Ron Campbell Shouts Across the Pacific with this follow-up to the North Korean kidnap story. "Axis of Evil" might be an inadequate description... Followup: Corsair the Pirate has more on this subject, too, punctuated with his usual easy-going good humor...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 07:26 pm ||
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U.S. soldiers accompanied by local Afghan forces have arrested a warlord in southern Afghanistan, witnesses said Thursday. Haji Nasro, a militia commander well-known throughout the region whose reputation was built resisting the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, was arrested Tuesday night at his home about 50 miles southwest of Kandahar. It was unclear how many soldiers participated in the operation, but witnesses said four vehicles belonging to the U.S. military and two belonging to Afghan forces pulled up at Nasro's home and surrounded it before making the arrest. It was not clear where Nasro was taken, and the reason for the arrest was not immediately known. He was probably jugged for hanging around with Hekmatyar. Perhaps a few days cooling off will convince him that Merkins aren't Russers and this isn't 1983.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 09:08 am ||
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Another one from Steve, who reads everything...
Renegade Afghan warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar has held secret meetings with other disgruntled warlords in a drive to form a wider alliance against the government of President Hamid Karzai and the United States military presence in Afghanistan. European intelligence officials and Afghan ministers say Hekmatyar met earlier this month with former President Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was nominal head of the Northern Alliance that supported the U.S. in toppling the Taliban. Rabbani was sidelined at the Bonn conference in December that set up the post-Taliban government. Since then he has increasingly criticized Karzai and his U.S. backers. There's been lots of sour grapes from him ever since...
Hekmatyar also met Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, who once headed the Ittehad-e-Islami, an anti-Soviet resistance group. Although an ally of the Northern Alliance, he too was sidelined at the Bonn meeting. A fierce proponent of Wahabbism, a conservative strain of Islam, he has received lavish funding from Saudi Arabia. Rasool's talent is to straddle both sides of the fence while trying to tear it down...
There are also unconfirmed reports that Ismail Khan, charismatic governor of the western province of Herat, is sheltering Hekmatyar supporters. In the early 1980s, all four men belonged to the Ikhwan-e-Muslimeen, or Islamic Brotherhood, which emerged out of the Arab world and prefigured today's extremist Islamic movements. Hekmatyar is now trying to revive those connections and the Ikhwan ideology, which is nationalistic and anti-American. I would be really surprised if Izzy is deeply involved with Hekmatyar. His concern is keeping control of his fiefdom and there's nothing in it for him to support the Hekmatyarian ambitions.
Pepe Escobar has been reporting most of this â I didn't know about Hekmatyar's Ikhwan ties to Izzy before â in Asia Times. Pepe's anti-Americanism gets in the way of what could be some very good reporting, though. You have to pick through 60% opinion to get to the 40% of fact.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 10:34 am ||
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#1
Steve, whoever you are. Thanks for giving Fred all these tips.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
09/19/2002 11:00 Comments ||
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If I posted all the stuff Steve sends me, I wouldn't have the time to dig up any on my own... So, thanks, Steve!
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2002 11:13 Comments ||
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Hek's Hizbis are also quite close to Jamaat-i-Islami (Pakistan). They have posted Maududi's junk theology on their website for a couple of years.
Posted by: Allah the Dog Faced God ||
09/19/2002 15:50 Comments ||
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Fawaz Turki in Arab News...
Baghdad should show good faith and prove [Bush] wrong. Will it, instead, prevaricate by setting improbable conditions on the tasks of the inspectors, as had been its wont till 1998 (no inspection of the presidentâs palaces, no inspection during business hours, and the like), thereby missing an opportunity to avert a devastating war waged against it? For keep in mind, neither the UN nor the US is in a mood to negotiate conditions here. Matter of fact, one of 'em's just itchin'...
If the country does not possess "weapons of mass destruction," then it has nothing to fear from UN inspectors, whatever the tasks they are called upon to perform. If it does have them, the price it will pay for their removal will be miniscule compared to the one it will surely pay otherwise. "How much will it cost?"
