Messages In This Digest (11 Messages)

9.: Air Force Completes Killer Micro-Drone Project From: linguisticresearch

10.: German Soldiers "Trained To Kill" In Afghanistan From: Rick Rozoff

11.: Australian Soldier Injured In Afghan Bomb Attack From: Rick Rozoff

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1.: Hillary Clinton: "Yemen Poses Global Threat"

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:47 pm (PST)

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/clinton-says-yemen-poses-global-threat

Radio Netherlands
January 4, 2010

Clinton says Yemen poses global threat

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton says Yemen's instability poses a threat for the region and the world. Mrs Clinton called on the international community to redouble its efforts to support the government in Sanaa.

The Yemeni authorities have stepped up security at embassies and the capital's airport. Several Western embassies have closed partially or completely. The Nigerian who tried to blow up a US airliner on Christmas Day was allegedly trained by al-Qaeda militants in Yemen. Shortly before the failed attack he stayed for several weeks in Ghana. FBI agents are now tracing his steps there.
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2.: Massive Buildup: U.S. Troops To Reinforce Germans In Afghan North

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:48 pm (PST)

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,670085,00.html

Der Spiegel
January 4, 2010

Afghanistan Surge
US to Send 2,500 Soldiers to German-Controlled Area
By Matthias Gebauer

Germany continues to discuss what to do about its mission in Afghanistan. The US, meanwhile, has decided to send 2,500 soldiers to Kunduz, the region under German command in the northern part of the country. The move is sure to increase the pressure on Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.

The visits made by Stanley McChrystal as 2009 changed to 2010 were primarily of a symbolic nature. The US general, head of all NATO soldiers in Afghanistan, flew by helicopter to all corners of the country to thank his troops - particularly in those areas where the situation is most precarious.

But this year, his trip didn't just lead him to those regions in the south and east which have long been instable. The four-star general spent an entire day in Kunduz, the German-controlled region in northern Afghanistan, once known for its relative stability but now descending ever further into violence. The visit made it clear once again that McChrystal is keeping close tabs on developments there.

Indeed, McChrystal's concern has crystallized into concrete orders. According to information obtained by SPIEGEL ONLINE, the US army is to station 2,500 additional troops in Kunduz and the rest of the North as soon as possible:

1,000 additional trainers for the Afghan police force and the Afghan army are to be sent to the second-largest German base in Kunduz by the summer of 2010.

In addition, 1,500 US troops are to head north to protect the US base and to conduct joint anti-Taliban operations with Afghan units.

McChrystal's office at the headquarters of the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) confirmed the plan following a SPIEGEL ONLINE inquiry. The additional troops are to boost both training and security in the region.

A Massive US Build-Up

Already, the US military has built up a sizeable camp near the Kunduz airport in recent months at which up to 4,000 Afghan troops can be trained simultaneously. The camp is up to four times as large as the German base not far away, according to German estimates.

The massive US build-up, ordered by US President Barack Obama late last year - well before the Afghanistan Conference to be held in London at the end of this month - places significant pressure on both Berlin and on the German armed forces. Three weeks ago, the new German regional commander, Brigadier General Frank Leidenberger, admitted that the Germans could soon be in the minority in Kunduz.

For years, Germany had headed up NATO efforts in Regional Command North. The Bundeswehr, as Germany's armed forces are called, maintain two large bases in the region at Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif with a smaller base in Faizabad. In total, Germany has some 4,300 soldiers in Afghanistan, with 1,100 of them stationed in Kunduz. The Bundeswehr's parliamentary mandate allows for 4,500 German troops to be stationed in Afghanistan. A number of smaller contingents, from Norway, Sweden and Hungary among others, are likewise stationed in the region.

German efforts to train Afghan security forces now look rather modest against the US plans for 2010 and beyond. Currently, the Bundeswehr trains Afghan troops using several teams of trainers - the US, for its part, wants to integrate fighting units into the Afghan army as soon as possible and train them at the front.

US Troops Would Likely Pursue Insurgents

There is little doubt that the US presence in Kunduz will significantly influence German operations there. The Bundeswehr expects that the US troops, in addition to their training activities, will energetically pursue the Taliban and al-Qaida extremists in the region.

Following numerous attacks on NATO supply lines through the north of Afghanistan, the region is seen to be more strategically important than ever. ISAF head McChrystal has said as much numerous times and demanded a robust engagement of the Taliban in the region. In 2009, he made numerous trips to Kunduz for strategic talks.

