CNN: U.S. Special Forces In Pakistan Raid

(CNN) -- U.S. military forces landed at a compound in Pakistan to battle targets linked to recent attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan, a senior U.S. official confirmed Wednesday.


Security in the South Waziristan area of Pakistan has deteriorated in recent years.

The official declined to be identified, citing the extreme sensitivity of U.S. forces operating within Pakistan's borders.

The action was an uncommon one for the U.S. military. Generally, NATO forces do not enter Pakistan except when pursuing insurgents in Afghanistan who slipped over the border or, in an extreme case, to pursue a high-value target.

The Pentagon has refused to comment officially on the attack, but several defense officials acknowledged that U.S. military activity had taken place inside Pakistan.

The senior U.S. official said a small number of U.S. helicopters landed troops in the village near Angoor Adda in South Waziristan, where Taliban and al Qaeda fighters have hunkered down over the years.

Local media reports said the troops came out of a chopper and fired on civilians. The U.S. official said there may have been a small number of women and children in the immediate vicinity, but when the mission began "everybody came out firing" from the compound.

He said the U.S. troops specifically attacked three buildings in the compound. They were believed to contain individuals responsible for training and equipping insurgents who have been crossing the border into Afghanistan in increasing numbers in recent months and staging large-scale, high-profile attacks against U.S. and coalition forces.

Read the full story at CNN.com

Bush heading to Texas in leu of Gustav.

President Bush warned residents of the Gulf Coast on Sunday that a "serious" storm was headed their way, echoing the sentiments of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, who reiterated his demands that city residents evacuate.

Bush said he planned to head to Texas to meet with emergency workers and evacuees.

"This storm is dangerous," he warned, urging residents to heed calls to evacuate.

After a briefing at the Federal Emergency Management Agency headquarters, Bush said he would forgo an appearance at the GOP National Convention on Monday and will be in Texas instead.

He said he would not go to Louisiana because he did not want to impede the work of emergency officials.

Nagin said Sunday that New Orleans will impose a "dusk-to-dawn" curfew and will cease efforts to help people leave the city Sunday afternoon.

The city-wide curfew will continue until the threat of the storm passes, Nagin said, warning that looters would be dealt with harshly.

"Anybody who's caught looting in the city of New Orleans will go directly to Angola [Louisiana State Penitentiary]. You will not have a temporary stay in the city. You go directly to the big house, in general population," he said.

He said that between 14,000 and 15,000 people had left New Orleans on buses and trains the city had provided -- much lower than the initial estimate of 30,000.

"We're just not seeing those kind of numbers in terms of people needing city-assisted services," Nagin said. "The 30,000 number may have been high."

The last of the buses carrying people out of New Orleans would leave around 2 or 3 p.m., he said.

In addition to forcing many Hurricane Katrina survivors to again flee their homes, Hurricane Gustav also dashed plans of Republicans working to organize the GOP Convention in Minnesota.

As of 11 a.m. ET, the eye of the Category 3 storm was about 325 miles (520 kilometers) southeast of the mouth of the Mississippi River, the National Hurricane Center in Miami said.

The storm was moving at 17 mph (27 kph) across the central Gulf of Mexico on Sunday, and it is expected to reach the U.S. Gulf Coast on Monday, forecasters said.

Read the full story at cnn.com

CNN: Iran Confirms Nuclear Enrichment

(CNN) -- Iran's deputy foreign minister said Friday that almost 4,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges are now operating at the country's Natanz enrichment facility, the national IRNA news agency reported.


President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has defended Iran's right to develop nuclear technology.

Spinning centrifuges are used to separate uranium atoms to produce uranium concentrated enough for a nuclear weapon's fission chain reaction.

Ali-Reza Sheikh Attar told Iranian TV that another 3,000 centrifuges are being installed, IRNA said.

Iran announced nearly a year ago, in September 2007, that it had more than 3,000 active centrifuges. In April, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad promised to install 6,000 more over the coming year.

