Pakistan Taliban Murder 132 Schoolchildren in Peshewar Attack

Taliban gunmen and suicide bombers attacked an Army-run school in the Pakistani city of Peshewar on Tuesday, killing at least 132 students and 9 members of the school's staff. With gravely injured students being treated in nearby hospitals for burns as well as bullet and shrapnel wounds, the death toll may go even higher over the next few days.

Pupils as young as nine were shot in their classrooms, or picked off as they ran for cover or begged for help. Others died when the bombers detonated their suicide vests in the playground which was packed with youngsters.

"They dragged the students from classrooms and shot them with automatic rifles," Kashif Ali, 13, one of the injured pupils, said.

Muhammad Shakoor, another injured 13-year-old, said: "The militants pulled the students from beneath the desks and tables and killed them."

A spokesman for the Taliban said it had targeted the school, which served children of the military, in retaliation for the killing of jihadist fighters by the Pakistan army.

As Pakistani troops moved in to secure the grounds of the school, horrific accounts from eyewitnesses and survivors began trickling out. In a classroom with about 60 pupils, a Taliban suicide bomber entered and blew himself up. Others tell of a teacher being burned alive by Taliban gunmen as they forced the students to watch.

According to survivors, many students were gathered for a First Aid class that was to be given by Pakistani Army medics. There were at least six attackers and they reportedly went from room to room, shooting students as they hid under desks or behind bleachers. The attackers also seemed to know that the wives of some high-ranking Pakistani Army officers were present, bolstering claims that the assailants had inside information about the school.

The attacks come about a week after the Obama Administration released the Tehrek-i-Talibani's second in command after he was captured by US forces in Afghanistan during a 2013 raid. The timing of the massacre also came shortly after Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousefzai was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for continuing to speak out in favor of women's education after she was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen in her native Swat Valley in 2012. At age 17, Yousefzai is the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize and her family condemned the Peshawar school attacks in statements to the media.

Death Toll Climbs as Pakistani Taliban Claim Responsibility for Deadly Aiport Attack in Karachi.

At least 27 people were killed when Taliban gunmen who had disguised themselves as members of Pakistan's security forces shot their way into a terminal at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport on Sunday night. The attacks took place in an older terminal that was mainly used for charter and executive flights.

At the airport, gun battles went on for five hours and television pictures showed fire raging as ambulances ferried casualties away.

At least three loud explosions were heard as militants wearing suicide vests blew themselves up.

Pakistani officials believe that there were 10 attackers and all ten were killed when the military launched a counterattack. Seven were reportedly killed exchanging gunfire with police and soldiers while three of them detonated suicide vests after being cornered by authorities. Although a Pakistani Army spokesman said that they had successfully retaken the airport, smoke from a raging fire in the cargo are was clearly visible from a distance. Although some witnesses reported that aircraft on the ground were damaged or destroyed in the attack, the Army denied that and said the fires were from a fuelling facility that was blown up in the attack.

A spokesman for the Pakistani Tehrek-e-Taliban organization claimed responsibility for the attack, claiming it was retribution for a November 2013 drone strike that killed one of their leaders.

Observers point out that the attack is a blow for Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who had campaigned on reaching a negotiated settlement with the Taliban last year and was hoping to project an image of stability in order to attract more foreign capital and investment to the country.

As a precaution, flights bound for Karachi were diverted elsewhere as the fighting spilled out to the airport's tarmac. An estimated 44,000 passengers travelling domestically and internationally use the airport each day, making it Pakistan's busiest airport. The airport serves Pakistan's largest city and commercial hub of Karachi and underwent extensive renovation and expansion in the 1990s.

Coincidentally, this is not the first time terrorists disguised as security forces launched an attack at Karachi's Jinnah International Airport. In September 1986, Palestinian terrorists disguised as airport security stormed Pan Am Flight 73 while it was on the ground for a scheduled stopover on its flight from Bombay to New York. The flight crew was able to escape, leading to a tense standoff between the hostage-takers and Pakistani commandoes on the ground. As the commandoes were preparing to storm the aircraft, the hijackers opened fire on the aircraft's 380 passengers and crew, killing at least 20.

Elsewhere in Pakistan, at least 30 people were killed in an attack on a hotel in the western border town of Taftan. According to eyewitnesses, a suicide bomber entered the Al Murtaza hotel in the town along the border with Iran and detonated himself among a crowd of Shi'ite pilgrims on Sunday. An individual claiming to be from the banned Jaishul Islam movement claimed responsibility for the hotel bombing in a phone call with reporters from Quetta.

At Least 80 Killed After Muslim Terrorists Attack Christian Church in Peshawar

At least 80 worshippers at an Anglican church in Peshawar, Pakistan were killed when a pair of suicide bombers detonated outside of the church as services finished over the weekend.

The attack on the All Saints Church in the city of Peshawar, which also wounded over 140 people, occurred as worshippers were leaving after service to get a free meal of rice offered on the front lawn.

A wing of the Pakistani Taliban quickly claimed responsibility for the bombings, saying they would continue to target non-Muslims until the U.S. stops drone attacks in the remote tribal region of Pakistan.

The bombings raised new questions about the Pakistani government's push to strike a peace deal with the militants to end a decade-long insurgency that has killed thousands of people.

The death toll is expected to climb due to the severity of some of the injuries, making it one of the deadliest attacks against the nation's Christian community.

Sunday's attacks led to protests by angry members of Pakistan's Christian minority in Karachi, who blocked traffic and burned tires to protest inadequate protection from the government. While police are often assigned to protect mosques and churches, the policeman assigned to the church in Peshawar was among those killed in this weekend's attack.

The predominantly Muslim nation's Christian minority is routinely discriminated against and targeted for violence by terrorist groups who view them as enemies of Islam.

Jailbreak Wednesday- 248 Inmates Freed in Pakistani Taliban Prison Raid

At least 13 people were killed on Tuesday after Taliban fighters attacked a prison in the north-central Pakistani town of Dera Ismail Khan in what officials are calling a well-coordinated assault. The assailants used mortars and RPGs to overwhelm guards and local police before freeing inmates from the century-old, including senior Taliban commanders.

