A previously unknown Chechen rebel group said in a statement published Monday it conducted a bombing on the Moscow metro last month that killed at least 40 people. Web site www.kavkazcenter.com, which normally publishes statements from extremist rebel warlord Shamil Basayev, who has organized a string of suicide bombings against Russian targets, said it did not know who stood behind the group. The 'Gazotan Murdash' group sent the statement to the Web site three times -- first on February 8, two days after the bombing -- and then phoned the publishers before the site agreed to publish, Kavkazcenter said in a comment.
"Yeah! We dunnit! Really! C'mon! Give us some pub!"
"Our first operation was successfully conducted on February 6 on the Moscow metro," the statement said, saying it was revenge for an alleged atrocity by Russian soldiers in Chechen capital Grozny exactly four years before the metro blast. According to human rights group Memorial, 46 people died when Russian troops stormed through the Alda suburb in February 2000 as they consolidated power in mainly Muslim Chechnya after their return to the region in 1999. The statement, signed by Lom-Ali Chechensky, went on: "It was small, but good. Remember! This was revenge for Alda February 5-6, 2000, and it is only the beginning. An eye for an eye! An injury for an injury! Freedom or Death!"
"No blood for oil! Up the revolution! Victory to the pee-pul! My mother, drunk or sober!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/02/2004 12:39:00 AM ||
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An eye for an eye! An injury for an injury! Freedom or Death!
Shouldn't that be freedom for freedom? How about Chechen freedom from Russian rule in exchange for Russian freedom from Chechen crime?
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/02/2004 6:32 Comments ||
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Russian authorities say they have killed Ruslan Gelayev, a top Chechen leader who has been fighting Russian troops in and around the restive Caucasus republic for more than four years. The body of a man who looked like Gelayev had been found in Dagestan, which borders war-torn Chechnya, after a fight that also left two border guards dead, law enforcement officials told Russian news agencies on Monday. Previously-captured Chechen fighters have identified the body, which was found without documents in western Dagestan, as that of Gelayev, who has eluded Russia's attempts to capture or kill him for years. Among Gelayev's most spectacular exploits was the taking of the Komsomolskoye village in Chechnya in March 2000, shortly after Russian troops drove rebels from the capital Grozny. After fierce fighting that lasted days, federal forces eventually recaptured the village, killing hundreds of fighters, but Gelayev escaped into the mountains from where he was reported since then to have staged isolated raids against Russian targets.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/02/2004 12:37:21 AM ||
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Looks like they got him: Russia's NTV television showed a bearded corpse lying almost fully covered by a black plastic sheet on a metal table, as medical and military officers looked on. "We can say today with certainty that this is Gelayev's corpse. There is a wound on the leg that we knew about," said Sergei Ignatchenko, the main spokesman for the FSB, a successor agency to the Soviet KGB security force. "He also had with him his dagger, which we know he would never leave behind," he told Russian television channels. There was no confirmation or denial of the death from separatist news sources. Kommersant newspaper reported he was killed by border guards who recognized him as he was visiting his home village.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 10:13 Comments ||
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The Russian republic of Chechnya is checking a report that Ruslan Gelayev, a rebel commander, was killed by security forces, Interfax said, citing Akhmad Kadyrov, the Chechen president. Kadyrov didn't provide any details of the report of the rebel leader's death. ``There are no objective data confirming this beyond a shadow of a doubt,'' he told Interfax yesterday. ``The fewer rebel unit commanders talked about by the population and the world media, the better,'' he said. The Chechen government was involved in talks with Gelayev through mediators, Kadyrov said, according to Interfax. ``The mediators said he is prepared to lay down arms, but he did nothing tangible,'' Kadyrov said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/02/2004 12:04:57 AM ||
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More A man resembling senior Chechen warlord Ruslan Gelayev has been killed in a clash with federal troops in the mountains of Dagestan, officials said Monday. Russian officials in the past repeatedly have reported Gelayev's death, and the latest claim could not immediately be confirmed. Vladimir Rudyak, an aide to Deputy Prosecutor General Sergei Fridinsky, said two captured rebels from Gelayev's group have identified the body as his. The last widespread report of Gelayev's death came after officials accused him of leading a band of rebels that killed nine border guards during a foray in Dagestan's mountains near the border with Chechnya in December. The body believed to be Gelayev's was found near the bodies of two border guards outside the village of Bezhta, in the same region in southwestern Dagestan where the December foray took place.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/02/2004 0:09 Comments ||
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[cue show tunes]
As Mayor of the Munchkin City,
in the County of the Land of Oz,
I welcome you most regally.
