Hundreds of rebels killed in attack in central Nepal

[dArKeR]

AP , KATMANDU
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004,Page 5

A communist rebel leader warned yesterday that guerrillas would continue attacks on Nepalese government targets following a fierce battle over the weekend in which the army said hundreds of rebels died.

"We will continue with this series of military actions," rebel leader Prachanda, who uses only one name, said in a statement.

The warning comes after a battle in central Nepal on Saturday described as the fiercest fighting since a ceasefire collapsed last year. Hundreds of rebels swarmed into Beni, a mountain town 280km west of Katmandu, the capital, and battled security forces for nearly 12 hours before being chased away by reinforcements.

Army spokesman Colonel Deepak Gurung said the army had taken control of the area and was hunting the rebels from both land and air.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/03/23/2003107427

[riverwalker]

1. CIA has been there a while

<snip>
http://www.debka.com/article.php?size=big&aid=83

Earlier this month, Nepal’s Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba went to Washington and London on a quest for military assistance, as part of the new “global war on terrorism”.
His want list was topped by helicopter night-vision systems, portable missile launchers, and automatic assault weapons, as well as related technical training. The United States offered Nepal US$20 million in military support, and American military advisors are reportedly now assisting counterinsurgency efforts. India has also offered military assistance. Their presence in Nepal may well prompt China to step up its aid to the insurgents.
<snip>

[MetaTrope]

2. Even longer than that

http://www.monthlyreview.org/0902madsen.htm

On June 1st, 2001, King Birendra, his wife and all his children, were assassinated. His younger brother, Gyanendra, was conveniently absent from the from the palace at the time of the massacre of all those who were ahead of him in succession to the throne. At first, Gyanendra and Prime Minister Girija Koirala announced that the worst royal massacre since the assassination of the Romanovs of Russia in 1917 had been caused by an automatic weapon that had gone off by itself. Soon, the explanation for the massacre was changed to a story befitting any Hollywood script. It was then announced that the King's oldest son, Crown Prince Dipendra, had murdered his entire family and then shot himself because his mother had forbidden him to marry a commoner. The new King Gyanendra's only son, Paras, an unpopular brute, was at the palace during the slaughter but managed to survive without so much as a scratch. Gyanendra himself has long been a CIA and U.S. corporate stooge. For example, he has a relationship with Henry Kissinger that goes back to the 1970s and the Ford administration. On the other hand, King Birendra wanted to open peace negotiations with the rebels and was also known to be a stauch anti-Indian Nepali nationalist.

...
In the months leading up to the Nepali coup, the CIA established an office in the Maharajgunj District of Kathmandu, next door to the residence of Prince Gyanendra. Witnesses reoprtedly saw streams of Nepali police and military officials streaming into the offices. Other U.S. “civilians,” said to be with private military contractor CIA fronts like MPRI, were also seen arriving at the offices. In the spring, a U.S. Special Operations Forces personnel arrived in Kathmandu on a secret exercise code-named Bailey Nightingale I. The cover for the exercise was said to be earthquake disaster training. But it now appears it had another disaster in mind. The military team was composed of U.S. psychological operations (PSYOPs) personnel adept at coming up with tales like the one about the Crown Prince murdering his family.

[yltlatl]

3. China

Elsewhere on this board I've heard people laugh at the idea of the Chinese being agressive. The next world war might not require agression on China's part. In all that's happened since 9/11, have we forgotten that before 9/11 Shrub revoked the official US policy of agnosticism with respect to Taiwan's defense that had stood for decades? HE COMMITTED OUR TROOPS to what is effectively a protection pact with a reasonable possibility of being invoked. Something about the current Taiwanese fashion for independence and the Chinese saber rattling sounds like Korea all over again. This could be a bigger disaster then the rest of our mutilated foreign policy combined, but no one even mentions it.

And now we hear this...

[MetaTrope]

4. He committed Australia's troops too

And they'll be taking point. :eyes: