One of the blogosphere's greats calls it quits. Here's an excerpt from the farewell message:
Well, friends and foes of The Diplomad, the time has come; it's time to say thanks and good-bye. Above all we want to thank great sites such as Chrenkoff, Power Line, Betsy's Page , and Ex-Pat Yank that gave us a boost in our early days. . . . It's been fun; the postings from the readers have been great (except for the idiot trolls -- the same ones who collapsed our hotmail account and made it useless.) But for a variety of personal and professional reasons it's time to stop (we might blog again under a different name; might not.) Lest any of you think so, we have not been threatened or shut down; the State Department goons are not knocking at the door. It's just time to do something else. I wonder if "host nation sensitivities" played a role--but that's purely speculation on my part.
The Chief Diplomad urges all of you to read the very well written brother sites at Daily Demarche and New Sisyphus (maybe they'll let us put up an occasional posting.) We've heard that our Republican cousins over at USAID might be starting a blog, too, so keep an out eye for it.
Thank you, sir, for your service--not just for the blog, but for all you do for our country, and for the people of the world, out there in the Far Abroad.
If you, like me, enjoyed reading the Diplomad, click the link and leave him a thank-you in the comments.
He's welcome to post here any time.
Posted by: Mike ||
02/05/2005 7:40:58 AM ||
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#1
Does he plan to take this opportunity to go into rehab?
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
02/05/2005 8:23 Comments ||
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#2
Too bad it didn't work for you.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
02/05/2005 8:29 Comments ||
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#4
Does he plan to take this opportunity to go into rehab?
It's apparent Mike S. hasn't even read the blog he is dissing.
What a loser, that Mikey boy is!!!
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 10:00 Comments ||
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#5
I fully understand. Blogging is extremely time-consuming. This is why journalists have an edge. They actually get paid for the highly-imaginative fiction and opinion they put out on the news pages.
Five militants surrendered to Kuwaiti security forces who surrounded their hideout on Saturday in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state which is battling a surge in al Qaeda-linked violence, state media said. State television said security forces continued to search the area in Sulaibiya suburb, some 13 miles northwest of the capital Kuwait City. "Five terrorists holed up in a house in Sulaibiya area have surrendered," the television reported, saying two of the men were Saudi nationals and three were Jordanian.
Analysts say the country is in a better position to crush militants because of its small size compared to its much bigger neighbor Saudi Arabia where al Qaeda has staged spectacular attacks against Western and government targets. State news agency KUNA said security forces also raided a camp in the area of Amghara near Sulaibiya. Security sources told Reuters that blasts reported earlier as gunfire were in fact caused by teargas lobbed by police. Initial reports indicated there were no casualties, they added. Kuwait's Energy Minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fahd al-Sabah said he believed the situation was under control in Sulaibiya. Asked if the raids would continue, the minister told reporters that Kuwait was in a region with a terror problem and "we will be a part of this."
Authorities have boosted security around oil and other vital sites after militants were believed to be planning attacks in an area housing Kuwait's largest refinery and a U.S. military camp. Kuwait is coordinating security issues with Saudi Arabia. Security sources say Kuwaitis linked to militants in Iraq and Saudi Arabia are behind the violence. On Saturday, senior security officials from Kuwait and Bahrain, another U.S. ally, met to boost security coordination and exchange of information between the two Gulf states.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 6:02:06 PM ||
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Al-Qaeda-linked militants who had fought four gun battles with Kuwaiti security forces in the past month, had plotted to kidnap and execute US soldiers and Westerners, a newspaper reported on Saturday. Nasser Khlaif al-Enezi, a senior member of the group who was killed on January 30, "plotted to kidnap US soldiers and Western civilians, execute them and film the process," his brother Amer, the alleged leader of the group, told interrogators, reported Al-Qabas daily. Amer said that his brother had received training on such operations while he was in Iraq fighting against the US-led coalition troops, said the paper quoting sources close to the investigation.
Nasser also received instructions from "armed terrorist groups" in Iraq to attack US military convoys on their way to Iraq from bases in Kuwait in attempts to obstruct supplies headed for Baghdad, the daily said. The alleged executions were supposed to have taken place at a house in Umm Al-Haiman, south of the capital, which is close to the largest US military base at Arifjan and is also near US supply lines. Security forces raided the house on January 15, killed a Saudi militant and arrested three other militants while an unspecified number fled. In a closed doors session on Tuesday, the government told parliament that documents seized from the group indicated that the militants had plotted attacks on US military convoys, Western civilian targets and the headquarters of the State Security Agency, said Kuwait's secret police.
