massive airlift on Thursday. Cargo planes were flying some 1,365 crew members and 336 vehicles as well as tons of equipment from Niamey, capital of Niger, to Sabha in southern Libya.

-- Oct. 12, 2000
A bomb on board a small Zodiac-like boat detonates near the USS Cole in the port of Aden in Yemen, killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding scores more. The bombing also kills two al-Qaida operatives in the boat. The United States later learns the Cole was the second destroyer targeted by al-Qaida. The attack was originally planned for Jan. 3, 2000, when the USS The Sullivans was in the same port.
-- Sept. 9, 2001

Two Moroccan men, posing as television journalists, kill themselves and Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, at the alliance headquarters in the Panjshir Valley of Afghanistan. The killing of Massoud may have been the first part of the Sept. 11 attacks.
--Sept. 11, 2001

Three hijacked planes are flown into major U.S. landmarks, destroying New York's World Trade Center towers and plowing into the Pentagon. A fourth hijacked plane crashes in rural Pennsylvania, its target believed to have been the U.S. Capitol. At least 3,044 people are killed. The death toll is nearly 10 times greater than any other terrorist attack in history and makes bin Laden, for the first time, a household name in the United States and the west.

--Dec. 22, 2001
Passengers and crew of an American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami subdue Richard Reid after he attempts to light a bomb hidden inside his shoe. Some in U.S. intelligence community believe the bombing was last vestige of a larger plan that included the attacks on New York and Washington as well as bombings of other airliners over the oceans.

--Jan. 31, 2002
Pakistani militants behead Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi after holding him for several days. U.S. officials report there is evidence Khalid Sheik Mohammed. Al-Qaida’s operations chief, may have played a role in his kidnapping and murder. Pearl is shown on a tape being beheaded.

-- March 17, 2002
Islamic militants attack the Protestant International Church in Islamabad, killing five. Among those killed were Americans Barbara Green and her daughter Kristen Wormsley. Pakistani officials blame al-Qaida.

--March 20, 2002
Nine people are killed and 30 wounded in a car bomb explosion near the U.S. Embassy in Lima. Peru.

--April 11, 2002
A suicide bomber explodes a truck near the El Ghriba synagogue on the southern Tunisian island of Djerba, killing 14 Germans, five Tunisians and a Frenchman. Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Saad bin Laden, Osama bin Laden's third youngest son, are believed behind the attack.

--May 8, 2002
A suspected suicide bomber in a car kills himself near a bus carrying 11 French navy experts and three Pakistanis outside the Sheraton Hotel in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.

--May 2002
Moroccan police arrest three Saudi nationals who were allegedly planning attacks against U.S. and British warships in the Strait of Gibraltar. The men are arrested in May and claim to belong to the al-Qaida network. Moroccan officials say the suspects planned to sail a dinghy loaded with explosives from Morocco into the strait to attack the vessels.

--June 14, 2002
Another suicide car bomber detonates a bomb outside the U.S. consulate in Karachi, killing at least 11 people and wounding 45. No Americans is killed. The bomb is in the trunk of a moving car. The car's passengers, Pakistani nursing students, are unaware of the bomb.

--Sept. 5, 2002
Afghan President Hamid Karzai survives an assassination attempt when shots are fired into the presidential limousine. Karzai was on his way to a wedding celebration in Kandahar. He is not hurt but one of this U.S. bodyguards and the governor of Kandahar are wounded. The attack comes just after a car bomb exploded near two government offices in Kabul, killing 22 people.

--Oct. 5, 2002
A small boat sidles up to the SS Limburg, a French tanker off al-Mukalla, Yemen, and detonates a bomb. One crew member drowns and 24 are rescued.

--Oct. 8, 2002
Two U.S. Marines are killed in Kuwait in the early stages of the U.S. military buildup in preparation for the invasion of Iraq. The Marines were attacked on Faylaka Island, about 12 miles north of Kuwait City.

--Oct. 12, 2002
Bombs explode in Kuta Beach nightclub district of Bali in Indonesia, killing 202 people and wounding hundreds. Five Americans are among the dead. A third bomb explodes near the U.S. Consulate in Sanur near Kuta, without causing casualties. Bombers later admit they expected many more American casualties. The bombing highlights the reach of al-Qaida.

