The Italian journalist kidnapped by the Taliban will be executed in three days if the group's demands are not met. The Taliban want a withdrawal of Italian troops from Afghanistan as well as the release of one of its members. Daniele Mastrogiacomo, a reporter for the Repubblica newspaper, was seized with two Afghan nationals. His driver was killed for allegedly spying for foreign troops. He had his throat slit this morning, according to a Taliban fighter.
But Italy has refused to negotiate with the Taliban. Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema said humanitarian groups were working on a solution and that they were working in the utmost discretion. The journalist has made desperate pleas to Rome via video and audio messages. The tapes were obtained by the Italian aid group 'Emergency'.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 13:05 ||
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if they follow through, execute the Taliban arrestee.
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2007 14:32 Comments ||
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I know how one - not all - Italian died. I remember how Fabrizzio Quattorchi died. He died a man with dignity intact. Yes, I know...easy for me to say since I didn't stand in the shoes of the others. Still, I recall Fabrizzio. We all should remember him.
(My apologies to Fabrizzio's family if I failed to correctly spell his name.)
Posted by: Mark Z ||
03/16/2007 14:56 Comments ||
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Afghan police have said a Taliban was killed and another was wounded in a gun battle with police force in the southern city of Kandahar. The clash erupted when two armed Taliban insurgents attacked a police foot patrol in the city, wounding one policeman, local police officer Mohammad Nasib said. The wounded Taliban was taken into custody, he said.
In another incident a policeman was killed and three others were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded during a police patrol in eastern Paktika province on Wednesday, provincial governor Mohammad Akram Khapelwak said. Police launched a manhunt after the incident in Wazakhwa district of Paktika and clashed with a group of Taliban, killing two militants, the governor said. "Police surrounded the group, two Taliban fighters were killed and two others were wounded as a result of clashes," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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"...two Taliban fighters were killed and two others were wounded..."
When are the wounded scheduled to succumb to their injuries?
Two people who were suspected to have links with the killing of two Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel at Amin Bazar on March 3 were killed in crossfire during a shootout between their accomplices and members of Rab in Savar early yesterday.
"They kill us, we send dem to da morgue. Dat's the Bangladesh way!"
The dead were identified as Adnan, 23, son of Abdul Sobhan of Sherpur, and Baset, son of Hares Ali of Borodeshi in Savar. Police sources claimed both were members of "Gangchil Bahini", a notorious criminal group of Amin Bazar.
The two were caught in the crossfire at Modhumoti Model Town around 4:00am yesterday...
Because there are fewer witnesses at that time
when Rab-11, after having had their confessional statements,
"They killed two of us. Bring me the Number Ten."
raided the area along with them to recover illegal firearms.
Ah, an old story that never goes out of style
As Rab personnel went there, accomplices of Adnan and Baset opened fire on the elite force.
"WE was fired on, see! So we had to shoot them, I mean, return fire."
Rab members retaliated and a firefight ensued, sources said.
"Bang, bang, bangittybangbang!"
Adnan received four bullets in his body while Baset received six.
"For what you two are about to receive, we're truly thankful."
Rab recovered a pistol and two bullets from the spot. The accomplices of Adnan and Baset managed to escape capture.
Funny, ain't it. The accomplices always manage to disappear into the night without leaving a trace. It's like they were never really there.
Both the dead were captured by Rab-4 a few days ago in Sherpur on suspicion of having links with the murder of two Rab officials at Amin Bazar on March 3.
I'm sure their stay with the RAB was unpleasent
Adnan, who used to live at Kaundia in Savar, and Baset were allegedly hiding in Sherpur to avert arrest. They were accused in a number of criminal cases including murder cases on twelve systems at different police stations in the capital, police sources claimed. The autopsies of the dead were conducted at Dhaka Medical College morgue yesterday.
"Dr Quincy! Two RAB specials for you!"
"Dammit Sam, VCU / Duke are tied with two minutes left. Just use the preprinted forms in my desk."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Modhumoti Model Town
Good stock of 1/1000 Banga Typhoons and HO Scale Train Catastrophes.
PARIS (AP) - Interpol said Thursday it would issue ``red notices'' for the arrests of five prominent Iranians and a Lebanese militants wanted in Argentina's worst terror attack. Iran said it would appeal the decision.
Argentina is seeking the Iranians in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires. Eighty-five people were killed and 200 were wounded when a van pulled up outside the seven-story building and exploded. Argentine prosecutors allege the attack was orchestrated by leaders of the Iranian government and entrusted to the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. Interpol said Thursday it would help Argentina seek the six arrests, but turned down the country's request for assistance in pursuing three other former top Iranian officials, including former President Hashemi Rafsanjani. A challenge from Iran would effectively put the process on hold.
Mohsen Baharvand, the top Iranian diplomat in Argentina as its business attache, said Iran would argue in its appeal that the United States had applied political pressure in the case. ``The decision of Interpol is not acceptable for Iran,'' Baharvand told The Associated Press by telephone in Buenos Aires.
The Lyon, France-based international police agency said it would issue ``red notices'' for the six on March 31, unless either Iran or Argentina challenged the decision. A red notice means a suspect is wanted for possible extradition. It cannot force countries to arrest or extradite suspects, but people with red notice status appear on Interpol's equivalent of a most-wanted list. If Iran goes forward with an appeal, no red notices will be issued, and the matter could go before Interpol's general assembly in November, Interpol said.
Both Iran and Argentina are member countries of Interpol, whose executive committee ruled on the case after taking into account input from both countries. ``Both parties have been treated fairly and impartially by Interpol,'' Interpol President Jackie Selebi said in a statement.
