Argentina seizes US cargo plane - the United States has "more interests than friends"

without a doubt, there's a lot more to this than meets the eye...

just sayin'...


US Air Force C17 Globemaster
in Buenos Aires

Argentina to protest US Air Force cargo incident

Argentina said it will lodge a formal protest with Washington after seizing what it said were undeclared weapons and drugs on a US military aircraft last week.

The US Air Force C-17 transport plane was searched and its cargo seized by customs officials on Thursday at Ezeiza international airport after arriving with experts and material for a hostage rescue training exercise, Argentine officials said.

In a statement late Sunday, President Cristina Kirchner's government said it would lodge a protest with Washington and ask it to cooperate in a probe into the air force's attempt "to violate Argentine laws by bringing in camouflaged material in an official shipment."

Argentina has said it seized "sensitive material" that had not been declared in a manifest submitted by the US embassy.

"Among the material seized, which the State Department makes no reference to, are from weapons to different drugs, including various doses of morphine," the foreign ministry said in Sunday's statement. [emphasis added]

Assistant US Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela called Argentine Foreign Minister Hector Timerman on Saturday, but "refused to explain why they tried to pass this material," the ministry statement said.

The incident follows US President Barack Obama's decision to exclude Argentina from his first scheduled trip in March to Latin America. Obama will travel to El Salvador, Brazil and Chile but not to the latter two's South American neighbor, Argentina.

Timerman reacted to this decision by saying that the United States has "more interests than friends." He said Obama would not visit Argentina because "it won't buy arms or even sign a defense agreement."

here's additional perspective on the matter from mercopress...

In the protest note Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman urged the US government to assist local authorities in the investigation, called for an official apology and warned that the seized material would not be handed back.

“For the sake of Argentine security, they owe us a response” he stated and indicated that “this was not the first incident of such nature.”

[...]

In the protest note Argentine Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman urged the US government to assist local authorities in the investigation, called for an official apology and warned that the seized material would not be handed back.

“For the sake of Argentine security, they owe us a response” he stated and indicated that “this was not the first incident of such nature.”

[...]

Regarding the local government’s seizing of sensitive material, the State Department assured that they were taken after an “unusual and unannounced search of the aircraft’s cargo.”

“The actions taken by Argentine officials involved in this incident are puzzling and disturbing,” the State Department’s spokesperson said, adding that the material was inappropriately seized for which they are seeking explanations from the local government.

an "unusual and unannounced search of the aircraft’s cargo"... sounds to me like the argentine customs officials were doing their job, a move that obviously is not common where the "interests" of the sole remaining global super-power is concerned... leads me to wonder just how much interesting cargo gets transported around the world unchallenged... my hunch...? more than we can possibly imagine...

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Firefight ongoing in Kabul [UPDATE 1, 2 & 3]

[BUMPED]



i came to the office early just as this was coming down... not a lot of details yet except to say it's still going on... we had to take an alternate route as the one we regularly use passes right through the middle of the area where it's all happening... the good news is that everybody else was told to stay home so i've pretty much got the office to myself... such peace and quiet...!

Heavy gunfire has erupted at a guest house used by U.N. staff in Kabul, and Afghan police said five people were killed. A U.N. spokesman said U.N. staff were believed to have fled the building and efforts were under way to determine if they were all safe.

The fighting broke out Monday after dawn. The crackle of automatic gunfire reverberated through the streets.

U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed the guest house was used by U.N. staff but he believed all had fled the building. He didn't know how many international staff were living there.

sigh...

[UPDATE 1]

about 45 minutes ago, there were several mortar rounds that landed in the vicinity of the serena hotel in central kabul which isn't far from where i'm sitting here in the office... we had to go to the safe room for a while but evidently things have quieted down and i'm now back at my desk...

this is the latest news report i've been able to find...

Afghan forces exchanged gunfire with a group of militants holed up inside an international guest house in the centre of Kabul on Wednesday, police said.

The United Nations mission in Afghanistan said it was possible some of its staff and other foreigners were inside.

Intense automatic weapons fire and an explosion resounded in the capital, and plumes of black smoke rose above buildings.

A Reuters witness said a number of streets had been cordoned off by the police as the gunfire continued, and sirens reverberated across the city.

"There are five or six terrorists inside," said Waheed Sadiqi, a policeman at the scene.

double sigh...

[UPDATE 2]

here's more...

Gunmen with automatic weapons and suicide vests stormed a guest house used by U.N. staff in the heart of the Afghan capital early Wednesday, killing at least seven people including three U.N. staff, officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility, saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election.

Heavy gunfire reverberated through the streets shortly after dawn and a large plume of smoke rose over the city following the attack on the hostel in the Shar-e-Naw district. Kabul police chief Abdul Rahman Rahman said seven people were killed, including some attackers.

U.N. spokesman Adrian Edwards confirmed that three U.N. staff were among the dead and one was seriously wounded. He said 20 U.N. staff were living at the guest house, some of them known to be registered there but he was unsure whether all were there at the time of the attack.

Flames could be seen on the roof of the guest house. Hours after the attack began, three explosions could be heard but it was unclear if they were from that location.

triple sigh...

[UPDATE 3]

this is the sight that greeted me this morning on my way to the office...


Smoke can be seen rising in central Kabul Wednesday Oct. 28, 2009.
Gunmen attacked a guest house used by U.N. staff in the Afghan capital
of Kabul early Wednesday, killing at least seven people including three
U.N. staff, officials said. A Taliban spokesman claimed responsibility,
saying it was meant as an assault on the upcoming presidential election.
(AP Photo/Bob Reid)

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Kidnapped?????

This story via McClatchy.

Bodies of 2 missing hostages recovered in Iraq

WASHINGTON — The FBI confirmed Monday that the bodies of two Americans who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq have been found there.


The dead were identified as Ronald Withrow of Roaring Springs, Texas, and John Roy Young, of Kansas City, Mo.


Young was one of five security guards working for Crescent Security Group who were taken hostage Nov. 16, 2006 when the convoy they were guarding was stopped at a fake checkpoint in southern Iraq.

[...]

The fingers of the four other Crescent Security guards seized with Young also were delivered to U.S authorities earlier this year. Those guards are Jonathan Cote, of Gainesville, Fla.; Joshua Munns, of Redding,Calif.; Paul Johnson Reuben, of Buffalo, Minn.; and Bert Nussbaumer of Vienna, Austria.

This is most definitely a sad and tragic story and my heart goes out to the families. Having said that though, I am sick and tired of the never-ending propaganda.

Why is it, that when we do it to them, it is called 'capturing and detaining'? Yet, when they do it to us, it is called 'kidnapping and holding hostage'?

Pot-------meet Kettle.

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