Hi there, !
Today Sun 06/23/2002 Sat 06/22/2002 Fri 06/21/2002 Thu 06/20/2002 Wed 06/19/2002 Tue 06/18/2002 Mon 06/17/2002 Archives
Rantburg
533287 articles and 1860659 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 22 articles and 0 comments as of 10:30.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area:                    
Abu Sabaya - doorknob dead!
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [2] 
0 [9] 
0 [2] 
0 [2] 
0 [2] 
0 [2] 
0 [2] 
1 00:00 Andrew Ian Dodge [2] 
0 [2] 
4 00:00 RG Fulton [2] 
0 [2] 
0 [2] 
0 [2] 
1 00:00 Mary Lu [7] 
0 [2] 
0 [2] 
0 [] 
0 [2] 
1 00:00 Steve White [] 
2 00:00 Fred [2] 
0 [2] 
2 00:00 Anonymous [] 
'Pardon me, dear, have we been introduced?'
Taiwanese construction worker Hsu Tse-han, 32, found out after marrying a Filipina that she was not the woman a matchmaking agency had arranged for him to marry. Worse, his wife is now pregnant but cannot leave for Taiwan to be with him. Her visa application was rejected after Mr Hsu reported that he had married a woman with a different name. The Taiwanese man was to wed Ms Mary Canque but his matchmaking agency set him up with another lady, Ms Jenny Danouze, when he visited the Philippines in March to meet his bride for the first time. Days later, the couple got married in a group ceremony arranged by the agency. The Chinese-language United Daily News quoted Mr Hsu as saying that he did not speak English and, in his eagerness to get married, he did not check his bride's name. When he returned to Taiwan alone to register the marriage and get his wife's visa, he filed the paperwork for the woman he was supposed to have met, Ms Canque.
They checked into the HoneyMoon Hotel as Mr and Mrs John Smith, so he didn't even notice then. Apparently Jenny filled his bill, since there's a little Hsu on the way. Wonder if she speaks Chinese? They seem to have found some way to communicate... But wait! What happened to Mary? She didn't run off with that guy, Stan, did she? I mean, she's way too good for the likes of him...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 01:44 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Abu Sabaya bumped off...
FoxNews reports the Filipinos have iced Abu Sabaya. Another one bites the dust.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 08:22 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan
Osama in Afghanistan: French paper
French daily Le Figaro says that after a long investigation by its reporters, it strongly believes that Osama bin Laden is alive and well and living in Afghanistan.
After a nine-month investigation, Rantburg believes Binny is living in Peshawar, in Fazlur Rehman's guest quarters. Or he could be in Lahore, at Hamid Gul's place. But it could be that Samiul Haq put him up for a while in Quetta, but then when he was able to get on his feet he moved out and got his own apartment. But it could be that he went to Chechnya — I don't think so, but it's possible. But Figaro could be right, too.
Renaud Girard cites sources in America as well as French intelligence to back up his claim that not only is Osama alive, also that he's living in Afghanistan. Renaud Girard attributes the localisation of Osama to retired Pakistan Army General Hamid Gul, the former head of ISI.
Oh, sure. Hamid's gonna come right out and say, "Yep. He's upstairs taking a nap right now!" isn't he? That might be why he said something like, "No, no! He's in, uh... Afghanistan. Yep. That's where he is, by golly..."
Gul, described by Le Figaro as "close to the Islamic movements," is quoted by Mr Girard as claiming that as far as he's concerned Osama bin Laden remained in Afghanistan after he disappeared from public view last November.
Hamid is "close to the Islamic movements" like brick is close to mortar.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 09:41 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Osama is in Tijuana, Mexico, waiting for his green card.
Posted by: RG Fulton || 06/20/2002 17:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Osama is in an Afghan cave crushed flat as a card and turning green.
Posted by: Anonymous || 06/20/2002 19:23 Comments || Top||