Security for US military convoys that use the emirate as a passage to neighbouring Iraq, has been boosted with more Kuwaiti police cars accompanying the convoys. Traffic has been stopped on some occasions. There are around 25,000 US troops stationed in Kuwait, a staunch US ally, which serves as a transit point for coalition forces moving in and out of Iraq.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
AMER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
NASER KHLAIF AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 5:55:48 PM ||
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Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of Al Qaeda-linked violence in the Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against US forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected Al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month.
State security officer Hamad al-Samhan, one of three police, wounded in the clash, died in hospital on Friday, the sources said. Kuwait's leaders had vowed to finish off the militants behind the violence, mostly Kuwaitis with links to jihadists in neighbouring Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The militants were being hunted based on information gathered from the interrogation of captured militants who include Amer al-Enezi, the cell's suspected spiritual leader who is believed to have Al Qaeda links, they said. The suspects being pursued include two senior militants -- Kuwaitis Khaled al-Dosari and Mohsen al-Fadli -- both sought for previous suspected involvement in extremist activity.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
AMER AL ENEZI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
KHALED AL DOSARI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
MOHSEN AL FADLI
al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 5:54:32 PM ||
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A Yemeni court has sentenced to death the leader of a group of 15 men found guilty last year of bombing a French supertanker. Fawaz al-Rabiai told the court in December the men had given a pledge to al-Qaida leader Usama bin Ladin to kill Americans. He had previously been sentenced to 10 years in jail, a verdict that surprised some Yemeni observers. The court on Saturday also upheld a death penalty that had been passed in August against one other member of the group. The sentences of two others were raised from 10 to 15 years, while the rest - with jail terms ranging from three to 10 years - stayed the same.
G'bye! Give our regards to Himmler!
The Limburg bombing off Yemen's coast in October 2002 killed one of the crew of 25 and ignited a fire on board the supertanker loaded with 400,000 barrels of Saudi Arabian crude oil. The court sentences included guilty verdicts upheld for other activities, including a plot to kill the US ambassador to Yemen and to attack Western embassies. It was not clear whether any of the men would turn to Yemen's high court, which has the power to overturn rulings. "God is great, there is no god but God and America is the enemy of God," the men shouted after sentencing. "(We) were very close to Shaikh Usama bin Ladin. We had given our pledge to Shaikh Usama to kill Americans," al-Rabiai said in his final statement to the court in December, in the clearest admission yet of the group's ties to Bin Ladin.
This article starring:
FAWAZ AL RABIAI
al-Qaeda in Yemen
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 8:49:34 AM ||
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With the international anti-terrorism conference set to open today, security has been beefed up around the venue as well as Mariott Riyadh, site of the media center, and Royal Conference Palace, where the government's guests have been accommodated.
Certainly an inviting target for Bad Guyz, isn't it?
All vehicles passing by those sites were being screened, creating traffic jams in the areas. Security has been so tight that calls placed at the Royal Conference Palace, where VIP guests are staying, were not forwarded even to their aides. Security personnel, including those of the special forces, have been deployed at all strategic places. Over 300 international and local journalists will be covering the event, according to a spokesman of the Ministry of Information and Culture. He said correspondents of news agencies from around the world have arrived for providing live coverage. Saudi TV has set up its own production units at the media center, which is fully equipped with wireless transmission facilities for relaying news and photos.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Isn't this the same as the Windsor's having an anti-monarchy conference at Buckingham Palace?
Posted by: Jack is Back! ||
02/05/2005 6:10 Comments ||
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MP Mohammad Al-Saqr has requested the government to disclose names of MPs who recently met senior officials in the Ministry of Interior with the offer to accept the surrender of fugitive radical Islamists on condition they will not be treated as suspects but state witnesses, reports Al-Seyassah daily. Al-Saqr says these MPs must be referred to the Public Prosecution after stripping them of their parliamentary immunity.
Picked up on the Soddy holy men's trick, did they? Only it's not Soddy Arabia...
