A LANDMINE blew up in the home of a religious cleric in southern Afghanistan, killing the mullah, two of his sons and two other men who had been preparing an attack, police said today.The cleric’s wife was critically wounded in the blast in their compound in the southern province of Helmand late yesterday, and a daughter was hurt, provincial police chief General Mohammad Hussein Andiwal said.

The bodies of the mullah and his two sons, both under 15 years old, remained at the site of the blast, he said.

Other people in the compound said two other men were killed but their bodies had been removed before police arrived, he said.

Source: news.com.au via nukegingrich

Alternate headlines:

“Five Early Favorites for the Darwin Awards”

“Work Accident Claims Five”

NowPublic

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The U.S. military says a major joint operation with Iraqi forces has captured more than 200 suspected terrorists in four provinces of northern Iraq.

It says Operation Iron Hammer, which was launched last week, has made significant progress against al-Qaida in Iraq. The U.S. military said Sunday security forces have captured three high value al-Qaida operatives and seized several large weapons caches.

source

Bad news for the democrats.

John E. Carey and Muhammed Khurshid provide invaluable insight into the tribal areas, and the general unrest in Pakistan.

The insurgents are an uncompromising lot. Besides a loose commitment to the enforcement of Sharia, they have no precise goals, and often it appears they are waging war on Pakistan’s state apparatus because there is no other way in which they can make themselves felt. They are well armed, the mountainous terrain and the porous border with Afghanistan help them, their supply lines are intact, and that is the reason why they have shown extraordinary resilience and tenacity.

In a nutshell, their ability to fight on is independent of the government’s constitutional nostrums. On the other hand, the military-led government will now be hard put to show results and convince the world and the Pakistani people that the enforcement of emergency had paid dividends and helped it make gains against the militants. This appears doubtful.

By coming down hard on the liberal elements in society, the military has denied itself a source of strength in the war on the religious extremists. The round-up of politicians, leading lawyers and human rights activists will cast the regime in a negative image, and the world would not be wrong in coming to the conclusion that the generals had used the war on terror as a ploy to strengthen their stranglehold over the country. Because of the gravity of the situation we demand that the emergency be lifted at the earliest, the government should give a deadline within which the purposes for which the emergency was proclaimed will be achieved, that notwithstanding the curbs on the media, political activity will not be curtailed, and the general election will be held as originally planned — in January next.

Only a government deriving a popular mandate can pull Pakistan out of the bog and maintain its unity and integrity.

Read more at Peace and Freedom II

Newt Gingrich asks the question, “Are you worried about your civil liberties?”

This short address talks about what might happen to our civil liberties if our country loses a city to a terrorist attack.

Naturally, the people who need to listen to this are more concerned about being loved by the “world community,” and they won’t hear this important message. Still, you hafta try, you know?

Waterboarding. Torture or not?

When President Bush nominated Judge Michael Mukasey to replace Alberto Gonzales as the U.S. attorney general, Democrats applauded.

And then Mukasey started talking. During confirmation hearings a couple weeks ago, Mukasey refused to say whether he thought that waterboarding amounted to torture.

Umm, wrong answer, came the reply from Democrats who control the Senate judiciary committee.

So Mukasey followed up with a letter this week describing waterboarding as personally “repugnant” and “over the line.” But he hedged on whether the practise is actually illegal.

Americans can be forgiven for being confused on the matter. Congress has banned the U.S. military from using the technique, which involves simulated drowning of an interrogation suspect. But the CIA has used waterboarding at least three times, and Mukasey’s refusal to declare the practise illegal is viewed as an attempt to protect the agents involved from prosecution.

At the Heritage Foundation this afternoon, President Bush weighed in….

“As a price for his confirmation, some on that committee want Judge Mukasey take a legal position on specific techniques allegedly used to interrogate captured terrorists.

“Second, he does not want an uninformed opinion to be taken by our professional interrogators in the field as placing them in legal jeopardy. Finally, he does not want any statement of his to give the terrorists a window into which techniques we may use and which ones we may not use. That could help them train their operatives to resist questioning and withhold vital information we need to stop attacks and save lives.”

Last year, Steve Harrigan of Fox News gave a very dramatic first-person report on the subject. Here is the video.

And, here is a link to the FoxNews report on their website

Harrigan says it’s more about fear than pain. “The thing that impressed me was just how quickly you can recover. They took me to the brink, where I was ready to submit and tell them anything….and then just minutes later I’m standing beside that pool, feeling fine.” Harrigan concludes, “This seems like a pretty efficient mechanism to get somebody to talk, and then still have them alive and healthy within minutes.”

Update: The Admiral of Chappaquiddick will vote against Mukasey…

“Judge Mukasey appears to be a careful, conscientious and intelligent lawyer and he has served our country honorably for many years,” Kennedy said in a Senate speech announcing his opposition. “But those qualities are not enough for this critical position at this critical time.”

Kennedy said Mukasey’s unwillingness to say that waterboarding is torture increases the chances that it will be used against U.S. troops.

Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for comment.