Axis of Evil
Saddam gives security, Baath party power to kill opponents
President Saddam Hussein has ordered his security services and members of his ruling Baath party to shoot and kill anyone suspected of planning "hostile action" against his government. Most party members, who according to official statistics number about one million, carry guns and mount armed patrols in residential neighborhoods throughout the country. But their loyalty is not certain as many of them pointed their guns at Saddam's troops during uprisings that took place shortly after the 1991 Gulf War over Kuwait. A source said Saddam has taken the precautionary measures to prevent a repetition of the post-Gulf War uprising, which saw the collapse of his administration in 14 out of Iraq's 18 provinces.
We do tend to forget how close we actually came to seeing the back of him, don't we?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 09:41 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Four Iraqis killed, 10 wounded in US-British raids
Four Iraqis were killed and 10 wounded when US and British warplanes bombed southern Iraq on Thursday, a military spokesman in Baghdad said.
Man, that's gotta be tough. If we don't bomb 'em, Sammy's guys are gonna shoot 'em.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:49 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Foreign diplomats visit different places
Honest to God, that's the headline...
Diplomatic envoys and embassy officials of Bulgaria, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Iran, Laos, Mongolia, Pakistan, Poland, Romania, Britain and Vietnam in Pyongyang visited the Revolutionary Museum of the Ministry of Culture and the Korean Film Studio yesterday on the occasion of the 38th anniversary of leader Kim Jong Il's start of work at the central committee of the Workers' Party of Korea.
Oh, be still, my beating heart...
The guests laid bouquets before the statue of President Kim Il Sung standing at the studio and paid tribute to him.
Did they sacrifice a goat?
Being briefed on the great exploits Kim Jong Il performed by achieving the greatest success in the Juche-based arts, the guests looked round historic relics and materials at the museum. Then the guests were shown round the eye-catching mock-up location streets.
When they returned to their respective embassies, all the notables took to their beds, just plumb tuckered out by the excitement.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 06:44 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
White House Briefly Evacuated
The White House was briefly evacuated late Wednesday after a small private plane flew into restricted air space around the executive mansion. The Secret Service ordered staff and reporters to leave the building. Officials said the president remained inside the White House and was protected by security procedures, but they did not elaborate. The evacuation lasted only about 15 minutes. Two F-16 military jets were scrambled from nearby Andrews Air Force Base, when air traffic controllers were unable to immediately contact the pilot of the single-engine aircraft. After the plane was contacted and identified, the military jets followed it to Richmond, Virginia, about 160 kilometers south of Washington. Officials say the pilot may not have realized he had violated restricted air space and that the incident is being treated as an accident.
They seem to have that part of home defense under control. I heard the F-16s were on him before he was close to the White House.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 09:41 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fred: Reports said the plane was about 4 miles away. The pilot explained that he had gotten lost in a storm. Sounds reasonable. Mary Lu
Posted by: Mary Lu || 06/20/2002 10:37 Comments || Top||

#2  Guess it still needs some work...
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2002 21:27 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pak to ban militancy and extremism at madrassas
Pakistan's religious affairs minister said on Thursday the government would soon pass laws banning the teaching of militancy and extremism at the nation's 8,000 Islamic religious schools. Under the new laws, clerics found to be involved in fanning sectarian hatred and extremism in the schools would face prison terms of two years, said Dr Mehmood Ghazi.
Haven't we heard something like this before? Or maybe we didn't...
On Wednesday, the government said all madrassas, long considered a breeding ground for Islamic extremism, would have register with an oversight board or face closure.
I dunno. It sounds pretty familiar...
Most Many senior officials of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime graduated from madrassas in Pakistan, and hundreds of students went to Afghanistan last year to fight alongside the Islamic militia against the US-led coalition.
Some are still there. Some will be there until the last trumpet.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:46 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FOLLOWUP: From the Markaz ad Dawa website, more details -
"The cabinet, he said also approved the promulgation of Madrassa (religious seminary) Registration Ordinance 2002 under which the religious seminaries will be able to benefit from the national education resources.

