A wanted terrorist is reported to have expressed willingness to surrender at the Kingdom's embassy in Pakistan, despite the expiry of the month-long royal amnesty. Khaled Al-Asiri, who is not on the Kingdom's most-wanted list, was expected to surrender some time soon at the Saudi Embassy in Islamabad, Sheikh Safar Al-Hawali who has been mediating in the case, said. According to Al-Hawali, who has been acting as a middleman between the government and terror suspects, a number of the so-called mediators are ex-veterans of the Afghan war against the former Soviet Union. Al-Asiri's name has been referred to the authorities and all measures taken to arrange for his surrender and repatriation, Al-Hawali said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 1:10:44 AM ||
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Two prosecutors handling the trial of 14 suspects charged with terrorism, including the bombing of a French oil tanker off Yemen's coast in 2002, walked out of the courtroom yesterday in protest against insulting remarks by the defendants. Chief prosecutor Saeed Al-Aqil and his assistant Ali Al-Samit left the court after enduring a stream of criticism and insults from the suspects, who said the prosecution has been hampering decisions taken earlier by the court to enhance their conditions in detention. The suspects also lambasted journalists as agents and threatened to attack them upon their release from jail. Fawaz Yahya Al-Rabyee, 27, a main suspect wanted by US authorities over suspected links to the Al-Qaeda network accused Al-Aqil of allowing US officers to interrogate the suspects. Immediately after prosecutors walked out, the court's chief judge Ahmad Al-Jurmozi left the courtroom without adjourning the hearing, in an apparent protest against the prosecutors' behavior.
In his absence, spectators were entertained by clowns, trapeze artists, and performing camels...
The defendants went on trial on May 29 over alleged involvement in terrorist attacks, including the October 2002 bombing of a French oil supertanker Limburg off the Arab country's southeastern coast. They were also charged with plotting to assassinate US Ambassador Edmund J. Hull. During yesterday's three-hour session, the prosecution presented evidence against the suspects, including a lease contract for a house allegedly used by the suspects to prepare the boat that was later used in the bombing of the tanker. According to prosecutors, five of the suspects bought a small boat and loaded it with more than 1,200 kilos of TNT and C-4 explosives. The ship was attacked by the boat as it entered the Al-Dhabba oil exporting harbor, on the Arabian Sea. One Bulgarian crew member was killed. Among the evidence presented to court was a contract on purchasing a truck used in transporting the explosives to the safe house, and fake military ID cards used by two of the defendants during arrangements for the bombing. Prosecutors also presented a receipt of 1.7 million rials (about $9,500) paid by one of the suspects to a local company for the nine-meter-long fiberglass boat that was used in the attack.
When the chief judge asked them about the evidence, the suspects refused to answer and asked for their lawyers to speak for them. The hearing was attended by only one defense lawyer, while the 13 others are boycotting the trial in protest against restrictions on their right to review their clients files. No date was set for the next session.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 1:02:30 AM ||
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"Osama bin Laden is a good man. Osama bin Laden wants the same as me -- he wants to see the implementation of God's law," says Khalid Kelly as he sips coffee in a sun-filled London cafe and expounds on his allegiance to the man who has declared war on the West.
The presence of militants like Bakri has earned the British capital the sobriquet "Londonistan" among diplomats and terrorism experts, who see London as a worldwide center of Islamic terrorism.
"The Islamists use Britain as a propaganda base but wouldn't do anything to a country that harbors them and gives them freedom of speech," Camille Tawil, a terrorism expert at the Arabic daily Al Hayat, told the New Statesman magazine.
Recently, however, British security officials have staged several high- profile crackdowns on suspected terrorists. On March 30, police netted eight suspects and more than half a ton of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, the ingredient used in the 2002 Bali nightclub explosion that killed more than 200 people. The bust came after months of bugging telephone lines and tracking suspects and following a web of leads across Europe and the Middle East, according to Peter Clarke, the deputy police commissioner who serves as Britain's anti-terrorism chief. The scheme was apparently planned abroad but was to be carried out by British citizens. "That is something that is deeply worrying to us,'' Clarke said.
In April, 10 foreigners suspected of plotting attacks were arrested in central and northern England. Then on May 27, acting on an 11-count U.S. indictment, police arrested Abu Hamza al-Masri, the fiery former preacher at London's Finsbury Park mosque, the spiritual home of several notorious terrorists, including convicted shoe- bomber Richard Reid. Al-Masri, who lost both hands and an eye in Afghanistan, is being held in London's high-security Belmarsh prison pending extradition on charges of aiding al Qaeda, attempting to set up a terror camp in Oregon and plotting the hostage-taking of 16 tourists in Yemen in 1998. At a hearing Friday, a London court delayed a decision on his extradition until Oct. 19.
But other clerics continue to take advantage of official British tolerance to openly espouse jihad and support for al Qaeda. In recent weeks, Britain has allowed visits by two high-profile Middle Eastern clerics -- Egyptian Yusuf al-Qaradawi and Sheikh Abdur-Rahman al-Sudais of Saudi Arabia -- who are known for their anti-Semitic and anti- Western views. Yusuf, who has been banned from the United States since 1999, has publicly expressed support for suicide bombers on the grounds that the "martyrdom operations'' are the only available "weapons of the weak."
Publicly, officials justify what the French call Britain's indulgence of militants by stating that no law is being broken. Britain does not have laws against speech that incites religious hatred. Privately, security sources say that by allowing extremist leaders to speak freely, they are able to keep them under close scrutiny. Although Britain allows incendiary speech, security sources note that it has introduced draconian anti-terrorism laws under which foreigners deemed to pose actual threats to the public can be held indefinitely without charge. Among the 14 foreigners being held under Britain's anti-terror legislation is Abu Qatada, who has been locked up in Belmarsh prison since October 2002 on suspicion of being a leading member of Al Qaeda.
