The father of a young Saudi fighter killed in Iraq is planning to sue religious scholars who called for jihad against US forces, Al Madinah newspaper reported yesterday. The paper said Majid Shabib Al Otaibi blamed the scholars, who declared "jihad (holy war) against the occupiers is a duty for all who are able", for the death of his son Muqrin.
"Majid, you mean it wasn't the evil Jooos?"
"No Mahmoud, it was not."
[pause] "BLASPHEMER! Stone this man!"
Majid Otaibi said he was standing up against preachers who tried to "corrupt the minds of young men".
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/22/2004 12:31:22 AM ||
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Majid Otaibi said he was standing up against preachers who tried to âcorrupt the minds of young menâ.
A lone voice crying out from the depths of hell in the wilderness. How sad that thousands of grieving Muslim fathers cannot see the forest for the trees in this matter. Powerful Imams sit back and fart through silk as they fecklessly send off the flower of Arabic youth to be fed into jihad's meat grinder.
When good Muslims everywhere begin yanking these armchair mujahideen out of their mosques and stringing them up from the nearest load-bearing object taller than three meters, only then will the Middle East be safe from the nuclear annihilation that awaits unabated Islamist terrorism.
Russian law enforcement officials have detained the leader of a terrorist cell from the international Hizb ut-Tahrir organization, which intelligence has linked to Al Qaeda. Alisher Usmanov, who headed a cell in central Russia's Tatarstan, was arrested Wednesday, carrying explosives and Al Qaeda training manuals and flyers, the Lenta.ru news site reported, citing police sources in the republic. The explosives indicate that the man, who was already suspected of organizing a number of terrorist attacks, including a deadly blast in Uzbekistan last March, was planning yet another attack, Interior Ministry officials told the Russian Information Agency Novosti. Earlier, four other members of the cell were arrested in the region. Usmanov allegedly formed the cell of the Hizb ut-Tahrir group, which is banned in many countries, in 1996. He was on the international wanted list.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 4:32:59 PM ||
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Osama bin Laden has been actively involved in the terrorist insurgency in Chechnya since 1995, sending al-Qaida agents to the North Caucasus and sponsoring Chechen rebels, according to a declassified U.S. intelligence report released by Judicial Watch, a U.S. public corruption watchdog, late last week. Bin Laden sent Jordanian-born warlord Khattab, who is now dead, and nine instructors to Chechnya in 1995 to set up terrorist training camps, according to the six-page U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency report, which was based on notes from an unspecified person in 1998 and is marked at the top as not "finally evaluated intelligence." It says bin Laden met several times in 1997 with Chechen and Dagestani Wahhabis and "settled the question of cooperation -- agreeing to provide 'financial supplies' to Chechen militants." A senior Chechen rebel, Movladi Udugov, denied Saturday that the rebels had any ties to al-Qaida -- a link that the Kremlin has long maintained exists. He said the document's wording suggests it was designed by Russian special services.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 5:10:07 PM ||
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Al Qaida has embarked on a strategy to procure a nuclear weapon -- preferably from a former East Bloc state. A leading CIA veteran said Osama Bin Laden has sought a nuclear weapon on the Russian black market. The veteran said Bin Laden's goal was to detonate the nuclear weapon in the United States. "He always said it was a religious obligation for Muslims to have the same weapons as their enemies," said Michael Scheuer, former director of the CIA team that has been searching for Bin Laden. "He has clearly said that he would use it. He doesn't intend it as a deterrent. It is going to be a first strike weapon."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 4:59:53 PM ||
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#1
"He always said it was a religious obligation for Muslims to have the same weapons as their enemies"
I guess swords and sheilds are not in fashion any more. Allah be praised , we can go 'boom' bigger and better than before.
#3
Hopefully binny will use it and give us the excuse to nuke Saudi, Pakland, Malaysia, Java and Chechenya and the North of Suday too. And throw in Iran, Syria and North Korea for bargain tuesdays.
#4
Another reason why OFF and France-Russia's shredding of the sanctions regime had completely destroyed any chance of containing Saddam: OFF put Saddam in close touch with intermediaries who work hand in glove with the Russian mafiya and rogue government elements, including the FSB. Note that the Russian mafiya's favorite money-laundering center, Dubai, figures prominently in many of the OFF money transfers.
Is there really any doubt that sooner or later Saddam would have been able to tap the Former SovUnion's WMD caches?
#5
Sorry to repeat myself, folks, but Russia today is a failing state that needs far more attention than we're giving it. Insane that we continue to waste so much time on western Europe when we have another version of Pakistan's ISI developing to the north of Iraq-Iran.
#6
but Russia today is a failing state that needs far more attention than we're giving it.
As long as Russia succeeding means tyrannies in Ukraine, in Belarus, in Transnistria, in Abkhazia, in Southern Ossetia, then I'll be wishing for Russia to fail.
#7
You're stuck in the 1990s, Aris. Different world now: NATO's eastward expansion has pretty much ruled out any neo-soviet threat to western Europe. Tyrannies in the other basket-case FSU dominions suck, I agree, but let's be realistic here: the Baltics, Pol-Cz-Hun are free and protected; Estonia's firmly ensconced in the EU. That alone is an extraordinary achievement. But we also have Romania and Bulgaria under NATO protection, with US bases, which means there simply is no entry point for a revived Russian tyranny to attack or intimidate Europe.
We'll never sort out the Caucasus mess, and probably won't see anything like democracy in Central Asia for another generation or more. Big deal. The keys here are twofold: containing Iran, and halting nuclear etc proliferation. Everthing else regarding Russia is secondary.
A MUSLIM cleric is fighting to stay in Australia after spy agency ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organization) assessed him as a national security risk. The Government is attempting to deport Sheik Mansour Leghaei, a leading Shi'ite cleric who runs a Muslim community centre and charity in Sydney. The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation said in July that Sheik Leghaei might have been involved in "acts of foreign interference". Australian law defines such acts as including spying on and intimidating dissidents and secretly collecting official, military, political or scientific information for a foreign government. Sheik Leghaei today took legal action in the Federal Court, which if successful will enable him to stay in Australia.
The court was told he first came to Australia from Iran in February 1994. Since then he has made a name for himself as a moderate voice for Islam, attending multi-faith meetings and peace forums. Two of his four children have been granted permanent residency. He applied for permanent residency in November 1996, but his application was refused in August 1997 when ASIO made an adverse security assessment against him. He was given a bridging visa while he sought a review of the refusal. In February 2002 ASIO notified the Immigration Minister that it maintained its earlier security assessment. In April 2002 his bridging visa was cancelled on the basis of that assessment. He was granted a further bridging visa while he appealed against the minister's decision to the Migration Review Tribunal, but later that month the Government withdrew his appeal rights. He began Federal Court action to quash ASIO's adverse security assessment and the Inspector General of Intelligence and Security, Australia's spy watchdog, conducted an inquiry into the assessment. Following the IGIS's report in 2003, ASIO conducted a fresh security assessment and sought comments from Sheik Leghaei.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/22/2004 3:05:31 AM ||
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#1
I notice he hasn't rejected the mainstream concept of jihad.
Takiyya (or kitman), anyone?
#3
Because of the nature of islam, only an apostate could be safely let in. Discriminatory, unacceptable? Sure, because of its Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde nature, at best. Mostly Hyde and little useful Jekyll.
Posted by: Wo ||
11/22/2004 12:31 Comments ||
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Link From Drudge, but site is getting hammered and won't come up.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
11/22/2004 3:16:21 PM ||
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Text of article: AMSTERDAM â Eight officers reportedly became ill after helping to evacuate Arnhem station after fears dangerous chemicals had leaked from a goods train.
The alarm was raised on Monday after a train passenger began feeling unwell. An initial investigation failed to find any leak in the compartments of the goods train, news agency ANP reported.
Further tests were ordered after two drivers in a passenger train to Zutphen also started to feel sick. Their train had stood still for a while next to the goods train. Police officers who evacuated the station became ill as well.
Medical personnel at the scene were unable to identify the cause of the problem.
The fire brigade is taking measures for toxic fumes around the train but the station has been reopened. Train traffic was reported to be returning to normal by the evening.
Hokay, sounds like probably nothing then.
Posted by: Laurence of the Rats ||
11/22/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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An alleged Turkish al-Qaida militant told a court Monday that he met with Osama bin Laden and a top aide who proposed an attack in Turkey, but denied any involvement in last year's suicide bombings in Istanbul.
"That was other kids."
Baki Yigit told an Istanbul court that he and the suspected mastermind of the suicide bombings, Habib Akdas, met with bin Laden lieutenant Abu Hafs al-Masri in Kandahar, Afghanistan, prior to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
"Yup, me 'n' Binny 'n' Abu, we wuz real tight."
The trio discussed a variety of options for terrorist strikes in Turkey, Yigit testified. Yet when al-Masri first broached the idea of a possible attack in Turkey, Yigit said he and Akdas were opposed, saying they preferred to wage "jihad" like militants in Chechnya.