The Madaris registered with Pakistan Madrassa Education Board and respective provincial Madrassa Education Boards will be eligible to receive Zakat or any financial assistance, grant, donation and other benefit from federal government or provincial government, he said.

The minister said that the madrassas receiving funds will be required to maintain accounts and submit annual reports to the concerned boards.

"No registered madrassa will be allowed to receive any grant donation or aid from any foreign source or allow admission to foreign students or make appointment of teachers without valid work visa and NOC from the Interior Ministry", he said."
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2002 13:17 Comments || Top||

#2  In related news, the U.S. Department of Education announced today that students attending either militia academies or Chomskyite teach-ins would be eligible for federal student grants and loans. No wait, the latter group already gets these, they just need to attend Berkeley or Harvard. I guess the Paks are just copying us :-)

Regards,
Posted by: Steve White || 06/20/2002 14:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Yeah, but the important part on that one is that if furriners can't fund the madrassahs, that'd cut the Soddies out. That would be significant. It'd also cause the Pak fundos to turn themselves inside out with indignation, until they figured how to funnel the money through themselves so it was "domestic" funding.
Posted by: Fred || 06/20/2002 14:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Pakistan also legalized "Islamic Banking" last week. The Jamaatis played the interest ("riba") free tune, and Mushy danced to it. But why would a sensible banker loan out risk money, if there was no possibility of benefit to the bank? We shouldn't subsidize Jamaati social idiocy.
Posted by: RG Fulton || 06/20/2002 17:16 Comments || Top||


Pak police arrest 7 terrorists for consulate bombing
Pakistani police have taken seven men into custody in connection with last week's deadly car bombing against the US Consulate and last month's attack that killed 11 French engineers. Officials said the seven belong to the Sunni Muslim extremist Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group. The group had been known for attacks against Shiite Muslims, but authorities suspect it may have expanded its targets to include foreigners because of anger over the US-led war against terrorism.
They said earlier that Jhangvi might have folded into Lashkar-i-Omar...
Police said two of them - believed to be senior Lashkar-e-Jhangvi figures - were detained several days ago and the others on Wednesday. A cache of explosives and weapons, including 90 Kalashnikov assault rifles, were confiscated in the second raid.
An armory with 90 AKs in kinda hard to explain, I'd think...
None of the seven has been charged.
Why the hell not?
However, the officials said the men were being questioned in connection with Friday's blast at the US Consulate which killed 12 Pakistanis and wounded 50 people, as well as the May 8 suicide bombing in front of a luxury hotel that killed 11 French engineers and three other people, including the bomber.
Well, I can only hope they're using the heavy-duty truncheons on them.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 11:07 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Thakur admits he sent money to J&K
Britain-based Kashmiri separatist leader Ayub Thakur, who is accused of funding militants in Jammu and Kashmir, on Tuesday admitted that his organisation Mercy Universal had sent Rs 500,000 to Srinagar in last couple of months for "charity work" and claimed that the money was meant for destitute women. Thakur, president of the World Kashmir Freedom Movement (WKFM) said the money was meant for buying 800 sewing machines for widows.
Where those the 7.62mm sewing machines, or the 5.56mm with the armor-piercing bobbins?
Mercy Universal, a registered charitable organisation, of which Thakur is a trustee, is reportedly being investigated by Scotland Yard and the British Charity Commission for allegedly funding Kashmiri militants. Thakur, however, refused to comment on the investigations. " You should ask them....I assure you that they all know that I have not committed any violation of law. Every penny has been spent on charity." The charity organisation has followed the British laws he added. He also said that the funds were channelled through one Imtiaz Bazaz who is now in the custody of Indian police.
"So it wudn't me. Couldna been me. It was all Imtiaz' fault..."
He said, "Bazaz had been recommended by the charity's office in Srinagar." He had similarly told Hindustan Times a few days ago that his organisation WKFM never sent any money to any politician.
Only to pious holy men, men with turbans...
He averred that some Indian medical institutes also wanted his charity to fund their mobile clinics, each costing about £40,000. Funds could not be sent because no channel was available.
So he spent the money on some 23mm antiaircraft baking pans that could be converted to antitank blenders.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 11:18 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