But we've got to verify it legally
To see...if She
Is morally, ethic'lly,
Spiritually, physically,
Positively, absolutely,
Undeniably and reliably Dead!!
As Coroner I must aver,
I thoroughly examined her.
And she's not only merely dead,
she's really most sincerely dead.
[/show tunes]
VITORIA A council worker was arrested Tuesday in connection with the thwarted ETA attack on Madrid. The Guardia Civil arrested Beñat Barrondo Olabarri, 28, from Miravalles, in the Basque Country, at 8am. Olabarri works for a local council in Llodio near Bilbao, in the north west of Spain. Civil servant by day, terrorist by night.
The arrest comes after police detained two suspected ETA terrorists, Gorka Vidal and Irkus Badill, Sunday as the pair were driving a lorry laiden with more than half a tonne of explosives. The two were stopped at Cañaveras, about 141km west of Madrid. Security sources have said the pair were heading to Madrid to chose a target for a 'spectacular' attack on the capital. Maps were found in the lorry which showed important state buildings, the main Barajas airport and other landmarks. On possible target could have been La Razon newspaper, the right-wing daily which broke the story about a leading left-wing Catalan politician involved in secret talks with the group. That would make them a candidate for Dire Revenge.
The story caused a scandal, leading the resignation of Josep Lluis Carod-Rovira, and caused political damage to the Left in Spain in the run-up to the 14 March general election. ETA has declared a truce in Catalonia but its "armed struggle" against the rest of the Spanish state continues. Ah, it was a "selective" truce.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 12:44:46 PM ||
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WASHINGTON - The federal panel reviewing the Sept. 11 attacks has scheduled interviews with former President Clinton and former Vice President Al Gore this month but is struggling to get similar cooperation from President Bush and administration officials. Members of the bipartisan commission said they were considering a subpoena to force the public testimony of national security adviser Condoleezza Rice. She has declined to appear at the panel's two-day hearing later this month.
"The commission wants to go back in the court of public opinion and appeal to the administration for them to reconsider their first stand," said commissioner Timothy Roemer, a former Democratic congressman from Indiana. "If we don't get that kind of cooperation, compelling Dr. Rice to come before us is an option."
The White House said Tuesday that Rice's testimony was a constitutional issue of separation of powers. "As a matter of law and practice, White House staff have not testified before legislative bodies," National Security Council spokesman Sean McCormack said. "This is not a matter of Dr. Rice's preferences."
Okay, legal beagles, help me out here.
The 10-member commission also requested private meetings with Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney about what the administration knew before the attacks, potentially a sensitive subject in an election year. While Clinton and Gore have consented to private questioning without a time constraint, Bush and Cheney have agreed only to private, separate, one-hour meetings with the commission's chairman and vice chairman, instead of the full panel.
The commission was meeting Tuesday to discuss options as it seeks to hold private interviews with the four officials before its next hearing. The interviews with Clinton and Gore were scheduled for "the next couple of weeks," the commission said.
It'd be a smart move politically for Cheney, at least, to match Clinton and Gore with access to the Commission.