Up to 100 attackers, some wearing police uniforms, bombarded the prison with rockets and mortars before going inside.

An ensuing gun battle raged for three or four hours.

Katherine Houreld, a correspondent for Reuters news agency, told the BBC it had been a "very sophisticated attack - they blew the electricity line, they breached the walls and they set ambushes for reinforcements".

"When the shooting started, we immediately got into an armed police vehicle and parked on the road in front of the main gate," injured policeman Hidayat Ullah told AP news agency from his hospital bed.

"After this, we heard an explosion and the main gate exploded. After this, we started shooting towards the main gate from our armed vehicle.

"During this time, maybe either a rocket launcher or a mortar shell hit the vehicle. Two of our policemen were killed on the spot, and three of us were injured. We got down from the armed vehicle, and after that I don't know what happened."

Once inside the prison, the attackers used loudspeakers to call out the names of specific inmates before rigging up booby traps around the prison to cover their escape.

The jailbreak is the third major attack in Pakistan in the span of a week- two bombs at a marketplace in the border town of Parachinar reportedly killed 57 people and 9 people were killed in an attack targeting the offices of Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency on July 24th. This is also the third major jailbreak in an Islamic majority nation in a week following a brazen prison raid in Iraq and more than 1000 prisoners being freed in Benghazi, Libya over the weekend. In May 2012, the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistani freed more than 400 inmates from a prison compound in Bannu- about two hours from Dera Ismail Khan- after blowing up the front gate of the prison with anti-tank weaponry and spiriting away inmates on waiting motorcoaches.

Officials say they had received intelligence about a possible jailbreak several weeks ago and moved certain high-value inmates to more secure facilities. However, the jailbreaks have led some to question whether or not the Taliban could count on a certain amount of complicity or collusion from prison officials.

Iron Horse Roundup for September 2012

Ontario Northland GP38-2 #1805 seen heading north at Huntsville, ON with The Northlander in March 2011 WD Shaw photo

CANADA- After announcing upcoming cutbacks in service earlier this year, Ontario Northland's Northalnder made its final scheduled run from Toronto to Cochrane, ON this week.

Critics predict 1,000 employees face layoffs in remote, economically strapped communities served by Ontario Northland, the provincial Crown-owned rail service.

As people wept and reminisced on the Northlander's last run, several regional mayors and MPPs vowed to maintain full-steam ahead lobbying of the province to restore rail service and stop undermining far north residents, industries and tourism.

At Cochrane's busy station -- where Polar Bear Express trains to the northernmost Moosonee terminus still operate for locals and tourists -- passengers joined Mayor Peter Politis on the last morning train after a protest rally. A similar afternoon rally was held in North Bay.

In a news release inviting final riders, Politis criticized the government for ignoring "all pleas for reasoning, all rationale on environmental impacts and all exclamations by Northerners for respect of their way of life and their right to determine their futures for themselves."

Some northerners rode converted one-level former GO Transit coaches south on business, to visit families and doctors in the centre of Ontario's universe. Trains were also popular with Toronto-area cottage-owners seeking to avoid traffic gridlock

Some northerners rode converted one-level former GO Transit coaches south on business, to visit families and doctors in the centre of Ontario's universe. Trains were also popular with Toronto-area cottage-owners seeking to avoid traffic gridlock.

This March, the government announced it would wind down its Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC), citing $100 million annual subsidizes plus stagnant ridership.

The province of Ontario, which owns the Ontario Northland, publicly announced 12 years ago that they were seeking to divest themselves of the railroad. Canadian National had reportedly expressed an interest in acquiring the line, but talks ultimately fell through. While the Northlander will be discontinued, the Cochrane-Moosonee Polar Bear Express shall continue operating.

The Ontario Northland Railway also operates rail freight service between Cohrane and Moosonee. The company also operates ferry and motorcoach service in the northern part of the Province as well as the telecommunications firm Ontera. The provincial government had also recently announced they were looking to sell off Ontera to a private bidder.

PAKISTAN- With Pakistan's rail network crumbling and in disarray Pakistan's Railway Minister has decided none of that is as important as weighing on on the Innocence of Muslims controversey by offering a $100,000 bounty on the head of the California filmmakerearlier this month.

Despite international condemnation, Pakistan's railways minister says he isn't backing down from his $100,000 bounty offer to anyone who kills the maker of the anti-Islam film Innocence of Muslims.

Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, the slight, silver-haired minister, says he was angry when he saw the video and that he's a man of great faith, passionately devoted to the Prophet Muhammad.

Bilour says he could not tolerate any insult to Muhammad and felt he had to do something about it. At a news conference last Saturday, he made the $100,000 bounty offer to anyone — including Taliban and al-Qaida members — who kills the maker of the video, who has been identified as Nakoula Basseley Nakoula.

Nakoula was detained Thursday in California and is being held on charges that he violated his probation regulations

"I thought the U.S. and Europe would make some law prohibiting any insult to any prophet but that did not happen," Bilour says. "Since they did not make the law then I thought this is the way to stop it."

Pakistan's government and Bilour's own secular political party have distanced themselves from the Cabinet minister. Bilour says he doesn't care.

"I said it in my personal capacity, and not as a member of the government, and because of the fact that I have political vision and I think that was important," Bilour says.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani Taliban have embraced him. Bilour's bounty offer has also garnered support from some Islamist politicians in Pakistan, such as Hafiz Hussain Ahmed. Ahmed says he's a political opponent of Bilour's, but he agrees that if someone ridicules the prophet, the punishment is death.

But Muhammad Malik, senior editor of Dunya News, one of the leading news channels in Pakistan, sees things with a more jaundiced eye. He says Bilour's offer is a desperate attempt to get publicity, that as the minister of Pakistan's decrepit railway system, Bilour has been a failure.

Malik also points out that Bilour also owns a theater in his home district of Peshawar. Beside western diplomatic missions, cinemas in Pakistan were also reportedly subject to protests from angry mobs rioting over The Innocence of Muslims.