International
Bomb Kills Briton in Saudi Arabia
A car bomb explosion killed a British banker in the Saudi capital on Thursday. The official Saudi Press Agency said the victim's four-wheel-drive vehicle exploded. In London, the Foreign Office said the explosion happened in the street outside a residential compound. Most Westerners in Saudi Arabia live in heavily guarded high-walled compounds. A Foreign Office spokesman identified the dead man as Simon Veness, a banker. He worked for Al Bank Al Saudi Al Fransi.
One less infidel to have around. Good thing there aren't any al-Qaeda in Soddy Arabia.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 09:41 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This poor guy prolly had the misfortune to be the deposits manager on the Al Qaeda account at the Al Bank. "Gee, Mr. bin Laden, we really hate to tell you this, but you're overdrawn and ..." KA-BOOM!

Regards,
Posted by: Steve White || 06/20/2002 14:07 Comments || Top||


Top cops say Europe faces inevitable terror attack
Top European security chiefs said on Wednesday a terror assault on Europe was almost inevitable, and the next attack on the West could be nuclear. David Veness, the head of Britain's anti-terrorist police, said a nuclear or biological attack was "sadly the next logical step", while the director of the European Union's police agency, Europol, said it was a question of "when and where" not "if", an attack would occur in Europe. "We are talking about attacks beyond macro casualties. This, I'm afraid, represents a step we can all anticipate," Veness said at a high-level international crime conference in London. "Since September 11, we need to add in the dimension of the CBRN (chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear) threat."
"Non, non! Couldn't happen here! Us Euros are much more civilized than those Merkins are. See? We even gave some money to Yasser..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:52 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Alas it will probably be in London. I mean, after all, why would a towel-head want to bomb Paris or Brussels? Why would you want to blow up your freinds?
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge || 06/21/2002 4:13 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Arafat Calls for Halt to Attacks
Yasser Arafat appealed to Palestinian "militias" Thursday to halt attacks on Israeli civilians, after two suicide bombings over two days killed 26 Israelis and prompted Israel to send troops back into five West Bank towns.
"Cheese, you guys! Knock it off! Next time they're gonna martyr me!"
The back-to-back bombings in Jerusalem prompted President Bush to put his prescription for Palestinian statehood on hold, but he remained confident that Mideast peace could be achieved. Bush has repeatedly demanded that Arafat do more to stop terror attacks, as a step toward resuming peace efforts.
The bombings were designed to put the announcement on hold, so they accomplished their purpose.
Arafat condemned attacks on Israeli civilians in a statement Thursday and said shootings and bombings "must be completely halted." Otherwise, he warned, the result might be "full Israeli occupation of our lands."
"And then where would we be? I'll tell you where we'd be: Mauretania, that's where! You ever been to Mauretania? You don't wanna go to Mauretania, Mahmud!"
Arafat said later that he'd called for the halt in attacks because, "we are against killing any civilians, whether Palestinians or Israelis." But he said Israel, through its military actions, was "preventing all our efforts" to end the violence. Arafat did not say how he would rein in the militias. Israel has accused him of doing nothing to stop attacks and even encouraging them.
"Yeah. Really. I mean, this is not my usual, pro-forma request to knock it off, followed by a brag in Arabic. I mean, that stinkin' tank shell was really close."
The Islamic militant group Hamas said it would not stop the bombings.
"Nobody put a tank shell through our bedroom."
"If we have an effective weapon in our hands and the whole world is trying to take it off us, this kind of reaction shows it to be the most effective way," said Ismail Abu Shanab, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip.
Either that or the entire world's trying to get you to stop being lunatics.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:15 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Hamas Warns of 'War on Buses'
A Palestinian militant group's declaration of war on buses — long a symbol of Israeli grit — struck fear in the hearts of many Israelis. The familiar sight of a shattered city bus lying on its side, the top and roof peeled away and body bags lined up nearby, underscores the vulnerability of a well-established transit system. Hamas, the group that carried out a bus bombing that claimed 19 victims this week, announced in a leaflet Wednesday that dozens more suicide bombers are waiting to attack civilians in a "war on the buses."
