The shadowy leader of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, Mullah Omar, has named a 10-man leadership council to organize resistance against foreign troops in the country. Pakistani newspaper, The News, quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying Mullah Omar announced the formation of the body in an audio tape sent from his hiding place in Afghanistan. Must have borrowed Binny's tape deck.
In the tape, Mullah Omar called on the Taliban to make sacrifices to drive out U.S. and other foreign troops and the "puppet" government of U.S.-backed President Hamid Karzai, the paper quoted Mohammed Mukhtar Mujahid as saying. The paper said members of the Rahbari Shura, or leadership council, were mostly Taliban military commanders and most were from the southwest of the country. The paper said the council included former defense minister Mullah Obaidullah and military commanders, including the one-legged Mullah Dadullah and Akhtar Mohammad Usmani. Mullah Abdul Rauf, a provincial governor in the Taliban regime, told Reuters the council was formed after five days of talks that ended Monday between senior Taliban officials at an undisclosed location in southern Afghanistan. "The Shura was formed to expedite jihad (holy war) against occupation forces and strengthen the Taliban movement," he said. Mullah Abdul Samad, a Taliban intelligence official, said the council had already begun its work. "Now jihad will be waged against the U.S. and allied forces under a new military strategy," he said, but gave no details. "The new and improved 2003 Jihad!"
Afghan officials have said they believe Taliban leaders like Mullah Omar and Usmani have been taking refuge in Pakistan and have called on Islamabad to act against them.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 10:19:50 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Hundreds of Yemeni troops backed by tanks and helicopters on Tuesday launched an operation in this mountainous region in south Yemen to net a group of fugitive Islamist extremists. The sweep unfolding in Jabal Hatat, 120 kilometres (75 miles) northwest of the port city of Aden, was being led by Defence Minister General Abdullah Ali Eleiwah himself, a correspondent reported. The assault is aimed at netting a group of around 80 extremists accused of having launched Saturday's attack on an army medical convoy that left seven wounded, a military official told journalists at the scene. The extremists hidden out in the rugged and largely inaccessible region comprises elements from the Islamic Jihad group and the Islamic Army of Aden-Abyan, as well as sympathisers with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network.
That's where they keep the Bad Guys. Sounds like they're cheesed enough to go after them seriously...
The deployed military detachment, made up of hundreds of soldiers, is backed up by dozens of tanks, artillery, heavy machine-guns and helicopters. Three members of the group, acting as look-outs for the advance of the government's troops, have been arrested. Tribal elders in the region had begun mediation efforts to convince the group to surrender and thus avoid a bloodbath, witnesses said.
And no doubt to try and talk the army into leaving them alone — to avoid a bloodbath, of course...
The wounded in Saturday's ambush of the army medical convoy included a doctor, five paramedics and a driver, the interior ministry said. The local Abyan province council issued a statement saying the members of the armed group were "recidivist extremist elements."
"Recidivist"? They do this sort of thing regularly, huh?
Yemeni authorities have boosted security around Sanaa and other main cities in recent days for fear of attacks by militant groups.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/24/2003 23:24 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
RIYADH: The government of Saudi Arabia had no role in an attack on opposition figure Saad Faqih, Riyadh's embassy in London said Tuesday. "We categorically reject any claim that the kingdom's government had a hand in the attack. These are baseless claims," the statement said.
"Nope. Wudn't us."
Faqih, spokesman for the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA), said he was wounded at his London home late Sunday by two men carrying a "message from the Saudi government." "We have expressed our deep concern to the British Foreign Office over the attack on Saad Faqih," the embassy statement added. "We have also expressed our concern over the safety of all Saudi citizens living in Britain and (stressed) that their safety is the responsibility of the British government," it said.
"So don't come whining to us when they come whining to you..."
A spokesman for Saint Mary's Hospital in north London, where Faqih was treated, said Monday he had apparently been knifed but that his wounds were "not very serious." Saudi Arabia has dismissed as "baseless" allegations it was involved in an assault on a Saudi dissident in London. The exile, Saad al-Faqih, has been quoted as saying that two men came to his apartment on Sunday and tried to kidnap him. He grappled with them as a neighbor called the police. Before fleeing, one assailant said "This is a message from the Saudi government," al-Faqih told the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera. British police say they are investigating an assault on al-Faqih at his north London home, after which he was treated in hospital for a leg injury.
That story has the whiff of flounder about it...
Faqih described the attackers as "East London gangsters."
Named Muggsy, Butch, Spike, and Slick...
"The Saudi Arabians, who claim to fight terrorism, are doing terrorism themselves in the British land," Faqih told Reuters in an interview on Monday from his home after returning from hospital.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/24/2003 23:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
'No ties to al-Qaeda': An unidentified Kuwaiti man who was arrested and interrogated for having links with al-Qaeda after he was caught entering Saudi Arabia illegally, has nothing to do with terrorism, says Al-Watan daily. Records indicate the man escaped from the country after he was wanted by law for attempting to kidnap and have sex with an unidentified minor boy in Kuwait.
It is reported the man, whose identity has not been disclosed, had approached a youth in the parking lot of Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh Cooperative Society and tried to have sex with him. The youth complained to his uncle and the uncle called police.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/24/2003 10:38:38 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
KUWAIT CITY: The detention renewal judge Monday extended until July 7, 2003, the detention of Lutfi Mohamed Mahmoud Al-Barbari, an Egyptian man accused of attempting to kill 13 American soldiers at Camp Udairi by driving a pick-up truck into a group of soldiers outside a store last March. During an earlier court hearing, Al-Barbari told the judge he did not intend to kill any Americans. He said he had been working with the US soldiers for six months and it is unbelievable that he would attack them all of a sudden. Al-Barbari was working as an electrician at the camp at the time of the incident and was shot twice by other soldiers. Al-Barbari who has yet to appoint a lawyer to defend him, is facing a murder charge.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
06/24/2003 9:43:51 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[10 views]
Top|| File under:
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw strongly denied that the British government deliberately exaggerated the threat posed by Iraq under Saddam Hussein when he appeared before a parliamentary committee probing the affair. It's completely untrue, totally untrue" that a September 2002 dossier on Iraq and weapons of mass destruction had been doctored to beef up the case for war, Straw told the House of Commons' foreign affairs committee on Friday. He acknowledged however that a second dossier released in February, which included a section lifted wholesale from a 12-year-old dissertation from a US graduate student, proved to be an "embarrassment" to the government in the run-up to war, he said.
