The Bank of England has frozen funds linked to a prominent Saudi dissident accused of links to al-Qaeda. Saad al-Faqih, who heads the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (Mira), is accused by the UN of ties to the terror organisation. He denies the claims. UK financial institutions have been told not to release Mira's assets. The Treasury said it had "reasonable grounds" for suspecting the group was acting on behalf of Mr al-Faqih, who lives in exile in London. A Treasury spokeswoman said: "The Chancellor today instructed the Bank of England, acting as HM Treasury's agent, to direct all UK financial institutions to freeze any funds held for or on behalf of the entity the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia immediately."
... Kudos, UK! Now expect some tit-for-tat moves. They are Saudis, after all.
Posted by: .com ||
12/26/2004 4:01:03 AM ||
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Authorities on Saturday announced the arrest of two additional suspects in an attack on bus that killed 28 passengers and wounded 14, while thousands of soldiers searched for more of the gunmen and families buried the victims. Six children and 22 adults died Thursday when suspected gang members wielding assault rifles cornered a city bus in the San Pedro Sula suburb of Chamelecon, 125 miles north of the capital, Tegucigalpa, and sprayed it with gunfire. The attack on a busload of commuters and Christmas shoppers stunned a country known for lawlessness and has made the government's anti-crime campaign resemble an open war between street gangs and authorities.
Services for the victims were held under sunny skies on Christmas Day, as about 2,000 soldiers combed the slums and outskirts of San Pedro Sula for those responsible. Suspected gang member Alexis Ramirez, 23, was arrested in San Pedro shortly after the attack while driving a car containing two assault rifles, two pistols and ammunition, officials said. Authorities said Saturday that two suspected gang members arrested in Cofradia, about 10 miles east of San Pedro, have been linked to the attack. "We are not revealing more details for the moment to avoid interfering with the investigations," said Honduran Security Minister Oscar Alvarez. "But we have concrete leads that soon with clear up the killings." Deputy Police Commissioner Wilmer Torres said Ramirez is a member of the Mara Salvatrucha, a ruthless youth gang known for committing shock killings, and that the car he drove resembled a car at the scene of the attack.
In a message left on the bus' windshield Thursday, the gunmen said they were part of a revolutionary group opposed to the death penalty, one of the main campaign issues in next year's presidential campaign. The message also threatened congressional President Porfirio Lobo Sosa, a death penalty supporter and one of four contenders for the ruling National Party's 2005 presidential nomination.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 10:54:19 AM ||
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#1
the gunmen said they were part of a revolutionary group opposed to the death penalty
So they killed 28 innocent people.
Talk about "unclear on the concept"....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
12/26/2004 12:13 Comments ||
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#2
Maybe they're lobbying for the "Death by Torture" campaign.
Marxist rebels have abducted at least eight Colombian tourists celebrating Christmas at a lakeside spa in the northwest, officials said Saturday. Fighters of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, raided a cluster of bungalows late Friday near San Rafael, 140 miles northwest of Bogota, and herded between 8 to 10 vacationers into vehicles, Jorge Mejia, deputy governor of Antioquia state, told The Associated Press. "Unfortunately, witnesses did not report the kidnapping to authorities until late today, so the guerrillas have had plenty of time to reach their hideouts deep in the mountains," Mejia said.
He said army troops and police supported by helicopters are searching the region. The abduction came despite the deployment of tens of thousands of security forces to safeguard highways and popular tourist spots during the busy holiday season.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 10:12:39 AM ||
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Russian authorities have arrested 12 suspected members of the banned Hizbi Tahrir radical Islamic group, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said on Saturday. "Twelve active Hizbi Tahrir members who are wanted in several countries have been detained in the Russian Federation," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He said they had been detained in various locations, notably the mainly Muslim Russian republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, as well as the Moscow region. The minister did not elaborate on the nationalities of the detainees or when the arrests had taken place, but he said joint operations against Hizbi Tahrir were continuing in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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MADRID: Spain's Civil Guard has arrested a fourth suspected Islamic militant in the northeastern region of Catalonia, believed to be linked to others accused of trying to buy explosives last week, local media reported on Saturday. A Civil Guard spokesman declined to comment and Interior Ministry officials were not available. Three Moroccans were detained in the Barcelona area on Wednesday suspected of links to "international Islamist terrorism networks", the Interior Ministry said. The latest arrest, part of a crackdown on suspected militants in Spain in the wake of the March 11 train bombings, took place on Friday, state radio reported. The suspect's flat was searched and several documents seized by police before he was transferred to Madrid, where he will be questioned by a judge in the coming days, reports said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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PARIS: A French judge has widened a probe into the financial network surrounding the family of Osama Bin Laden after questioning his half-brother and learning of a 241 million euro transfer to Pakistan, Le Monde daily said. Investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke received court authorisation to extend his investigation after Yeslam Bin Laden was questioned on September 27 over allegations of links with the organisers of attacks in 2001 in the US, the paper said in its Saturday edition. As a result, Van Ruymbeke was adding "other instances of money laundering" to the probe already under way, Le Monde said. The court was unreachable for comment on Saturday. On December 5, 2001, French authorities opened an investigation into financial transfers carried out through Paris between firms grouped within the Saudi Investment Company (SICO) run by Yeslam Bin Laden, who also manages some assets of the family's Saudi Binladin Group (SBG).
