United Nations weapons inspectors set out Wednesday on their first searches for evidence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq in nearly four years. They split up into two teams and fanned out to locations in the eastern and western outskirts of Baghdad. CNN's Nic Robertson followed the International Atomic Energy Agency's nuclear inspection team, which made a three-hour stop at the Tahadi industrial complex in eastern Baghdad. Nic once found his butt with both hands, but he wasn't sure that was what it was...
U.N. inspectors, focusing on the search for evidence of chemical weapons, biological weapons and missiles, visited a site in the western part of the Iraqi capital. The plant's director-general, speaking to reporters after the inspection, said no weapons of mass destruction were being made there. "No, no. We manufacture chickens..."
Robertson said Iraqi officials allowed limited access to journalists because they insist the country doesn't have weapons of mass destruction and they want to show the world that Iraq has nothing to hide. If that's the case, why don't they allow unlimited access to journalists? With reporters as skilled as Nic, they still wouldn't have much to worry about...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 10:07 am ||
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Interesting that air-raid sirens went off during the inspections - the news video showed a plane at high altitude leaving contrails - probably ours, watching the Iraqis scoot stuff out the back doors
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2002 11:15 Comments ||
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The media is complaining about being denyed access. Hey, guys, you see the folks in the moon suits? Do ya think it might be dangerous to be inside? They are looking for chemical and biological weapons, after all.
Iranian student leaders arrested in Tehran on Tuesday are reported to have been released during the night after protests by reformist leaders over their detention. The arrests, as well as angering students, caused outrage in reformist political circles, coming as they did at a time when tensions over the Aghajari case were apparently easing. Thought it was safe to pick them up, but it only pissed off the students even more.
High-level representations were made and students say the activists were finally released during the night. But they have apparently been charged with acting against national security for their part in organising peaceful student protests over the Aghajari death sentence. They are to appear in court on Saturday. Depending on how the case is handled, it could become yet another cause celebre for the embattled reformists. If they come down hard it will cause even more riots. If they go easy, they'll look weak. Either way they lose.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 11:42 am ||
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Air raid sirens sounded over the Iraqi capital Wednesday as international arms monitors began their first inspections under a strict new U.N. resolution.
"There was a hostile flight over the capital," said an Iraqi Civil Defense official, who refused to give his name. He did not elaborate.
The sirens usually mean allied planes have struck somewhere in the vicinity of the city. But there was no immediate word of a strike from U.S. or British officials and no explosions could be heard in central Baghdad .
A spokesman for the U.S. Joint Task Force at the Prince Sultan air base outside Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, refused to comment.
A thin, white line of smoke could be seen in the sky, but its source was unclear.
Since the Gulf War, strikes have been rare on a near Baghdad, which is outside the no-fly zones that have in recent weeks seen several skirmishes between allied planes and Iraqi anti-aircraft units.
In February, in what at the time was the largest U.S.-British attack in months, two dozen warplanes fired long-range missiles targeting radar systems to the south and north of the capital that had boosted Iraqi capabilities to threaten allied aircraft patrolling the no-fly zones, the U.S. Defense Department said then.
The international inspectors who went to work in Baghdad Wednesday morning are trying to assess whether the Baghdad government is still committed to chemical, biological and nuclear weapons. The United States has warned it will disarm Iraq by force if the inspections fail.
The monitors are back after a four-year break under a mandate from the U.N. Security Council to test the Baghdad government's contention that it has no arsenals of weapons of mass destruction, or programs to build them.
Saturday, allied planes bombed a mobile radar system in southern Iraq. The U.S. Central Command said the strike came after Iraq moved mobile radar into the southern no-fly zone. The radar provides tracking and guidance for surface-to-air missile systems that can target the planes, the statement said.
The southern no-fly zone was established to support a U.N. Security Council resolution and protect the area's Shiite Muslims, whose revolt after the 1991 Gulf War was crushed by government forces. A northern zone is enforced north of the 36th parallel to protect the Kurdish population who also had attempted a postwar uprising that was crushed.
Iraq claims the zones are illegal and frequently fires on the patrolling pilots. None has been brought down.
Thats right kids, 10 years, not one single hit on one aircraft. Iraq must be the Chicago Cubs of Area Air Defence
Posted by: Frank Martin ||
11/27/2002 12:09 pm ||
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This old story is in the news again.
The Paris- based al-Watan al-Arabi magazine said, according to well-informed sources, that the military and intelligence leadership in Moscow had prepared a plan to topple the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by a military coupe or an assassination operation in order to protect the Russian interests in Iraq and the region and to block plans of an American occupation of Iraq. In its recent issue, the magazine said that the higher Russian leadership decided to pursue a new strategy that stems from the fact that Washington will topple Saddam Hussein, but the Russian interest require a plan that achieves this objective without leading to Russia losing of its historical influence and economic interests in Iraq. Thought Bush and Putin had done a deal on that.