Syrian-born Bakri, whose group's Web site often carries statements purportedly by Osama bin Laden and advocates support for al Qaeda activities, has lived in Britain since 1985, after being deported from Saudi Arabia. Police and intelligence organizations number his adherents between 300 and 800. He has bragged about recruiting young Muslim men to fulfill "religious obligations" by doing three months "military training" in such battle zones as Afghanistan, Chechnya and the Balkans. Since the Persian Gulf War of 1991, he has named British Prime Ministers John Major and Tony Blair as "legitimate targets." Bakri claims the protection of a "covenant of security" under which he is left alone as long as he does not sanction attacks on British soil. Security forces deny that such an arrangement exists.
According to Magnus Ranstrop, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at St. Andrew's University in Scotland, 75 percent of the resources of Britain's domestic security agency, MI5, are concentrated on Islamist terrorism. "The threat is very real," he said. London "has the intelligence architecture because of Northern Ireland and the IRA, but the effort has been reoriented. ...We are not talking about a lot of individuals; the key is finding them."
Faced with the daunting task of unraveling amorphous networks, investigators said it was now essential to probe deeply. "What has emerged is the recognition that we need to look inward at our own communities," Clarke said.
Most mainstream Muslims in Britain strongly condemn Bakri's teachings. "Al-Muhajiroun are well known for their notorious antics, including publicity stunts on the 9/11 anniversary, calling it a 'towering day in history' and the perpetrators 'the magnificent 19,' " said Inayat Bunglawala, a spokesman for the Muslim Council of Britain. "They clearly set out to create a rift between the Muslim community and white society, and part of their agenda is to destabilize society.''
Last spring, the council contacted 1,000 mosques, urging their congregations to maintain "utmost vigilance" against hard-liners seeking to infiltrate mosques and convert vulnerable young men into fanatics. It has also urged Britain to adopt a law, similar to the one in Germany, outlawing speech that is an incitement to violence. Nevertheless, extremist proselytizers like Kelly continue to use London as their forum. "George Bush said you are with us or with the terrorists -- we have no problem being called terrorists,'' he says. "When you call us extremists, it's OK because we are against all the pornography, drinking, homosexuality, pedophilia out there. When you call us fundamentalists, it's OK because we stick fundamentally to our beliefs."
By any measure, Kelly has executed a sharp about-turn in his life. Born Terence Kelly in south Dublin, he attended Catholic school there until age 15, when he left to work in pubs. At 23, he moved to London to train as an intensive care nurse and in 1996 took a job in Saudi Arabia, attracted by the tax-free salary. Bored, as many foreigners in strict Islamic countries are, he began distilling alcohol at home, earning up to $10,000 a month. He was caught and spent eight months in a Saudi prison, where he found Islam. "Before, I didn't know how I was supposed to feel about alcohol, about women walking in the street half-naked, about homosexuality and pedophilia, but now I know," he said. "Now, I have all the answers.''
Despite the support network offered by al-Muhajiroun, Kelly says he hates life in free-wheeling Britain and wants "to go to an Islamic country to live a pious Islamic life." He thinks al Qaeda's efforts to drive foreigners out of Saudi Arabia could open up new opportunities there. "It would probably be easy for me to get a job there," he said. "But I'm white, so they might kill me, too."
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Radical Islamists in London
Muslims are the largest minority faith community in the United Kingdom, composing 3 percent of the population, or more than 1.5 million people. In London, this rises to 8.46 percent, or more than 700,000 people. Most British Muslims are moderate and disavow the small fringe who are militants. The major extremist Muslim leaders in London are:
Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, a Saudi exile who leads Al-Muhajiroun (the Migrant's Movement), an international organization founded in the 1980s. Bakri is anti-Israel and has encouraged young followers, including converts, to join Islamic factions in regional wars in the Balkans and Chechnya, and in Afghanistan.
Imram Waheed, London representative of Hizb ut-Tahrir (Islamic Liberation Party), a group led by Abdul Qadeem Zallum that claims to be nonviolent but supports suicide bombings in Israel and seeks to establish a worldwide caliphate, or Islamic regime.
Sheikh Omar Mahmoud Othman abu Omar, also known as Abu Qatada, a Jordanian Palestinian granted asylum by Britain in 1993. Tried and convicted in absentia in Jordan for terrorist activities, Abu Qatada has openly called for the destruction of the United States and its Arab allies and is known as "al Qaeda's spiritual ambassador in Europe.'' He is being held in a British prison as a suspected terrorist but still commands a large following.
Sheikh abu Hamza al-Masri, an Egyptian who lost both hands and an eye fighting in Afghanistan against the Soviets and was granted asylum in Britain in 1978. The spiritual leader of the Finsbury Park Mosque, now closed, where convicted shoe-bomber and convert Richard Reid worshiped. He is in jail facing extradition to the United States on charges of aiding al Qaeda and other militant groups.
Posted by: tipper ||
07/25/2004 10:54:22 AM ||
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"..."Now, I have all the answers."
...But does he know how fast an African Sparrow can fly?...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/25/2004 11:19 Comments ||
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Mike K, you left out the tag line:
"Now, I have all the answers ... But Iâm white, so they might kill me, too."
Khalid Kelly needs to be deported off to his favorite sacred Middle East cesspool so they can give him a Tehran haircut. The stupid little moron just can't connect how his wonderful religion is the exact same driving force behind those who would kill him for gits and shiggles. We really need this idjit out of the gene pool.
#3
Curious, I think the Times may be blocking free access outside of the .uk domain. I'll copy the article text for once (or you can attempt to go through a UK open proxy) :
A DEDICATED special forces unit is being assembled alongside the SAS and SBS to infiltrate and destroy Osama Bin Ladenâs Al-Qaeda network. The unit, nicknamed the âX-menâ, has already begun recruiting and is expected eventually to comprise some 600 men and women from all three armed services and the intelligence agencies. Particular efforts will be made to recruit people of Arabic appearance in addition to members of ethnic minority communities and Muslims. The unit would be expected to operate around the world as well as to counter the terrorism threat in Britain itself.