"Preferably in Chechnya, or at least not in my hometown. Mom might get upset."
He said al-Masri then suggested an attack on an Israeli ship at a port in the southern Mediterranean town of Alanya. Yigit said the two men considered the idea, but "no decision for an attack was taken as a result of this meeting." He said he and Akdas also discussed the possibility of an attack against a prominent Turkish business group, but this was just a "conversation over tea."
"Just two yentas sitting around talking, y'know?"
He said that al-Masri offered the men membership in al-Qaida, but they turned down the offer. He said the men also later chatted with bin Laden. "We just talked ... We didn't form any organization," he said.
"That Osama, he's such a kidder!"
Yigit said he and Akdas separated after a disagreement, and Yigit returned to Turkey. He insisted he had nothing to do with the November 2003 attacks targeting two synagogues, the British Consulate and a London-based bank.
"Not me. Certainly not."
Akdas and Gurcan Bac, another alleged cell leader, are believed to have fled to Iraq and joined the Iraqi insurgency, where Akdas was reportedly killed in a U.S. airstrike.An Istanbul court is trying 69 people accused of involvement in the attacks, which killed 60 people. On Monday, 47 suspects appeared in the court. Judges agreed to release two suspects, accused of minor roles in the attacks, before adjourning until Feb. 14.
France has launched a judicial investigation after a cash machine technician was accused of faking a robbery to help fund a terror network. Hassan Baouchi, 23, a former employee with Brink's security company, was arrested on Thursday. He claimed he had been robbed of one million euros which should have been used to refill cash machines. The French authorities suspect the cash went to fund activities by a group blamed for attacks in Morocco in 2003. Mr Baouchi has been placed under judicial investigation for "criminal association relating to a terrorist enterprise" by a top anti-terror judge, Jean-Francois Ricard.
An interior ministry spokesman told Reuters news agency: "Hassan Baouchi organised his own kidnapping and the theft of the money for the cash machines. "The stolen money was destined to finance the activity of terrorist activities in France and abroad." Although Hassan Baouchi's original story of the robbery was not believed when he reported it, police had no evidence on which to detain him. The French authorities believe Hassan Baouchi and his brother Mustapha are linked to the Moroccan Islamic Fighting Group, blamed for bombings in Casablanca last year that killed 45 people.
Posted by: Zenster ||
11/22/2004 1:26:40 AM ||
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Here's the post from commentator Dafydd ab Hugh onto Powerline that started the whole hubbub about the now-infamous Chile incident.
Judging from your comments, I don't think you guys realize the seriousness of what happened in Chile. Let me put it into perspective: the president has been marked for death by hundreds of terrorist groups; he is in a foreign country, one where there have been near contintuous riots against America and against him, personally, over the Iraq War; as he's walking into a banquet hall, the local police intentionally cut him off from his security detail.
If the first thought that popped into your mind when you heard about that was not "assassination," then your mind is still laboring in a pre-9/11 world.
It's entirely possible that rather than "rescuing" his detained Secret Service detail, Bush in fact saved his own life. If there was a plan, if this wasn't just a random act of rudeness by the Chilean police (why would they do that?), then Bush's quick thinking may have forced the would-be attackers to abort the operation.
This little incident needs a thorough and complete investigation by Chile, as well as by the CIA. The incident the next day -- where the Bush team demanded everyone at the next banquet pass through metal detectors -- shows that they had the same thought I did (and we all should have had); the fact that Chile refused, even to the point of scuttling the party, is troubling, to say the least.
There are a lot of people out there who want to see George W. Bush dead; alas, there are a lot of heads of state who would not shed a tear. In this day and age, when armed local cops intentionally cut the president off from his security detail, that should be taken as no less a violent act that when an anti-aircraft missile battery "paints" an American plane with fire-control radar.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
11/22/2004 5:49:15 PM ||
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I think the Chileans are a little obtuse on security protocols at international conferences. Now they know. And this particular conference won't be back anytime soon.
#2
I don't think so. Secret Service personnel sometimes does have a problem with local security (it even happens in Germany) because they tend to treat every space the President is going to occupy as extraterritorial. Most of the time problems are solved easily. What happenend in Chile sounds more like a chain of misunderstanding. You can be sure that local police (whether in Chile or Germany) has EVERY interest in keeping the President safe. They are sometimes a bit pissed when the Secret Service tries to treat them as irrelevant. Most of the time it depends on the liaison officer in charge to make things go smoothly.
#3
"What happenend in Chile sounds more like a chain of misunderstanding."
You must be daft! It has already been reported that the Chilean security and the SS had been arguing that day about who would be allowed into the banquet.
Their closing of ranks the instant the Prez passed through was blatant and deliberate. And, it is not outside the realm of probability that it could have been a setup for assassination.
-AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
11/22/2004 19:55 Comments ||
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TGA is probably right that one issue here is the Chilean's sense that the demands of the Secret Service were insulting to them. Before we all make too much fun of that idea, realize that they are surely the best of the security forces in Latin America -- many were trained by us.
I'm not so sure about the misunderstanding idea.
No doubt overweaning American demands should be resisted. In this case, given world events however, I strongly wish Lagos had made an exception here for Bush.
I had a bad feeling Friday afternoon. I can't explain how my subconscious put things together. It was .. reminiscent of the bad feeling that led my to cancel my Hong Kong flight 9/9/01. I was very concerned for W's safety. I'm not nearly as concerned now.
#8
I wouldn't know, Dishman, but I visited the WTC on 9/9/01 myself ... I just don't get these gut feelings. But you're right, the Chilean thing is BAD ...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
11/22/2004 22:03 Comments ||
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#9
I don't ascribe any ill will to the Chileans, but I hate the fact that Saturday's episode showed that it is possible to separate the President from his security detail. That can't happen.
Posted by: Matt ||
11/22/2004 22:04 Comments ||
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#10
I wouldn't ascribe any ill intentions to the Chilean government. More likely one person associated with senior police saw a way to bring down the government there.
#11
No one has adequately explained why cancel a State Dinner over a metal detector.
I'm not much of a conspiracist, but I stand by my original post on the original thread. Something is wrong about this. 2 events - first one, okay, just a little macho dustup. Second one - hmmmmm. Doesn't make any sense. You KNOW they use metal detectors to protect their Prez - just as we do, just as everyone on the planet does - why, for crying out loud, cancel a major event over it?
When someone has a quickie fix for this one - other than macho pride, I'll bite. If it's macho pride, again, then Lagos and his protection service need Dr Steve's immediate attention - and Bush needs to stop being so goddamned reasonable and give some shit back to fools like this.
#12
Why not walk through a metal detector?........unless you've got something to hide!!? Possible assassination attempt was the first thing that came to my mind. All it takes is ONE HEARTBEAT to kill anyone. DON'T TAKE ANY CHANCES WITH GEORGE W.!!!! All they need to do is detain his security for ONE HEARTBEAT...... Bush turning back threw their timing off. You never know...........
#1
Interesting speculation, I suppose, and I'm sure (at least I hope) the Secret Service is thinking about stuff like this. But there's no evidence for it other than the fact that Bush was momentarily without his usual protection.
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/22/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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The metal detector / canceled dinner rather ups the ante, IMHO. When I heard this on the news it hit me that it made no sense. People go through metal detectors all the time - why cancel the dinner over something so mundane and obviously fundamental to security?
#3
In retrospect all of this seems obvious, and I feel stupid not having thought of it at the time.
In retrospect I also should have been paying attention to the order in which the events took place.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
11/22/2004 12:55 Comments ||
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#4
I'm normally hostile to conspiracy theories of any kind-- laughed at black helicopters and didn't care all that much about Clinton's trash, to be honest-- but this time we may be on to something. There's absolutely no question that many of Bush's enemies, even the establishment ones, across the western world toy with the idea of bumping him off. Such notions have been printed in non-ironic, non-sarcastic OpEd pieces in the NY Times, the Guardian, other publications and have even been the sum and substance of a bestselling novel by a prominent author.
Secondly, if you were to do a hit, South America would be an excellent place to do it. Weak governments to begin with, plus no shortage of sympathetic figures to do the job, plus any number of plausible-deniability scenarios due to ongoing terror movements, civil wars, etc.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/22/2004 13:11 Comments ||
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#6
haha, Mrs D, but we shouldn't be too dismissive here. Yes, there really are millions of people around the world who are deranged by their hatred of Bush. And yes, his re-election has made them desperate. They truly do feel that he is wicked and all-powerful. Thus are conspiracies born.
#7
I wasn't being dismissive. I thought the football went everywhere with the President. Nor about the 0; though while Reagan took a bullet, he broke the death jinx.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
11/22/2004 13:20 Comments ||
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#8
Oh, sorry, didn't get that one. McKinley, JFK.. who were the other naught-prez victims?