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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#1
There are many things the French do that drive us to cold anger or gibbering madness (or both!) but this is one thing they do well when one of their investigating magistrates puts his mind to it.
#2
my cynical mind also notes this would help deflect oil-for-Saddam-bribes criticism
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2004 9:19 Comments ||
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#3
Yeslam Bin Ladin is the former husband of Carmen Bin Ladin, the author of Inside the Kingdom: My Life in Saudi Arabia. I read the book last week. She indicates that their marriage broke up largely because he became kind of mentally ill. He became distracted, paranoid. Something went wrong with him mentally, but it wasn't clear (at least to this reader) exactly what went wrong.
In light of this posting, I wonder if he was being extorted to divert family money to Osama Bin Laden.
Although Yeslam was the tenth son, he was the best educated and the most capable for the management of the family business. His role in the family business is therefore somewhat disproportionately large in relation to his family ranking.
Yeslam seems to be a relatively decent man, as his wife desribes him. He studied in the USA, and he admired this country. When he returned to Saudi Arabia, he hoped and expected that his own country would reform in the coming years. Developments turned in the wrong decision, however, beginning in 1979, when the Shah of Iran was overthrown and the mosque in Mecca was briefly captured by religious radicals. The Saudi royal family then allowed its conservative religious leaders much more of a free hand.
Anyway, that's how Carmen Bin Laden recounts the events.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
12/26/2004 14:00 Comments ||
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#4
so you read an ex-wife's tell all and divined an extortion attempt. Nice sleuthing MS
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2004 14:11 Comments ||
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TEHRAN: Iran's air force has been ordered to shoot down any unidentified or suspicious flying objects in Iran's airspace, an air force spokesman said on Saturday, amid state-media reports of sightings of flying objects near Iran's nuclear installations. "All anti-aircraft units and jet fighters have been ordered to shoot down the flying objects over Iran's airspace," spokesman of the Regular Army Air Force Colonel Salman Mahini said.
I'll bet the Iranian AA forces are almost as good as the ones Sammy had.
Is it duck season again already? Hope Khameini forgot to renew his permit this year.
Flying object fever has gripped Iran after dozens of reported sightings in the summer and in recent weeks. State-run media has reported sightings of unidentified objects flying over parts of Iran where nuclear facilities are located. "The unidentified flying objects could be satellites, comets or spying or reconnaissance crafts trying to monitor Iran's nuclear installations," Mahini said. "Flights of unknown objects in the country's airspace have increased in recent weeks ... (they) have been seen over Bushehr and Isfahan provinces," the Resalat newspaper reported on Saturday.
"Krazglek! The Earthlings are becoming more aggressive!"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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#1
By directly challenging the 'fly overs', Iran may get lucky and down one of whatever they are, for their own propaganda purposes (remember the Francis Gary Powers incident with the U2!!). The US and Israel must be cautious now...this ups the ante!
#2
GWB isn't Eisenhower. If the Iranians down a US recon airplane, expect a fair number of mullahs to see a bright, shining light in the heavens for a very brief moment of time.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2004 0:23 Comments ||
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I don't know SW, I suspect Iran may try to copy the Chinese reaction (after the downed EP3 surveillance plane incident)to a manned downed aircraft. If they do take 'hostages' just as the Chinese did, or for that matter, such as they did in the late 70's during the 500+ day hostage ordeal, I'm afraid they may use that 'leverage' to lean "W" over a barrel!
#4
GWB also isn't Carter. If the mullahs haven't figured that out, they will about one day after they take hostages.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2004 0:38 Comments ||
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ordered to shoot down any unidentified or suspicious flying objects in Iranâs airspace
I sure hope all their civilian aircraft have working transponders onboard. If was an airliner pilot, I'd be weary.
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/26/2004 1:01 Comments ||
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If they had been SR-71's they'd be on the ground at Beale and the pilots having coffee by the time the missiles or aircraft reached the reported altitude, assuming they could get there at all. The number of missiles fired at Blackbirds must number in the thousands, by now.
How many were brought out of retirement? I hear NASA has 2 or 3, but none are doing military recon anymore -- anyone got the scoop?
#7
Send in the IDF foo fighters to fook up the Ayatollahs nuclear weapons program. Islamic like to create chaos on the kufr's fixed targets. Now it's time to do unto them.