Much of the core of the unit will be made up of undercover surveillance operators who have honed their skills fighting terrorists in Northern Ireland. More than 150 members of the 14th Intelligence and Security Company, have already left Northern Ireland and are forming the nucleus of the new unit. The company was involved in the bugging of Gerry Adams, the Sinn Fein president, during the 1998 Good Friday peace negotiations. Other Northern Ireland veterans who are experts at undermining terrorist groups using moles and informers are also likely to be recruited. The move was hinted at in last weekâs announcement by Geoff Hoon, the defence secretary, on the restructuring of the armed forces. âWe are increasing the strength of our special forces and investing in new equipment for them,â he said. The government will make a separate move in its anti-terrorism efforts tomorrow when ministers launch a leaflet telling members of the public how they can prepare for a terrorist attack. The advice, to be sent to all homes in England and Wales over the next few weeks, will suggest people âstay upwindâ of any release of gas or radiation and remain indoors in the event of nuclear detonation. If they believe they have been infected by biological warfare agents, they are advised to ring NHS Direct rather than spread germs by going to hospital. They should âwash with soap and waterâ if they come into contact with a suspicious substance.
The advice is part of a £5m publicity drive by the government to prepare for the possibility of an attack by Al-Qaeda or other groups. The leaflet â provisionally entitled Go In, Stay In, Tune In â suggests people should stay indoors and listen to the BBC for further instructions in an emergency. Households are advised to stock up on tinned food, a first aid kit, a battery-powered radio and a mobile phone and charger.
The terrorist threat, particularly with the Olympics approaching, is still considered severe. It has emerged that the US Olympic committee was among leading American sports bodies that were warned last week Al-Qaeda may be planning to attack a sporting event at home or abroad this year. A new security focus on sports stadiums has been prompted by a growing US conviction that Al-Qaeda will attempt to disrupt either the Athens Olympics or the US presidential campaign with an attack designed to inflict mass casualties.
âEverybody feels (Al-Qaeda) are trying to mount another attack,â said Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission, which last week called for a restructuring of US intelligence agencies. âAnd everybody feels that they are doing their best to make it chemical, biological or nuclear because it kills more people and thatâs their goal. âWe are in danger of letting things slide. Time is not on our side.â
#5
The Times do have a weird policy of charging for access to those outside the UK. That's why you hardly ever find links to the paper on the web. It's an unfortunate mistake on their part, as they print and publish plenty of good stuff. The Times is the UK's second highest circulation broadsheet (after the Telegraph).
And unlike the US< they have no "wall" that cuts off domestic and foreign intel from each other.
Police work dulls the kind of judgement and reactions that you need in special operations.
Despite the posse comitatus law here in the US, we do need to at least train some FBI to operate like Delta Force for domestic situations - and ofr them to operate overseas to hone the skills, as well as in the US.
#7
OldSpook: The cops and the operators are plenty tight. One and the same in some cases via the guard. Plenty of sharing of training and tactics going on. Sharing intel - well that's a political problem, isn't it?
#8
I wonder if the British government has recently considered creating a "Double-O" branch? What with the WOT, what would have been unthinkable just a few years ago might now, well, be a very interesting concept.
First of all, every corner of the planet has heard of James Bond and his mythology. And who wants to work for somebody James Bond is out to get?
And the "license to kill" idea! That they can kill anyone, anywhere with impunity.
Just the idea that a "Oh-Oh" branch existed would have bizarre psychological effects on the hard boyz.
If you think about it, James Bond is an exceptionally scary individual. Public Relations can go a long way to stopping problems before they start.
#9
Anonymoose: If you think about it, James Bond is an exceptionally scary individual.
Actually, if you think about it, James Bond is an exceptionally vulnerable individual. You can't send a guy who is known to everyone and sticks out like a sore thumb into difficult situations. The kinds of people who fit in are typically recruited directly from the target populations. With few exceptions, Hollywood movies on the subject are pure garbage.
#10
The reputed inspiration for James Bond was indeed a native, I believe, of Hungary. His name was Dusko Popov. He had previously been hired by the Germans to spy on the British because of his international business connections. Dusko was certainly a ladies' man.
Posted by: Mr. Davis ||
07/25/2004 21:48 Comments ||
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American military intelligence and the CIA have deployed hundreds of officers in Bosnia to track suspected Islamic militants amid concern that the country has become a refuge, recruiting ground and cash conduit for international terrorism.Almost a decade after the end of the war in the former Yugoslavia, Bosnia has become a "one-stop shop" for Islamic militants heading from terrorist battlegrounds in Chechnya and Afghanistan to Iraq, according to European intelligence officials.
With five months to go before European Union peacekeepers take over from Nato troops in Bosnia, the United States is preparing for a huge cut in its military presence.But local sources say that, while its soldiers will leave, about 300 intelligence personnel will monitor the activities of Muslim foreign fighters who settled peacefully in Bosnia after the end of the 1992-95 war. They are believed to be providing documents and weapons to active mujahedeen returning to the country after tours abroad. "There is a flow of people heading in from Chechnya and Afghanistan on to Europe and back, then to Iraq," said one official. "They are spreading the story that Bosnia is a one-stop shop close to Europe for terrorism needs: guns, money, documents."Almost 750 suspected militants have come under close surveillance in Bosnia in recent years. Six Algerians were seized by the United States and deported to the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in 2002, under suspicion of plotting to attack the US embassy in Sarajevo.