The six people targeted with red notices are former Iranian intelligence chief Ali Fallahian; Mohsen Rabbani, former cultural attache at the Iranian Embassy in Buenos Aires; former diplomat Ahmad Reza Asghari; Mohsen Rezaei, former leader of the elite Revolutionary Guards; Ahmad Vahidi, a general in the Revolutionary Guards; and Hezbollah militant Imad Moughnieh, one of the world's most sought-after terror suspects. A Lebanese national, Moughnieh is wanted for his alleged role in the kidnapping of Westerners in Lebanon in the 1980s, and suicide attacks on the U.S. Embassy and a U.S. Marine base in Lebanon that killed more than 260 Americans. His whereabouts are unknown.
Interpol denied Argentina's request for red notices for Rafsanjani, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and the former ambassador of Iran in Buenos Aires, Hadi Soleimanpour. The agency did not explain its decisions, but said red notices were not an indication of the strength or weakness of a case against a person.
Luis Grynwald, head of the Jewish center in Buenos Aires, which was rebuilt after the attack, hailed Interpol's involvement. ``This shows that the Iranian regime has to cooperate in efforts to clarify this attack and not impede the search for the truth,'' he said.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 09:02 ||
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Is this anything like "double secret probation"?
Posted by: abu do you love ||
03/16/2007 12:09 Comments ||
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What's the big deal, Ama-nutjob? Just pieces of paper. Sort of like UN resolutions.
Won't these notices just increase and improve the Iranian economy?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2007 12:24 Comments ||
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When you collect all of a color group you can charge double the rent money......
Tehran, 16 March (AKI) - A high official with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, is still missing after three weeks and the central command of the Pasdaran are convinced US forces are detaining him, reports said Friday. Mohammad Mohsen Shirazi, a deputy commander with the Pasdaran's special corps charged with missions outside the country, the Quds Brigade, had allegedly been posted in Iraq on a secret mission.
So you're admitting to a act of war?
Unconfirmed reports on 27 February quoted US forces as saying that Shirazi, who is suspected of having aided Shiite insurgents on Iran's behalf, was allegedly arrested in Baghdad in the home of top Shiite politician Abdul Aziz al-Hakim, leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (SCIRI).
So I'm guessing this confirms it, huh?
Washington accuses Iran of arming Shiite insurgents in Iraq who are fighting against US-led foreign troops in Iraq.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 08:47 ||
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Abdul Aziz al-Hakim
This guy is caught up in all Irans wrong doings!!!
An Iraqi moderate Sunni source confirms security reports that Ahmad Al-Janabi, Al-Qaeda guide in Latifiyya and Yusufiyah in south Baghdad, was arrested recently.
The source adds that Al-Janabi took part in battles in Afghanistan against the Russians before joining Al-Qaeda in Iraq against the Americans.
He maintains close relations with Saudi and Iraqi leaders in the Al-Qaeda in Mesopotamia.
Before his arrest, he was urging the Islamic insurgency in Iraq to occupy some areas in south Baghdad to take control of major roads to central and southern Iraq.
According to this source, Al-Janabi has dozens of supporters in south Baghdad. He urges them to attack the foreign interests in Iraq.
Right about now, he better be leading our intel spooks on some real informative "guided" tours of IED labs and safe houses. His only chance of living much longer should hinge on him guiding us to Osama and Omar.
#10
eLarson, not to worry. If those trees are still alive, they will struggle to produce more leaves.
That carbon offset is still valid, and the ground around them is more fertile, dead fish and all.
The Iraqi general who commanded the joint U.S.-Iraqi military operation to subdue Baghdad has been fired. Lt. General Abdoud Qanbar Hashem was forced to retire at a lower rank. His name was included in a list of 1,189 former army officers who were put on pension.
General Qanbar was a senior officer in the former army under former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. But Prime Minister Nouri Maliki first employed him as head of his office and then promoted him to the rank of Lt. General to lead the troops deployed to impose law and order in Baghdad.
There were reports that U.S. commanders were not pleased with Qanbar at the head of the operation. I remember that being reported
It is not clear whether the decision to put Qanbar on pension has anything to do with the pace of progress in the operation. The operation is still on but it seems it has so far made little success. Is this opinion or correct?
Wrong-headed editorializing. The operation in Baghdad, especially Sadr City, appears to be working so far.
The decision to place Qanbar on pension was signed by the head of the prime ministerÂ’s office, which means that it had the blessing of Maliki himself.
#1
How can anyone make the judgement that the 'Sadr City operation' is successful? I hear reports that the Shia militia just moved out of Baghdad. Assuming these reports are correct, don't they simply return when US forces pull back?
Posted by: Bruce from MS ||
03/16/2007 17:21 Comments ||
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Just for argument's sake, imagine a U. S. Senator leaving the U. S. and taking p residence in London but demanding he still retain his Senate seat and claiming to represent his constituents. Sadr is a tool of the Iranian Imams and needs to be eliminated. We had the chance but politcal "concerns" got in the way. He should never be allowed back on to Iraq.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
03/16/2007 17:36 Comments ||
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"He should never be allowed back on to Iraq."
Maybe in a pine box, but definitely not until the bubbles stop coming up. I regret to say that our lessons with this slimeball have left us Sadr but wiser.
Training and lessons learned pays off for Iraqi forces.
QAYARRAH, Iraq, March 16, 2007 — Iraqi army soldiers seized a convoy of 20 illegal fuel trucks carrying crude oil in the Qayarrah region, south of Mosul, Feb. 20. I wonder why the one-month delay in reporting? Follow up ops?
Crude oil is often sold on the black market in the Irbil Province, which has an oil refinery in eastern Iraq. Profits are believed to fund terrorism. “We know black market (oil) profits are…used to support anti-Iraqi forces,” said Master Sgt. Hernan Rincon, intelligence noncommissioned officer-in-charge for the “Black Dragons,” 5th Battalion, 82nd Field Artillery Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, out of Fort Bliss, Texas.
Iraqi army soldiers, manning a check point, stopped the convoy of vehicles after determining they were illegal based on fake documents the drivers were carrying.