#8
First of all, the most likely thing they are seeing/shooting at are sensor ghosts. Take a nervous leadership (Gee, why are they nervous?), add semi-literate Basiji(sp?) in charge of/operating "sensitive" site defenses with antiquated/poorly maintained/soviet quality manufactured radars, and you will lots of shooting at sensor ghosts.
Second likelyest probability: UAV recon. IIRC during southrn watch in Iraq, there were lots o' uav activity, and the Iraqi AD shot at the drones alot, but did not manage to connect too often. And frankly, we did not care if they shot down a drone or two. I remember seeing a vidio clip of a SA-something launch at a predator. The UAV survived. Not very impressive performance by the AD guys.
SMN, Its very unlikely a manned platform would be allowed to stray too far into Iran airspace. Uavs, or UCAVs(heh!) on the other hand...
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/26/2004 7:51 Comments ||
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#9
A confrontation with these dirty bastards in one shape or form is imminent. The Mullahs have been lucky so far, they know we are busy with their neighbors on both sides. Counting down the days ............................................................................
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/26/2004 9:06 Comments ||
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#11
poopcorn? I'll pass
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2004 9:23 Comments ||
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#12
Usually my problem is that the keyboard won't do letter doubles, not doing them unintentionally. Preview is my friend.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/26/2004 9:32 Comments ||
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#13
lol!
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2004 9:34 Comments ||
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#14
.com wasn't it 2 BBirds that were taken out of moth balls? I doubt they use them over Iran, except maybe to give the Turbines an extra twist by getting a peek at them, perhaps in a shallow incursion. >)
This is a job for Misty, Aurora, Timbre Wind, Screaming Deep Blue Teal and Avner Cohen (who has a web cam across the street from Mullah Central)
#15
Yeah.I'm sure we will get the scoop on the entire US spy plane fleet from Rantburgers...LMFAO!!
Posted by: Me ||
12/26/2004 10:45 Comments ||
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#16
thanks for your input, asshat
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2004 10:58 Comments ||
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#17
Poor, poor Me. Laughed your fucking ass off and built a strawman, "entire US spy plane fleet". Wouldn't you like something other than straw in your diet - or is that all that asses eat? Well, luckily for you, there was plenty of ass remaining, hence your post. HAND.
#24
Large R.C. foil coated paper airplanes dropped from a considerable hight outside of Iranian airspace just to panic the MM and the revolutionary guards.
N. Guard I would fully expect the operators to be well educated. Iran has a surplus of well educated persons. Persians are not dumb camel herds. I also would not expect to find just old soviet era ground based radar. I can think of certain nations in Europe who would have been happy to provide them with better electronics.
#25
SPOD - not as educated as you might think - most of the western-oriented-education grads have fled. In addition, to a regime like the mullahs, education is a threat. They thrive on the Islamic fervor of the poor and uneducated, or did...that support's gone
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2004 14:33 Comments ||
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#26
I offer this for your consideration. I can say no more.
Posted by: Tom ||
12/26/2004 16:16 Comments ||
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#27
God in Heaven Tom! Is that Timbre Wind?
Jeeezooo Pete. That's funny.
Did ya see up threat where poor little Me got pulled into the Deep Blue Screaming Teal Inlet?
#28
"The unidentified flying objects could be satellites,comets..." COMETS??? WTF? Forget Area 51 and Aurora and Blackbirds,I want to know when we started building recon Comets. I also want some of the super Iranian carrots that let their people see satellites from the ground.
On Strategy Page there is article on Global Hawk UAVs and it gives them a cruising altitude of 60,000ft. Hmmmm...
And it will be of no help to US for Iran to start turning on all their AD radars. Nope,wouldn't be of any use at all.
Posted by: Stephen ||
12/26/2004 17:48 Comments ||
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#29
I'm pretty sure the Blackbird wasn't retired without a replacement vehicle ready to enter the inventory. I've heard all the rumors, from Aurora to Project 97, but no hard information. The only thing I know for sure is that the US has been spending a lot of money in a lot of different places that don't show up in the Senate Budget Report. "Spiked News" had an interesting article a couple of days ago about "possible" military development of maglev aircraft. On the other hand, it could be the Ylau from Beta Omicron looking for a safer beach than PhuKet.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/26/2004 17:53 Comments ||
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SPOD-- I'm sure there are very literate, intelligent Iranians. However, Regimes like the Mullahocracy are extremely uncomfortabe with Intelligent, Motivated individuals having access to any kinds of weapons. Of such people are revolutionary leadership cadres made.
Such regimes want loyal, motivated troops who have no doubts about the nature of their masters, and who won't be asking awkward questions at inconvienent moments. Kinda precludes anyone who can get the maximum performance out of 1970s-1980s vintage air defense gear.