In one of the biggest deployments by US intelligence anywhere in the world, the teams are led from a compound in the unprepossessing suburb of Butmir, south of Sarajevo, where Bosnia's Nato peacekeeping force has its headquarters.They are combing the country for militant support networks and monitoring Muslim charities accused of raising funds for terrorists...Wahabbism was first imported into Bosnia during the conflict in the early 1990s, when Bosnian Muslim soldiers were joined in the fight against Serb and Croat forces by fighters from across the Muslim world.Most Bosnians now reject Wahabbism. Observers accuse the United States of using a heavy-handed approach in its anti-terror campaign in the country, detaining and releasing suspects without charge, and devoting the vast majority of its resources to keeping tabs on local Muslims rather than the hunt for wanted war crimes suspects such as Radovan Karadzic. Valuable lesson for the USA: "No good deed goes unpunished."Instead of reporting extremists in their midst, Bosnians whine and hate America.
Posted by: rex ||
07/25/2004 10:21:01 PM ||
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What's the point of hunting them if you don't shoot them and mount their heads on the wall?
Posted by: ed ||
07/25/2004 23:09 Comments ||
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Police in Spain have found a second car used in the train bombings in Madrid in March, reports say. The abandoned rental car was discovered in the town of Alcala de Henares, where several of the bombs are thought to have been loaded on to trains, in June. Spanish newspaper El Mundo said the car was parked 30 metres from where another vehicle also believed to have been used by the bombers was found. A judge has led the investigation into the bombings, questioning dozens of people and bringing provisional charges against 20 people, most of whom are in prison. A resident of the Madrid suburb alerted police to the car after noticing it had been abandoned, El Mundo said. Police treated it as a stolen vehicle and returned it to the rental company, whose staff started to clean it - before discovering a suitcase inside containing suspicious material. "Much of the evidence that the terrorists left inside the car disappeared in the course of the cleaning of the car," the daily said.
DNA tests confirmed that the car was used by two suspected suspects in the case, one of whom blew themselves up in a flat in April to avoid arrest, the report said. A police source told the Associated Press news agency that investigators believe the bombers used the car to transport some of the explosives used in the blasts.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 1:17:52 AM ||
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"Much of the evidence that the terrorists left inside the car disappeared in the course of the cleaning of the car.." Idiot surrender monkeys.
Posted by: Capt America ||
07/25/2004 1:33 Comments ||
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Spanish newspaper El Mundo said the car was parked 30 metres from where another vehicle also believed to have been used by the bombers was found ... A resident of the Madrid suburb alerted police to the car after noticing it had been abandoned, El Mundo said. Police treated it as a stolen vehicle and returned it to the rental company, whose staff started to clean it - before discovering a suitcase inside containing suspicious material. "Much of the evidence that the terrorists left inside the car disappeared in the course of the cleaning of the car," the daily said.
EMPHASIS ADDED
Return an abandoned car from within the known crime scene's perimeter so it can be cleaned? If so many innocent Spanish people did not deserve such a disgustingly heinous fate, I would say that the police rightly earned themselves complicity in the Madrid atrocity with this sort of incompetence.
Link via Captain Ed. This is the text of the Captain's post, as it's late and I'm tired. The London Telegraph reports that the last of Mohammed Atta's Hamburg al-Qaeda cell to be alive and outside of custody has surfaced long enough to e-mail his wife in Germany, prompting a new effort to track him down:
Said Bahaji, 29, a German of Moroccan origin who is alleged to have been the link between the Hamburg al-Qaeda cell - which masterminded the attacks - and Osama bin Laden, is believed to have been hiding in Pakistan and Afghanistan ever since the attacks. In an email to his wife, Nese, who still lives in Germany, Bahaji revealed that he was being well looked after despite being on the run. Addressing her as "My Rose", Bahaji wrote: "The people here love Arabs. The simplest of people welcome us. Their wives can't wait to cook and do our laundry for us." I'm staggered. Get me Rummy on the phone. This guy helped plan 9/11 and he's in Pakland getting his nails, hair, and laundry done? No, not staggered. I'm p****d.
German Federal Police (BKA) revealed last week that they have intercepted 14 emails and a number of telephone conversations between Bahaji, his wife, and other friends and relatives. Complete with GPS coordinates and IP addies for all involved, right? Right?
Hopefully Bahaji can be found quickly, but forgive me if I hope he winds up in our custody rather than Germany's. Germany couldn't prosecute the one AQ member they tried, allowing the defendant to be sprung due to a lack of evidence. Perhaps it is this track record that inspired Bahaji's wife to beseech the terrorist to turn himself in to Germany, but he has refused to allow "infidels" to humiliate him.
Pakistani authorities say that terrorists are using satellite phones to make their calls from the mountainous border regions, which should allow intelligence services to track them down. However, the internet connections for the e-mails originated in Lahore and Islamabad, which indicates that Bahaji and his cohorts move around Pakistan fairly easily. That might indicate that Pakistani security forces may not be as enthusiastic about chasing Bahaji down as we'd like. At any rate, we now know he's alive and hiding with the rest of the AQ gang. Lord, send me another case of patience. My last one is run dry.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
07/25/2004 12:19:50 AM ||
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I would send you some of my patience, Emily, but I am down to half a case. These guys need to be tracked down like rats and taken out, bellum style. These guys want a war, we give them a war, not play around with them like lawyuhs do. The German intelligence services bust their collective butts to nail these terrorists and the courts play games with peoples lives and let them go. We will never win unless we are on the offensive.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/25/2004 0:38 Comments ||
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What this shows is that, under the right circumstances, anyone can kill anyone. The guy was an elite commando, and ultimately got stabbed in the back. There is no substitute for numbers and superior firepower. This is why I hate hearing about morons who recommend special forces for every mission under the sun.