The government made a "very substantial error" by failing to identify the sources cited in the second dossier, on Iraq's attempts to hide weapons of mass destruction, Straw said. "The arrangements for the production of the so-called second dossier, which effectively was a briefing paper to the press, were not satisfactory even given the status of the document, and lessons have been clearly learned with respect to that." he said. But the first dossier was entirely credible, and bore the stamp of approval of the Joint Intelligence Committee, which brings together the chiefs of Britain's intelligence agencies, Straw said. "It was not signed off before the chairman of the JIC was satisfied with it," said the foreign secretary, adding that it had been prepared using "the right process." The foreign affairs committee began hearings last week on Britain's decision to join the US-led war on Iraq, after BBC radio broadcast allegation by an unnamed source that the February dossier was "sexed up" by Downing Street despite the reservations of intelligence officials. Ex-CUSE me?
The controversy dwells in particular on a one-sentence, headline-grabbing claim in the 50-page document that Iraq could deploy chemical or biological weapons in as little as 45 minutes. Blair has instructed the British parliament's intelligence and security committee, which meets behind closed doors, to hold its own inquiry, and he had pledged to publish its findings. He has refused to appear before the foreign affairs committee, but in an exceptional move his chief of communications Alastair Campbell is to testify before the MPs on Wednesday. Including Viqi Shesh George ("Maeglin") Galloway?
Straw is to return Friday to speak in private to the committee
Posted by: Ri ||
06/24/2003 9:44:02 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
France plans to strengthen its president's immunity from criminal investigation and prosecution but create clearer guidelines for impeaching a head of state, Justice Minister Dominique Perben announced on Tuesday. Now why would you need to do that?
The reform would put into law the blanket immunity that the Constitutional Council granted to President Jacques Chirac in 1999 as an investigating magistrate sought to question him about alleged fraud cases during his 1977-1995 stint as Paris mayor. Oh, right.
It was announced two weeks after an investigating magistrate defied the public prosecutor and pledged to open an inquiry into charges of false billing for 14 million francs ($2.5 million) Chirac and his wife spent on food while at Paris city hall. Perben said a draft law, announced a week after the Italian parliament granted Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office, would be presented to Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin's cabinet in a few weeks. Chirac has long been accused of taking kickbacks and using official funds for private travel while mayor of Paris. He denies any wrongdoing but has used presidential immunity to refuse to testify to a judge. If he had lost the election, he'd be in the slammer.
Perben said the law would amend the relevant passage in the French constitution to read: ''During his mandate, the president cannot be required to give testimony before any jurisdiction or administrative authority nor be the object of an inquiry, investigation or pursuit.'' To be known as the "Get Out Of Jail Free" amendment.
The reform would also establish a clearer procedure for impeachment, which until now was allowed in France only in cases of high treason. If the reform is passed, a president could be impeached for ''a failure in his duties that is manifestly incompatible with the exercise of his mandate.'' According to the Paris daily Le Monde, such failures would not be clearly defined but could include scandalous behaviour or conflicts of interest. "conflicts of interest": U.N. Oil for Food + FINA/ELF + kickbacks = jailtime.
Under the reform, a presidential impeachment trial would be held by a congress of all National Assembly and Senate members. Well, forget about getting any trial there.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 4:03:11 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Italian police arrested six people suspected of having close links with al Qaeda. The statement said police were hunting seven suspected extremists. The judicial source said six of the seven were netted while one was still at large. The Italian news agency AGI said five of the arrested were Tunisian and the sixth was from Morocco. It added that the group faced charges of providing financial and logistical support to international terrorism.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/24/2003 4:52:36 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Court proceedings in the trial of alleged Real IRA leader Michael McKevitt.
The American who is the star prosecution witness in the trial of the Real IRA's alleged leader said yesterday he agreed to spy on dissident republicans for the FBI because it seemed "morally acceptable" to do so. David Rupert gave evidence in a Dublin court, sitting 15 feet from Michael McKevitt, who denies charges of being a Real IRA member and directing terrorism. Mr Rupert, 6ft 5ins tall and weighing more than 20 stone, scarcely fitted into the small witness box at the Special Criminal Court. McKevitt, 51, had been allowed to move from the dock to sit directly behind his legal team. Also in court were relatives of the 29 people who died in the Omagh bomb in August 1998. Some were seeing McKevitt for the first time.
In his opening address last week George Birmingham, prosecuting, said McKevitt had told Mr Rupert the Real IRA had made the Omagh bomb and that the Continuity IRA chose the target and transported it. Mr Rupert has been in hiding, probably in America. FBI agents brought him across the Atlantic at the weekend. His protection at a secret location near Dublin is provided by the Americans along with MI5 and the Irish Special Branch. In court yesterday, he said that over nine years during numerous trips to Ireland he became friendly with and trusted by many prominent dissident republicans. Mr Rupert, of German and Mohawk extraction, claims to have met McKevitt more than 20 times. The prosecution case is based mainly on his recollection of the conversations.
He said he first came to Ireland with a girlfriend in the spring of 1992 and returned later that year with another girlfriend, Linda Baughan, a lobbyist at the Florida State Senate who had strong Irish republican sympathies. During that visit she spoke at a hunger strikers' memorial and Rupert, who was involved in the trucking business, began being introduced to prominent republicans. During many later trips, he became particularily friendly with two, Vincent Murray and Joe O'Neill, both connected to Republican Sinn Fein. Referring to his sixth visit in April 1994 when his third marriage was breaking up, he said: "I spent most of my time in Joe O'Neill's pub and a friendship began to develop with the people there."
Shortly after he returned to America, he was approached in his office in Chicago by Ed Buckley, an FBI agent. "He asked me if I would be interested in working with the FBI and supplying information on relations they had with the US. I told him I would get back to him." After another visit in September 1994 with his fourth wife, he was again approached by the FBI and agreed to tell them what he knew about the situation in Ireland. "From my moral teaching, it seemed morally acceptable to do," he said. "He was offering to finance me for my trips." The trial continues. I don't think the last two statements are necessarily linked.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/24/2003 4:12:32 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistan's contribution to the US-led war on terrorism was rewarded on Tuesday with a pledge from President George W. Bush to work towards a $3bn (£1.7bn) package of financial and military assistance. Now we know the price. 3 Billion oughtta get us hot pursuit rights, MMA heads on spikes and Qazi, Fazl "accidents"
For $3 billion, they'd better be dead by morning...