While I doubt the iranian Basaji are quite as bad (military performance wise) as the saddamite Iraqi army, it is important to recall that the Islamic republic did not do too well against sadam in the 1980's. And I suspect that they have not gotten much better since then, as they have not fought too many major wars since then.
Posted by: N Guard ||
12/26/2004 19:51 Comments ||
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#31
Install a koran in each of our recon drones/cruise missiles. Give the mullahs a dilemma. Shoot at the koran delivery system and commit a sacriledge in the eyes of their moon god or watch us buzz their bomb factories. There's nothing that says we can't have fun in this little war.
Posted by: ed ||
12/26/2004 20:07 Comments ||
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#32
Would be nice to have the flying objects shoot back.
Posted by: Wo ||
12/26/2004 20:33 Comments ||
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The Ansar al-Sunnah Army has emerged from its roots as a little known militant group operating in northern Iraq to become the country's deadliest terror network, capable of carrying out spectacular strikes like last week's suicide bombing at a U.S. base and virtually eclipsing al-Qaida's cell in the war-torn nation. Unlike al-Qaida, Ansar al-Sunnah is believed to be made up mainly of Iraqis, and its apparent strategy of targeting only Americans and those viewed as collaborating with them Iraqi security forces and Kurds may have increased its support, in contrast to other groups that have hit more clearly Iraqi civilian targets.
Nearly five months after the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime in April 2003, Ansar al-Sunnah's first statement surfaced on the Internet, pronouncing itself "a group of jihadists, scholars, and political and military experts" dedicated to creating an Islamic state in Iraq. The statement was signed by the group's "emir," or leader, the previously unknown Abu Abdullah al-Hassan Ibn Mahmoud. But who exactly is behind Ansar al-Sunnah and how it was formed remains a mystery.
Some experts believe the group splintered from Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaida-linked group established in September 2001. Ansar al-Islam was founded by Mullah Krekar, who has been living as a refugee in Norway since 1991. The group vowed to set up a conservative Islamic state in northern Iraq, and its members have trained in Afghanistan and provided safe haven to al-Qaida members fleeing the U.S. invasion there. The offshoot group may have changed its name to Ansar al-Sunnah Arabic for "supporters of the sunnah," of the traditions of Prophet Muhammad as an attempt to appeal to Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs, experts suggest. There is nothing to corroborate this theory except that the group mainly operates in northern Iraq where Ansar al-Islam is based.
Mohammed Salah, a Cairo-based expert on Islamic militancy, said research indicates that the Ansar al-Sunnah Army was established by a mix of various Sunni Muslim anti-occupation factions that came together after the end of the war. They chose the name Ansar al-Sunnah (loosely translated as "supporters of the traditions of Prophet Muhammad") to distinguish the Sunni group from Shiite militias, Salah said. The group now seems to include nationalists and other secular people opposed to the U.S. presence in Iraq who are not typical religious fundamentalists or extremists but who "chose the cover of Islam as a propaganda that sells well." The group seeks an Islamic government and Islamic law in Iraq, stressing its opposition to democracy, which it says replaces God's rightful rule with that of man. "We believe democracy is an atheist call that idolizes human beings," says a manifesto detailing Ansar al-Sunnah's ideology.
The group's Web site, which also has a Kurdish page, features videos of aspiring suicide bombers and footage of attacks and beheadings. Statements on the site dismiss Iraqi politicians as "American puppets and agents" and condemns "collaborators" in the U.S.-trained Iraqi army and police. Among its targets have been Kurds, with the group claiming to be behind the kidnapping and beheading of several Kurdish politicians. The Kurdish parties of northern Iraq are archrivals of Krekar's Ansar al-Islam. On its Web site, Ansar al-Sunnah also denounces the upcoming elections, calling on Muslims to shun the ballot boxes as "centers of atheism" and adding: "We warn everyone that the Mujahedeen will be attacking polling stations."
In November, Ansar al-Sunnah said it collaborated in two attacks with other radical organizations al-Qaida in Iraq, led by Jordanian Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and the Islamic Army in Iraq. However, similar announcements have not been repeated since. Still, it remains unclear whether Ansar al-Sunnah is linked to Osama bin Laden's network, or whether it is actually competing with it. While al-Zarqawi's Tawhid and Jihad group in October declared allegiance to bin Laden, changing its name to al-Qaida in Iraq, no such announcement was made by Ansar al-Sunnah.
Singapore-based terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna said Zarqawi's group allied itself to al-Qaida because it seems to be expanding its recruitment efforts to the entire Middle East and Europe as opposed to Ansar al-Sunnah's "exclusive Iraqi focus." While Ansar al-Sunnah's targets have mainly been coalition troops, Kurds and "collaborators" with the coalition, al-Qaida's operations included attacks that killed many Iraqi civilians, he said. "Ansar al-Sunnah Army seems more organized and it's generated more support than al-Qaida in Iraq ... al-Qaida's attacks have often alienated significant support," Gunaratna said.