Newly acquired Montreal, Maine & Atlantic C39-8 #8202 leads Iowa, Chicago & Eastern SD40-2#6450 and MM&A B23-7 #2003 lead a westbound mixed freight and empty oil tank train through Brookport, Quebec on September 6, 2012. Frank Jolin photo

MONTREAL MAINE & ATLANTIC- Two years after laying off nearly half og its workforce and selling more than 230 miles of track to the state of Maine, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic is experiencing a rebound of traffic, hiring additional crews as well as purchasing and leasing locomotives.

In July, the Montreal Maine & Atlantic purchased a pair of former Norfolk Southern (nee Conrail) six-axle GE C39-8s- six axle equivalents to the B39-8s the MM&A already has on roster. The units were being stored in eastern Pennsylvania on the New Hope & Ivyland where they were to be refurbished for a proposed luxury train called the Greenbrier Express. However, plans for the service changed from operating an independent trainset to attaching a few luxury cars on already existing Amtrak trains out of Washington DC.

In addidtion to the newer, burly six-axle GE's, the MM&A has also been borrowing SD40-2s from the Canadian Pacific and Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern. The Montreal, Maine & Atlantic has also been posting openings for conductors and engineers on their website as well as the jobs board of the Railroad Retirement Bureau page.

Earlier this year, the JD Irving refinery in East St John, NB began refining crude oil from the Bakken oil shale in North Dakota and Saskatchewan. The lack of any significant east-west oil pipelines in the USA or Canada means that shipping the oil by rail was the next logical choice. From the Bakken shale, the line either moves by BNSF to Chicago or Canadian Pacific to Montreal- from Chicago, the oil is shipped via CSX as far east as Rotterdam Jct where it is handed off the Pan Am Railroad where it makes its way through New England to the New Brunswick Southern at Mattawamkeag, ME for the final leg of its journey to E. St Johns.

The other option is for the oil to travel as far east as Montreal on the Canadian Pacific where it's handed off to the Montreal, Maine and Atlantic where it travels across southern Quebec and the north woods of Maine before the MM&A hands the oil off to the NBSR. The empties are routed back via the MM&A or Pan-Am as well.

A trio of Gulf, Colorado and San Saba GP15-1s pass through Lometa, TX with a trainload of frac sand in January 2011. Ryan R/Jim R photo

TEXAS- The 68-mile central Texas shortline Gulf, Colorado and San Saba has filed for bankruptcy over the summer. Faced with a court-ordered liquidation of the railroad's assets, Gulf, Colorado & San Saba owner Richard McClure sought to avoid such a scenario by filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Under Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a company is protected from its creditors while it continues operating under the supervision of a court appointed trustee.

The bankruptcy filing by the GCSR came just before the sale of the company was to take place on the steps of the San Saba Courthouse. The sale was the result of a $1.7 million court judgement against it by BNSF railroad.

GCSR owner, Richard McClure, told the Brady Standard Herald the bankruptcy filing was a strategic business decision that would allow them to reorganize and pay off debt.

Locally, customers of the railroad have met to to review how the bankruptcy potentially affects their businesses, and what steps they might need to take to ensure the continuation of rail service to the area.

McClure told the Brady Standard Herald there would be virtually no change in service to the area during the bankruptcy.

The GCSR started up in the 1992 after purchasing the former Santa Fe branchline between Brady and Lometa, TX. Although traffic was initially agricultiral products, in recent years drilling around the Eagle Ford Shale has picked up and the line has seen a dramatic increase in sand for use in hydrofracking.

Despite the increase in traffic, the line is reportedly suffering from deferred maintainence, a lack of capacity at their Brady, TX yard and problems paying the bills. One unsourced review on Yahoo dated May 2011 claimed the company was months behind on a $60,000 bill.

Pakistani Christian Girl Released, Muslim Cleric Charged in Blasphemy Case

After spending three weeks in custody on blasphemy charges, a mentally challenged Christian teenager has been granted bail by a judge in Islamabad.

Judge Mohammed Azam Khan set bail at 1 million Pakistani rupees, or about $10,500, a significant sum in a country where many families live on only a few dollars a day. The girl's impoverished family may need outside financial support to free her.

The young girl, who is suffering from some form of mental impairment, was arrested after an angry mob showed up at a police station in her neighborhood in Islamabad and accused her of burning pages from the Koran, an act punishable by life in prison under the country's harsh blasphemy laws. Her lawyer has denied the allegation.

The girl is reportedly 14 years old and goes by the name of Rishma. Since her arrest, the Rishma's family had reportedly gone into hiding after recieving death threats.

However, police focused their investigation on the Muslim cleric who had first accused Rishma of blasphemy after multiple eyewitnesses saw him tear out pages from the Koran and place them into a bag the girl was carrying. Imam Khalid Jadoon Chishti was arrested on charges of fabricating evidence and may himself face blasphemy charges since the judge and investigators ruled that Rishma may not known any better while as an Islamic cleric, Chishti knew full well his actions were punishable under Pakistan's blasphemy laws. Chishti reportedly planted the evidence in an attempt to force all Christians out of the Islamabad neighborhood.

In 2009, a Pakistani farmhand named Asia Bibi was beaten by a Muslim mob and arrested by police under the nation's blasphemy laws after she reportedly got into an argument with Muslim co-workers and allegedly insulted the Islamic prophet Mohammed. In January 2011, the governor of Punjab- who was critical of Pakistan's blasphemy laws and had called for a full pardon in the Bibi case- was shot to death by his own bodyguard. Two months later, the only Christian member of Pakistan's cabinet was fatally shot by gunmen in an ambush. A Muslim cleric said that Bibi or her family would be killed if she recieved a pardon.

Bollywood Actress Set to Become First-Ever Indian Playmate

A Bollywood actress will become the first Indian woman to grace the cover of Playboy, even though the print edition of the magazine is banned in her native country.

28 year old Sherlyn Chopra will be appearing in the upcoming November issue of the magazine and while her fans in India won't find the print edition at newsstands, Chopra will also be appearing in the online edition.

Born to a Christian father and Muslim mother in the southern city of Hyderabad, the news of her appearing on the cover of the American edition of the men's magazine has caused quite a stir in the subcontinent. Some commentators openly questioned if her appearance there would contribute towards continuing voyeurism and the exploitation of Indian women while Chopra defended her decision in an interview with the Hindi edition of the BBC last week.