Skirting around concerns about Pakistan's role in proliferation of nuclear weapons, the halting progress in the hunt for al-Qaeda operatives and the delay to democracy's return in Pakistan, Mr Bush sought to emphasise the positive aspects of the relationship in his meeting with Gen Pervez Musharraf at Camp David. "We have no better partner in our fight against terrorism than President Musharraf," Mr Bush said, after their discussion in the grounds of the presidential retreat in Maryland.
Except for the Brits and the Aussies. And the Israelis. And the Spanish, Italians, Portuguese, Poles, Danes, Norwegians... And the Samoans... And the Lapps...
But Mr Bush pointedly withheld the trophy of American friendship most sought by Pakistan: the sale of F16 fighter jets. That's gonna hurt, huh? Glad we didn't go too far in the giveaway
Give me just a piece of $3b â say a percent or two â and you can keep your F16s...
Referring to the $3bn assistance he would seek to secure from Congress, Mr Bush said: "In the package that we discussed, the five-year, $3bn package, half of that money goes for defence matters, of which the F-16s won't be a part." Gen Musharraf was said to have brought up the issue of the 28 jets sold to Pakistan 13 years ago, but whose release has long been blocked by Congress. The proposed $3bn package will be determined by Congress, where there are mixed feelings about the close working relationship between the Bush administration and Gen Musharraf. While some in Congress welcome Pakistan's assistance in the pursuit of terrorists, the battle to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq, some lawmakers are concerned by reports of Pakistani sales of nuclear technology to North Korea, ties between militant Islamic groups and Pakistani intelligence services, the rights of women and the continuing rule of a leadership imposed by the military.
Some of us bloggers, too.
Mr Bush on Tuesday reinforced Washington's encouragement of the "movement toward democracy in Pakistan". He gave a nod in the direction of the free trade agreement sought by Gen Musharraf's government, as both sides announced a trade and investment framework agreement. The deal serves as a stepping stone towards a future Pakistan-US free trade agreement.
Yeah. We can export arms to them, and we can import... ummm... arms.
Gen Musharraf argued that his ambition was to install a resilient form of democracy: "Over the last 50 years, five decades, we have had dysfunctional democracy in Pakistan," the general said. "What I am doing, really, is to introduce sustainable democracy."
Dissolve parliament, call for new elections, and ban holy men, their front men, and anyone who's been convicted of a crime of violence from standing for office. (Solved that problem right off the top of my head. Can a have a piece of that $3B? I'll be waiting for my check... Of course, that leaves them with a parliament made up of eight people, two of them not yet weaned...)
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2003 4:04:09 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Islamic rebels battling Indian rule in Kashmir are swapping their guns for hypodermic syringes so as to pump deadly poison into their victims in the disputed Himalayan region, police said. Police officials in Jammu, the winter capital of Indian-administered Kashmir, said "innocent civilians" were the primary targets of the poisonous injectables now being used by guerrillas in the southern zone of the state. "From pumping bullets to slitting throats, the rebels have (now) started injecting poison into their targets, resulting in instant death," a spokesman for the regional police department told AFP. Since the weekend, two people - 45-year-old Rani Begum and 50-year-old Feroze Din - died in southern Surankot district after being administered poisonous injections, he said.
The militants began to change tactics following global outrage over a massacre on March 24 in the central Kashmiri village of Nadi Marg that saw children, women and men lined up by rebels and gunned down in cold blood. The police spokesman said the militants now seemed to prefer quieter murders in Kashmir, where separatist strife has claimed more than 38,500 lives since the launch of the anti-Indian rebellion here in 1989. He said a thorough check of local pharmacies established that the poisonous injectables had been imported into Surankot, possibly from adjoining Pakistan. "Militants carry these deadly injections in their pockets which allows them easy mobility," Dutta said, noting that movements with firearms were difficult in Surankot because of the current deployment of thousands of troops.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/24/2003 4:16:55 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
The Daily Mirror says U.S. troops have arrested Iraq's information minister under Saddam Hussein, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf, at a roadblocks in a Baghdad suburb. "He kept walking up and askimg if we knew who he was"
There was no immediate reaction from Washington on Wednesday. Like anyone outside the mental healthcare field cared?
The ex-minister, dubbed "Comical Ali" for proclaiming the defeat of U.S. forces even as they moved into Baghdad, had been hiding out at a relative's house watching satellite TV, but was caught on Monday night, the paper said in a report from Baghdad. "He has some serious talking to do... this time," a "senior coalition source" was quoted as saying. There was no independent confirmation ofthe story and no other sourcing. Assign him to a sympathetic Americorps volunteer
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2003 10:32:25 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
U.S. forces interrogating some Iraqi prisoners are seeking details about the case of Navy pilot Michael Scott Speicher, missing since his fighter jet was shot down on the opening night of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Tuesday.
My guess is that the poor guy's in a grave with a few hundred other people. We may not ever find the remains.
Rumsfeld would not say whether there were any new clues to the fate of Speicher, the only American serviceman still listed as missing from the Gulf War. ``There is nothing that has been turned up thus far that I could elaborate on that would be appropriate,'' Rumsfeld told a Pentagon news conference. Members of the Iraq Survey Group, the 1,400-member team searching for weapons of mass destruction and top former Iraqi leaders, are trying to track down Speicher, Rumsfeld said. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who has been pushing for an aggressive investigation into Speicher's fate, said he welcomed news of the interrogations. Nelson discussed the matter with Rumsfeld Tuesday during a visit of senators to the Pentagon. ``This is what they should have been doing all along,'' Nelson said. Past reports say that we were looking all along.
Nelson said there were no breakthroughs in the search for Speicher, and any new details on the case were classified. In April, American investigators found Speicher's initials - ``MSS'' - carved into the wall of a cell in an Iraqi prison. U.S. officials said they had other evidence Speicher may have been held at the Hakmiyah prison, but added that Saddam Hussein's regime frequently moved prisoners of war. Speicher's F/A-18 Hornet was shot down over Iraq on Jan. 17, 1991, the first night of the Gulf War. Months later, the Pentagon listed him as killed in action, although his remains have never been recovered. Last year, the Defense Department changed his status to ``missing-captured'' amid new intelligence about his possible survival. Saddam's government said Speicher was killed and denied holding him as a prisoner. Rat bastards may well have killed him at some point in the run-up to this war. If we ever prove that, there should be Iraqi prison officials swinging from a rope.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2003 5:16:52 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Now they'll let us. EFL.