With or without al-Qaida, it looks like Ansar al-Sunnah is here to stay. "I think Ansar al-Sunnah will, as an organization, last longer and will enjoy a broader base of support than al-Qaida in Iraq," Gunaratna said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 10:57:07 AM ||
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#1
The article has some useful information, but the writer is spinning it hard. The ability to perpetrate dramatic booms does not equal the ability to sway the populace, especially when the elections are so close. Nor does it equal staying power: wasn't it Mao who said something about the Revolutionary swimming in the sea of an approving populace? That certainly does not appear to be the case in Iraq anymore.
#2
gleaper
good point - the Maoists, were voluntarily protected by the population during the war against the Japanese and then the war against the Nationalists
- the Ansar al Sunnah are involuntarily protected by the population because of intimidation
#3
Individualism or nationalism, that is the question.
Posted by: Capt America ||
12/26/2004 13:38 Comments ||
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Unlike al-Qaida, Ansar al-Sunnah is believed to be made up mainly of Iraqis, and its apparent strategy of targeting only Americans and those viewed as collaborating with them â Iraqi security forces and Kurds â may have increased its support, in contrast to other groups that have hit more clearly Iraqi civilian targets.
In light of the mess hall attack, I advocate shifting gears and killing all members of Ansar al-Sunnah post haste.
The group seeks an Islamic government and Islamic law in Iraq, stressing its opposition to democracy, which it says replaces Godâs rightful rule with that of man. "We believe democracy is an atheist call that idolizes human beings," says a manifesto detailing Ansar al-Sunnahâs ideology.
Any sane Iraqi needs to realize that only one splinter of their diverse country will benefit from such anti-democratic policy. Someone needs to point out quite clearly how only democracy alone will give voice to all of Iraq's people. Anything less will be nothing more than another totalitarian regime like Saddam's.
#8
Huh. I didn't realize I sounded different, Shipman...you could be right about being carefree, we are on vacation after all (and I managed to get all the vacation/Xmas (husband is one of those inactive Catholics)/end of term stuff done before we left!!!). It could also have something to do with the fact that I'm not familiar with husband's laptop, and can't do all those kewl highlighting/italic/boldface thinkgies that add so very much character to my posts (while you expert types smile gently at my excitement about the whole thing). Happy Boxing Day to you and all Rantburgundians!
#9
mhw: the Maoists, were voluntarily protected by the population during the war against the Japanese and then the war against the Nationalists
Actually, the Chinese Communists (Mao wasn't the leader at the time) had their own secret police who executed "traitors" to the people. The Communist-loving Western media were assigned press minders who saw to it that they saw only the positive facets of Communist rule. By the contrast, the Nationalists let the Western press go wherever they wanted to.
The suicide bomber who killed 22 people in an attack on a U.S. army base in Mosul was not a member of the Iraqi security forces but may have been wearing their uniform, the army's chief of staff said Sunday. "Certainly he was not a member of the National Guards because all of our men stationed in the base have been accounted for," Gen. Babaker B. Shawkat Zebari said in an interview.
On Tuesday, an attacker blew himself up in a crowded mess hall at the Marez base just south of Mosul, Iraq's third-largest city, 225 miles northwest of Baghdad. The explosion, the deadliest strike on a U.S. military facility in Iraq, triggered a wide-ranging investigation into how the attacker penetrated the heavily guarded area. The base also was used by members of Iraq's fledgeling security forces. Three members of the Iraqi National Guard — a paramilitary internal security force — were also killed in the blast. The U.S. military said it appeared likely that an individual in an Iraqi military uniform, who was probably wearing an explosives-laden vest — carried out the attack. "That is possible because uniforms of National Guards, police and army are available in the market," said Zebari. "It is not difficult for a person to wear one."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 10:14:11 AM ||
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"all of our men stationed in the base have been accounted for"
Zebari reiterated his claim that foreign fighters are still infiltrating into Iraq from Syria.
"I don't know if the (Syrian) government is closing its eyes or the terrorists are finding their ways to cross," Zebari said.
Zebari said six Arabs using forged Iraqi identity cards were detained near the Syrian border on Thursday. He said the men were detained with explosives in their possession.
Zebari's comments came a day after Najaf's police commander, Ghaleb al-Jazaeri, said police detained an Iraqi who confessed to receiving training in a camp in Syria under the supervision of a Syrian military officer. The man was apparently involved in a bombing in Najaf earlier this month that killed 54 people.
Syria on Sunday dismissed al-Jazaeri's statements as "baseless and nonobjective."
In Baghdad, masked gunmen assassinated a high-ranking Iraqi police officer, Col. Yassin Ibrahim Jawad, and wounded his two bodyguards, police said.