A well- informed source stressed that the said plan was held in top secrecy and full seriousness and on the ground that the plan of the military coupe has no relation to the military coupe plans previously prepared by the CIA; A plan which is based on an experience of years of military and intelligence cooperation between Baghdad and Moscow and tons of the archive of the Russian intelligence. Now, I don't believe this story. However, if I was a member of Saddam's staff and I had any former contacts with any Russian, I'd be a little nervous about now. And maybe that is the reason for that little story. Blah,ha,ha,ha,ha.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 12:08 pm ||
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A military coupe? This must be the long-awaited '69 Chevy Camaro with integral TOW launchers.
Sorry.
Posted by: David Gillies ||
11/27/2002 17:20 Comments ||
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Source: Sun Online
Saddam Hussein brought war in Iraq closer last night after hints that UN weapons inspectors would be banned from searching his palaces. Chief inspector Hans Blix said Iraqi officials told him âentry into presidential sites was not the same thing as entry into factoriesâ. But Mr Blix said bluntly: âThe Security Council authorises us to go anywhere, anytime and we intend to do so.â I really have to doubt the truth of this story. The issue was addressed during the Security Council maneuvering, and Sammy must know it's going to lead to something similar to Yasser in Ramallah. There's nothing about it on Iraq Daily, and INA seems to have missed it, too.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 12:45 pm ||
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using "briar patch" logic he probably doesnt have anything hidden in the presidential sites. I know if I were in charge I would draw attention to the empty places by forbidding access.
Of course, saddam isnt the brightest acorn on th tree...
Civilian experts and government officials say Iraq has put many of its weapons laboratories on wheels, making them not only nearly impossible to detect and destroy, but also posing a grave threat in the event of war. The weapons labs might be hidden in anything from 18-wheel tractor-trailers to recreational vehicles to bread trucks â making a search for them in Baghdad, a city of 5 million, as futile as last month's search in Washington for white-paneled trucks driven by the Beltway sniper.
In a recent address to the National Press Club, Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned "there is evidence to support mobile production capability for chemical and biological weapons [in Iraq]." "It does not take a lot of space for some of this work to go on. It can be done in a very, very small location. And the fact that you can put it on wheels makes it a lot easier to hide from people that might be looking for it." Even more worrisome, experts say, is the fact that these mobile weapons labs, which a report in the Los Angeles Times dubbed "Winnebagos of Death," could be ready at a moment's notice.
In his recent book, The Threatening Storm: The Case for Invading Iraq, Kenneth M. Pollack, director for Gulf Affairs on the staff of the National Security Council from 1999 to 2001, wrote that Iraqi defectors have also alleged that "Saddam has taken the entire Iraqi program on the road." "For example, [Saddam] has taken his BW [biological weapons] program mobile by breaking it up into small, self-contained units that fit into the back of generic tractor-trailers and can be driven all over the country," Pollack wrote.
But other experts have been more vague about the the extent and nature of these labs. The mobile weapons labs might be units for dispersing biological or chemical weapons in the event of a hostile action, or they might simply be parts of a weapons lab that was broken up to avoid detection. Iraqi officials might even use these vehicles to hide the elements that could be used to change civilian facilities into weapons-making facilities, experts said. The trucks could contain dual-use items like fermenters, spray dryers, centrifuges, and all they would need to do is drive up to an electrical source and a water source to begin producing weapons, said Richard Spertzel, the former U.N. chief biological weapons inspector in Iraq from 1994 to 1998.
Dual-use items are necessary for legitimate civilian purposes, like making paint or animal feed, but they are also essential elements for making certain weapons of mass destruction. Such mobile weapons labs could transform a civilian facility into a weapons facility "just by being there," Spertzel said. I have no hope that the UN inspectors could find these even if they ran into one on the street.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 02:07 pm ||
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Prediction: when the air war starts, we'll bomb a whole bunch of tractor-trailers, RVs and bread trucks. And the leftie community in the EU and US will go ape complaining of wholesale violations of the "rules of war."
I'll put $2 on this: any takers?
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/27/2002 18:45 Comments ||
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suggestion to CentCom: Bomb the ones marked "BabyMilk Delivery"
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2002 21:27 Comments ||
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I question whether or not Iraqis could have sourced carriers with adequate humidation and temperature control. However, if they did and one of these was bombed, a local catastrophe could result. I oppose close quarters' conflict, and favor exercise of the nuclear blackmail option. When it looks to Iraqis like they might have to die, with only regime change in the balance, they will submit to occupation, pending democratization.
