Police interrogated an Indian businessman on Sunday after he was extradited from the United Arab Emirates amid suspicions that he tried to sell nuclear secrets, a senior police officer said. Indian police took custody of Dubai-based Akhtar Hussain Ahmed, 35, on Saturday, said Satyapal Singh, joint commissioner of the Bombay Police. Dubai authorities arrested Ahmed after he was allegedly caught trying to sell nuclear secrets to a foreign diplomatic mission, Singh said. Singh said police were investigating reports that one of Ahmed's brothers was a nuclear scientist in India.
Soon to be a very unhappy brother
Bombay police have asked their Dubai counterparts to send documents seized from Ahmed and other information in their possession, Singh said. The United Arab Emirates, which has an extradition treaty with India, has surrendered several people who sought refuge there after committing offenses in India. The official Emirates News Agency reported late Saturday that Ahmed had contacted Arab embassies in the United Arab Emirates to try to sell Indian nuclear secrets. Ahmed had been under surveillance for several years after Arab embassies he had contacted reported him to police, the agency quoted Dubai police chief Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim as saying.
"Pssssst, hey, want to buy secret plans?"
Ahmed confessed to Dubai police that he wanted to exchange nuclear secrets for money, the agency quoted Tamim as saying. He said he was working alone and was not part of any organized network, Tamim said.
Maybe his brother brought his secret nuclear work home and hid them in his desk drawer and Ahmed made copies without his knowledge..... nope, not buying it.
Maybe he didn't install the latest Windows security patch.
Dubai police officials could not immediately be reached Sunday for comment, and an Indian embassy spokesman said he was not able to comment because the embassy did not have all the details of the case.
Lt Gen Dhahi said that security operatives made efforts to ascertain whether or not the man was acting alone or within an organised network. He also said that investigation teams verified that the man did not possess any materials or documents of a sensitive or dangerous nature. "Then, we decided to arrest him and extradite him to his home country, for his case to be treated in accordance with (Indian) rules and regulations. The case of this man and his brother are related to India's national security," said Lt Gen Dhahi. On interrogation, Akhtar said that his aim was to make financial gains. "He said he did not have any actual mechanism to transfer nuclear technologies from his brother to the countries with which he was seeking to establish contacts. But he made attempts to seize the opportunity that his brother was working with the Indian Nuclear Programme to stroke any deal that could bring him money", explained the police commander in chief.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/14/2004 10:14:42 AM ||
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Six Saudi clerics once affiliated with Islamic terrorists —including two singled out for praise by al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in past videotapes — have condemned recent attacks against Westerners in the kingdom, describing the perpetrators as "a deviant group." The clerics, all of whom have served prison time for opposing the Saudi government, called the attacks "a heinous crime" in their statement issued Sunday. The official Saudi Press Agency reported on the statement — an unprecedented airing of known dissidents' remarks. At least two of the six signatories — Safar bin Abdul Rahman al-Hawali, and Salman al-Awdah — were believed to have been close to bin Laden in the past.
Hawali's a particularly vile specimen...
Bin Laden was seen praising them in his videotapes a few years ago, thanking them for their support and for "enlightening" the Muslim youth. They did not explain their reasons for joining the government in speaking out against terror attacks, even adopting the monarchy's description of attackers as deviants.
Oh, I think we can guess the reason.
"You guys! Wait! Come back!"
"Sure would be a sad thing if your car broke down out in the middle of the great nothing, wouldn't it, Sheikh?"
"We condemn the criminal acts committed by the deviant group in a number of Saudi areas in which many innocent people were killed," their statement said. "The nation's theologians are in consensus that it is a sin to kill a life without a right, be it Muslim or non-Muslim," it said, adding that such acts would divide Muslims "at a time ... when other nations are uniting against them."
"Youse guys better knock it off, or we're gonna get it!"
It also warned against calling other Muslims infidels. In statements posted on Islamic web sites, suspected al-Qaida members have accused the Saudi government of being un-Islamic and allying itself with "infidels" a reference to the United States and other Western countries. Several of the clerics did not answer their phones Monday, and one was said to be in meetings and unavailable for comment.
Meeting with stern-faced men in a small room?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/14/2004 10:01:19 AM ||
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#1
I wonder if the terrorists will go after these clerics, or will they just forget it, beings that the clerics are putting out something to keep the govt off their backs.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/14/2004 10:25 Comments ||
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#2
I wonder if 'condemn' is an arabic word meaning 'to publicly disapprove while passing money under the table'.
#5
Not directly related to this story, but I came across this blog yesterday - The Religious Policeman. I don't know if he's for real (ie a real Saudi), but as someone said in one of the comment threads, he really should be a standup comedian in the West!
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
06/14/2004 15:30 Comments ||
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Saudi clerics condemn attacks against Westerners
Saudi Arabia is beginning to look like a society under siege.
Noticed that, did you?
At Riyadhâs trendiest shopping mall on a quiet afternoon last month, security officers were stopping vehicles entering the parking garage, opening hoods and trunks in search of explosives. At the Marriott Hotel, near the Petroleum Ministry, and at other hotels in the capital that cater to Westerners, ground-floor windows have been bricked up and Jersey barriers installed across driveways. At the airport, the fence around the Royal Terminal, which serves the king and the princes of the House of Saud, is topped with razor wire. On Riyadhâs main boulevards, and on the causeway connecting the kingdom with Bahrain, police have set up security checkpoints. These are surprising sights in a country that has always prided itself on its law-and-order, crime-free environment.
How many on the list of 26 terrs, most of whom are still at large, have had their heads chopped off? How many holy men have had their heads chopped off?
They reflect the unhappy fact that for the past 13 months, Saudi Arabia has been afflicted by an escalating wave of terrorist violence aimed at bringing down the regime, purging the country of Western influence and choking off the nascent liberalization of Saudi society. Given the increasing audacity of the terrorists, the countryâs swelling ranks of unemployed malcontents and the apparent indecisiveness of the senior princes, it might appear that the insurgency could indeed bring down the regime or at least ignite a civil war.
Five years, outside.
Yet forecasting the demise of the Saudi monarchy would be premature at best — and probably wrong. The ruling princes are skillful, ruthless when necessary, unconstrained by the niceties of civil liberties, and connected by marriage and business ties to a huge percentage of the population, which secures them support and loyalty. The family history is one of alternately accommodating and crushing the religious militants whom the kings have used as allies — except when they defied royal authority.
Better crush them quick, then.
This is not to minimize the problem the regime faces today. There appears to be a large pool of poorly educated, narrow-minded, violence-prone men who are steeped in the religious absolutism that the regime itself promoted for 20 years, principally to reestablish its Islamic religious credentials after the mosque takeover. These militants are willing to take up arms, attack women and children, and die for the illusory cause of an Islamic state culturally and spiritually similar to the one created by the Prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. The messages they hear from the countryâs xenophobic religious establishment — anti-Western, anti-Semitic, anti-feminist — reinforce their convictions. Indeed, even Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto ruler, reinforced the venomous rhetoric by blaming "Zionists" for the Khobar attacks.
Somehow, I don't put that remark down to ignorance...
His powerful half-brother, Prince Nayef, the interior minister, had earlier held "Zionists" responsible for the attacks against the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.
Ditto. Neither is ignorant.
More than a thousand of the most inflammatory preachers have been removed from their pulpits since then, but the senior princes are still reluctant to confront the religious leadership because alliance with it is the foundation of the regimeâs legitimacy. Recognizing this contradiction, Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi ambassador to the United States and a grandson of the founding king, called this month for the ruling princes to stop blaming others for the countryâs troubles and urged a total mobilization of the countryâs resources for what he depicted as a war to the death.
He's looking at the problem from a distance, which makes all those trees look remarkably like a forest. Betcha his money's moved to a distance, too...
If the regime treats the terrorists the way Abdul Aziz treated the Ikhwan — that is, destroys them — the House of Saud will prevail, he said; if the rulers treat them as "Muslim youths who have been misled . . . in the hope that they will come to their senses," the House of Saud will be destroyed. (Excerpts from Bandarâs manifesto appeared in last Sundayâs Outlook.)
You mean if they keep doing what they've been doing, they're gonna be history in... ummm... five years, outside?
Still, even with its history of corruption and autocratic rule, Saudi Arabia does not face the conditions that have provoked revolution in other developing countries. It cannot be compared, for example, to Iran in 1978, where a society was united in its desire to get rid of the shah, who was perceived as a usurper who devalued Islamic culture. It is not like Vietnam in 1963, where the National Liberation Front could claim to represent legitimate nationalist aspirations. It bears no resemblance to the Lebanon of 1975, where a weak state collapsed in the face of a Muslim-Christian conflict. Never having been colonized, Saudi Arabia offers the insurgents no veneer of anti-colonial motivation. That is why the militants have gained little if any political traction among the majority of Saudis; on the contrary, their brutality appears to have rallied the population around the government, according to Saudi journalists and independent analysts, both Saudi and foreign. Even Saudis critical of the monarchy and hostile to the United States say they do not want the religious totalitarianism promised by bin Ladenâs brownshirts.
But a hefty minority dons the brown shirt and is willing to explode, though more usually they're "surrounded" and get away. There's not that much danger in being a Bad Guy, and lotsa teen-age style peer group respect to be gained. 18 of the 26, last I looked, were still on the loose.
There is indeed a revolution taking place in Saudi Arabia, but so far at least it is not the kind that unfolds at gunpoint. More and more, and with increasing openness, Saudis are demanding reform, and the countryâs rulers are responding. A wave of collective introspection, which began with the realization that 15 of the 19 hijackers responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks were Saudi, has prompted their countrymen to question their traditions, their laws and their attitudes; the result is change at an accelerating pace.
And prompted others to dig in their heels and reach for their guns...
Self-styled "reformers" and advocates of greater political openness are sending petitions to the crown prince and agitating for change in the increasingly vocal press, often risking arrest. Even these activists, however, seek change within the existing structure, acknowledging that the monarchy is the glue that holds together a fractious society. During a visit last month, I heard for the first time Saudis talking openly about societal ills that were taboo subjects in the past -- child abuse, wife-beating, drug addiction among women and birth deformities attributable to inbreeding intermarriage.
I often wonder how much of international terrorism is the result of inbreeding. I suspect it may be in the same category as buck teeth and hemophilia...
No longer do the Saudis smugly assume that theirs is a perfect society, in harmony with Godâs directives and Islamâs traditions. Much of this change appears to be inspired by the new generation of educated women clamoring for a larger place in the countryâs economic — and even its political — life. New areas of employment, even in factories, are being opened to women, and Saudi officials say women will be permitted to vote in the upcoming municipal elections, the countryâs first since the 1960s. Laws are being rewritten to encourage women to start businesses and invest their considerable capital. In April, the government abolished a rule requiring women who wished to enter business to be represented by male guardians when dealing with officials, and two weeks ago the government directed that land in industrial zones be set aside for operations run and staffed by women.
Ummm... You've got hideously high unemployment among a poorly qualified workforce of young Soddy men. Then you open the job market to women, who're more used to working and probably aren't too dignified to actually do something. The boys' honor won't be able to take it. They'll be having fistfights to get to the turban and automatic weapons counters...
Of course, opening new areas of employment to women may compound unemployment among Saudi men, but the government has committed itself at least on paper to addressing that problem by expanding the private-sector economy and restricting the use of foreign workers in some workplaces, such as travel agencies. Saudi business executives, government officials, members of the appointed consultative assembly and prominent journalists talk optimistically about the reformist tide rippling through the society. They say it is now inevitable that the political system will become more inclusive, women will have greater rights, school curriculums will be modified to eliminate hatred and fanaticism, and the economy will be opened up. The only argument, they say, is about pace and timing.
The resistance to any iota of change in the curriculum should be instructive. Who the hell wrote this? Pollyanna? Professor Pangloss?
Yet pace and timing are crucial, because each step toward modernizing the society provokes a backlash, sometimes violent, among the extremists of doctrinaire Islam known as Wahhabis, who even now are permitted to spread their fascist-style message through the countryâs mosques and schools.
Professor Pangloss is missing the point: wahhabism is the state religion.
As Muqtedar Khan, a professor at Adrian College in Michigan, wrote after visiting the kingdom in April, "Wahhabi ideas are now so deeply embedded that neither the ruling elite, who had abdicated their normative responsibilities until now, nor the religious elite, who are afraid of what they have created, can rein it in. Any attempts at sudden reforms may upset the delicate balance within the society and empower" the terrorists.
That's what I said. They've passed the tipping point. They're toast.
Saudi forces will win their gun battles with the terrorists.
Who told you that?
The greater challenge before the House of Saud is to satisfy the aspirations of the majority — and maintain their security and economic ties with the United States — without further inciting the religious extremists whose rhetoric gives cover to the terrorists. The task is especially difficult because the royal familyâs sole claim to legitimacy is its role as the upholder of Islam. To the extent that the regime embraces social progress that can be depicted as un-Islamic, and especially if it appears to do so at the behest of the United States, the backlash could elevate the violence of the past year into a full-scale insurrection.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 12:55:55 AM ||
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#1
A fundamental requirement for civilised society is that people do not kill their neighbours on a whim. IIUC, half of Saudis support al Qaeda, and presumably enjoy seeing westerners and other non-Muslims slaughtered on their streets. Do they really aspire to adopt a near-bestial existence, like that of the Palestinians? That's what they deserve, and that's what they'll get.
#2
Even Saudis critical of the monarchy and hostile to the United States say they do not want the religious totalitarianism promised by bin Ladenâs brownshirts.
I don't know which is true, this statement, or the polls that say they love bin Laden. But since this is an optimistic piece, I hope that this one is right.
#3
I guess its like certain westerners who love Castro, but wouldnt want to live under him. As long as living under someone is a remote possibility, its easy to "love" them as an act of defiance, to hope that they knock off your enemies for you, etc. As long as the House of Saud is in power this "love" on the part of most Saudis is academic. If the campaign against the expats reaches the point where KSA is teetering, some people will have big decisions to make. Of course at that point there wont be opinion polls, and the expressed opinions of folks on the ground will depend on whos pointing a gun at them at an particular moment.
#5
Saudi mid-level princes or at least smart ones have to show the old guys the door. But it must be done respectfully and within the moral and traditional customs of Saudis. In other words, big changes will only come after Fahd, Abdullah, Naive, Sultan, and the other old princes who remember daddy (pre-1953) are dead and buried. Five years, ten years?
Then who would be left to take over? Guys like Prince al-Waleed bin Talal would be good examples. He's got business smarts and political instincts. He's slick, in other words. Slimy, if you're pessimistic. But in my opinion, he's just a younger Bandar bin Sultan type. Cigar, cars, rings, cognac. Plus, which American prez would want to deal with Waleed after he dissed us with his speech at Ground Zero?
In other words, The MK will be navigating without a captain for the foreseeable future, one faction against the other. Most folks will get on with their lives and just try to keep their heads down and if there's still something worth salvaging in 5 or ten years, then things will be OK. Not what I'd say if I were a Saudi ambassador.
Posted by: Michael ||
06/14/2004 14:22 Comments ||
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Somebody always writes something silly like this just before the fall. The very fact that it was written makes me suspect the Soddies are closer to going under than even we suspect. I'll bet there were hundreds of similar articles written about how the Shah would be around for years to come in Iran.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2004 21:54 Comments ||
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#7
IMHO, Fred, I think that the Saudis will go quicker than 5 years. They have not really done anything to crush the jihadists. The 1000 Imams that they gag ordered are just laying low for a while. Every success by the jihadists builds more success, so the movement to topple the Royals will build exponentially.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/14/2004 22:15 Comments ||
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#8
Indeed, even Crown Prince Abdullah, the de facto ruler, reinforced the venomous rhetoric by blaming "Zionists" for the Khobar attacks.
I agree - this wasn't an 'ignorant' remark. Abdullah chose the words as a subtle insult. This is a war between princes, and the jihadists are another weapon, just like the security apparatus. I'm not prescient, so I don't know if the jihadists will 'win'. But the Saudis are more ruthless than the Shah ever was.
The three Americans killed or kidnapped by Islamic radicals in Saudi Arabia in the past week were likely selected as targets many days or weeks in advance and singled out because of their work as military contractors, U.S. and Saudi officials said Sunday.
Authorities continued to search for the kidnapped American, Paul M. Johnson Jr., 55, an employee of Bethesda-based Lockheed Martin Corp., whose family reported Saturday that he had vanished in Riyadh, the Saudi capital. A group calling itself Al Qaeda of the Arabian Peninsula issued a statement Saturday saying it had captured Johnson and would treat him in the same way that U.S. troops treated Iraqi detainees in the Abu Ghraib prison outside of Baghdad and the Guantanamo Bay detention facility in Cuba.
Although Johnson was employed by Lockheed Martin, the telephone number on his business card indicated that he worked at the Riyadh headquarters of Advanced Electronics Co., a Saudi technology firm that manages a number of defense contracts for the Saudi government. Advanced Electronics was the employer of Kenneth Scroggs, another American, who was gunned down by three assailants as he pulled into the garage of his Riyadh home Saturday afternoon, Saudi officials said.
A third American was fatally shot in his Riyadh home on Tuesday after leaving the Riyadh office of Vinnell Corp., a Fairfax-based subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Inc. Robert Jacobs, 62, worked for Vinnell on a project to train the Saudi National Guard. Seven Vinnell personnel were killed in May 2003 in a suicide bombing of a residential compound for Westerners in Riyadh.
On Sunday, the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh warned Americans in the kingdom to pay close attention to their surroundings and to avoid predictable workday routines that could make them easy targets. The embassy statement said last weekâs attacks on Americans "appear to have involved extensive planning and preparation and were likely preceded by extensive pre-attack surveillance."
In its statement Saturday, the al Qaeda-affiliated group said Johnson was one of four experts in Saudi Arabia on the Apache attack helicopters used by the U.S. military elsewhere in the Middle East. The statement indicated that Scroggs also advised the Saudi government on the use of Apaches. Advanced Electronics, located in an industrial park near King Khalid International Airport outside Riyadh, was awarded a five-year, $10 million U.S. Army contract in 1999 for repair work on Apache systems. The program was scheduled to expire in March, according to a contract announcement issued at the time. It was unclear whether Scroggs had been involved in Apache work.
Executives at the firm declined to be interviewed Sunday, but released a statement confirming that a U.S. employee had been killed "at the door of his house" in Riyadh on Saturday. The firm did not identify Scroggs by name, but called him "a very serious and sincere employee of the company for over 12 years."
In a statement to its own employees, Lockheed Martin said that Johnson had worked in Saudi Arabia on the Apache program, specializing in a targeting system known as Target Acquisition and Designation Sites/Pilot Night Vision System. Known as the "eyes of the Apache," it enables the helicopterâs pilots to fly at low altitudes in the dark and in bad weather. Lockheed Martin, the Pentagonâs largest contractor, began evacuating its employeesâ dependents from Saudi Arabia in mid-April after the State Department issued a strongly worded warning urging Americans to leave the country. The company declined to disclose how many of its employees were stationed in Saudi Arabia or what security measures were being provided to them. "As courageous and brave as they are, they go over there as volunteers," said Tom Jurkowsky, a Lockheed spokesman. "Security is paramount, weâre aware of the warnings, the intelligence provided by the embassy. We take necessary precautions."
Lockheed also declined to comment on its work in the kingdom, citing security concerns. Lockheed manages international aircraft depots in Saudi Arabia, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing. Advanced Electronics has a contract with Lockheed to provide electronics for the F-16 fighter jet, according to Advanced Electronicsâ Web site.
Mohsen Awajy, a Saudi lawyer and former Islamic radical who now advises the government on dealing with militants, said al Qaeda cells were targeting individual Westerners involved with the military in a bid to regain popular sympathy in Saudi Arabia. He said many Saudis were appalled by recent al Qaeda bombings that resulted in the deaths of Muslims and of expatriates who were seen as important cogs in the countryâs economy. "The militants are trying to show some justification for what theyâre doing," he said. "They are also trying to choose the easiest targets because they are finding it harder and harder to do anything on a bigger scale."
"And, of course, they get themselves off killing Americans."
The recent attacks are evidence that for contractors, "the risks are much higher than people anticipated," said Peter Singer, foreign policy fellow at the Brookings Institution. "Basically, if companies are going to keep people in Saudi, they are going to have to provide better security guarantees. The pay is going to have to reflect the higher danger."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Japan's Parliament enacted legislation Monday aimed at improving the country's ability to protect itself if attacked, allowing troops to commandeer private property and boosting their cooperation with U.S. forces. The legislation, which the upper house passed by a vote of 163 to 31, clarifies when Japanese troops can use their weapons. It also would enable the government to swiftly evacuate civilians in an emergency. The lower house approved the measure last month. The seven bills expand on readiness measures enacted last year. Long studied by successive ruling Liberal Democratic Party governments, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi submitted the bills amid Japan's heightened military readiness since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States and growing concern about North Korea's long-range missile and nuclear capabilities. The new legislation allows Japanese and American militaries to appropriate seaports, airports, roads, radio frequencies and other public property for military use to respond to an emergency. It also gives Japanese soldiers the right to raid ships suspected of carrying foreign military supplies.
Nork ranting and spittle expected
The legislation allows the government to set aside private property for use by the U.S. military, and imposes penalties on owners who refuse to let authorities looking for such places to inspect their land. About 50,000 U.S. troops are based in Japan under a security treaty that commits Washington to protecting its ally in the event of an attack. Union workers criticized the legislation Monday, saying it stepped over the rights of the Japanese people. "This bill affects those things most important to the people - their lives and property - yet it was not properly debated and was pushed through by the force of numbers of the Koizumi administration," the Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers' Union said in a statement. "By allowing this legislation, Japan is turning its back to the peace-seeking world and advancing along a path toward isolationism," the union said.
Isolationism is not what they are worried about
Japan's pacifist constitution, written during the post-World War II U.S. occupation of Japan, renounces the use of force to resolve disputes and limits the scope of Japan's armed forces. Reflecting the restricted role of the military, the bills spell out Japanese soldiers' right to use their weapons for self-defense and to defend others with them, including U.S. soldiers. The package also outlines the humanitarian treatment of prisoners of war, punishment for destruction of cultural property and government coordination to protect and evacuate Japanese citizens.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/14/2004 9:08:04 AM ||
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I suspect that it's not just NKor that they're worried about.
Forty years ago-- or even thirty-- I would have found that headline at least a little bit unsettling. But now, it's comforting.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
06/14/2004 11:37 Comments ||
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#5
this is a good measure...china's policy of using nkors's as leverage on the US is really starting to backfire in thier faces.. they should of known they could not fully control kimmie...