#9
If you look at pictures of Bush during the scrum, when he's seen from behind reaching out to the agent, you'll notice the lines in his back. Same as during the debate. V.likely to be a bullet-proof jacket or some sort of protective "lining".
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0101032.html
Prior to the ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, there was no provision for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. When a president died in office, the vice president succeeded him, and the vice presidency then remained vacant. The first vice president to take office under the new procedure was Gerald Ford, who was nominated by Nixon on Oct. 12, 1973, and confirmed by Congress the following Dec. 6.
* The Vice President Richard Cheney
* Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
* President pro tempore of the Senate1 Ted Stevens
* Secretary of State Colin Powell
* Secretary of the Treasury John Snow
* Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
* Attorney General John Ashcroft
* Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton
* Secretary of Agriculture Ann M. Veneman
* Secretary of Commerce Donald Evans
* Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao
* Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G. Thompson
* Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson
* Secretary of Transportation Norman Yoshio Mineta
* Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham
* Secretary of Education Roderick Paige
* Secretary of Veterans Affairs Anthony J. Principi
* Secretary of Homeland Security2 Tom Ridge
#12
Alarmingly weak performance on the part of the security detail. Sounds like there where six agents blocked by a slightly larger number of Chileans. Makes you wonder about the training--including the PT. Some of the agents, including the lead looked fat and out of shape.
#13
Apparently only the highest calibre security forces (and most educated) were employed in Chile. (sarcasm off)
Every moronic "misstep", every intentional "oversight" in high-stakes security scenarios is making isolationism look more appealing. Can you imagine these mental midgets acting with intelligence and responsibility in ANY military or security action, much less one involving the security of President George Bush?
BTW-On google, I found a Seattle Times article which brands Bush with the old "John Wayne" slur again. Self defense?!?! Oh, the horror of it!
#19
A week before Lincoln was shot, he was in Monroe, Maryland. A week before Kennedy was shot, he was in Marilyn Monroe
*rimshot*
thank yeewwwwww
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/22/2004 19:54 Comments ||
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#20
hehe Frank :)
On a more serious note , if was a botched hit attempt , its to be expected unfortunately , and probably the only way to do it would be to make the Secret Service ineffectual , and the best place to to that as outlined above is to infiltrate a weak government security detail and get them to muscle in an opening at a public event . Hell , I hate conspiracy , but I think i'll jump on the band wagon and see where it goes :p
#21
Iff the Lefties stick to their 2020 maxima timeline for America to be under Socialism, whiich for the Clintons is Communism; and presuming that POTUS Hillary wants to be = POTUS Bill in having eight years of Left-verified national prosperity and geopol "quiet", then Hillary will have to make her FIRST RUN/ATTEMPT for national office in 2008, plus whatever America-destabilizing event, controversy, andor espec LIMITED WAR [CONVENTIONAL THRU TACNUKE], etc. HAS TO OCCUR BETWEEN NOW AND 2010-max 2011, AND BE OVER OR MOSTLY RESOLVED BY THE TIME HILLARY BECOMES POTUS. Pragmatically, this means that ANY NON-CLINTON MALE POL, GOP-DEM-NONALIGNED, ONLY HAS CIRCA FOUR YEARS TO SERVE AS POTUS before 2020. Even presuming that Hillary runs only as VPOTUS for 2008, given that their strategic agenda remains the discreditation and destruction of the USA for Socialism and OWG, whom really believes that Hillary will accept being second-fiddle to her POTUS running mate, or that she will make no effort to suborn and destroy the credibility of her fellow Democrat and running mate. BUSH, ET AL. MUST "FAIL", AS MUST KERRY AND DEAN, ET AL., BY ANY EACH AND ALL MEANS NECESSARY, HOWEVER LAWFUL ANDOR UNLAWFUL! AND JUST IN CASE THE CLINTONS FAIL, RUSSIA-CHINA ARE MODERNIZING AND PREPPING THEIR ARMED FORCES AND NUCLEAR ARSENALS TO WAGE GLOBAL NUCLEAR WAR SCENARIOS AGS THE USA, AND ONLY THE USA, BTWN 2015-2018 - UNTIL THEN, THE GOALS OF INTERNATIONAL, NOW GLOBAL, LEFTISM-SOCIALISM-COMMUNISM-PROGRESSIVE BELONGS TO THE SUPER-PC CLINTONS, AND CHINA'S 00,000,000-MAN CONVENTIONAL ARMIES AND RESERVES, TO INCLUDE RADICAL ISLAM AND ANTI-AMERICAN ISLAM.
Last paragraph of a story on airstrike on Abu Sayyaf camp: Abu Sayyaf is also having to deal with another problem: A significant number of bounty hunters are after its leader, Khadaffy Janjalani. Whoever gets him collects $5 million from the United States government. The $5 million is awarded for information that leads to Mr. Janjalani being arrested or "neutralized" (presumably in a lethal way). Not bad money for dropping a dime on a terrorist, and very tempting in a country where per capita income is $4,600 a year.
$5M will buy a lot of gunnies in the PI.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/22/2004 9:55:50 AM ||
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The should subcontract the lot of them. Say their top 50 leaders, with an average of $50K bounty on each. A very cost effective way of doing business.
The Moro Islamic liberation Front (MILF) filed a protest over the weekend with Malaysian peace monitors over military's alleged violation of cease-fire agreement when it launched an aerial assault on suspected members of Abu Sayyaf and Jema'ah Islamiyah in Maguindanao. MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said in a telephone interview on Sunday that they filed the protest as members of Malaysian-led international monitoring team who were in Mindanao to oversee the government-MILF July 19, 2003 bilateral truce visited the site of bombardment in Sitio Panan, barangay Nimao in Datu Piang town. Kabalu said there was no Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militants in the area, but admitted an MILF rebel was wounded in the attack. "We are not harboring terrorists. The area where military bombs landed is an MILF area," Kabalu explained. "We have no exact figure but hundreds of families have been forced to evacuate because they were afraid of the bombings," he added.
In a statement, MILF-CCCH (Coordinating Committee for the Cessation of Hostilities) chairman Benjie Midtimbang described the assault as the "usual pretext whenever the military wants to violate the cease-fire." Midtimbang recalled that a similar incident occurred when the lair of Tahir Alonto of the Pentagon Gang was attacked on August 13, this year. Military officials said they have notified the MILF about of the aerial assault, but Midtimbang denied it. However, Kabalu said there was a notice from the military but it reached them an hour after the military started bombing the area. "We don't want the incident to escalate that's why we filed a complaint. It's now in the CCCH. They will investigate the matter," Kabalu said. The assault left at least ten suspected members of JI and Abu Sayyaf dead.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 1:06:48 AM ||
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The Philippine military has killed up to 10 people in an air raid on a suspected meeting between the Abu Sayyaf kidnap gang and Jemaah Islamiyah extremists, a senior military official said Saturday. But the claim was denied by a spokesman for the country's main Muslim separatist group who charged that the attack had hit members of his organization in violation of a ceasefire in place with the government.
There's a difference?
Four MG-520 helicopters and two OV-10 planes blasted two houses in the marshlands of the southern province of Maguindanao on Friday, where about 50 Abu Sayyaf members were believed meeting with two Indonesian Jemaah Islamiyah members, said regional military chief Major General Raul Relano. As many as 10 bodies were seen floating in the marsh waters after the attack but it could not be confirmed if they were Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiyah members, Relano said.
"They were definitely polluting the swamp, though..."
Two Huey helicopters tried to land troops in the area but could not touch down due to the deep water, he said, and this had forced the military to resort to airstrikes due to the difficulty of entering the marsh by foot. One Huey helicopter was slightly damaged by return fire, the general said. Relano said the attack in the central part of the main southern island of Mindanao did not violate a ceasefire in place between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the main Muslim separatist group in the country. However a spokesman for the front, Eid "Lipless Eddie" Kabalu, said that the attacks hit a gathering of MILF fighters who were picking daisies for their Moms and that no Abu Sayyaf or Jemaah Islamiyah members were at the site during the air strike. One Moro Islamic Liberation Front fighter was wounded in the attack, forcing the rebels to fire back, he added. Kabalu said the incident had been reported to a joint ceasefire monitoring committee and that an international monitoring team, made up of Malaysian and Brunei security personnel, would be asked to investigate the incident.
"Soon's we get those stiffs outta the swamp..."
Military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Bienvenido Pascual said the air strike was prompted by reliable military intelligence reports that Abu Sayyaf chieftains Khadaffy Janjalani and Isnilon Hapilon were meeting in the area with suspected Jemaah Islamiyah members led by Mike Usman. While some defense officials have accused rebel commanders of sheltering Jemaah Islamiyah members in violation of the ceasefire, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front has consistently denied this.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 1:08:37 AM ||
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Aaah Jamah Islamiah - these are the monkeys responsible for the bali bombings & the j.w mariott hotel in Indonesia.