Posted by: Steve White ||
03/02/2004 00:06 ||
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At least eight people were killed when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a parade by Shia Muslims observing their holiest day in Pakistan. The attack came as Shia Muslims were holding the traditional Muharram procession to mark the slaying of Hussein, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad. Shots were fired into the procession while thousands of Shia Muslims marked the holy day of Ashura in Quetta, the capital of southwest Baluchistan province earlier this morning. It is not clear at this stage if the attack in Pakistan are linked to those in Iraq where Shias Muslims were similarly targeted leading to the deaths of over 100 people. "At least eight people have been killed and scores of people injured in firing on a procession," said Shoaib Suddle, the police chief of Baluchistan province.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/02/2004 6:26:52 AM ||
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Update: Armed men opened fire on Shiite Muslim worshippers during a religious procession in a city in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, killing at least 41 people and wounding more than 150 others, authorities told The Associated Press. The city mayor declared an immediate curfew.
Officials reported an explosion and gunfire in a congested area of Quetta, the main city in southwest Baluchistan province, as a procession of hundreds of Shiite Muslims marking Ashoura, the most important day in the Muslim holy month of Muharram, passed by.
Soon after, a Sunni Muslim mosque, a television network office and several shops were set afire as Shiites rioted in parts of the city, and an exchange of gunfire took place near the scene of the initial attack, police said. Mohammed Wasim, a doctor at the Central Government Hospital in Quetta, said the facility had received 19 bodies. The Combined Military Hospital reported 22 bodies were brought in since the attack early Tuesday afternoon. Qamar Zaman, an assistant police inspector in Quetta, said that more than 150 people had been injured, some of them critically.
And a fun time was had by all.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 10:53 Comments ||
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Left unsaid in all this is the universal belief that the JEWS are behind this dastardly deed. With U.S help, of course.
Gunmen in northern Iraq opened fire on a convoy carrying senior Kurdish officials Tuesday, wounding three bodyguards. Officials of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan were leaving the city of Mosul in their cars when the gunmen attacked, said Mullah Bakhtiar, a spokesman for the PUK. Jalal Jawhar, head of the PUKâs office in Kirkuk, and Dana Ahmed Majid, director of security in the Sulaimaniyah, were in the convoy but were unhurt. Bodyguards did their job.
Bakhtiar said he believed the attackers knew PUK officials were in the car they shot at, but they did not know the identities of those officials. Any PUK official will do.
Northern Iraq has seen increasing tensions between Kurds and Arabs as the Kurds press their demands to maintain self-rule powers in a future government. Insurgents also have stepped up attacks on Iraqi policemen in the north. On Feb. 1, suicide bombers attacked offices of the PUK and the other main Kurdish party in the city of Irbil, killing 109 people. The boomers were most likely Ansar, car bombs are their weapon of choice. This could be your run-of-the-mill Saddam loyalist, or a turkomen supporter given the gun play.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 4:08:31 PM ||
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This is not a good time to be an Arab in Kurdistan.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/02/2004 18:21 Comments ||
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An Iranian vice president blamed al-Qaida for Tuesday's attacks on Shiite Muslims in Iraq and Pakistan, condemning the terrorist group's rigid thinking for the bombings and shootings that killed more than 20 Iranian worshippers and wounded 69. Kind of like a pot calling a kettle black. Mohammad Ali Abtahi, Iran's vice president for legal and parliamentary affairs, wrote in a message posted on his personal Web site that al-Qaida considers Shiites more dangerous than their political enemy - the United States. Personal website, so it's unofficial and deniable at a later date.
"The reactionary al-Qaida terror group reached a conclusion ... that they have two enemies: the United States as the political enemy and Shiites as the ideological enemy," Abtahi wrote. Al-Qaida, led by Osama bin Laden, is a predominantly Sunni militant group, and draws its members from some of the most conservative streams of Sunni thought - segments of Muslim society that consider Shiites heretics. The Shiites think the same of the Sunnis. And they both hate the Sufis.
"Blasts in Karbala and Kazimiya (shrine in Baghdad) today ... are the direct result of this reactionary religious thinking," Abtahi wrote. "And I know reactionary religious thinking when I see it. Hell, we invented it!"
A total of 185 people were killed in Tuesday's bombings in Baghdad and Karbala, Iraq; and Quetta, Pakistan. Count keeps going up.