Turkey will open its military bases, ports and airports to the U.S.-led coalition for logistical support in the rebuilding of Iraq. Turkey's parliament had blocked use of its territory for combat against neighboring Iraq, a decision that strained relations with the United States. Use of the facilities during postwar reconstruction does not require parliament's approval. If this is an attempt to get back on our good side, it isn't happening.
In explaining the decision to allow coalition forces to use ports and airports, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul cited a new U.N. Security Council resolution that allows the United States and Britain to govern Iraq and use its oil wealth to rebuild the country. Turkish politicians have said parliament would have been more likely to grant access to U.S. troops in the war if the operation had U.N. approval. There was strong opposition in Turkey to the war, but Turkish companies are eager to participate in Iraq's reconstruction. Heh, somehow I don't think they're going to get a big piece of the action.
``Those countries that want to help Iraq and contribute to its reconstruction may benefit from Turkey's facilities,'' Gul said. The foreign minister didn't say when the decision would go into effect and he didn't mention military bases. Other officials, however, said bases would be available for logistical support. Turkey is already allowing coalition forces to bring supplies into northern Iraq through a southern port and a land crossing and the new Turkish move is expected to open other facilities for supplies, officials said. It was expected, however, that Turkey would keep its condition that no soldiers or weapons could enter Iraq through its territory, diplomats said. We seem to be doing pretty well with what we have.
Gul also said the bases could be used by peacekeepers. Permission to use the bases would be valid for one year. Any permission to use bases for military operations would still require parliamentary approval. The announcement came after Foreign Ministry Undersecretary Ugur Ziyal held talks with top U.S. officials in Washington last week to repair relations. Don't put down the hammer and saw just yet, Ugur!
Turkey has also offered to send peacekeepers to Iraq, a request that has so far not drawn a response from the U.S. government, officials said. We'll get back to you after we finalize our plans for the Republic of South Kurdistan, part of the new Federated Republic of Iraq.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/24/2003 5:08:21 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Several British servicemen have been wounded after coming under fire in Iraq. There are no details so far of the number of casualties or the severity of their injuries. The incident happened near the town of Amarah on the River Tigris. One unconfirmed report says a helicopter was ambushed[?]. A British Army spokesman said the incident involved members of the 1st Battalion of the Parachute Regiment. Dozens of US troops have been killed in attacks in Iraq since the war officially ended, but assaults on British forces - who control a wide swathe of southern Iraq - have so far been rare. The BBC's Peter Greste says British forces have made greater efforts to win the trust of local people than the Americans in the capital Baghdad and other areas. But he adds that this more open attitude may change as a result of this attack. I doubt it. The best way to increase guerilla-style attacks would be to alienate the locals.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/24/2003 9:54:21 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
from Christian Solidarity Worldwide, an NGO. Edited for relevance.
Reverend Rinaldy Damanik, an Indonesian Church leader, was sentenced on June 16 to three yearsâ imprisonment for illegal weapons possession in what is believed to be a politically-motivated trial. His arrest and trial has been plagued with human rights violations. Many of the testimonies from the police and military witnesses were contradictory and eyewitnesses admitted to being intimidated and abused. Some witnesses could not even agree on the type of vehicle Rev Damanik was allegedly travelling in. On the other hand. . .
. . . Jafar Umar Thalib, the leader of the militant Laskar Jihad organisation, was acquitted on January 30 despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Mr Thalib called for âholy warâ against Christians in Indonesia and threatened the President and the Vice-President in April 2002. He was released from detention shortly after being arrested. Big snip.
[Rev. Damanik] has been an outspoken critic of the police and government authoritiesâ lack of commitment to stop the violence in the region. He has also been a key supporter of the reconciliation process and, as such, a hindrance to the activities of the Islamist militants, such as Laskar Jihad, largely held to be responsible for the sectarian violence in Maluku and Sulawesi. The point here is that Indonesia's justice system is still having trouble figuring out whether they're supposed to be enforcing civil laws or following other agendas. Although they may have made some progress in cracking down on the bad guys, they still have a long ways to go.
Posted by: lkl ||
06/24/2003 3:35:46 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[8 views]
Top|| File under:
Thinking about another country in the region: Would you support or oppose the United States taking military action against Iran to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons?
Fifty-six percent support military action against Iran, while only 38% oppose it. Wow, this is bordering on shocking. I have to wonder if the polling methodoloby was manked up.
And we thought we were hawkish.
Edited for your pleasure. Read this.
Democratic presidential hopefuls say they will continue to promote affirmative action regardless of the Supreme Court ruling in the case challenging the constitutionality of programs to help minorities in college admissions. "When I'm president, we'll do executive orders to overcome any wrong thing the Supreme Court does tomorrow or any other day," Gephardt said. Ok, kids, while this isn't WOT it sure is relevent. If George W. said something like this in public it would be all over the place - but Gephardt talks through a hole in his foot and nobody call him on it. Any comments on the Man Who Would be King? Liberalhawk? Anybody?
A seething Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon has been infiltrated by al-Qaeda extremists, according to Lebanese intelligence officials who believe that the terror group was behind a rocket attack on Beirut last week. They blame the fundamentalist Usbat Al-Ansar (League of Warriors) faction inside Ein el-Hilweh for the attack on a television station, describing it as an extension of last month's suicide bombing campaign in Saudi Arabia. Security at the camp, a festering square mile of rusting metal and cracked concrete near the southern port of Sidon, was tightened last week after the attack on Future TV, which is controlled by Lebanon's prime minister, Rafiq Harriri. The rocket attack at 10.30pm last Saturday devasted the television station's newsroom but caused no injuries as no one was on duty at the time. Photographs of the prime minister standing in the wreckage, however, were seen as a symbol of Lebanon's inability to control extremists.
The residents of the UN-administered camps must be sighing nostalgically — it's just like the good old days.
A previously unknown group called Ansar Allah claimed responsibility but the intelligence official said it was a cover name for Usbat. Previously, Lebanon has denied that al-Qa'eda has infiltrated Ein el-Hilweh. "The attack was planned from within the camp," the official admitted. "It's an extension of the campaign in Saudi Arabia. They want to hit at Saudi interests in Lebanon, to cause them problems." This should be fun, I'll make some popcorn.