The decision regarding the extradition of eight rebel gunmen to Russia will be made observing all international conventions and Georgian laws, Dzhemal Gakhokidze, deputy head of the Georgian National Security Council, said on Wednesday. He was refering to the ruling of the European Court of Human Rights, which cancels the moratorium on the men's extradition.
"If the Georgian prosecutor's office decides to extradite them, this issue will then be considered in a court of law, because the second party can appeal against the decision. The extradition will take place only if the court finds the decision made by the prosecutor's office legitimate," Gakhokidze said. I'm sure Russia will make them very comfortable...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 07:12 pm ||
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Heh. I saw a Russian cop-show the other day - the stuff your average gangster does in Russia makes Tony Soprano look like a pussy.
And here's the thing: when you piss'em off, the cops are worse.
Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo says the media are responsible for the controversy over the Miss World pageant that led to riots in which 220 died. Terrible, the way all those journalists and reporters and printers' devils got out there and killed people and set fire to churches. And the editors — they were the worst!
Obasanjo told CNN that "irresponsible journalism" in Nigeria was responsible for the violence. "What happened in Nigeria obviously could have happened at any time that such sensitive and irresponsible remarks are made, at a time like this â particularly at a time like this, in Nigeria," he said. "Ramadan is regarded as holy month for all Muslims and it's a period of fasting, a period of prayer. Their brothers and sisters must also respect their sensitivities and their sensibilities. Nigerian people did not regard that. It caused what we have now in the country." "Our Muslim brothers and sisters, of course, don't have the least obligation to exercise any self-control at all. They're incapable of it, as we all know. So it's incumbent on the rest of us to make sure their little feelings don't get hurt, otherwise they do stoopid, destructive things. Right?"
Obasanjo said he regretted the contest had left Nigeria. "I'm only sorry that (due to) circumstances beyond our control those girls had to leave and we regret that they have to leave but we are happy that we have done our best," he said. "I mean, I was really looking forward to seeing all those boobies in one place..."
I gotta get me one of them hats...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 10:12 am ||
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Source: Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain
The relentless campaign by the Western media to vilify Islamic beliefs and practices has indirectly led to more than 200 people losing their lives in the Nigerian city of Kaduna. I confess. It was me. I killed 'em all. I did it, and I'm glad! Glad, I tell you!
Given the strong feelings of Muslims towards the Miss World beauty contest, it was widely expected that the West would behave in a responsible manner and promote religious tolerance during its media coverage of the event. Instead the West chose once again to advocate religious hatred, consistent with its deep hatred of Islam. That's because we're so damned intolerant of Islamic practices, like slaughtering people. We're really gonna have to work on that if we're gonna get along...
A central pillar of this vicious campaign was to attempt to turn the pageant into a protest vote against the Sharia death sentence passed on Amina Lawal who was 'convicted' of adultery. Genevieve de Fontenay, head of the Miss France committee said, "The Miss France committee is joining the protests against Nigeria, which condemns women to death for adultery. These sentences are barbaric and unacceptable". Oh, dear! She said that? But that... that... that's the truth! And she's French!
Other contestants and their representatives voiced similar opinions and some even boycotted the pageant, demanding that Amina Lawal was freed. Under intense pressure the Nigerian government capitulated and agreed to suspend the sentence at the appropriate time. The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dubem Onyia said that Muslim punishments like stoning to death will never be carried out. "Even here in west Africa, we're more civilized than that! I mean, we got pygmies and cannibals, and we got Charles Taylor and Prince Johnson, but..."
Encouraged by the success of the foreign media, Christians in the media also joined in the defamation of Islam. Simon Kolawole the editor of the 'Thisday' newspaper published a filthy article written by Miss Isioma Daniel, which suggested that prophet of Islam would have chosen one of the contestants as his wife. The article sparked riots and an orgy of violence ensued. They have a hard time grasping this concept of "Senzayuma," don't they? I'd call a line like "Show me now that you're no fool/Walk across my swimming pool" (from "Jesus Christ: Superstar") to be a lot more insulting than that â yet I can't seem to recall a single Christian riot resulting from it. And since Muslims revere "all the prophets," I can't seem to recall a single Muslim riot stemming from it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 12:58 pm ||
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Lack of fanatical Moslem protests over Jesus Christ Superstar most likely springs from fanatical Moslem ignorance of it. I recall Moslem protests over a re-release of Last Temptation of Christ, and of the London showing of the play which alleges a gay relationship between Jesus and Peter. So many infidels, so little time in which to slaughter them all in the name of God.