Meanwhile, interrogations with Amer Khlaif Al-Enezi, believed to be the leader of the so-called Peninsula Lions revealed the two fugitives Mohsen Al-Fadhli and Khalid Al-Dosari played key roles in offering protection and logistic services to members of terrorist cells by providing them food, ammunition and moving them from place to place. Amer also admitted to issuing a fatwa to his followers on the need to kill security forces if they attempt to arrest them saying it justifies the death of their 'comrade' Fawaz Al-Otaibi who was shot by a member of the cell on Jan 10, 2005, during a Maidan Hawalli shootout between security forces and terrorists. A State Security policeman also died in the incident.
Otaibi was friendly-fired? Hadn't heard that. Can't be too good for recruiting...
Shaikh Farhan Obaid from the Islamic Heritage Revival Society described Amer Khlaif as a fanatic and a radical "who has misunderstood the concepts of Islam," reports Al-Rai Al-Aam daily. Obaid said the society with the approval of the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs earlier held a seminar and the participants were surprised to learn Amer Khlaif and some of his followers were humiliating lecturers accusing them of cowardice for forbidding jihad in Iraq.
He sounds like a real subtle kind of guy, doesn't he?
Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of al Qaeda-linked violence in the U.S.-allied oil-rich Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against U.S. forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month. State security officer Hamad al-Samhan, one of three police, wounded in the clash, died in hospital on Friday, the sources said.
Kuwait's leaders had vowed to finish off the militants behind the violence, mostly Kuwaitis with links to jihadists in neighbouring Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The militants were being hunted based on information gathered from the interrogation of captured militants who include Amer al-Enezi, the cell's suspected spiritual leader who is believed to have al Qaeda links, they said. The suspects being pursued include two senior militants -- Kuwaitis Khaled al-Dosari and Mohsen al-Fadli -- both sought for previous suspected involvement in extremist Islamist activity. "The raids and searches continue," one source told Reuters. "There are wanted people whose names are mentioned during the interrogations and they may have links to this network." He said militant suicide bombers had been planning to target U.S. convoys and other U.S. citizens in the country.
This article starring:
AMER AL ENEZI
Peninsula Lions
KHALED AL DOSARI
Peninsula Lions
MOHSEN AL FADLI
Peninsula Lions
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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A BRITON released from Guantanamo Bay has admitted being interviewed for advanced-level terrorist training in Afghanistan by two senior Al-Qaeda leaders and later volunteering for a "martyrdom operation". Feroz Abbasi believes he was singled out because of his western background, which would have allowed him to plan an attack without arousing as much suspicion as Arab militants. He says he was prepared to take "actions" against Jewish and American military targets as part of his personal commitment to jihad, or holy war.
Abbasi's revelations are contained in a 150-page handwritten "autobiography" obtained by The Sunday Times from the US authorities. The document, in 12 chapters, provides the most comprehensive insight to date into Afghanistan's terror camps, which have been used to train thousands of Islamic extremists, some of whom are now living in western countries as Al-Qaeda "sleepers". Abbasi, 24, describes how a lack of self-esteem during childhood spurred him into militancy and led to him enrolling in courses in Afghanistan. They ranged from basic firearms training with a Kalashnikov rifle to mountain and urban warfare and intelligence gathering. He claims that other British Muslims received similar training and explains how he was captured, having been abandoned by Al-Qaeda fighters during the Afghan conflict with America and its allies. Abbasi, of Croydon, south London, wrote the statement at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in 2003. It was used as evidence at a US military tribunal at Camp Delta before his release.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABU HAFS
Lashka Askari
DAVID HICKS
FEROZ ABASI
al-Qaeda
IBN SHEIKH
al-Qaeda
MUHAMAD ATEF
Lashka Askari
SAIF AL ADEL
Lashka Askari
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 6:53:18 PM ||
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Aslan Maskhadov's claims that he is ready to halt terror attacks and begin negotiations are aimed at drawing international attention, Chechen President Alu Alkhanov told Interfax on Thursday. "Maskhadov has never met his commitments, even when he was president of Ichkeria," Alkhanov said. "We have no grounds whatsoever to think that his new claims that he is ready to cease terrorist warfare are true," he said. "The statements of Maskhadov are directly linked to intensified actions by the Chechen police and federal anti-terrorist agencies in Chechnya," he said. "The Chechen administration is open to dialog with anyone who wants peace and is ready to help us stop terrorism, but neither Maskhadov nor Basayev have ever shown such a disposition," Alkhanov said.
This article starring:
ASLAN MASKHADOV
Chechnya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 7:21:24 PM ||
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First question: The aim of our operation in Beslan was to stop the war, stop the genocide of the Chechen people, and withdraw the Russian occupying troops. The results achieved in Budennovsk were not reached because unlike that time the Russians were prepared for the operation, although in both cases the officers and soldiers and methods were practically the same.