The Australian Government has been preparing to destroy them.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/22/2004 3:11 Comments ||
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Suspected Abu Sayyaf bandits snatched a government doctor in Parang town on Friday, military and police authorities said on Saturday. Brigadier General Agustin Dema-ala, commander of the military's Task Force Comet based in Sulu province, said Alberio Canda was taken from the municipal health office in Parang, where he had been staying, at around 10 p.m. It was not clear why the Abu Sayyaf abducted Canda, Dema-ala said.
He's a infidel and a "collaborator", for starters.
Peter Canda, the victim's cousin, said the physician had no known enemies. "We have no idea why he was kidnapped," Peter, who works for a local radio station, said.
And his cousin works for a radio station; free publicity.
But Chief Superintendent Vidal Querol, commander of the Western Mindanao Area Police Office (Wapo) based in Zamboanga City, said Canda could have been "snatched to treat wounded outlaws."
Sounds like a fair guess to me.
Dema-ala said soldiers have already been dispatched to track down the suspects and to rescue the physician. Farah Omar, Sulu provincial health officer, said he was saddened and angered by the incident. "We are already facing difficulties because of lack of doctors and now, one of our colleagues had been kidnapped. We hope he would not be harmed," the doctor said. Omarbasha Lucman, president of the Philippine College of Surgeons-Northern Mindanao chapter, said that "when [doctors are kidnapped], we can't encourage them to practice in Mindanao, particularly in remote areas."
Way to go, Abu Sayyaf. Why not run off all the doctors, not just most of them?
In Maguindanao province, gunmen seized and later freed the son of a village official in Datu Piang town, also on Friday. Superintendent Medior Midpantao, provincial police chief, identified the victim as Datu Siswali. Midpantao said Datu Piang Mayor Shamer Uy quickly intervened and convinced the captors to free the victim.
A large sack of cash can be very convincing.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 5:05:24 PM ||
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...On Sunday insurgents ambushed a convoy of National Guards in the flashpoint city of Ramadi, west of Falluja, killing at least eight and wounding 18. Meanwhile, US military officials issued a statement on another incident in Ramadi, in which US soldiers fired on a civilian bus, killing at least seven people and wounding 11. A US Marines spokesman said the bus had failed to stop at a checkpoint, even after warning shots, and the Americans had then opened fire for their own protection. In the northern city of Mosul, US troops found at least two more bodies a day after discovering the corpses of nine men shot in the back of the head. All are believed to be Iraqi soldiers killed by insurgents...
Since the shooting in the mosque, I've been haunted that I have not been able to tell you directly what I saw or explain the process by which the world came to see it as well. As you know, I'm not some war-zone tourist with a camera who doesn't understand that ugly things happen in combat. I've spent most of the last five years covering global conflict. But I have never in my career been a "gotcha" reporter -- hoping for people to commit wrongdoings so I can catch them at it.
This week I've even been shocked to see myself painted as some kind of anti-war activist. Anyone who has seen my reporting on television or has read my dispatches is fully aware of the lengths I've gone to play it straight down the middle -- not to become a tool of propaganda for the left or the right. But I find myself a lightning rod for controversy in reporting what I saw occur in front of me, camera rolling. It's time you have the facts from me, in my own words, about what I saw -- without imposing on that Marine -- guilt or innocence or anything in between. I want you to read my account and make up your own minds about whether you think what I did was right or wrong. All the other armchair analysts don't mean a damn to me. Here it goes.
Nov. 13, 2004
It's Saturday morning and we're still at our strong point from the night before, a clearing between a set of buildings on the southern edge of the city. The advance has been swift, but pockets of resistance still exist. In fact, we're taking sniper fire from both the front and the rear. Weapons Company uses its 81's (mortars) where they spot muzzle flashes. The tanks do some blasting of their own. By mid-morning, we're told we're moving north again. We'll be back clearing some of the area we passed yesterday. There are also reports that the mosque, where 10 insurgents were killed and five wounded on Friday, may have been re-occupied overnight. I decide to leave you guys and pick up with one of the infantry squads as they move house-to-house back toward the mosque. (For their own privacy and protection I will not name or identify in any way, any of those I was traveling with during this incident.)
Many of the structures are empty of people -- but full of weapons. Outside one residence, a member of the squad lobs a frag grenade over the wall. Everyone piles in, including me. While the Marines go into the house, I follow the flames caused by the grenade into the courtyard. When the smoke clears, I can see through my viewfinder that the fire is burning beside a large pile of anti-aircraft rounds. I yell to the lieutenant that we need to move. Almost immediately after clearing out of the house, small explosions begin as the rounds cook off in the fire. At that point, we hear the tanks firing their 240-machine guns into the mosque. There's radio chatter that insurgents inside could be shooting back. The tanks cease fire and we file through a breach in the outer wall. Read the rest at the link. Interesting if all true. Either way in my gut I still think F*ck You Kevin Sites, F*ck You very much.
#1
Sites is a scumbag, he knew exactly what he was doing when he released that tape to the pool. There is a saving grace here however, this didn't happen prior to the election so its not being beaten to death by the MSM, and being made out to be the worst thing to happen in the history of warfare since Mai Lai.
That may be just enough to get that Marine quietly back to his unit.
From now on I would recommend the last security round fired during any action be into the embeds' camera.
I could go on and on about how the city was taken but one of the most amazing aspects to the fighting was that we saw virtually no civilians during the battle. Only after the fighting had passed did a few come out of their homes. They were provided food and water and most were evacuated out of the city. At least 90-95% of the people were gone from the city when we attacked.
I will end with a couple of stories of individual heroism that you may not have heard yet. I was told about both of these incidents shortly after they occurred. No doubt some of the facts will change slightly but I am confident that the meat is correct.
The first is a Marine from 3/5. His name is Corporal Yeager (Chuck Yeager's grandson). As the Marines cleared and apartment building, they got to the top floor and the point man kicked in the door. As he did so, an enemy grenade and a burst of gunfire came out. The explosion and enemy fire took off the point man's leg. He was then immediately shot in the arm as he lay in the doorway. Corporal Yeager tossed a grenade in the room and ran into the doorway and into the enemy fire in order to pull his buddy back to cover. As he was dragging the wounded Marine to cover, his own grenade came back through the doorway. Without pausing, he reached down and threw the grenade back through the door while he heaved his buddy to safety. The grenade went off inside the room and Cpl Yeager threw another in. He immediately entered the room following the second explosion. He gunned down three enemy all within three feet of where he stood and then let fly a third grenade as he backed out of the room to complete the evacuation of the wounded Marine. You have to understand that a grenade goes off within 5 seconds of having the pin pulled. Marines usually let them "cook off" for a second or two before tossing them in. Therefore, this entire episode took place in less than 30 seconds.
#5
The bravery and effectiveness of our troops cannot be understated. We all must do our best to spread the word of their accomplishments and bestow on them the honour they so richly deserve. God bless them all.
#6
Extraordinary. Is there any institution in our society that is more competent, better led, has more integrity, is more progressive, meritocratic, talent-rich, than our professional military? God bless them.
#8
Jules, it is training. Constant, unrelenting and harsh training. Psychologically - the fear of failure and not wanting to let your buddy down can go a long way to make a young man do the extraordinary. Love of your fellow Marine is a huge motivator.
Aid workers fled into bush areas Monday to escape fierce clashes in Sudan's Darfur region before being rescued by an African Union helicopter and flown to safety, U.N. and aid agency officials said. Kate Haiff, Sudan country director for Save The Children, UK, said 20 workers for her organization and some other people were airlifted from the Tawilla area, in North Darfur state, where fighting between rebels and Arab militia has raged since Sunday.
You must be mistaken Kate. The UN fixed this last week, didn't you get the memo?
"Our staff have been evacuated by helicopter and are arriving in (North Darfur's capital of) Al-Fasher," Haiff said during a telephone interview with The Associated Press in Egypt. U.N. spokesman in Khartoum, George Somerwill, said 45 people were airlifted to safety by an African Union helicopter after fleeing fighting Monday in Tawilla. "They ran into the bush while there was fighting and were rescued by an African Union helicopter," Somerwill told the AP. Somerwill said a tribal dispute over livestock sparked the clashes and resulted in rebel South Liberation Army forces attacking government-allied Arab militia known as the Janjaweed. African Union monitors said six civilians were killed during the clashes, which followed a cease-fire deal signed between rebels and the Sudanese government on Nov. 9 in Nigeria.
Lasted a week and a half, not bad by African standards
Posted by: Steve ||
11/22/2004 12:30:28 PM ||
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So, aid workers are sent to help the people in the ME and Africa, who we are regularly told turn to terror and barbaric violence because of poverty, hunger and helplessness; but when the aid workers try to help the people, they are threatened or killed outright.
Royal Marines are surprising suspects with 'eagle' checkpoints
Swoops from the air on suspicious cars and "baiting" would-be suicide bombers to flush them out are among new tactics being used by UK troops in Iraq. Troops have replaced their "softly- softly" approach with tactics previously used in Northern Ireland.