Posted by: John Bragg ||
11/27/2002 14:18 Comments ||
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I recall the "uproar" over "Last Temptation". Many conservative churches, such as the Southern Baptists, condemned it as patently false and insulting. There were a few picket lines, but no blood drawn, unless someone got a splinter waving their sign.
Naturally, the Liberal press was all over them, condemning them MORE than what you hear them saying about what happened in Nigeria. Typical liberal religious bigotry.
A man claiming to be a member of al Qaeda has been arrested by French police in Lyon after he tried to hijack an Alitalia flight from Bologna to Paris. The Italian man went to the cockpit with what appeared to be a remote control device and threatened to blow up the plane which had 67 passengers and seven crewmembers on board, police sources told CNN. CNN correspondent Alessio Vinci said: "The man had previously attempted to hijack a Marseilles to Paris flight and he had a history of mental problems and previous criminal convictions. He had been holding something like a remote control, and nobody at the time was sure whether it was connected to anything. He asked the pilots to land the plane, where he let everyone off and then came out himself and was arrested. It was a most bizarre hijack attempt." Y'know, maybe it would be a good idea, if somebody tries to hijack a Marseilles to Paris flight, you don't let him get aboard the Bologna to Paris flight? I know that's an imposition, but really, it would be best. Perhaps he could hijack a bus next time, eh? Or a taxi?
Vinci said security has been extrememly stringent in France since September 11 so it is a mystery how he managed to board the flight. The plane is now standing on the tarmac at Lyon airport and all passengers and crew have left the aircraft. Marie Folch, a Lyon city official, told CNN the man had been identified as 29-year-old Stefano Sabarini.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 10:18 am ||
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The suspect was found to have a cerificate from a Kuwaiti psychiatric facility attesting to his mental instability.
#2
The hijacker of Italian plane carried out similar hijacking in 1999, French police say. French police said the same man also commandeered an Italian train in 1998 with a fake weapon. But police said they could not explain why he was not in prison or how his case was handled after the 1999 plane hijacking. "It's the same person," a police spokesman said. "He's done it again."
OK, how about throwing away the key this time.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 12:33 Comments ||
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How about a long walk off a short plank in shark infested waters instead?
Osama bin Laden boasted of planning to kill thousands of people in the United States about half a year before the September 11 attacks, a German court has heard. Jordanian-born Shadi Abdalla, 25, told the court at the trial of Mounir El Motassadeq, a Moroccan accused of supporting the al Qaeda cell which allegedly led the attacks, that he briefly served as bin Laden's bodyguard while attending an al Qaeda training camp in Kandahar, Afghanistan. "He (bin Laden) said there would be thousands of deaths," Abdalla said. "His words were very strong â we must strike at America and destroy it."
Motassadeq, 28, whose Hamburg trial is the first of a September 11 suspect, is charged with being an accessory to 3,116 murders in New York and Washington and with belonging to the Hamburg Islamist cell which allegedly led the September 11 attacks. Speaking in Arabic through a German interpreter, Abdalla said he learned to shoot pistols and assault rifles at the Afghan training camp and served the suspected terrorist mastermind as a bodyguard for two weeks while he was there. "All the people (in the camp) knew that bin Laden said that there would be something done against America, but what he had in mind we did not know," Abdalla said. "Within the radical Islamic camps in Afghanistan, America was clearly seen as the enemy. All people who were there said that the aggressors against Islamic countries should be killed. Everyone there agreed on this."
The witness also said a suspected key member of the September 11 plot, Ramzi Bin Al-Shaibah, was in bin Laden's inner circle and in frequent contact with the al Qaeda leader. "He had a special position in the camp. He was very close to bin Laden and spoke very often with him and gave lessons in the mosque," Abdalla said of the man captured in Pakistan in September and handed over to the United States.
Abdalla, a Palestinian born in Jordan who moved to Germany in 1997 and was granted asylum, testified Motassadeq was also at the Afghanistan camp and was present for a speech in which bin Laden preached jihad, or holy war. Abdalla said he often heard bin Laden talking about attacking the United States, though not specifically about the September 11 plot or the three suicide hijackers who lived undetected in Hamburg.