--Oct. 28, 2002
A group of al-Qaida operatives kills U.S. AID worker Laurence Foley, 62, outside his home as he prepared to leave for work. Foley’s attackers are arrested by Jordanian officials in December.

--Nov. 28, 2002
At least 15 people are killed in car bomb attack on hotel frequented by Israeli tourists in Kenyan port of Mombasa. On the same day, two missiles are fired at but miss an Israeli airliner taking off from the city. Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, mastermind of the 1998 embassy bombings, is sought by Kenyan officials in the attacks.

--May 12, 2003
Suicide bombers in vehicles shoot their way into housing compounds for expatriates in Saudi capital of Riyadh so they can set off bombs. Some 35 people, including nine Americans, are killed. The attacks are a watershed for the Saudi government, which for years had thought al-Qaida would not attack the kingdom. As a result of the attacks, cooperation between the U.S. and Saudi governments grows rapidly.

--May 16, 2003
Suicide bombers using cars or explosive belts set off at least five blasts in Casablanca, Morocco, killing 44 people, including 12 bombers, and wounding about 60. The deaths of 17 bombers in Saudi and 12 in Morocco suggest that al-Qaida is having no trouble recruiting suicide bombers.

--June 7, 2003
A suicide car bomber blows up a bus full of German peacekeepers, killing four and wounding 31 east of Kabul. An Afghan civilian and the bomber are also killed.

--Aug. 5, 2003
A huge truck bomb kills 16 people and wounds 150 as it rips through Marriott Hotel in the Indonesian capital Jakarta. One foreigner, a Dutch businessman, is among the dead.

--Nov. 8, 2003
In an attack reminiscent of al-Qaida's May attack, suicide bombers backed by gunmen enter a residential compound in Riyadh detonate two car bombs, killing 17, among them 5 children, and wounding 122. The attack uses vehicles disguised to look like police cars. U.S. and Saudi intelligence services had warned of a possible attack in the days before, even thwarting an attack in Mecca.

--Nov. 15, 2003
At least 29 people are killed and scores were injured in near simultaneous explosions at two Istanbul synagogues, the first al-Qaida attack against Muslim Turkey, a NATO member and military ally of Israel. One blast occurs outside the Neve Shalom synagogue in the historic Beyoglu district in the heart of Istanbul. Another goes off close to another synagogue in the nearby neighborhood of Sisli. An small Turkish militant group aligned with Al-Qaida takes responsibility for the attack.

--Nov. 20, 2003
The Istanbul headquarters of London-based bank HSBC and the British consulate in the Turkish city are targeted in similar attacks, with a total of 32 people killed in the twin blasts. The blasts replicate the twin attacks five days earlier against Istanbul synagogues in that both used “drive by bombings,” in which bomb-laden trucks are detonated by suicide bombers as the vehicle moves past the target.

--Dec. 4, 2003
Maj. Gen. Abdelaziz al-Huweirini, the No. 3 official in Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry and the kingdom's top counterterrorism official, is moderately wounded in an attack. Huweirini has worked closely with American officials. It is one of at least three such attacks or assassination attempts on Saudi intelligence service officials in December. No one has been killed in the attacks, which are in retaliation for the stepup in Saudi operations against al-Qaida.

--Dec. 14, 2003
Pakistani President Pervez Musharaff barely escapes death as his presidential motorcade travels over a bridge in Rawalpindi. The president is saved because of a jamming device on his car which scrambles signals on frequencies used to detonate remotely controlled bombs. The bomb detonates 30 seconds after the motorcade passes by. It is estimated to have weighed 1,000 pounds. The sophistication of the attack seems to indicate an “inside job.” Pakistani officials publicly blame al-Qaida for the attack, noting that 10 weeks earlier, Ayman Zawahiri called for Muslims to “topple” Musharraf’s regime.