Posted by: Dan ||
06/14/2004 11:47 Comments ||
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I'm with you, Dave D. I think it's a good thing that "The new legislation allows Japanese and American militaries to appropriate seaports, airports, roads, radio frequencies and other public property for military use to respond to an emergency . . . (giving) soldiers the right to raid ships suspected of carrying foreign military supplies." And what's wrong with that? Japan is small. It could be wiped out pretty easily.
". . . the Japan Federation of Newspaper Workers' Union said in a statement. "By allowing this legislation, Japan is turning its back to the peace-seeking world and advancing along a path toward isolationism . . ."
For cryin' out loud--journalists seem to be the same everywhere! "Turning its back on the PEACE-SEEKING world"?? Looks to me like they're turning their back on the WAR-SEEKING world of the Islamofascists. And "ISOLATIONISM?" Hardly.
I really think that journalists believe that if there is a change of power, that whoever is left in charge, would somehow "respect" and "honor" the journalists--that they would be immune from harm or punishment. Idiots.
The new legislation allows Japanese and American militaries to appropriate seaports, airports, roads, radio frequencies and other public property for military use to respond to an emergency.
The legislation allows the government to set aside private property for use by the U.S. military, ....
Anybody else find it extraordinary that the legislation calls out the US military in particular? I'm sure there are many strings attached but for a democratic nation to grant seemingly broad powers over private property to a foreign military in peacetime strikes me as quite unusual.
#10
AzCat - if they have to use this legislation, it probably will no longer be peacetime for the Japanese. And they know who will stand beside them and who will just run their mouths - and run.
Their passing this legislation makes me wonder what they know, or think they know, is coming.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/14/2004 20:34 Comments ||
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#11
Agreed Barbara but it's still amazing to me that they're forward-looking enough to push it through while the threat is still (seemingly?) on the horizon.
#12
Remember, folks, this news comes on the heels of the terrifying revelation that a member of Al Qeada was caught in Japan monitoring US Naval movements.
Ain't but one reason why Al Qaeda would be doing that and there is only one nation with any interest in US Naval movements and that is Red China.
Four bombs exploded in four different quarter of Istanbul on Sunday and Monday. One person was wounded. The first bomb was a percussion bomb and exploded in a bank in the Etiler quarter at 10:45 pm on Sunday. The bomb caused material damage in the bank but no casualties were reported.
10:45 PM, bank would be closed.
The second bomb exploded in the cafeteria of an autobus terminal in the Merter quarter of Istanbul 15 minutes later, at 11 pm on Sunday, and again no casualties were reported.
Late night, cafeteria closed?
The third bomb, also a percussion bomb, exploded in a bank in the Anatolian side of Istanbul in the late hours of Sunday with no casualties reported.
Another late night weekend blast.
The fourth bomb also exploded in a bank in the Anatolian side of Istanbul on Monday and one employee of the bank was wounded in the event.
Bank was open, employee wounded. Planned, or was it supposed to go off Sunday night and timer malfunctioned?
After the explosions, Istanbul police teams patrolled near public buildings and banks.
Sounds like one of the small domestic groups, making a statement and trying to limit casualities.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/14/2004 1:10:20 PM ||
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Don't try to kill me if you can't sign a contract.
Cyprusâs chief of police has confirmed a newspaper article claiming that a Pakistani Al Qaeda suspect has been arrested on the island, a report from Nicosia said yesterday. According to the Athens News Agency, chief Tassos Panayiotou said the suspect â who has been deported to an unspecified destination â was a member of Saudi Osama bin Ladenâs Muslim fundamentalist group.
"unspecified destination", perhaps a sunny island in the tropics?
The ANA quoted Panayiotou as confirming a report on the matter in yesterdayâs Machi newspaper, but offered no further details.
"I can say no more!"
The newspaper had claimed that the Pakistani man, aged about 45, was arrested a few days ago in cooperation with American agents who had been watching the suspect. According to Machi, the man â whom the paper described as a leading Al Qaeda operative â had been planning terrorist attacks against US-connected buildings in countries close to Cyprus.
Turkey is close to Cyprus
The Pakistani was arrested and deported, the paper said, without specifying where. The ANA said Panayiotou had refused to reveal where the man had been deported.
Normally you would deport someone back to their home country.
Samoa?
Last December, Cypriot police initially announced they had detained five Pakistani students suspected of planning terrorist acts at Paphos airport, before admitting that they had made a mistake.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 9:09:15 AM ||
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Just out of curiousity, but isn't cyprus home to one or two of the palestinians that took over the church of the nativity not that long ago?
The Turkish military declared an overnight curfew in a southeastern city late Sunday, after Kurdish rebels launched a rocket attack on a military officers' club, a military official said. Troops killed two rebels in the ensuing clash. The attack in the southeastern town of Bingol came hours after more than 20,000 Kurds held a mass demonstration for peace in Diyarbakir, the largest city in the region. Former parliament deputy Leyla Zana, who was recently freed from prison, urged autonomy-seeking Kurdish rebels to resume their unilateral truce.
The rebels ended the five-year truce and intensified attacks on Turkish security forces earlier this month, saying Turkey had not responded in kind. The military has vowed to maintain its crackdown until all the rebels either surrender or are killed. Two soldiers were killed when their military vehicle was attacked Saturday in Tunceli province, 500 miles southeast of the capital, Ankara. No casualties were reported at the military club targeted in the rocket attack in downtown Bingol. A local military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said two rebels were killed in the ensuing shootout. The official said the military had declared a temporary curfew in the city until Monday morning and that anti-rebel operations were under way. It is not uncommon for local military officials to declare a curfew after rebel attacks.
Turkey considers the rebels terrorists and has refused to talk with them. But the country's Kurdish politicians, buoyed by the release of the four former lawmakers, are calling on the rebel group to observe their truce again. Zana appealed to the rebel group to give "peace a chance" and to continue the cease-fire for at least six months. Most of the protesters shouted "peace." But many pro-rebel sympathizers chanted illegal slogans in support of imprisoned Kurdish rebel chief Abdullah Ocalan and unfurled banners of his outlawed group as well as posters with his picture during the rally. "Tooth for tooth, blood for blood, vengeance!" chanted some demonstrators in apparent support for the rebels.
Careful folks, Turkish army is pretty good at that kind of thing. Just ask the Armenians.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/14/2004 1:04:10 AM ||
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if the kurds in turkland get slaughted, what will the kurds in iraq and other countries do? the ones in iraq are pretty well organized..this could get messy
#2
dcreeper makes a good point. Also, since the Iraqi constitution got amended to dilute the sections that protected the Kurds, this may be a prelude to an all out trans-Kurdish nationalist movement. Basically, I'm in sympathy with the Kurds.
#3
I am as well, if for no other reason than it pisses MuRat off so much
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2004 10:04 Comments ||
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#4
Don't get exited Frank, Iâm not pissed off that easily. The fact is that whenever American intervention took place in Iraq, Gulfwar1 and now Gulfwar2 there was an upsurge in Kurdish terror over here. You guys donât fight terror, you guys create terror.
In the end this whole Iraq misery will end up like Gulfwar1 leaving a pile of mess behind where vermin and terrorists will thrive.
Posted by: Murat ||
06/14/2004 10:33 Comments ||
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#5
Vermin will thrive? You ought to be delighted then, Murat.
#10
You guys donât fight terror, you guys create terror. In the end this whole Iraq misery will end up like Gulfwar1 leaving a pile of mess behind where vermin and terrorists will thrive.
Seems to me those "vermin" are Turkish Kurds on YOUR soil.
#11
murat - blah blah blah...we did not cause them ..turkeys attempt at destroying a culture is the problem here...they are just getting some balls cause uncle sam is next door..could of been diff but turkey wanted to pound her chest...
about creating terror - yea like the kurds were not pissed off with turkey before gulf1 and 2 - they were good obiedient subjects but now they are killing turkish soldeirs and it's all Bush's fault...do not use current events to hide your own missdeeds... your such a dumbass..
actually kurdish part of iraq is not submerged in misery - they have actually created a decent place for thier people..and i am sure that pisses you off - especially since turkey can do jack about it! and the rest of iraq is own her way - as long as descent people there want a prosperous future no need to worry..
Posted by: Dan ||
06/14/2004 11:57 Comments ||
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#12
My sympathy and support for Turkey is minimal. We went through a lot of grief to get turkey anti missile gear, and Turkey showed its gratitude by not allowing US military transit.
In the name of fighting terrorism, maybe we should train the Kurds to fight as an army?
#13
Oh y'all forget that Murat is a patriotic nationalist: As long as Saddam (a terrorist by deed, but not by label) stayed in his own borders and murdered his own people, then to Murat, that was a form of terrorism that didn't bother him one bit. An independent and capable Kurdistan IS the kind of entity that Murat would call terroristic, since it involves his precious Turkey so much, and would rightly blame Bush for it. In actuality, if Bush was "guilty" of creating a really free, sane, and capable Kurdistan, then he'd have a lock on my vote.
In the end, what disturbs Murat is that my vote weighs more in Bush's mind than his opinion (as it should). It is to talk us out of voting for a president who contributes, in some way, to opposing Turkey, is one reason why Murat's here.
What's so amazing is that Arabs aren't bothering to ask why we hate them, as much as they should ask themselves why we love the Kurds so much.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Despite the interest of emergency officials, the government is refusing to provide U.S. communities an antidote controlled by the Army and stockpiled by other countries to treat victims of a chemical terror attack. The product, Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion, was developed by the Canadian military years ago, won Food and Drug Administration approval in 2003 and is sold in other NATO countries for neutralizing sarin, mustard gas and other chemical agents.
It is being tested by the Army. But the companies that make it arenât permitted to sell it or even advertise it to state and local governments in the United States. "Right now they have no product to decontaminate people other than soap and water," said Phil OâDell, president of OâDell Engineering, a Canadian-based company licensed by the Canadian government to sell the lotion. "There is only one FDA-approved. Itâs the RSDL. These first responders correctly have been trying to buy RSDL since FDA approval."
Dr. Dani Zavasky, a deputy medical director for the New York Police Departmentâs counterterrorism bureau, thinks the antidote is promising and wonders why her agency cannot buy it. As described by the FDA at the time it approved it for the Army in April 2003, a lotion-soaked sponge is packaged in a special foil pouch that people can carry, ready to rip open and wipe on any exposed skin as soon as possible after exposure to a chemical attack. Zavasky said she heard about the antidote from Marines, not from the Army or the Homeland Security Department, whose duties include tipping off state and local governments to new anti-terrorism technologies. "Iâm not aware of any substance other than this out there that has been used for so long by others that has this benefit," Zavasky said. "Iâve been hearing about it for a year and a half now and still itâs not widely available."
The Army says it wants to do more testing on issues such as whether the lotion is safe to use with bleach, before it making it standard issue for its troops or letting police, firefighters and other first responders buy it. "The manufacturer will have to be patient. Until the compatibility with bleach solutions is determined and can be clearly defined, we canât field it," said Maj. Gary Tallman, an Army spokesman. "It wouldnât be proper to field it to our war fighters and our first responders."
In the United States, the Army rather than OâDell Engineering obtained the FDAâs approval, meaning OâDell cannot sell it to state and local governments without Army permission. But that doesnât preclude other federal agencies from trying to bring the drug to first responders. Homeland Security Department spokesman Kirk Whitworth said the agency doesnât comment on specific products but is "committed as a department to speeding the access to the most effective products available."