The additional soldiers now to be sent to the region will now make it possible to increase the pressure on the Taliban in Kunduz. Already, US special forces with Task Force 373 are sent out on operations on a nightly basis. In addition to taking suspected Taliban extremists prisoner, they have many times been responsible for eliminating wanted Taliban leaders.

Their activities have resulted in at least one civilian death....

US Special Forces in Afghanistan are likewise under McChrystal's command....

The Germans refused to take part in the operation, arguing that it was tantamount to targeted killings. Despite numerous reports of dead civilians, NATO never conducted an official investigation. German Defense Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg nevertheless praised the US operation.
....
The approaching increase in US troops for Kunduz has likewise been welcomed in the Defense Ministry in Berlin....

The US decision to boost its presence in northern Afghanistan seems likely to intensify the debate in Germany about sending more troops. Internally, the government in Berlin has already decided to increase German troop numbers by up to 2,000 soldiers, but German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle -- head of Chancellor Angela Merkel's junior coalition party the Free Democrats -- has said he will oppose the measure, however.

An additional 2,500 US troops in the German-controlled areas in northern Afghanistan will also present the question to politicians back in Berlin as to whether they want to allow the US to take over control of the region. German commanders in Afghanistan are already concerned that they will, in the near future, play little more than a supporting role in the region.
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3.: Afghan Students, Professors Tell NATO Troops To Leave

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:50 pm (PST)

http://pakobserver.net/201001/04/news/topstories17.asp

Pakistan Observer
January 4, 2010

Hundreds of Afghans rally against NATO forces

Kabul/Jalalabad: Hundreds of people, mostly students, rallied in central Kabul and eastern Nangarhar provinces against the killing of civilians in foreign forces' operations.

Four civilians were killed during an operation of NATO forces in Baghlan and eleven, eight of them schoolchildren, were killed in eastern Kunar and 13 others were perished in an overnight air raid of NATO soldiers in Laghman province.

Activists of the youth branch of Jamiat Eslah (Afghan Society for Social Reform and Development) staged a demonstration in Kabul, condemning the airstrikes and demanded withdrawal of the troops.

"If the Afghan government does not stop civilian killing, it would lead to a national uprising against foreigners," chief of the youth branch Dr. Syed Khalid Rashid said.

The demonstration was attended by hundreds of youths, including university students and professors of Kabul University. They passed a resolution asking ISAF soldiers to leave Afghanistan.

The resolution urged the Afghan government and law-enforcement agencies to seriously probe the killings and bring the perpetrators to justice.

It also asked the United Nations, human rights watchdogs and the international community not to stay silent over the killing and massacre of Afghan civilians.

A similar protest demonstration was carried out in eastern Nangarhar province, bordering Pakistan.

Students of the Nangarhar University who staged the demonstration chanted slogans against foreign soldiers and the Afghan government.

The protestors blocked the Sehat-i-Ama Square against traffic for two and a half hours. Speaking on behalf of students, a student leader Safiullah said: "US soldiers have intentionally killed the schoolchildren." Another student, Hanifullah, urged Afghan government to order the international troops to leave the country.
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4.: Israeli Defense Delegation In Secret Visit To India

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:50 pm (PST)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100104/157464916.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 4, 2010

Israeli defense delegation makes secret visit to India

Moscow: An Israeli defense delegation headed by National Security Advisor Uzi Arad has departed secretly for India, American Arab-language television station al-Houra reported on Monday.

According to Ynet, they will discuss al-Qaeda, Iranian threats, and possibly the safety of Israeli tourists in India.

The Israeli delegation is also expected to express its concern that Pakistani nuclear weapons may fall into the wrong hands, and address the Iranian nuclear program, as well as potential defense and intelligence cooperation.

Discussions may also focus on the safety of Israeli tourists in India. Israel's Counter-Terrorism Bureau (CTB) recently said the threat of possible attacks against Israelis traveling in India has become "significantly more severe."
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5.: French Warplanes Take Over NATO Baltic Patrol

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:51 pm (PST)

http://en.rian.ru/world/20100104/157465982.html

Russian Information Agency Novosti
January 4, 2010

French fighters start Baltic air police mission

Vilnius: Four French Air Force Mirage 2000 fighters have started a four-month NATO mission to patrol the skies over Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said Monday.