Abtahi's comments about al-Qaida are noteworthy because the United States has accused Iran of harboring al-Qaida fugitives, many of whom are believed to have fled there from neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001 or early 2002 during the Taliban's fall. The United States believes those fugitives include bin Laden's eldest son, Saad; Abu Mohammed al-Masri, wanted in connection with the bombings of two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998; and Abu Musab al Zarqawi, whom some U.S. officials describe as the key link between al-Qaida and toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein. Zarqawi is the prime suspect in today's Iraq bombing, or so it seems......
Iran still wields tremendous influence in the region and many Gulf countries, primarily Saudi Arabia, worry that the now-emboldened Iraqi Shiites - a long-repressed majority in Iraq - will strike up close ties with Iran and become more powerful. Especially with the Shiites being stirred up by these attacks.
In Iraq, at least 143 people were killed and hundreds more were wounded in Tuesday's nearly simultaneous bombings in Baghdad and Karbala, which came during the Shiite festival of Ashoura. They coincided with a shooting attack on Shiite worshippers in Quetta, Pakistan, that killed at least 42 people and wounded more than 150. Well, it was a major Shiite festival, but still....
At least 22 Iranian pilgrims were killed and 69 others injured in the Karbala explosions, Iranian Interior Ministry spokesman Jahanbakhsh Khanjani said. Khanjani said some victims in the Kazimiya explosions in Baghdad were Iranian but had no figures. Khanjani estimated that as many as 50 Iranians - or almost a third of the 143 people killed in Tuesday's attacks in Iraq - were believed to be Iranians. He said information was incomplete and no official figures on confirmed Iranian deaths was available. Iran's state media have reported that more than 100,000 Iranian pilgrims went to Iraq to mark the feast. Hummmm, makes a nice cover.
The death of Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Muhammad, and his 72 companions in 680 on the plains of Karbala is marked every year with mourning ceremonies in Iran and Shiite communities across the world. Ok, so you are a Black Turban in Iran. You just stole the "election", but your young people are seething. Your secret nuke program has been exposed and there is a US army just across the border making faces at you. What to do to stall for time? Then, the USA releases the captured Zarqawi letter where he states his desire to start a Sunni/Shiite civil war in Iraq. A light dawns. Why not do it yourself, and lay the blame on al-Qaida for the bombing and the US for not protecting the Shiites. Two fall guys for the price of one. The lives of a few iranian pilgrims would be well worth it, and you could always produce the bodies of a few al-Qaida leaders that you "caught" sneaking into Iran if you needed to.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 2:47:35 PM ||
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iran is now reaping what they have sowed...last step is for uncle sam to come in and clean up the mulla's
Posted by: Dan ||
03/02/2004 17:15 Comments ||
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The reaction of the Shiite leaders in Iraq will be interesting and informative of what the future will hold for Iraq. Whether it is Iran or Al Q that is initiating these attacks does not matter. What will matter is what the Shiites will do about it. Will they rant and rave and blame the US, or will they start working with Sunnis, Kurds, and others to rid Iraq of the booming vermin that plague them all.
I hope for the latter but I do not have much faith in people that do this to their kids.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
03/02/2004 18:10 Comments ||
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just wait til the turban'd turds start booming an Iranian mosque. Talk about crapping in your own bed. If it were not a human tragedy (innocent people) it would be funny (terrorist clerics iced).
Iraqi police arrested four would-be suicide bombers in this southern Iraqi city Tuesday, hours after 143 people were killed in near simultaneous and coordinated attacks on Shiite shrines elsewhere. Police sources told The Associated Press that two men a Syrian and an Iraqi were arrested after a car bomb was found outside the Seyed Ali al-Musawi Mosque in central Basra. Nice live breathing suspects, excellent. To the rack with them!
Tens of thousands of worshippers were in the area when the bombers were discovered just after 12 p.m. Someone was trying for another big body count
Later in the day, in the al-Maqal neighborhood of Basra, police arrested two women who were wearing explosives-laden belts as they marched in a procession to mark Ashoura. Bad day to be caught making this kind of fashion statement.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 11:57:19 AM ||
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excellent catch! should prove useful in interigation.