"I have become the first Indian to pose naked for Playboy and nobody can take away that achievement from me," Ms Chopra said.

"My sister is proud of my achievement. I haven't told anything to my mother, but I think I will visit her and tell her that she has to accept me the way I am."

The 28-year-old actress, who has played some small roles in Bollywood films, said she had visited Mr Hefner and his friends at the Playboy mansion in Los Angeles.

"I had fun meeting him and his girlfriends. I am thinking of making him my idol because he lives his life on his terms and conditions. I also live my life on my terms and conditions," Ms Chopra said.

While Playboy and certain American publications have identified Chopra as a 'bombshell' and 'screen siren', the fetching Bollywood beauty has actually appeared in a relatively small number of films and didn't receive top billing in any of them.

Even with a ban on the print edition of Playboy in effect, India is no stranger to controversies involving cover girls. In late 2011, actress Veena Malik angered most of her native Pakistan by posing topless for the Indian edition of FHM with a grenade the initials of Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency scrawled on her arm. Malik [pictured above] was born in the Pakistani province of Punjab and was married to a Pakistani cricket star, but much of her work over the last decade was out of Mumbai, India.

Chopra would not be the first woman from an Islamic background to appear on the cover of Playboy, however. In April 2011, German actress Sila Sahin- the daughter of Turkish immigrants to Germany- appeared on the cover of the German edition of Playboy.

Sahin [above] had reportedly received a number of anonymous death threats within weeks of the magazine hitting the newsstand.

Pressure Mounts Over Intelligence Leaks From White House

Lawmakers from both parties have called for an independent investigation into intelligence leaks after a series of articles published in the New York Times disclosed details from a number of opeartions ranging from drone strikes on the Arabian peninsula and Pakistan, a double-agent that infiltrated a Yemeni Al Qaeda cell, a secret 'kill list' and the 'stuxnet' worm that crippled Iran's nascent nuclear program.

Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Community, said the leaks jeopardize American lives and would make recruitment of foreign nationals for clandestine counterterrorism activities even more difficult.

Feinstein said she had no reason to believe that the leaks to the New York Times originated from either the House or Senate Intelligence Committees. The articles cite a number of unnamed current and former advisors from the Obama Administration.

Top Republicans such as Arizona Senator John McCain and House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King have accused the Obama Administration of passing on sensetive information to the New York Times to bolster his image of being tough and uncompromising on national security heading into the 2012 Presidential Election.

'This is the most shameful cascade of leaks I've ever heard or seen in government,' Mr King said [in an interview with] Fox.

'It's clear from those stories this came right from the White House, came right from the National Security Council, came right from the Situation Room... It has to lead to people very high up in the administration in his White House.'

Meanwhile, some agents with Israel's Mossad intelligence agency have not only claimed that the leaks from the White House put them in danger, but that the Obama Administration is taking credit for a computer virus that infected Iranian centrifuges as they attempted to refine uranium that was actually of Israeli design. Stuxnet surfaced in 2010 in Iran and targeted equipment operated by Seimens- including centrifuges- and would increase their operating speeds while continuing to provide operators with continuous false readings showing that the devices were running at normal speed.

Computer security experts believe that Stuxnet is closely related to the more recently discovered Flame or Wiper virus which has surfaced in computers used by Iranian government agencies. The flame virus would monitor keystokes and send screen captures of the infected computer back to a central command and control module before seeking out other systems to infect and then self-destructing via external command.

Pakistani Doctor Who Helped USA Confirm Bin Laden's Location Recieves 30+ Year Prison Sentence For Treason Against Pakistan

A Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA and US Navy SEAL commandos pinpoint the whereabouts of Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden recieved a 33 year prison sentence for treason against the state of Pakistan on Wednesday.

Dr Shakil Afridi ran a vaccination program in which he was able to collect DNA from the fugitive Al Qaeda leader and confirm that he was hiding at a compound in the Pakistani garrison town of Abbotabad. Bin Laden, his son and an al Qaeda courier were killed and three of his wives were captured along with a treasure trove of intelligence after President Obama authorized the Navy SEAL raid on Bin Laden's Abbotabad compound in May 2011.

The unilateral raid was considered an international embarrassment for Pakistan, since Bin Laden's compound was located less than a kilometer from the front enterance to Pakistan's military academy. While senior Pakistani officials claimed to not know of Bin Laden's whereabouts, many analyists speculate that the Pakistani Interservices Intelligence Directorate (ISI) aided in harboring the fugitive Al Qaeda leader.

Afridi's conviction comes at a sensitive time because the U.S. is already frustrated by Pakistan's refusal to reopen NATO supply routes to Afghanistan. The supply routes were closed six months ago in retaliation for American air strikes that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.

Afridi was detained sometime after the May 2, 2011, raid, but the start of his trial was never publicized.

He was tried under the Frontier Crimes Regulations, or FCR, the set of laws that govern Pakistan's semiautonomous tribal region. Human rights organizations have criticized the FCR for not providing suspects due process of law. There is no right to legal representation, to present material evidence or cross-examine witnesses.

The verdict was handed down by a Khyber government official in consultation with a council of elders, according to Nasir Khan, a government official in the Khyber tribal area, where the doctor was arrested and tried.

A senior U.S. official with knowledge of counter-terrorism operations against al-Qaeda in Pakistan said the doctor was never asked to spy on Pakistan.

In addition to the lengthy prison term, Afridi was also fined the equivalent of $3500 and may get an additional three years added to his sentence if he is unable to pay his fine.

One can't help but come to the conclusion that the plight of Dr. Afridi serves as a powerful disincentive for foreign nationals to provide the CIA with critical intelligence now that he has been identified and imprisoned by his home country. I'm also wondering why the Obama Administration and the State Department weren't prepared to whisk Afridi and his family out of Pakistan at a moment's notice.

Documents Seized From Bin Laden's Compound Show Al Qaeda's Media Adviser Disappointed After Keith Olberman Fired From MSNBC

According to documents seized by US Navy SEALs during the raid of Osama Bin Laden's hideout in Abbotabad, Pakistan, Al Qaeda hates FOX news with a passion and was dismayed to learn of Keith Olbermann's dismissal from MSNBC last year.