Since the Black Watch's controversial redeployment in October to Camp Dogwood - 20 miles (32km) south of Baghdad - troops have been reviewing their approach. According to BBC correspondent David Loyn, who is embedded with Black Watch troops, soldiers have now been acting as the "tethered goat" and trying to encourage an attack on one of their own Warrior fighting vehicles to trap insurgents. And Royal Marines from Taunton-based 40 Commando are using surprise raids from the air to check suspects on desert roads around the base. Arriving in helicopters, the marines spend no longer than 20 minutes on the ground, stopping and searching vehicles. As soon as they land, troops take position along the route and approaching vehicles are ordered to stop up to 100 yards (90 metres) away. The occupants are then ordered to walk forward, away from their vehicles and with their hands on their heads, and are searched.
The "eagle" checkpoints have been launched to avoid fixed, ground-based checkpoints which have attracted suicide attacks on British troops in recent weeks. Senior officers also believe the tactic could have a psychological effect on insurgents travelling by road. It has been brought into the area around Camp Dogwood after being used successfully around the British-controlled area of Basra, in the south. Sgt Leigh Anderson, of 40 Commando, said that unlike static checkpoints, suicide bombers were unable to locate and attack troops this way. "Each time we set down a couple of cars maximum and then we're off again. "It suggest an uncertainty to where we are and denies them freedom of movement. "This is the kind of thing that used to be done in Northern Ireland all the time. The main difference is that there you could pull a suspicious vehicle off the road and let the traffic go by. "Here, these guys are willing to just drive it straight into you."
Posted by: Bulldog ||
11/22/2004 10:25:10 AM ||
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That ol' South Armagh feeling. Get into 'em boys.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
11/22/2004 11:35 Comments ||
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adapt and overcome!
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/22/2004 12:09 Comments ||
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These are tactics adapted from the Vietnam War, where GI's would use their airmobility to set up ambushes along various trails, and then get choppered out at a rendezvous point.
Gunmen on Monday assassinated a member of an influential Sunni clerics' group that has called for a boycott of national elections, just a day after Iraqi officials announced the balloting would be held Jan. 30 in spite of rising violence in Iraq. Sheik Faidh Mohamed Amin al-Faidhi, a member of the Learned Elders of Islam (TM)Association of Muslim Scholars, was shot by gunmen at his home in northern Mosul [end reporting, commence handwringing] a sign of the continuing violence that wracks the country. The slaying could further alienate Iraq's Sunni Arab minority ahead of the Jan. 30 election. The association is already calling for a boycott of the vote, and if many Sunni heed its call, the legitimacy of the election could be deeply undermined.
Posted by: Seafarious ||
11/22/2004 10:30:55 AM ||
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#1
It should have been 'one fewer scholar'.
Of course this assumes that you can count them and also inplicitly that they actually are scholars.
#3
"the legitimacy of the election could be deeply undermined"
This "legitimacy" game is the favorite canard of the LLL these days. People are not required to vote. If they're stupid enough not to vote then that is their choice. Remember what a choice is, AP? 'Tis Freedom. Use it or lose it.
#4
I told you this would be the next MSM Meme du Jour: "Iraqi Elections Won't Be Held on Time". You mean they will be held on time? OK, change to "Iraqi Elections Illegitimate." you mean they will be accepted by 80%+ of the public? OK, change to "Shi'a Are Disenfranchising the Sunni." And on we go... La Resistance Continue
#6
.com, yeah... it's ridiculous. Whenever the LLL are proven wrong they resort to saying that the event that proved them wrong was "without legitimacy" and therefore they are not wrong and can never be proven to be wrong. Bush won? Election had no legitimacy. Afghan elections? No legitimacy. Iraqi elections? No legitimacy.
They figured out a new way to avoid facing reality. In a way you have to admire their ingenuity.
#9
After the elections go off successfully and there is no oppression or witch-hunt against the sunnis, the MSM will try "Iraq A US Puppet Used for Forward Bases" (heard it on the Diane Rehm show this am).
#13
The assassination of the Sheikh could also have been one targeted by US forces, under cover of the everyday chaos, and apparently random violence, of Iraq. One band of masked gunmen pretty much looks like any other band. Practically everyone carries and knows how to use an AK-47.
#15
Seafarious, lex, .com, and others, great work here.
I was intending to post the article myself, focusing on the "deeply" undermined bit. The goalposts-on-wheels are indeed being worked til they wear out by the media and enemies of progress. Lex nailed it.
Buwaya, I was wondering the same thing about the deceased. My initial reaction to this -- aside from normal human revulsion at violence, of course -- is contained glee.
The Iraq situation is above all else a nasty civil war in which only one side has as yet had the spine to be nasty. I can't see how the controlling elites of many Sunni areas will ever be pacified or bought off -- they'll have to be killed or intimidated. The spirit of Sunni chauvinism has to be crushed. A whole lot of targeted killings like this one would be a good start.
The elections can take place, and much of the country can get moving, even as things are today, but for things to really kick into gear I think the "resistance" ring-leaders are going to have to cower in fear for themselves and their families. Iraq will be solidly on track when the Sunni trouble-makers, not the Iraqi police or military, live in fear.
#16
Seen it before. It was simply comical when the MSM applied the moving goalpost approach to Afghanistan: Elections won't happen, elections are happening but are a farce (invisible ink didn't work!!!!), winners are disenfranchising the losers, afghan is a narco-state, never mind.
The former police chief of Mosul has been arrested for allegedly allowing insurgents to take over police stations during an uprising in the northern city, a senior official said Monday. Brig. Gen. Mohammed Kheiri Barhawi was arrested Sunday by Kurdish militia in Irbil, where he fled after he was fired in the wake of the uprising, deputy Gov. Khasro Gouran said. Gouran said Barhawi will be handed over to the Iraqi Interior Ministry within the next few days. U.S. and Iraqi forces regained control of Mosul following the uprising, which American officials believe may have been launched in support of insurgents in Fallujah, which was overrun by U.S. and Iraqi forces this month.
Posted by: Steve ||
11/22/2004 8:56:23 AM ||
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I note that AP declined to indicate Barhawi's ethnicity and flavor of Islam... I doubt that this is an oversight. Since he seems to have given some measure of approval, tacit or otherwise, I'm guessing that the Big. Gen designation comes from his days in Saddam's Army or Rev Guard, therefore a reliable Sunni Arab and probably somehow related, lol! If this is true, I have no doubt the Kurd Militia enjoyed their role is capturing this clown. Gooooooood.
The attack on Yusufiyah began at just after eight in the morning. Round after round of rockets, then mortar shells and machine-gun fire racked the US Marines' base, in an intense and unrelenting barrage. A relief patrol ran into a well-prepared ambush. Artillery and air strikes had to be called in, but even after that the battle went on for four more hours. The assault was part of a hidden, and largely unreported, war of attrition taking place in the most dangerous part of Iraq. With Fallujah now, in effect, in American hands, the fighting has moved on to north Babil and the so-called Triangle of Death. About 120 militants are believed to have taken part in the Yusufiyah operation, and the Americans claim to have killed 40 of them. One marine was killed and seven others injured.
Such attacks have become increasingly common, and the scale of action, as well as the body count, is now among the highest in the country. The shadow of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi hangs over this bitter conflict. The US military and Iraqi sources say the Jordanian militant leader has taken refuge in the area after leaving Fallujah. The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) is the American force involved in the operation, with the British Black Watch providing a more defensive, blocking role. Two or three times a week raids are carried out in isolated farms in the hunt for Zarqawi and his senior lieutenants, while firefights take place every day.
The two sides are acutely aware of the strategic significance of the towns of Mahmudiyah, Latifiyah and Yusufiyah and their hinterland. This is the home of the Sunni insurgency and also the routes through which its forces move to carry the war to Ramadi, Mosul, and Baghdad. The area was once, in effect, under insurgent control and was well known for kidnappings as well as frequent attacks on US and government forces. Six weeks ago American forces launched Operation Phantom Fury to clear the area, but attention subsequently moved to Fallujah, and the insurgency is now back with a vengeance. Some of the largest armament factories in the country were located here during Saddam Hussein's time. In two raids yesterday, at Haswah and Musayyib, US Marines and Iraqi National Guard found 100 artillery rounds, surface to air mortars, rockets, grenades, and boxes of Kalashnikov rifles.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 2:09:09 AM ||
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How many of these 'well-trained militia' do you suspect are Syrian or Iranian Army regulars smuggled into Iraq? This mess will continue until we take the fight to the place these people come from. We need to nuke Iran and invade Syria, all at the same time, and watch the shit hit the fan. To do that, we need two additional divisions. Bush needs to start hammering congress for the funds to build, train, and equip those divisions immediately. I don't think we'll lack for volunteers.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
11/22/2004 13:49 Comments ||
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Triangle of Death You say? Is that trademarked?
#3
"The Americans tried to control that area once before and failed. Why do they think they will succeed this time?