#2
More suspects, ABC reports: Already, today in Iraq, authorities have 11 suspects in custody, stemming from the synchronized explosions that ripped through crowds of worshippers at Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and Karbala today, killing more than 100 people.The captured include one suicide bomber intercepted in the act at the Khadumia Mosque in Baghdad, and two terrorist teams in Basra, also caught in flagrante. Two male suspects were arrested in Basra driving a bomb-laden truck, while two women were caught in that city, explosive belts still wrapped around their waists, while joining a line of Shiites marching in observance of Ashoura â the most important holy day on the Shiite Muslim calendar. No fewer than six suspects are under arrest in Karbala.
By now, interrogation of all 11 has likely begun, and investigations are underway, seeking the biographical backgrounds of each, their recent travels, their associates in Iraq and, in the case of one of them, his home country of Syria.
Also pure gold for investigators â the Basra truck bomb itself and the "suicide-belts" captured in Basra and Baghdad. Both the materials from which they are made and the techniques used in their assembly will offer valuable clues that may help track today's vicious crimes in Karbala and Baghdad to their terrorist sources.
Excellent, 11 suspects will give us a nice pool of information to cross check. Perhaps the two women were forced into it, like we have seen before. Be a good place to start.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 15:26 Comments ||
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i know this sounds a bit harsh considering so many died today but i must say the Iraqi police and who ever else nabbed these eleven boomers did a excellent job in catching eleven of thier prey ,potentialy saved hundreds of thier fellow rackis
Add to that, the fact that the Iraqi Police didn't allow the throngs to lynch these terrorists before squeezing them for every last bit of useful information.
Do you hear that Syria?
Posted by: Daniel King ||
03/02/2004 15:38 Comments ||
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I agree, the bodycount could have bin much higher, todays arrests and the Falluja battle are signs that the boys are starting to hold their own, nothing but praise for that.
Breaking
At least six explosions have rocked the holy Iraqi city of Karbala, where tens of thousands of Shia Muslims are marking the festival of Ashura. Reuters news agency is reporting that at least 25 people have been killed. The BBC's Paul Wood in Karbala says there are scenes of panic, with victims being carried on makeshift stretchers and women trying to get children away. Our correspondent says security was tight because of fears that the festival would be a target for attacks. There are also reports of a loud blast at a major Shia shrine in the capit al Baghdad, in what may by a co-ordinated attack.
By end of the day, Mehr News Agency was reporting the total dead at 200 and hundreds of others wounded...
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/02/2004 2:39:16 AM ||
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The deathtoll is now being reported much higher
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
03/02/2004 6:32 Comments ||
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Al Qaeda is making colossal mistakes because the USA exercised an offensive strategy in the War Against Terrorism. An offensive strategy disperses the enemy, disrupts communications, and causes haste, confusion and panic.
Mistakes compound. The scales tip decisively. The rats flee.
No negotiated settlement. Total victory.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
03/02/2004 7:09 Comments ||
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Total victory? You realize the people blame the U.S. for these attacks?
Our correspondent said anger was turned on anyone regarded as an outsider.
But as American forces arrived at the scene, they were pelted with stones by angry crowds and forced to withdraw.
Sounds like their new strategy is working pretty well so far.
#4
Update: At least 125 people were killed and dozens wounded, hospital and police officials said. There were varying reports on the cause of the blasts. Stunned witnesses blamed suicide bombers or planted explosives. But a U.S. military spokesman in Baghdad and an Iraqi police spokesman in Karbala reported mortars were fired at the shrines.
In Karbala, 80 kilometres south of Baghdad, five large blasts went off shortly after 10 a.m. local time near two of the most important shrines in Shiite Islam, hurling bodies in all directions and sending crowds of pilgrims fleeing in panic.
Ten bodies that appeared to be dead were loaded onto wooden carts and taken away. Bodies ripped apart by the force of the blasts lay on the streets.