When MSNBC discarded Keith Olbermann, al-Qaida mourned.

So reports David Ignatius, the Washington Post columnist who has gained exclusive access to some of the documents recovered from Osama bin Laden’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

In his Wednesday column in the Washington Post, Ignatius reported on the details of a 21-page letter to bin Laden written by al-Qaida media adviser Adam Gadahn. Though the letter was undated, Ignatius says that it was likely written sometime after November 2010.

Laying out the current media landscape for the now waterlogged terrorist kingpin, Gadahn, an American-born Jewish convert to Islam, lamented the “firing” of Olbermann from MSNBC.

“In the letter, the media adviser focuses on ‘how to exploit’ the 10th anniversary of 9/11 on television,” Ignatius writes.

“He worries that CNN ‘seems to be in cooperation with the government more than the others,’ though he praises its ‘good and detailed’ Arabic coverage. ‘I used to think that MSNBC channel may be good and neutral a bit,’ he continues, but then notes the firing of Olbermann.”

Olbermann was fired from MSNBC and his Countdown show was cancelled shortly after Comcast completed the purchase of a majority stake in MSNBC's parent company, NBC-Universal, from General Electric in early 2011. Since being ousted from MSNBC, Olbermann wound up with his own show on Current TV, a cable network that has the financial backing of former Vice President Al Gore.

STRATFOR: Osama Bin Laden Routinely in Contact With Top Pakistani Intelligence Officials

According to e-mails leaked by online whistleblower site Wikileaks, Osama bin Laden maintained contact with top officials from Pakistan's ISI intelligence agency while at his compound in the eastern garrison town of Abbotabad.

The fugitive Saudi millionaire and al Qadea leader and his associates were killed in a surprise nighttime raid by US Navy SEALS in May 2011.

According to one of the e-mails, the firm was shown the information papers collected from bin Laden's Abbotabad compound after the US special forces attack last May that resulted in his death.

The e-mail, from a Stratfor analyst, suggested that up to 12 officials in Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency knew of the al-Qaeda leader's safe house.

The internal email did not name the Pakistani officials involved but said the US could use the information as a bargaining chip in post raid negotiations with Islamabad.

"Mid to senior level ISI and Pak Mil with one retired Pak Mil General that had knowledge of the OBL arrangements and safehouse," the email said of the officers involved. "I get a very clear sense we (US intel) know names and ranks."

Although many military and intelligence analysts expressed doubt that Bin Laden could be hiding less than a kilometer away from the front gate of the Pakistani Military Academy without the government, military or ISI knowing about it, Pakistan has denied knowing of Bin Laden's whereabouts prior to the American raid.

Founded in 1996, STRATFOR- short for Strategic Forecasting, Inc- is a San Antonio, TX based think tank and security firm that provides detailed threat assessment and frequent intelligence briefings to individual and corporate subscribers [full disclosure- while not a subscriber myself, STRATFOR provided some of the details regarding Mexican organized crime and the ATF's Operation Fast & Furious in earlier Borderline Psychosis updates on this blog- NANESB!].

The STRATFOR correspondence was obtained from by hackers known as Anonymous in late 2011 and posted on WikiLeaks earlier this week. WikiLeaks founder and Kremlin mouthpiece Julian Assange has accused STRATFOR of being involved in a number of legally and ethically questionable intelligence gathering activities on behalf of corporations.

Veena Malik Found Alive and Well in Mumbai, Earns Fatwa

Shortly after being reported missing by her manager, Pakistani Bollywood actress Veena Malik checked in safe and sound from a Mumbai luxury hotel earlier this month.

The actress had gone missing amid a furor in her native Pakistan over her appearing nude on an Indian magazine cover with the acronym for Pakistan's spy agency (the ISI; or Interservices Intelligence Directorate) stenciled on her arm. Her father had reportedly disowned her shortly after the shoot and many in Pakistan were calling for her citicizenship to be revoked or worse.



Earlier this week, an Indian Muslim organization issued a fatwa against the Pakistani starlet for reportedly signing onto a contract to allow her upcoming wedding to be televised nationally in India.

Majlis-e-Shura , 70-member supreme body of the All India Muslim Tyohar Committee, in Bhopal was receiving complaints from all corners and was urged to take stringent action against her.

Talking to a daily, Ausaf Shahmiri Khurram, chairman of the Majlis-e-Shura said, “We were getting complaints from concerned community members who said that the activities of this Pakistani female actor was sending a wrong message to our teenagers, especially girls.”

“The complaints said that there were offensive photographs of this woman all over the internet and that she was going to have a `Swayamvar` on television. Islam has a certain procedure for a `Nikaah`. We do not have `Swayamvar`,” he added.

The members of the body sat for over two days to take a call on Veena Malik. At the end, a unanimous call was taken and a “fatwa” was issued on her, which means that she will be socially boycotted.

Although the fatwa from India doesn't involve any overt death threats, earlier this year a Taliban splinter group issued a death threat against her and her family in her native Pakistan.

Playing With Fire- Pakistani Firecracker Veena Malik in Hot Water (Again) Over Provacative Magazine Cover

Lollywood actress Veena Malik was once again in the eye of a firestorm of controversy after a racy photo shoot for the cover of the December 2011 issue of FHM India magazine. The pictures show a nude or semi-nude Malik with her arms strategically crossed and the initials 'ISI' stenciled on one of them. The ISI- or Interservices Intelligence Directorate- is Pakistan's national intelligence agency. The text adjacent to the stencil says 'Hand in the end of the world, too?'

Indian newsstand displaying one version of the FHM magazine cover featuring Malik

Granted it doesn't take much to provoke outrage in Pakistan these days, but Malik's photo shoot and the FHM cover have done just that.

For her part, Malik has filed a £3m million defamation suit against the publisher, Maxposure Media Group, claiming the final images used by FHM on the cover were doctored [not sure if she means the nudity, the ISI stencil or both- NANESB!]. FHM and the publisher are reportedly filing a counter suit.