A French unit, comprised of 150 personnel, took over the rotating role of patrolling the Baltic airspace from Germany.

NATO fighters guard the Baltic nations' airspace and perform the peacetime air defense and air policing function.

Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia reached an agreement with NATO on the lease of fighters to patrol their airspace in 2004. Patrols have since been conducted by Belgian, Spanish, Norwegian, German and Danish aircraft.

The Baltic States have virtually no aerial capability. They have said they would be unable to acquire their own fighter planes before 2018.

The Baltic skies are presently secured by the so-called NATO air police, which in addition to fighter planes also provide air defense systems and manpower.
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6.: Iraqi Government To Sue Blackwater Over Civilian Slayings

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Mon Jan 4, 2010 3:55 pm (PST)

http://www.rnw.nl/english/article/iraq-sue-blackwater-iraq

Radio Netherlands
January 4, 2010

Iraq to sue Blackwater in Iraq

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki says his government is going to sue US security firm Blackwater in Iraq itself.

On Sunday, the Iraqi government had said it would help the victims of a 2007 Baghdad shooting bring legal action in the United States.

Last week, a US judge threw out charges against five Blackwater guards accused of killing 14 Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007, saying the evidence had been obtained illegally.

It was one of the bloodiest shootings involving a private security firm.

The case provoked a storm of protests.
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7.: Bolivia Refuses To Be U.S.'s Slave: Vice President

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 5, 2010 5:33 am (PST)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2010-01/05/content_12757492.htm

Xinhua News Agency
January 5, 2010

Bolivia refuses to be U.S. slave: VP

LA PAZ: The Bolivian government said on Monday that it refuses to blindly cater to the economic or political desires of the United States.

Bolivia's Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera said that as La Paz wanted to reset its diplomatic ties with Washington, based on mutual respect, the country should not become a slave of the United States, which he described as "the most important power and the market of the world."

In an interview with Radio Erbol, Bolivia's national radio, Garcia said Bolivia had been "the most subordinated" Latin American country to the United States in the past.

"We do not want a market in exchange for them (Americans) telling us who must be the master. We do not want tax preference in exchange for them telling us what must be our economic policy, because that will make us become a slave and a colony again," Garcia said.

According to Garcia, U.S. President Barack Obama, like his predecessor George W. Bush, had a "strong war policy" which did not allow ties between the two countries to improve.

"When he (Obama) learns to recognize that the world is a community of sovereign states, which voluntarily are independent, we will have better ties with the United States," Garcia said.

However, he added that Bolivia was open to establishing ties with all the countries in the world based on mutual respect of sovereignty.

Bolivian-U.S. ties were frozen since September 2008, when La Paz expelled U.S. Ambassador Philip Goldberg for allegedly interfering with internal affairs, and Washington took the same retaliatory measure.

This incident also had consequences in the commercial area, as the Obama administration decided to extend Bolivia's suspension from tax benefits of the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act.

Former U.S. President Bush suspended Bolivia's benefits because he said the South American country was not sufficiently helping the fight against drug trafficking.
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8.: Caspian Geopolitics: Nabucco most expensive pipeline ever built

Posted by: "linguisticresearch" LinguisticResearch@gmx.de

Tue Jan 5, 2010 5:53 am (PST)

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16783

January 5, 2010
A Message for Peace from Global Research
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16176>

*Caspian Sea Geopolitics: Nabucco will be the most expensive pipeline
ever built*

by Dr. John C.K. Daly

Global Research <http://www.globalresearch.ca>, January 5, 2010
Oilprice.com <http://www.oilprice.com>

/Inside Beltwayistan, a number of Bushevik oil patch zombies still roam
the recession-blasted landscape mindlessly chanting their Caspian
mantra, "Happiness is multiple pipelines" - with the caveat that they
flow westwards and bypass both Russia and Iran . They've now added a new
word to their vocabulary, "Nabucco," and worse, have bitten a number of
Obama administration officials and visiting European politicians, who
have joined their shuffling ranks. /

/Their thinking remains somewhat clouded by primordial memories of
Bush's "fuzzy math," as the statistics about Nabucco are contradictory,
to say the least. State Oil Company of the Azerbaijani Republic (SOCAR)
vice president Elshad Nasirov is now threatening to start selling
Azerbaijan 's natural gas, currently Nabucco's sole projected provider
of throughput, to Asian countries if Europe further postpones Nabucco's
construction./

Construction of the 56-inch, 2,050-mile pipeline, first proposed in
2002, is tentatively slated to begin next year and scheduled for
completion by 2014. At a cost initially estimated at $11.4 billion and
rising, Nabucco will be the most expensive pipeline ever built, more
than three times the cost of the 1,092-mile Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC)
oil pipeline. Raising such a significant sum in a time of global
recession would be an article of faith at best.