"How much you got?"
Sometimes those who do not learn from history are not only doomed to repeat it, but are just doomed. So, are we going to see a repeat performance of what happened after August 2, 1990, when Iraq invaded Kuwait and rejected mediation efforts to have it withdraw its occupation forces from there? My guess is "yes."
Another one courtesy of Steve...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 08:53 am ||
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Caps as they APPEAR in the TABLOID!
AMERICA will NUKE Baghdad if Saddam Hussein dares unleash weapons of mass destruction, it emerged last night. This comes as a SURPRISE?
The chilling warning to Iraq was revealed by former Tory Premier John Major, who led Britain in the 1991 Gulf War. During that conflict, allied forces were armed with âbattlefieldâ nuclear weapons and prepared to use them in a counter attack, he said. Saddam was privately warned his capital would be obliterated if he used weapons of mass destruction against allied troops or Middle East targets â including Israel. Not wanting to become a CINDER, he didn't. Since he's going to become a cinder this time, he might...
And senior security sources last night confirmed Saddam has been warned AGAIN of the consequences if he breaks the ban on using terror weapons. You don't SAY? Another one thanks to STEVE!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 09:03 am ||
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#1
There is the persistant rumour that the Israelis were loading up their F-16's as the first Scuds fell and were only deterred from turning Bagdad into a parking lot by the massive deversion of US resources into Scud hunting.
If Saddam hits Israel again, will we stop them? Could we see our F-15's flying BARCAP for Saddam while trying to also take him out?
#2
Not long after the 1991 Gulf War, I was talking to a friend of a friend who was an IAF reserve pilot who flew business jets here in the US. He told me (and I realize that he could have been blowing smoke) that in 1991 the operational plans for the IAF were to take out every dam on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, flooding Baghdad.
Posted by: ronnie schreiber ||
09/20/2002 7:22 Comments ||
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Chuck, the question isn't 'will we srtop them?' It's, 'should we stop them?'
The Israelis are unlikely to want to use nukes unless they get a chemical attack that causes large casualties. In that event I'd say nuke away. Now all we have to do is get Peter Jennings, John Pilger, Robert Fisk and Maureen Dowd into Baghdad
Posted by: David Gillies ||
09/20/2002 9:49 Comments ||
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A high ranking officials at the Kuwaiti ministry of defense said that the Kuwaiti army is ready to protect Kuwait against any likely aggression. "Bring 'em on! Lemme at 'em!"
In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan, the Kuwaiti official said that several antimissiles Patriot missiles were deployed in preparation against any likely attack that might take place and to protect the lives of Kuwaiti citizens and residents in Kuwait and the key establishments in the country. They've been there, done that...
Meantime, Kuwait's Minister of State For Foreign Affairs, Mohammad Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah, announced that his country will not oppose a decision by the UN permitting directing an attack against Iraq. This was expressed in a statement issued on Tuesday by the Kuwaiti daily al-Watan. "Kuwait will (heh heh!) regretfully (heh heh!) acquiesce (snurf!) in any (hee-hee!) U.S. action (ha ha!) against Iraq (harf harf harf! hukka hukka! Oh, cheeze! Gimme a tissue!) Yeah. Right. It just breaks our hearts...!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 09:22 am ||
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#1
Let's hope the Kuwaiti armed forces give a better account of themselves this time. As I recall, in GW I they held out for a whole 12 hours. Even the French held out longer than that :-)
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/19/2002 12:37 Comments ||
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True, but France was a globe-spanning Empire. The Kuwaiti resistance was both well organized and brave, the Kuwaiti airforce kept running until they were driven off the very road they used when their primary air base was destroyed. The Kuwaitis will fight hard, they know the penalty and price otherwise.
#3
Kuwait's military during GW1 was tiny - maybe three brigades. Hussein's first echelon alone outnumbered the entire Kuwaiti army 8-1 IIRC. And much of that army escaped, re-equipped, and fougnt in the return to Kuwait. The KAF, as mentioned above, fought as well as the circumstances (and their old aircraft) allowed.