Paraphrase: (many storms at Budennovsk, 6 œ hours non-stop, only stopped for new ammunition, 130 people killed. More than 100 people civilians killed in the storm
Only difference that in Beslan more ammunition and more powerful. But also then more or less free press that could effect public opinion. When the choice was to stop or to destroy the hospital with people inside they had to stop because their every step was being watched by the press and the whole world. Said at Budennovsk not to kill but to stop the war)
We came there not to kill people but to stop the war, and if it works out that way to force the Russian leadership to kill its own civilians, if only through this to force the lying and vain world to understand what is really going on, to lay bare our wound and pain, because people don't see what is happening in Chechnya. They see it only when huge actions like this one occur on the territory of Russia itself.
To be honest I didn't plan Beslan. We planned the operation in Moscow or Leningrad, and wanted if we could to carry it out even in two places simultaneously. But the lack of finances didn't allow us to plan that operation in the centre of Russia. So we chose Ossetia, because Ossetia is Russia's fortpost in the North Caucasus, and all bad that comes to us comes from the territory of Ossetia, with the silent consent of its population. We're also not delighted by what happened there. To be honest I am even shocked by what happened there, and am still in a state of shock after it because I didn't expect that cruelty from the Russian leadership. I thought that if we work through all options, if we don't leave the Russian leadership with a single chance for a bloodless resolution of this problem, they won't kill children. This is what I thought and you can say I was cruelly wrong.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 7:19:15 PM ||
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Senior members of U.S. special operations forces will receive bonuses of up to $150,000 for staying in the military, an increase designed to keep the commandos from bolting to the more lucrative private sector. The policy, announced by U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla., provides an array of bonuses and incentives to experienced members of Army Special Forces, Navy SEALs, and Air Force pararescuemen, plus a few other specialties. "We are taking a lead role in the global war on terrorism, and it's just important we do everything we can to support these professionals," Maj. Ken Hoffman, a spokesman for the command, said Friday.
The largest bonus, $150,000, would go to senior sergeants, petty officers and warrant officers who sign up for an additional six years of service. Personnel who sign up for shorter extensions would receive smaller bonuses, down to $8,000 for one year. About 1,500 operators are eligible. About 7,000 enlisted special operators at a midlevel rank or higher would receive $375 a month in additional pay, and senior operators with 25 years of experience would receive $750 a month more.
The skills of these troopers are in high demand in the war on terrorism. Depending on their specialty, they are trained in close-quarters combat, hostage rescue, combat search and rescue, hunting terrorists, and forging alliances and working with foreign and guerrilla forces overseas. Some are capable of operating in wilderness areas for extended periods. They are also extremely difficult and expensive to train. Some candidates for special operations forces, drawn from elsewhere in the military, wash out because of the extreme physical and mental challenges.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: tipper ||
02/05/2005 8:19:02 AM ||
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#1
Yeah, great. I understand supply and demand, but I always get an uneasy feeling from the historical record of pretorian guards regardless of good intentions the whole thing starts with. Just be careful.
OTOH, right now we have a non-functioning, inept and badly run CIA. The SOC guys, in contrast, are capable, active, motivated and effective.
We **need** guys like this. It's these guys who will deal with Babyface Assad, the mullahs and others. And as a result, the people in Iran who want to be free, prosperous and just go about their daily business will happily do so, rather than resent the US for occupying their country and killing a lot of them.
It's not for nothing that Rummy bypassed a shitload of generals to pull up a SOC guy out of retirement to be Army Chief of Staff.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 10:33 Comments ||
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GT7229: Yeah, great. I understand supply and demand, but I always get an uneasy feeling from the historical record of pretorian guards regardless of good intentions the whole thing starts with. Just be careful.
The Praetorian Guards were entrusted with the safety of Rome. They had the best of everything. Special Forces troops get the garbage. It's portable garbage, but still garbage - automatic rifles, mortars and transport helicopters, at best. They don't have tanks, artillery, APC's, jet fighters, bombers, navy battlegroups, attack helicopters or the nuclear triad. The Praetorian Guard they're not.
#4
The bottom line is that the Special Forces are light infantry that would be chewed up by regular combined arms units. They succeeded in Afghanistan because of air and naval aviation support. In Mogadishu, if they hadn't been supported by Army Aviation - Apaches and Kiowas - they would have been massacred. By contrast, the Praetorian Guard were an army by themselves, not just a couple of battalion-sized units.