“As far as coalition forces and the Iraqi army are concerned, (oil smuggling is) a criminal act that the IPs deal with,” said 1st Lt. Alexander Moen, a native of Winnebago, Ill. “Once the (Iraqi Army) realized this was just illegal (oil) smuggling they contacted the IPs and the IPs came,” Moen said, “It’s a good working relationship between the two of them; it’s a big step forward for the area.”
It was also a big step forward for the Iraqi army and soldiers of 1st Platoon, Battery B, who a month prior had trained the Iraqi Army on these types of patrol operations. The platoon worked with them in the area to teach them how to search vehicles and how to spot fake documents.
“We taught these guys how to do this, now they are doing it,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Blanchard, 1st Platoon sergeant. “This is good news to me because the lessons that we taught these guys, and what to look for, are now paying off,” he said.
Training the Iraqi army has a positive chain reaction in the region. Having the Iraqi security forces successfully perform their job helps discourage criminal activity, said Duran. “It scares other people and they will not do it as much, because they know that those guys got caught,” he said.
It also sends a positive message to the people in the area. “It makes them feel better, that we are actually out there, and the IPs are out there, and the (Iraqi Army) are out there doing their job,” Duran said.
Blanchard, originally from Aurora, Colo., credits the junior leaders and soldiers in his platoon with training the Iraqi army to be successful. “Those are the guys that are really where it happens at,” Blanchard said.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2007 12:46 ||
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Of course smuggled oil is offered to the market at a serious discount.... not that I condone such actions.
These are State Department summaries of the eight key points they report on each week.
1. Defeat the Terrorists and Neutralize the Insurgents
Multi-National Force-Iraq Commander General David H. Petraeus said March 8 that the new security strategy focused on population security can work but will take time to be fully implemented. General Petraeus said that Iraqi and Coalition forces working together have established about 40 joint Iraqi-U.S. security posts across Baghdad as part of the three-week-old Operation Enforcing the Law.
2. Transition Iraq to Security Self-Reliance
Three of the four Iraqi army divisions in the north are now under the control of the Iraqi Ground Forces Command, and U.S. troops are turning over more counterinsurgency operations to those units, according to Major General Benjamin Mixon, the top US commander in Multi-National Division–North (MND-N).
3. Help Iraqis to Forge a National Compact for Democratic Government
Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, hoping to show those outside the capital that the government is working to control violence everywhere, traveled to the Sunni insurgent stronghold of Ramadi on March 13 to meet with tribal leaders and the provincial governor.
4. Help Iraq Build Government Capacity and Provide Essential Services
The completed installation of the US Army-funded PW-090 Water Compact Unit in Ad Duluyah, Salah ad Din Province now provides fresh, potable water to 12,000 local residents.
5. Help Iraq Strengthen Its Economy
The Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved the third and fourth reviews of Iraq's Stand-By Arrangement (SBA). The Board commended the GOIÂ’s commitment to maintaining policies agreed to in the SBA, but expressed concern over the security situationÂ’s impact on, inter alia, GOI responsiveness and under-execution of the investment budget.
6. Help Iraq Strengthen the Rule of Law
The Central Criminal Court of Iraq convicted 18 security detainees from February 25 to March 1, for various crimes including joining an armed group to unsettle the stability and security of Iraq, possession of illegal weapons, personal identification violations and an illegal border crossing violation.
7. International Support for Iraq
On March 11 the Government of Iraq hosted a Neighbors conference in Baghdad attended by 69 delegates representing 13 countries such as, the United States, Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Kuwait, and Turkey, and Representatives of the Arab League, the Islamic Conference, the United Nations as well as the four other permanent members of the UN Security Council the United Kingdom, Russia, China, and France.
8. Strengthen Public Understanding of Coalition Efforts and Public Isolation of the Insurgents
In a March 6 press conference President Bush outlined the importance of international cooperation on Iraq.
More details and graphs at link.
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2007 12:27 ||
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Doing a lot better with water and sewerage than we are with electricity.
An attack against the top Sadr City official has created tension in the ranks of Shiite militiamen with some blaming a faction unhappy about cooperation with Americans, a local commander said Friday. Gunmen opened fire on the convoy carrying Rahim al-Darraji Thursday in eastern Baghdad, seriously wounding him and killing two of his bodyguards on Thursday, police and a local official said.
Al-Darraji was the principal negotiator in talks with U.S. officials that led to an agreement to pull fighters off the streets in Sadr City, a stronghold of the feared Mahdi Army, and a local commander said suspicion fell on a group of disaffected militiamen who are angry about the deal. "This is a faction that enjoys some weight," the Mahdi Army commander said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
He said the attack has created tension within the ranks of the militia and renewed a debate on the merits of allowing the Americans to operate in Sadr City without resistance during a security sweep aimed at ending the sectarian violence that has raged since a Feb. 22, 2006, bombing of a Shiite shrine in Samarra. The success in reining in the militia of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, which fought fiercely against U.S. forces in 2004, is widely credited with the drop in execution-style killings, random shootings and rocket attacks during the month-old operation, and the attack against al-Darraji cast a shadow on that strategy.
Al-Sadr supporters also planned a demonstration Friday after traditional weekly prayer services to protest the establishment of a joint U.S.-Iraqi base in Sadr City, a sprawling district in eastern Baghdad.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 08:53 ||
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internal bloodletting politics among the gunnies
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2007 9:27 Comments ||
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This split is an important one. But which side of the split is the "more pro-Iranian" one?
The one with the hot heads who want to attack now, or the ones who want to bide their time?
#5
I am no longer mad at Lawyers. There are too many lawsuits in this country, but it's better then the way these idiots solve disputes. Please forgive me lawyers for all the bad (actually, some were good) jokes I have repeated over the years.