Saddam Hussein is planning to escape Iraq in the event of a United States attack on Baghdad, the French paper Liberation reported. Sounds goofy, but this is probably a possibility. Once he's convinced he could go the way of the dodo, it's a good possibility. Rumors last time had it he was thinking about Algeria...
According to the report, the Iraqi President has sent his son, Uday, along with other representatives, to check out various options for receiving asylum in foreign countries. The report said that Uday had visited the Russian capital of Moscow, while Saddamâs cousin visited Algeria. Ahah! Been there, wish we'd done that. Or he could think about Bucharest. It's nice this time of year, the girls are pretty, and you could live a long time on the Iraqi national treasury...
According to the newspaper, Saddam has millions of dollars in a Swiss bank account — an amount which will enable him to live his life in dignity in a foreign country. The same kind of dignity Idi Amin has, but he wouldn't be doorknob dead, which he will be if he sticks...
Commentators of the French daily estimated, in light of this report, that Saddamâs decision to agree to the return of UN weapons inspectors to Iraq was meant for the sole purpose of âbuying timeâ, needed for preparing his escape route. Wonder what the world's reaction would be if Bush scared Sammy out of office? Who would he holler "boo!" to next? The ayatollahs? Or Jean Chretien?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 10:58 am ||
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Actually, if this is true, it's good news. If Saddam thinks he can escape, then he's less likely to do something radical -- like tossing WMDs -- when Iraq is invaded. Such an act on his part would close off too many possible boltholes and would make finding and punishing Saddam a very high priority item for a lot of countries who probably aren't too worried about that at this time.
Perhaps we should encourage this line of thinking on his part -- assuming we already aren't.
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
09/19/2002 11:05 Comments ||
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I doubt if Bush will actually scare him out of town. I think Sammy's convinced of his own immortality, regardless of what might happen to the Iraqis around him.
If he did leave in the dead of night, think how the Chomsky crowd would be hollering about what a "bully" the U.S. is...!
Posted by: Fred ||
09/19/2002 12:10 Comments ||
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I wouldn't get too ecstatic if Saddam popped up in some other country. It would leave him unharmed if his stay-behind jihadis touched off some evil device to do max harm to any occupying Americans, and never mind his dearly beloved civil population who would share it.
#4
Saddam is like a cornered animal, beset on all sides by the US as well as unfriendlies in his own country. It may be wise to give him an "out". I'm not sure which country would even consider granting him asylum. Any of his close neighbours would immediately come under the glare of world attention.
But if he does escape, we can render the entire Baathist party impotent (without the head, the snake truly is dead). It would make regime change all the more easier.
U.S. President George W. Bush asked the Congress to grant him authority to use military force against Iraq, warning that Washington and its allies would act if the United Nations fails to resolve the standoff over disarmament. "That'll be part of the resolution, the authorization to use force," Bush said Thursday. Bush, meeting in the Oval Office with US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, and White House Chief of Staff Andy Card, said congressional leaders would get the draft language shortly. He downplayed Iraq's offer made last Monday to accept UN weapons inspections without conditions, saying that Saddam Hussein was "not going to fool anybody". Congress acting will lend a little impetus to the Security Council acting â if only to avoid having the U.S. act without any U.N. backing. If that happens this time, it'll also happen next time...
In comments that seemed directed at the United Nations, Bush added: "If the United Nations Security Council won't deal with the problem, the United States and some of our friends will."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 06:20 pm ||
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Police and MI5 have smashed a suspected London Islamic terror network after raids across the capital. Six men were arrested for alleged terrorism activity and five others for criminal and immigration offences. All the suspects are in their twenties and thirties, were believed to have links with each other and are thought to be of Middle Eastern origin. Police sources said those held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act 2000 were suspected of raising funds and providing logistical support for international terrorist activity. The operation was launched after a long-term investigation into international terrorism. The arrests were not believed to be directly related to the attacks of 11 September last year and the suspects are not thought to be linked directly to the al-Qaeda terrorist group. Another one courtesy of Steve, who adds "Figured this was coming. What with their experience with the IRA, Britain's had a lot of expertise with this sort of thing." To which I add, "Taking their daggone time about it, aren't they?"