--Dec. 25, 2003
Two pick-up trucks packed with explosives ram into Pakistani President Musharraf's cavalcade from opposite sides of the road while he returns from Islamabad to his official residence at Army House in Rawalpindi. Musharraf was not hurt, but three vehicles at the tail end of the convoy are destroyed. Several policemen on security duty are killed and more than fifty others wounded.

--Feb. 6, 2004
A suicide bomber detonates a bulk explosive at the deepest point in the Moscow Metro, killing 40 people. The attack is believed to be the work of a Saudi militant Abu Walid, whose financing of Chechen rebels has given him great power within the movement to free the breakaway Russian republic. The attack occurs near the Avtozavodskaya metro station and is supposedly a revenge attack for Russian troops atrocities against Chechen civilians in the town on Alda four years to the day earlier.

--Feb. 27, 2004
A bomb onboard a Philippines ferry detonates, starting a fire that kills at least 100 people on their way from Manila to Bacolod in the central Philippines. The ferry was carrying around 860 people when two hours into the trip an explosion ripped the ferry, leading to a fire that quickly engulfed it. Abu Sayef, the al-Qaida affiliate, initially claims responsibility although the Philippines government denies the explosion was the result of a bombing. Later U.S. officials say the bombing was deliberate, not accidental.

--March 11, 2004
A co-ordinated bombing of trains in Madrid leaves more than 190 people dead and hundreds wounded. The attack, which leads to the unexpected fall of the pro-U.S. government of Anzar, is blamed on Morrocan terrorists with close links to al-Qaida. According to investigators, the attack was carried out not by al-Qaida or even an affiliate, but instead by radical Muslims who identified with al-Qaida and were led by a charismatic figure.

--April 5, 2004
The mastermind of the March 11 attacks and five others blow themselves up in a Madrid apartment building, killing a special policeman as well. Explosives discovered in the building where the five killed themselves to avoid capture indicate they were plotting more violence and were linked to the failed bombing of a high-speed rail line Friday. Two or three suspects may have escaped before blast.

--April 21, 2004
A suicide bomber kills five people, including two senior Saudi police officers and an 11-year-old girl, in an attack on a government building in Riyadh. An Islamic militant group, the al-Haramin Brigades, claims responsibility.

--May 1, 2004
Attack on oil refinery in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia, in which gunmen target senior executive at the facility, partly owned by ExxonMobil. Five foreigners are killed, including two Americans.

--May 20, 2004
Saudi security forces clash with five suspected Islamic militants near Buraida, killing four and wounding the fifth.

--May 30, 2004
Miilitants go on a shooting rampage at two oil industry office/residential compounds in the Persian Gulf coast city of Khobar, killing 22 people, mostly foreigners including one American.

--Dec. 6, 2004
Al-Qaida claims responsibility for an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, that left five non-American employees dead.

--Dec. 12, 2004
A bomb exploded in a Philippine market packed with Christmas shoppers Sunday, killing at least 15 people and shattering a months long lull in terror attacks in the volatile southern Philippines, where Muslim rebels are active. The homemade bomb, concealed in a box, went off in the meat section of the market in General Santos, about 620 miles south of Manila. Officials immediately bolstered security in the predominantly Christian port city of 500,000 people, fearing more attacks.

--Dec. 29, 2004
Al-Qaida operatives launch an attack on Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Interior in Riyadh, hoping to topple the ministry's inverted pyramid structure.The attack fails with seven terrorists killed and one ministry officer seriously wounded.

--June 20, 2004
U.S. and Afghan authorities disclose the arrest of four Pakistani men on charges they were plotting the assassination of Zalmay Khalilizad, the US ambassador to Kabul.

—July 7, 2005
Four suicide bombers detonate bombs on London Underground trains and a double-decker bus, killing 56 people in the worst terrorist attack ever in the UK and the greatest civilian loss of life since the blitz more than 60 years ago. The bombers are all British nationals and three are British born. Three are of Pakistani descent, the fourth a Jamaican who converted to Islam.

July 21, 2005
Two weeks after the first Underground bombing, four other would-be suicide bombers attempt an identical attack on three trains and a bus. The bombs fail to go off and wound only one passenger. Within days, all four men are identified and arrested. Again, all are British nationals, this time of East African descent.