Frustrated by the delay, OâDell Engineering and its U.S. business partner, New York state-based E-Z-EM Inc., have started lobbying lawmakers and the Army.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Remind me please, aren't there a number of claim for disability and suffering now on behalf of numerous servicemembers because they were told to take drugs as a preventative to possible use of nerve agent on the battlefield in the first Gulf War? Haven't we seen claims in the past decade linking Gulf War Syndrome to the use of these drugs? It's one thing to place servicemembers in harms way since their claims are simply shuffled to the VA for handling under law, but the distribution to non-military members would place the federal government and the tax payer in a free fire zone for torte lawyers for years to come. Don't like it, then change the torte laws. Or in this case, I wonder if O'Dell and E-Z-EM would take all financial responsibility? Of course after making their money, they just go out of business, and the federal government would still be held liable.
Posted by: Don ||
06/14/2004 8:49 Comments ||
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#2
Take 2 Zoloft and call somebody who cares in the morning.
#3
Oh, this whole thing is utter hooey. First of all, it's just some buffered oxidizer. Like bleach but with some goop added to protect the skin. Which is good if your chemical agent is absorbed through the skin--which is not the kind of chemical weapon terrorists would use.
Terrorists would want to use a *vapor* weapon, like the SARIN used in the Tokyo subway. Most likely, they would choose whatever industrial toxic chemical they could get their hands on, out of the FIVE THOUSAND different chemicals that could work.
In other words, this thing is about as useful to civilians as the old Soviet "anti-radiation" pills (aspirin).
A Somali native living in Ohio has been charged with plotting with other al-Qaida operatives to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. The four-count indictment, returned by a grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, charges that Nuradin Abdi, 32, conspired with admitted al-Qaida member Iyman Faris and others to detonate a bomb at the unidentified shopping mall after he obtained military-style training in Ethiopia. Attorney General John Ashcroft announced the indictment at a Justice Department news conference and used the occasion to warn anew of al-Qaidaâs threat. "Current credible intelligence indicates that al-Qaida wants to hit the United States, to hit the United States hard," he said.
Abdi is also charged with fraud and misuse of documents by claiming that he had been granted valid asylum status in the United States. In fact, prosecutors say, he obtained that refugee document under false pretenses. There also is one count each of conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists and conspiracy to provide material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, in this case al-Qaida. The charges against Abdi, who has been in custody since November on immigration-related violations, were handed up by the grand jury last Thursday.
A government motion seeking to keep Abdi in detention says he returned to the United States from Africa in March 2000 and was met at the airport in Columbus by Faris. Those two and other unidentified coconspirators were involved in the alleged shopping mall plot, prosecutors say. One of the immigration charges contends that Abdi concealed his true destination when he applied on April 27, 1999, for a U.S. travel document. He said he was going to Germany and Saudi Arabia to visit Mecca and relatives. In fact, "as the defendant well knew, he planned to travel to Ogaden, Ethiopia, for the purpose of obtaining military-style training in preparation for violent Jihad," the indictment says.
The training allegedly included use of guns, bombs and guerrilla warfare. Faris is serving a 20-year federal sentence after pleading guilty last June to providing material support to al-Qaida. Faris, an Ohio-based truck driver originally from Kashmir, admitted plotting to sever the cables supporting the Brooklyn Bridge in New York and to derail trains in New York or Washington. Faris had received instructions from top al-Qaida leader Khalid Shaikh Mohammed for what might have been a second wave of attacks to follow those of Sept. 11, 2001, investigators say. Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the hijackings, is in U.S. custody at an undisclosed overseas location.
#4
What next Etters PA?. I can see it now, terrorists blow up Dairy Farm. Oh the carnage.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
06/14/2004 14:44 Comments ||
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my guess that would be in an ethnically somali part of ethiopia - Ogaden, maybe. Ethiopia is certainly no fan of AQ, but may not have full control of the large country.
A Somali native living in Ohio has been charged with plotting with other al-Qaeda operatives to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall, according to an indictment unsealed Monday. The four-count indictment, returned by a grand jury in Columbus, Ohio, charges that Nuradin Abdi, 32, conspired with admitted al-Qaeda member Iyman Faris and others to detonate a bomb at the unidentified shopping mall after he obtained military-style training in Ethiopia. Abdi is also charged with fraud and misuse of documents by claiming that he had been granted valid asylum status in the United States. In fact, prosecutors say, he obtained that refugee document under false pretenses.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 11:42:25 AM ||
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That's right, let them in, let's let them all in. Muslim immigrants? No problem. I'm sure they are all honest hard working folks with no ill intent to harm any indidel, right?
Excuse me while I do mail my cheque to the nice Nigerian man I met through the internet.
#3
If I remember correctly, this community has given us an "honor" killing or two, and possibly the vandalism of a local convenience store for having the gall to sell liquor on a Friday.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/14/2004 12:37 Comments ||
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"this community ....." Do you mean Columbus, Ohio? My husband and I went to Ohio State and back then (1981), crime was pretty much reduced to the weekend of the Ohio State-University of Michigan football game. What a shame that such a nice city is slowly being converted into a ghetto.
#5
There's a significant Somali refugee community on the east side of Columbus. (I'm a board member of a charity that does a lot of work in those neighborhoods.) I can understand why Somalis would want to come to the United States--who wants to live in a place like Mogadishu if you can avoid it?--but I've never quite figured out why they'd come to Columbus. Must all be Buckeye fans, I guess.
What a shame that such a nice city is slowly being converted into a ghetto.
Must disagree with you, Anon, on the "slowly being converted" part. The east side of Columbus is the rough part of town, but it's not because the Somalis live there. It's been that way for a good long time. When I lived there in 1989-92, there was a neighborhood known as "Uzi alley" because it was the boundary between rival gang territories and an open-air drug market. The Somalis didn't start arriving until a few years later, and the main reason they settled in the scruffy part of town is that it was all they could afford.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/14/2004 15:35 Comments ||
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I mentioned this previously on RB - The Columbus PD has been given 'cultural awareness training' for working with Columbus's large Somali community. According to those in attendance, it was the usual thing - You know, don't question a woman directly without approval from her husband/brother/master; don't look into their eyes (that shows a lack of respect), etc. etc.
By the way, the Somali's and Black residents of one apartment complex rioted and attacked each other this weekend. Can't link at the moment for details sorry. According to community leaders, it was due to 'cultural misunderstandings'. !!??
RC - you are correct.
#4 - While some of the town and most of the suburbs are fine places to live and raise a family, much of the city proper has become a real shithole and could show Detroit, Philly and South Central LA a thing or two about innercity crime and racial strife.
#7
Soon after 9/11 a Somali-American student at SDSU was busted by the university because he started a confrontation some Saudi Students who were laughing and talking Ill about America and boasting about Al Queda (in Arabic).
That was at a time when I was waiting for the members of the Religion of Submission to speak up. He was the only one I remember and the PC university administration busted him for it.
Just thought I'd mention it since not all Somali's are like the asshat in this story.
#10
Funny you mention the Irish. P.J O'Rourke went to Somalia and compared the place to Scotland without golf courses. Clans that fought over anything and everything while hopped up on Qut instead of Scotch.
A little bit of local news, but as those speaking had significant experience, I thought it may be intereting.
Another terrorist attack on America is imminent this year, a local judge and intelligence expert said Friday. Erie County Judge Michael Dunlavey, a recently retired U.S. Army major general who oversaw the questioning of detainees at the U.S. naval station in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, in 2002, told hundreds of police, firefighters, special agents and local and national criminal-justice leaders that an event similar in magnitude to 9/11 is looming. "It will happen again this year," Dunlavey told the crowd at Mercyhurst Collegeâs 21st annual criminal-justice conference. "We will have mass casualties."
Dunlavey said that while likely terrorist targets include the Athens 2004 Olympic Games and the Democratic National Convention in Boston, all Americans must be alert to suspicious activity. "You have a very, very difficult position because we are an open society," he said. "I can tell you with absolute certainty that every day, terrorists enter the United States. They are real and they are here."
More at the link.
Posted by: John C. ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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"I can tell you with absolute certainty that every day, terrorists enter the United States. They are real and they are here."
#3
Not to be callous, but would a mass casualty attack on the Donk Convention help Bush or Kerry? More to the point, would it arouse some manly instincts in the Dems, or just more strongly-pressed appeasement?
#4
of much more concern to me is the upcoming Republican convention in the city where the terrorists have been so eager to make their feelings known. I admire the Republicans for not letting fear rule them and their decisions, but come on now, Everyone, and i mean EVERYONE is going to be watching New York. For me, it will be like watching an acrobat. On one hand I'll be saying, "Wow! Cool!", but on the other, I'll be anxious watching him do his act one slight miscalculation away from disaster.
#5
The Athens Olympics are going to be the thing to watch for terrorism. The security is lax and its close enough for the Islamists to get to.
I'm sure they would love to stage a repeat of Munich 1972 played out with Americans.
#6
The Republican convention is much more likely to be the target of domestic terrorists than international. When you have Village Voice columnists calling for the extermination of Republicans, you have to expect someone will heed the call...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/14/2004 11:03 Comments ||
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Not to be callous, but would a mass casualty attack on the Donk Convention help Bush or Kerry? More to the point, would it arouse some manly instincts in the Dems, or just more strongly-pressed appeasement?
I dunno - I'm feeling kinda cynical right now. I'd say it'd benefit the Democrats. Partly for the sympathy that would result (and be long-sustained) from such a horrific event, and partly because it'd be used as a political tool (The Bush Administration is ineffective, the Patriot Act a facist-farce, etc.).
It might awaken some more aggressive instincts, though most likely those of a law-enforcement variety. Meaning the Patriot Act would remain relatively intact, perhaps reinforced in places.
With Saddam Hussein gone, one could be forgiven for thinking that the world was finally done with the business of WMD and accusations of secret nuclear arsenals. But look at what is happening next door to Iraq, and the wranglings over Iranâs nuclear programme are all too reminiscent of the 12 years of crisis that culminated with the war to topple Saddam.
Some of the personalities at the forefront of last yearâs Iraq saga - notably Mohamed ElBaradei, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (the IAEA) - have returned to centre-stage in the Iran nuclear affair. Mr ElBaradeiâs categorical assessment that Iraqâs nuclear programme was dead and buried, and that intelligence on its revival was either faulty or fabricated, fell on deaf ears in Washington and London last year. In the case of Iran, however, Mr ElBaradei offers no such reassurance. The world should take note.
Reading the IAEAâs reports on Iran in the past year, there are good reasons to fear that the mullahs, behind the guise of a civil nuclear power programme, are secretly trying to build an atomic bomb or at least develop a "just in time" capability to build one at short notice.
A nuclear Iran would precipitate a Middle East arms race that could prompt Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to secure their own nukes. Israel is unlikely to sit idly by while Iran arms itself with atomic weapons and long-range missiles.
As the IAEAâs governors meet in Vienna this week to decide how to deal with Iranâs latest evasions, Mr ElBaradei has told the Telegraph that Teheran keeps "changing its story". Despite good progress, the IAEA chief said inspections "cannot go on forever". Sound familiar?
By President George W Bushâs own doctrine of the "axis of evil" - which asserts that the greatest danger to the world is posed by states developing WMD and supporting international terrorists - the first candidate for American "pre-emptive action" should have been Iran, not Iraq.