Even assuming that Nabucco's boosters manage to assemble a coterie of
deep-pocketed suckers – er, investors, the only promised current volume
for Nabucco's proposed 31 billion cubic meters (bcm) annual throughput
is Azerbaijan's future offshore Caspian Shah Deniz production, estimated
at 8 bcm. Even if Shah Deniz does end up supplying Nabucco, its
currently promised throughput leaves a deficit of 23 bcm, leading to the
question of exactly whose natural gas will Nabucco carry if SOCAR drops
out, a worst case scenario requiring the Nabucco consortium to scrounge
not 23 bcm, but all 31 bcm per annum, especially as Washington's
geopolitics invalidate the participation of either Russia or Iran?

For those with knowledge of energy history in the post-Soviet space, the
419-mile, $500 million Odessa-Brody oil pipeline, completed in 2001,
provides a cautionary tale to building pipelines without throughput
guarantees. The Ukrainian government rashly built the self-financed line
without foreign investment, stretching from its Black Sea port to the
Polish border to provide Central Europe with oil despite not having firm
commitments from a single oil producing nation for export throughputs.
After the pipeline remained unused for three years, a reluctant Kiev was
forced in 2004 to agree to transport Russian oil southwards in the
opposite direction, for export from Odessa rather than northwards to
Central European markets as originally envisaged.

Further complicating the picture are the differing proposed transit and
pricing policies of the countries that Nabucco will pass through. The
biggest geographical hurdle impacting the bottom line is the fact that,
if as some Nabucco boosters aver, Turkmenistan can be persuaded to
contribute natural gas, the seabed of the Caspian has yet to
definitively be delineated amongst the sea's five riparian states. The
question remains unresolved 18 years after the implosion of the USSR
dashed the 1920 and 1941 Soviet-Iranian bilateral treaties covering the
issue of offshore waters. Building a pipeline across seabed whose
ownership is in dispute will enrich maritime lawyers, but few others.

The issue of competing claims over Caspian national waters and seabed is
hardly a pedantic exercise. In July 2001 Iran dispatched military
aircraft and a warship to intimidate two Azerbaijani survey vessels
contracted by BP to leave the Alov-Araz-Sharg field, a site that
Azerbaijan claimed was well within its national sector, but disputed by
Iran . It seems unlikely Russia and Iran would stand idly by as
trans-Caspian sub-sea pipelines, which exclude them, are constructed.

Hopes of Turkmen gas filling Nabucco's gas deficits are yet more wishful
thinking. Last month the Central Asia–China gas pipeline connecting
Turkmenistan 's Caspian shore natural gas fields to Xinjiang was
inaugurated in the presence Chinese President Hu Jintao, Turkmenistan 's
Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov , Kazakhstan 's Nursultan Nazarbayev and
Uzbekistan 's Islam Karimov. This year 13 bcm are scheduled to transit
the new pipeline, rising to 30 bcm by the end of 2011 and over 40 bcm by
2013, effectively soaking up Turkmenistan 's projected natural gas
increases for the foreseeable future. Any further gas from Kazakhstan ,
an even more distant proposition, would face the same geographical
constraints as regards the Caspian, while Gazprom also soaks up its
surplus natural gas production.

Which leaves any but the most deluded Eurocrats and Beltwayistan
apparatchiks with an uncomfortable "fuzzy math" question – which of the
five Caspian riparian states of Azerbaijan , Iran , Kazakhstan , Russia
and Turkmenistan are going to provide Nabucco's projected 31 bcm annual
throughput?

But never mind – driving Nabucco is a complex skein of greed, European
foreign policy agendas and the ongoing belief, a delusional legacy of
the Bush administration, that somehow Caspian energy "belongs" to the
West, and furthermore, that both Russia and Iran will complacently stand
back while Western capitalism pulls off another energy initiative
dwarfing BTC.