More than 200 hardened al-Qaeda and Taliban veterans arrived in the camp last year and took control of a district known as Emergency Street after a bitter turf war with Fatah, the movement for the liberation of Palestine, whose leader last week boasted to The Telegraph about orchestrating suicide attacks in Israel.
Yasser? Or Abu Mehjan?
Since then, Usbat has imposed Islamic customs on residents of the 100,000-strong camp. Three men have been killed in the past month after they smuggled alcohol past Lebanese army checkpoints. Squalid side streets in the Emergency quarter are patrolled by dozens of men wearing long beards. They question every passer-by, turning away those who are not welcome. In the crowded alleys, no women are visible. Israeli intelligence officials believe that Faruq Al-Masri, an Egyptian militant who was murdered in March, led the group of men who fled Afghanistan after the war in 2001 and reached Lebanon with help from Iran. Who else
Al-Masri took control of Usbat after his arrival, transforming it from a Palestinian faction into a radical Muslim organisation. The group's previous leader, Abu Mehjan, a trusted ally of Osama bin Laden, had sent dozens of fighters to training camps in Afghanistan. Relations between the militants and other residents have been strained since Usbat emerged victorious from the battle for territory after Al-Masri's death.
The Lebanese, of course, remain in denial — "No concern of ours, just a bunch of Paleos..."
Hamad Obeida is among dozens of youths who have been forcibly shaved bald by Usbat in retribution for his "short back and sides" haircut. Hamad (not his real name) was taking a shortcut down Emergency Street when he was pulled into a doorway and had an automatic rifle jammed into his ribs. "You are not wearing the hair of Allah's teachings," he was told. "You look like an American marine, the people who are killing our fellow Muslims in Iraq. The allies of our persecutors in Israel." The Taliban version of "Winning hearts and minds". Zain Farhoud, 42, suffered at the hands of Esbat after she went shopping at an American store. "They said my shopping was suspect because I had broken a fatwah to shop at the supermarket," she said. "They insisted on searching my bags. There was a magazine for brides that I had bought for my daughter. When they found that they became enraged... There are many foreigners who have come to this camp in the last one or two years. They are taking the young boys and filling their heads with the glories of martyrdom for Islam." Used up most of the available cannon fodder in Afghanistan Munir Maqdah, the local Fatah leader, is scornful about the "road map" peace efforts being made by Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian prime minister, who is also known as Abu Mazen, and Yasser Arafat, the president of the Palestinian Authority. "As long as there is one piece of Arab land occupied and one refugee outside the country of their birth, the Palestinians have only one weapon that the Americans, Israelis and Abu Mazen cannot deprive them of and that is the martyrdom spirit," he says. Although he was found guilty of being an al-Qa'eda operative by a Jordanian court, Maqdah denies allowing its fighters to establish a base in Ein el-Hilweh. "All lies"
However, outsiders get little chance to find out if he is telling the truth. The Lebanese army fears a bloodbath if it enters the camp. In the office of Lebanese intelligence on a hill opposite Ain Al-Hilweh, the resident commander gave out his telephone number, but with a warning. "Don't use it in Ein el-Hilweh," he said. "There's nothing I can do for you there." Civil war, any time now.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 2:57:46 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
French commanders extended by 24 hours a deadline for gunmen to leave the Congolese town of Bunia that had been due to expire on Tuesday, saying more talks were needed with militia. An international mission sent to protect residents in Bunia from tribal bloodshed had initially given a 72-hour ultimatum to end "visible armed presence" in the town. That deadline was supposed to expire before midday. "The ultimatum was pushed back by 24 hours so that everything can be well understood," Colonel Gerard Dubois, spokesman for the mainly-French force, told reporters. What part of "no packing heat" don't they understand?
"It's preferable to be absolutely clear before declaring a "Bunia free from arms" than to deal with misunderstandings and incidents later," he said. Ah, the French. Set a deadline and retreat.
Dubois said the force had decided to extend the deadline after talks held before midday on Tuesday with the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC), whose gunmen are based in the ramshackle mining and farming town. Some UPC fighters were visible in at least one camp in town, with more outside their headquarters, where the force is allowing them to retain an unspecified number as bodyguards. "It's a very dangerous place, that's why we need several hundred bodyguards."
Dubois declined to say precisely what issues remained to be resolved at talks with the Hema-affiliated UPC, and declined to give a precise time for the extended deadline to expire. It is expected to end at roughly midday on Wednesday. I see a great career for him in the UN.
UPC leader Thomas Lubanga was not immediately available for comment. Having lunch, lots of fresh meat just arrived.
I thought he was cleaning his guns...
Weapons are due to be confiscated if seen after the new deadline in Bunia, where thousands of residents scared of attack have fled to squalid camps, rather than return to neighborhoods that have become little more than ghost towns. The force does not plan to enter houses to search for weapons, fueling fears among some residents that gunmen will hide their weapons and use them for nighttime attacks. Really, now who would have thought?
The French-led mission is due to be replaced by a reinforced U.N. troop presence in Bunia as its mandate ends on September 1. A spokesman for the force said it sent patrols backed by light tanks to guard the town on Tuesday after receiving unconfirmed reports of an attempt to infiltrate the town by Lendu attackers. He said the patrol found no attackers. Was a Capt Blix leading the patrol?