On the Guardian web-site, from Channel 4 (UK) News. Recent newsfilm from al-Anbar province. Requires Flash 8.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Is that the same Channel 4 that did the two-hour (1:15 without commercials) special on The Global Warming Swindle?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2007 6:24 Comments ||
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The Iraqis are turning on AQ? That can't be--it doesn't fit with the democratic traitor agenda! We are losing. The sky is falling. Pull out. Turn coat. Date certain. Withdraw funds. Bush lied while troops died. Dhimmi mantra blah blah blah. Hot air. More hot air. And een more hot air. Global warning; global warming. Ya da ya da ya. Oh well, back to my toe nail trimming--something important. Keep up the good work Iraqis. You will win and be free despite our doom and gloom demo naysayers in Congress.
BAGHDAD - Car bombs and shootings claimed at least 27 lives in Iraq on Thursday. Eight people were killed, two of them policemen, and 29 were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his car into a joint Iraqi military and police checkpoint in central BaghdadÂ’s Kharmana Square, security officials said.
A soldier and a civilian died when another checkpoint was targeted by a suicide car bomber in BaghdadÂ’s southwestern Yarmuk district, they added.
In another attack, five workers were killed and two dozen wounded when a bomb on a bus exploded at the entrance to a factory in Iskandiriyah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Baghdad, as employees arrived for work.
Seven people were also reported killed around the restive city of Baquba north of Baghdad, five of them shot dead by gunmen who attacked a string of petrol stations and set them on fire, police said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Two suicide bombers have rammed their cars into two checkpoints in Baghdad, killing at least 10 people.
In the first attack, the bomber blew up his car against a joint Iraqi military and police checkpoint in central Baghdad's Kharmana Square, killing eight people, including members from the security forces. The blast left 25 others wounded. A few minutes later, a second bomber slammed his car into an Iraqi army checkpoint in southwestern Yarmuk district, killing two people, one civilian and a soldier. Two more were wounded in the attack.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Probably just the Pali version of the job interview...
GAZA CITY (AFP) - Palestinian gunmen fired on the convoy of the director of the United Nations refugee agency as he returned to Gaza City on Friday, but there were no casualties, security sources and witnesses said. "Eleven bullets hit his armoured car. We don't know who did it yet. We are investigating," a security source said. It appears eleven guys, who we don't know, dropped their guns. At once. Nothing to see here...
John Ging, the Gaza director of the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), was travelling from the Erez border crossing to Gaza City when the attack happened. Wonder who he pissed off to get stuck with that job?
Violence has escalated in the Gaza Strip since Hamas came to power one year ago and plunged the Palestinian territories into a power struggle pitting the Fatah-dominated security services against Hamas militants. Yes, so I've heard...
Although around 20 foreign journalists and aid workers have been kidnapped and released unharmed in the past year, such a direct and bold attack against foreigners in the Gaza Strip is rare. So what does AFP consider kidnapping, harmless fun?
The latest victim, BBC reporter Alan Johnston, has not been seen since he left the BBC bureau in Gaza City on Monday afternoon. Palestinian security sources said he was borrowed as collateral kidnapped. Hello, BBC headquarters. Yeah. Send down another bag of money. We're probably gonna need it.
UNRWA, the largest UN agency with more than 25,000 employees, was established in the aftermath of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war to provide relief for upwards of 700,000 Palestinian refugees uprooted by the war. UNRWA: Supporting your refugee needs for almost 60 years.
Today the agency provides education, health, relief and social services to more than 4.3 million registered Palestinian refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In the Gaza Strip alone, UNRWA cares for nearly one million refugees. ...and they seem really grateful.
Not worth firing up the popcorn machine, but I'll toss some in the microwave. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/16/2007 11:22 Comments ||
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Although around 20 foreign journalists and aid workers have been kidnapped and released unharmed in the past year, such a direct and bold attack against foreigners in the Gaza Strip is rare.
If it's so rare, why was the Director in an armoured car? They're terribly expensive, I understand, and must have equally terrible (expensive) gas mileage.
Bethlehem - Ma'an - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed on Thursday the news that a Palestinian national unity government had been finalised. According to the UN news service, he added that he hoped that the new administration "would respect existing agreements and reflect widely held principles on the conflict in the Middle East."
United Nations spokesperson Michele Montas told journalists at the daily briefing on Thursday that Mr. Ban "hoped that the Palestinian Government would respect all existing agreements and reflect principles outlined by the diplomatic Quartet, the international grouping that includes the UN as well as the European Union, Russian Federation and the United States."
Those principles include a commitment to the Roadmap, the plan that envisages two states, Israel and Palestine, living side-by-side in peace and security, all other previously signed peace accords. They also include the recognition of the state of Israel's right to exist and a rejection of violence.
Dubai, 16 March. (AKI) - In a new invective published via the internet, Atiyatullah Abdel Rahman al-Libi, considered by intelligence experts a key al-Qaeda liaison figure, has harshly condemned the Palestinian Islamic movement, Hamas. "Hamas exploits its martyrs to occupy positions of power," read a statement from al-Libi, in which he commented on the latest audio message from al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al Zawahiri, who had condemned the Mecca accord between Hamas and Fatah which paved the way for the formation of a national unity government after six months.
"The danger with what is happening is that Hamas has decided to enter the political game. By entering the apostate government, it wants to collaborate with apostates and recognise a secular constitution like the Palestinian one, which violates Sharia law," it added. According to al-Libi the reassurances from Hamas on the desire to continue their armed resistance against Israel count for nothing. "The very fact of wanting to give them a part of Islamic territory amounts to a defeat," it said. "You can assure us of your determination to continue Jihad only by carrying out further Jihadi activities."
The document concludes with the accusation that Hamas has exploited the good faith of its combatants who died in fighting against Israel, making a clear distinction between the leadership and the grassroots of the movement.