European interest in Nabucco is underpinned by the unpleasant
realization that since 1991 it has become more and more dependent upon
Russia for natural gas imports, with Russia 's state monopoly Gazprom
now supplying 40% of Europe 's imports. As Moscow still largely relies
on its Eastern European Soviet-era pipeline network, the annual winter
spats between Moscow and Kiev over payment rates and transit have deeply
traumatized Brussels to conduct a frantic search for alternatives in a
desperate attempt to achieve energy security. Nabucco is designed to
carry Caspian and Central Asian natural gas via Turkey and the Balkan
states to Austria while bypassing both Russia and Ukraine .

A situation that can only worsen with time, as the EU's European
Commission projects that the EU's gas consumption will increase by as
much as 61 percent from its current level of 502 bcm to 815 bcm by 2030.

The hard sell has now begun over Nabucco thus represents the answer to
Eurocrats' prayers. Nabucco's consortium shareholders are Austria 's
OMV, Hungary 's MOL, Bulgaria 's Bulgargaz , Romania 's Transgaz ,
Turkey 's Botas and Germany 's RWE with 16.7 percent apiece. Notably,
none of the countries involved has any significant natural gas
production of their own.

If Nabucco is to succeed, there is one potential supplier that could
step into the supply void, but for Washington , it is a country too far
– Iran . Iran contains 16 percent of the world's natural gas reserves,
second only to Russia . Washington has clearly and repeatedly stated its
opposition to including Iran in Nabucco, as last month U.S. Special
Envoy for Eurasian Energy Richard Morningstar stated, "We have been
constantly saying that, in our opinion, Iran is not in a position to
become a part of any new projects in the Southern Corridor."

In response, speaking after a Dec. 8 Iran-UAE joint economic commission
meeting in Tehran , Iran 's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki bitingly
observed, "We have never heard that Europeans have entrusted the
Americans with their authority to decide on the pipeline." Motakki then
added a blunt dose of reality, stating, "Speaking about the Nabucco
pipeline without Iran 's participation would amount to nothing but a
pipeline void of gas." Mottaki's comments echoed those of Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin, who said in March that Nabucco was not feasible
without Iranian participation.

Nabucco also has its local critics. Azeri political scientist Ilgar
Velizade has noted that Nabucco's high cost, now estimated at $11.8-13.1
billion, is simply untenable in the context of the current global
financial crisis. Velizade consequently believes that the less expensive
Poseidon pipeline option, which would deliver natural gas to Italy from
Shah Deniz, could be as important for Europe, Azerbaijan and Turkey as
Nabucco.

Are the Azeris serious, or are they just bluffing, hoping to stampede a
tidal wave of investment cash into Nabucco? Hedging its bets, Baku is
already exploring alternative markets for its gas. On Dec. 26 SOCAR
President Rovnag Abdullayev said that while under the terms of an Oct.
14 contract under whose terms Azerbaijan was to supply 500 million cubic
meters (mcm) of gas to Russia beginning Jan. 1, his company would now
double the amount to 1 bcm. While this represents a fraction of that
promised to Nabucco, Gazprom has already indicated that it will happily
purchase any increases in Azeri natural gas production at world prices.

Nabucco remains stoked by the increasingly passé ideological concerns of
a Bush-era administrative legacy promoting pipelines bypassing both
Russia and Iran further fuelled by Brussels' fears of ongoing
Ukrainian-Russian pricing spats disrupting deliveries as in years past.
In the meantime, Moscow undoubtedly will press forward with its Nord
Stream and South Stream gas pipelines alternatives in an attempt to
reassure Europe that Russian pipelines bypassing Ukraine will alleviate
future concerns about energy security.

The zombies have gotten their wish – Caspian energy now indeed does flow
through new multiple pipelines. The only problem for the wizards of Wall
Street and the City is that they now flow mostly eastwards, to China .
As for Nabucco, what is Azeri for "expensive white elephant, son of
Odessa-Brody?"

