The commander of American forces here said today that they might cross the border into Pakistan to capture or kill Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters widely believed to have found sanctuary there. In an interview at his headquarters here, Maj. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck of the 10th Mountain Division said chasing Al Qaeda and the Taliban into Pakistan would be a "last resort" carried out with the approval of Pakistani leaders. Maybe as long they're there, they can bump off a few of the Taliban high command by accident.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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American military officials today released 12 detainees held for two weeks in Kandahar on suspicion of being Iranians or Iranian agents, having concluded that they all are Afghan. Of the suspected Iranians, at least 10 are members of Hezb-i-Wahdat, a party made up of Shiite Muslims of the Hazara ethnic group, which has had close ties to Iran; like most parties here, it comes with soldiers. False alarm. Or another Gul Agha plot against Ismail Khan?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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Prosecutors in New York say 23 people have been charged with trying to steal funds meant for the families of people killed in the World Trade Center attack. They are accused of falsely claiming that family members had died in the 11 September attack so they could claim money from charities and other agencies. Authorities said that 15 of the defendants - who had filed false death certificates - had received a total of more than $760,000 while the other eight had been arrested before they had received any money. The New York State Attorney General, Eliot Spitzer, said the cases marked a new low in moral depravity and grotesque self-interest. No! Really? Who'da thunkit? My favorite was the guy who said his wife had been shopping at the WTC and was no longer with us. Yes, it was sad. How'd she get there? She took a taxi. From New Orleans.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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United Jehad Council (UJC), an alliance of 15 militant groups, has rejected Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayeeâs plea for participation in the assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir. It has also asked the state government employees to keep away from any poll duty. The decision to reject Vajpayeeâs plea was taken at a meeting held at Muzaffarabad yesterday with Syed Salahuddin in the chair. Representatives of all the groups attended the meeting. "Our struggle is not for elections in which we donât believe. We are fighting for freedom from Indian yoke and the struggle will continue till the goal is achieved", a spokesman said. He warned of intensified attacks against the security force targets. Mister Chairman is head of Hizbul Mujahideen, the Jamaat-i-Islami gunny arm. Muzaffarabad, we might add, is the capital of Pak-occupied Kashmir. It's not in India, or even in Indian Kashmir.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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The chief of Jamiat Ulema-i-Pakistan and Milli Yakjehti Council, Maulana Shah Ahmed Noorani, has forewarned the military rulers of impending harm to the sovereignty of the country if they failed to hold general elections on time. At a meeting with Pakistan Muslim League president Pir Sabir Shah, he urged the rulers to abide by the Supreme Court verdict. The two leaders discussed an alliance of the religio-political parties. The JUP chief accused the government of promoting secular culture at the behest of the United States. He vowed to resist anti-Islam and anti-Pakistan moves with a stronger, grand alliance of religious and right wing parties. One man's secular state appears to be another man's den of raving religious lunatics.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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Former caretaker Prime Minister and chief of National Peoples Party, Ghulam Mustafa Jatoi called on Jama'at-i-Islami duce Qazi Hussain Ahmad at Mansoora. They discussed plans to forge an alliance between Majlas-i-Amal and National Peoples Party. Later a delegation of Jamaat Al Dawa comprising Hafiz Khalid Waleed, Haji Muhammad Ashraf, Maulana Ameer Hamza and Yehya Mujahid also called on Qazi Hussain Ahmad for discussions.
Majlis-i-Amal is an umbrella organization of eight religious parties with ties of burning love to Lashkar-i-Taiba, Sipah-i-Sahaba and the other usual suspects. It represents the core groups making up the Pak-Afghan Defense Council. It is headed, coincidentally, by Maulana Shah Ahmad Naurani, head of the Jamaat-i-Ulema Pakistan.
I'm not sure, but I think Maulana Ameer Hamza is the Mir Hamza who was one one of the signatories on Binny's Jihad Against Jews and Crusaders. He was the secretary of the Jamiat-ul-Ulema-e-Pakistan at the time.
Jamaat-al-Dawa is the umbrella organization that covers Lashkar-e-Taiba. The umbrella group changed its name from Markaz al-Dawa wal-Irshad in December in an attempt to thwart the US freeze on its funds when Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad were declared terrorist organizations. Curiously, it wasn't banned when its component organizations were.
Hafiz Khalid Walid is the head of Lashkar.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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From David Warren Online:
In an exquisite piece of diplomatic choreography, Colin Powell, the U.S. secretary of state, declared the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, under Mr. Arafat's command through the Fatah faction, to be an official "foreign terrorist organization" within hours of the suicide bombing it claimed, at the corner of Agrippas and King George St. in Jerusalem. President Bush paused in El Paso, to express his disappointment with Mr. Arafat's latest failure. And Gen. Zinni let Mr. Arafat personally understand the U.S. was aware the murderer, Mohammed Hashaika, had been released from Palestinian police detention in Ramallah at Mr. Arafat's instruction. If you haven't already, read the entire article. Link is via William Quick, whom you should also read if you don't already. He got it from VodkaPundit, who got it from...
This is not analysis, its news. Warren is not some Canuk yahoo who reads the Toronto Sun and then posts some salient thoughts on the world beyond the next hill. When he writes:
"[Arafat] is instead staring down a U.S. administration that is about to decide whether it can live with him any more, and frankly doubts that it can. "
Warren actually heard these frank doubts from his sources in DC. Posted by Tom Roberts 3/22/2002 11:07:27 AM
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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A suicide bomber set off a massive explosion in the heart of downtown Jerusalem, killing at least three Israelis and wounding about 40 others. Second day in a row. They'll keep coming until Zinni's out of sight. Is that three or four since he showed up?