There is no doubt that Iranâs nuclear facilities are much more advanced than Iraqâs were last year. According to the IAEA, Iran lied systematically for 18 years. It secretly mastered the most sensitive techniques of enriching uranium and reprocessing plutonium - either of which provides a route to nuclear weapons.
It has bought equipment from the same "nuclear supermarket", operated by the Pakistani scientist AQ Khan, that provided uranium enrichment centrifuges for the Libyan and North Korean atomic weapons programmes.
There is also a much stronger terrorist connection to Iran than to Iraq.
Iran sponsors Palestinian extremist groups, as well as Lebanonâs Hizbollah movement. Western intelligence agencies believe that at least some parts of the regime are harbouring some of Osama bin Ladenâs senior lieutenants, although Iran says al-Qaâeda figures that slipped into the country are all "under arrest".
Had America and Britain had even half of this evidence to pin on Saddam Hussein, they would have had no problem securing that elusive second United Nations resolution authorising war.
So will America go to war with Iran? Washington has not ruled out using force, and the idea of effecting "regime change" in Iran is attractive to many in Washington.
But the reality is that for the coming six to 12 months, President Bush has his hands full with fighting the insurgency in Iraq and overseeing the countryâs political transition. He does not want to stand for election in November as a warmonger. Having failed to find WMD in Iraq, Mr Bush will find it harder to argue for military action to stop Iranâs nuclear programme.
For the moment, the Iranian question is being handled by diplomacy at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna.
In contrast with the bitter rows over Iraq, the "Big Three" of the European Union - Britain, France and Germany - have joined forces to exert pressure on Iran. Acting as the "good cop" to Americaâs "bad cop", they have achieved some important successes - such as convincing Iran to agree to more intrusive inspections, suspend "temporarily" uranium enrichment and reveal at least some of its nuclear secrets. But it is not enough.
America has long demanded that Iran be referred to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions. The Europeans would rather use the threat of referral to prod Iran along the road of co-operation. They believe that by maintaining international "consensus", the mullahs can be boxed in ever tighter - to the point where either they decide that pursuing a nuclear weapons option is too costly or the Iranians commit a breach so egregious that it will be easier to rally support for punitive action.
"Iran is a medium-term problem," said a senior British official. But this game of "strategic patience" rests on a key assumption: that Iran is still some years away from having an atomic bomb and that the nuclear programme is effectively frozen by the current inspections.
What if Iran has a secret enrichment programme that the IAEA has yet to detect? America, or Israel, could try to bomb Iranâs nuclear infrastructure - assuming they know the location of any secret facilities.
Military action would be extremely risky. It could destabilise an already precarious situation in the Middle East, especially in Iraq. It could deepen the war on terrorism, or suck America into an all-out war with Iran. It need not come to military action. The Europeans can do more to back up their tough words with credible threats of action. They should draw up a menu of EU sanctions that could be phased in if Iran does not comply with the IAEA by, say, September.
Iran also needs incentives if it is to give up the option of a deterrent against its many potential foes. If Teheran gives up its nuclear weapons aspirations permanently and submits to rigid international controls, it should be assured of technical assistance for developing nuclear power to generate electricity. Teheran could also be given a guarantee that it will not be attacked by the US.
America is ready to give such a security assurance to North Korea, and is negotiating with Pyongyang despite its open repudiation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. There is good reason for America to begin talking to Iran. It is now the most important regional power in the Gulf. By deploying troops in both Afghanistan and Iraq, America has become Iranâs close neighbour - and hostile neighbours can make life hell.
Posted by: tipper ||
06/14/2004 5:23:36 AM ||
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Iran does not need nuclear-based electricity. It has plenty of oil and gas for generating electricity. No matter what the Iranian diplomats are saying in New York, the less-diplomatic leaders in Teheran are sending pretty clear signals that they are deceitful and non-cooperative. After November, either Dubya or Israel is going to have to level some Iranian nuclear facilities. Kerry won't have the guts to do it in time. New Yorkers had better shift their politics toward the right before Iran sneaks a nuke up the Hudson River. Next time we won't even be able to do a casualty count.
Posted by: Tom ||
06/14/2004 8:08 Comments ||
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#2
Who is your editor McGoo? Why all the wiggle words?
Reading tThe IAEAâs reports on Iran in the past year reveal there are good reasons to fear that the mullahs, behind the guise of a civilian nuclear power programme, are secretly trying to build building an atomic bomb. or at least develop a "just in time" capability to build one at short notice.
Allow me to fix another gem:
There is no doubt that Iranâs nuclear facilities are much more advanced than Iraqâs were last year.
#3
"With Saddam Hussein gone, one could be forgiven for thinking that the world was finally done with the business of WMD and accusations of secret nuclear arsenals"
never heard of North Korea?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2004 10:51 Comments ||
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#4
It need not come to military action. The Europeans can do more to back up their tough words with credible threats of action. They should draw up a menu of EU sanctions that could be phased in if Iran does not comply with the IAEA by, say, September.
This is idiotic. Iran's mullahs are specifically engaging in a military action to arm themselves with nuclear weapons. To belive that sanctions and other toothless measures (as shown in Iraq) will work against those who do not blanch at the deepest deceits and lies is pure Pollyanna diplomacy.
The E3 had better put some retaliation plans on the table d@mn fast. Tehran's leadership is rapidly acquiring an unhealthy glow in its cheeks, the glow of Cherenkov radiation. If the mullahs are unwilling to end their pursuit of such ill-considered goals they must be treated to the smoldering glow of burning laboratories and reprocessing facilities.
#5
Do we have a dot connecting problem developing? The demagogues were whining about the failure to connect the obscure dots before 9/11. Those dots were little and they were hidden amongst a bunch of other dots that didn't connect. With hindsight we learned the connected dots showed the image of falling buildings and a flaming Pentagon. Aren't these dots about the nuclear program of the world's first islamofascist state real big, and not so obscure? When connected, do they image a mushroom cloud?
#6
Well, I guess we will just have to invade Iran now. Then we know there will be terrorists there, just like there are now in Iraq. We should let the UN handle this, then the diplomatic efforts of the whole world will persuade the Iranians from developing nucular weapons. History repeats itself you know.
Posted by: Jennifer ||
06/14/2004 16:02 Comments ||
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#7
Jennifer, that is one of the most opaque posts I've ever seen. Are you trying to be sarcastic?
At least this part is definitely sarcasm, right?:
"We should let the UN handle this, then the diplomatic efforts of the whole world will persuade the Iranians from developing nucular weapons."
#12
A little history by Jenn would be great! Yeah, baby, Yeah!
Nobody here wants to invade Iran Jenn, honey. Especially if they start putting nukes on the pointy end of RPGs. They might shoot one at somebody. And I doubt they would let that sort of thing get into the wrong hands. No way!
#14
What makes you think the UN can't handle this situation? They have inspectors with international credibility. They carry the moral authority of the world community. They have already helped out in Iraq with the sovergnty thing. People thought they were doing their job inspecting in Iraq, when they really were but there weren't any WMDs. Then Bush lied and said there were, and we invade and now there's terrorists there. Do you want the same thing to happen in Iran??
Posted by: Jennifer ||
06/14/2004 18:02 Comments ||
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#15
Oops - People thought they were not doing their job inspecting in Iraq, when they really were . . .
Posted by: Jennifer ||
06/14/2004 18:04 Comments ||
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#16
Jennifer: What makes you think the UN can't handle this situation? Rwanda ring a bell? The UN has already admitted that Iraq did in fact have banned missles and WMD and were shipping them out of the country before, during and after the war. Terrorists? Heard of Salman Pak?
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/14/2004 18:12 Comments ||
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#17
What makes you think the UN can't handle this situation?
Close to 60 years of history.
Posted by: Rafael ||
06/14/2004 18:13 Comments ||
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#18
And here we reach the end for this is a DU regurgitator who knows nothing, acknowledges nothing, and understands even less. Pfeh.
#19
DU regurgitator? I don't know what that means, but I think it is probably mean.
Posted by: Jennifer ||
06/14/2004 18:18 Comments ||
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#20
The Mad Mullahs will give nukes to proxies. Let someone else take the heat, so to speak.
Mad Mullahs
Mad Mullahs
Whatcha gonna do
whatcha gonna do
whatcha gonna do
when al Q nukes YOU?!
Mad Mullahs
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/14/2004 18:34 Comments ||
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#21
DU means Democratic Underground. Do I win a prize?
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/14/2004 18:41 Comments ||
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#22
Jennifer - assuming you are an individual posting personally and not some asshat agent of disingenuous twaddle - you are either willfully ignorant or a silly troll. You choose.
There is a wealth of information which you obviously choose to ignore each time you post your idiot memes, such as "Bush lied" - and I have no obligation to waste my time with you. Either get up to speed (on your own, I've already raised a child) or run along and play elsewhere.
#30
Jennifer, as someone who took a whole lot of bashing here until people realized that I was serious as a heart attack, permit me to recommend that you do some searches at this site regarding the UN and WMDs.
Great places to start are the Oil-for-Food scandal, Rwanda, Saddam's Scud Engines in Jordan, Saddam's WMD transported through Syria to Lebanon's Bekka valley and hundreds of several other easily searched topics.
Fred and those who help run this board have a profound respect for free speech, I'd like to think I'm living proof of that. Such restraint upon their part does not inhibit other members of this site from being a little less ... (ahem) ... polite regarding flagrant lack of erudition.
Let's move on:
#5 Do we have a dot connecting problem developing? The demagogues were whining about the failure to connect the obscure dots before 9/11. Those dots were little and they were hidden amongst a bunch of other dots that didn't connect. With hindsight we learned the connected dots showed the image of falling buildings and a flaming Pentagon. Aren't these dots about the nuclear program of the world's first islamofascist state real big, and not so obscure? When connected, do they image a mushroom cloud?
Jake, you really nailed it with your post. The 9-11 atrocity should have, for once and all, connected the dots regarding Islamist aggression for anyone with an IQ bigger than their shoe size.
#1
Good analysis but he gets the terminology wrong. Wretchard is describing what economists call the Free Rider problem and not the tradegy of the commons which is something different.
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/14/2004 17:53 Comments ||
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#2
You don't see quite a bit of overlap between your posted link and Wetchard's? Really? I'm not being argumentative, but the subtle differences do not seem to outweigh the similarities - certainly, IMHO, in practice. Perhaps you should duke it out with Wretchard, if you believe the case you posted. This is not an area in which I have special knowledge - I'm only a layman reading the passages and perhaps this is why you lost me.
#3
.com, the free rider problem and the tradegy of the commons are similar, but economists see fit to differentiate them. The tradegy of the commons refers to an end state where the resource (or goods) is significantly degraded in value to the detriment of all. The classic example is unrestricted overgrazing of common land. There is no implication of this in Wretchard's piece, and what he describes is where the US with others are providing a good (security of oil supply) which others benefit from without paying for. This is free-riding.
I wasn't disagreeing with him, just pointing out he got the terminology wrong.
Wretchard doesn't have a comments section and his stuff is often linked from RB. I'm guessing he reads RB.
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/14/2004 18:28 Comments ||
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#4
Okay... I get it. I had to re-read all three - and I see your point.
Okay, terminology aside?
BTW, you can email him - I believe he appreciates it and he actually responds, or did once upon a time. Perhaps now he's become too well known and gets swamped, I can't say. But I have, indeed, received excellent email from him in the past.