Buses carry civilians: women, children on their way to school, and old folks. Where are the orifices who were bitching and moaning about the Geneva Convention and its provisions against targeting civilians a few months back? I know they're a lot holier than I and thou, but even my stunted moral sense can see something wrong with an intentional, publicly announced program of targeting civil transportation systems.
Tuesday's attack in Jerusalem was the 70th bombing since the latest round of violence broke out in September 2000. Of those, nine targeted buses, killing 70 passengers.
When the dead guy's wearing a uniform, the sight might not make you happy, but it's understandable, insofar as Armed Struggle® as a way of life is understandable. That's because one accepts the fact that the soldiers or police are going to shoot back if given the opportunity. There's a symmetry to that idea, even though it drips blood. But there's no justification I can think of for bombing somebody's grandmother. It invites an indiscriminate retaliation — the execution of one's own grandmaw, and what the hell did she ever do to anybody? — and it invites the Israelis to descend into the same lower levels of the same gutter inhabited by Hamas and Islamic Jihad. If they did that, they could wipe out the Paleos, but the moral costs might be too heavy for them to bear.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 12:35 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Head of Qalqiliya Intelligence, Three Other Activists Killed
Marzan Suleiman, a leading Palestinian crazed killer activist and the head of the Palestinian explosives club intelligence in Qalqiliya was killed in his home along with three other snuffies activists at the hands of Israelis troops. Palestinian gunnies fighters however killed two of the soldiers and wounded four others. The killing took place late Wednesday when Israeli troops attempted to arrest Suleiman in his home, after their invasion of the city. The Israelis claim that as soldiers entered Suleiman’s house, Palestinian thugs fighters opened fire and threw grenades, hitting six soldiers. In the gunbattle that ensued, two soldiers were killed as was Suleiman and three other bully boys activists.
Gosh. How tragic for Suleiman and the other three nameless clods if cannon fodder.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 09:49 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Mauritania president confers with PLO political department chairman
Chairman of the PLO political department Farouk al-Qaddoumi has stressed that the Palestinian Intifada will continue until complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories. In conclusion of his meeting on Tuesday with President of Mauritania Mu'aweya Wild Taye', al-Qaddoumi said that Mauritania's president stressed his support for the Arab initiative which aims at maintaining a just and comprehensive solution for the conflict in the Middle East. Worthy mentioning that this is the first visit made by a high ranking Palestinian official to Mauritania since Mauritania established relations with Israel in 1999.
"So, looky here, Mu'aweya: When them Jews throw our kefiyehs out of Palestine, we gotta have someplace to go. So look at all the advantages having a couple million industrious Palestinians, skilled in the arts of making explosives, around... Cheeze! Was it something I said?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:12 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Hamas Official Rejects Provision of Bush Middle East Plan
A top official of Hamas has rejected the idea of an interim Palestinian state. Ossama Abou Hemdan, the top Hamas official in Lebanon, said the only way suicide attacks will end is if Israel completely withdraws from Palestinian territories. Hemdan said Tuesday's suicide attack in Jerusalem was only the latest battle in a long war. Israel must negotiate the return of Palestinian refugees to Israel proper. Those issues and others are expected to be addressed in a Middle East peace plan being drawn up by the White House. But Mr. Hemdan doubts the plan, if it does call for a provisional Palestinian state, will accomplish anything. He said "without full statehood, the fight will continue."
"There ain't no way, no how, that we're gonna stop bombing and killing, cuz there ain't nothin' else we're qualified to do."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:25 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Israeli Army Invades the West Bank, Bombs Gaza
The Israeli army has launched what is expected to be a long-term invasion of the West Bank. Meanwhile, Israeli planes fired missiles at targets in the Gaza City and in the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis. Israeli forces moved into Bethlehem and a nearby refugee camp, taking up "strategic positions" in the area and declaring a curfew. The Israeli military also moved into a suburb of Ramallah. There is no word on how long the Israeli forces will remain in the two areas, but a statement from the Israeli military says they will stay until their mission is accomplished.