—July 23, 2005
Three bombs detonate in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh, killing 63, the worst terrorist attack in that country’s history. Two of the bombs detonated at resort hotels favored by Western tourists while the third went off in the city’s marketplace. Egyptian authorities rounded up a number of suspects and later killed one of the country’s leading Islamists in a shootout.

—Aug. 19, 2005
Attackers fire Katushka rockets in the Jordanian port city of Aqaba, narrowly missing a U.S. Navy ship, and killing a Jordanian security man in a dockside warehouse. Two rockets are fired into the nearby Israeli port city of Eliat, causing minor damage.

Last edited by MRRiley; 03-12-2012 at 05:35 AM.
03-11-2012, 02:51 PM   #9
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Other than the first part of your quote Afghanistan is barely mentioned.
US has been playing both sides in the Middle East for decades.
For me at least, there are way to many unanswered question about 9.11 to entirely believe any official statements.
It`s odd how the terrorists and the oil are in the same places.
The GOP extremists are as scary as the Muslim extremists.
03-11-2012, 02:52 PM   #10
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I would call that an act of terrorism.

Jason
03-11-2012, 03:12 PM   #11
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QuoteOriginally posted by riff Quote
The GOP extremists are as scary as the Muslim extremists.
You have a point.
03-11-2012, 03:16 PM   #12
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QuoteOriginally posted by Jasvox Quote
I would call that an act of terrorism.
Assuming you mean the subject of this thread, I doubt it, though we can't know for sure without more information. It has the vibe of flipping out or venting, not an act purposely intended to generate terror in people in order to bring about some sort of change.
03-11-2012, 03:50 PM   #13
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QuoteOriginally posted by les3547 Quote
The point about guns not killing people can hardly be applied in a war zone. Everybody has weapons, soldiers are supposed to have weapons. The place to make that case is in civilian situations (and even then I'd only agree if you get the guns away from criminals first).

A more likely culprit is war, the stress that builds as a result of it, and then watching your countrymen be killed by hateful Afghans protesting over accidentally-burned books, or waiting for some Afghan solder to turn his weapon on you, or constantly on the lookout for a "martyr" strapped with explosives to blow you up. Afghanistan duty must be incredibly stressful, too stressful for some.

Publicly we can't say so, but from allowing the terrorist training strongholds that led to 9/11 to the constant threat of terrorism, corruption, the treatment of women . . . the behavior of Afghans has been many times more atrocious than the Americans. Yet when an American makes a mistake or freaks out, it seems all one hears is how bad the US is.
The military are tasked with leaving behind a peaceful and stable country. The trust of regular everyday Afghan people is vital to this. IMHO they have now completely blown it. How are the Afghans supposed to deal positively with people who shoot them for sport, keeping body parts as trophies, burn their holy books, and allow soldiers out on rogue killing sprees.
03-11-2012, 05:05 PM   #14
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We pissed $510 billion tax dollars down the Afghanistan money pit. The US Generals want us to stay there so we could really show them what we are made of.

World News - US staff sergeant kills 16 Afghan civilians, officials say
03-11-2012, 05:42 PM   #15
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QuoteOriginally posted by ihasa Quote
The military are tasked with leaving behind a peaceful and stable country. The trust of regular everyday Afghan people is vital to this. IMHO they have now completely blown it. How are the Afghans supposed to deal positively with people who shoot them for sport, keeping body parts as trophies, burn their holy books, and allow soldiers out on rogue killing sprees.
That's been part of every war in history, most of it is ignored or covered up. War desensitizes soldiers to killing, and makes half (sometimes whole) psychotics out of some. War is organized insanity, and there's no way some of it doesn't rub off on its participants.