/*Dr. John C.K. Daly* wrote this article for OilPrice.com who focus on
Fossil Fuels, Alternative Energy, Metals, Oil Prices and <a
href="http://www.oilprice.com/articles-geopolitics.php"
target="new">Geopolitics</a>. To find out more visit their website at:
http://www.oilprice.com <http://www.oilprice.com/> /

/Global Research Articles by John C.K. Daly /
<http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=listByAuthor&authorFirst=John%20C.K.&authorName=Daly>

----------------------------------------------------------

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9.: Air Force Completes Killer Micro-Drone Project

Posted by: "linguisticresearch" LinguisticResearch@gmx.de

Tue Jan 5, 2010 5:55 am (PST)

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/01/killer-micro-drone/

Air Force Completes Killer Micro-Drone Project

* By David Hambling
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/author/davidhambling/> Email
Author <mailto:d_hambling@hotmail.com>
* January 5, 2010 |
* 7:00 am |
* Categories: Drones <http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/category/drones/>
*

070820-N-4774B-052

The Air Force Research Laboratory set out in 2008 to build the ultimate
assassination robot: a tiny, armed drone for U.S. special forces to
employ in terminating "high-value targets." The military won't say
exactly what happened to this Project Anubis, named after a
jackal-headed god of the dead in Egyptian mythology. But military budget
documents note that Air Force engineers were successful in "develop[ing]
a Micro-Air Vehicle (MAV) with innovative seeker/tracking sensor
algorithms that can engage maneuvering high-value targets."

We have seen in recent years increased strikes by larger Predator and
Reaper drones using Hellfire missiles against terrorist-leadership
targets in Afghanistan and Pakistan. But these have three significant
drawbacks.

First, you can never be quite sure of what you hit. In 2002's notorious
"Tall Man incident
<http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0118-32.htm>," CIA operatives
unleashed a Hellfire at an individual near Zhawar Kili in Afghanistan's
Paktia province. His unusual height convinced the drone controllers that
the man was Bin Laden (who stands 6 feet, 5 inches). In fact, he was
merely an innocent (if overgrown) Afghan peasant.

A second problem is that the Hellfire isn't exactly the right weapon for
the mission. Originally designed as an anti-tank missile, it's not
especially agile, nor is it designed to cope with a target that might
swerve or dodge at the last second (like cars and motorbikes).

And thirdly, such strikes tend to affect a number of others, as well as
the intended target. It raises the risk of killing or injuring innocent
bystanders.

This was the rationale for Project Anubis. Special Forces already make
extensive use of the Wasp drone
<http://www.avinc.com/uas/small_uas/wasp/> made by AeroVironment. This
is the smallest drone in service
<http://www2.afsoc.af.mil/library/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=9114>,
weighing less than a pound. It has an endurance of around 45 minutes,
and line-of-sight control extends to 3 miles.

It might seem limited compared to larger craft, but the Wasp excels at
close-in reconnaissance. Its quiet electric motor means it can get near
to targets without their ever being aware of its presence.

The Air Force's 2008 budget plans described the planned Project Anubis
as "a small UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] that carries sensors, data
links, and a munitions payload to engage time-sensitive fleeting targets
<http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-071025-147.pdf> in
complex environments." It noted that after it was developed by the Air
Force Research Laboratory, Anubis would be used by Air Force Special
Operations Command. The total cost was to be just over half a million
dollars.

No official announcements have been made since then, and the Air Force
did not return a request to comment on this story (hardly surprising for
a weapon so likely to be used covertly). But the current Air Force R&D
budget
<http://comptroller.defense.gov/defbudget/fy2010/budget_justification/pdfs/03_RDT_and_E/Vol_3_OSD/OSD_PB10_RDTE-BA_1-3.pdf>
does mention the effort, briefly. This newer document refers to Project
Anubis as a development that has already been carried out. According to
the budget, $1.75 million was spent to reach the goal.

The current state of Project Anubis is unknown. It could be one of tens
of thousands of military research efforts that started, made some
progress and ended without a conclusion. Or Anubis could now be in the
hands of Air Force Special Operations Command.

If so, Anubis would solve both of the problems associated with the
Predator-Hellfire combination. It would follow and catch the most
elusive target, and its ability to take a video sensor close to the
target should mean it can be positively identified before the operator
has to make a go or no-go decision.

(There may be a classical reference here: The god Anubis was responsible
for weighing the hearts of the dead to judge whether they would have
eternal life. The Project Anubis MAV will have to make similarly fine
judgments.)

A tiny warhead, weighing a fraction of a pound, could mean extremely
little collateral damage, compared to the 20-pound warhead on a Hellfire.

I reported in 2007 on a rumor that the miniature Wasp drone
<http://www.noahshachtman.com/archives/003220.html> (photo at top) might
get a lethal "sting." It now appears that word of this new weaponry was
more than idle talk.