#5
I'll mail the RB link to him. For while I emailed SDB and had several email discussions with him, but (and I find this quite hard to describe) email is a private medium, and what I have to say is for public consumption. Hence I post it here.
Posted by: Phil B ||
06/14/2004 18:58 Comments ||
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VIENNA (Reuters) - Iran is not fully cooperating with U.N. inspectors and must come clean about the full extent of its nuclear program within months, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday. European cultural sensitivity is so charming. Theyâre letting Iran avoid total humiliation by giving them sufficient time to build at least one functional nuclear device and thereby save face before their Islamic brethern.
Mohamed ElBaradei said Iranâs cooperation has been "less than satisfactory" and warned that the process of clarifying unresolved issues -- particularly over Iranâs uranium enrichment activities -- could not be allowed to drag on for ever. They donât need "for ever." Just a few more months will do.
"It is essential for the integrity and credibility of the inspection process that we are able to bring these issues to a close within the next few months, and provide the international community with the assurances it urgently seeks regarding Iranâs nuclear activities," he told the IAEAâs board of governors. The United States has long accused Iran of trying to build a nuclear weapon under cover of a civilian atomic energy program. Tehran denies this, insisting it is only interested in killing all the Jews and not really generating electricity.
Diplomats said the United States would be pushing at the IAEA board meeting in Vienna, expected to last at least several days, for the agency to set Iran a deadline to cooperate fully. ElBaradei said any deadline would be a matter for the member states to decide, but his comments made clear that Iran had to stop delaying and changing its story for the umpteenth time. "We still have a central issue, and that is whether Iran has declared all its (uranium) enrichment activities," ElBaradei said, demanding "accelerated and proactive cooperation." A diplomat from one of the 35 nations on the IAEA Board of Governors said he was surprised by the force of the IAEA chiefâs words: "The speech by (ElBaradei) was severe. It was serious, it dramatically reduced Iranâs wiggle room by an astounding 0.005%."
U.S. ambassador Kenneth Brill, commenting on ElBaradeiâs remarks, told reporters: "It was a firm message that Iran has to do much better than it has been doing." ElBaradei highlighted concerns over the detection of traces of low-enriched and highly enriched uranium at sites in Iran, and over Tehranâs work with advanced P-2 centrifuges. These are used to enrich, or purify, uranium for use in an atomic reactor or in a nuclear weapon. Information provided by Tehran on its P-2 program had been "changing and at times contradictory," ElBaradei said while winking at the mullahs.
IRAN SAYS IT GAVE "FULL COOPERATION"
Iran wants the IAEA to give it credit for the information it has disclosed to date, and has said failure to give it due recognition will affect future cooperation. The only "recognition" they deserve should be in the form of terrain following target "recognition" by cruise missiles.
Tehranâs senior delegate Hossein Mousavian told reporters Iran was providing "full cooperation," supplying all information requested and narrowing down the range of outstanding issues by a consistent factor of 0.005%. In Tehran, newly elected hard-line lawmakers threatened not to ratify a tough IAEA protocol allowing snap inspections, which Iran signed last year and has so far been doing everything to avoid implementing.
"If Western governments impose extreme demands, the parliament will not sign the protocol," parliamentarian Mohammad Reza Tajeddini said in a newspaper article. Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the hard-line Kayhan newspaper, said Iran should end snap inspections in response to a toughly worded draft resolution circulated by France, Britain and Germany reprimanding Iran for poor quality dancing girls at the meetingâs floor show who later on did not provide sufficient hotel room cooperation. "Now also we should stop implementation of the Additional Protocol to the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and we should not let them to have access to our nuclear information," he wrote. Donât worry, the cruise missiles will prevent your access as well. Sauce for the goose and all that ...
Delegates at the Vienna meeting will consider the European trioâs draft that "deplores" Iranâs lax cooperation with the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Iran wants this word out of the text. Yeah, and hillbillies want to be called "sons of the soil."
Diplomats said Washington wanted it harsher, with some kind of deadline in the text to keep the pressure on Tehran. But one board member doubted a timeline could be included at this point due to vigorous objections posed by ElBaradei. "There wonât be any dramatic changes to the draft, just a few to accommodate both sides," he said, adding that ElBaradeiâs sharp words made it clear he too favored a tough-luck attitude towards Americaâs resolution to bomb the crap out of Iran.
#1
Iran is not fully cooperating with U.N. inspectors and must come clean about the full extent of its nuclear program within months, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said Monday.
Federal soldiers and Chechen troops clashed overnight with a large rebel group trying to enter a village in southern Chechnya, according to Russian news reports Monday. Col. Ilya Shabalkin, spokesman for the Russian forces in Chechnya, said that fighters tried to enter Avtury in Chechnyaâs mountainous south late Sunday night to replenish their food supply. Federal units, assisted by officers from the Chechen security service run by late President Akhmad Kadyrovâs son, opened fire. In the fighting, four Chechen officers were wounded. Two rebels were killed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 3:18:39 PM ||
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#1
and they went away hungry? Oh, the humanity!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2004 22:17 Comments ||
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#2
This Muslim jihad & counter-jihad by the Russians, in the trans-Caucasus is in part being waged over whom shall control the vast amounts of crude oil & natural gas reserves.
Geographic spreading of this conflict is likely from the Caspian Sea to the Black Sea.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/14/2004 23:32 Comments ||
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Law enforcement agencies killed a suspected Al Qaeda member, while two of his accomplices escaped in the Kunj Kehal area here on Monday morning. Police found two cars allegedly used by the suspected militants. On a tip-off that suspected Al Qaeda members were coming to Abbottabad, the police chased them, Senior Superintendent of Police Syed Feroz Shah said. The suspected militants fired at the law enforcement agency officials who returned with fire. During the gunfire, one unidentified militant was killed and his two colleagues fled, Mr Shah said. The body of the deceased was later sent to district headquarters hospital for an autopsy. The police and the army refused to give any information about the operation to journalists.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 6:42:31 PM ||
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#1
solves the "unlawful combatant" vs "terrorist" conundrum, doesn't it, Aris?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2004 21:50 Comments ||
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#3
We got the unanimous UN vote. Brahimi is now redundant and he knows it. He and Kofi were played like a fiddle.
Posted by: remote man ||
06/14/2004 19:23 Comments ||
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#4
The UN diplomat has still not delivered a letter of resignation but senior UN sources said the secretary general is already exploring possibilities for a replacement.
Sounds like there might be more to the story.
Posted by: B ||
06/14/2004 19:48 Comments ||
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#5
This was yesterday's headline...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/14/2004 22:15 Comments ||
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#6
Don't let the door hit you in the butt on the way out. Good riddance!
Posted by: A Jackson ||
06/14/2004 23:24 Comments ||
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Posted by: Theo ||
06/14/2004 20:40 Comments ||
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#6
Actually, that color scheme is very close to the ones the German Army used in WW2 in Russia.
Your definition of "gay" eludes me.
The collar is great - keeps the body armor from rubbing your neck raw. Ditching the lower pockets in the jacket was a long overdue item - 1) they cannot be accessed with vest or armor on and 2) they fill with mud/sand when you low crawl. The arm pockets are great - easy to access when in a covered position and with body armor or web gear or combat vest on. Plus lets you tuck the shirt in.
Looks to have a lower visible signature than the BDUs in most climates. Still think the current camo is best for desert use - but given the realities of urban and moutnain use, this camo color and design is probably the best overall.
#7
I think Iraq and Afghanistan are proving we only need urban camo. We have to fight in cities. Forests, mountains and deserts we can just blow up from a safe distance or let the snipers do their thing.
Posted by: joe ||
06/14/2004 23:56 Comments ||
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#8
Or use UAV's for much of it... And you can do that wearing your Bunny Slippers.
An Israeli helicopter fired a missile at a car in a West Bank refugee camp, killing two Palestinians, one of them a militant leader, residents and security sources said. The blast shook the Balata refugee camp, near Nablus. One of the dead was identified as Khalil Marshoud, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group loosely linked to Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction. Besides the two dead, one person was seriously injured, residents said.
#1
Fox News reporting that it appears to be another case of the dreaded "Red Wire Flu".
Posted by: Steve ||
06/14/2004 15:16 Comments ||
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#2
"One of the dead was identified as Khalil Marshoud, a local leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group loosely linked to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's Fatah faction"
as in: my left hand is loosely linked to my arm
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2004 15:18 Comments ||
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#3
Gotta learn to delegate, Khalil.
Make that, should've learned to delegate.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/14/2004 16:28 Comments ||
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#6
It's also interesting that the article said "dozens of palistinians have been killed in air strikes" but makes no mention of all the Israelis killed by the "Martyrs Brigade".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/14/2004 16:30 Comments ||
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#7
It's also interesting that the article said "dozens of palistinians have been killed in air strikes" but makes no mention of all the Israelis killed by the "Martyrs Brigade".
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
06/14/2004 16:30 Comments ||
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#8
Anybody notice the picture caption?
"Israeli soldiers are seen behind burning shrub..."
Police raided an Amman restaurant early Monday and arrested suspected Muslim militants, witnesses and officials said. Government spokeswoman Asma Khader confirmed that âthere was an operationâ based on âsome information made available to police.â She would not comment further, saying an investigation was under way. Security officials, insisting on anonymity, said police arrested suspected Muslim militants but would not elaborate. Two witnesses, both insisting on anonymity, said police raided a restaurant along a main business and commercial street in Amman and apprehended at least two men, both sporting beards. They said the arrests took place early Monday morning without a shot being fired.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 11:44:11 AM ||
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Authorities in Islamabad say they have arrested the nephew of a top former Al-Qaeda planner along with eight other Islamic militants suspected of carrying out recent attacks across southern Pakistan. Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad says the arrest of Musaad Aruchi, the nephew of a suspected mastermind of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States, Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, is a major breakthrough. Aruchi is thought to have become increasingly involved in Al-Qaeda activities since his uncle was arrested in Pakistan last year.
It's the family business
Pakistan's Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said the arrests have "broken the back" of Al-Qaeda. "Our security agencies have made phenomenal inroads and we've achieved a tremendous success in the operations being conducted against the terrorists involved in acts of violence all over the country, in particular, an attack on a [Pakistan Army] corps commander's convoy last week in Karachi," Hayat said. Another of the detainees has been identified as Daoud Badini -- leader of the Al-Qaeda-linked group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi. That group has been implicated in a series of attacks against Christians in Pakistan. Badini also was wanted for several attacks against Shi'a Muslims in the past year that killed nearly 100 people -- including a deadly assault last July on a Shi'a shrine in Quetta. Badini reportedly is related by marriage to Al-Qaeda member Ramzi Yousef, who was convicted in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.
Cue "Family Affair" theme
Authorities in Islamabad have refused to disclose specific nationalities of the other detainees. Ahmad says some are from Central Asia and are members of a previously unknown terrorist group that is now thought to have ties with Uzbek militants in the Pakistani town of Wana, near the border with Afghanistan. "This is a new organization named Jundullah -- the Lashkar [force] of Allah -- headed by Ataur Rehman, [who also has been detained,] and his deputy is Shehzad. Shehzad was trained by Uzbeks in Wana. The other people are also being interrogated just now," Ahmad said.
Pak truncheon's are getting a workout
A dollar sez they walk within three months...