The spokesman said a French soldier fired a warning shot at three militiamen, before disarming them, then returning their weapons when they were found to be members of the UPC. UPC being the officially approved armed thugs.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 2:30:45 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Sharon doesn't have infinite patience
Israel arrested more than 130 Palestinians in the West Bank city of Hebron on Tuesday, targeting Hamas as the Palestinian government awaited word on whether the Islamic militant group would agree to a cease-fire. The Israelis also charged five Israeli Arab leaders with funneling at least $6.8 million to Hamas in a trial that comes amid increasing tension between the government and the Arab community. Screening out the fifth column
Palestinian officials and Egyptian mediators said they expect a positive response soon from Hamas and other militant groups to a proposal to halt attacks on Israelis. "There is a feeling of optimism that something like this (a truce) will be announced in the next few days," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Tuesday in Cairo. Hamas repeatedly has walked away from the Egyptian-brokered truce efforts, but the Islamic militant group is feeling the squeeze after the Iraq war. Washington has urged Arab nations to stop funding Hamas, Syria closed the offices of Palestinian militant groups and Israel threatened to assassinate Hamas leaders. An agreement by Palestinian militias to suspend their armed uprising could be a major breakthrough for a U.S.-backed peace plan that envisions Palestinian statehood by 2005. The so-called "road map" has been hung up over the two sides' inability to end 33 months of fighting, with each saying the other must take the first step. Israeli officials remained deeply suspicious, saying a truce is just a militant ploy to win time to prepare for more shootings and bombings. If so, the hammer has to come down - Yassin first
The terms of the emerging deal between Abbas and the militias were not clear. One Palestinian mediator said Monday the truce will be open-ended and apply not only to Israel but also the West Bank and Gaza Strip — a key condition for Israel. However, a leader of one of the armed groups said that Hamas will only accept a three-month truce. Leaders of the smaller Islamic Jihad group are trying to persuade activists to accept a limited deal, but are facing stiff opposition, he said. Israel has said it will not halt its campaign against militants unless Palestinian security forces take tough action — something Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas has said he cannot do. cause/effect, lesson no. 3,452
Early Tuesday, troops swept through the West Bank city of Hebron, a Hamas stronghold, and detained more than 130 Palestinians. The arrests came just days after troops shot and killed Abdullah Kawasme, the militant group's leader in Hebron. Israel blames him for the deaths of 52 Israelis. The detainees, including relatives of Hamas suicide bombers and Kawasme's sister-in-law, were taken to an Israeli base on the outskirts of Hebron. They sat in a large, open-sided tent, handcuffed and blindfolded, and were taken in groups to a nearby building for interrogation. Adnan Kawasme, 17, a relative of the slain Hamas leader, said troops came to his house and used rifle butts to push him along. The high-school student said he was released after eight hours. sympathy meter's in the shop for repairs, punk
In the northern Israeli port city of Haifa, meanwhile, a leader of the Islamic Movement in Israel, Sheik Raed Salah, and four others were charged with funneling at least $6.8 million to Hamas and having contacts with an Iranian agent in Lebanon. The trial comes at a time when the United States, which has labeled Hamas a terrorist organization, is trying to dry up funding to the Islamic militant group. The 12-count indictment said Salah and the other defendants transferred money from Hamas institutions abroad to group activists in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Hundreds of Arabs, many of them carrying green Islamic banners, protested outside the Haifa courthouse. Several Israeli Arab leaders have said the trial is meant to intimidate Israel's 1.2 million-strong Arab community. intimidate them from trying to kill Israelis?
Israeli officials said a Hamas-Abbas understanding might not necessarily be acceptable, noting that under the peace plan, the Palestinian Authority must disarm militias, not court them. At best, Israel would accept an internal Palestinian arrangement as a brief precursor to a crackdown. A top Israeli security official said the truce talks give Hamas too much leverage. "It's unacceptable for the Palestinian Authority, Israel and the United States to agree to a situation in which a certain Hamas leader decides when progress (on the road map) will be made," said Maj. Gen. Amos Gilad. "It's an easy solution that will cost us in blood."
He's got that correct. They're not going to get anywhere until Sheikh Yassin and Yasser are meeting a few nights a week for cards and reminisces as the old irrelevant terrorists' home...
A Palestinian uprising leader, Marwan Barghouti, has lent his prestige to the talks, writing cease-fire proposals from his Israeli prison cell, according to a source close to the negotiations.
That's the part of the world where being in jug lends you prestige...
Also Tuesday, in the Gaza Strip, troops shot and wounded a Palestinian trying to crawl under the fence of a Jewish settlement, an army spokesman said. The man was found to be carrying two knives, the army said. I'm sure he was just looking for work, as a butcher
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2003 11:34:35 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
Fighting roared toward Liberia's capital Tuesday in a serious blow to last week's cease-fire and hopes of a negotiated end to West Africa's deadliest conflict. Aid workers and military sources said rebels Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy attacked President Charles Taylor's forces near Plumkor village, barely 20 km (13 miles) from the fringes of the coastal city of Monrovia. Resupply completed.
Both sides have accused each other of repeated truce violations while negotiations have stalled over very different interpretations of a deal that was meant to reach a complete peace agreement within 30 days. LURD said in a statement its men had launched what it called a "coherent defensive" action to maintain pre-cease-fire positions. Military sources said the rebels appeared to have taken the key junction of Klay before advancing on Plumkor. "The shelling was so heavy that many people have started fleeing the area and our vehicles that were going to the area had to return," said a worker with one international aid agency who did not want to be named. "Run away!"
Hopes had been high for Liberia's cease-fire, but expectations were more limited among a terrified people well aware that more than a dozen deals were signed and broken during civil war that left 200,000 dead in the 1990s. Under last week's cease-fire deal, the rebels, Taylor's people and opposition politicians were to come up with an overall agreement and discuss forming a transition government without the president. Nobody seems to have asked Chuck.
The rebels say that means he must step down soon, but Taylor has said he will not leave before the end of his elected mandate in January and will contest future elections if he wants to. West African mediators have warned that the talks hang by a thread. Regional cease-fire monitors were due to arrive in Liberia last weekend, but they are still waiting for the factions to tell them exactly where frontline positions are. Too late.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 11:27:12 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[18 views]
Top|| File under:
A Kenyan court today charged four men with 13 counts of murder in connection with a terrorist attack that killed at least 10 Kenyans and three Israeli tourists. The suspects showed no emotion as the charges and names of the Kenyans and Israelis who were killed in the attack, on Mombasa airport on November 28 last year, were read out. The four Kenyans charged - Said Saggar Ahmed, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, Kubwa Mohamed and his son Mohamed Kubwa - were not asked to enter a plea because some prosecution documents were not prepared. In the November attack, assailants attempted to shoot down a chartered Israeli jet with shoulder-fired missiles as it was taking off from the airport at Mombasa. The missiles narrowly missed their intended target. Within a few minutes, suicide bombers blew up a car packed with explosives outside a beachfront hotel popular with Israelis. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed along with as the bombers. At least three of the four suspects are allegedly connected to a man suspected of being Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, an alleged al-Qaida operative and prime suspect in the November attack, as well as the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi. Both attacks have been blamed on al-Qaeda. Aboud Rogo Mohammed, an Islamic teacher, Kubwa Mohamed, a trader, and Mohamed Kubwa, a town councillor, were earlier this year charged with harbouring an illegal alien, known as Abdul Karim, who was thought to be Fazul Abdullah Mohammed. An Islamic teacher?? Say it ain't so, Mo
Yes. He teaches explosives handling. He's very holy...