"We know that in Hamas there are many mujahadeen who belong because they want to fight the enemies of Allah. All the martyrs of Hamas are in fact Muslims in general. It is pointless for them (the leadership) to always refer to marytrs in their speeches as they do not belong to them (Hamas)."
Al-Libi studied Sharia law in Mauritania before moving to Afghanistan. For a period he broke away from al-Qaeda and joined the Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in Algeria. However he clashed with the leadership and was arrested in the late 1990s in Algeria. From jail he issued a fatwa against Hasan al-Hattab, the former head of the Salafite group, who abandoned his jihad against the Algerian government when the government offered an amnesty. After a month in jail, al-Libi managed to escape with a group of Libyan fighters and in 2000 reached Afghanistan. The US authorities have put a five million dollar ransom on his head.
Al-Libi often publishes al-Qaeda's documents and analyses on the Internet. The US secret services believe that he is holed up in the remote Pakistani region of Waziristan, on the border with Afghanistan.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 10:48 ||
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Translation: AQ runs out of martyrs for its Iraq operations and would like to recruit some Paleos. Hamas leadership's asking price is too high.
#4
Nothing new here folks. Just another round of the usual "not Islamic enough" holier than thou sort of crapulence which has kept, and will keep, Muslims at each others throats for their alloted time on this earth.
Jerusalem, 16 March (AKI) - A Palestinian intelligence official affiliated to the Fatah faction was shot dead in the Gaza Strip on Friday one day before Palestinian parliamentarians were set to vote on a new coalition government made up of members of Fatah and of its main rival Hamas. According to a report by Israel Radio the intelligence officer was killed in the village of Deir el-Balah after unknown gunmen stopped the vehicle he was travelling in and after a brief argument opened fire. Another intelligence officer who was in the car was seriously wounded in the attack, the report said.
There's always sepsis...
... sucking chest wounds ...
The Palestinian Authority's Military Intelligence is affiliated with PA President Mahmoud Abbas who leads Fatah and many of its members have been involved in clashes with Hamas in the recent infighting.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 08:45 ||
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JERUSALEM - Israel and the United States intend to use restrictions on banks to limit the ability of donors to transfer funds to a Palestinian unity government, senior Israeli and American sources said.
International, regional and Palestinian banks will still be able to send funds directly to Palestinian President Mahmoud AbbasÂ’s office, as has been the case since Hamas Islamists came to power a year ago after winning a parliamentary election.
But the sources said in interviews this week that Israel and the United States were not prepared to give a green light to banks to resume transfers directly to the unity government, despite their close ties to the incoming finance minister, former World Bank official Salam Fayyad. “As long as the demands of the United States and the Quartet (of Middle East mediators) are not fulfilled, no money will be allowed to be transferred to the government itself. That’s the decision,” a senior Israeli security source involved in the effort told Reuters.
An American source close to the deliberations over the sanctions said: “The restrictions will remain in place.”
Good. Someone still has a spine.
Banks that make transfers without authorisation risk being frozen out of the US banking system. “(The new government) will have to comply with the requirements of the Quartet. Until that happens, nothing changes,” said the head of one of the largest banks in the Palestinian territories, who asked not to be named.
The banking restrictions will make it difficult for Arab and European donors to sidestep the year-old aid embargo and send money directly to the unity government, which is expected to win parliamentary approval on Saturday. The EU is studying the option of funnelling money through the new finance minister, though it is unclear how that can be accomplished if banks wonÂ’t make transfers.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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What, no jet skis, no French Brandy, no high performance automobiles? Oops, those are the measures against that other repressive regime.
Reviving the idea of unilateral withdrawal is one of the options being considered inside the Prime Minister's Office in the wake of the formation of a Palestinian Authority unity government whose platform Israel views as intransigent, senior government officials said on Thursday.
The officials said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert did not believe that Israel can afford to remain at a diplomatic standstill, and that if there were no Palestinian government with whom to negotiate a two-state solution, Israel might once more begin drawing borders on its own.
The officials' comments came as Jerusalem made clear it would not deal with the new coalition following the publication of the new PA government's guidelines. "We won't recognize or deal with the new Palestinian government until it complies with the Quartet's three principles," said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's spokeswoman Miri Eisin. "We won't even deal with or recognize members of the government who we have dealt with in the past," she said.
According to government officials, Olmert has always said he preferred a negotiated settlement, but that if this were not possible, then Israel would act unilaterally. The officials said that Olmert did not say after the war in Lebanon that his realignment plan was shelved, only that the Israeli public "did not have an appetite for it" at the time.
Asked if the Prime Minister's Office feels that the Israeli public now has regained an appetite for unilateral moves, one official asked, "Does the public have the stomach to stay forever in Judea and Samaria? Is that a better option?"
According to sources in the PMO, Israel will continue to speak with PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, but that these talks would focus on day-to-day and humanitarian issues - what one official called "small change" - not about fundamental issues. "We can't talk substance with Abbas, because there is a real question now about whom he represents," one source said. He added, however, that Israel was interested in keeping the lines of communication with him open.
Officials in the Prime Minister's Office said Olmert did not hit the phones Thursday and canvass world leaders to remain steadfast behind the Quartets' three principles - that the new PA government must recognize Israel, renounce violence, and accept previous agreements - because Israel's position on this has been consistent and is well known.
Nevertheless, the Foreign Ministry began a campaign on Thursday to keep the world from recognizing the new government. Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said, "The Palestinian government platform shows clearly that it refuses to accept the three benchmarks of the international community. Accordingly, Israel will not deal with this government and we call upon the international community to be steadfast behind its own principles and not to give recognition to this government."
Regev said that not only was there no positive momentum in the platform, there was "a clear regression in the language on a number of points."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Thursday presented the list of ministers in his new Cabinet to leader of Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas. The move paved the way for a parliamentary vote of confidence for the new government on Saturday. The unity deal between Hamas and Fatah is expected to win easy approval. ``I have handed over to the president (Abbas) the candidates for the new coalition. He has accepted that,'' Haniyeh said, adding, "We are optimistic the government will open a new era."