#5
pay them the money and call it well spent - it is
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 11:34 Comments ||
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#6
The other thing GT7229 ignores is that the SOC don't scale up easily. It takes a whole lot of specialized training to make a special ops guy, and despite the high qualifications for even attempting the training, a large percentage don't make it all the way through.
These are guys with incredible physical fitness, combat skills, language/culture expertise and no protection via the Geneva Conventions. The one or two I've known are also low-profile, quiet guys.
You get that way when you do things that take your squad 3-4 weeks of intense group contingency planning per DAY of mission.
Not that many of the people we face right now respect the Conventions anyway, but the SOC guys know that they are NEVER covered when on a mission.
But -- they're at the heart of our posture right now. (Note to non-SOC guys: you count too.) The SOC secured the oil pipelines and airfields in the early days of the war in Iraq, I don't doubt they are doing things on the Syrian border (and will do more if Babyface doesn't get his act together) and probably are making friends here and there in the land of Darius.
Posted by: too true ||
02/05/2005 12:58 Comments ||
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Praetorian Guard?
Last I looked, the SP wasn't guarding any Consuls. If we had any. They're out building and leading native auxiliaries. That's their job.
A GRAVE holding 30 bodies has been found in the garden of an opulent villa where sadistic parties are said to have been hosted by the Iraqi general known as Chemical Ali, writes Adam Nathan. Police who found the grave say General Ali Hassan alMajid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein who got his nickname from the gas attacks he mounted on the Kurds of northern Iraq, used to entertain house guests with a "party game" that involved shooting prisoners tied to metal posts in the garden.
Major Jasin Hamed Taleb, 43, a police intelligence officer, said local farmers had witnessed several such killings and had shown him a site in the garden where they had seen bodies being buried. "We had not noticed the site and it was not until you were on it that you could smell the bodies," he said.
Photographs of the mass grave have been sent to prosecutors in Baghdad to be used as evidence in al-Majid's trial, which is expected to begin in May. Iraqi sources in Baghdad said the former general would face charges in connection with the suppression of the Shi'ite uprising in southern Iraq in 1991 as well as the gassing of the Kurds in Halabja, in the north, in 1988.
It has emerged that tapes of al-Majid threatening in his distinctive high-pitched voice to cut up his victims "like cucumbers" are likely to be broadcast in court. The tapes, which record al-Majid's foul-mouthed tirades at Ba'ath party meetings, are part of a large body of evidence handed to prosecutors. Al-Majid, number two in America's pack of cards depicting the most-wanted members of Saddam's regime, is heard vowing to swamp Kurdish villages with clouds of poison gas. He says so many will die that troops will have to "bury them with bulldozers".
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 7:23:53 PM ||
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Lovely. Ramsey Clark defending the perp? Would be par for the course
Posted by: Frank G ||
02/05/2005 19:26 Comments ||
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There is nothing as impotent as an idea whose time has passed.
#3
Okay now, who thinks we should have left Iraq alone? Raise your stinking hands. NYT? WaPo? Jacques?
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 20:11 Comments ||
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I remember back in 1991 when Bush 41 called a halt to GW1 in the face of media pressure about the so-called Highway of Death; and I remember thinking then, "Man, we're gonna regret this someday, we shoulda kept on going and taken out Saddam."
Sigh. I suppose there might have been good reasons why we stopped when and where we did-- but when I read articles like this I sure can't remember them.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
02/05/2005 20:23 Comments ||
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30 bodies in the garden is a tiny portion of the horror. Never forget:
http://massgraves.info/
Posted by: Tom ||
02/05/2005 20:27 Comments ||
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Remember, folks -- the Europeans are refusing to help recover mass graves because the mass murderers just might be executed.
Europe: Regretting the Fall of Naziism Since 1945!
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
02/05/2005 21:16 Comments ||
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#7
#3 Okay now, who thinks we should have left Iraq alone? Raise your stinking hands. NYT? WaPo? Jacques?
Kerry? Boxer? Teddy K?
Posted by: Janos Hunyadi ||
02/05/2005 21:29 Comments ||
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You dont honestly think the regular MSM (ABC/CNN/NBC/CBS/BBC/etc...) will give this *any* coverage do you? Why having panties on your head is *much* *much* worse!