I'm not defending the soldier's actions, or even whether the US should still be in Afghanistan. I am critical of characterizing the entire effort there by the actions of a few, along with ignoring the worse and constant atrocities perpetrated by Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and then singling out the relative few screw ups by US and UN troops. If Al Qaeda and the Taliban get back in charge there, how much more suffering do you think the locals will endure? Beheadings, torture, massacres, acid thrown on faces, floggings . . . Before we got there here are a few of the incidents that characterized daily life:

QuoteQuote:

"The barbarity of the Taliban plumbed new depths when troops shot dead eight boys for daring to laugh, sickened refugees revealed yesterday. The teenage lads had been chuckling at the soldiers who suddenly raised their Kalashnikov rifles and gunned them down. It was one of a string of atrocities in the besieged Afghanistan city of Kunduz, which was last night poised to fall to the Northern Alliance. At least 300 frightened Taliban were killed by men from their own side because they wanted to surrender." (Source: The Sun [U.K.], 11/19/01)

"The Taliban is jailing children as young as 10 in Kabul to root out dissent, it is claimed today. According to French journalist Michel Peyrard, who was held by the Taliban for 25 days, the biggest threat to the extremist regime is its own paranoia. He said his fellow detainees included several children. On one occasion the nephews of an escaped political prisoner - aged 10, 13 and 19 - were rounded up. The eldest was tortured and subjected to a mock execution. The Taliban also jails leaders and military commanders for being traitors on only the flimsiest evidence." (Source: The Evening Standard (London), 11/9/01)

"One day they came, and ordered everyone to go into the bazaar and protest against the bombings, and chant: 'Death to America'," said Salahuddin. "I was in my house and I had to go outside. When we refused to protest against America, they got angry." Another man who fled the village said he saw the Taliban drag a man called Lash Boi from his house to the mosque and beat him to death when he refused to protest. Lash Boi's three sons are on the front line now, fighting to avenge their father's death, he said." (Source: The Independent (U.K.), 11/9/01)

"When the family returned six hours later they found that Abdul's right femur had been shattered by repeated blows from a Kalashnikov, the stock of the rifle leaving a clear imprint on the floor of the family's home. Doctors gave Nurala a couple of packets of paracetamol and bluntly told him that his son would never walk again. 'He was in so much pain for a long time, and it changed his mind as well,' Nurala said. 'I don't understand how anyone can do such a thing to a small child. I have spoken to many people about this and nobody understands it.' There are many others in Taloqan who have similar stories of children being beaten in front of their parents because their fathers were unable to hand over a weapon to the Taleban, of men who had a hand amputated when they were accused of stealing the bread that they carried home to their families, and of women who were raped after their husbands were taken away and imprisoned in Kandahar or Mazar-i Sharif." (Source: The Times [U.K.], 11/13/01)

"'They burnt some of us alive.' It was almost the first thing he said to us. In the dust and squalor of a refugee camp, Salahuddin told yesterday how the Taliban burnt an entire family to death in their own home in revenge for the American bombing. He says he saw them bringing out the blackened bodies of the children. Then the Taliban took Salahuddin and the other villagers to the front line, where they ordered them to gather up scattered bits of bodies, all that was left of Taliban soldiers killed by the American bombs." (Source: The Independent U.K. 11/9/01)

"'The Taliban commanders killed 100 of our friends,' said this defector, adding, 'They hung their bodies from lamp posts as a warning to the rest of us.'" (Source: CBS Evening News, 11/19/01)

"One said a doctor was shot dead for not treating a wounded Taliban soldier quickly enough, while others said a group of eight teenage boys were killed for laughing at Taliban soldiers." (Source: The Herald (Scotland), 11/19/01)

"Foreign Taliban soldiers, who have gathered in Kunduz for what appears to be a last stand, have gunned down more than 400 Afghan Taliban soldiers trying to defect to the Northern Alliance, the refugees and the alliance soldiers said. The 400 were killed in mass shootings late last week, refugees said, and were prompted in part by the defection of a local Taliban commander to the Northern Alliance. According to the reports, Arab and Pakistani soldiers with the Taliban have also begun shooting young civilian men of the Uzbek and Tajik ethnic groups suspected of trying to escape to territory controlled by the Northern Alliance. 'The foreigners came into the village and shot all the men,' said Muhammadullah, a 21-year-old man who crossed into Northern Alliance territory today. 'I saw this with my own eyes.'" (Source: The New York Times, 11/19/01)