Convictions against the Bali bombers still stand despite a ruling by Indonesia's top court that the law on which the verdicts were based is unconstitutional. "The Constitutional Court ruling does not apply retroactively either," the court's chief judge Jimly Asshidiqie told AFP, when asked about the implication of the court's ruling on the Bali convictions. He gave no further details. Asshidiqie is the chief of a nine-member panel of judges at the court which ruled Friday that a subsidiary law which made the main anti-terror law retroactive -- to cover the Bali attack -- violated the constitution. The ruling was in favour of Masykur Abdul Kadir, who challenged the retroactive use of the law when appealing against a 15-year jail term for helping the bombers.
Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra backed the chief judge, saying "all legal actions taken in the Bali case, especially those which already have permanent legal force, still stand. As for cases which are still in court or in the appeal process, we leave it to judges to consider."
The statements came as Australian Prime Minister John Howard said his country was working with Indonesia to ensure the Bali bombers did not escape punishment. "Let me make it very clear that every effort is being made by this government, in cooperation with the authorities in Indonesia, to ensure ... that those responsible for these horrible deeds are appropriately punished according to the full vigour of Indonesian law," he said.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 12:53:56 AM ||
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Cingold, thank you for accurately predicting that appropriate rule-of-law would prevail. It was a worthy and well placed call.
Justice Minister Yusril Ihza Mahendra backed the chief judge, saying "all legal actions taken in the Bali case, especially those which already have permanent legal force, still stand. As for cases which are still in court or in the appeal process, we leave it to judges to consider."
Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka say eight top aides of a breakaway rebel leader have been shot dead in a suburb of the capital, Colombo. The dead are said to include Colonel Karuna's bodyguard and finance chief. The killings come as a Norwegian peace envoy arrives for fresh talks, after warning that the current situation could plunge the country back into war. A recent surge of violence seems to be turning into a low-level guerrilla war between the Tigers and Colonel Karuna. The Tigers have long argued that Colonel Karuna is working with the army and in this instance, they allege a military intelligence officer was among the dead. The government and the army have strenuously denied any involvement with the rebel defector.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 1:12:49 AM ||
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A pro-reform Palestinian politician, who escaped an assassination attempt in Ramallah on Tuesday, was flown to Germany yesterday for "further treatment", according to the head of his medical team. Nabil Amr, a former information minister, underwent a complicated surgery in Amman on Wednesday, but "the medical team today decided to shift him to Germany, where he will receive further treatment to rehabilitate his injured leg", Dr. Ashraf Kurdi said. "Amr was flown aboard a special plane which has been donated by President of the United Arab Emirates Sheikh Zayed ibn Sultan Al-Nahyan, who will also be paying the expenses," he added. "We have removed a blocking in his leg vessels as well as bullets and averted him the eventuality of an amputation, but he has to stay in Germany perhaps for months to receive further treatment," Kuri said.
Amr, an ardent critic of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, was assaulted by unknown assailants at his residence in Ramallah on Tuesday, and reports from the Palestinian territories suggested the attack was linked to his recurrent calls for reforms in the Palestinian administration.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 11:02:55 PM ||
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Six Palestinians were gunned down and two bystanders wounded during a raid by Israeli troops in the northern West Bank town of Tulkarm yesterday, Palestinian medics said. Among the dead was Hani Awidha, local commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, the medics said. The Israeli military confirmed the killings. Arafat's chief adviser Nabil Abu Rudeina denounced "a crime for which the Israeli government is entirely responsible." The deaths brought to 4,196 the overall toll since the launch of the latest Palestinian uprising in September 2000, including 3,199 Palestinians and 926 Israelis.
My heart bleeds...
Meanwhile, Israeli helicopters struck a the Gaza Strip yesterday, wounding at least four people and adding to tension in the territory at the heart of a Palestinian leadership crisis. Two large explosions were heard in the city as the rockets struck in the area known as a militant stronghold.
A helicopter fired at least two missiles into a building in Gaza City's Zeitoon neighborhood that residents said was the home of a fighter from the Islamic Jihad group, which has sworn to destroy the Jewish state. The army said it had targeted a weapons workshop ..."used by the Hamas terrorist organization and likely by other terrorist organizations." Medics said four bystanders were wounded. Hours later Palestinians fired a mortar that slammed into a Jewish settlement community center in Gaza, wounding six people, one of them seriously, medics said. The Israeli helicopters returned and fired two missiles at the same building in Zeitoon after dark yesterday, Palestinian security sources said.
US-backed forces killed 15 Iraqis in a blistering shootout north of Baghdad yesterday as a hostage crisis deepened and a threatened deadline to kill one of seven captive truckers drew near. The main hospital in Baqubah said it received one body and nine wounded from the clashes near Buhruz, just south of the city. The US military said insurgents opened fire on Iraqi security forces as they provided security for the 1st Infantry Division during a raid in a nearby farming area. "Iraqi security forces pursued the anti-Iraqi forces into town while being attacked by sporadic small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades," said Maj. Neal O'Brien. US forces provided air and ground support as Iraqi forces battled the insurgents, who "fired mortars indiscriminately" into the town, he said. The firefight left palm and pomegranate groves smoldering. A body, said to be that of a civilian, was buried as masked men carried machine guns and RPGs, shouting anti-Iraqi government and anti-US slogans. The bloodshed came hours after the US military arrested 15 people near Baqubah at dawn on suspicion of ties to alleged Al-Qaeda operative Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 10:49:40 PM ||
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'LET the Palestinian street speak!" This was the threat launched by Yas ser Arafat at the end of the year 2000 when the final round of U.S.-sponsored peace talks with Israel hit the wall raised by the Palestinian leader.
Waving a finger at Madeleine Albright, President Bill Clinton's secretary of state, Arafat forecast "an explosion of anger on the streets of Palestine."
