http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=7e9_1302953700 Items in channel 'KantiKotal' Tue, 21 May 2013 00:03:38 -0400 Liveleak http://edge.liveleak.com/80281E/u/u/ll2/logo.gif http://www.liveleak.com/browse?channel_token=7e9_1302953700 Wed, 20 Feb 2013 02:08:35 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=41f_1361343720 KantiKotal PARIS - A French soldier was killed on Tuesday in a clash with jihadists in northern Mali where the French are in the midst of a critical operation, President Francois Hollande announced. A Defense Ministry statement said that nearly 20 extremists have been killed in the ongoing fighting. The death of the French Foreign Legionnaire brings to two the number of French killed since France, Mali's one-time colonial ruler, launched a military intervention on Jan. 11 to push out militants who had taken over the African country's vast north. A helicopter pilot was killed on the first day of the intervention.The operation in a mountainous region where extremists are holed up is in its "last phase," the president said. "At this moment we have special forces who are in the north of Mali and who are intervening in a zone that is particularly delicate, which is the Ifoghas mountain range, where terror groups are holed up," he said during a visit to Greece. "There was a serious clash with several deaths on the side of the terrorists, but also a death on the French side," Hollande said, adding that the soldier killed came from a Legionnaire parachute regiment.The French-led operation is aimed at preventing the extremists, who are inspired by radical Islam, from taking over all of Mali and destabilizing the west African region. LINK : http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/french-soldier-dies-in-clash-with-radicals-in-north-mali-frances-president-says/2013/02/19/32bc7fe8-7ab8-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.htm http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=41f_1361343720 KantiKotal French soldier dies in clash with radicals in north Mali, France's president says xxxx Sat, 26 Jan 2013 04:47:24 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3df_1359192605 KantiKotal Abstract: If there is one lesson that morally upright people in the USA should draw from World War Two, it's the following. When the French Republic asks for military help, the USA ought to salute briskly and respectfully ask:"How much?" After all, a son such as Uncle Sam, should not leave his mother in distress. This correct attitude is directly applicable to the situation in Mali and the Sahara right now. Mali is not Afghanistan. Afghanistan was an error, an irrelevant sideshow that the USA imposed on itself by (unlawfully, and secretly) messing up that forlorn country in the 1970s . (9/11 was an infortunate blow-back, after the conflict deliberately instigated by the USA, brought the death of millions of Afghans.) The war in Africa is completely different from that error in Afghanistan. Africa is of extreme strategic importance . Africa is an enormous continent, it has enormous resources, a vast and extremely varied population. It is part of the geographical, cultural and historical center of the human world. It is contiguous to Europe. Africa has been neglected too long. It's clear where the Dark Side is, in this war. France had the right reflex by punching back hard as soon as the terrorists crossed the cease-fire line. France needs a bit more equipment to fuel her fighter planes optimally, as they patrol a giant territory.No fuel, no war. But it's not just the USA. If there is one lesson that democracies should draw from World War Two, it's that France should not fight infamy alone (with insufficient British help). At the very least, all European countries should join in. How? As the French combat units reconquer vast swathes of territory, Malian troops in their wake are left to police the immensity. Their resentment against Tuaregs and Arabs is showing up; other Western countries' soldiers could help the Malians and other Black Africans keep in touch with the philosophically, and strategically, correct attitude *** Idiocies are arguments that keep coming back to the fore first , among the poorly educated. An (idiotic) slogan that keeps coming back is used by Johnnie Carson, who heads the Africa bureau at Obama's State Department. Mr. Carson observes that Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) "has not demonstrated the capability to threaten U.S. interests outside of West or North Africa, and it has not threatened to attack the U.S. homeland." That specious reasoning was evoked by several historically uneducated Obama administration officials to refuse air refueling requests from the French Republic. Let me explain the importance. The French fighter-bombers have to patrol and intervene in an area larger than Texas, and some have to do so from bases thousands of miles away. It's a bit as if they patrolled Texas from British Columbia. So the need for air refueling of bomb laden French supersonic bombers is acute! Although the French have air refueling capability, they don't have enough to do the mission comfortably. The enemy is not a hop and skip away, as it is the case in Afghanistan, where the Taliban is at most 200 miles away from gigantic, fortress like, NATO air bases covering entire landscapes. (See technical note about Rafales and Mirages.) Let's go back to the pathetic reasoning of Johnie Carson with his weasel words and total lack of moral perspective:" have not demonstrated threat to U.S. interests... not threatened to attack the U.S. homeland." ??? Is not that the famous Washington reasoning used in 1940 about the Nazis? Is Johnie Carson trying to emulate the comedian Johnny Carson by poking fun at the Holocaust? Right. Auschwitz was built by the Nazis, starting on 21 February 1940. Auschwitz did not demonstrate the capability to threaten U.S. interests outside of West or North Africa, and it did not threaten to attack the U.S. homeland. So, I guess, that is why Washington did not do anything about it. Washington is apparently concerned if and only if, it is threatened. In other words, by its own admission, Washington is all about self interest, not civilization. This is exactly the opposite of the French credo. That explains the difference in behavior of France and the USA in 1939. France declared war to Hitler September 3, 1939, because France had had enough of that terrorist. 40 French divisions tried to break through the Westwall ("Siegfried Line") in the following days. The first British soldier arrived to help France within a month. The Canadians landed entire divisions by June 1940, nine month later. The proverbial Americans arrived on June 6, 1944, 57 months later, as part of D Day. Yes, fifty seven months later. The Americans were not the majority of the landing force on D Day. According to Mr. Carson, as the Nazis did not demonstrate the capability to threaten U.S. interests, the USA, as a society and polity, may as well have helped Hitler in 1939. And this is exactly what was done diplomatically and through all sorts of American corporations. The same courtesy was extended to Mussolini (this did not escape the Italian resistance, which would return the favor by hanging Mussolini from an American, Esso gas station in Milan). The Ethyl Corporation of America sent 500 tons of a crucial additive, lead tetraethyl, an anti-knock compound, so the Nazi Air Force (Luftwaffe) could stay in the air, and keep on fighting the French (the Luftwaffe would go on, to lose 36% of its power during the Battle of France in May-June 1940). Meanwhile, the Congress of the USA passed an anti-French, anti-British law. President Roosevelt regretfully signed it into law. As the Nazis had not demonstrated the capability to threaten U.S. interests, nor threatened to attack the U.S. homeland, the USA rejected the French