Well, we went into Fallujah once before too pal. Heap-o-dead insurgents there now. How's about we do the same to your area. Go Marines/Soldiers. Make it happen and clean up this cesspool.
The United States has advised the Australian Government that it will not agree to release Australian terrorism suspect Mamdouh Habib into the custody of Egyptian authorities. Egypt is reportedly seeking custody of five Guantanamo Bay detainees. The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs (DFAT) says it is aware that Egypt considers Mr Habib to be one of its nationals. It says US officials have advised them that Habib will not be released to Egypt as he is already listed for trial by a military commission. The US says it is expected that charges will be laid against him shortly.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
11/22/2004 3:16:22 AM ||
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So who gets to shoot the mongrel?
The U.S, Australia or Egypt.
Iraqi authorities set Jan. 30 as the date for the nation's first election since the collapse of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship and pledged that voting would take place throughout the country despite rising violence and calls by Sunni clerics for a boycott. Farid Ayar, spokesman of the Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq, said voting would push ahead even in areas still wracked by violence — including Fallujah, Mosul and other parts of the volatile Sunni Triangle.
The vote for the 275-member National Assembly is seen as a major step toward building democracy after years of Saddam's tyranny. But the violence, which has escalated this month with the U.S.-led offensive against Fallujah, has raised fears voting will be nearly impossible in insurgency-torn regions — or that Sunni Arabs, angry at the U.S.-Iraqi crackdown, will reject the election. If either takes place, it could undermine the vote's legitimacy. Ayar insisted that ''no Iraqi province will be excluded because the law considers Iraq as one constituency, and therefore it is not legal to exclude any province.''
To bolster Iraq's democracy, 19 creditor nations — including the United States, Japan, Russia and many in Europe — agreed Sunday to write off 80 percent of the $38.9 billion that Iraq owes them. U.S. and Iraqi troops have been clearing the last of the resistance from Fallujah, the main rebel bastion stormed Nov. 8 in hopes of breaking the back of the insurgency before the election. Secretary of State Colin Powell said he believed the battle of Fallujah did ''serious damage'' to the insurgency, adding that ''it remains to be seen how severe it was'' and whether the guerrillas will be able ''to regenerate.''
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 2:37:55 AM ||
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THE group of al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed today it had kidnapped three relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and explained why it decided to release them, an Internet statement said. "Your brothers in the Al-Qaeda Group in the Land of Two Rivers (Iraq) freed Ghazi Allawi with his family because it proved they are not implicated in the apostate government of Allawi," said the statement. It was signed by the group's "information department". Ghazi Allawi, 75, who had been taken hostage on November 10, was released yesterday in Baghdad. He had been captured with his wife and their pregnant daughter-in-law from their house in the capital. The following day, a previously unknown Islamist group claimed responsibility and threatened to behead them within 48 hours unless Mr Allawi halted a major offensive on the rebel enclave of Fallujah and released all prisoners held in Iraq. The two women were released on November 15.
Posted by: tipper ||
11/22/2004 8:29:47 AM ||
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Ghazi Allawi, 75, who had been taken hostage on November 10, was released yesterday in Baghdad. He had been captured with his wife and their pregnant daughter-in-law from their house in the capital.
Aaah soft targets , nothing quite like testing the prowess off your military might .
on a side note , Al-Qaeda Group in the Land of Two Rivers .
Does this mean they have shares options now ? :p , not like they are gonna be floated on the stock market , we all know how they feel about that .
Azam Tariq was great
Writing in Jang, Maulana Muhammad Ahmad Ludhianvi stated that Maulana Azam Tariq of Sipah Sahaba was born in Chichawatni in 1961 to Haji Fateh Muhammad. He was a worker of the great leader Maulana Haq Nawaz Jhangvi who changed the discourse of the clergy with his genius. After Jhangvi, two leaders of Sipah Sahaba, Isarul Qasimi and Ziaur Rehman Farooqi, were killed. Farooqi was killed in 1997 when he was accompanied by Azam Tariq. After that Azam Tariq was called from Karachi to lead Sipah Sahaba. He was elected to parliament and used to instil the fear of God among politicians when he entered the house. It was his vote which gave majority to the government of prime minister Jamali. Azam Tariq was the second mujaddid after Jhangvi. He was killed in 2003 and his killers were not found. Malik Aftab Ahmad Muawiya wrote in daily Pakistan that Azam Tariq graduated in 1984 from Jamia Ulum Islamiya Banuri Town Karachi. His son was named after Caliph Amir Muawiya. After his death, Jhang went into mourning. In all 22 attempts were made on his life.
Stay away from pretty girls, please!
Daily Nawa-e-Waqt reported that when a delegation of Pakistani journalists was about to go to Occupied Kashmir for the first time in history they were taken to the Foreign Office and briefed. One item of this briefing was that if the Indians offer them the hospitality of pretty girls they should spurn it.
Have Al Qaeda will travel
According to Nawa-e-Waqt, a citizen of Multan told the police that a young man who used to come to his house to offer tuition to his children told them that he belonged to Al Qaeda. He thereafter seduced his wife. When he threw him out of the house he rang him up and told him that since he was a member of Al Qaeda the organisation will act against him if he pursued the seduction case with the police.
Indians are ugly!
Well known columnist Abdul Qadir Hassan wrote in Jang that Muslims were the downtrodden of India and were cursing Pakistan for its blunders for which they were having to pay. The world knows poverty line but in India it should be called jughi line where the Muslims lived. India had become rich through propaganda and through statistics but its products were third rate. On the other hand Pakistan was doing better although its statistics were worse. In India the state was rich but the people poor; in Pakistan the state was poor but the people rich. Also Indians were emaciated (sookhay chehray) and ugly while Pakistanis were healthy and good-looking. Governments in Pakistan did nothing for the people but the people flourished because of God's blessing. In the five-star hotel in New Delhi there was not a single good-looking girl employee.
America thinks with Indian mind
Scholar and head of Muqtadara Urdu wrote in Nawa-e-Waqt that America was now thinking with an Indian mind. It was now bent upon forgiving India for its violation of human rights in Kashmir, its flouting of the UN Charter and letting it take advantage of the situation the same way it had in the case of Israel. America was scared of the awakening of the Muslim world and was therefore advancing the imperialism of Israel and India.
PTV cures through Quranic verse
Daily Khabrain reported that a PTV programme showing Sura Rehman from the Holy Quran was curing patients of dangerous diseases like hepatitis and sugar. Producer Shakir Aziz said that he had started the programme on the advice of an elderly person. A doctor stated that after he listened to the verse he lost all feelings of fatigue. After that he noted that patients too were getting better after listening to the holy recitation. Seven hours of listening to the verse every day was sure to cure all diseases while medical science had become helpless.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
11/22/2004 2:14:30 AM ||
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"Stay away from pretty girls, please! "But ugly girls are ok.
"Indians are ugly!"I have a young Hispanic cousin whose feels that all White boys are ugly(unless they have money).But that doesn't make her prejudice(she says).
Britain's top military commander refused to put a deadline on the withdrawal of British soldiers from Iraq and said they may be redeployed to more dangerous parts of the country. "How long we stay there is going to be event driven," General Mike Jackson told Britain's Independent newspaper in an interview published on Monday. "The mission is to provide Iraq with its political and economic future." He raised the prospect of more British soldiers being redeployed from the relative calm of their southern base in and around Basra. Any such move would be deeply unpopular in Britain, where opinion polls suggest most people are against the war in Iraq. British Prime Minister Tony Blair, already facing a backlash over his support for the Iraq war, was criticised in parliament last month for the redeployment of 850 soldiers to a volatile area near Baghdad. The move, attacked by critics for exposing the Black Watch troops to danger levels they have not been used to in the south, freed up US forces for the offensive in the former rebel stronghold Falluja.
This being the definition of leadership as opposed to poll-driven politics.
Jackson said all British operations had been in the Basra area until "this one off deployment", adding: "That is not to say, in the future, there may not be a military requirement of the coalition as a whole for a British unit or units to be elsewhere". Jackson said his troops were fighting a small group opposed to change in Iraq, which is due to hold elections in January. "I believe a pretty small minority of Iraqis with some outside assistance cannot face the idea of progress in Iraq and are prepared to do some pretty revolting things to prevent it," Jackson told the Independent. Â
"As revolting as former MP Galloway, sir?"
"Bite your tongue, boy! Some things are best left unsaid!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
11/22/2004 12:14:51 AM ||
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In one house hung a black banner with the words "One God and Jihad" and a distinctive yellow sun, terrifyingly familiar as the backdrop to videotaped beheadings by the group of that name. In another house there was a wire cage large enough to hold a human and a wall marked with Arabic writing and what appears to be a fingerprint in dried blood. Before the doors to these houses in Falluja were thrown open to two reporters on Sunday, soldiers and intelligence officers had carried away other items from them, handcuffs, shackles, militant propaganda, bayonets, and knives - crusted with what looked like blood and resembling the ones used in the beheadings. A detailed photograph-catalog of the items was shown to the reporters.