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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Cotabato City, Philippines - A Muslim politician, her husband and driver were killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday. The attack occurred Thursday when the victims stopped for petrol in President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat province, 960 kilometres south of Manila. Superintendent Teng Mamalinta Tucao, provincial police commander, said the gunmen opened fire at the victims' vehicle in front of the gasoline station. The victims were identified as Bai Huda Mangalen Salendab, who planned to run for mayor in Paglat town in nearby Maguindanao province; her husband, Mastur Salendab; and driver Oscar Salendab. Tucao said the politician died on the spot while her husband and driver expired while on the way to hospital. 'We are still investigating the incident,' he said. There seems to be some confusion on this:A mayoralty hopeful in Maguindanao was shot dead in an ambush by two motorcycle-riding men in a gasoline station in President Quirino, Sultan Kudarat, at around 8:25 a.m. today, Thursday. Killed on the spot were Bai Huda Omalhair Mangelen-Salendab, who was supposed to run for mayor of Paglat, Maguindanao and driver Oscar Salendab. Bai Huda, who was seated at the back of the 4 x 4 pick-up vehicle, was shot twice on the head and died instantly. As of 3:30 p.m., Bai HudaÂ’s husband, Datu Masthur Salendab, was still fighting for his life at the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in Tacurong City while the coupleÂ’s bodyguard, Abubakar Salendab, has been pronounced out of danger.
Lieutenant Colonel Julieto Ando, an army spokesman, said the killing could have been perpetrated by Bai Huda Mangalen Salendab's rivals in the mayoral race.
'This is politically motivated,' he said. 'We hope the incident will be resolved soon and there will be no more retaliation.'
Filipinos are to vote for 12 senators, more than 200 legislators and more than 17,000 local officials from provincial governors to village councillors on May 14. Philippine elections have been traditionally marred by violence and allegations of massive cheating. In the 2004 presidential and national elections, more than 140 people were killed in attacks, shootings and firefights related to the polls.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 13:15 ||
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Insurgents opened fire on villagers at a tea shop in Yala province, injuring four people.
Harware Sarumor, 53, a village headman in tambon Kae Ror in Raman district, was among the injured. The rest were two men and a woman, all of them in their 30s. Police said four insurgents, using M16 and guns, fired shots at the four villagers who were having tea at around 8.40 am. Then they threw nails on the road to slow down police. The victims were rushed to Raman hospital.
#2
The officials say they fear that he is seeking to establish himself as a terror leader on the order of Mr. Zarqawi. He said killing American soldiers in Iraq was no longer enough to convince the American public that its government should abandon what many Muslims view as a war against Islam.
It sounds like Al Qaeda thinks we're winning in Iraq, even in Mrs. Pelosi and Mr. Murtha do not.
Warning: the article does contain some of the usual NYT memes. The poor man was evicted from Palestine along with his family by the Israelis, f'r instance.
Four Syrians held by the Lebanese authorities have confessed to bombing two buses in Lebanon last month, killing three people and wounding 23, Lebanon's interior minister said on Tuesday. The blasts, which occurred minutes apart, tore through two buses traveling on a busy commuter road, killing three people and wounding 20. A higher death toll was averted because passengers from the second bus had rushed out to help the victims of the first explosion. Hassan al-Sabaa said the men were members of Fateh al-Islam, a small Palestinian group which he linked to Syrian intelligence. Fateh al-Islam broke away last year from Fateh al-Intifada, another Palestinian group. A fifth man, also Syrian, was on the run, Sabaa said.
"It is no secret that Fateh al-Islam is Fateh al-Intifada and Fateh al-Intifada is part of the Syrian intelligence-security apparatus," Sabaa told reporters.
Picture: Shaker al-Absy (R), head of Fateh al-Islam, holds a news conference with unidentified colleagues in al-Bared refugee camp near the port-city of Tripoli in north Lebanon March 13, 2007. Fateh al-Islam denied any link to the bus bombs in the Christian village of Ain Alaq. The sign on the wall reads, " There is no God but Allah, Prophet Mohammad is the messenger of Allah".
A Fatah Islam spokesman who identified himself as Abu Salim told the Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. that the group was innocent. "It is impossible for us to carry out such an act," he said
The bombing on February13 was a day before the second anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, whose killing many Lebanese blame on Syria. Damascus denies involvement. The bombing had been added to a list of attacks being investigated by a U.N. inquiry into the Hariri killing. Information Minister Ghazi Aridi said the men had been instructed to carry out the attack before February 14. "They said that their bosses had asked them to be ready to carry out another operation," Aridi said, adding that the target was to be an office of the Kataeb Party, a Christian faction which is part of the anti-Syrian governing coalition.
Pierre Gemayel, a cabinet minister and Kataeb leader, was assassinated in November. Ain Alaq is in the area of Bikfaya, home to Gemayel's father and Kataeb leader, former President Amin Gemayel. Security sources said earlier that six members of Fateh al-Islam had confessed to the Ain Alaq bombs.
Fateh al-Islam first emerged in the Palestinian refugee camp of Bedawi in north Lebanon. Governing coalition leaders said the February 13 bombing was designed to deter their supporters from attending a Beirut rally to mark the Hariri killing and to bolster their camp against a political challenge by the opposition. The opposition includes Hezbollah and Amal, which are both close allies of Syria .
Ring Leader
The security officials told The Associated Press that the ring leader of the plot was a Syrian, Mustafa Sayour, who had confessed to planting the bombs.
In addition to the arrests, police officers confiscated a "large quantity of explosives" that were hidden in the Beirut apartment of Mustafa Sayour
Members of the network, according to the source, infiltrated into Lebanon from Syria last November under the cover of the so-called "Fatah-Islam" group, which was set up by Syrian intelligence with the objective of carrying out terrorist attacks to destabilize Lebanon and block the ratification of the international tribunal which would try suspects in the 2005 Hariri murder and related crimes.