And the Paleostinians are just so surprised. Why, oh why, would the mean old Israelis do such a thing? A couple mass murders is obviously just a pretense. It has to be because... because they don't like Paleostinians...
Just hours after the latest strike targeting Israelis in Jerusalem, Israeli infantry units backed by armored vehicles assaulted the Palestinian-controlled West Bank town of Bethlehem and the outskirts of Ramallah. Israeli troops backed by some 60 tanks and armored troop carriers and overflying helicopters, moved into Bethlehem from several directions, and took up positions in the center of the town near the Church of the Nativity and Dheisheh refugee camp. Some 20 tanks and armored personnel carriers entered the town of Bitunyia, on the southeastern edge of Ramallah, which is where Arafat's headquarters are located, security sources said. The units then took up positions in an abandoned building in Beitunia near the West Bank city. Some sporadic gunfire could be heard in the city, but Israeli army radio claimed that invading troops met no resistance.
That's because Paleostinian "fighters" are better at bombing buses than they are at fighting real soldiers...
Immediately after Tuesday’s bombings, Israeli forces attacked and invaded Jenin, Hebron and Qalqiliya and bombed residential areas, wounding several people. In Jenin, hundreds of Palestinian men and boys were arrested and taken to be questioned to Israeli military camps. Reporters say that Jenin refugee camps is almost completely empty of all the men following the Israeli raid.
Did they round them all up? Or are they out shooting guns in the IDF's general direction?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:33 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Islamic Jihad thug nabbed
IDF and the Shin Bet security forces on Thursday apprehended chief Islamic Jihad activist Tarik el Azzadin, who was involved in attempted terrorist attacks inside the Green Line, Israel Radio reported. El Azzadin commanded several terrorist cells that carried out shootings in the vicinity of Jenin. He was also in charge of connections beteen the Jenin branch of Islamic Jihad and its Turkish branch, Israel Radio reported.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 12:30 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Abu Sabaya - doorknob dead!
Senior Abu Sayyaf leader Abu Sabaya, responsible for the kidnapping of three Americans and numerous Filipinos, was bumped off killed in a clash with the Philippine military. Sabaya was one of three members of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim kidnapping group who were slain by elite naval troops in a clash in the southern province of Zamboanga del Norte. A military spokesman confirmed that three Abu Sayyaf members were killed but would not yet officially comment on whether Abu Sabaya was among them. A seven-man Abu Sayyaf band was trying to board a boat on the coast of Sibuco town in neighboring Zamboanga del Norte province when the clash occurred.
If the report is true, this is another milestone: Abu Sabaya, Juma Namangani, Abu Zubaydah, Mohammad Atef, Khattab... We're doing better than a lot of people want to admit.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 08:21 pm || Comments || Link || [9 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
Foreigners excluded from Saudi investigation
Saudi Arabia will not allow outside investigators to question al-Qaeda suspects who tried to shoot down a U.S. military plane. The daily Okaz newspaper said access to the 11 Saudis, an Iraqi and a Sudanese will be limited to Saudi authorities because "the crimes that they committed or planned to carry out occurred or were going to take place on Saudi territories."
"And we've already got a toilet paper shortage, so we don't want any, uh... unpleasant details getting out..."
The London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported yesterday that the Sudanese suspect fled Saudi Arabia through Iraq and then made his way to Sudan before he was returned to Saudi custody.
Iraq, was it? Wotta coincidence. We were just talking about them the other day...
Al-Hayat also reported that the suspects' weapons and explosives were smuggled in from neighboring Yemen. Several al-Qaida members are believed to have found shelter in Yemen.
Yes. Several.
Also in custody are six Saudis who appear to have been his accomplices, as well as five others and an Iraqi who apparently helped smuggle the Sudanese out of the country. The arrests are the first in Saudi Arabia since Sept. 11, when 15 Saudis and four other Arabs carried out the worst terrorist attack in U.S. history.
But there aren't any al-Qaeda in Soddy Arabia. We know that, 'cuz they told us.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 09:59 am || Comments || Link || [7 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yeah Freddy, this one's really taking heat in the media today. Our buddies (ahem) the Soddy's aren't really willing to help us out here-- now are they? Those unpleasant details might show the rest of the world just how their citizens really feel about the USA-- Mary Lu
Posted by: Mary Lu || 06/20/2002 10:41 Comments || Top||