American and Iraqi government officials have long said that Falluja was a center of the Iraqi insurgency and a depot where militants held hostages with impunity before the American-led invasion two weeks ago. A tour of the two houses on Sunday represented the first time that American journalists saw direct evidence of the places where the hostages may have been imprisoned and, in some cases, killed in videotaped executions. Even so, there is no way to know for now exactly what happened here. The houses were discovered only a few days ago, and forensic investigators have not yet done DNA testing, analyzed the catalogued items that were removed, or compared this setting with the videos. So it cannot be said for certain that these were the last rooms that foreign or Iraqi hostages saw. But both locations were found through Iraqi informants, one of them someone who said that he had been held hostage in the house with the black banner, American investigators said. They quoted the informant as saying he had heard the voices of at least three hostages in neighboring rooms, including one he believed to be that of Kenneth Bigley, the British engineer decapitated in early October.
The houses are among almost 20 sites discovered over the past two weeks in Falluja where American and Iraqi military officers contend that atrocities were committed. Maj. Jim West, an intelligence officer with the First Marine Expeditionary Force, said the sites included houses where Western hostages appear to have been held and others where insurgents tortured or killed residents to help enforce their rule in the city, some of them basement rooms with bloody handprints on the wall.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 12:26:40 AM ||
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So now with the MSM and the Arab media get a "clue"? Will they FINALLY understand the nature of this beast we are fighting?
#2
I can think of a few individuals who ought to be given a compulsory guided tour of these establishments, and others who should be sent urging invitations. Compulsory for journos like Robert "Allawi killed Margaret Hassan" Fisk (if he ever dares return to Iraq), and other journalists (especially those from Arabic news organisations); invitations for those politicians the world over who demand the coalition pulls out of Iraq before the job's done.
Posted by: Glum T Roll ||
11/22/2004 10:05 Comments ||
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#3
Nice graphic! You just know your Uncle Sam is either a mechanic or a plumber with attiude!
Residents of a village neighbouring Falluja have told Aljazeera that they helped bury the bodies of 73 women and children who were burnt to death by a US bombing attack. "We buried them here, but we could not identify them because they were charred by the use of napalm bombs used by the Americans," said one resident of Saqlawiya in footage aired on Aljazeera on Sunday.
"Yes! I saw it with my own eyes before they were charred from my head!"
"You still have your eyes."
"These are not my eyes! These are my cousin's eyes! They popped from his head when the Americans attacked us with atomic bombs!"
There have been no reports of the US military using napalm in Falluja and no independent verification of the claims.
"It happens all the time! The Mossad hushes it up!"
The resident told Aljazeera all the bodies were buried in a single grave.
"All women. All children. All baby ducks! Not a combatant among them! Oh, the tragedy!"
Late last week, US troops in Falluja called on some residents who had fled the fighting to return and help bury the dead. However, according to other residents who managed to flee the fighting after US forces entered the city, hundreds more bodies still lay in the streets and were being fed on by packs of wild dogs.
"Hiya, Fido! Hungry, little fella?"
"No, thanks. I just gnawed someone."
Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Thingy Cross (ICRTC) said Falluja remained too dangerous to secure proper retrieval and burial of corpses. "We could not enter Falluja city so far due to the security measures and the continuing battles," Muain Qasis, ICRTC spokesman in Jordan, told Aljazeera. When asked about the security measures, Qasis said: "In order to carry out an independent and acceptable humanitarian action, we must have guarantees ensuring the safety of the humanitarian staff. The humanitarian situation in Falluja city is very difficult. The city is still suffering shortage of public services. There is no water or electricity. There is no way to offer medical treatment for the injured families still surrounded inside the city."
"It's like Stalingrad, only worse! Much worse! I was there, I know!"
"In Fallujah?"
"No, in Stalingrad."
"You're... what? 35? 40?"
"I was there recently. With a tour. They showed us everything."
In related news, the US military in Falluja announced that it had released 400 of the 1450 men it had detained in the war-ravaged city. "More than 400 detainees have since been released after being deemed non-combatants," the military said, adding that 100 more were due to be released on Sunday.
Doesn't that mean they're still holding 950 as possible Bad Guyz?
Posted by: Fred ||
11/22/2004 0:01:41 AM ||
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#1
Don't worry your pretty little britches Red Cresent. The Marines will see to it that all the dead Jihadi are sorted, counted and buried. Just do what you are good at, nothing. You can return to Iraq when you actually develop a concern for Iraqis,
Posted by: ed ||
11/22/2004 0:39 Comments ||
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#4
dont think i would spread my garden with that compost Raptor . i dont want radical insurgent daffodils sprouting in the place of my usual flowers . would be gardening pandemonium .
Omar Hadeed, senior aide of Iraq's most wanted man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was wounded in the US-spearheaded assault on Fallujah but was able to return to action, a rebel leader told an AFP correspondent. "If you heard that Omar Hadeed was killed, that is false.
"This is not his ribcage!"
"He was wounded in the arm during the fighting in Jolan (neighbourhood) and then he returned to his place in the battle," said Abu Mohammed, a member of the Mujahedeen Advisory Council which ran Fallujah before last week's offensive. "(Hadeed) was always in Fallujah," Mohammed said, adding that his current location was unknown.
"We think he might be in the Teheran neighborhood of Fallujah, but we're not sure..."
Mohammed spoke with the AFP correspondent on November 13. The correspondent had spent the duration of the fighting with the insurgents and was able to escape the city Thursday, arriving in Baghdad the following day. Another AFP correspondent, Faris Dlimi, was able to leave Fallujah on November 13, five days after US and Iraqi government forces launched their blistering offensive to retake the city from the Sunni Arab insurgents. The London-based daily Asharq Al-Awsat, quoting "informed sources" in Iraq, said Hadeed was a former member of ousted president Saddam Hussein's special guard before joining Osama bin Laden's Al-Qaeda network and training in Afghanistan. He returned to Iraq after US-led forces ousted Afghanistan's hardline Taliban regime in late 2001, the newspaper said, and was one of the rebels' chief leaders in Fallujah. "He carried out the battle of Fallujah," the newspaper said, adding that members of Hadeed's family had been killed in a US raid on their house, conducted two hours after Hadeed had visited. US and Iraqi officials say Zarqawi had also been in Fallujah but has since fled.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 5:12:24 PM ||
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Hadeed was a former member of ousted president Saddam Husseinâs special guard before joining Osama bin Ladenâs Al-Qaeda network and training in Afghanistan. He returned to Iraq after US-led forces ousted Afghanistanâs hardline Taliban regime in late 2001,
Another non-connection between Saddam and bin Laden. Thank you American news bureaus. Way to keep the American public informed.
Posted by: ed ||
11/22/2004 0:26 Comments ||
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#2
The story just below this one makes Hadeed as a Salafi and fugitive, not a member of Saddam's Special Republican Guard. Who the hell knows what's the truth. Can't the news services do a little investigation and come to a conclusion before printing his bio.
Posted by: ed ||
11/22/2004 0:35 Comments ||
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#3
Actually, both accounts are true.
There's a reason he doesn't like to talk about what he did while he was away from Fallujah. Serving as a bodyguard for a Baathist tyrant is not something you exactly advertise to your fellow Salafists.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 0:37 Comments ||
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Thanks Dan. You are worth your weight in beer gold.
Posted by: ed ||
11/22/2004 0:41 Comments ||
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#5
well if he "returned to his place in battle", then he's dead now.
#7
We need to start kicking in the heavy psy-ops now. Showing Hadeed and Zarloonie in contemptuous dress and positions like we did w/Hitler in WWII. The troops would get a laugh and it would piss off the muzzies to no end.
The white flag may be an international symbol of surrender, but in Fallujah it has become another tool of guerrilla war. US marines on a foot patrol this weekend paid little attention to a man walking along the road and holding a white flag - a common sight as the conflict dies down and civilians pop up to scavenge for food and water. But this time, US officers say, as the marines came by, the man dipped into an alley, returned with an AK-47 assault rifle, and sprayed the marines with bullets. Two Americans died, and others were wounded. In a separate incident, marines were lured into an well-coordinated ambush by men with white flags who appeared to signal that they needed help. When marines got close, gunmen began firing from buildings high above.