#4
six Arabs using forged Iraqi identity cards were detained near the Syrian border on Thursday. He said the men were detained with explosives in their possession
Masked gunmen assassinated a high-ranking Iraqi police officer on Sunday in southwestern Baghdad and wounded his bodyguards, police said. Col. Yassin Ibrahim Jawad was heading to his work at 8 a.m. when the assailants, driving a white Opel sedan, attacked his car in Baghdad's neighborhood of Al-Baya, police Col. Sa'ad Abdul Razaq said. Nadiyah Khalid, a doctor at the capital's al-Yarmouk hospital, said that one of the injured was in critical situation. "We received three patients," she said. "One was dead, one is critical and one is semi-stable."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 10:09:11 AM ||
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... Kahraman Sadikoglu [well known Turkish businessman] and ship captain Ahmet Yurtdas are believed to have been kidnapped on December 16 after leaving the southern Iraqi city of Basra. It was not clear who was holding the men and there was no mention of any demands. "Today is December 23. We were captured four or five days ago," Sadikoglu says on the videotape, released by Turkey's Ihlas News Agency and broadcast on Turkish television. "We're fine and they will check us out, what we're doing here, [hi- camp is great-having a great time- wish you were here-send money]
and will hopefully release us. God is Great." ... Private CNN-Turk television, another broadcaster that aired the video, said the voices of Turkish-speaking men were heard in the background, suggesting that Turkish-born militants who have joined Iraq's insurgency might be involved in the capture of the men.... Sadikoglu looked calm but said Captain Ahmet was "demoralized." The captain did not speak on the video. "We're pretty good. They're taking good care of us," Sadikoglu said of their captors. Sadikoglu assured their families they would be released soon. "We did not do anything wrong. We did not commit any mistakes."
Posted by: mhw ||
12/26/2004 8:20:22 AM ||
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#1
"We did not do anything wrong. We did not commit any mistakes." Self-deception. How can such a businessman make it in that region without having at least a contingent of guardians? In his position, I would have a private army, if for no other reason than anti-piracy. By now, they would have counter-kidnapped every member of the kidnappers family, and his mullah, and they would have received fed-ex delivery of a left pinkie from every one of them.
U.S. forces captured two senior figures of al Qaeda's branch in Iraq, the U.S. military said yesterday. The U.S. Marines said they captured two men who led cells in Anbar province for Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq network. The province, a center for the insurgency, includes the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. A Marine Corps statement identified the captured men as Saleh Arugayan Kahlil and Bassim Mohammed Hazeem. Their cells kidnapped and executed 11 Iraqi national guardsmen, carried out car bombings and other attacks in the Ramadi area and "smuggled foreign terrorists into the country," the Marines said. "This group is responsible for intimidating, attacking and murdering innocent Iraqi civilians, Iraqi police and security forces, and business and political leaders throughout the Anbar province," according to the statement.
Zarqawi's group, once known as Tawhid and Jihad, recently changed its name to Al Qaeda in Iraq and pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden's network. It has claimed responsibility for numerous deadly attacks against U.S. troops and government forces.
Posted by: .com ||
12/26/2004 3:09:55 AM ||
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#1
Get what little information out of them that can be extracted, then execute the bastards.
#3
Right about now these two maggots are wishing with all their hearts that they could be enduring the indignities experienced at Abu Ghraib. Their lives aren't worth a plug nickel. Once they're done singing like canaries, all that should await them is public execution.
#4
Whether they talk or not, I'd tell everyone they did. And I'd be watching the intel traffic carefully to see who moves.
Then I'd make a big show of releasing the "rehabilitated" killers, throwing my arms around them as they were escorted out of prison with a big "thanks, we couldn't have rolled up that network without you" in their ears.
Then I'd make popcorn.
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/26/2004 18:02 Comments ||
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#5
SW - you're a mean bastard - I'm with you
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/26/2004 18:31 Comments ||
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Israel Defense Forces killed a senior Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades militant, Thaer Abu Kamal, Saturday in a West Bank refugee camp, Ha'aretz reported. "Militant". Right.
The Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades is affiliated with the Palestine Liberation Organization's Fatah movement. Abu Kamal had replaced Mahmoud Abu Khalifa, who was killed by the IDF in September, Ha'aretz said. Thanks to the IDF, there's always room for promotion in the Terr ranks.
Soldiers from the Egoz and Nahal infantry units reportedly surrounded the house Abu Kamal was hiding in Saturday, and called for the residents to surrender. So he had a chance - something his victims never got.
The troops fired anti-tank missiles at the building after Abu Kamal failed to exit. After the building was demolished with a bulldozer, Abu Kamal's body was found in the debris. No gunshots were fired. Wonder if it was a Caterpiller...
Posted by: .com ||
12/26/2004 3:03:53 AM ||
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#1
The troops fired anti-tank missiles at the building after Abu Kamal failed to exit. After the building was demolished with a bulldozer, Abu Kamalâs body was found in the debris. No gunshots were fired.