Riyadh admits al-Qaeda presence
Riyadh has grudgingly admitted that al-Qaeda is active inside the kingdom after a series of disclosures from Washington to Casablanca made it nigh impossible to continue burying the Saudi connection.
You mean they lied? There must be some mistake...
Since the Sept 11 suicide hijackings in the United States, Saudi Arabia had repeatedly claimed that al-Qaeda posed no threat to the kingdom's security. Even yesterday's belated official announcement that a group linked to al-Qaeda was arrested for planning to attack key installations stressed the roles of non-Saudis, notably a Sudanese and an Iraqi.
Two out of thirteen. That's pretty significant, I guess...
And Saudi newspapers were today quick to defend the kingdom against charges of hosting terrorists. The arrests "confirmed that the kingdom's war on terror is ongoing ... "
Ofergawdsake! Sudan called and said to come take them before they dropped them in the ocean or gave them to the Merkins...
"Those in the West who hastened to point fingers at Saudi Arabia after the September 11 attacks in the United States should ... have the courage to apologise to this peaceloving country," Al-Madina wrote Wednesday.
(Snrngk!) May I have a tissue, please?
"Indicting (an entire) country because a handful of its citizens were dragged into error is a crime ... especially when this country is the cradle of Islam and the land of the two holy shrines," the paper said.
"Indicting an entire country because a handful of its citizens and its government and its religious heirarchy and its dogs, chickens and camels initiated the 'errors' and then tried to drag the entire world into them, and then hides behind a pair of shrines..."
Fifteen of the 19 presumed September 11 hijackers carried Saudi passports, and Osama, accused by Washington of masterminding the attacks, is the scion of one of the kingdom's most prominent families, though he was stripped of his citizenship in 1994.
Ummm... We did notice that...
Only two days before the announcement of the arrests, Saudi Arabia's security supremo was busy denying the presence of al-Qaeda operatives in the kingdom. "If there were sleeping (al-Qaeda) cells we would have woken them up through various security methods, but, God willing, they are not present," Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdul Aziz told Sunday's Okaz daily.
Made him look like some sort of beast of burden, didn't it? Or maybe an orifice.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/20/2002 10:10 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
22[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Thu 2002-06-20
  Abu Sabaya - doorknob dead!
Wed 2002-06-19
  Riyadh frees 160 returnees from Afghanistan
Tue 2002-06-18
  Soddies detain al-Qaeda thugs
Mon 2002-06-17
  Morocco places limits on preachers Friday sermons
Sun 2002-06-16
  Israel to start building fence
Sat 2002-06-15
  Egyptian arrests founder of Gama'a al-Islamiya
Fri 2002-06-14
  Karzai elected as Afghan leader
Thu 2002-06-13
  Sudan Suspect Fired Missile at U.S. Warplane
Wed 2002-06-12
  Karzai set to become head of state
Tue 2002-06-11
  Boom boy fumbles the bag, and up he goes...
Mon 2002-06-10
  Feds snag al-Qaeda 'dirty' bomber
Sun 2002-06-09
  Palestinians reorganize cabinet
Sat 2002-06-08
  Qazi warns govt against any change in Kashmir policy
Fri 2002-06-07
  Two hostages die, another rescued in Philippines
Thu 2002-06-06
  Israeli troops destroy 3 buildings at Arafat's headquarters


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.
3.144.230.82
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
(0)    (0)    (0)    (0)    (0)