Absy is wanted in Jordan for murdering Laurence Foley an American diplomat in 2002, but Syria has refused to hand him over to the Jordanians .
Posted by: Fred ||
03/16/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The Syrian/Iran connection needs busting asap!!!!
#1
"Major General Achraf Rifi, general director of Lebanon's Internal Security Forces, says the government does not have authority to enter a Palestinian camp — even though Abssi is now wanted in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria on terrorism charges. To enter the camps, he said, We would need an agreement from other Arab countries."
#2
Lemme see - the Lebanese army has to ask permission from other Arab countries to go kill pick up a wanted terrorist (including wanted by Lebanon) ON THEIR OWN LAND.
It's not an embassy, which is considered the sovereign territory of the embassy's country, it's a terrorist "refugee" camp ON THEIR OWN SUPPOSEDLY SOVEREIGN TERRITORY.
Tell me again, General, why you pretend Lebanon is a sovereign nation rather than the loser puppet and garbage dump of those "other Arab countries"? And why you think we should pretend it too?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/16/2007 15:39 Comments ||
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#3
Lebanon is a sovereign nation rather than the loser puppet and garbage dump of those "other Arab countries
#6
WAFF.com > NZHERALD > IRAN HELPS HAMAS BRACE FOR ATTACK FROM ISRAEL. Article claims that both HAMAS + HIZBOLLAH are now engaged in strategic partnership wid Iran despite one being SUNNI + other being a SHIA org. Iran intends to use them as PINCERS agz Israel thru Lebanon. Also, GAZA > up to 30 tonnes of explosives smuggled into Gaza from EGYPT last year mostly via myriad underground tunnel networks - Gaza may hold up to 120,000 combat infantry weapons within its small land area.
It was a dark and stormy night Deep in a violent and lawless slum just north of this coastal city, 12 men whose faces were shrouded by scarves drilled with Kalashnikovs. In unison, they lunged in one direction, turned and lunged in another. "Allah-u akbar," the men shouted in praise to God as they fired their machine guns into a wall.
The men belong to a new militant Islamic organization called Fatah al Islam, whose leader, a fugitive Palestinian named Shakir al-Abssi, has set up operations in a refugee camp here where he trains fighters and spreads the ideology of Al Qaeda.
He has solid terrorist credentials. A former associate of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda of Mesopotamia who was killed last summer, Abssi was sentenced to death in absentia along with Zarqawi in the 2002 assassination of an American diplomat in Jordan, Laurence Foley. Just four months after arriving here from Syria, Abssi has a militia that intelligence officials estimate at 150 men and an arsenal of explosives, rockets and even an antiaircraft gun.
During a recent interview with The New York Times, Abssi displayed his makeshift training facility and his strident message that America needed to be punished for its presence in the Islamic world. "The only way to achieve our rights is by force," he said. "This is the way America deals with us. So when the Americans feel that their lives and their economy are threatened, they will know that they should leave."
Abssi's organization is the image of what intelligence officials have warned is the re-emergence of Al Qaeda. Shattered after 2001, the organization founded by Osama bin Laden is now reforming as an alliance of small groups around the world that share a fundamentalist interpretation of Islam but have developed their own independent terror capabilities, these officials have said. If Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who has acknowledged directing the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and a string of other terror plots, represents the previous generation of Qaeda leaders, Abssi and others like him represent the new.
#3
So the NY Slimes once again overtly assists the terrorists by providing a forum. Just once, these "purveyors of pander" could actually provide coordinates or other intel to those who could put it to good use. Ironically, this would do more to boost circulation than any of their Times Select schemes.
#5
...Yeah, yeah, line forms to the left.
Just more of the MSM meme that ANY resistance just creates new terrorists.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
03/16/2007 8:51 Comments ||
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#6
Let's see. Giving a news conference in Tripoli to the NYT. Seems the Lebanese government isn't even pretending to search for him. A LBG could have scored a two-fer.
Posted by: ed ||
03/16/2007 8:54 Comments ||
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#7
Oh goodie. We were running out of targets. Nice to see some fresh meat.
#3
Fred, please trace the foregoing post that was falsely made in my name. My admiration for Ernie Kovacs could never overcome the adoration I feel for womankind at any time.
Let me put it this way, GK. I have a cigar box collection of over 10,000 units in total plus encyclopedic books on labels and rings. For now, we'll leave out the variety of unsmoked three dimensional hand carved Turkish meerschaum pipes, solid amber cigar holders, metal Camel, Chesterfield and Lucky Strikes cigarette tins, and other exceptionally rare examples of tobacciana in my collection. A cardboard Dutch Masters rendition rates less than even the cheapest Robert Burns or White Owl piece of crap my Danish grandfather ever gave me. Even he wouldn't smoke that kind of trash.
Let me know when you're ready to discuss varnished solid mahogany H. Upmann's or Partagas boxes with brass hinges and closures. Then we can go on to talk about Monte Cristo Cubanos.
#5
Zenster.... all I can say is, cough, cough cough, hack, weeze....hack, hack, spit. I have sold my entire collection and walk-in humidor to help pay for.. hack, hack, hack, this oxygen tank and cart, but I still have a life size wooden Indian out in the gararge. Might you be interested?
#7
Not to change the subject, but are you sure that's not Julie Newmar?
Posted by: Bobby ||
03/16/2007 5:39 Comments ||
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#8
Nope, Julie Newmar was much hotter. Almost looks like that former Miss America actress. She was on Barnaby Jones, can't think..
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 7:36 Comments ||
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#9
OT: I just caught the tail end of a local (DC) news story. A 26 year old Beltway Sniper lookalike was being arrested for beating to death a man after he refused to buy his "religious" CDs. Hmmmm, were they Amish CDs? Need more info, but....
