If you do not know about the Global Incident Map website, I urge you to see it, then book mark it.
We start with an unsettling discovery in Colombia
Colombia seizes uranium from leftist guerrillas
BOGOTA, March 26 (Reuters) – Colombia said it grabbed at least 30 kilograms (66 pounds) of uranium from the country’s biggest left-wing rebel group on Wednesday, the first time radioactive material has been linked to the bloody four-decade-old guerrilla war.
The material was found in a rural area long considered a guerrilla stronghold just south of the capital city Bogota. It is being examined by state experts, said a Defense Ministry statement.
The statement did not say where the uranium came from or what it could be used for.
“This appears to have been part of a black market operation that the guerrillas were trying to use to make money,” said Pablo Casas, an analyst at Bogota think-tank Security & Democracy.
“This is new for Colombia and could bring the FARC into the major leagues of black market terrorist transactions,” Casas said.
Information about the uranium was found earlier this month in computer files left behind by top guerrilla leader Raul Reyes, who was killed in a Colombian bomb strike carried out in Ecuador. The March 1 raid sparked an ongoing diplomatic dispute with the neighboring country.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, is funded mostly by cocaine smuggling and extortion. The group says it is fighting a communist insurgency meant to close the wide gap between rich and poor in this Andean country. The war kills, displaces or maims thousands every year.
I appears the capture of FARC computers during Colombia’s raid is paying off in spades. No word on what form the Uranium took (refined or still ore). However, the fact FARC had the uranium and was going to sell it to the highest bidder meant it was probably in a usable form. Also, no no one knew FARC had the materials until the raid. These facts should send shivers through the civilized world.
In other news….
Explosion at Hamas training base kills two militants
Palestinian militants accidentally set off a large blast while mishandling explosives at a Hamas training base in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, killing two members of the violent Islamic group and wounding another, Palestinian medical officials said.
Hamas said the explosion was accidental and its men died while performing a “holy mission.”
Hamas security men kept photographers and TV cameramen away from the scene. Dr. Moaiya Hassanain, a Palestinian Health Ministry official, confirmed the deaths.
The incident happened amid new signs that Israel is moving closer to a cease-fire with Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip. Amos Gilad, a senior Defense Ministry official, traveled this week to Cairo for talks with Egyptian mediators, Israeli defense officials said on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the talks.
As part of the Israel-Egypt talks, the two sides have agreed in principle for Egypt to replace Israel as the main supplier of electricity to the Gaza Strip, the officials said. Egypt will set up a new power line from the city of El-Arish, the officials said.
More follows in the story about the details of the newest peace accord, background, etc. What struck me was the old “Achmed the Dead Terrorist” line:
“Was it a nice place?”
“It used to be”
“What happened?”
“Neeewww Guy”
This does appear to be another case of improper bomb making on the part of Hamas. Much better that terrorist bombs and bomb makers blow up in Hamas training camps than Israeli school buses, parks, restaurants, and other civilian areas.
Lastly, in the “Things to Watch” arena, tensions and attacks continue to rise along the Russian/Chechen border.
Bomb Explodes at Police Checkpoint
A bomb exploded on Friday at a police checkpoint in Ingushetia but no one was hurt, Itar-Tass reported.
Local law enforcement officials said a second homemade bomb, made from a hand grenade and a mobile phone, was found after the blast near the checkpoint situated outside the village of Troitskaya, Itar-Tass reported.
A roadside bomb damaged two federal armored personnel carriers in Ingushetia on Wednesday.
Ingushetia has seen a rise in violence, including attacks on police and the military. Ingush authorities blame Muslim radicals, both local and crossing from neighboring Chechnya, for the attacks. Their opponents say the new bout of violence is a result of the local government’s ineffective and repressive policies.
In Chechnya, which has been relatively calm in the past few years, nine people died late Wednesday in clashes between security forces and separatist rebels.
This is the latest attack in the area. More will undoubtedly come. The source is the same militant Islamic radicalism which fueled the original Chechen violence. The bomb’s design follows lessons and plans available from Islamic radical sources.
Will Russia wake up and realize the West is not its enemy and fight along side us, or will they continue the paranoid worry of an invasion from a military incapable Europe even as islamofascists burn Russian cities?
"Hamas training base in the central Gaza Strip."
Sounds like a good target for the IDF.
Mike,
I would say it is now easy for the IDF to find the camp, but after the Hamas-Fata civil war and years of neglect, finding which burned out building was which might be difficult.
Since Ecuador gives safe haven to FARC, I wonder if the Ecuadorian government knew of the uranium. It would explain some of their protestations after the Colombian airstrike that killed Reyes.
*Way* cool site, boys! Thanks.
While we’re on topics nuclear…
I noticed that, in the wake of the cruise-missile-shipment issue (of a few months ago) and the shipping of missile parts to Taiwan, the DoD has ordered a full physical inventory of our nuclear arsenal.
This worries me greatly. I worked in nuclear duty positions during my military service, and we had daily accountability (and the two-man rule) on any number of items. If that discipline has degraded to the point that we’re calling a special inventory, that’s a top-to-bottom failure in the military chain of command.
To borrow from Bugs Bunny…..yipes!
Wes,
I saw that story also and noticed the same thing. In the Army, our sensitive items (which are not so nearly as sensitive as ICBM components) are regularly inventoried and accounted for to the n’th degree in some cases.
Either the entire “Nuke Department” went terminally stupid or the media is reporting a half story (again). It may be that the SecDef ordered this as an audit of inventories but I have not seen much about this item since. As usual, we have a “wire service” report and then very little afterwords.
ChrisG, I suspect that some folks have been fudging custody/accountability documents ‘here and there,’ and that the civilian management isn’t trusting what it sees on paper after the two high-profile “how’d THAT happen?” incidents.