But it's nice, seeing that being a terrorist is becoming a lonely job...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 10:19 am ||
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Nah, you suck them in deep, Fred. Suck them in deep, make sure you know all their cousins. Abdul the snitch isn't enough.
#2
Also remember that England has been a second home for a lot of groups, including terror groups, that lack power in their own lands. If you hold a party for bikers, you shouldn't be surprised if some show up. Some of these folks were kicked out of Libya, Syria and Iran, which says something.
Cato the Youngest beat me to this story...
An unemployed computer programmer appeared in court Thursday charged with collecting information that could be used to plan a terrorist attack. Prosecutors accused Muhammed Abdulah Azam, 32, of possessing books and documents outlining how to make bombs and weapons which could have been used in a terrorist attack. Azam, a Briton of Pakistani origin, spoke only to confirm his name and address when he appeared in Bow Street Magistrates Court in central London Thursday. District Judge Timothy Workman ordered that he be remanded in custody because of "the nature and the gravity of the allegation." Azam, from Luton, 30 miles north of London, was arrested Sunday. Scotland Yard said he had been charged under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act with collecting information "of a kind likely to be useful to a person committing or preparing an act of terrorism, or had in his possession documents or records containing information of that kind." Seems the Brits hit more than one rats' nest...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 11:05 am ||
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Hmm.. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but I find something rather frightening about computer programmers being arrested, charged, and held for possessing books and documents.
Germany outlawed another 16 organizations linked to a jailed Turkish militant Thursday, making use of anti-terror legislation passed after the Sept. 11 attacks to crush a network of Islamic groups the government considers a threat to domestic security and Germany's international relations.
The government said the groups, spread from Tuebingen in the south to Osnabrueck in the north, were part of the Caliphate State organization run by Muhammed Metin Kaplan. That group, along with 20 affiliates, was banned last December under legal powers granted after the nation confronted the fact that the Sept. 11 attacks were plotted by Islamic extremists living in Germany.
To which Jennie replies...
I will give them credit for this: the Germans were WAY ahead of the curve on this one. I wish our government would follow their lead instead of trying to pick these dirt bags up a few at time, so that morons like Katie Couric can comment thusly, "Aside from the fact that they were trained in Bin Laden's terror camps in Afghanistan, what proof do we have that they are terrorists?" (referring to the Buffalo Six who were just arraigned.)
I think Kaplan's one of the preachers who hopped on the Islamist bandwagon, rather than a real driver. Certainly he's something of a loon, and he was a pain in the Germans' collective underwear, but he seems to have been in it for the money. The BBC piece on his arrest in December notes that "Kaplan is believed to have a fortune worth millions. Nonetheless, he claimed social benefits in Cologne for many years until 2m Deutschmarks ($1.2m) in cash was found in his flat." This gives him something in common, by the way, with Abu Qatada, the "al-Qaeda ambassador to Europe" in Britain, who did the same thing. They probably send e-mails claiming to be Nigerians, too...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 07:55 pm ||
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The White House isn't happy that a Germany government minister compared President Bush to Hitler. Germany's justice minister (Herta Daeubler-Gmelin) told some labor union members yesterday that Bush was going after Iraq to divert attention from domestic problems. A German paper quoted her as saying "That's a popular method. Even Hitler did that." Did he call people like Herta stoopid and tactless ideologues, too?
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer calls the statement "outrageous and inexplicable." That's the way press secretaries say "stoopid and tactless."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 02:51 pm ||
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Gerhard looks willing to sacrifice American-German long term relations in order to get re-elected, and the people seem willing to go along..we'll probably see the drawdown of US forces in Germany, sent to the Gulf, and not replaced. Let the German economy support their social give-aways AND self-defense expenses. We no longer need each other, and it's become obvious that NATO is a one-way relationship (except for, surprisingly to me, Tony Blair's Britain - hail Brittania!). Let the EUniks chatter themselves to death, rant and rave about the US Cowboy, just get out of our way and don't expect favors from us
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2002 20:15 Comments ||
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Someplace I read that we have 70,000 troops in Europe, mostly Germany, with dependants, all spending loads of American dollars. Do the Germans really want to see their economy take a bigger slide than it already has by pissing us off and we take all our toys and go home?