There were varying accounts on the cause of the explosions in Karbala, where Polish troops are in charge of security. An Iraqi police spokesman said the blasts were caused by suicide attackers, wounding at least 300 people, the Polish news agency PAP reported. But Col. Zdzislaw Gnatowski, a Polish military spokesman in Warsaw, blamed a series of mortars fired into the shrine area.
At about the same time, three explosions rocked the inside and outside of the Kazimiya shrine in Baghdad. Panicked men and women, dressed in black, fled screaming and weeping as ambulances raced to the scene.
Angry mobs hurled stones at U.S. troops who later pulled into the square outside Kazimiya in Humvees and an armoured vehicle. Crowds of enraged survivors swarmed nearby hospitals, some blaming Americans for stirring up religious tensions by launching the war, others blaming al-Qaida or Sunni extremists.
Some witnesses at Kazimiya said the blasts were carried out by suicide bombers. The Kazimiya shrine in northern Baghdad contains the tombs of two other Shiite saints, Imam Mousa Kazem and his grandson Imam Muhammad al-Jawad.
In the southern city Najaf, near Karbala, police found and defused a bomb Monday hidden near the shrine of Imam Ali, the most important Shiite saint, Iraqi Police Capt. Imad Hussein said. Three sticks of dynamite with a timer were stuffed inside a water pipe 30 metres from the shrine, he said, adding if it had gone off, the explosion would have injured or killed many.
All Shiite holy places, almost like they were picked out, or something.
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 9:03 Comments ||
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Same day as attack on Shiites in pakistan. Now granted, its a Shia holiday (one that had even a few rantburgers stirred up about the flagellants) so maybe its a natural time for Shia-haters to strike, but could it be a coordinated global plan to strike the Shia?
Many of the Sunnis hate the Shiites and are especially motivated to kill the Shiites during their period of mourning for the 12th Iman but that's not the same as a coordinated strike. Of course there are Sunnis in majority Shiite regions who get persecuted during other periods.
#7
Angry mobs hurled stones at U.S. troops who later pulled into the square outside Kazimiya in Humvees and an armoured vehicle. Crowds of enraged survivors swarmed nearby hospitals, some blaming Americans for stirring up religious tensions by launching the war, others blaming al-Qaida or Sunni extremists.
How many of these guys are rabble-rousers specifically sent to stir up trouble? Can we be certain that these guys are the relatives of the dead? If I were a terrorist planner, the after-action festivities would be the most important part of the bombing. If the terrorists can show the news cameras that Americans aren't welcome in Iraq, maybe the American public will clamor for a withdrawal.
#9
Update: Simultaneous explosions ripped through crowds of worshippers Tuesday at Shiite Muslim shrines in Baghdad and the city of Karbala, killing at least 143 people on the holiest day of the Shiite calendar, a U.S. official said. It was the bloodiest day since the end of major fighting. The blasts came during the Shiite festival of Ashoura and coincided with a shooting attack on Shiite worshippers in Quetta, Pakistan that killed at least 29 people and wounded more than 150.
Three suicide bombers set off their explosives in and around Baghdad's Kazimiya shrine, killing 58 and wounding 200, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt told reporters. At least one suicide attacker blew himself up and pre-set explosives went off in Karbala, killing 85 and wounding more than 100, he said.
A fourth suicide bomber whose explosives did not detonate was captured at Kazimiya, and four people were arrested in connection to the attack in Karbala, Kimmitt told reporters in Baghdad.
Caught a live one, squeeze him dry and hand him to the Iraqis for trial.
Iraq's Governing Council blamed the attacks on "terrorists" seeking to enflame sectarian divisions in the country. In a show of unity, Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish council representatives appeared before journalists, calling on Iraqis to maintain calm "in order to cheat our enemies of the chance to inflict evil on the nation."
Posted by: Steve ||
03/02/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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fourth suicide bomber whose explosives did not detonate was captured
If he's a Sunni, all hell is going to break loose.
Posted by: Charles ||
03/02/2004 11:43 Comments ||
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Zawahiri is executing his strategy. Will it start a religious war between the Sunnis and Shia or will we be able to turn that anger against foreigners and Islamism?