Algeria's armed forces have killed four Islamic militants during a sweep on a rebel stronghold in the west of the North African country, security sources said on Thursday. Army units confiscated three Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles during the raid on Tuesday in the Saida province, some 300 km (190 miles) west of the capital Algiers. Security sources also said one soldier died and three more were injured when they clashed with rebels in the Sidi Bel Abbes province on Tuesday evening. Three rebels died in that attack.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 7:22:49 PM ||
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U.S. troops in Iraq have detained three French militants and police here rounded up 10 of their comrades from a group that sent raw youths from Europe to take part in the conflict with America, officials said Friday. The first confirmed capture of European Islamist fighters turns attention on the increasing movement of militants from countries such as Italy, Germany, France and Belgium to Iraq, European officials say. Several of the recruits reportedly have died in Iraq, but investigators were unaware Friday of any being held by U.S. forces other than the three Frenchmen.
The makeup of the group illustrates the evolving profile and speedy radicalization of Iraq-bound extremists, authorities said. "This is a new and spontaneous generation," said an official in the French Interior Ministry. Unlike previous militants, they had never been to Afghanistan or Bosnia, considered traditional training grounds for Muslim extremists.
Although the case was first reported Friday by French media, U.S. troops captured two of the Frenchmen in the battle to retake Fallouja in November, the official said. A third man was captured in Mosul, he said. U.S. military sources confirmed that they were holding three French nationals in Camp Bucca, a detention facility in southern Iraq. The suspects from Paris are a mixed group with Arab, African and French origins, officials say. Only their 23-year-old leader, Farid Benyettou, has previous ties to extremist networks, officials and a defense lawyer said. Group members financed their journeys themselves and hoped to join Abu Musab Zarqawi because they had heard about him on television, officials said.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
CHEKHU DIAKHABI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
FARID BENYETTU
al-Qaeda in Iraq
PETER CHERIF
al-Qaeda in Iraq
THAMER BUCHNAK
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 7:08:38 PM ||
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Here is how it works: The older jihadis are the smart ones. They figured out real quick in Afghanistan that it was better to be the guys pulling strings on puppets wwwaaayyyyy beyond the reach of the guns while some other poor schmendrick gets his a$$ swappedw with his head by a 500 lbs bomb.
The only old jihadi is a smart jihadi and they are the ones doing the recruiting.
Posted by: Jame Retief ||
02/05/2005 22:55 Comments ||
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U.S. and Iraqi security forces may have come close to capturing Iraqi al-Qaida leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in the past two weeks and are weakening his network, Iraq's interior minister said on Thursday. "We are following him," Interior Minister Falah al-Naqib told Pentagon reporters in a video conference from Baghdad. "I think we missed him twice or three times, but hopefully next time we will be able to capture him. I think we arrived a bit late. Maybe we missed him by one hour. ... You know, he is not staying in one place. He is moving from one area to another. So, we will get him -- very soon, hopefully."
Rumors of al-Zarqawi's capture have surfaced in recent weeks, including reports a month ago that he had been apprehended in the insurgent stronghold of Baquba, north of Baghdad. The minister declined to provide details of the latest raids, including where they occurred and whether they involved joint U.S.-Iraqi operations. But he said al-Zarqawi's support network had been weakened with the arrests of more than 350 "terrorists" in the three weeks before Sunday's election.
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB AL ZARQAWI
al-Qaeda in Iraq
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 6:59:37 PM ||
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NATO helicopters have found the wreckage of an Afghan airliner that crashed into a mountain top during a snow storm near Kabul two days ago with 104 people on board. Authorities said on Saturday they were still searching for any survivors, after saying earlier all 96 passengers and eight crew had been killed, and were investigating the cause of the crash of the Boeing 737. Taliban commander Mullah Dadullah said in a statement his guerrillas had not shot down the plane and that the group was very saddened by the crash.
The airliner had been flying to Kabul from the western city of Herat, a busy route for Afghan businessmen and foreign aid workers. It disappeared off radar screens three minutes after turning away from the capital's airport due to poor visibility. Nine Turks, four Americans, an Italian naval captain, two other Italians and an Iranian were reported to have been among those on board. Six of the crew were foreigners, four of them Russian, the Russian Interfax news agency said.