The United States and other Western nations believe Iran's nuclear program is intended to develop nuclear weapons, but Iran insists it is only for peaceful purposes.

The United Nations already has three sanctions resolutions against Iran for failing to suspend the program. Attar said Thursday the sanctions are "futile and ineffective," IRNA reported.

The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany -- a group called P5+1 -- offered a package of economic and other incentives to Iran in July if it suspended its nuclear enrichment program.

Iran failed to meet the group's deadline to accept the offer, leading the P5+1 to discuss further sanctions against Iran, a State Department spokesman said this month

Network of Amateur Aero Sleuths not surprised by McCain's VEEP pick.

by Steve Douglass

Updated: 8:13 PM

Savy aeronautical enthusiasts and bloggers were not surprised (as was the mainstream media) by presidential candidate's John McCain's VP pick (Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin) because they were tracking VIP flights into Dayton ( and surrounding airports) via various flight-tracker websites.

Spotters at Dayton area airports jotted down executive jet tail numbers and then ran them on the Internet (on flightware.com) to see where they originated from.

One executive jet in particular ( landing at Middletown) caught the attention of spotters. It was sporting the tail number: N222GY and was identified as a Gulfstream Aerospace Gulfstream IV (twin-jet) which had originated from Hook Field, municipal airport in Washington State.

The aircraft is registered to an entity called Gypsy Two LLC. It shares an address with a tax exempt organization called the Dean Weidner foundation. Dean Weidner is a Republican donor.. and a man named William Weidner, the CEO of Las Vegas Sands corp, a major McCain supporter.

Flight plans filed by the pilot also showed that the aircraft had flown in the previous day from Anchorage, Alaska.

The history of the aircraft also shows it was in Flagstaff, AZ recently and McCain's advance man Arthur Culvahouse was spotted in Juneau, Alaska on various occasions over the last six weeks.

Put two and two together ( an aircraft originating in Alaska and flying cross country to near Dayton) and a spotter's report of a woman in her 40s disembarking (and being met by Secret Service) and it adds up to Gov. Palin.

When a worker at the Flight Service Station was shown a photograph of Gov. Palin by a member of the news media (who was reading the reports on various political blogs) he confirmed the woman in the photo was Palin.

Reports now indicate two aircraft landed at Middletown, one with the Gov. on board (flying from Arizona) and another aircraft (N222GY)-from Anchorage) transporting the Palin family who appeared ather side during McCain's announcement.

Why land at Middletown and not Dayton ? Apparently McCain's people read the many blog posts about aircraft tail number N222GY (and knowing it would quickly be spotted landing at Dayton where the media was watching) decided it was best to land somewhere off the press's radar.

However, through real time tracking available on flightware.com, bloggers and spotters easily tracked the aircraft to Middletown.

- Steve Douglass

Exclusive: Alaska Gov. Palin to be McCain's Veep

Aircraft enthusiasts tracked Alaska Gov. Palin as she was winging her way to Dayton.

More about how you can track the candidates in a follow-up post.



About Sarah Palin:

Bio:
Source Wikipedia

Sarah Louise Heath Palin (born February 11, 1964) is the current Governor of Alaska and the presumptive 2008 Republican candidate for Vice President of the United States.

She will be the first female Vice Presidential candidate representing the Republican Party and the second female Vice Presidential candidate representing a major political party.

Palin was born in Idaho and raised in Alaska. In 1984, she was the runner-up in the Miss Alaska pageant, receiving a scholarship that allowed her to attend the University of Idaho, where she received a degree in journalism. After working as a sports reporter at an Anchorage television station, Palin served two terms on the Wasilla, Alaska, City Council from 1992 to 1996, was elected mayor of Wasilla (population 5,470 in 2000) in 1996, and ran unsuccessfully for Lieutenant Governor in 2002.

Palin was elected Governor of Alaska in 2006 on the theme of governmental reform, defeating incumbent governor Frank Murkowski in the Republican primary and former Democratic Alaskan governor Tony Knowles in the general election. She gained attention for publicizing ethical violations by state Republican Party leaders