Fortunately we publicized the letter attributed to him so today's events (carried out on a Shiite holy day) play into the narrative of an ongoing campaign by Al Queda and FRLs to drive a wedge between the Sunni and Shia so that the Americans will choose to leave rather than act as a referee.
This was always a bad idea. If we play our cards right, we'll get more cooperation from the Shia and can use it as leverage to keep the Sunni in line. This is already happening to a degree.
Hopefully we see even more enthusiasm by the Shia for joining the Iraqi police and military in hopes of dominating these institutions. The Sunni will in turn better understand that the US is the only force protecting the Sunni minority in Iraq from a now even angrier Shia majority. At the same time, our role in bringing about a Shiite majority state with reasonable degree of political freedom may have 2nd order benefits in Iran.
I'm not saying today's news is good, only that we can make the best of it.
#14
"How many of these guys are rabble-rousers specifically sent to stir up trouble?"
All of them.
Didja ever notice when the Chinese dig a child out of a collapsed well, someone always shows up with 1000 brand new shovels - and there's always some guy there that speaks about 'all pulling together' in perfect unaccented english?
Unknown assailants yesterday blasted an explosive device at the entrance to the Hittin charitable society in the Deir Al-Balah refugee camp in central Gaza Strip. Khaled Walid Salha, chairman of the society, said that the unknown culprits planted a device at entrance to the society and blasted it through remote control inflicting severe damage to the offices' property. He said that the predawn explosion did not cause any casualties but damaged the society's computers, furniture and other property. The society, which was founded in 2001, extends assistance to scores of needy families in the refugee camp, Salha elaborated, adding that the society also distributes relief aid to the camp inhabitants in general. The chairman said that he filed a complaint with the police, describing the culprits as "mercenaries" and "outlaws".
I'm sure they'll get right on it...
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2004 21:55 ||
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internecine rivalry with the Spankin' Relief Organization playing itself out....
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/02/2004 21:58 Comments ||
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Jordan's state prosecutor Mahmud Obeidat yesterday called for the death penalty for 13 people, including three fugitive Saudis, who he accused of plotting attacks on US interests here, judicial sources said. "The accused agreed to carry out military attacks against air bases which would have undermined the security and stability of the country," Obeidat said in a written statement to the court. He said the death penalty should be handed out for these "dangerous crimes", according to the statement. Obeidat accused the 10 Jordanian and three Saudi men on trial at the military tribunal since Sept. 29 of "conspiracy to carry out terrorist attacks" as well as "possession of unlicensed explosive material".
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2004 21:27 ||
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Expands on last night's post...
Unknown gunmen have shot dead a key adviser to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat outside his office in Gaza City. Khalil al-Zaben, a prominent journalist who also advised Mr Arafat on human rights, was struck by a dozen bullets, local Palestinian sources said.
Violated the hell out of his human rights, didn't it?
The killing comes amid fears of growing lawlessness and chaos in Palestinian areas and eroding central control. quick, let's change the subject to the zionists ....
In Gaza, Mr Zaben died soon after being brought to hospital following the shooting just before midnight. Mr Arafat himself led the tributes to the 59-year-old veteran journalist who ran a Palestinian Authority-funded magazine. "The assassination is an abject act which targeted a great Palestinian figure who was working for the national interest and that of his people," Mr Arafat told reporters. Palestinian officials have not commented on a possible motive. or more importantly, which group challenged Arafat's hold on power this way
The local union of journalists has also condemned the attack and demanded an inquiry. "We strongly condemn the assassination of veteran journalist Khalil al-Zaben and urge the Palestinian Authority to intervene immediately to find the perpetrators," said Tawfiq Abu Khoussa, deputy chairman of the Palestinian Journalists' Union. AP news agency reports that Mr Zaben became an Arafat ally in the 1960s and returned to Gaza along with the Palestinian leader and other exiles in 1994, under the terms of Israeli-Palestinian interim peace accords. Two of his brothers are Palestinian ambassadors in South America and his son works as an airline pilot there, the agency says. He is also survived by his wife and three daughters.