Continued on Page 49
This article starring:
MULLAH DADULLAH
Taliban
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
02/05/2005 5:57:12 PM ||
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An oil pipeline linking two of Iraq's major refineries has been attacked, the second such attack in three days, police and oil sources said. "The pipeline linking the Baiji refinery to that of Dura, in the capital, was sabotaged west of the city of Samarra," a local police officer said. He said the sabotage on Saturday was carried out with a 10kg explosive charge on one of a cluster of eight pipelines bringing oil to the capital from the Baiji refinery, about 190km north of Baghdad. Baiji refinery official Majid Mamnun confirmed the attack and added that the repairs would take up to a week. A similar attack was perpetrated in the same area on 2 February. Relentless attack on the country's oil industry by fighters opposed to foreign troops have cost Iraq $7 billion to $8 billion in exports since the March 2003 US-led invasion.
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02/05/2005 8:56:31 AM ||
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Four Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a motorcycle bomb near the southern city of Basra, as violence elsewhere left another seven Iraqis and two US troops dead. "The booby-trapped motorbike exploded as the patrol passed by. Four soldiers were killed and their vehicle destroyed," captain Farid al-Tamimi said. The attack took place behind the general hospital in al-Risala neighbourhood, in the centre of Basra, the country's second largest city on Saturday. British forces sealed off the site after the blast.
Running out of cars, are they?
Two children were also killed when a landmine exploded on Saturday in Samarra, north of Baghdad, security and medical sources said. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in a roadside bomb attack in the same city, which US-led troops raided in October in an effort against resistance fighters ahead of the landmark elections. In further unrest in Samarra, another soldier and a civilian were killed during clashes between Iraqi security forces and fighters in the city centre, police lieutenant Husain Abbas said. In nearby Dhuluiya, a soldier was killed and four civilians wounded in clashes, police captain Amjad Saad said.
Meanwhile, a roadside bomb blast killed two US soldiers and wounded five near the northern Iraqi town of Baiji on Friday, the US military said on Saturday. Earlier in the day, another roadside bomb blast in the same area killed one American soldier and wounded seven.
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02/05/2005 8:53:08 AM ||
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The Iraqi insurgent group the Army of Ansar al-Sunna said on Friday it had killed 29 Iraqis and taken seven prisoner when it ambushed a 50-strong Iraqi police convoy this week, an Internet statement said. "The lions of God yesterday set a trap for a National Guard convoy at Abu Ghraib west of Baghdad ... after a fierce battle the mujahideen killed 29 people, burned four trucks soldiers were riding in, and took seven prisoner," the group said in a statement dated Friday, posted on an Islamist Web site. Guerrillas on Thursday killed two policemen, wounded 14 and left at least 16 missing in the Abu Ghraib area near Baghdad, on the worst day of violence since last Sunday's election.
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Damn! Ice all the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turds!
OTOH, This reminds me jihad-spun stories Mikey posts with a such a glee.
#3
TH1864: Do the iraqi national guard have weapons or they just riding around with sticks and bulhorns?
This kind of thing happens to the Russians all the time. The reason they have fewer casualties is because there are fewer Chechen holy warriors. This is why the low level of American casualties is such a wonder to the jihadis. They thought our boys would be easy meat. Turns out it's easy, much easier, to target the locals. Our boys are just so good that it's less trouble to target them with mines.
TH, it's gonna take time but it will happen. Prolly more a result of good intel on the part of the jihadis then lack of firepower on the part of the iraqi ng's. However, as I was not there, who knows exactly how it came down.
#5
Jarhead: Prolly more a result of good intel on the part of the jihadis then lack of firepower on the part of the iraqi ng's.
I would expect it's the result of better training and experience on the part of our boys. GI's get ambushed, too - but they shoot straighter than the opposition. Our guys also have the advantage of supporting fire from aerial and ground artillery, meaning that the opposition really can't stick around to exploit their successes against our guys. I don't think the Iraqis have that benefit - we just don't trust them enough to fire at their request.
Also many Muslim armies have a kind of fatalistic Insha'allah (God willing - i.e. it is in the hands of God) kind of perspective, meaning that they don't train as hard as they should. Still, in time, they should get better, as they get more experience.
Four Egyptian policemen were wounded in a gunbattle on Friday with Bedouin in Sinai believed to be sheltering key suspects in the bombing of three Red Sea resorts last year, security sources said. Security forces have since Wednesday besieged about 100 armed Bedouin in the Ras Sudr area of central Sinai, 150 km (94 miles) east of Cairo, and the shooting intensified late on Thursday, the sources said. One policeman was wounded by a bullet in the back and three others were injured when the Bedouin opened fire on their police car, causing it to overturn, they added.