Almost four years later, this is what is happening in the Palestinian territories controlled by Arafat. But the anger of the "Palestinian street" is aimed at neither the United States nor Israel. The target is Arafat and the corrupt and cynical nomenklatura that make up his entourage.
What is happening in Gaza and, to a growing extent, in the West Bank also is a genuine intifada aimed at bringing down yet another Arab tyranny.
Unlike the two previous intifadas, however, this one has a genuinely popular base. It is not cooked up by some political machine backed by this or that outside power. Nor is it a wanton exercise in violence against civilians, whether Israeli or Palestinian.
This new intifada has three important aims.
The first is to reassert the power of the people against a leadership that consists largely of former exiles who had never really lived in Palestine.
Arafat and his cohort were imported into the Palestinian territories by Shimon Peres, then Israel's foreign minister, as a means of forestalling the rise of a local Palestinian leadership. Many members of the Arafat entourage are wealthy businessmen with investments in the Persian Gulf, Europe and the United States. None has put a penny in Gaza or the West Bank. Although many of them were born in Palestine, the Arafat-led nomenklatura are, in fact, a colonial elite backed by different foreign powers over the past four decades.
The second aim of the new intifada is to prevent the Islamists, notably Hamas and Islamic Jihad, from seizing control of the agenda at a time when Ariel Sharon's pledge to withdrawal from Gaza is perceived as sincere by most Palestinians.
Both Hamas and Islamic Jihad had threatened to fight to prevent the Sharon plan from going ahead. In other words, what matters to them is not the return of any territory to the Palestinians but the dream of destroying Israel.
The new intifada, however, represents people who wish to accelerate the Israeli withdrawal and are prepared to make Gaza work.
The new intifada's third aim is to tell the outside world to stop aiding and abetting the confederacy of rogues created by Arafat. The message is especially directed at the European Union, which has been giving Arafat almost a billion euros each year to play with as he pleases.
Arafat has used part of the money to buy support. Whenever faced with a critic, Arafat always asks: How much does he want?
The outside world knows little of the extent of corruption that the Arafat regime has created. It is common knowledge in the Palestinian territories that a dozen or two influential individuals, many of them related to Arafat by blood or marriage, control the economies of Gaza and the West Bank.
It is no surprise that one of the most popular slogans of this new intifada is a demand to end "looting and plundering" by Arafat and his cohort.
The outside world is also oblivious to the reign of terror that Arafat and his clan have created. More Palestinians languish in Arafat's jails than they do in Israeli prisons. Journalists, lawyers, human rights activists and even parliamentarians are often beaten up or intimidated by thugs hired by the "Ra'is." Newspapers are censored and free radio stations shut down. Businesses suspected of siding with Arafat's opponents have their licenses revoked.
Arafat has already destroyed three Cabinets, despite the fact that his men held a majority in all three. A fourth Cabinet, under Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia (Abu Ala) is also falling apart.
Under such circumstances, the decent thing to do is for Arafat to step aside and allow the Palestinians to pick a new leadership that reflects the reality of their lives. But this is precisely what Arafat seems determined not to do.
Arafat's refusal to see the writing on the wall is encouraged by the attitude of some Western powers that appear to have no clue as to what is really happening in Palestine. French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier travelled to Ramallah to pay tribute to Arafat as "the symbol of Palestinian nationhood" when "the Palestinian street" was calling for an end to his despotic rule. And the new Spanish government, anxious to cuddle Arab radicals of all colors, has voiced its "strong support" for Arafat's "leadership."
The European Union, the United Nations and other members of the so-called international public opinion chorus, have also fanned the fires of Arafat's ego by pointing to his "historic role."
Whether or not Arafat has any historic and/or symbolic value could always be debated. But what is at issue now is that Arafat is a tin-pot despot who has led his people into a political deadlock while his minions are robbing and torturing them. In any normal society, such a failure would not have the cheek to hang on to office for a day, let alone for years.
The tragedy in all this is that the Palestinians are the best-educated of all the nations labeled as Arab. A much better Palestinian leadership could easily emerge from the current intifada provided the power that has been monopolized by Arafat is restored to the people.
In all this, Sharon's decision to keep Arafat cantoned in his headquarters in Ramallah may have become counterproductive. At one point it was a good idea to force Arafat to stay in Palestine rather than travelling the world and playing truant in Paris (where he owns a luxury home). Now, however, Arafat is presenting himself as a mini-martyr because he is not allowed to venture out of Ramallah.
The truth is that there is nowhere for Arafat to go to in the Palestinian territories. His last attempt at "bathing in a crowd" ended abruptly in Ramallah — where the hundred or so people who had gathered to see him started chanting "It is time to go, Yasser!"
Maybe it's time for Sharon to lift the restrictions on Arafat and let the Palestinian people drive him out of power.
There will be no peace in Palestine until there is democracy. And there will be no democracy as long as Arafat's despotic regime, financed by the European Union and backed by the "international community," excludes the Palestinians from the process of decision-making.
Posted by: tipper ||
07/25/2004 11:01:52 AM ||
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But the anger of the "Palestinian street" is aimed at neither the United States nor Israel. The target is Arafat and the corrupt and cynical nomenklatura that make up his entourage.
Heh.
About time.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/25/2004 11:54 Comments ||
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And precisely how are things any different from the way they have been for a long time now? Arafat has always been corrupt. The Palestinian territories have always been run by crime syndicates while thugs run rampant. Justice has always been dispensed at gunpoint and the rule of law has been arbitrary at best.
None of this is any different from day one. I can only assume that sufficient numbers of people have finally purchased a clue about how their ship just isn't coming in anytime soon. Maybe they thought it was going to five years ago and now understand that harbormaster Arafat offloads the boats before they get into port. It's all a direct byproduct of backing gangsters instead of real leaders.
I have not one shred of sympathy or solace for a bunch of violent anti-Semites who are so busy teaching their children to hate and kill that they don't notice their society being hijacked. All Palestinians can rot in the richly deserved Hell they have so carefully constructed for themselves.