But they're just breeding stock...
Journalists in Gaza staged a strike on 9 February to protest against growing attacks on reporters in the Palestinian territories.
Three weeks ago, newspaper journalist Munir Abu Rizeq reported that his car had been torched in Gaza City.
In early February, the offices of the Palestinian weekly Ad-Dar were vandalised during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha
On 8 January, a Gaza correspondent for the Arab television station al-Arabiya was beaten up by masked men; the station's offices in the West Bank town of Ramallah were attacked last September by masked men claiming to belong to the al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades group
looks like more than one Palestinian faction is attempting to control the news
Posted by: rkb ||
03/02/2004 11:34:28 AM ||
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#1
WTF? Can't these guys get their priorities straight? It's Arafart that needs to be dispatched. A-R-A-F-A-R-T. Now go, and don't come back until you get it right!!!!
#2
This is going to end up being a bloodbath and I don't see any down side for the US. Islaofascists vs Islamofascists only results in a thinning of the herd. Israel needs to finish that fence to stop to the coming spill over of refugees. Since the Arabs have so much love for their Palestinian brothers, let them provide the humanitarian aid for once. BTW, has Kerry called for the US to go in with or without international support, a la Haiti?
Posted by: Scott ||
03/02/2004 12:21 Comments ||
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#3
I GUARANTEE they'll quickly find the people who did it (not in the public eye, of course) and will subject them to efficient, paleo justice. This, of course, would prove the PA is capable of finding culprits - as contrasted with their "inability" to find the killers of the three Americans in October.
#6
Anyone up for a pool on this particular subject and its imedeate consequences ?
I say this hydrahead will fall on the 21th of april, it starts with Arafat taken to hospital "critically ill" from "natural causes", a coupe de eta by Dahlan that very night ( maybe even somewhat aided (diplomatically)by the U.S.) civilwar instigated by Hamas, who eventually come out on top after 4-6 months rerun of beirout "the early years".
#7
"Quick, let's change the subject to the Zionists."
Fair and Balanced, BBC style.
Classic.
Posted by: Daniel King ||
03/02/2004 15:30 Comments ||
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#8
(ba-ba bump bump bump)
Another one bites the dust
(bump bump bump)
Another one bites the dust
And another one gone and another one gone
Another one bites the dust
Posted by: Mike ||
03/02/2004 15:52 Comments ||
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Mehr News Agency The Majlis approved on Saturday to allocate funds in order to thwart the U.S. plots and interference in Iran's internal affairs.
Yasss! Deep-laid plots! We have thousands of them! I've got a couple right here in my drawer, in fact...
The rls12.5b (roughly $1.5m) fund is also intended to lodge a complaint against the U.S. with an international court, including the claims of people injured with chemical weapons. The fund is a countermeasure to the U.S. Congress' Iran Freedom and Democratic Support Act as well as the approval of a similar act by the U.S. Senate.
Was that a piggy squeal I just heard?
The original Senate version of the bill included a provision to allocate $50m to fund anti-government Iranian media outlets, particularly the Los Angeles-based stations. Washington cut ties with Tehran in 1980 after the Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. Since then, the U.S. has adopted an antagonistic stance towards Iran, and assisted the deposed Saddam Hussein in the 1980-1988 Iraqi-imposed war.
Cause -> Effect...
The Bush administration, which has branded Iran as part of the 'axis of evil', offered humanitarian aid to the victims of the December 26 Bam earthquake and dispatched an 80-member relief team and supplies. Bush also ordered a unilateral U.S. sanction against the Iranians living abroad to send aid including cash to the victims of the Bam quake. Iran, however, rejected a U.S. proposal to send a delegation headed by top Senator Elizabeth Dole to Tehran to deliver American relief, saying 'the time is not right yet ripe for such a visit'. The Iranian officials have stated any fundamental changes in U.S. policies toward Iran will change the prevailing hostility between the two arch-foes.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/02/2004 22:43 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Russian republic of Chechnya is checking a report that 