This is how U.S. forces need to operate in Iraq. Can't nab 'em? Then make sure they don't get away alive.
#2
IDF dropped a house on this mofo. It was a two for one deal since they didn't have to return to level this family's home that had harbored Jihadist scum.
Why should Jewish lives be endangered. Just level the place. Plus big thanks to the Bedouins in the IDF, five of whom lost their lives in the Rafah camp tunnel ambush.
Join Fred, Emily and Dan on Saturday, January 22 at a soon-to-be formerly respectable establishment for drinks and civil, well seasoned discourse.
Date: Saturday, January 22
Time: 1 p.m. 'til last call
Where: Chinatown, downtown Washington DC. Exact name of watering hole to be provided later.
Metro: Chinatown-Gallery Place on Red/Yellow/Green lines
We'll raise a glass to "four more years of tax cuts and dead terrorists." Then we'll raise a glass to the best damn website in the Blogosphere. After that, it's up to you!
No need to reply if I know you're coming; please send me an email (seafarious@yahoo.com) or put a note in comments if I don't. Those of you who won't be able to attend, we'll miss you!
Posted by: Seafarious ||
12/26/2004 12:00:17 AM ||
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#1
Will there be satellite events around the world?
#3
Don't forget to ask your Mommy first if you are still grounded, Fidal dear. If she says yes, you'll need to bring that fake i.d. card -- the one that claims you are old enough to drink with the grownups.
But I don't have a satellite dish. And no decoder card. (sorry, somebody had to say it)
Posted by: Rafael ||
12/26/2004 21:28 Comments ||
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#7
Raf, most Americans don't know that one of the hottest black-market items in Canada is a satellite decoder card that lets them get...American TV!
My last visit to T.O. was interesting...you have the same channels as us, but made in/for Canada. HGTV canada, Discovery Canada, and so on. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone Canada. LOL.
Anyone who wants to set up a satellite Rantapalooza, let me know!
#8
I'll be there to educate you people who believe that nation-building in the Islamo-savageries, is noble. We need to take a wrecking ball to the entire Middle East - outside of Israel - and rebuild it on our terms, after we repatriate the Anglo-American oilfields. My blueprint doesn't include one-time sham elections, manipulated by the Persian entity.
MIR ALI: The tribal security force late on Friday arrested an Afghan national after a shootout with suspected foreign terrorists, a government source said on Saturday. The source said that the tribal police accompanied by Assistant Political Agent Mir Ali Muhammad Jamil were on a routine patrol on Friday evening when they signalled a suspected car coming from Miranshah to stop. The car pulled up in front of them but as its riders were getting out an Afghan and four men who appeared to be Uzbeks shouted "Cheezit! The cops!" 'God is Great' and opened fire on the tribal police. The Afghan was arrested while the Uzbeks abandoned the vehicle and left him holding the bag escaped in the dark. The police have confiscated weapons found in the vehicle. The security forces arrested six suspected Afghans from the Makeen area in South Waziristan Agency on Friday.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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ASADABAD: Afghan police have arrested a Pakistani man in eastern Kunar province in connection with the recent killing of a Turkish engineer in Sawkai district, officials said on Saturday. The deputy head of the local intelligence department, Jaseem Khan, said that Mohammad Bota, from Karachi, had been arrested in the provincial capital Asadabad on Tuesday, December 21, as he was trying to leave the city. He said that the accused was a member of banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which supported the ousted Taliban regime, reported Pajhwok Afghan News. The Turkish engineer, working on a road project in Kunar, was killed on December 15 one day after he was seized by a gang of unknown gunmen, along with two Afghan colleagues.
I've been referring to the "Taliban" for awhile now as Pakistanis. I think we can stop calling them "Taliban," too. I don't think there's even much pretense left, is there?
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR: A landmine blast in southern Bannu district on Saturday killed one and injured seven, police said. The blast ripped through a grocery shop in Mandan Gate market, Bannu district nazim Engineer Iqbal told Daily Times by phone. Three people were said to be in a serious condition and were taken to a hospital in Peshawar. The rest were taken to a local hospital, police said. The dead man was a member of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit, one of the fiercest rebel groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, they added. The Saturday blast was the second in the NWFP in a little over a month. In November, several rockets had targeted military and civilian installations Peshawar.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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A Kashmiri guerrilla leader wanted for more than 15 years was captured by Indian paramilitary soldiers and police Saturday during a raid on a militant hideout, an officer said. Mohammed Shafi Dar was captured in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, a security official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
"Stick'em up, Dar, and keep yer yap shut!"