#3
Screw Germany. The main US presence in Germany is V Corps and 3rd Air Force. That's a starggeringly potent force, which would go through Saddam's cockroach army like prunes through a short Granny.
Germany needs to be taught the price of its moral equivocation.
Posted by: David Gillies ||
09/20/2002 9:55 Comments ||
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Law enforcement agencies claim to have found five passports allegedly belonging to Osamaâs children following the arrest of Ramzi Al Shaiba in Karachi last week. "After the gun battle, five passports, allegedly belonging to Osamaâs children, were recovered during a search of the flat from where the terror suspects were arrested," the sources said. They said in addition to the passports "some written material relating to Khalid Sheikh and other key Al Qaeda men were also found, which will be helpful in nabbing other members of Al Qaeda". You might say that...
"Two persons of Pakistani origin were also arrested in the operation; one is Gul Hassan, alleged to be a facilitator of Al Qaeda in Pakistan, and another person whose name could not be obtained, also thought to be an Al Qaeda facilitator in Pakistan," they said. But... But... But Sattar said there weren't an al-Qaeda operations in Pakland. He told us so!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 03:00 pm ||
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Too bad. They'll just have to forge new documents,,,
Authorities have unearthed another conspiracy to kill self-appointed President General Pervez Musharraf when he was scheduled to inaugurate a defence exhibition after returning from his recent US visit last week. Uh-oh! Somebody's gonna get it...!
Although the official spokesman of the General, Major General Rashid Qureshi, denies that there was any attempt on the life of the military dictator, there are reports that the activists of a group which is allegedly involved in explosion outside the US Consulate in Karachi a couple of months ago, had made full preparations to blow up the general with an anti-tank rocket. None of this "sic semper tyrannis" stuff and then then break a leg jumping from a theater box. Nope! Go for the big boom!
However, Interior Minister General (retired) Moin Haider said that the police and intelligence agencies timely reacted and seized the ammunition from the site from where the accused had planned an attempt on the life of United Statesâ most âtrustedâ ally in the World. I'd believe Moin before I'd believe Qureshi. 'Course, I'd believe most people before I'd believe Qureshi...
Police have arrested seven suspects from the city, with a heavy load of ammunition, who are believed to be part of the gang involved in Presidentâs life attempt conspiracy and in the recent attack on the US consulate in Karachi. This is a gang of 61 persons, Haider said while talking to newsmen in Islamabad, adding that the government recovered lethal weapons with those arrested on Wednesday as well as from members of the group arrested earlier. According to the minister members of this gang were also involved in the recent attack on the US consulate in Karachi. So far, he said, a total of 19 members of this gang have been arrested and are being investigated. It's starting to seem like roughly the population of Burma was involved in the bombing of the Karachi consulate. No wonder they couldn't keep it quiet...
Police sources said that police officials, on a tip-off, raided a house in Dhorabi Wednesday night and arrested the ring leader of Harkat ul-Mujahideen Al-almi, Sharib. That would be Sharib Zubair, whom we discussed yesterday. Previous ringleaders of al-Almi have also been jugged...
On his pointer, a 75-MM anti-tank rifle was recovered from the house. Sources in the law enforcing agencies said the rifle was to be fitted in Dhorabi. It is suspected that the objective might have been to target General Pervez Musharraf on his way from Karsaz Road to an exhibition. Maybe the Zis-3 76mm Soviet antitank gun, or a Chinese knockoff, though it could be an antique American 75mm recoilless rifle. I'm not going to bother looking it up, but working from memory, the Soviet gun is rifled and has a range of around 10 kilometers, though it was used at ranges of about 500 meters. The high explosive round weighs about 15 pounds. They apparently weren't screwing around, though I'm sure they had a helluva time getting it up the stairs...