The blast had quick consequences on the diplomatic front, threatening to roll back progress that stemmed from Vice President Dick Cheney's attempts over the past weekend to broker a cease-fire in the violence that has exploded in the region over the past 18 months. That's what it's supposed to do.
Israel suspended a scheduled U.S.-sponsored security meeting with Palestinian officials, while the Bush administration ratcheted up its pressure on Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat to control Palestinian terror groups. More yap-yap and deploring isn't pressure. The 82nd Airborne's pressure. B52s are pressure.
The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military wing of Arafat's Fatah organization, claimed responsibility for the attack. Not Hamas or Islamic Jihad, but Yasser's own stable of thugs. Ain't that interestin'?
Appearing before cameras several hours after the attack, Arafat said, "We strongly condemn the operation that happened in West Jerusalem today, especially that was directed against the innocent Israeli civilians. We will take all immediate measures." I heard on the radio that Powell told him he had to condemn the boomers himself, no spokesmen, and that he had to do it both in English and in Arabic. Fat lot of good it'll do.
Arafat made no mention of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in his statement, but promised to arrest "those who stand behind it. We will not save any effort in doing so. ... We will continue exerting maximum efforts to ensure the success of the mission" of U.S. Middle East envoy Anthony Zinni to negotiate a cease-fire between Israelis and Palestinians. Remember the 33 terror Bigs that Yasser was supposed to arrest? He rounded up ten of them - or maybe it was 17, the number changed from day to day. They were sprung at the first excuse. At one point, Hamas was paying a $3000 bounty to guys to serve some time in jug in place of the boomers and snuffies.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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A deadly car bombing near the U.S. Embassy in Lima hasn't deterred President Bush from his planned visit to Peru. Police searched for clues after at least nine people were killed and 12 others injured when a car blew up in front of a bank in a shopping center about four blocks from the embassy. Two embassy security guards, at least one police officer and a boy skating in the shopping center's parking lot were among those killed in the blast. Bush, who leaves Thursday on a four-day Latin American trip, said the explosion would not affect his itinerary. "Two-bit terrorists aren't going to prevent me from doing what we need to do," Bush said.
No one has claimed responsibility for the explosion, but Bush indicated the United States had information about who was behind the blast. "We might have an idea," Bush said in a brief conversation with CNN's John King in the Oval Office after a meeting with Vice President Dick Cheney. "They have been around before." Senior administration officials said Bush was speaking of a preliminary belief that the Shining Path movement was responsible for the attack. "Two bit terrorists." I like that. The Bad Guys are turning themselves insides out to get to Bush -- there's no doubt in my mind. If they're really unlucky, they'll succeed. At that point the country will go nutz and we'll start killing every fundo we can lay hands on, whether they're Marxist fundos or Islamonutz.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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Two school children were killed and five others were injured, two of them critically, in an explosion when they were on their way to school. The explosive device targetted the security forces. Snuffies planted it on the main road near Tekipora and detonated it as they noticed the movement of a convoy of army personnel. The troops escaped unhurt, but a group of seven students going to school on foot were hit. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the explosion so far. That was about typically heroic of them, wasn't it?
Crazed gunmen attacked police at two places within a span of 25 minutes in downtown Srinagar killing one and injuring three.
One gunny was waxed in a shootout near Srinagar. The deader turned out to be the cousin of Dr Nayeem, ex-chief commander of Al Badr group who himself was iced in an encounter recently.
Two unidentified snuffies were killed in a gunfight with securitymen in forest area of Varmul district.
Unidentified gunmen bumped off Abdul Aziz Malla near Sopur.
Reports from Varmul said four counter-insurgents intercepted a truck on Srinagar Bandipore road and tossed the passengers while demanding the driver to drop them at Bandipore. On his refusal, they shot up the vehicle, injuring Nisar Ahmad Mir. He was rushed to a Srinagar hospital. These are the Muslim Brotherhood Bad Guys again.
Security forces apprehended three Lashkar-e-Taiba from Handwara. They are being questioned. Three other Lashkar-e-Taiba were among four people killed in Jammu where torched 25 houses.
Troops came upon a group of armed and dangerous loons during an operation in Rajouri district. The gunnies opened fire and the coppers retaliated killing the three Lashkar-e-Taiba. Two civilians were also injured in the incident.
A woman was snuffed by militants in Rajouri district. Her identity could not be ascertained immediately. Just another day of murder, arson and a few dead kiddies.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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Attackers threw grenades and opened fire on a leader of the Pakistan People's Party in Lahore, killing his guard and driver and wounding five people, including himself. PPP leader Mian Akhlaq Guddu was on his way to a nearby market when three men intercepted their car and hurled three hand-grenades at them. One of the grenades smashed through the windscreen of their car, but it did not explode. One of the two grenades burst outside the car, leaving all the car occupants and three passersby wounded. The attackers then opened fire at the car and ran away. The condition of the PPP leader and his guard was stated to be critical. The guard with bullet injuries in the head was later shifted to the Lahore General Hospital. Paks are swinging into their election cycle a little early. Perv doesn't announce for the presidency until day after tomorrow.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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The United States is to formally designate the Palestinian Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades a "foreign terrorist organization," imposing financial and travel restrictions on the group, US officials said on Thursday. Secretary of State Colin Powell notified Congress of his intention to take the step. Oh. Say it ain't so, Mahmud! If it's not a terror organization, what the hell is it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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Authorities in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir have arrested six suspected activists of the Harkatul Mujahedin terrorist group. They were arrested in Muzaffarabad and were being held in a local jail. The arrests come in the wake of a grenade attack on a church in Islamabad on Sunday which left five people dead and dozens of others injured. Muzaffarabad deputy commissioner Mahmoodul Hassan Raja confirmed the detentions but declined to give further details. You don't play ball, you get jugged. At least for awhile.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
03/21/2002 ||
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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.