demands for military help in 1940. The exact reasoning still used by Mr. Carson. Waiting fifty seven months to help one's parent is no moral rush. Yes, because without France there would have been no USA to start with, so France gave birth to the USA. (Although, in part because the USA defaulted on the multi-trillion dollar debt to France, this fact is not advertized.) Waiting fifty seven months to help civilization is no moral rush. Waiting fifty seven months to help humanity is no moral rush. (OK, I am been a bit unfair, here, as the USA saw prior combat in Tunisia, Sicily, Italy; but, precisely, in that case, after the French had broken through the Hitler Line, south of Rome, the USA stabbed in the back general Juin; instead of giving Juin more divisions to rush into Austria, as juin had requested, the American command did the exact opposite, making sure the French could not rush towards Austria, thus extending the war by a year, and making sure half of Europe could be given to Roosevelt's comrade Joseph Stalin!) Adolf Hitler declared war TO the USA, on December 11, 1941. The USA found itself at war, with Nazi Germany in 1942, contrarily to Washington's plans, which were to do nothing bellicose in 1942. As that was in Washington's best interest. This attitude of the USA was, and is, not excusable. It reflects a military and cultural tradition born in the woods of North America. The USA was born, fighting Neolithic Indians. Later, even the war of the South against the North was a sure thing: most of the industrial basis of the USA was in the North, and the craziness of the "cavaliers" of the South could only bring their death, as it did. So the tradition of the diplomatic service in the USA is not aware that war is serious business, and can turn into completely unexpected ways. Several of the major battles of WWII, when re-enacted in (computer aided) war games, nearly never turn the way they did happen. Thus it is best, not to play with war. Thus the Pentagon, aware as it is of these facts, will naturally disagree with State, and want to help the French hard and early, because the Pentagon knows that's how democracies win wars: by being big, open, with clear war objectives, and being fully in one's right. (In other words the exact opposite of the weasel war started by Carter's CIA in Afghanistan in the 1970s.) The Second World is full of totally unexpected turns of events, which went one way, but could have turned the other . For example if the Ethyl Corporation of America had not sent Lead Tetraethyl to the Nazis, the Luftwaffe would have been grounded, the French and British would have had mastery of the skies... Grounded the Luftwaffe was in front of Moscow in December 1941: it was so cold, only Soviet planes were in the air. The Nazis were not lubricated enough... They suffered their first strategic defeat. I could go on like this, with a list of unexpected, and hard to expect, events of the Second World War. As it was, to win the war, the USA had just to join France and Britain in September 1939, and declare war to the Nazis . German generals would have done the rest, declare a national emergency, explain that the Nazis were endangering Germany, and destroy them. There was an official plot that way, organized by Beck, the Wehrmacht chief. However the ambiguous attitude of some leaders of the USA and the UK undermined Beck (who was then betrayed by some of the Anglo-saxons he had asked to help; the plan was finally activated only in 1944... Way too late.) Sufficient to say that the French army, having underestimated the Vietnamese Communists at Dien Bien Phu, found themselves encircled by an enemy that had, unexpectedly, dragged big guns through the jungle. The French asked the Americans for air support. Eisenhower refused. Conclusion: a "Communist" dictatorship, truly a form of communal plutocracy took control of half of the country, and the USA was involved in a 20 year war in Vietnam (which it took that long to lose) The present situation in Mali was greatly caused by from the USA. The USA trained five units of the Malian army, and four of them defected to the invaders, with their brand new weapons and newfound skills. The French (counter-)attack followed, within hours, the attempt to seize the rest of Mali: 50 French special forces dropped on the ground next to Konna, were supposed to help planes find their targets. They found themselves in combat as the Malian army retreated. Within days of the French intervention with massive bombing, the Tuaregs, having reconsidered the situation in the light of new evidence, proclaimed that they were switching their allegiance to France. Even the American neoconservative historian Robert Kaplan is rallying. He said. "I have a new philosophy: If the French are ready to go, we should go" This is indeed wise: ever since the Romans put the Franks in charge of defending much of their empire, and ever since the Merovingians outlawed slavery, armed human rights has been a sort of main business model of France... And it's hard to imagine how it could be otherwise with a democratic republic (even islands such as Britain and the USa had to subscribe, to some extent, to that philosophy). I personally think that the Tuaregs should be (somewhat) independent. De Gaulle, who did not know Africa, and could not care less, gave Tuareg territory to all the countries around at independence. But the Tuaregs have a very old civilization, that had an alphabet more than 1,600 years before Arabic appeared from their common root. Naturally that would not please the neighboring countries (the Kurds have the same problem: they, too were at home, 2,000 years before the Turks showed up in the neighborhood. All matter to negotiation. After all, South Sudan was created, as it should have been (making Azawad independent is very similar problem, in reverse!) Meanwhile, please help provide those tankers to fuel the French Air Force. (Otherwise I will have to remind us who fueled the Nazi Air Force when the latter ferried the rebel army of general Franco into Spain, in 1936...) *** Patrice Ayme http://patriceayme.wordpress.com/201...o-fuel-france/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3df_1359192605 KantiKotal Mali: USA Ought To Fuel France France Mali Tue, 07 Aug 2012 05:39:38 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ed4_1344331991 KantiKotal By Samuel Burke Before their wedding ceremony begins in rural Afghanistan, a 40-year-old man sits to be photographed with his 11-year-old bride. The girl tells the photographer that she is sad to be engaged because she had hoped to become a teacher. Her favorite class was Dari, the local language, before she had to leave her studies to get married. She is one of the 51 million child brides around the world today. And it's not just Muslims; it happens across many cultures and regions. Photographer Stephanie Sinclair has traveled the world taking pictures, like the one of the Afghan couple, to document the phenomenon. Christiane Amanpour spoke with Sinclair about a book which features her photographs called, "Questions without Answers: The World in Pictures by the Photographers of VII." Faiz, 40, and Ghulam, 11, sit in her home prior to their wedding in rural Afghanistan in 2005. Amanpour asked Sinclair if the 11-year-old Afghan girl married in 2005, and others like her, consummate their marriages at such an early age. Sinclair says while many Afghans told her the men would wait until puberty, women pulled her aside to tell her that indeed the men do have sex with the prepubescent brides. Sinclair has been working on the project for nearly a decade. She goes into the areas with help from people in these communities who want the practice to stop, because they see the harmful repercussions. "Whenever I saw him, I hid. I hated to see him," Tehani (in pink) recalls of the early days of her marriage to Majed, when