Later on the pointer of Sharib, six other members of the gang: Ehsan, Aamir, Kamran, Jamil, Navid and Mustafa, were arrested. More information gleaned from the arrested lead to raids in Dhorabi, Gulshan Iqbal, Shanti Nagar, North Karachi and many other areas. The operation conducted in different neighbourhoods of the city went on for six hours. Everybody started singing when the coppers pointed the antitank gun at them...
The arms taken in custody by the police include 70 rockets, 75 hand grenades, anti-tank rifle 70 MM, 1007 rocketpads and other arms. According to the sources Sharib planted an explosive device in a car on the arrival of President of Pakistan on Shahraey Faisal but the bomb could not explode through remote control. The only thing that keep the Pak terror artists from being more dangerous than they are is their ineptitude...
During the investigations, it was revealed that the members of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-almi used to be trained in Afghanistan. The ring leader Sharib is considered to be a most dangerous terrorist. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen Al-almi is also known to have connections with the intelligence agency of the neighbour country. According to intelligence information Sharib and other gang members were in contact with a high official of the intelligence agency of the neighbour country. Referring to India? Iran? Afghanistan? Or China? That's about all the Pak neighbors I can think of... My guess would be Iran, but the Baluchistan Post writers are probably trying to drag India into it...
Sharib, carrying a bounty of Rs 1.5 million, was wanted both in connection with the May 8 bomb attack outside the Sheraton Hotel and the June 14 attack outside the US consulate. Busy all the time, wasn't he?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 04:03 pm ||
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#1
Isn't Qureshi also the name of the Pakistani, who's doubles tennis partner is from Israel?
#2
Criminy! How the hell did nobody see these yahoos trying to move that thing in the house? Had to have looked like a chinese fire drill! Cleverly disguised with a DirecTV dish on the barrel?
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2002 20:27 Comments ||
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Every single time there is a terrorist incident in Pakistan, the Pakis blame the intelligence services of a 'neighbouring country' as in India, but it always turns out that these Jihadis do have a connection to the intelligence agency of a country located in South Asia, but it sure isn't India..
Posted by: Paul ||
09/19/2002 23:38 Comments ||
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Saudi Arabia's ambassador in London Ghazi al-Quseibi was appointed as a minister of water, established according to a decree by the Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz and was issued in Riyadh on Tuesday. "Hey, king! That al-Quseibi guy in London is embarrassing as hell. Why don't we appoint him minister of something or other, get him out of the way?"
"Urk?"
"He's the one that composed the ode to the suicide boomer."
"(drool)"
"Good idea. We'll appoint him minister of water!"
"Sksz!"
"Nurse! He's doing it again!"
The said Saudi diplomat is known for his lack of tact frankness. He was the composer of a poem which raised the anger of London when he commended a Palestinian woman (martyr) who "carried out a (suicide) operation at the beginning of 2002 in a bomb explosion she was carrying." Or something like that...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 09:15 am ||
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A high ranking Arab source disclosed that the leader of al-Qaida organization Osama Bin laden and al-Mulla Omar, the leader of the Taliban movement, and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the assistant of Bin Laden, and other 25 persons representing key al-Qaida leaders are in Qatar. He saw them at the Burger King. They all had onion rings.
The Egyptian October Magazine quoted the source as saying that Bin Laden and his group are living in a place far from the capital, Doha, under strong guarding to the extent that the guards do not know who is being guarded. "And the inhabitants don't even know who they are. They think they're somebody else, but we know better."
The magazine added that the source stressed that Bin Laden, al-Mulla Omar and their colleagues fled from Afghanistan before the entry of the American forces to it in a way which "was not recognized nor can be imagined." "Whoa! Wow, Ayman! That was the biggest boom yet!"
"Yeah, Binny. Where the hell are we?"
"Is this New Joisey?"