Syed Kemal Shah, the police chief of Pakistan's southern Sindh Province, said the militants have been involved in a series of recent terrorist attacks in Karachi. "In Karachi, we have arrested a group of eight terrorists," he said. "They have been involved in seven cases in Karachi in the recent past, starting from 15 January to 10 June." Despite Islamabad's claims of success, some terrorism experts in Pakistan say it is too early to measure the true impact that the arrests will have on Al-Qaeda. Hasan Askari Rizvi, a political and defense expert at the University of Punjab in Lahore, said the real test will be how much information Pakistani authorities obtain through interrogations. "Much depends upon if they get information about linkages between these groups from the people who have been arrested. If they find that information, then it becomes a real breakthrough. But if only these people are arrested or convicted, then it becomes a minor thing," Rizvi said.
If they're actually convicted of something it'll be unusual enough...
Rizvi said the detainees already appear to have revealed some details about the activities of Uzbek militants in the autonomous tribal regions along the Afghan-Pakistan border. "The information that we get here shows that there are some Uzbeks in the tribal areas of Pakistan," he said. "Some of them were killed in past in encounters with the army. This is a matter of concern for the government of Pakistan because if these transnational linkages are not broken, then you have the spillover of terrorism to other countries -- especially to Central Asia where the situation, at times, becomes difficult." Rizvi also said he is not surprised that Central Asian militants are emerging as members of a previously unknown terrorist group in Pakistan. "These extremist groups [often] wear false noses and moustaches create new groups and new factions so that they cannot be easily tracked [through] linkages with established and known groups," he said. "Obviously, these people came from the older groups -- other pro-Al-Qaeda elements or pro-Taliban elements in Pakistan and Afghanistan."
Same thugs, different group or at least a new name
Rizvi concluded that in addition to highlighting the activities of Uzbek and Central Asian extremists in Pakistan's tribal areas, the arrests show Pakistan's government is beginning to move in the right direction.
Moving at glacial speed
Posted by: Steve ||
06/14/2004 9:34:53 AM ||
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#1
"Cue "Family Affair" theme"
I always thought there was something vaguely disturbing about Mr. French!
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2004 11:50 Comments ||
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#2
2 chain smoking dwarves and a heroin addict teenager.... yep it's A Familiar Affair.
A MILITANT accused in the killings of about 100 Shiâite Muslims in southwestern Pakistan has been arrested, security officials said today. Dawood Badini, a leader of the al-Qaeda-linked Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group, was captured in a raid on a home in Karachi on Sunday, said Major General Javed Zia, head of the paramilitary rangers for southern Sindh province. He said Badini orchestrated three attacks against minority Shiâites in southwestern city of Quetta in 2003 and 2004, which killed 99 people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 9:13:53 AM ||
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KARACHI: Police in Karachi today identified a new terror group which they said trained under Al-Qaeda fighters near the Afghan border and was involved in various attacks, including one on the city's top army general. Eight of 11 militants rounded up in separate raids at the weekend had formed an outfit called Jund Allah, meaning God's brigade, Sindh province police chief Kamal Shah told a press conference. "The Jund Allah group is a new terror group which has links with Al-Qaeda, and their members have been trained in Wana," Shah told reporters.
Splinter group, cell or faction?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/14/2004 8:36:55 AM ||
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A Palestinian militant commander has told Israel radio that he would halt attacks against Israel if it pulls out of his West Bank city of Jenin. Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader Zakaria Zubeidi said he but had no choice but to fight because of the Israeli raids. Mr Zubeidi was reportedly the target of an assassination attempt on Sunday. "Iâll have no problem stopping attacks after an Israeli retreat and when they no longer come in every day with their tanks to kill us," he said. "When they have left Jenin, there will be no more attacks against the Israelis emanating from this town."
"Please don't kill me!"
An al-Aqsa Brigades member was reportedly injured in exchanges of gunfire around Mr Zubeidiâs home in the Jenin refugee camp on Sunday, although Israel said shots were fired during a routine patrol. Al-Aqsa Brigades, which are affiliated to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafatâs Fatah faction, have mounted hundreds of attacks in Israel and the occupied territories since the start of the Palestinian uprising in 2000. Four Israeli settlements outside Jenin are due to be evacuated by the end of next year under the disengagement plan put forward by the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon.
Which the Paleos will then turn into a slumterrorist camphellhole refugee camp.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
06/14/2004 7:21:12 AM ||
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#1
"When they have left Jenin, there will be no more attacks against the Israelis emanating from this town."
Not a problem. The solution is quite simple: before leaving, kill Zubeidi.
#2
A Palestinian militant commander has told Israel radio that he would halt attacks against Israel if it pulls out of his West Bank city of Jenin.
Can anyone imagine ANY conditions under which the Palestinian militants would actually deliver their part of a bargain? If this 4-party peace deal ever actually materializes and results in a Palestinian state, just watch the Palestinians scrambling for explanations on why violence from their side continues. That is probably why they continue to balk at implementing the peace plan--that would mean that they would actually have to change themselves, RESTRAIN themselves. But then we all know their excuses by heart--it's always everyone else's fault.
#3
this is hot air. The withdrawl from Gaza has enough complications. Theres no way there will be a substantial withdrawl from the West Bank anytime soon. There are plenty of good reasons to go with Gaza first. Among others is to use it as a lab to test the evolution of Pal politics and the efficiency of a Pal security at least partially freed from Arafats grip. If that fails, theres no deal on Jenin. If it succeeds, then folks like Zubeidi lose their bargaining power.
#4
A Palestinian militant commander has told Israel radio that he would halt attacks against Israel if it pulls out of his West Bank city of Jenin.
Yeah, right. Not too long ago, in a promise made, not just to Israel Radio, but formally and officially to the whole world, that with the signing of the Oslo Accord, the paleos would shape up, recognize Israel as a state, and stop the attcks upon Israeli citizens once and for all. All Israel needed to was pull out of a few areas, give lots of money and ARMS to paleos (so they can root out the "radical elements" who might resist). If the official leader fo the paleos proved that he full of nothing but the sh*t that he wiped himself with the oslo accord paper, why should Israel even give this dope a moment on the phone (except maybe they were trying to trace the call and needed to keep him talking until they could locate the target militant commander)
#5
As long as they have their walled separation from Paleo territory, Israel's leaders can and should implement their disengagement plan to their satisfaction, Paleo politics be damned. After having been stiffed repeatedly, why should Israeli leaders give a damn about who's running the Paleo show or who loses bargaining power?
#6
#2 Can anyone imagine ANY conditions under which the Palestinian militants would actually deliver their part of a bargain?
In a word; No.
#3 ... use it as a lab to test the evolution of Pal politics and the efficiency of a Pal security at least partially freed from Arafats grip. If that fails, theres no deal on Jenin. If it succeeds, then folks like Zubeidi lose their bargaining power.
#3
More than anything, Iraq's government needs to realize that Sadr's blithe pronouncements of how he shall join politics, convert his thugs army into a political party and go legit signifies only one thing;
An intentional flouting and denial of how he must first stand trial for the murder of Abdel-Majid al-Khoei in Najaf. Iraq's budding government needs to recognize what an outright short-circuit of their authority this sort of political end run represents.
One would think they are all desperately hoping that Sadr will catch a Marine's slug before this issue comes to a head. However, the damage is already being done by persistent undermining of the interim government's authority as Sadr attempts to institute criminal control theocratic rule.
#4
Actually, Spot, it is the 1st Armored Division that is running the tater-mashing operations in Najaf/Kufa, not the Marines.
As the Iraqis take control, we will see more effective (i.e. arab brutality) insurgent-control methods by the Iraqi government. I LIKE the idea of deploying the Peshmerga to Fallujah as they would be very motivated and know the ground.
via Xinhuanet - With Pictures
BAGHDAD, June 14 -- At least six people were killed and many others wounded in a Monday morning bombing in central Baghdad, Iraqi police said. They said they still did not have the exact number of casualties due to the chaos at the scene. However, an Iraqi civil defense official put the death toll at 12 while local hospitals reported that they had received more than 20 injured. The bombing occurred after 8:00 a.m. local time at a heavily trafficked commercial street near the Tahrir Square (Liberation Square) when three civilian sport utility vehicles (SUVs) passed by. All the three cars were damaged and the front of a two-story building was torn off. Tahrir Square is at the eastern end of the Jumhuria Bridge across the Tigris River. Angry Iraqis shouted slogans against Americans and setting fire to an American flag. The latest incident followed a car bomb explosion near a US-led coalition base in Baghdad on Sunday, which killed 12 Iraqis and injured 13 others.
Posted by: .com ||
06/14/2004 5:07:25 AM ||
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#1
desperate to stop the transition eh?
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/14/2004 8:22 Comments ||
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#2
It occurs to me that it might be useful to start arresting the "protesters" en mass that pop up at these bombing sites. I'm almost positive that some of the bombers' associates are sparking these "protests".
But for the love of god, ease off on the goddamn dogs.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/14/2004 9:43 Comments ||
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#3
I think you are right their Mitch. Notice how the crowd just happened to have an American Flag to burn for the cameras?
#4
The bloodlust of the witnesses surely rivals that of Caligula. Again and again we are reminded that many people of Iraq revel in the kind of bloodbaths Western cultures discarded decades ago. And yet our wonderful men and women remain there, risking their lives on bridges, in doorways, at the gates of hell, to help DIMINISH suffering.
Posted by: B ||
06/14/2004 10:22 Comments ||
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#6
"Angry Iraqis shouted slogans against Americans and setting fire to an American flag."
TomAnon says: "Notice how the crowd just happened to have an American Flag to burn for the cameras?"
Yeah. Funny that. But didn't you know that ALL Iraqis carry American flags in their back pockets?
It's a current fad over there--because they love us so much.
#9
Again and again we are reminded that many people of Iraq revel in the kind of bloodbaths Western cultures discarded decades ago. And yet our wonderful men and women remain there, risking their lives on bridges, in doorways, at the gates of hell, to help DIMINISH suffering.
Those Iraqis have no idea what kind of suffering (theirs, mostly) would be in the offing if we got mad enough. I'm thinking in terms of a napalm canister dropped right into the middle of those anti-American demonstrations that appear right after foreigners are killed.
Iraq will impose visa restrictions as part of its campaign to bolster internal security after the country regains its sovereignty at the end of this month, the interior minister said Sunday. Falah Hassan al-Naqib said foreigners will be admitted on 15-day tourist visas that can be extended to one month. Long-term foreign residents can obtain permits to stay here for up to five years, and diplomats and official delegations will get special visas. Al-Naqib did not mention any special category for foreign journalists and contract workers employed by the Iraqi government or the multinational military force. Nor did he say whether any nationalities would be exempt from the visa requirement. Iraq maintained a strict visa policy during the rule of Saddam Hussein. After Saddam's ouster, most nationalities could enter the country indefinitely after presenting a passport at the border.
One tenet of sovereignty is controlling the borders.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/14/2004 1:02:11 AM ||
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No, this isnât from The Onion
Of late Hafiz Muhammad Saeed has started expanding the network of jihadis despite government claims that the activities are being curbed. He has recently outreached to the special people. With the help of sign-language specialists, Saeed had preached jihad to deaf and dumb. Majjalla-tul-Dawa [May issue] reported that he recently addressed a group of deaf and dumb and said: âAllah has created human beings for only one mission i.e. jihad. You are not less important than others because of your special status. It is also your duty to wage jihad against the forces of evil. Indian army is massacring the innocent Kashmiris. It is also your duty to wage jihad against them and teach them a lesson. You should go to Kashmir and kill the Indians. If you do that your terror will prevail and I would be able to claim that my âhandicappedâ jihadis are enough to kill the healthy Indians.â
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
06/14/2004 12:08:52 AM ||
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#1
The main quality that is sought is a lack of intellectual rigor on the part of the prospective jihadi. If one accepts that human beings were created for only one mission, and mullahs are human beings, then why are they not leading by example?