New evidence uncovered by the investigation led them to be charged with murder. The fourth suspect, Mr Ahmed, was first held by police last month, and was also charged with harbouring an illegal alien, said the suspects' lawyer, Maobe Mao. Mr Mao was unable to identify the illegal alien, but said that it was not Abdul Karim. Mr Ahmed was then released on bail, but was held by police again in Mombasa yesterday, in connection with the murder charges. In March, Mohamed Kubwa told the Associated Press that Aboud Rogo Mohammed had introduced his family to the man known as Abdul Karim early last year, and took him to the family home in Siyu, a town on Pate island near Somalia. Abdul Karim married Mohamed Kubwa's half-sister, Amina, and taught at an Islamic school in Siyu before disappearing earlier this year, Mr Kubwa said. A family affair, how unusual
Investigators have told the Associated Press that both Mohamed Kubwa and Amina identified Abdul Karim as Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, a native of the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros, who also has Kenyan citizenship. Abdul Karim's whereabouts are not know, but last month Kenyan authorities said they believed that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed - listed on the FBI's most wanted list - may have returned to Kenya from Somalia. The four men were charged amid renewed warnings of a terrorist attack in the East African nation, and pressure from US officials on Kenyan authorities to hunt down terrorists suspects. Somalia, a Muslim nation that has not had an effective government since its last president was ousted in 1991, is believed to be a transit point and staging ground for al-Qaida operatives working in eastern Africa. A US district court indicted Fazul Abdullah Mohammed in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/24/2003 11:29:43 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
"As The Boeing Turns" continues:
In a brazen act, two men climbed aboard an idle Boeing 727 cargo jet in Angola last month and flew off into the African sky without a trace. Two men? What happened to the "lone white male"?
U.S. investigators and civil aviation officials in Africa said the plane most likely was taken for a criminal endeavor such as drug or weapons smuggling, but they have not ruled out the possibility it was stolen for use in a terrorist attack. U.S. officials said a variety of investigative and intelligence-gathering methods were being used to search for the plane across Africa. But experts said that even in the age of satellites and other high-tech search methods, just a new coat of paint and a stolen registration number would make tracking the plane nearly impossible. "Let's assume (the pilot) did arrive in some place like Nigeria ... a couple of thousand dollars changed hands and the aircraft is put in a hanger. The chances it is seen before satellites get a chance are zip," Chris Yates, editor of Jane's Aviation and Security, said in a phone interview from London. "It's happened before in African aviation," he said. The plane, with tail number N844AA, left Luanda airport May 25. The transponder was turned off, so the plane's position could not be monitored by air traffic control.
That makes me think we're going to see it crashing into someplace heavily populated, though I guess it could be crooks...
Keeping track of aircraft over Africa's vast and often desolate terrain is problematic at best anyway. Richard Cornwell, a senior researcher at the Institute for Security Studies in Pretoria, said radar coverage of African skies is virtually nonexistent. "Pilots talk about flying the gauntlet between South Africa and North Africa. There is no (air) control, even on commercial levels," he said. U.S. Federal Aviation Association records show the aircraft was most recently owned by Aerospace Sales and Leasing Company Inc. of Miami. The company's listed phone number in Miami has been disconnected. Helder Preza, director of Angola's civil aviation authority, told The Associated Press that the 727 was leased by Air Angola and had been grounded for about a year because it lacked proper documentation for its conversion to a tanker. Preza said an American named Ben Padilla approached authorities a month before the plane disappeared, saying the owner wanted to take the plane out of Angola. "We said no problem," Preza said - as long as Padilla first paid $50,000 in fees for the year the aircraft sat in Angola and provided proof Air Angola approved. Oh, a light dawns.
Padilla asked airport authorities to do maintenance on the plane in the meantime, Preza said, and it was during maintenance work that Padilla and another man were seen boarding the plane just before it took off. There's the second guy, wonder why we didn't hear about him before? It's the old "need to fire up the plane and taxi her around to check her out" ploy.
According to Padilla's family in Florida, he was hired to repossess the jet after Air Angola failed to make lease payments. His sister, Benita Padilla-Kirkland, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel she feared the plane had crashed or Padilla, 51, was being held against his will. Repo Man, just like I thought.
Air Angola, an airline reportedly owned by army officers, has been in financial distress since a peace accord last year ended 25 years of civil war and brought an end to lucrative military transportation contracts. "Owned by army officers", who might be upset you repo'ed their plane. Explains them hiding out, assuming they landed in one piece.
Phone calls to the Air Angola office in Luanda were not answered.
Did they pay their phone bill?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 8:47:02 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
EFL
A US attack on a convoy that was believed to have been carrying Iraqi leaders may have taken place inside neighbouring Syria, a Pentagon official has admitted. Oops!
At least five Syrian border guards were injured in the attack, which was carried out by US special forces backed by aircraft. US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Gary Keck said the US was working with the Syrian Government to determine precisely where the attack occurred. You don't have a GPS fix on the location? Or is the exact location of the border what's in doubt?
There has been no official comment from Damascus but a spokesperson at the Syrian Foreign Ministry told BBC News Online that a statement would be released later on Tuesday. Syria has been under intense pressure from America since the war in Iraq not to provide sanctuary to Saddam Hussein or any other Iraqi fugitives. US special forces, backed by AC-130 gunships and helicopters, took part in the attack on the convoy near the western Iraqi city of Qaim, close to the Syrian border, five days ago. An unmanned aircraft, or drone, was also involved in the operation. US defence officials said a number of people had been killed in the attack. Officials said 20 people in the convoy were arrested and questioned, but most were subsequently released. Intelligence reports had apparently suggested that the convoy was carrying ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and at least one of his sons, Uday and Qusay. There has been widespread speculation that the attack was an attempt to kill Saddam Hussein. But the Americans have said there is no evidence that he was among those killed. More bad intel?