she was 6 and he was 25. The young wife posed for this portrait with former classmate Ghada, also a child bride, outside their mountain home in Yemen. In Yemen, a similar picture. Tehani and Ghada are sisters-in-law photographed with their husbands, who are both members of the military. Like most of the girls, Tehani didn't even know she was getting married, until the wedding night. She was six years old. Tehani describes how she entered the marriage, "They were decorating my hands, but I didn't know they were going to marry me off. Then my mother came in and said, 'Come on my daughter.' They were dressing me up and I was asking, 'Where are you taking me?'" Sinclair says, "This harmful, traditional practice of child marriage is just so embedded in some of these cultures that the families don't protect them as they should." The subjects do know they're being photographed and Sinclair tells them the topic she is working on. She does tell them that there is teen pregnancy in places like the U.S., but for the societies she's photographing it's even worse that 13-year-old girls are pregnant and unmarried. Nujoud Ali, two years after her divorce in Yemen - when she was only ten years old - from her husband, more than 20 years her senior. Another one of the photographs Sinclair took is of a Yemeni girl named Nujood Ali. In a rare turn of events, Ali managed to get a divorce at age 10. "A couple months after she was married, she went to the court and found a lawyer - a woman named Shada Nasser and asked her to help her get a divorce, and she was granted ," Sinclair says. "It's definitely rare and Nujood became kind of an international symbol of child marriage, because she was able to do this. And I think she's inspired a lot of other girls and other organizations to support these girls, to have a stronger voice." Leyualem, 14, is wisked away on a mule by her new groom and groomsmen in Ethiopia. Sinclair has documented the practice outside of the Muslim world. In a Christian community in Ethiopia, she captured the image of a 14 year-old girl named Leyualem in a scene that looks like an abduction. Leyualem was whisked away on a mule with a sheet covering up her face. Sinclair asked the groomsmen why they covered her up; they said it was so she would not be able to find her way back home, if she wanted to escape the marriage. Kaushal ,10, and Rajni, 5, participate in the marriage ceremony in Northern India. Sinclair travelled to India and Nepal, and photographed child marriages among some Hindus. A five-year-old Hindu girl named Rajni was married under cover of night: "Literally at four o'clock in the morning. And her two older sisters were married to two other boys," Sinclair says. "Often you see these group marriages because the girl and the families can't afford to have three weddings." In the five-year-old girl's case, Rajni will continue to live with her own family for several years. Rajni, 5, was woken up around 4 am to participate in the wedding ceremony. Here, she is carried by her uncle to her wedding in India. Girls aren't always the only ones forced into marriage. Sinclair wanted to photograph child marries in India and Nepal, because sometimes the boys entering a marriage are also young. "And often they're victims just as much of this harmful traditional practice," she says. Sinclair told Amanpour that she hopes her photographs would not only highlight the problems to westerners, but also show people in the areas where this takes place that if the girls continue to be taken out of the population to forcibly work at home, that their communities suffer as a whole. "It's a harmful traditional practice that is slowly changing. We just want to have it change even faster. LINK :http://amanpour.blogs.cnn.com/2012/08/05/11-year-old-girl-married-to-40-year-old-man/ http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ed4_1344331991 KantiKotal 11-year-old girl married to 40-year-old man XXXX Fri, 13 Jul 2012 04:44:34 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=36d_1342168515 KantiKotal Ayman al-Zawahiri's terror network is exploiting political unrest in Mali and throughout the region. Just when we think we have one network of al-Qaeda terrorists on the run, up pops another one to take its place and resume the relentless campaign of terror against the West and its allies. The forthcoming withdrawal of British troops from Afghanistan is based on the assumption that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, the original casus belli for military intervention, has been dismantled and no longer threatens our security. It is, of course, entirely feasible that the remnants of the organisation currently being run by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who replaced bin Laden as al-Qaeda's leader in May 2011, might be able to regroup once Nato's Afghan mission is over, especially if, as seems likely, no political settlement with the Taliban is forthcoming by the time our troops pack up and return home at the end of 2014. But, in the meantime, rather than waiting for events to turn in its favour in Afghanistan, the al-Qaeda brand is busily extending its franchise to other parts of the Muslim world where weak or dysfunctional governments allow it the space and opportunity to pursue its nefarious designs. The trend started with al-Qaeda cells appearing in countries such as Yemen and Somalia, both failed states racked by civil war, where a new generation of Islamist militants were free to pursue their terrorist agenda. While the Somali-based cells mainly confined their activities to attacking diplomatic missions and tourist sites in East Africa, the Yemen-based groups, under the leadership of Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-educated radical cleric, were more ambitious, devising ingenious devices for bombing the American mainland, with deadly explosives hidden in the underwear of suicide bombers or concealed in printer ink cartridges. Now the resourceful architects of al-Qaeda's global jihad have moved even further afield, seizing control of a vast swath of desert scrubland in the African state of Mali. Like Afghanistan in the 1990s, Mali was ripe for exploitation by Islamist terror groups. A long-running insurgency by Tuareg separatists, who sought independence for their traditional tribal heartlands in the north of the country, severely weakened the ability of the government to exercise its authority. The situation deteriorated further when units of well-armed Islamist mercenaries, equipped with weapons looted from Libya during the collapse of Gaddafi's regime last summer, helped the Tuaregs to establish their own state in the north before seizing control of the region for themselves in a series of attacks against the main towns. The final Tuareg stronghold fell yesterday, when al-Qaeda fighters drove the separatists from their last remaining base in Ansogo, in northern Mali, leaving the terrorist group in control of an area larger than France. As if to demonstrate their resolve to abide by strict religious dogma, the al-Qaeda fighters have vandalised ancient treasures at the World Heritage site at Timbuktu, where they destroyed two mausoleums on the grounds that they contained idolatrous images. If this wanton act of desecration evokes memories of the destruction of the ancient Buddhas of Bamiyan by the Taliban on similar grounds in Afghanistan in March 2001, al-Qaeda's takeover of this enormous desert tract potentially constitutes a far greater threat to our long-term security than bin Laden's ramshackle training camps did a decade ago. Having captured six fully equipped counter-terrorism units that were originally donated by the CIA to the Malian forces to help their campaign against the Islamist militants, al-Qaeda fighters now have 87 new Land Cruisers equipped with satellite phones and the latest navigation equipment. Even more alarming