"Foreign Taliban soldiers also killed dozens of Afghan Taliban soldiers on Friday at the village of Musazai near the Kunduz airport, refugees and Northern Alliance soldiers said. Refugees fleeing Kunduz said foreign Taliban soldiers had gunned down 125 Afghan Taliban soldiers who had been stopped on their way to the front lines. The foreign Taliban soldiers seem to have decided that the local Taliban were trying to defect. When they tried to stop them, a fight began and the foreign Taliban opened fire, the refugees said." (Source: The New York Times, 11/19/01)

"The BBC has confirmed that the central Afghan town of Bamiyan was totally destroyed by the Taleban before they fled over the weekend. Evidence has also emerged of Bosnian-style ethnic cleansing in the region involving the execution of hundreds of local ethnic Hazara men." (Source: BBC News, 11/13/01)

"Our correspondent said every building, shop and house had been destroyed before the town fell on Sunday after a two-hour gun battle." (Source: BBC News, 11/13/01)

September 1996 -- Upon capturing Kabul the Taliban castrated President Najibullah, dragged his body behind a jeep for several rounds of the Palace and then shot him dead. His brother was similarly tortured and then throttled to death. (Source: Department of Defense)

January 1998 -- In the Western province of Faryab, the Taliban massacred approximately 600 Uzbek villageres. Western aid workers who later investigated the incident said civilians were dragged from their homes, lined up and gunned down. (Source: Department of Defense)

August 1998 -- The Taliban entered Mazar-I-Sharif and went on a frenzy killing shop owners, cart pullers, women and children shoppers. (Source: Department of Defense)

August 2000 -- Taliban execute POWs in the streets of Heart as a lesson to the local population. (Source: Department of Defense)

June 2001 -- Taliban bombed the administrative center of Yakaolang, including the district hospital and an aid agency office. (Source: Department of Defense)

Massacre at Yakaolang -- Taliban forces committed a massacre in Yakaolang in January 2001. The victims were primarily Hazaras. The massacre began on January 8, 2001, and continued for four days. The Taliban detained about 300 civilian adult males, including staff members of local humanitarian organizations. The men were herded to assembly points, and then shot by firing squad in public view. According to Human Rights Watch, about 170 men are confirmed to have been killed. According to Amnesty International, eyewitnesses reported the deliberate killing of dozens of civilians hiding in a mosque: Taliban soldiers fired rockets into a mosque where some 73 women, children and elderly men had taken shelter. (Source: State Department)

Massacre at Robatak Pass -- The May 2000 massacre took place near the Robatak pass. 31 bodies were found one site, of these, 26 were positively identified as civilians. The victims were Hazara Shi'as. (Source: State Department)

Massacre in Bamiyan -- When the Taliban recaptured Bamiyan in 1999, there were reports that Taliban forces carried out summary executions upon entering the city. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of men, and some instances women and children, were separated from their families, taken away, and killed. Human Rights Watch reports that besides executing civilians, the Taliban burned homes and used detainees for forced labor. (Source: State Department)

Massacre in the Shomaili Plains -- July 1999 Human Rights Watch reports that a Taliban offensive here was marked by summary executions, the abduction and disappearance of women, the burning of homes, destruction of property, and the cutting down of fruit trees. According to a report by the U.N. Secretary General on November 16, 1999, "The Taliban forces, who allegedly carried out these acts, essentially treated the civilian population with hostility and made no distinction between combatants and non-combatants." (Source: U.S. State Department)

Massacre in Mazar-I-Sharif -- In August 1998, the Taliban captured Mazar-I-Sharif. There were reports that between 2,000 and 5,000 men, women and children -- mostly ethnic Hazara civilians -- were massacred by the Taliban after the takeover of Mazar-I-Sharif. During the massacre, the Taliban forces carried out a systematic search for male members for the ethnic Hazara, Tajik, and Uzbek communities in the city. Human Rights Watch estimates that scores, perhaps hundreds, of Hazara men and boys were summarily executed. There were also reports that women and girls were raped and abducted during the Taliban takeover of the city. (Source: State Department)

Last edited by MRRiley; 03-12-2012 at 05:37 AM.
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