Blow up or shut up, bigmouth!
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
06/14/2004 0:24 Comments ||
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#2
If one accepts that human beings were created for only one mission, and mullahs are human beings, then why are they not leading by example?
While your question is absolutely spot on, it does not (nor should it be required to) address those mental incompetents who still believe that it is actually possible to lead by intimidation instead of example. I call them "mullahs."
#6
This works out mighty handy for the mullasses, don't it? They can use the inclusion of the handicapped to "shame and humiliate" the laggers, and if some handicapped jihadi gets blown up, they can blame the West, and nab a photo op. Still--wouldn't be a bit difficult to coordinate attacks using the deaf/dumb jihadis, or is it just kind of a "point and shoot" thing?
And Zenster is SO right: the blabbers never go out there and do anything. They're too "important," and IMO, they prefer vicarious "gun sex" to the real thing, which is bad enough.
Posted by: B ||
06/14/2004 13:09 Comments ||
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#9
And Zenster is SO right: the blabbers never go out there and do anything. They're too "important," and IMO, they prefer vicarious "gun sex" to the real thing, which is bad enough.
Thank you, ex-lib, but credit given where credit is due, Darth VAda beat me to it.
#10
PS: They can use the inclusion of the handicapped to "shame and humiliate" the laggers, and if some handicapped jihadi gets blown up, they can blame the West, and nab a photo op.
Due to a recent cynicism meter meltdown, I am obliged to applaud your assessment of this new recruiting strategy, ex-lib.
A pair of car bombings killed a U.S. soldier and 12 Iraqis on Sunday and gunmen assassinated a senior Education Ministry official. The attacks continued a wave of violence against the U.S. occupation and Iraqis who cooperate with it as the June 30 transfer of power approaches.
Three rockets were fired into the heavily guarded compound where U.S. authorities live and work in downtown Baghdad. A senior U.S. military official said that only one of the rockets detonated, causing minor damage and no deaths or injuries. But the blast, heard by Iraqis through much of the city during morning rush hour, underlined the cityâs lack of security.
About 15 vehicles rigged with explosives, some driven by suicide bombers, have been sent against U.S. occupation and Iraqi government targets so far this month, U.S. military officers said -- an average of at least one car bombing a day somewhere in Iraq. The bombings were among a variety of violent engagements, occurring at the rate of 35 to 40 a day, in a campaign designed to demonstrate a lack of U.S. and government control in the days leading to the restoration of Iraqi sovereignty June 30, the officers said.
The first car bombing, which took place in the eastern part of the capital as Iraqis drove to work in a morning traffic jam, killed four policemen and eight civilians, the U.S. military said. Witnesses told reporters that an Iraqi police patrol tried to stop the vehicle as it sped toward Camp Cuervo, but it crossed the median and detonated in a suicide attack, demolishing the police car. The second bombing, which came later in the day near the northern suburb of Taji, killed one U.S. soldier, who was not identified, and wounded two others, spokesmen reported.
The assassinated Education Ministry official, Kamal Jarrah, 63, was responsible for cultural relations with foreign countries and the United Nations. Gunmen shot him as he left for work from his home in the Ghazaliya district, police said. Jarrah was the second high-ranking government professional to be killed by gunfire in the last two days. Assassins killed Deputy Foreign Minister Bassam Salih Kubba, a career diplomat, in a hail of gunfire Saturday as he drove away from his home on the way to work.
Iraqi police reported Sunday that Sabri Bayati, a professor who headed the geography department at Baghdad University, was shot and killed by unknown gunmen as he left the campus. Amer Nayef Hiti, who teaches in the universityâs language department, said a number of professors had received written threats from unknown people warning them that if they continued teaching, they would be killed.
In Baqubah, 35 miles to the northeast, the dean of Diyala University, Khosham Atta, escaped injury when gunmen shot at his car as he went to work. In northern Iraq overnight, four gunmen broke into the house of Iyad Khorshid, a Kurdish religious leader, and killed him, the Reuters news service reported. Khorshid had condemned violence against occupation forces.
"These random, senseless acts of violence only prove that anti-Iraqi forces have no regard for the people of Baghdad or the future of this country," said Lt. Col. James Hutton, a spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division based at Camp Cuervo. "The Iraqi people will not be denied their future or their freedom."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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#1
The continued terrorist murders of US & other allied Coalition troops coupled with new terror hits against top Iraqi government officials proves the evil & true nature of the enemy, but the focus of Washington's attention should also be fixed on Iran as the centre of organized terrorism in an effort to totally destabilize neighbouring Iraq, thus keeping the heat off of the radical mullahs in Tehran.
The terrorist promoters in Iran are on borrowed time and they know it.
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
06/14/2004 1:26 Comments ||
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Is the average Iraqi so oblivious that they don't notice that the bad guy strategy seems to be switching from blowing us up to blowing them up? If it was me, I'd be pissed off about that.
Egypt renewed the detention of 22 members of an outlawed group accused of training men to overthrow the government, a security official and a leading Muslim Brotherhood member said. The detainees were among 60 Muslim Brotherhood members who had been arrested or surrendered since May 16. They were later charged with sending men to Iraq, Chechnya and Palestinian territories to undergo training with a view to overthrowing the Egyptian government. Egyptâs prosecutor-general on Sunday renewed the detention of 22 members. The detention of 37 detainees was renewed for 15 days Saturday. Under emergency law, in effect since 1981, authorities enjoy wide powers to arrest and detain defendants indefinitely. One of the detainees, Akram el-Zoheiri, died in custody last week.
I never liked him anyway...
The Brotherhood accused the government of negligence and lack of medical care and Egyptian human rights groups said he died from torture.
Bet he died better than his victims did.
The Interior Ministry said el-Zoheiri died while receiving treatment for a broken pelvic bone.
Slipped on a bar of soap in the shower, did he?
Either that, or that was a really big banana they stuck up his butt...
Ali Abdel-Fattah, a leading Brotherhood member, told The Associated Press on Sunday that the proscutor-general has prevented a fact-finding parliamentarian committee from completing its investigation about torture in Egyptian prisons. It was not immediately possible to reach the prosecutor-generalâs office for comment.
"We dare not say more!"
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Egypt renews detention of Islamic group members
Recruiting for their prospective Gaza Garrison⢠no doubt.
Several Pakistani army commandos, who were air dropped in the areas held by the al-Qaeda militants in the South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan, appear to have been trapped and efforts are on to rescue them by engaging tribal elders to negotiate for their safe release.
Brilliant, Mahmoud, brilliant.
Reports from the Waziristan agency said the fighting died down on Sunday mainly due to the fact that the authorities had started negotiations with the militants through the local tribal elders.
Comes as a surprise, doesn't it?
While the details of the army operation, which continued into its fourth day today, were sketchy due to restrictions imposed by Pakistan authorities on media, local tribesmen, who got out of Mandata and Shakai areas, told the News daily that several Army commandos were trapped in the area and efforts were on to rescue them. They said elders from local tribes have been approached to negotiate with militants for safe return of the trapped personnel. However, there was no official reaction to the report so far.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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This is a mad hatter's tea party. always something new for a source of innocent merriment.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
06/14/2004 4:53 Comments ||
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By "several commandos", are they using it in the proper sense, of a number of units trapped, or they using it in the modern, improper sense, and we're talking about individual soldiers? In other words, is this a small-scale, sad embarrassment, or more of a mini-Dien Bien Phu in the making?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
06/14/2004 9:11 Comments ||
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Individuals I'd expect. I don't expect Pakistant have more than 1 Commando in the British or Dutch sense of the word.
The army said on Sunday that it had killed at least 55 militants and dismantled several Al Qaeda compounds in four days of fighting in South Waziristan Agency, but 17 soldiers were also killed and no major arrests were made. Military spokesman Maj Gen Shaukat Sultan said army and paramilitary troops âsuccessfully dismantled and destroyedâ militant hideouts. âMost militants killed were foreigners,â he said, adding that the operation was ânearing its culmination.â
In a separate incident, security forces killed at least eight suspected militants who tried to sneak into Angoradda from Afghanistan in three vehicles, a senior army official told Reuters on Sunday. âWhen they were challenged, they opened fire. Our soldiers responded, destroying their two vehicles and killing at least eight of them,â he said. Their bodies are on the Afghan side of the border, he said, adding Pakistani troops did not sustain any casualties.
The government has barred journalists from travelling to the tribal areas, so details of fighting in the military operation on Sunday were sketchy. Gen Sultan said there were no clashes and no attacks from the militants had been reported. âThe troops are consolidating their positions,â he told AFP. Security forces seized weapons and munitions during searches of Al Qaeda compounds in Shakai, Gen Sultan said. One of the targets in the latest operation was the home of a suspected Qaeda financier, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi. Gen Sultan said it was unclear whether al-Iraqi was killed or had fled the assault. âWe had reports he would come and meet his contacts here,â he said. A senior military official told Reuters the army had identified 16 more compounds and places in the Shakai area that were being used by militants. âThey are also being targeted,â he said.
Gen Sultan said that a band of armed tribesmen loyal to the government will soon begin a search for remaining militants in Shakai, but gave no date. Pro-government tribes manned hills overlooking Shakai and other villages in the area to prevent attacks by the renegade groups harbouring foreign militants, tribal leaders said. âWe are fulfilling our responsibility,â tribal elder Haji Sharif Ghanikhel said. âWe burned firewood to warn the militants that gummint troops were nearby we are present in the area and there should be no attack from our territory as it would invite tribal retaliation.â
Not tribal retaliation! Oh, hold me, Ethel!
Militants fired rockets at two remote Pakistani posts near the Afghan border on Saturday night, but there was no report of casualties, residents said. The posts are some distance away from the battle zone. The army says it launched the latest offensive in the tribal areas after attempts to negotiate an amnesty with tribesmen protecting foreign militants failed and they attacked a Frontier Constabulary outpost, killing nine soldiers.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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Faisal Saleh Hayat, the Pakistani interior minister, said authorities had arrested the Pakistani point man for the group and also eight Uzbek militants in a previously unheard-of terrorist group, Jundullah. Sheik Ahmed, the information minister, said eight to nine other members were at large. Mr. Hayat said the groupâs leader is named Attaullah. He said Uzbek militants trained all members of the group in the tribal Shakai area near Afghanistan, where the army offensive is under way. "Shakai had become a base for Al Qaeda, and it was used as training and a transit camp by Al Qaeda," Mr. Hayat said. "It has been established beyond doubt that these terrorists were trained in the Shakai area of Wana and they had very strong linkages in that area."
That could be because nobody's bothered them for the past few years...
The officials said Mr. Aroochi had no ties to the group and was arrested on separate terrorist charges. Mr. Hayat said eight members of the group who were arrested confessed involvement in a long list of crimes, starting with the attempted assassination of a Pakistani general on Thursday.He said the group was involved in the May 26 double car bombing outside a school near the American consul generalâs residence, in the suicide bombings of two Shiite mosques in May, in a bombing attempt outside the American Consulate on March 15, and in a blast outside the Avari Hotel in Karachi on Jan. 15.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
06/14/2004 12:00:00 AM ||
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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.