The attacks expose the new risks in Fallujah as US forces begin shifting in coming days from combat search-and-destroy missions against insurgents, to fighting an enemy that can easily blend into an increasing number of civilians. "I've been telling my marines: We are entering the most dangerous period now - even more dangerous than the breach [into Fallujah] itself," says Capt. Jer Garcia, commander of Bravo Company, 1st Battalion 3rd Marines. "It's too easy to think, 'We're not getting shot at all the time,' and take off flak jackets and [helmets]. Then, 'Wham!' "
So far, the gates of the city have yet to reopen to those who fled before the US assault. Even now, civilians are only permitted onto the streets from 8 a.m. to noon, and then only to collect food and water at distribution points or to take part in a nascent jobs program. Some 300 men visited the Hadra Mohamadiya Mosque Sunday to get supplies - the largest number in a week. During the 20-hour-a-day curfew - an effort to prevent insurgents from coordinating with each other to mount attacks - anyone on the street is arrested. Now US forces are viewing white flags with far more suspicion. "We're going to see these bogus surrender tactics. We're going to see more IEDs (improvised explosive devices). We've found many suicide vests, but I'm sure we have not found them all," says Lt. Col. Michael Ramos, commander of the 1-3 Marines, who control northeast Fallujah.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 0:48:12 AM ||
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Yes the jihadis had new tactics.
However:
1. the Iraqi Govt forces fought much better than they did back in the spring
2. the intel from anti Jihadi civilians and former Jihadis was much, much, much better than in the spring
On the other hand
1. the Jihadis were better armed than they were in the spring
2. the Jihadis had better organization than they had in the spring
The US military said it has discovered close to 20 torture sites in the course of its massive military operation against the insurgency in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. "They had a sick, depraved culture of violence in that city," Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Wilson, from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told reporters at a briefing near the rebel city. "It looks like we found a number of houses," where torture took place, said intelligence officer Major Jim West. The US officers said the number of torture sites was "close to 20".
The marines believe they found some of the houses where foreign hostages were held. Among them were the homes where British engineer Kenneth Bigley and his two US colleagues, Jack Hensley and Eugene "Jack" Armstrong, were executed after being kidnapped in mid-September. Activities at the nearly 20 "atrocity sites" included "murder and torture", West said, as he showed slides of bloodstained walls and floors. "These thugs depended on fear and intimidation," West said, adding "hostages have been found chained to walls in some incidents."
An AFP correspondent embedded with a marine unit saw 27 bodies that appeared to have been executed during the course the assault on Fallujah, and a prison inside a home where two mentally retarded men had been held and two corpses were found. Fallujah residents also told AFP about summary executions in the city, but the military's claims could not be verified independently as the city remained off-limits to foreign journalists during the onslaught. West also said close to 50 mosques had been used by insurgents for storing weapons and that nine bomb-making facilities had been discovered. Meanwhile, the marines stressed there were no plans to scale back their troop size in Fallujah although one 600-strong army task force from the 1st Infantry Division was to leave the city in a few days. "We will not scale back forces until such time when the security situation allows it," said Wilson, adding that house-clearing was still going on in Fallujah.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 4:45:48 PM ||
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Pakistani troops have destroyed militant training camps and seized a big quantity of weapons during an anti-terrorism operation in a remote tribal region near Afghanistan, the military said Sunday. Skipping past the primer on Abdullah Mehsud.
Troops seized a vehicle used by the militant but the man himself had escaped the hunt so far, the military said in a statement. Troops also found a cache of arms including 1,000 grenades, 340 landmines, 748 rockets, 56 assault rifles and a huge quantity of ammunition, it said.
That was gonna be one heckuva wedding party, lemme tell you...
And they "dismantled a firing range and other training facilities which were used for bomb making and use of firearms," it said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 4:50:03 PM ||
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Pakistani security forces have captured a top Al-Qaeda member wanted in connection with attacks across the country and a failed attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, an official said. Osama Nazir was caught in the industrial city of Faisalabad in central Punjab province on Tuesday, a top security official said. "He is the most important Pakistani Al-Qaeda operative who was facilitating foreign Al-Qaeda operatives for attacks in Pakistan," the official, who demanded anonymity, said. "He is a prized catch and was a main link between foreign Al-Qaeda operatives and local groups." Officials said that Nazir lead a group of 24 rebels and that he had helped Amjad Farooqi, Al-Qaeda's senior operative in Pakistan, in planning the December 25 bid on Musharraf's life. After his death, Nazir took over Farooqi's position in Pakistan and he was operating with the two most wanted Al-Qaeda members, Abu Faraj Farj, a Libyan and Abu Hamza, an Egyptian.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 4:44:05 PM ||
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U.S.-led troops mounted overnight raids on suspected al-Qaeda compounds in eastern Afghanistan, killing four people and detaining several others, officials said Sunday. The U.S. military said "several Arab fighters" were among the suspects killed or detained in the operation in Nangarhar province, although a local official said only Afghans survived. Lt. Gen. David Barno, the commander of the 18,000 mainly U.S. troops in Afghanistan, said rebels including al-Qaeda fighters were still slipping in from Pakistan. "There's continued infiltration back and forth on both sides of the border," he said in an interview after inaugurating a new U.S. base supposed to foster reconstruction in the troubled border area. American and Pakistani forces on either side of the frontier "work very closely ... to reduce that infiltration and strike back at the terrorists when they do come back and forth," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 4:36:05 PM ||
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In this context, does "Arab" still mean "Muslim male from outside this country"?
At least 15 militants were killed in Mosul in a US-led effort to root out insurgency in Iraq, but fresh violence broke out in the heart of Baghdad when gunmen attacked police targets. A force of about 400 newly-trained Iraqi commandos staged an overnight raid into the Old City of Mosul, the third largest town in Iraq and the country's northern capital. The target was thought to be a meeting place for insurgents who have wreaked havoc in the city in recent weeks, raiding police stations and precipitating a major US-Iraqi offensive involving thousands of troops. "We are finding the (insurgent) pockets with Iraqis, and going and asking them to come out and fight," said Colonel Robert Brown, a senior US military commander in Mosul. "Every time they fight, we will kill a lot of them." He said 15 rebels had been killed and 45 other suspects detained in joint operations throughout the city over the past 24 hours.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
11/22/2004 4:52:23 PM ||
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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.
Russian law enforcement officials have detained the leader of a terrorist cell from the international 
Osama bin Laden has been actively involved in the terrorist insurgency in Chechnya since 1995, sending al-Qaida agents to the North Caucasus and sponsoring Chechen rebels, according to a declassified U.S. intelligence report released by Judicial Watch, a U.S. public corruption watchdog, late last week. Bin Laden sent Jordanian-born warlord 
The Philippine military has killed up to 10 people in an air raid on a suspected meeting between the 
The attack on Yusufiyah began at just after eight in the morning. Round after round of rockets, then mortar shells and machine-gun fire racked the US Marines' base, in an intense and unrelenting barrage. A relief patrol ran into a well-prepared ambush. Artillery and air strikes had to be called in, but even after that the battle went on for four more hours. The assault was part of a hidden, and largely unreported, war of attrition taking place in the most dangerous part of Iraq. With Fallujah now, in effect, in American hands, the fighting has moved on to north Babil and the so-called Triangle of Death. About 120 militants are believed to have taken part in the Yusufiyah operation, and the Americans claim to have killed 40 of them. One marine was killed and seven others injured.
THE group of al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed today it had kidnapped three relatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi and explained why it decided to release them, an Internet statement said. "Your brothers in the Al-Qaeda Group in the Land of Two Rivers (Iraq) freed Ghazi Allawi with his family because it proved they are not implicated in the apostate government of Allawi," said the statement. It was signed by the group's "information department". Ghazi Allawi, 75, who had been taken hostage on November 10, was released yesterday in Baghdad. He had been captured with his wife and their pregnant daughter-in-law from their house in the capital. The following day, a previously unknown Islamist group claimed responsibility and threatened to behead them within 48 hours unless Mr Allawi halted a major offensive on the rebel enclave of Fallujah and released all prisoners held in Iraq. The two women were released on November 15.
In one house hung a black banner with the words "One God and Jihad" and a distinctive yellow sun, terrifyingly familiar as the backdrop to videotaped beheadings by the group of that name. In another house there was a wire cage large enough to hold a human and a wall marked with Arabic writing and what appears to be a fingerprint in dried blood. Before the doors to these houses in Falluja were thrown open to two reporters on Sunday, soldiers and intelligence officers had carried away other items from them, handcuffs, shackles, militant propaganda, bayonets, and knives - crusted with what looked like blood and resembling the ones used in the beheadings. A detailed photograph-catalog of the items was shown to the reporters.
Residents of a village neighbouring Falluja have told Aljazeera that they helped bury the bodies of 73 women and children who were burnt to death by a US bombing attack. "We buried them here, but we could not identify them because they were charred by the use of napalm bombs used by the Americans," said one resident of Saqlawiya in footage aired on Aljazeera on Sunday.
The US military said it has discovered close to 20 torture sites in the course of its massive military operation against the insurgency in the Iraqi city of Fallujah. "They had a sick, depraved culture of violence in that city," Lieutenant Colonel Daniel Wilson, from the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, told reporters at a briefing near the rebel city. "It looks like we found a number of houses," where torture took place, said intelligence officer Major Jim West. The US officers said the number of torture sites was "close to 20".
Pakistani security forces have captured a top Al-Qaeda member wanted in connection with attacks across the country and a failed attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, an official said. 