#11
At some point people are more or less all at once going to decide enough is enough. It will be a Rosa Parks moment with a spicey salsa Reconquista angle.
#12
He was a "christian" nutcase: A Texas man accused of fatally beating a stranger at a New Jersey Turnpike rest stop considered himself a prophet and believed a CD he made would become part of the Bible. Brian White, 26, of Humble, Texas, was charged with murder Thursday, after he approached a 75-year-old Russian immigrant and asked him to buy a religious CD. When he was rebuffed, White savagely beat him on the head with a large rock, state police said. He then fled from the scene and led state police on a 70-mile chase before he was captured.
On his Web site MySpace, White wrote: ". . . my Album which I believe will be part of The next century Bible is called the Book of Brian. . . . I dont go around trying to ruin peoples life, I just obey God." White, who left Houston for New York about 2 a.m. Wednesday, state police said, had been troubled lately but didn't seem dangerous, his family said. "He's a Christian guy. He made lots of Christian CDs. My son has never been involved in anything . . .," his mother Laverne Cavitt said, her voice trailing off into sobs.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/16/2007 9:48 Comments ||
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#13
At the rest stop was Michail J. Makarenko, 75, of Virginia, and his interpreter, who were traveling to northern New Jersey and New York City to visit family, state police said.
Makarenko was an anti-communist activist who had spent 11 years as a political prisoner in the former Soviet Union for displaying avant-garde art in a gallery, said Lee Edwards, of Washington, D.C., an associate of Makarenko's.
This sucks. Thank you for your courage, Mr. Makarenko. You deserved better.
#14
My bad. Jumped the gun -- I thought it looked like SJS. Must be my Islamaphobia kicking in.
Posted by: Captain Lewis ||
03/16/2007 9:58 Comments ||
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#15
zenster; what is my tin Romeo & Julieta de Alvarez y Garcia Habana emblam with Push button color photo of the loving pair worth? Has only two cigars inside and they must be very old.
#17
In case you want to post OT theread please don't spoil the Good Morning article. You diostract me from the contempltaon of the esquisite Nancy Kovac
#18
Damn--this is one of the purtiest "Good Morning" models we've had, and the thread turns to Brian the Bible Beater and cigars (and not even cigars in the "Monica" sense)? I'm sorely disappointed...
Posted by: Dar ||
03/16/2007 12:08 Comments ||
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#19
Steve - that would be Lee Meriwether...who was hot, but not as sultry as Ms. Newmar
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/16/2007 14:27 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
Afghan police have said a Taliban was killed and another was wounded in a gun battle with police force in the southern city of Kandahar. The clash erupted when two armed Taliban insurgents attacked a police foot patrol in the city, wounding one policeman, local police officer Mohammad Nasib said. The wounded Taliban was taken into custody, he said. 
Two people who were suspected to have links with the killing of two Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) personnel at Amin Bazar on March 3 were killed in crossfire during a shootout between their accomplices and members of Rab in Savar early yesterday. 
Tehran, 16 March (AKI) - A high official with Iran's Revolutionary Guard, the Pasdaran, is still missing after three weeks and the central command of the Pasdaran are convinced US forces are detaining him, reports said Friday. Mohammad Mohsen Shirazi, a deputy commander with the Pasdaran's special corps charged with missions outside the country, the Quds Brigade, had allegedly been posted in Iraq on a secret mission. 
Iraqi army soldiers, manning a check point, stopped the convoy of vehicles after determining they were illegal based on fake documents the drivers were carrying. 
BAGHDAD - Car bombs and shootings claimed at least 27 lives in Iraq on Thursday. Eight people were killed, two of them policemen, and 29 were wounded when a suicide bomber rammed his car into a joint Iraqi military and police checkpoint in central BaghdadÂ’s Kharmana Square, security officials said.
Two suicide bombers have rammed their cars into two checkpoints in Baghdad, killing at least 10 people. 
JERUSALEM - Israel and the United States intend to use restrictions on banks to limit the ability of donors to transfer funds to a Palestinian unity government, senior Israeli and American sources said.
Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas on Thursday presented the list of ministers in his new Cabinet to leader of Palestinian Authority Mahmud Abbas. The move paved the way for a parliamentary vote of confidence for the new government on Saturday. The unity deal between Hamas and Fatah is expected to win easy approval. ``I have handed over to the president (Abbas) the candidates for the new coalition. He has accepted that,'' Haniyeh said, adding, "We are optimistic the government will open a new era."
Cotabato City, Philippines - A Muslim politician, her husband and driver were killed in an attack by unidentified gunmen in the southern Philippines, officials said Friday. The attack occurred Thursday when the victims stopped for petrol in President Quirino town in Sultan Kudarat province, 960 kilometres south of Manila. Superintendent Teng Mamalinta Tucao, provincial police commander, said the gunmen opened fire at the victims' vehicle in front of the gasoline station. The victims were identified as Bai Huda Mangalen Salendab, who planned to run for mayor in Paglat town in nearby Maguindanao province; her husband, Mastur Salendab; and driver Oscar Salendab. Tucao said the politician died on the spot while her husband and driver expired while on the way to hospital. 'We are still investigating the incident,' he said. 
Four Syrians held by the Lebanese authorities have confessed to bombing two buses in Lebanon last month, killing three people and wounding 23, Lebanon's interior minister said on Tuesday. The blasts, which occurred minutes apart, tore through two buses traveling on a busy commuter road, killing three people and wounding 20. A higher death toll was averted because passengers from the second bus had rushed out to help the victims of the first explosion. Hassan al-Sabaa said the men were members of Fateh al-Islam, a small Palestinian group which he linked to Syrian intelligence. Fateh al-Islam broke away last year from Fateh al-Intifada, another Palestinian group. A fifth man, also Syrian, was on the run, Sabaa said.