"Shuddup, Mullah Omar. This is Qatar. I recognize the sand."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 12:11 pm ||
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#1
This measures zero on the Believability Index...
#2
Actually, I don't think they could be at a Burger King. The Arabs are boycotting Burger King because it dared open up a restaurant in an Israeli settlement in Palestine. Maybe it was a Wendy's.
Posted by: Chris Durnell ||
09/19/2002 15:43 Comments ||
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Five people were killed and some 50 wounded when a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up in a bus in downtown Tel Aviv, a day after another killed a policeman in northern Israel. The bomb went off around 1:00 pm (1000 GMT) in the central Allenby Street area, a busy shopping area full of cafes, gutting the bus. Another act of bravery... Mohammad al-Hindi, a senior leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed Wednesday's attack, said the latest blast "proves that our people will not submit, however great are the murders, destruction and collective punishment" carried out by Israel. "And we like seeing people blow up." Al-Hindi was in jug last December, after a shootout with the Paleocoppers. Guess they let him out...
A political leader of the radical Islamic group Hamas responded by predicting a new wave of suicide bombings in Israel after a six-week lull in such attacks. "The martyr operations will continue against the Zionists, we are defending our people. The resistance will escalate," said Abdel Aziz Rantissi, without specifically claiming the attack for his group. "It'll take more than that to wipe out Hamas..." Rantissi, of course, is a member of the Hamas politburo. Hamas is claiming credit as of this moment â earlier they didn't know who dunnit...
Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner told AFP, "We are definitely facing a major drive by all Palestinian terrorist organisations," and added, "We will do whatever it takes to stop this new wave." With the pressure on Saddam, look for a spike in the boomings and shootemups. Regardless of which group dunnit, this series of booms can be laid at Baghdad's door...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 06:07 am ||
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Saddam and the Paleos are desperately trying to divert the world's attention to Israel/Paleos.....I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Hezbollah ratchet it up with a couple Katyushas a day soon, either. Time is running very short for the Saladin of Baghdad
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2002 7:44 Comments ||
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Israeli forces opened fire from tank-mounted heavy machineguns on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat's headquarters in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Thursday. That's their little way of saying "We hold you responsible, Whatsyername!"
Chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told Reuters from the West Bank city of Jericho that Arafat had telephoned him to tell him the headquarters was under fire. He said Arafat was unhurt but two bodyguards had been slightly hurt. Wonder if they put another one through his nightstand?
The shooting erupted hours after the second Palestinian suicide bombing in two days, the first such attacks in about six weeks. A suicide bomber killed five people on a bus in Tel Aviv, one day after a bomber killed a policeman in northern Israel. "Cause? Effect? There's a connection?"
Posted by: Steve's Typist ||
09/19/2002 11:19 am ||
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An emergency session of the cabinet unanimously decided Thursday evening to isolate Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat (1929-2002?) rather than expel him, and called for the immediate handing over of 15 to 20 Palestinians wanted by Israel for suspected links to terror who are holed up in the compound. Seems like he's always got 15 or 20 criminals hanging around him...
The decision was immediately put into effect, with IDF tanks surrounding Arafat's offices inside his Ramallah compound Thursday evening. The troops reinstated a blockade of the compound, and shot and seriously injured a Palestinian wanted by Israel. The man later died of his wounds. "Go ahead! Pull a rod! Make my day!... Oooh! He pulled a rod! He made my day!"
"What we are doing right now is using loudspeakers to ask them to come out and surrender," he told Reuters. He said the cabinet would decide what action to take if the militants did not turn themselves in. "C'mout, c'mout, wherever you are!"
An Israeli official said that soldiers named Tawfik Tirawi, a head of Palestinian General Intelligence in the West Bank, as one of the men. Tewfik, lest we forget, is head of al-Aqsa Maryrs' Brigades...
IDF bulldozers demolished 11 caravans in Arafat's compound, and eight Palestinians staying in the mobile homes surrendered themselves to the troops. It was not immediately clear whether any of the unidentified men were on Israel's wanted list. "Bail, Tewfik! Bail! They're comin' for the trailer house!"
