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The Duffel Brief · the free edition, Monday, Wednesday and Friday

Vol. 15 · No. 130 · Friday, 30 October 2026

Veterans

Spirit Halloween store to become pop-up ICE detention center

DHS praises seasonal retailer's expertise in occupying abandoned buildings and disappearing overnight

Army FRG unveils haunted house featuring spouses saying ‘I’m fine’

Hasan execution venue double-booked with Comic-Con

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Vol. 15 · No. 130

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Vol. 15 · No. 130 · Deployed worldwide

Friday

30 October 2026

2051 Zulu

Next edition Monday

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· Page 2

Intelligence concludes north Africa still 'pretty much a Shithole'

Filed · 1545

RAF MOLESWORTH, UK - In a major assessment paper released today, the Defense Intelligence Agency has concluded that north Africa is "basically one gigantic shithole."

The assessment cites the attack on American consulate in Benghazi, Libya, continued unrest and strife under the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, the ongoing al-Qaida seizure of northern Mali, and the recent Algerian hostage crisis, as contributing factors to the region's reputation as a swirling toilet bowl of human excrement. DIA based its assessment not only its own internal findings, but also on testimony from others.

For example, the agency has field reports corroborated by signals intelligence that Moktar Belmoktar actually tried refusing orders to be sent out to Mali, calling it "Allah's Asshole" and demanding to know why the Global Caliphate couldn't "be based out of someplace nice, like Tahiti or the French Riviera."

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