El Motassadeq, who is married to a Russian Islamic convert, arrived in Germany in 1993 to study. He began his course at Hamburg's technical university's electrical engineering programme two years later. He has acknowledged he went to an al Qaeda camp to learn to shoot in mid-2000 and knew many of the alleged suicide hijackers as well as Bin Al-Shaibah, but denies being involved in the 9/11 attacks and says he never met bin Laden. Perhaps it's just that my mind boggles more easily than most, but I find it astounding that at this point in the war on terror there are so many goobers who say we should be doing nothing, or maybe surrendering, or I don't know what. We have an "antiwar" movement when we're involved in a conflict imposed by self-righteous zealots with whom there is neither negotiation nor coexistence. I could maybe understand if we had thoroughly whipped them, and the Kumbaya set was demanding we show mercy, even though it would be mercy to the merciless â but now? I'm afraid we're still in the early stages of the fight. Beyond belief. Utterly beyond belief.
If the Berkeley City Council bunch thinks this is bad, just wait a few years. Before al-Qaeda is beaten we're going to have to become a lot more vicious than we are. The Islamist world is crawling with easy marks like these two, demanding jihad because manipulators like Binny and Zawahiri and the clerics behind them tell them to. As the actual belief system behind them becomes clearer it's amazing how akin it is to the evil that our fathers and grandfathers fought in the Second World War. That war took six years to fight and it cost millions dead. This one isn't going to be any easier.
You heard it here first.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 10:46 pm ||
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It's the "judgement" issue. Our multicultural liberal society has embraced moral equivilancy and group opportunism over judgement. Saddam and Bin Ladin may be "very bad" but we cannot/must not judge...we can only rationalize and atone. Conversely everything GW Bush does is "worse than bad", because he had the teremity to judge Islamism as evil. He committed the unpardonable sin. The fact that his approach to terrorism may be correct is rendered irrelevant.
Posted by: John ||
11/28/2002 7:33 Comments ||
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The FBI has organized some former Pakistani army officers and others into a band known as the "Spider Group" to locate Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives hiding in tribal areas along the Afghanistan border. A federal law-enforcement official in Washington said yesterday that the move marked an attempt by the FBI to develop a "free flow of information" to U.S. agents who previously had worked under some restrictions with Pakistan's official Inter-Services Intelligence agency. Set up their own intel group using the locals. Someone in the FBI found a clue.
The ISI had deep and long-standing ties to the Taliban and is believed by many to remain beyond the control of the central government in Islamabad. No kidding.
The Spider Group consists largely of retired officers of Pakistan's army, some of whom had reached the rank of brigadier and colonel, say law-enforcement authorities in Washington and sources in Pakistan familiar with the operation. Most of those involved have had a long experience dealing with Afghanistan, going back to the U.S.-backed war against the Soviets in the 1980s and as recently as the period of Taliban rule, from the mid-1990s until last year. Old school military guys, trained in the U.S. back when India and the USSR were seen as the threat.
The new group is based in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar, a gateway to Afghanistan. It is charged with tracking the activities and movement of Taliban and al Qaeda outfits that operate in a largely autonomous belt of tribal areas nearby. Initially, the Spider Group was assigned to keep an eye on public gatherings and seminars involving the MMA, especially the leaders of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam (JUI) party, which is especially close to Taliban leaders. This is sure to make them unpopular.
The FBI fears that the provincial MMA-led government will give the Taliban and al Qaeda the freedom to meet, recruit members and plan attacks against pro-Western targets. The FBI also believes that fugitive Islamists from Afghanistan are hiding in a network of madrassas, or religious schools, that are operated by the JUI. Yup.
The Spider Group has also been asked to recruit locals in Pakistan's tribal areas, where hundreds of wanted terrorists are holed up under the patronage of tribal chiefs. Despite a sizable Pakistani army presence in those areas, they are considered havens for Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives. "Terrorists? Nope, none around here."
Members of the Spider Group, a mix of Muslim and Christian retired army and intelligence officers, have been trained and equipped by the FBI, and, sources in Pakistan say, all have command of the Pashto language spoken in the region. They have also hired Arabic translators. Now why would they need to speak Arabic? Could it be all those "tourists" from Saudi?
Active Pakistani intelligence officials have begun monitoring Spider Group members, and their presence in army receptions and ceremonies has been banned. Pakistani intelligence operatives have also been directed not to have meetings with the group members. They're marked men.
The FBI decided to set up the Spider Group after it concluded that "lack of cooperation" from the ISI made it impossible to hunt down Taliban and al Qaeda fugitives in the tribal areas, the sources said.
An ISI spokesman would neither confirm nor deny the existence of the Spider Group. "I have heard about it; however, I cannot comment on that without any concrete information," said the spokesman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. He also denied that the FBI had ever expressed no confidence in information or hints provided by Pakistan's intelligence agency.