is the fact that they also have control over a network of airports, military bases, arms dumps and training camps, from which they can orchestrate their campaign of violence throughout the African continent and beyond. Britain's Special Forces were given their own taste of the fanaticism of this new breed of Islamist militants last March when they tried to rescue British hostage Chris McManus, who was killed in a gun battle when a Special Boat Service squadron attacked the kidnappers' hideout in northern Nigeria. The emergence of Mali as a major terror hub should be seen as the inevitable consequence of the profound political changes in North Africa. In Tunisia, Libya and Egypt, the wave of anti-government protests has resulted in the replacement of corrupt dictatorships with regimes of differing Islamist persuasions. While all of them say they have no interest in adopting the type of uncompromising, fundamentalist agenda advocated by al-Qaeda and its sympathisers, the fact that Islamists now control the state security apparatus in these countries means that they are unlikely to be as rigorous in repressing terror cells as their predecessors. The changing dynamics of the region are most evident in the Sinai peninsula, where there has recently been a marked relaxation in Egypt's security measures. These were rigorously enforced during the Mubarak regime, to prevent arms being supplied to Hamas militants in Gaza, many of whom are veterans of al-Qaeda training camps. As in Mali, al-Qaeda can operate freely in the knowledge that its activities will not be disrupted by a call from the local security forces - with all the chilling implications that will have for our own safety. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=36d_1342168515 KantiKotal Al-Qaeda free to tighten its grip on Africa Sahel AQ Sat, 09 Jun 2012 05:08:20 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=439_1339232585 KantiKotal Nato forces in Afghanistan say four foreign soldiers have been killed in an attack in the east of the country. Nato's Isaf force did not provide details, but Afghan officials say the four were French soldiers based in Kapisa province. Taliban insurgents said Saturday's attack was carried out by one of their suicide bombers. France is due to withdraw all its combat troops by the end of this year, two years before the main Nato pullout. Violence has risen across Afghanistan in recent weeks, with the Taliban vowing to target both the Afghan forces and the 130,000 foreign troops remaining in the country. Afghan officials say the suicide bomber in Saturday's attack approached a French Nato convoy wearing a burka. France is currently the fifth largest contributor to the Isaf force, with nearly 3,300 French soldiers stationed in Afghanistan. The deaths - if confirmed - would bring to 87 the total number of French deaths in the country since 2001. In January the killing of four French soldiers in Kapisa prompted then-President Nicolas Sarkozy to announce a withdrawal by the end of 2013. His successor Francois Hollande, who was elected last month, confirmed an election pledge to bring the pullout forward by a further year. LINK :http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18377761 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=439_1339232585 KantiKotal Taliban 'kill four French troops' French Soldiers Killed Talibal Sat, 02 Jun 2012 04:26:10 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ed6_1338625394 KantiKotal The SAS are understood to have carried out the helicopter raid on the cave where Helen Johnson, 28, who was working for an aid project, was being held along with three other hostages. One of the other hostages is Moragwa Oirere, 26, a Kenyan-born aid worker who had previously worked with Save the Children. David Cameron authorised the rescue attempt after military forces in Afghanistan briefed him on the planned operation. Speaking outside Number 10 after the raid, he described the rescue effort as "extraordinarily brave" and "breath-taking". Miss Johnson's parents Philip and Patricia said: "We are delighted and hugely relieved by the wonderful news that Helen and all her colleagues have been freed. "We are deeply grateful to everyone involved in her rescue, to those who worked tirelessly on her behalf, and to family and friends for their love, prayers and support over the last twelve days. "We greatly appreciate the restraint shown by the media since her abduction, and ask that they continue to respect our privacy at this special time." The other two were Afghan colleagues the pair had been working with in the country. The four rescued hostages were reported to be in a "good condition". Miss Johnson and Ms Oirere were in the British Embassy in Kabul, while the two Afghans were safely in their home province. The operation happened under cover of darkness in the early hours in Badakhshan province, in the north of Afghanistan. Five heavily armed hostage-takers were killed during the rescue, officials in Afghanistan said. The kidnappers, who are believed to have been a criminal group with links to insurgents in Afghanistan, had made a ransom demand in a video. Mr Cameron said he authorised the rescue attempt on Friday afternoon after becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of Ms Johnston and her colleagues. He said all four hostages were rescued safely, no British troops were injured and a number of Taliban and hostage-takers were killed. "It was an extraordinarily brave, breath-taking even, operation that our troops had to carry out," he said. "I pay tribute to their skill and dedication." A statement from the Foreign Office added: "Helen and her colleagues were rescued by ISAF forces, including UK forces, in a carefully planned and coordinated operation. "This operation was ordered by the Commander of ISAF and was authorised by the Prime Minister. "We pay tribute to the bravery of the coalition forces which means that all four aid workers will soon be rejoining their families and loved ones. "We have worked closely with the Afghan authorities throughout and we would like to thank them for their support." The raid in the remote province of Badakhshan came less than two weeks after the women had been seized while trekking on horseback to treat villagers suffering from malnutrition. Abdel Maruf Rasekh, spokesman for the provincial governor, said the raid had taken place at 1am in Shahr-e-Bozorg district, in a large forested area near the Tajikistan border called Koh-e-Laran. In a statement American General John Allen, the overall commander of the International Security Assistance Force, which includes British and American troops in Afghanistan, said: "First, I would like to thank the Afghan Ministry of the Interior and Minister Mohammadi for their tremendous support throughout this crisis. "Second, this morning's mission, conducted by coalition forces, exemplifies our collective and unwavering commitment to defeat the Taliban. "I'm extremely grateful to the Afghan authorities and proud of the ISAF forces that planned, rehearsed, and successfully conducted this operation. "Thanks to them, Miss Helen Johnston, Ms. Moragwe Oirere, and their two co-workers will soon be rejoining their families and loved ones." SAS soldiers, assisted by other troops from ISAF's Joint Special Forces Group, which includes elements American Delta Force soldiers and Navy Seals, as well as local Afghan security forces, were transported to the cave by heilcopter and stormed into it, freeing the four hostages. The aid workers - Miss Johnston and Moragwe Oirere and their two Afghan colleagues - were kidnapped on May 22. They worked for Medair, a humanitarian non-governmental organisation based near Lausanne, Switzerland. Medair said its team had been abducted while "visiting relief nutrition, hygiene and health project sites" in Badakhshan province. Aur'elien Demaurex, spokesman