#1
"Morocco has warned Spain that it has lost track of 400 Moroccan Islamist militants who trained in al Qaeda camps in Afghanistan, Bosnia or Chechnya, Spanish newspaper El Pais reported Sunday."
OK Spain, see how far your caving in has gone and what your cost will be.
As an example, look at all the kidnappings now thanks to the Phillipines caving in.
Law enforcement agencies on Saturday cordoned off Gulshan Colony, Islam Nagar, Gujrat, to arrest suspected Al Qaeda militants holed up in a house there and both sides were exchanging fire late into the night. The firing started at about 6:00pm and it has been continuing uninterrupted, witnesses near the scene said. No loss of life or arrests had been reported when this report was filed at 1:00am, but officials were optimistic that they would overpower the militants soon. Sources told Daily Times that the militants included three foreign nationals who were allegedly involved in attack on the Karachi corps commander on June 10, 2004. Gujrat District Police Officer (DPO) Raja Munawar said 11 people including three women, four children, and a local were holed up inside. Sources said the police and intelligence agencies raided the house on a tip-off from a few Al Qaeda suspects arrested in raids in Multan, Sahiwal and Gujrat. On the basis of information provided by those arrested in Multan and Sahiwal, law enforcement agencies raided Faisal Hotel in Gujrat where the three foreign nationals were hiding. However, they managed to escape, but one of their local aides was arrested in the raid. After gleaning information from the arrested man, the police raided the house where the suspected terrorists have been living in with their families for the last one and a half months. Sources said the three terrorists got the house on rent from Ijaz Warraich, an employee of the Muslim Commercial Bank, Mirpur branch, one and a half months ago.
Witnesses said the police raided the house in the evening to arrest the terrorists but they opened fire on seeing the police. "The police returned fire and both sides started exchanging intense fire," a witness at the scene said. The militants were also shouting Allah-o-Akbar (God is great), another witness said. "Being Muslims, we should not be arrested. If we die we will die as martyrs and if you are killed you will go to hell," Intelligence Bureau SSP Naveed Elahi quoted the militants as saying.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 1:36:28 AM ||
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Are the coppers sure they didn't stumble into a wedding party by mistake? Terrorist hidey holes and Paki reception halls can be hard to tell aprt sometimes...
The Sudan People's Liberation Army says that a Ugandan rebel group has attacked and killed several of its fighters in the south of the country. An Anglican church says dozens of civilians have been killed by the same rebel group, the Lords Resistance Army. The LRA has been terrorizing much of northern Uganda for the past 18 years, killing and abducting civilians, most of them children. But their atrocities are also being carried out inside southern Sudan. The SPLA says a large group of Ugandan rebels attacked its position near the Sudanese town of Torit, killing seven SPLA soldiers. It says the LRA attacked on Friday morning and reports that civilians were also targeted by the rebel group, which has no clear political agenda. Meanwhile the Anglican church in southern Sudan claims that the LRA rebels have been operating in small groups attacking civilians, principally to raid cattle. Rev Paul Yugusuk of Lomega Anglican church says that over the past week at least 26 civilians have been killed.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 1:19:40 AM ||
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Yasser Arafat has insisted there is no power struggle among the Palestinian leadership, in the wake of another armed protest against him. "No never! Just another massive show of support for my progressive Palestinian policies that have brought us forward into another era of maximum ::cough:: foreign aid ::cough:: prosperity."
He said there was "no problem" between him and Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who wants more say over security services. "He's a wonderful chap. Used ta send his mother flowers and all that."
Mr Arafat spoke hours after masked guerrillas briefly took over a Palestinian Authority building in Gaza. "Just some of my poker pals dropping by for another friendly little card game."
It was the latest protest demanding reforms in the security services, which opponents say are rife with corruption. "Look, my nephew is one of the least corrupt individuals I know!"
Power struggle
The BBC's Barbara Plett says Gaza has been shaken by clashes between rival sections of the security forces staffed by Mr Arafat's Fatah movement. The protests are widely seen as a power struggle ahead of Israel's promised pullout from Gaza next year, our correspondent says, but she adds that Mr Arafat has yet to lose a faction fight in more than 40 years at the top. There's always a first time.
"No, no, there is no crisis," Mr Arafat said after meeting Arab diplomats at his offices in the West Bank town of Ramallah. "What, me worry?"
The protests began earlier this month when Mr Arafat nominated a close relative, Moussa Arafat, as head of the Palestinian security services. Opponents demanded Mr Arafat reform the security services and eradicate cronyism. "R E F O R M, what is this strange word you speak?"
The unrest prompted Prime Minister Qurei to submit his resignation. But this was rejected by Mr Arafat and Mr Qurei agreed to stay on for the time being. "It took one of my last spare suitcases full of cash, but I managed to persuade him!"
Mr Arafat also withdrew the controversial nomination but the militants say this is still not enough, as Moussa Arafat continues to head the general security branch in the Gaza Strip. Nepotism's all right, so long as you keep it in the family.
Offices stormed
Militants from al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade - linked to Fatah - torched a police station in Zwaida, near Gaza City on Saturday. "It was only a campfire sing-along, honest."
In Khan Yunis, dozens of masked men stormed the office of the regional governor before dawn, demanding that Mr Arafat fire Moussa Arafat. "Disgruntled ex-employees, that's all!"
The group left peacefully at about noon (0900 GMT) after receiving assurances that comrades who had been dismissed from jobs with the security forces by Moussa Arafat would be reinstated. "Everyone will be paid off given their jobs back!"
Meanwhile the Israeli army said it destroyed or damaged a number of abandoned buildings in the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza as part of a hunt to find tunnels used for smuggling weapons to Palestinian militant groups. "Those were our mushroom growing chambers and wine storage caverns. The losses were enormous. My five course dinners will never be the same!"