Later Thursday night IDF tanks and troops had entered the town of Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip. At least six Israeli tanks backed by helicopter gunships into the northern Gaza Strip, and Israeli forces exchanged fire with Palestinian gunmen. Now's as good a time as any to scrub the place out...
Prior to the meeting Sharon told a closed forum that Arafat should be "thrown out," but the issue was not brought to the vote. The cabinet also decided to renew the full closure on the territories and cancel all the easing of restriction given recently to the Palestinian population. The Israelis have a choice: listen to them bitch about the Occupation®, or dodge them as they go exploding in all directions. I'd go with ear plugs, myself...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 05:47 pm ||
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Fox news had a report that the IDF had also blown up at least 6 factories being used to make explosives. Sounds like they intend to quickly nip this diversion by Saddam in the bud
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/19/2002 20:37 Comments ||
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The Shin Bet security service recently foiled a plan by some Gazan Islamic Jihad activists to poison the drinking water at one of Jerusalem's hospitals, a charge sheet filed at the Erez Junction military court reveals. The poisoner allegedly obtained an Israeli pass to enter the country for a medical examination at the hospital. Iyad Hassan Mohammed Salame, 18, from the Bureij refugee camp in Gaza, joined Islamic Jihad, whereupon he was immediately drafted to help with the poisoning mission by someone identified only as "Abu Mohammed". The plan called for Salame to go to Jerusalem for treatment at the hospital's ophthalmology department. He was then supposed to drop the poison, made from a combination of baking powder and an unnamed liquid poison, into the hospital's drinking water reservoirs. In return, he would be paid NIS 300. I think I have a pretty good imagination, but I don't think I can imagine anything more depraved than this... Nope. I'm thinking real hard, and nothing's happening...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 05:56 pm ||
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The Indonesian government is to carry out an in-depth investigation into Abu Bakar Baasyir regarding his alleged involvement in a global terrorist network. "The government will carry out a domestic investigation into this case," Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, told reporters after attending a coordinating meeting about Indonesian government's policy as regards eradicating global terrorism. Yudhoyono went on to say the government will not arrest Abu Bakar just because foreign countries have their suspicions about him. Matter of fact, they won't arrest him just because foreign countries have proof on him...
He went on to say that currently Indonesia was not in a position to decide whether the information was right or not. "And we're determined not to be... We just don't wanna get involved, y'know?"
Yudhoyono said that Wednesday evening's meeting was intended to follow up on information provided by international intelligence agencies that an Al-Qaeda cell exists in Indonesia. "There is also the suspicion that a foreigner is involved in this terrorism activity," he added. "But we know that's not so, so why bother investigating?"
Regarding Al Farouq's statement about Al-Qaeda network in Southeast Asia, as reported by Time magazine, the government will follow up this information. "It may already be in somebody's inbox, in fact..."
Meanwhile, Vice President Hamzah Haz has said he does not believe the Al-Qaeda network operates in Indonesia, as there is no proof that supports such an assumption. He has requested the US government to coordinate with Indonesia if it has information about this. "If a [terrorist] network is discovered to be operating in Indonesia, the government will take action," said Hamzah on Tuesday (17/9). "Nope. Nope. No terrorists here..."
The matter of Al-Qaeda network in Indonesia has arisen again after the Time Magazine report over a CIA interview with Omar Al-Faruq, one of the Al-Qaeda leaders in Southeast Asia. Omar was arrested in Bogor, West Java, and then was deported in last June, despite allegedly masterminding the Christmas Eve 2000 bombings action. "That wasn't terrorism. It was, ummm... something else."
Omar also said he had planned to kill Megawati Soekarnoputri in 1999, when she was vice president. "I don't know about this," Hamzah said. "But I never really liked her, anyway..."
He went on to explain such a rumor will merely result in instability condition and disturb security and economic recovery in Indonesia. Things can get worse than they are now in Indonesia? How?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
09/19/2002 03:14 pm ||
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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.