"Pakistani secret agencies are completely following the government policy vis-a-vis the war against terrorism and the recent arrests of al Qaeda leaders from Pakistan," the spokesman said. If these Spider Group guys can stay alive, they may be our best bet for flushing out a few of the al Qaeda leaders that have gone to ground here.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 11:25 am ||
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"Gosh, Mahbub Ali! This game is really great!"
Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2002 11:25 Comments ||
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That sounds like a good idea,but they need a less ridiculous name than "Spider Group".This one sounds like it comes from "Batman",and I mean the TV-series,not the movies.
Posted by: El Id ||
11/27/2002 12:18 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
11/27/2002 13:04 Comments ||
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Rantburg Productions presents -
"Spider Group vs The Secret Army of Doom"
Coming soon to a theater near you.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 13:54 Comments ||
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#5
Spider Group, Spider Group,
Friendly neighborhood Spider Group
Spins a web, any size,
Catch al-Qaida just like flies
Look out! Here comes the Spider Group
Are they tough? Listen, bud,
They're all for spilling Osama's blood.
Preadator's overhead--
One mouse click, and he's dead
Look out! Here comes the Spider Group
Posted by: Mike ||
11/27/2002 15:37 Comments ||
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I've always got a tickle from Arafat's Force 17 - yeah, like from Navarone?
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2002 16:00 Comments ||
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Pakistani authorities have arrested two al Qaida suspects from a town bordering the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, officials said Wednesday. "One of them -- Mohammed Talha -- is a Sudanese national and the other -- Qari Muhbiur Rehman -- is a Pakistani," a senior official at the Interior Ministry in Islamabad told United Press International. Sudanese tourist and his guide.
Both were arrested from Quetta, a Pakistan town bordering the Afghan province of Kandahar, the headquarters of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime. Garden spot of the reigon, why people flock there from all over the world.
"Armed men in commando uniform barged into our house between the night of Monday and Tuesday at around 2:30 a.m. and took my brother and our Sudanese guest Talha with them," Rehman's sister, Bibi Saleha, told reporters in Quetta. Before entering the house, the Pakistan army commandos cut off electricity and telephone connections, she said. Early morning raid, cut power and phone. Sounds like they took a page from a FBI training manual.
Saleha said Talha and his wife took shelter in their home two weeks ago. A local leader of the militant Lashkr-e-Toiba, Mohammed Qasim, had brought the two guests, she said, adding, "We don't know where they came from and why." "And we didn't dare ask why."
Saleha said her mother had accepted the guests on humanitarian grounds because both were sick and Qasim had told them that his guests had come from Peshawar and he planned to send them back to Peshawar in a few days. Guess they will be joining their friends in sunny Gitmo.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 11:54 am ||
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The real future of the 21st century -- the building of the alliance to contain China -- was on display in New Delhi last week, when two of Beijing's most belligerent critics got together. India's Defense Minister George Fernandes (who says India's nukes are aimed at Beijing, not Pakistan) hosted Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, author of that anti-American bestseller "A Japan That Can Say No." Remind anyone of a Tom Clancy book, Executive Orders?
Ishihara called for an India-Japan strategic alliance against the "looming threat" of China, and proposed to symbolize the new partnership with joint India-Japan ventures to build and launch satellites and warplanes and construct Asia's first aerospace industry. Fernandes invited Ishihara to lecture on "India and Japan in the Changing World" at New Delhi's Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses. As ISDA president, Fernandes told the meeting he was impressed by Ishihara's "candid observations," particularly the prediction that China would split into "five or six countries in 15 years' time." Possible, lots of different ethnic groups there. Be a bloody divorce, though.
Fernandes then took the fiery Japanese on a tour of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the high-tech Infosys showcase at Bangalore. The Tokyo governor returned the favor with another speech that said China's threats to take over Taiwan were akin to Adolf Hitler's occupation of Austria in 1938. Oh, I bet that went over well in Beijing.
That puts an interesting new light on reports from New Delhi that Fernades will take the opportunity of Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to India next week to lease nuclear submarines and Tu-22M3 long-range strategic bombers from Russia. India would not need long-range bombers for Pakistan. And Russian sources say they "confidently expect" the long-awaited deal for India to acquire the aircraft carrier Admiral Gorshkov to be signed next week. India also wants to accelerate Russia's delivery of T-90s tanks and Su-30 warplanes, and is shopping for the Smerch multi-launch rocket system. India wants to be a major player in the region. This can't be making their neighbors sleep very easy. During WW2, Japan tried to get Indian troops to overthrow the British rule and join them. Old habits die hard.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 01:32 pm ||
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Tom Clancy's starting to hit way too many nails on the head. The Jean Dixon of our time. But, he knew I'd say that.
Australia gets even more watchful. All that land, so few people.