for the charity, said: "Medair is relieved that our colleagues are safe. We are immensely grateful to all parties involved in ensuring their swift and safe return." Badakhshan is an impoverished and mountainous province in Afghanistan's far northeast, and while mainly quiet, there have been pockets of insurgent activity. Miss Johnston studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and had worked for the charity in Afghanistan since last year. Last December she spoke of her work and told how she had regularly seen skeletal and "other-worldly" children in Badakhshan province. The deeply conservative area, in which women are unable to go out alone and have been beaten for taking their children for treatment, has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world. Miss Johnston said: "The international emergency level is a 15 per cent malnutrition rate, but here it is 30 per cent for under-fives and for the under-ones it's 60 per cent." She added: "Some of things I have seen I have had a very emotional reaction to. The children come to the clinic draped in clothes, looking quite big, but then you roll up their sleeve to measure them and you see their tiny little frames. They look other-worldly. "There was one little boy and I just thought 'what is going on?'" Miss Oirere was born and educated in Kenya and subsequently worked fro Save the Children in Africa, as well as other aid projects, before working in Afghanistan. A statement from the coalition described the kidnappers as Taliban, but local officials said they were petty criminals. Link :http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/9307138/British-medical-worker-among-four-rescued-from-cave-by-special-forces-in-Afghanistan.html http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=ed6_1338625394 KantiKotal British medical worker among four rescued from cave by special forces in Afghanistan XXXX Sat, 02 Jun 2012 01:20:03 -0400 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e68_1338613983 KantiKotal The British officer lay flat on his stomach - down on his belt buckle, in Army parlance - beside the dusty Helmand road and stared intently at the red drum buried in the earth and the ominous white wires protruding from it. Captain Dan Shepherd was an experienced bomb disposal officer who had dealt with scores of roadside bombs like this, the Taliban's deadly - and increasingly successful - weapon of choice in the war in Afghanistan. British soldiers observing him through binoculars from a safe distance saw him rise to his knees . . . and then disappear in the cloud of a massive explosion. 'He was just atomised,' recalled one of those watching. 'There was almost nothing left of him.' Front line: British soldiers risking death in the battle for Helmand Not on the ground anyway. But within seconds a terrible shout of horror went up from the platoon of young soldiers. Small pieces of Shepherd's body were raining down on them from the dust cloud. This was - and is - Afghanistan, a place of courage, certainly, but also instant death and sights so horrific that those who witness them will never be the same again. As soldiers rushed towards the site of the explosion, a veteran sergeant stood in their way. 'Go away,' he told the youngsters under his command. 'You don't need to see this.' But perhaps we do. As our involvement in Helmand heads towards its seventh year and the number of British troop fatalities in Afghanistan nears 420 with little sign of respite, an award-winning book on the war deliberately pulls no punches in its depiction of the conflict's gruesome realities. Written by Daily Mail journalist Toby Harnden, it follows the Welsh Guards in gripping everyday detail through a six-month tour of duty in Helmand in 2009. Sixteen from the Welsh Guards Battle Group would die, including the charismatic and hugely popular commander, Lieutenant-Colonel Rupert Thorneloe. Dozens more would be seriously wounded and many left with mental scars that may never heal. Within days of going out on the ground, they had lost their first man. Dubai-born Lance Sergeant Tobie Fasfous was returning from a patrol when someone stepped on the pressure pad of an IED (improvised explosive device). The bottom half of his body was devastated while the Afghan interpreter beside him was decapitated. 'He was just atomised': Captain Dan Shepherd, seen defusing an IED in Afghanistan, fell victim to one of the roadside bombs His death was a dreadful early blow and a bad omen. He had been in the battalion for nearly ten years and had been a big man with a large presence. He had felt jittery about the whole mission, telling his girlfriend before he left Britain that he wanted the Beach Boys' song Sloop John B to be played at his funeral and that all the mourners should wear Welsh rugby shirts. He got his wish, and far too soon. Within days, they had lost the first of many comrades At his funeral, a comrade in arms described him as unflappable. 'When things start to go into a tailspin, he would stand there, a massive smile and a big grin on his face, and say: "Let the wheels come off and then we'll see if we can put it back together." ' To some it must have seemed that right from the start the wheels were coming off the whole Helmand project. What the troops experienced on a daily basis was nightmarish. A sergeant recalled a night patrol when an Afghan interpreter stepped on an IED: 'As the smoke and debris cleared, in the crater, I saw something a human being isn't supposed to see. From the bottom of his belly, everything was gone...' As well as his legs, the blast had taken off the interpreter's right arm. All that was left of his left hand was the little finger, attached to the elbow by skin and muscle. Full-on descriptions like this make uncomfortable reading, as do the book's uncompromising assertions about the misconduct of the war - the under-manning, the equipment failings, the absence of clear political focus. Charismatic: The hugely popular Lieutenant Colonel Rupert Thorneloe was one of 16 soldiers lost by the Welsh Guards Battle Group The Ministry of Defence - though, significantly, not the Welsh Guards themselves - tried to block or muzzle Harnden's book, ostensibly on security grounds. The entire first print run had to be pulped and even the new version includes blocked-out lines and sentences where the MoD censor has been at work. But for what it still manages to tell us in such hard-hitting and human detail, Harnden's account - Dead Men Risen - has just won this year's Orwell Prize for political writing. The judges praised it for its 'forensic anger', both with politicians who failed to equip the soldiers properly to do their job but also with the military high command, which made promises to the politicians it could not deliver. Our troops called their vehicles 'coffins on tracks' Caught in the middle were the troops. Not heroes or glory-seekers, not always brave, sometimes quite the opposite, but ordinary blokes trying to do their best in extraordinary circumstances and just hoping - vainly, in many cases - to get home in one piece.War, Harnden jolts us into realising, is messy and frightening. 