Another version of the FHM India cover features a semi-nude Malik clad only in an ammo belt and clenching the pin of a grenade in her teeth. Both version feature an ISI tattoo on Malik's arm, provoking outrage in her native Pakistan

I think this is the part where I tell you that Malik is no stranger to controversy.

In 2010, the actress testified before cricket's international governing body against her ex-boyfriend- Mohammed Asif from the Pakistani national team- in a match-fixing scandal.

Later that year, she appeared on the Indian version of Big Brother- called Bigg Boss- and raised hackles in her native Pakistan after she was filmed cuddling with one of her housemates on the reality show.


What really put the Pakistani bombshell on the map was her January 2011 on-air confrontation with an Islamic mufti critical her conduct while on the reality show and preforming in Bollywood.

Earlier this year, she was unscathed after her car was totalled in a hit and run collision on an expressway between Lahore and Islamabad, leading some to speculate the accident was an attempt on her life.

Of the uproar in her homeland, Malik said in an interview with the UK's Guardian "This attitude, I'm sorry, is in the society. When they say they have become modern, grown up, that's wrong. They still live in the stone age."

However, shortly after the FHM India magazine hit the newsstands her father disowned her, saying her actions on Indian soil was "the height of humiliation for Pakistan" [Really? The most wanted terrorist leader in the world getting shot dead by US Navy SEALS a few hundred yards from the front gate of Pakistan's equivalent of West Point doesn't rate? NANESB!].


I actually first heard of the FHM cover flap from Weasel Zippers earlier this month, but took my own sweet time updating it despite older articles about Malik drawing increased traffic.

When I finally got around to doing some online searches earlier tonight, Google's auto-suggest hinted at an ominous development when I began typing in 'Veena Malik' and it suggested 'Veena Malik missing'.

Sure enough, the Times of India is reporting that Ms. Malik has gone missing after wrapping up work on her latest film Mumbai 125 Km in Gorageon. The film's director said he received a text message where she apologized for seeming distracted on the set. Her manager has also been unable to get in contact with her.

Mumbai Rocked By Trio of Deadly Blasts

Three separate blasts tore through a commercial district in India's largest city of Mumbai earlier Wednesday, killing at least 17 and injuring 141.

Although no group claimed responsibility, the explosions hit locations where a terror siege nearly three years ago killed 166 people. Wednesday also coincided with the birthday of the lone surviving gunman of the 2008 attack.

Arup Patnaik, a top police officer, said the attackers used improvised explosive devices in the attack, hidden in an umbrella in the Jhaveri Bazaar jewelry market and kept in a car in the business district of Opera House.

Indian officials say they believe the responsibility of Wednesday's attack rests with the Indian Mujahideen, a group that works closely with Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Lashkar-e-Taiba is the group suspected to be behind the 2008 attack.

All three blasts happened from 6:50 p.m. to 7 p.m., when all the neighborhoods would have been packed with office workers and commuters.

The blasts hit the crowded Dadar neighborhood at rush hour, the famed jewelry market Jhaveri Bazaar and the busy business district of Opera House, an official at the city's Police Control Room said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of office policy.

The explosions happened around 7 p.m., when all the neighborhoods would have been packed with office workers and commuters.

Authorities say an early indicator of a terror strike was the close timing of the string of explosions.

The November 2008 attacks targeted a pair of landmark luxury hotels, a train station, a hospital and a Chabad house. According to diplomatic cables released via wikileaks, and testimony from a Chicago trial of a US citizen accused of scouting locations for the Mumbai attack, Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) provided training and support to Lashkar-e-Taiba members prior to the Mumbai attacks.

Indian authorities have not yet identified any suspects, although the locations of the targets and the timing of the blasts to coincide with the lone surviving Mumbai gunman's birthday hardly seem coincidental.

India's Home Affairs Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram confirmed that the explosive devices were made from ammonium nitrate and investigators believe that the devices weren't set off remotely.

Pakistani Actress Veena Malik Unscathed After Car Wreck

Those of you who had Veena Malik/May 2011 in the dead pool, you're out of luck.

Veena Malik- the outspoken Lollywood actress who delivered an epic verbal beatdown of an Islamic cleric on a Pakistani talk show- was involved in a car accident on the M2 expressway between Lahore and Islamabad last month. There were conflicting reports out of Pakistan that claimed the Muslima spitfire was hospitalized at an undisclosed location with shoulder and arm injuries and accounts from India that the actress and passengers in her car were unhurt despite the vehicle being totalled.

Ultimately Ms. Malik linked to the Times of India write-up on her homepage, which I'm assuming is an endorsement of their version of events.

Pakistani media reported that Veena Malik was injured in an accident while she was on her way to Lahore from Islamabad and she is recovering well. Reacting to the report, the actress cleared the speculations by saying that those are not true and she is fine.

"I didn't even get a single scratch. It was a miracle. If you see the car I was travelling in, you'd think everyone in it had perished. The vehicle is completely mangled. But I escaped totally unhurt, and so did the people who were with me. I think there's a guardian angel who is watching over me.", the Times of India quoted the actress as saying.

In her native Pakistan, the crash had fuelled speculation whether it was merely a hit and run traffic accident or unsuccessful attempt on the actress' life [on a side note, have you seen IRT: Deadliest Roads? The random car careening out of control and crashing into her before speeding off hypothesis isn't as far fetched as you might think in that part of the world]. If that were the case, one would have to wonder why the assailants didn't bother using firearms, explosives or grenades like any radical islamist worth their salt. I mean....c'mon! It's not like there's a shortage of any of those things in Pakistan.

The Actress who had previously appeared in India on the Bigg Boss reality show and as a cricket presenter during the 2011 Cricket World Cup is set to make her Bollywood feature film debut, with filming to start shortly.

BREAKING: White House Situation Room Photos Indicate Bin Laden Raid Took Place Much Earlier Than Announced, Situation Room Photos Doctored

The successful raid of Osama Bin Laden's compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan had since been followed up by a number of contradictory statements from the White House and allegations that the situation room photo released by the White House was in fact staged.

Now a leaked photo from White House sources has not only called the Administration's timeline of events into question, but even the veracity of the situation room photo that was released by the Administration.