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Hey--wait a minute--you can't compare the Clancy novel, after all, ISTR, the Chinese were part of that partnership, ALLIED with them (or at least ISTR...it's been awhile...)
Posted by: AW ||
11/27/2002 18:02 Comments ||
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Then who the hell were they? Oh... They just mean those two 'militants.'
Israeli officials denied Wednesday killing local commanders of Hamas and the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the Jenin refugee camp. Palestinian medical sources identified the two as Allah Sabagh, the regional commander of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a military offshoot of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement; and Imad Nasharti, the regional head of the Izzedine al Qassam, the military wing of Hamas. The men were killed when the house they were in exploded. Shucks. Dontcha hate it when that happens?
The two had been on the Israel Defense Forces' wanted list for some time. Some witnesses reported seeing planes overheard, and Israeli tanks were also in the region at the time. However, Israeli commanders said they had nothing to do with the explosion. "Hey, Imad! Hold this spring down for me for a minute, wouldja?"
"Sure!"
"No, not that spring! The other â "
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 10:23 am ||
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#1
A two-for-one sale! and before the day after Thanksgiving!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/27/2002 11:31 Comments ||
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#2
The IDF should take credit, if when the splodeydopes blow themselves up. Give those still living fear that the IDF sees/kills all.
#3
Once again, Fred devines the truth:
"Kadoura Moussa, a Fatah leader in the Jenin area, on Wednesday backed off initial claims that the two were killed in an Israeli missile strike. "Apparently, it was an explosion inside the room," Moussa said.
Israeli military officials said the army was not involved. The officials said the explosion could have been set off by other security forces, or could have been a "work accident" by the militants preparing a bomb.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 12:40 Comments ||
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Yasser Arafat's deputy was quoted as saying the armed uprising against Israel was a mistake and must be halted. The office of Arafat's deputy in the PLO, Mahmoud Abbas, released a 20-page transcript of a closed-door meeting he held with Fatah activists last month in Gaza. In the session, Abbas sharply criticized the militias, saying it was a mistake to turn popular protests into an armed conflict with Israel. "What happened in these two years, as we see it now, is a complete destruction of everything we built," Abbas was quoted as saying. "The reason for this is that many people diverted the uprising from its natural path and embarked on a path we can't handle, with the use of weapons ... such as mortars, grenades and shooting from houses and populated areas."
Abbas said shooting from populated areas endangered Palestinian lives and property, because it invited Israeli retaliation. "We have to control the situation, and I don't think there is anything that keeps us from succeeding," he said. "What is needed now is to say, clearly and firmly â until here and enough."
Abbas did not mention Arafat by name, but since the Palestinian leader controls all aspects of government, the criticism was clearly aimed at him. For a time last month, Abbas had been considered a top contender for prime minister â a position reform-minded Fatah leaders wanted to create to force Arafat to share power. However, the initiative withered after Israel laid siege to Arafat's compound in response to a suicide attack, giving a boost to his sagging popularity. Interesting story, isn't it?
The Armed Struggle⢠is being driven, not by Arafat or the PLO, but by Hamas, with Islamic Jihad trailing behind and trying to seem just as important. Al-Aqsa Brigades and the other politicals are following the Hamas lead because that's what seems to be working. To retain influence, they've got to show the same kind of adolescent "heroism" that Hamas nutbags do.
Yasser let the second Intifada erupt because the first one was moderately successful and he thought he could control it â but he did it at about the same time his mind started going. The second Intifada's not Yasser's creature, but Sheikh Yassin's and â maybe â Rantissi's. As a result, Yasser's become sidelined, and through the miscalculation of the religious fanatics and their controllers, the Paleostinian infrastructure, never that much to write home about, is being destroyed. But if they quit the Armed Struggleâ¢, they've got nothing to show for the blood and gore they've unleashed but rubble. Politics and society are now something that might be best described as sub-Third World. If Yasser were to kick it tomorrow, and Abu Mazen were to take his place, chances are he'd take a clerically-dispatched bullet within six months.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 10:58 am ||
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In the Gaza Strip, a Palestinian bomber blew up a car near an Israeli-Palestinian liaison office, killing himself, but causing no injuries to bystanders. A radical PLO faction claimed responsibility. A significant victory there. Possibly the turning point of the entire war...
