Category Archives: assassination

Karzai half-brother assassinated by confidant

Ahmed Wali Karzai  Tweet Follow LJF97 on Twitter   As reported in The New York Times, Christian Science Monitor, and elsewhere, Ahmed Wali Karzi was killed by Sardar Mohammed. Mr. Mohammed, who is described as “an associate,” was a commander of security posts south of Kandahar. He was reported killed by Mr. Karzai’s bodyguards. The late Mr. Karzai had been linked to the drug trade and corrupt security companies.  The Christian Science Monitor sited Wikileaks here as quoting official US concern regarding Ahmad Karzi.

“AWK [Ahmad Wali Karzai] operates parallel to formal government structures, through a network of political clans that use state institutions to protect and enable licit and illicit enterprises,” wrote a US official in one of the leaked cables.

What will happen next? What other shoes will drop?

Given the relative opacity of the situation(s)  in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the United States’ troubled relationships with both countries, the potential parallels to the plot of The Godfather and MacBeth are unsettling. Continue reading →

US District Judge Roll Died a Hero in Arizona Shooting

The videotape and law enforcement officers of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department said Judge John Roll saved Ron Barber’s life after both were shot in Tuscon, January 8, 2011. Judge Roll had been appointed by George H. W. Bush in 1991. Barber is an aide to Representative Giffords.

Chief Judge John Roll - image courtesy Wikipedia

Video Shows Chief US District Judge Roll Protecting Giffords Aide as Suspect Fired 32 Bullets, by Martha Neil of The ABA Journal (online edition).

Cameras rolled as suspect Jared Loughner allegedly fired all 31 bullets in the magazine of his Glock, plus another round that was already in the chamber, at a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 8. The videotape indicates that Chief Arizona U.S. District Judge John Roll died a hero during the shootings, according to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal. At the outset of the melee, unidentified sources who have seen the video told the Washington Post, Loughner walked straight up to congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and shot her above the left eye from about two or three feet away. Within moments, Loughner also allegedly shot Roll, who had tried to take cover under a table. As Roll did so, he sought to protect the congresswoman’s aide, Ron Barber, pushing Barber to the ground and getting on top of him …  Continue reading →