My highly confidential and trustworthy White House sources have hinted that the SEAL raid on Bin Laden's hideout actually took place earlier and coincided with another event that had generated much international interest; the Royal Wedding at Westminster Abbey.

However, the raid also overlapped with the official White House Royal Wedding viewing party, and guests actually watched both events unfold in real-time on multiple screens in the situation room.

The above photo, believed by many anonymous insiders to be the original and unmodified situation room photo, seems to confirm this version of events and it's likely the White House waited nearly 48 hours to make the announcement in order to disseminate the doctored photos showing White House Staff, Pentagon brass and Administation officials.


When reached for comment on how the Obama Administration and Pentagon officials were able to get so many copies of her now-infamous hat in advance, a spokeswoman for Princess Beatrice of York had no comment about the hat, but pointed out that the 23 year old daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson had lost some weight, was the first Royal to run in the London marathon and looks 'positively smashing' in a bikini these days.
Well- who am I to argue?

Pakistan Announces Cuts in US Military Presence After Bin Laden Raid

I can't be the only one thinking that America would be better served by cutting back on the estimated $18 billion in aid money we send to Pakistan.

Apparently, SEAL Team 6 notwithstanding, The US Military presence in Pakistan is currently limited to about 300 advisers and liaison officers. Not surprisingly, Pakistan's military and Inter-services Intelligence Directorate (ISI) are unhappy with a unilateral US special ops raid.

However, given that the Navy SEALs were able to swoop in undetected on a compound housing the world's most wanted man that was 70 miles from the Pakistani capital and a few hundred yards from the Pakistani equivalent of West Point, this also gives both the Pakistani military and ISI black eyes and bloody lips.

If the Pakistani Army or ISI were searching for Bin Laden like they has assured many Western nations, then they had failed miserably. If they were seeking to protect Bin Laden from the US Military, then they had failed spectacularly.

Pakistan is calling for cuts in the U.S. military personnel inside the country after U.S. Navy SEALs killed Usama bin Laden in his Pakistan compound -- without Pakistan's help or prior knowledge.

The siege has only increased the strain on relations between the two countries, as some U.S. lawmakers are calling for cuts to the $1.3 billion in U.S. aid to Pakistan for its failure to locate bin Laden. The Al Qaeda leader was found and killed in a large $1 million compound in an army town not far from the capital of Islamabad. Lawmakers have suggested Pakistan was either too incompetent to catch bin Laden or was complicit in protecting him.

In a statement Thursday, Pakistan's army fired back, saying U.S. military personnel inside the country would be reduced to the "minimum essential" levels to protest the American commando raid that killed bin Laden early Monday local time. The army also threatened to cut cooperation with Washington if it stages more unilateral raids on its territory.

The statement from Pakistan's army was issued after a meeting of top generals. The statement gave no details on the numbers, and a spokesman declined to elaborate.

The statement said the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency, or ISI, had given initial information to the CIA about bin Laden, but claimed the "CIA did not share further development of intelligence on the case with the ISI, contrary to the existing practice between the two services."

The raid on bin Laden has sharpened tensions between the two countries. Despite the calls from some U.S. lawmakers for cuts in aid to the country, the Obama administration and British Prime Minister David Cameron have indicated they would continue with their policy of engaging with the country.

So when all is said and done, this is basically an empty gesture on Pakistan's part meant either for domestic consumption or to raise sovereignty issues as a means of deflecting questions about Osama Bin Laden living unmolested only a few hundred yards from the front gate of Pakistan's national military academy.

BREAKING: Osama Bin Laden And Associates Killed in US Special Ops Raid on Pakistani Compound

This has been coming in pretty rapid fire (pardon the expression) all night, and it's been difficult to keep up with the various reports and rumors that have been going on.

In an unscheduled news conference from the East Room of the White House earlier tonight, President Obama announced that fugitive al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden was killed in a Navy SEAL raid on a mansion in northern Pakistan.

Unlike previous strikes over Pakistan, this reportedly involved a prolonged firefight between helicopter-borne SEALs and Bin Laden along with his couriers and one of his sons at a compound in the city of Abbotabad, some 30 miles from the Pakistani capitol of Islamabad and less than 5 miles away from the Pakistani Military Academy in Kakul.

The U.S. had been monitoring the compound in Abbottabad for months after receiving a tip in August that Bin Laden might be seeking shelter there. He had long been said to be in the mountainous region along the Afghanistan, Pakistan border, hiding in a cave as the U.S. sought to kill him with drone strikes from above. Instead, he was in a house eight times larger than its neighbors, with a seven-foot wall and valued at $1 million. The house had no phone or television and the residents burned their trash. The house had high windows and few points of access, and U.S. officials concluded it had been built to hide someone.

According to U.S. officials, two U.S. helicopters swept into the compound at 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. Sunday morning. Twenty to 25 U.S. Navy Seals under the command of the Joint Special Operations Command in cooperation with the CIA stormed the compound and engaged Bin Laden and his men in a firefight, killed Bin Laden and all those with him.

Two Bin Laden couriers were killed, as was one of Osama Bin Laden's son, as was a woman reportedly used as a shield by one of the men. Other women and children were present in the compound, according to Pakistani officials, but were not harmed. U.S. officials said that Bin Laden himself did fire his weapon during the fight.

One of the U.S. helicopters was damaged but not destroyed during the operation, and U.S. forces elected to destroy it themselves with explosives.

The Americans took Bin Laden's body into custody after the firefight and confirmed his identity. According to a senior administration official, the U.S. is "ensuring it is handled in accordance with Islamic practice and tradition. It's something we take seriously and therefore it's being handled in an appropriate manner."

According to Pakistani officials, the operation was a joint U.S.-Pakistani operation, but U.S. officials said only U.S. personnel were involved in the raid.

On eary Monday, Pakistani television network GEO TV broadcast images of the mansion believed to have housed Bin Laden engulfed in flames.
News of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack mastermind's demise was greeted with cheers by crowds in front of the White House in Washington DC and in Times Square and adjacent to Ground Zero in New York City. Among the celebrants were members of the FDNY and NYPD- 343 Firefighters and 60 police officers were among the first responders killed in the 9/11 attacks.