/Photo: U.S. Marine Corps/

*See Also:*

* Pentagon's Cyborg Insects All Grown Up
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/for-years-now-p/>
* Hovering Drones Rushed to Iraq (Updated)
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/01/hovering-drones/>
* Video: Air Force's Killer Bugbots Attack
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/12/video-air-force-3/>
* Video: Pentagon's Robo-Hummingbird Flies Like the Real Thing
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/video-pentagons-robo-hummingbird-flies-like-the-real-thing/>
* Strategist: Killer Drones Level Extremists' Advantage
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/strategist-killer-drones-level-extremists-advantage/>
* Gates, Air Force Battle Over Robot Planes
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/03/gates-vs-usaf-o/>
* Dozen Dead in Latest Pakistan Drone Strike
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/07/dozen-dead-in-latest-pakistan-drone-strike/>
* Why Was Pakistan Drone Strike So Deadly?
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2009/06/why-was-pakistan-drone-strike-so-deadly/>
* More Killer Drone Bangs For The Buck
<http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2008/10/more-bangs-for/>

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10.: German Soldiers "Trained To Kill" In Afghanistan

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 5, 2010 6:04 am (PST)

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301837,interview-german-soldiers-trained-to-kill-in-afghanistan-expert.html

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
January 5, 2010

German soldiers 'trained to kill' in Afghanistan: expert

Berlin: Senior German defence expert Wolfgang Ischinger said Germany must confront the reality that its soldiers are trained to kill, after a controversial German-commanded airstrike in which Afghan civilians died in September 2009. The head of Munich's prestigious annual Security Conference said Germany still had a special status, more than 60 years after the end of World War II. Nevertheless, certain military facts had to be confronted.

"Soldiers are trained to kill others, or at least to threaten people in a way that they consider it plausible that they will be killed if they don't do what is expected of them," Ischinger said in an interview with the German Press Agency dpa.

German Bundeswehr soldiers were in Afghanistan because police and aid workers could not do the job alone, he added.

Afghanistan will be a key topic at the Munich Security Conference in February. Afghan President Hamid Karzai is due to attend the high-profile meeting, alongside senior government delegations from the US and Russia amongst others.

The former ambassador to Washington and London welcomed US President Barack Obama's plans for an interim "surge," and to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan in 2011. Ischinger said Germany should also increase its troop contingent.

"If we send too many, it can't get so bad. If we send too few, it could be that the whole thing doesn't work," Ischinger said.

"It's a completely different question whether that can be pushed through politically," the 63-year-old added.

A parliamentary inquiry is underway into the Kunduz airstrike commanded by a German colonel in September, which killed or injured up to 142 people including civilians, according to NATO.

The attack - apparently meant to target Taliban fighters - rekindled a debate over the role of the military in Germany, where most people oppose the Bundeswehr's deployment to Afghanistan.

It was only after the Kunduz airstrike that the German government began to talk of "war-like conditions" in relation to the security situation in Afghanistan.

"We are building fewer wells, and unfortunately have to shoot more," Ischinger said, adding that these facts needed to be confronted. "This conversation needs to take place now."

The defence expert also called upon Islamic states to send more - Muslim - soldiers to Afghanistan, "simply to counter the impression that the West is dominating an Islamic country."

Ischinger defended Germany's unique soul-searching over the role of the military.

"Germany is not, and will not become, a normal country," Ischinger said, adding that this was not just due to the country's history, but also its central position in Europe and role within NATO.

"It is wrong to say we want to be like all the others. We are not normal. We have to accept that," he said. Even military successes had to be analyzed critically.

"It is not possible, in German political parlance, to talk of a hero. And it's only right that this is difficult for us, since we seduced and abused the hero," he said in reference to Germany's Nazi past.
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11.: Australian Soldier Injured In Afghan Bomb Attack

Posted by: "Rick Rozoff" rwrozoff@yahoo.com rwrozoff

Tue Jan 5, 2010 6:12 am (PST)

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/breaking-news/digger-hurt-by-roadside-bomb/story-e6frf7jx-1225816027285

Australian Associated Press
January 4, 2010

Digger hurt by roadside bomb

An Australian Digger has received shrapnel wounds in a roadside bomb explosion in Afghanistan.

The incident happened on December 30.

The soldier, who is in a satisfactory condition in a hospital in Tarin Kowt, has spoken with members of his family.

The Defence Department said the blast happened in southern Afghanistan.

It also said another soldier suffered a hearing impediment in an incident earlier in December.

A total of 37 Australian soldiers were wounded in Afghanistan in 2009.
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