Two AK-47 machine-guns and a satellite phone were recovered from him, the officer said. Dar is the chief commander of the Pakistan-based Tehreek-ul Mujahedeen militant group one of the smaller rebel organizations waging a separatist war against Indian security forces. He was active in Kashmir for more than 15 years, and a reward of $11,100 was offered for his arrest or killing, the official said. It is extremely rare for a rebel commander to be caught alive in India's portion of Kashmir. Most die in gunbattles or operate from the Pakistan-controlled area of Kashmir while issuing orders to their field commanders. A top police officer separately confirmed the arrest, also declining to be named.
"I'll be back for a press conference, just as soon as we finish ululating."
QUETTA: Unidentified people attacked two vehicles of paramilitary forces in Turbat, killing at least four personnel and injuring five, Frontier Corps officials said on Saturday. "Four personnel of our forces were killed by a rocket while five others were hit by bullets when saboteurs attacked a patrolling party late on Friday night," said Frontier Corps Lieutenant Colonel Rizwan Malik. "Their vehicles were patrolling in the Newano area, about 650 kilometres west of Quetta, when hit by the rocket propelled grenade." The injured were rushed to a local hospital and were later shifted to Quetta. Lt Col Malik said the troops had launched a search for the attackers. "It is too early to say who carried out this attack, but we have launched an operation there to trace and arrest the attackers," he said, giving no other details.
You might want to give some thought to tracing and killing the attackers.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/26/2004 00:00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
The Bank of England has frozen funds linked to a prominent Saudi dissident accused of links to al-Qaeda. 
Russian authorities have arrested 12 suspected members of the banned Hizbi Tahrir radical Islamic group, Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev said on Saturday. "Twelve active Hizbi Tahrir members who are wanted in several countries have been detained in the Russian Federation," he was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency. He said they had been detained in various locations, notably the mainly Muslim Russian republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan, as well as the Moscow region. The minister did not elaborate on the nationalities of the detainees or when the arrests had taken place, but he said joint operations against Hizbi Tahrir were continuing in the Central Asian republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
PARIS: A French judge has widened a probe into the financial network surrounding the family of Osama Bin Laden after questioning his half-brother and learning of a 241 million euro transfer to Pakistan, Le Monde daily said. Investigating magistrate Renaud Van Ruymbeke received court authorisation to extend his investigation after Yeslam Bin Laden was questioned on September 27 over allegations of links with the organisers of attacks in 2001 in the US, the paper said in its Saturday edition. As a result, Van Ruymbeke was adding "other instances of money laundering" to the probe already under way, Le Monde said. The court was unreachable for comment on Saturday. On December 5, 2001, French authorities opened an investigation into financial transfers carried out through Paris between firms grouped within the Saudi Investment Company (SICO) run by Yeslam Bin Laden, who also manages some assets of the family's Saudi Binladin Group (SBG).
TEHRAN: Iran's air force has been ordered to shoot down any unidentified or suspicious flying objects in Iran's airspace, an air force spokesman said on Saturday, amid state-media reports of sightings of flying objects near Iran's nuclear installations. "All anti-aircraft units and jet fighters have been ordered to shoot down the flying objects over Iran's airspace," spokesman of the Regular Army Air Force Colonel Salman Mahini said. 
U.S. forces captured two senior figures of al Qaeda's branch in Iraq, the U.S. military said yesterday. The U.S. Marines said they captured two men who led cells in Anbar province for Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab Zarqawi's Al Qaeda in Iraq network. The province, a center for the insurgency, includes the cities of Ramadi and Fallujah. A Marine Corps statement identified the captured men as 
Israel Defense Forces killed a senior 
PESHAWAR: A landmine blast in southern Bannu district on Saturday killed one and injured seven, police said. The blast ripped through a grocery shop in Mandan Gate market, Bannu district nazim Engineer Iqbal told Daily Times by phone. Three people were said to be in a serious condition and were taken to a hospital in Peshawar. The rest were taken to a local hospital, police said. The dead man was a member of the banned Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit, one of the fiercest rebel groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, they added. The Saturday blast was the second in the NWFP in a little over a month. In November, several rockets had targeted military and civilian installations Peshawar.
A Kashmiri guerrilla leader wanted for more than 15 years was captured by Indian paramilitary soldiers and police Saturday during a raid on a militant hideout, an officer said. 
QUETTA: Unidentified people attacked two vehicles of paramilitary forces in Turbat, killing at least four personnel and injuring five, Frontier Corps officials said on Saturday. "Four personnel of our forces were killed by a rocket while five others were hit by bullets when saboteurs attacked a patrolling party late on Friday night," said Frontier Corps Lieutenant Colonel Rizwan Malik. "Their vehicles were patrolling in the Newano area, about 650 kilometres west of Quetta, when hit by the rocket propelled grenade." The injured were rushed to a local hospital and were later shifted to Quetta. Lt Col Malik said the troops had launched a search for the attackers. "It is too early to say who carried out this attack, but we have launched an operation there to trace and arrest the attackers," he said, giving no other details. 