Palestinians say six houses were demolished, leaving 50,000 people homeless. All in a days work for the IDF.
Posted by: Zenster ||
07/25/2004 12:42:15 AM ||
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And the internal fighting will get more vile and meaner as the money stash dries up. The dogs will fight over the bones.
More popcorn, anyone? How about a nice amber ale and some pub grub? The Snake and Pygmie pie is scrumpscious! Check out the wide screen and full surround sound. Hey! There's the Arafish drooling! Damn! Kinda spoils my appetite....
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/25/2004 1:04 Comments ||
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Arafat plays Baghdad Bob.
Posted by: Capt America ||
07/25/2004 1:42 Comments ||
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Arafat's dying, sooner than later. The Palis know it and the Israelis know it, (reason behind that 'no burial in Jerusalem' reporet a week back?) When he finally kicks off, not a moment too soon and decades too late, all hell will break loose.
On the other side of the wall.
Posted by: joe ||
07/25/2004 19:59 Comments ||
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Death Ray on...Death Ray off...Death Ray on... Death Ray off...
#5
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat
Whooooosh--Boom!
Crack! *rumbling of falling bricks*
Visitor to Isreal: "What the hell was that?!"
Israeli hosts: "Oh, pay them no mind. That's just the neighbors on the other side of the wall having a domestic row again."
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/25/2004 23:10 Comments ||
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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat faced new challenges in the Gaza Strip after gunmen took over a governor's office demanding he sack his cousin Moussa as Gaza security chief and activists called for people's congresses to end the latest unrest. A militant of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade told AFP by telephone from the governor's office that the gunmen were demanding the departure of Moussa Arafat and the reinstatement of more than 50 security officers. Militants in the Brigades have associated themselves with the violent protests in Gaza for the past two weeks against Arafat's appointment of Moussa, accused of being corrupt, as the territory's security chief. But on Saturday, the West Bank faction of the Brigades dissociated the group from the protests in the Strip and accused unnamed elements of "knowingly fomenting a crisis in Gaza in order to make the American-Zionist plan succeed", implying that their group was being framed for the violence. The Brigades are divided into dozens of smaller armed groups scattered across the West Bank and Gaza, answering to local chiefs. Saturday's statement, which runs counter to Brigades statements from Gaza, was authenticated by top officials of the group in the north of the West Bank contacted by AFP. It said the Brigades have "nothing to do, from either up close or afar, with these suspicious acts" in Gaza.
Meanwhile in a twist on the political manoeuvring which saw Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei offer his resignation last week, Arafat on Saturday denied that there was any power struggle between him and his premier. Qorei "has my entire confidence and there is no problem over prerogatives," the Palestinian leader said. He added: "I will accept everything that Qorei asks, but up to now he has not presented any specific demands to me." Qorei has been seeking more control over the security services, over which Arafat has insisted on maintaining an iron grip.
At the governor's office, witnesses earlier said some 20 armed and masked men forced everyone out of the building early Saturday morning and took control of it. Palestinian security sources said the gunmen ended their five-hour siege at about noon after an agreement was reached for the security officers to return to work. Earlier, the Brigades' militant, who identified himself as Abu Ahmed, listed their demands as "the reforms demanded by the Palestinian people, (that) corrupt officials be fired and (that) the nomination of Musa Arafat to be cancelled."
Palestinian negotiations minister Saeb Erakat had warned Friday that the Palestinian territories were sliding into "chaos." Palestinian activists called Saturday for people's congresses to be held in all areas of the Gaza Strip to end the unrest. "People's congresses should be set up with the aim of democratic reform of institutions in order to fight corruption and enforce respect for the law," said the Committee of Nationalist and Islamist Forces, which links Arafat's Fatah and the radical Hamas group. The congresses would "put an end to the absurd conflict between the forces and relevant services of the Palestinian Authority," said a committee statement. The committee also appealed for free and democratic elections, which would be the first since 1995, with the prospect of Israeli withdrawal from Gaza next year. Last week the committee called for sweeping democratic reforms, an end to anarchy and corruption and for corrupt officials to be prosecuted.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 12:34:10 AM ||
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Not to fear. The "crisis" is almost at an end. There's only a few more miles of fence to erect and then everybody's problems are over ... Well, at least the Israelis'.
Iraq's hostage crisis escalated with the seizure of a state company director and the apparent abduction of two Pakistanis, as Egyptian and Iraqi officials sought the release of a kidnapped Egyptian diplomat and a truck driver. The caretaker government in Baghdad said it was working closely with the Egyptians to free the diplomat, who was seized on Friday, two days after the trucker. "The government is working hard to get the release of the hostages. It is in constant contact with the Egyptian embassy," Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati told a press conference. "The government has had several meetings today to discuss the crisis."
At the same time, Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi, on a visit to neighboring Syria, cautioned Egypt not to cave in to the kidnappers' demands, urging it not to follow the example of Manila, which withdrew troops from Iraq in exchange for the freedom of a Filipino hostage. "There is no way to give to terrorists what they want. It was regrettable that the Philippines (did so)," said Allawi. "We hope that the hostage is going to be released. The Iraqi government will do its best."
Allawi also said after meeting with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that Iraq and Syria had set up a joint committee to oversee the security of their common border. Allawi's Syrian counterpart Mohammad Naji Otri told a joint press conference, "Syria is opposed to any infiltration across the border, whether towards Iraq or towards Syria."
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
07/25/2004 12:26:25 AM ||
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oh. ima thought this about something else. sory.
#3
lol! ima love beaver and butthead! my bunghole! itn go racacaca! racacacacoto! ima not hear that in years. thanks .com! :)
im in still disappoint this story not what i thouht it going to be about but o well. there always in nextin time.
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.