So as it turns out, it wasn't a drone strike like many had predicted (on the assumption Bin Laden was even still alive) or porcine-induced rectal trauma like I had really really hoped he would have inflicted on him in his final hours, but if confirmed then this is good news indeed.

UPDATE: Multiple outlets are reporting that this op has been in the works since 2007.

The operation had been in the works for years. Since 9/11, the CIA gathered leads on those in bin Laden’s inner circle, including personal couriers. During interrogations and questioning, various detainees flagged individuals who may have been providing support to OBL and Zawahiri. One courier in particularly was identified by detainees as one of the few al Qaeda couriers who had bin Laden’s trust. He was identified as a “protégé” of Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and a trusted assistant of Abu Faraj al –Libbi, the former #3 of al Qaeda, who was captured in 2005. There were even indications the courier may have been living with bin Laden.

In 2007, intelligence officers discovered his identity. In 2009, intelligence officials identified areas in Pakistan where the courier and his brother operate – but they were still unable to pinpoint precisely where.

In August 2010 came a big break. Intelligence identified a compound that aroused their suspicion – eight times larger than other homes in the area, built in 2005, on a property valued at $1 million. But access to the compound was severely restricted, with elaborate security and 12 to 18 foot walls topped with barbed wire. Incongruently, the compound has no phone service or televisions. The main building had few windows and a seven foot wall for privacy. Residents burned their trash.

Intelligence officials concluded that unit was “custom built” to hide someone. A third family was identified as living there – and the size and makeup matched the bin Laden family members most likely with him. The location and design of compound were consistent with what experts expected his hideout might look like. Their final conclusion: there was a strong probability that this was bin Laden’s hideout.

Personally, I think it would be kinda cute if we could plant a couple hundred thousand in cash in the form of Euros or US Dollars on a couple of the remaining Al Qaeda higher ups, bundled with little strips that would have a cryptic message in Arabic or Urdu about a 'job well done', only to have the cash discovered by subordinates.

Veenal Sins Update- Outspoken Pakistani Actress Recieves Death Threats From Taliban

Not surprisingly, in a country where religious minorities and moderate politicians are assassinated by radical muslims on a shockingly regular basis, Pakistani actress Veena Malik and her family have received death threats by militants from the Tareek-e-Taliban for her controversial appearance on the Indian reality TV show Big Boss (the Indian equivalent of Big Brother) and her subsequent smackdown of an Islamic scholar on a Pakistani talk show when she was accused of 'immoral' behavior and 'shaming' Pakistan.

You had to figure that it was only a matter of time.


Malik, for her part, took it upon herself to point out during the interview-turned-shouting match that Pakistan has much bigger concerns at hand than what she wore while in India. It gets even more interesting when the mufti challenging her (via remote video feed) admitted that he hadn't even watched the Big Boss series where the Lollywood star was filmed cuddling and massaging the neck of one of her Indian housemates.

Malik is currently back in India taping for a show she is hosting called Big Toss, covering the Cricket World Cup through April 2. Her agent in Lahore, Pakistan was able to produce a copy of one of the threatening letters for the AFP, although the news outlet couldn't immediately verify the credentials sender.

"The letter says that Tehreek-e-Taliban has taken a decision as a Muslim to punish Veena Malik soon," [Malik's agent Sohail] Rashid told AFP.

"We want our daughters and sisters in our homes only and Veena Malik, who is humiliating Pakistan's name in India, will be punished soon," Rashid quoted from the letter.

"We are soon going to punish Veena Malik so that our future generations may be afraid of going to India. It is the responsibility of all Pakistanis and Muslims, but now we are going to accomplish it," Rashid quoted the letter as saying.

While testifying against ex-husband and Pakistani cricket player Mohammed Asif, before the International Cricket Council (cricket's international governing body) Malik's family reportedly received death threats last year. The popular Asif was implicated in a match-fixing scandal in September 2010 and Malik had provided the ICC with phone records proving that Asif had been in contact with an Indian bookmaker prior to a match with England.

Veenal Sins: Pakistani Actress Lashes out at Muslim Cleric Over Indian Reality Show Controversey

As the past month has shown, running afoul of religious figures in Pakistan can be hazardous to one's health.

Lollywood actress Veena Malik got into a heated exchange with an Islamic mufti during a talk show on Pakistan's Express TV this week after the Islamic cleric criticized her appearance on an Indian Big Brother-style reality show called Bigg Boss where she appeared to be cuddling with an Indian co-star.

Malik is no stranger to controversey, having testified in September in a probe by Cricket's international governing body involving her ex-boyfriend, who was involved in a match-fixing scandal.

"You have insulted Pakistan and Islam," Mufti Abdul Qawi accused her on the Express TV channel talk show via a television link. The exchange first aired Friday and then again Saturday.

A furious Malik shot back, saying Qawi targeted her because she is a woman, reminding him that the Quran admonishes men not to stare at a woman's beauty beyond a first glance, and telling him there were bigger problems in Pakistan, including the alleged rape of children at mosques [say what!? If this were the Catholic Church, these allegations would be above the fold headlines for the next 6 weeks- NANESB!]

During the exchange, Qawi admitted he had not seen the clips of the show but had heard about it from others.

"What does your Islam say, mufti sir?" the actress asked. "You issue edicts on the basis of hearsay."

Malik said she had read the Quran and she knew what lines not to cross as a Muslim as well as an entertainer in South Asia. She pointed out that she never kissed Patel, for instance.

"I am a Muslim woman, and I know my limits," she said. The cleric seemed unable to respond to her flood of words.

Malik's fierce outburst sparked a barrage of comments on Twitter. While some writers said they didn't agree with her and one called her a "porn star," others said she was brave for standing up to the Pakistani clerical establishment, especially when such an act can mean personal danger.

That's not mere hyperbole, either. The governor of Pakistan's wealthiest and most populous province was murdered by one of his own bodyguards on January 4th. Upon interrogation, the bodyguard told police that he was upset Governor Salman Taseer was opposed to Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which call for imprisonment or even execution for 'defaming Islam'.

Taseer had supported leniency for Asia Bibi, a 45 year old Pakistani Christan woman sentenced to hang in late 2010 after being convicted of 'defaming the prophet Muhammed'.