It is unclear how the Syrian border guards came to be involved. Maybe because you crossed the border and they didn't like it?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 8:31:06 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
EFL
French peacekeepers have exchanged gunfire with ethnic militia fighters in the war-torn town of Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo. French troops rushed in to crush a suspected incursion by ethnic Lendu fighters. The clash came as a deadline expired for the gunmen to disarm. Most of the ethnic Hema fighters in control of Bunia have complied, but a small number have remained to protect the leadership. A French-led international peacekeeping force had given all armed groups until 1100 local time on Tuesday to pull out of the town or be forcibly disarmed. Times up
Posted by: Steve ||
06/24/2003 8:21:27 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Iran admitted yesterday that it had "identified" al-Qaeda members in captivity and would extradite some of them to "friendly" countries. After repeated claims by Washington that Teheran was harbouring al-Qaeda terrorists, the government admitted that it had "several" in custody, but said it did not yet know who they were. The admission that their identities had been established is apparently a gesture to appease Washington which has become increasingly frustrated with Teheran. A number of senior al-Qa'eda members are believed to have sought shelter in Iran, either with or without the knowledge of the Teheran regime, since the Afghan war. Those whose names have repeatedly been mentioned include Saad bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden, and Seif Al Adel, the new military operations chief. America is convinced that an al-Qa'eda cell based in Iran was involved in the bombings in Riyadh, the Saudi Arabian capital, on May 12 in which 35 people died. An Iranian spokesman said those being held would not be extradited to America, which does not have diplomatic relations with Teheran, but said "friendly" countries might be accommodated.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/24/2003 5:16:48 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
The leader of the main militia in the war-torn town of Bunia in the Democratic Republic of Congo has said his troops have withdrawn ahead of a deadline to leave. "So, go home, Frenchies! Don't hang around. Everything will be fine from now on (*snigger*)"
A French-led international peacekeeping force has given all armed groups until 1100 local time on Tuesday to pull out of the town or be forcibly disarmed. The north-eastern town has been wracked by fighting between rival tribal factions, which has killed about 500 civilians in the past two months. A BBC correspondent in Bunia says many families are talking about returning to their homes, but are not sure if the few hundred peacekeeping troops can ensure their security. At least the French forces can ensure their own safety, unlike the usual UN presence.
There are also reports that residents in at least one neighbourhood have fled, fearing revenge attacks from a rival militia. Thomas Lubanga, the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) told Reuters: "All our soldiers have left the town, apart from our bodyguards." But some residents said gunmen dressed in civilian clothing remain in the town. Bunia, the capital of the gold-rich Ituri province, came under the administration of the UPC following the Ugandan pull-out in early May. UPC gunmen are drawn from the Hema ethnic group, which has been fighting the rival Lendu militia. On Monday, Hema residents in a northern neighbourhood fled to a UN compound in the centre of town, fearing Lendu gunmen will attack them once the UPC has withdrawn.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/24/2003 4:23:16 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
EFL
A Qatari man described by federal prosecutors as an al Qaeda "sleeper operative" was designated an enemy combatant by President Bush yesterday, as the government dropped criminal charges against him and turned him over to the U.S. military. Ali S. Marri, who arrived in the United States the day before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, was trained in computer hacking and the use of poisons, according to new information the United States has obtained from Khalid Sheik Mohammed and another captured al Qaeda operative. He was sent to the United States to help settle al Qaeda members arriving for follow-up attacks, the captives reportedly have told interrogators.
Marri was transferred yesterday from a federal jail in Illinois to an undisclosed military brig, where he could be detained indefinitely without legal protections afforded to defendants in the court system. He may eventually be brought before a military tribunal. Marri, 37, lived in Peoria, Ill., with his wife and five young children. He had trained at the al Farooq camp in Afghanistan, where he met Osama bin Laden and offered himself for a "martyrdom" mission, prosecutors said. Federal law enforcement officials arrested Marri in December 2001. He was held as a material witness, then charged with lying to the FBI about calls he allegedly made in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks to a telephone number in the United Arab Emirates. The number belonged to Mustafa Ahmed Hawsawi, suspected of managing a bank account used by some of the hijackers. Hawsawi, who allegedly received calls from several of the hijackers, was captured March 1 in Pakistan along with Mohammed. Tips to the FBI led to a search of Marri's Peoria apartment in October 2001, where agents found more than 1,000 credit card numbers on his computer, as well as audio files of bin Laden, photographs of the Sept. 11 attacks and a computer folder labeled "chem" that contained bookmarked Web sites with fact sheets on hazardous chemicals, including information on buying them. Also bookmarked were sites about weapons and satellite equipment, and an almanac showing locations of U.S. dams, waterways and railroads, according to court documents.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/24/2003 4:23:37 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
The head of a Sudanese chemical firm has told the BBC a shipment of explosives impounded by the Greek authorities was destined for his company. Issam Bakri Khalifa, of the Integrated Chemicals and Development Company, said the consignment was intended for peaceful purposes and he has demanded it back. The ship - the Baltic Sky - was carrying 680 tons of explosives when it was stormed by special forces off Greece's western coast on Sunday.
Greek officials said documents on board linked the ship with Integrated Chemicals and Development but initial inquiries indicated the company did not exist. The BBC's Panos Polyzoidis in Greece says the shipment of explosives is so large that it may have been intended for a government rather than an organisation. Greek Shipping Minister George Anomeritis said the ship's manifest showed that cargo was officially bound for a company with "a post office box in Khartoum that did not exist". Documents from the ship described the cargo as ANFO, a commercially-manufactured ammonia nitrate-based explosive usually used in mining. Mr Anomeritis described the ship's cargo as akin to "an atomic bomb".
The crew of seven - five Ukrainians and two Azeris - have been charged with possession and transport of explosives - an offence which carries a maximum sentence of 20 years. They have also been charged with failing to notify Greek authorities 24 hours in advance that they were transporting explosives into Greek waters.
The ship's location when it was stopped suggested it was not heading towards Khartoum. It had apparently been sailing around the Mediterranean for six weeks before being impounded. It had loaded 450 pallets of TNT and 8,000 detonators in Gabes, Tunisia on 12 May, Mr Anomeritis said. The vessel was later seen near Istanbul on 22 May and in the Aegean Sea on 2 June. It was boarded in the Ionian Sea following a tip-off and then forced into the tiny Greek port of Platiyali, 235 kilometres (145 miles) north-west of Athens.
The discovery of the cargo comes amid heightened terror alerts in East Africa and elsewhere. Anti-terrorist forces and army bomb experts have begun examining the cargo.
Posted by: Bulldog ||
06/24/2003 3:59:42 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
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.