In a West Bank refugee camp, a drummer who wakes up residents for a pre-dawn meal during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, was killed by Israeli undercover troops, his colleague said. "Avner, my head is killing me! I ain't slept a wink all month. If that sonofabitch doesn't stop banging that drum, I'm gonna shoot him!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 11:01 am ||
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Indonesian police say the suspected ringleader behind last month's Bali bombings has admitted to knowing a key figure linked to al Qaeda. Imam Samudra was arrested last Thursday and according to police, has confessed to plotting and executing the October 12 bombings, which killed nearly 200 people, as part of a "jihad" or holy war against Westerners. In the latest sign that terror groups in Asia are working together and crossing borders at will under an anti-western ideology, Sumudra told police on Wednesday he knew Hambali, the operations head of Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asia terror group linked to al-Qaeda. "At the beginning he [Samudra] denied knowing Hambali, but when we showed him the evidence he finally admitted to knowing Hambali. He met him in Malaysia," National Police Chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar told reporters in Jakarta. "Don't know him, huh?"
"Y'got nuttin' on me, coppers!"
"Then how do you explain â these!"
"Gah! My underwear! Where did you get them?"
"Out of his underwear drawer!"
"I confess! Yes! Yes! We were lovers! But I never thought it would come to this!"
Earlier, Samudra said he was acting on orders from Hambali, one intelligence official told The Associated Press. "I vass only followink orders!"
Hambali, now a fugitive also known as Riduan Isamuddin, heads al Qaeda's network in the region and sits on its leadership committee.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
11/27/2002 10:06 am ||
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Indonesia's highest authority on Islam says the leaders of the Bali bomb attack should receive the 'heaviest sentence possible' if they are found guilty. Maybe there is hope for Indonesia.
Din Syamsuddin, secretary-general of the Indonesian Council of Ulema (Muslim scholars), says the bombers must be punished for taking others' lives. "We are asking for the bombing perpetrators to be given heaviest possible punishment because they have taken the lives of other human beings unlawfully," he said. Under a special decree passed following the Bali bombing and made retroactive to cover Bali, terrorism is punishable by death.
Mr Syamsuddin says the council appreciated police efforts to arrest those suspected of the October 12 bombing, which killed more than 190 people. He says police should also uncover possible involvement of foreigners in the attack. Police have arrested two key suspects in the bombing - alleged mastermind Imam Samudra and 40-year-old mechanic Amrozi. Both have confessed to roles in the attack, and both could face the death penalty.
Some Muslim leaders have criticised the manner in which police searched Islamic boarding schools in their search for suspects, with Vice President Hamzah Haz comparing the raids to methods used against gambling and prostitution dens. But President Megawati Sukarnoputri has said moderate Muslims should not feel worried about the investigation of some organisations that use Islamic symbols. She describes small but radical Muslim groups as "irritants." It seems like Jemaah Islamiah overplayed its hand and is going to be slapped down.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 12:20 pm ||
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Why would a sophisticated airborne intelligence-gathering system like Rivet Joint be needed against a seemingly primitive military foe like the Taliban or Al Qaeda in Afghanistan?
Because in several respects--including human intelligence gathering and secure communications--they are actually among the world's sophisticated practitioners, and their wireless networks serve as the central nervous system of Al Qaeda's military reconnaissance and command structure.
U.S. communications intelligence specialists, for example, detect dozens of wireless telephone calls to Al Qaeda command groups every time an allied unit drives through a village. Because the U.S. has limited numbers of helicopters, in particular the highly modified, special-operations aircraft, most of these patrols are forced to go by road, say veteran members of the special forces. The village-based observer corps is a basic component of the Al Qaeda command and control system that manages a polyglot force that usually stays well dispersed until they are ready to attack. Remember that scene from "Blackhawk Down" when you see this kid watching the helicopter fly over, then he pulls out the cell phone and calls it in? Thats what they are doing.
The commander that controlled Al Qaeda's reaction to Operation Anaconda earlier this year, which caused dozens of U.S. casualties, was a veteran of the fighting against the Soviet Union and simultaneously used at least five radio operators and communications channels, each involving one or more languages for each ethnic group involved (Arab, Pakistani, Uzbek, Afghan, etc.). The wireless telephones, the "best equipment that money can buy," (follow the money) according to U.S. intelligence officials, tied the observer corps (some of whom also monitor aircraft flying out of allied bases) to the Al Qaeda and Taliban combat forces and the overall tactical commander. The system in Afghanistan is efficient enough that Special Operations members say Al Qaeda had a 48-hr. warning of Anaconda. These are not stupid people we are fighting, folks. This is a very clever, low cost, decentralized network. Of course, we can play this game too. Jamming can shut them down during a big operation. And of course if they stay on the phone too long, we can identify communication hubs and pay them a visit.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/27/2002 11:21 am ||
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#1
Are we talking cell phones here? How the heck can they have coverage in rural Afghanistan and I can't get coverage in downtown Manhatten?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
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