'For most troops in Helmand, facing each new day required an act of bravery to function despite the knowledge that it might well be their last.' Humour helped to get men through, though it was often pretty black. Under their battle smocks, the men who drove the Viking armoured troop carriers wore T-shirts with the words 'If you can read this, I've been blown out of my turret and I've lost my body armour.'It was no laughing matter, because their vehicles were potential death traps - 'coffins on tracks', the troops called them. Designed to travel quickly over rough terrain, Vikings were capable of swimming across rivers and crawling over walls and ditches. They were, however, incapable of protecting the soldiers inside them from landmines and rockets. While the upper section of the vehicles was well-armoured, the base and underbelly was poorly protected and vulnerable to attack from the roadside bombs. Early casualty: Lance Sergeant Tobie Fasfous became the first of the Welsh Guards to fall when he died in an IED explosion It was in a Viking that Lt Col Thorneloe died, while trying by example to restore his nervy men's faith in the vulnerable vehicles.He was an exceptional and much-admired commander, a high-flyer who had been a top military aide in Whitehall but also had a natural gift for leadership. And that leadership, he believed, came from showing he could do whatever he ordered other men to do. So he did his stint of dangerous donkey work, out in front of a patrol, gingerly prodding the baked earth with a bayonet for buried IEDs, the most terrifying and thankless task in Afghanistan. And he also insisted on taking his turn at 'top cover' on the carriers - standing with his legs inside the Viking and his head and torso exposed as he manned the machine gun. In the summer of 2009, he was leading a 16-vehicle convoy as part of an operation he felt uneasy about anyway. A high-profile offensive had been ordered to clear Taliban strongholds, but Thorneloe feared he simply didn't have the manpower or the resources to make the gains stick. But, a true professional, he was resigned to the fact that he and his Welsh Guards would just have to do the job as best they could. Progress of this particular patrol to newly established remote outposts was agonisingly slow as they made frequent stops to check for roadside bombs. Thorneloe was among those down on his belt buckle prodding the ground until finally he was satisfied there was no danger and the convoy advanced, with the colonel back on 'top cover' in the lead Viking. They had gone less than a kilometre when there was a massive explosion. A terrible stench rose into the air - of fertiliser-based explosive and diesel mixed with blood and human flesh. The bomb planted in the ground had ripped open the floor of the Viking directly underneath Thorneloe and virtually sliced him in half. The top portion of his body was leaning out at an angle. Both his legs had gone. He tried to mumble something, then lapsed into unconsciousness and died. There were other casualties. A frantic search of the wrecked vehicle revealed a hand but no one attached to it. An 18-year-old trooper lay dead nearby 'Coffin on tracks': The Viking all-terrain vehicle, seen here at Camp Bastion, was known among soldiers as a death trap due to its susceptibility to rockets and landmines Thorneloe's corpse was brought down, eased into a body bag and taken away. But later there were more body parts to be recovered from the shattered Viking - fingers, two feet, a rib, a right leg. They were stored in boxes, waiting to be taken back to base, but no helicopter - there were never enough of these - could be spared to do this for four days. A grieving brother officer, who had known Thorneloe for 15 years, took it on himself to keep the parts from rotting by washing them in the nearby canal. One desperate soldier wanted to kill himself 'I did it at night, quietly and discreetly with nobody there,' he recalled, 'but on the third night I just couldn't do it any more.' He still has nightmares about Thorneloe's death. But what was just as stomach-churning was to hear the Taliban boasting on their walkie-talkies, laughing and congratulating each other on a job well done. Many of the guardsmen felt they were having to fight with one hand tied behind their backs. They faced an enemy who would stop at nothing to wipe them out, yet they were required to be temperate and proportional in their response so as not to alienate the local population.The jargon of the day was to exercise 'courageous restraint', often to the point of not responding to an attack at all and certainly not by calling in air strikes on enemy positions. It may have been a wise policy but it was hard to psych yourself up to take the fight to the enemy and then have to back off. Meanwhile, the Taliban was taking its IED campaign to a new level by using devices fitted with graphite rather than metal connectors. Last goodbye: Sally Thorneloe, widow of Lt Col Thorneloe watches as his coffin is carried out of the Guards Chapel, in London, on July 16, 2009 Increasingly, these were not being picked up by British metal detectors, for all the troops' meticulous sweeping of suspect ground. The enemy was gaining a powerful advantage. The carnage continued. Nine days after Thorneloe's death, a corporal on top cover was blown out of the turret of a Viking by an IED explosion and landed face-down in an irrigation ditch 40 yards away, where he drowned. His driver lay unconscious and horribly mutilated. A young trooper was so disturbed by the sight that a blank look came over his face and he wandered around in shock, an increasing problem as the tour continued, and had to be evacuated. Days after treating his mortally wounded platoon commander, a guardsman broke down and refused to go on sentry duty. 'I pulled my helmet off and booted it across the road. I wanted out.' He was taken to his room to calm down, but the next day a shot was heard. An officer rushed in, fearing the worst. The soldier had intended to blow his own head off, but had remembered his family at home at the last minute and fired into the wall instead. Acclaimed: The Mail's Toby Harnden has been highly praised for his account of the Welsh Guards' nightmare He was weeping uncontrollably, his whole body shaking, and rocking back and forth. 'I can't do it any more. I just want to get out of here,' was all he could say. The officer recorded in his diary: 'He is terrified of being killed. I don't know if he will ever be the same. 'We may find that he is the first of many to be demonstrating battle shock.' He was right. Another soldier resorted to shooting himself in the thigh to get away from the front line. Surprisingly, there was almost universal sympathy for those who broke down. Everyone had all been through bad times in their heads. 'When you're on stag at 2am and it's pitch-black and you can hear noises, you think all sorts of crazy stuff,' said one man. Others spoke of the feeling of impending doom that came over them when the sun rose and they stared at compounds in the distance, wondering if a Taliban sniper had his sights on them. As the Welsh Guards tour neared its end, not surprisingly there were more and more examples of battle-weary men finding excuses to be excused duties. No one wanted to be the last man to be killed. And who can blame them? Harnden - whose bare-knuckle and deeply moving book is already rightly being hailed as a classic of war reporting - has nothing but admiration for each and every one of the guardsmen he got to know so well. 'They gave their all and did what they thought was right,' he says. But no man came back from Afghanistan the same, he concludes. 'Some left limbs there; all lost friends, comrades and at least one commander. Years from now, some may lose their minds to the horror of that place and time. 'Death was a fear, a companion and, for the unlucky few, an outcome. For them, what happened in Helmand is over. For the rest, it will remain.' Adapted from Dead Men Risen by Toby Harnden, published by Quercus at lb8.99. (c) 2012 Toby Harnden. To order a copy for lb7.99 (including p&p) call 0843 382 0000. Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2153559/Bloodshed-betrayal-The-futility-soldiers-deaths-Helmand-scandal-inadequate-equipment-revealed-book-MoD-tried-censor.html#ixzz1wbtNmmzq http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=e68_1338613983 KantiKotal Bloodshed and betrayal: The futility of our soldiers' deaths in Helmand and scandal of their inadequate equipment revealed in the book the MoD tried XXXX Fri, 09 Mar 2012 02:25:37 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3bd_1331277272 KantiKotal A British hostage was killed by his captors in Nigeria yesterday when a UK Special Forces rescue operation ended in tragedy. Chris McManus was executed by gunmen as members of the Special Boat Service and Nigerian soldiers moved in on the Al Qaeda-inspired terrorists' hideaway.Fellow hostage, Italian Franco Lamolinara, was also killed. The pair had been held for ten months. Fears for Mr McManus's welfare had intensified following the release of a video in August showing the 28-year-old engineer blindfolded alongside three armed men.One of the terrorists said it would be the 'last message' to David Cameron about the hostage. Yesterday the Prime Minister broke the news of the execution to Mr McManus's family in a personal phone call before making a public statement in which he appeared emotional.It is the second time he has ordered a hostage rescue mission that has failed. Scottish aid worker Linda Norgrove died when Special Forces tried to rescue her from the Taliban in Afghanistan.Mr Cameron had also telephoned his Italian counterpart Mario Monti to tell him of the failed operation - but last night there was growing anger in Italy as it became clear that Rome was informed of the raid to free the hostages only once it had got underway.Further details of the rescue bid were emerging last night, but it remained unknown whether Mr McManus and Mr Lamolinara - a 48-year-old father of two - died before or during the operation.There were reports the men may have been held in a house in Sokoto, a city in Nigeria's north-west. One witness said: 'The security agencies tried to break into the house but there was resistance. The people inside the house were shooting at them and they returned fire. None of the 20 strong British rescue force was injured and Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan said all the terrorists had been arrested.The rescue was triggered when - after months of searching - the SBS found the heavily protected location where the men were being held.Mr Cameron said authorities had decided to go ahead with the rescue after receiving 'credible information about location'.'A window of opportunity arose to secure their release. We also had reason to believe that their lives were under imminent and growing danger,' he insisted.The Prime Minister said it was 'with great regret' that he had to announce Mr McManus, from Oldham, and Mr Lamolinara had lost their lives in the subsequent operation.'I am very sorry that this ended so tragically,' he stressed, adding: 'Terrorism and appalling crimes such as these are a scourge on our world. No one should be in any doubt about our determination to fight and to defeat them.' Mr McManus, a contract worker for an Italian construction company, was kidnapped by gunmen in May last year after they stormed his apartment in Birnin-Kebbi in the north-west of Nigeria.Mr Lamolinara, a 48-year-old father of two of Gattinara near Turin, was also taken. A German colleague escaped by scaling a wall despite being shot and injured.Last night Mr McManus's parents, two brothers and sister issued a statement thanking all involved in the attempted rescue. It said: 'We are of course devastated by the news of Chris's death, which we received earlier today. 'During this ordeal we have relied heavily on the support of our family and friends which has never waned and has enabled us to get through the most difficult of times.'We are also aware of the many people who were working to try and have Chris returned to our family, and his girlfriend. We would like to thank all of them for their efforts.' The family said they were confident 'everything that could be done was being done' during their ten-month ordeal and sent their condolences to relatives of the other dead hostage.' The kidnapped men had been working on building a bank in the city, the capital of the lawless Kebbi province. In August a Nigerian group calling itself 'Al Qaeda in the land beyond the Sahel' claimed responsibility for the kidnap and released the video showing Mr McManus, in a Manchester United shirt, with three men armed with Kalashnikov rifles and a machete.He pleaded for the British Government to answer the demands of the group to save his life. One of the kidnappers then said the British Government had failed to answer its demands and it was given two weeks to 'take the correct decision'.Yesterday, security officials said they believed the kidnappers were from a splinter group of the Islamist militant group Boko Haram, which has links to Al Qaeda.Sources said Ministry of Defence officials approached Mr Cameron on Wednesday evening and made it clear they believed there was a 'time-limited opportunity' to mount an attempt to free the men.The Prime Minister took the decision to go ahead and then followed the operation 'in real time' yesterday morning. A meeting of the Government's emergency committee Cobra was convened, but word came back that the two men had been killed by their captors.The Italian prime minister's office said that it had been 'constantly in touch with British authorities but that the operation had got underway with the Nigerians and British forces with Italy informed once it had begun'.Former Italian prime minister Massimo D'Alema said: 'I want full light to be shed on why Italy was only informed once the operation had started.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2112215/UK-hostage-killed-failed-rescue-attempt-involving-SBS-free-captors-Nigeria.html#ixzz1obO5bjvi http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3bd_1331277272 KantiKotal Hostage rescue ends in tragedy : Briton and Italian executed by captors as Special Forces close in.... Hostage Rescue Faile SBS Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:11:40 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=70c_1327482218 KantiKotal U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, an American and a Dane, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said. The Danish Refugee Council confirmed the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagan Thisted, were freed "during an operation in Somalia." Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, had been working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when they were kidnapped. President Barack Obama appeared to refer to the mission before his State of the Union address in Washington Tuesday night. As he entered the House chamber in the U.S. Capitol, he pointed at Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the crowd and said, "Good job tonight." A Western official told The Associated Press that the raid was carried out by U.S. military forces. A second official said the helicopters and the hostages flew to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly. Panetta visited Camp Lemonier just over a month ago, A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts the military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa. The Danish Refugee Council said both freed hostages are unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families." The two aid workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals - sometimes referred to as pirates - and not by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab. As large ships at sea have increased their defenses against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land-based kidnappings. A pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein said he had spoken to pirates at the scene of the raid and they reported that nine pirates had been killed. A second pirate who gave his name as Ahmed Hashi said two helicopters attacked at about 2 a.m. at the site where the hostages were being held about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Somali town of Adado. Maj. Kelly Cahalan, a military spokeswoman at U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, said she had no information on the raid. A spokeswoman at the Pentagon had no immediate comment. U.S. military rescue operations are typically carried out by highly trained special forces. The Danish Refugee Council had earlier enlisted traditional Somali elders and members of civil society to seek the release of the two hostages. The two were seized in October from the portion of Galkayo town under the control of a government-allied clan militia. The aid agency has said that Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release. Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in their kidnapping. The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, whose experts have been clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East. Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist and two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya, and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday. --- Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report. Houreld reported from Nairobi. LINK :http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/sources-us-raid-somalia-frees-american-dane-15435981#.Tx_FK4ERHSg http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=70c_1327482218 KantiKotal US Military Raid in Somalia Frees American, Dane Somalia Hostage Rescue US Military Mon, 12 Dec 2011 03:24:05 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f04_1323677697 KantiKotal A U.S. soldier held by the Taliban since 2009 has been recaptured after he went on the run for three days. Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's daring escape failed when a manhunt was launched in Pakistan to find him, Taliban commanders said. He is now facing his third Christmas in captivity. Sgt Bergdahl has been a prisoner of the Taliban since his capture on June 30, 2009, in Afghanistan. Since then, he has appeared in a least five Taliban propoganda videos, one of which was released in May. He is the only known U.S. soldier to be captive of the Taliban. Sgt Bergdahl made the attempt in late August or early September, after several months when his jailers became more trusting of him.It is thought he learnt Pashto and converted to Islam to build up a rapport with his captors. The soldier then reportedly jumped from a first-floor window of a mud-brick house in Pakistan where he was held, and made his escape into underbrush and forested mountains. His captors found him three days later hiding in a trench, covered with leaves and virtually naked, according to the report. The sources described Sgt Bergdahl, of Hailey, Idaho, fighting 'like a boxer' when found. Quoting a Taliban source, The Daily Beast reported that Sgt Bergdahl told his captors that he wanted to find civilian villagers who would help him and notify the U.S..But that hope proved futile as villagers had long since fled Pakistan's North Waziristan region because of the conflict. Now he is back in captivity, Sgt Bergdahl is once more restrained at night and being moved frequently to avoid detection by U.S. forces.Drone strikes have killed several senior militants in the area he is being held and sources say the Taliban is ready to make a deal to release the soldier.A source told The Daily Beast: 'There's a fear that a dronecould hit the golden .' Colonel Tim Marsano, an Idaho National Guard spokesman based in Boise, was quoted in the report and has spoken with Sgt Bergdahl's family.'There is certainly a lot of new information in that article that was news to the Sgt Bergdahl family,' he said. 'Any mother would be glad to hear that her son is alive and well at this point.' Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072750/Taliban-recapture-U-S-soldier-Bowe-Bergdahl-3-days-run.html#ixzz1gJ4ZzLlw http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f04_1323677697 KantiKotal Captive U.S. soldier Bowe Bergdahl 'recaptured by the Taliban after three days on the run following daring escape' xxxx Sun, 11 Dec 2011 03:20:45 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a00_1323591060 KantiKotal An Islamic cleric living in Europe has said that women should not be close to bananas or cucumbers, in order to avoid any 'sexual thoughts'. The unnamed sheikh was quoted by el-Sawsana news saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male relative, should cut the items into small pieces and serve.The cleric said that these fruits and vegetables 'resemble the male penis' and could arouse women or 'make them think of sex,' in a story reported on Egyptian news website Bikya Masr.He also added carrots and courgette to the list of forbidden foods for women.The sheikh was asked how to 'control' women when they are out shopping for groceries and if holding these items at the market would be bad for them. The cleric answered saying this matter is between them and God. Answering another question about what to do if women in the family like these foods, the sheikh advised the interviewer to take the food and cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it.The opinion has stirred a storm of anger among Muslims online, with hundreds mocking the cleric. One reader said that these religious 'leaders' give Islam 'a bad name' and another saying he should quit his post immediately. Another dismissed the sheikh as merely a publicity seeker. No official responses from Islamic scholars have been made on the statements as yet. Read more :http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072488/Muslim-cleric-warns-cucumbers-sexy-women-bans-penis-shaped-foods.html Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072488/Muslim-cleric-warns-cucumbers-sexy-women-bans-penis-shaped-foods.html#ixzz1gDCyh2GZ Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072488/Muslim-cleric-warns-cucumbers-sexy-women-bans-penis-shaped-foods.html#ixzz1gDCpzwBg Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072488/Muslim-cleric-warns-cucumbers-sexy-women-bans-penis-shaped-foods.html#ixzz1gDCjAl98 Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2072488/Muslim-cleric-warns-cucumbers-sexy-women-bans-penis-shaped-foods.html#ixzz1gDCdRDao http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a00_1323591060 KantiKotal Don't touch that cucumber! Islamic cleric ban's women from touching 'penis- shaped' foods in case it arouses them. XXXX Wed, 09 Nov 2011 03:20:08 -0500 http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=605_1320826471 KantiKotal Last week, the editorial offices of French satire magazine Charlie Hebdo were firebombed after the release of an issue "guest edited" by Muhammed. ("100 lashes if you don't die of laughter!" said the cartoon Muhammed on the cover.) The magazine's website was taken over shortly after that by a Turkish hackers group, who left a threatening message reading, "You keep abusing Islam's almighty Prophet with disgusting and disgraceful cartoons using excuses of freedom of speech...Be God's Curse On You! We Will be Your Curse on Cyber World!" Politicians and the media came out in support of the magazine's right to free speech , while French Muslim groups decried racism. Amidst it all and against all odds, the newly homeless Hebdo got its next issue out on schedule. Yup! There it is, the new cover, right above us. This is not going to end well.*Several of you have pointed out that the headwear/shorter beard/slight tweaks to the angle and scale of the hooknose might suggest that the figure involved in a passionate, man-on-frog liplock is in fact just a devout Muslim, and not Muhammed himself. It's a perfectly plausible theory, and we certainly didn't mean to fan the flames of controversy any further by misrepresenting it as such. Adjust your Holy War Fantasy League pools accordingly. http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=605_1320826471 KantiKotal World's Ballsiest Magazine Puts a Gay Muhammed on Its Cover XXXX