The sources said they believed the Bedouin were sheltering two fugitive bombers, Mohamed Ahmed Saleh Fulayfel and Hammad Gumaa, and three others wanted for questioning over the blasts four months ago. Police say the Bedouin were armed with automatic weapons, rocket-propelled grenades and mortars. A gunbattle between the Bedouin and police in the same area on Tuesday wounded one policeman and killed another suspect, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday. Two other suspected bombers were killed in the Taba attack when their bomb went off early. Egypt has said they were not part of a wider militant network or linked to al Qaeda.
This article starring:
HAMAD GUMAA
Tawhid wal Jihad
MOHAMED AHMED SALEH FULAIFEL
Tawhid wal Jihad
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 00:00:00 ||
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About 10 Darfur rebel commanders have renounced leadership of the main movement in Sudan's west, rebel officials said yesterday, raising fears that negotiations for a cease-fire in war-torn Darfur could stutter. The Sudan Liberation Army (SLA) is the largest of two main rebel groups fighting the government in Darfur, demanding a more equal distribution of wealth and power. Any splits in its leadership could hurt already fragile talks to end the conflict.
A statement issued on a Sudanese website earlier this week, signed by SLA commander Jumaa Mohamed Haggar, said the military field command had renounced the leadership of the movement, which is based in the Eritrean capital Asmara. "We will very soon be announcing a new secretary-general and chairman," Haggar's head of office told Reuters from Darfur yesterday, confirming the web statement. The SLA chairman and secretary-general both confirmed the statement but said it posed no threat to the movement.
The humanitarian coordinator for the movement, Suleiman Adam Jamous, told Reuters he had traveled to meet the commanders, but was still waiting to start talks with them. "There are several commanders with Haggar. There may be 10 of them," Jamous said by telephone from Darfur, adding he did not think it was a serious threat to the movement. Asked why the commanders had said they had no confidence in the leadership, Jamous said: "Because of their absence I think." After years of tribal conflict two main rebel groups, the SLA and the Justice and Equality Movement, took up arms in early 2003 accusing the government of neglect and of giving Arab tribes preferential treatment. They say the government armed Arab militias, known as Janjaweed, who the international community hold responsible for widespread rape, and the looting and burning of non-Arab villages. Khartoum admits arming some militias to fight the rebels but denies any links to the Janjaweed, calling them outlaws.
In that case, we'd expect the gummint to hunt them down and kill them all, wouldn't we?
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the president of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), said on Friday that sardars (tribal chiefs), capitalists and generals were exploiting people to protect their interests.
"Holy men don't do that sort of thing. We'd never think of such a thing!"
Speaking at a seminar organised by the MMA on the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day, Qazi who is also the ameer of Jamaat-e-Islami, said the MMA would launch the second phase of agitation that would organise caravans and million marches to get rid of these exploiters who had compromised the country's interests for theirs. He called Kashmir's liberation an unfinished agenda of the partition of the subcontinent. "The independence of Pakistan is incomplete without Kashmir's accession to Pakistan. We support the Kashmir struggle politically and militarily," he added. Qazi said that Kashmiris launched their armed struggle for their self-determination after the world bodies including the United Nations had disappointed them. He said that more than 90,000 people had been killed and 25,000 women raped during an armed struggle in Kashmir. "We will not let the government forget Kashmiris' sacrifices," he said.
Now, I've been watching the carnage in Kashmir for three years and a bit. Most of the corpses I've seen have been caused by the jihadis, most of whom are Paks. I think the 90,000 figure that Qazi and Hafiz Saeed are so fond of slinging are mostly Bad Guyz, which I'll admit is a considerable pile of used flesh.
He said India had always said that Pakistan had occupied a part of Kashmir while Pakistani generals were talking of Kashmir's partition on regional and ethnic grounds. "The people of Pakistan and Kashmir will never accept [President Pervez] Musharraf's formula," he said.
This article starring:
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Jamaat-e-Islami
QAZI HUSEIN AHMED
Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
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#1
Isn't that James Randi with a lampshade on his head?...
Pakistani police and intelligence agencies have arrested a Tunisian national suspected of links with Al-Qaeda, security officials said yesterday. The suspect, who identified himself as Abdul Qayum, was arrested late on Wednesday while shopping in a smart district of Peshawar, capital of North-West Frontier Province, which borders Afghanistan. "He was being monitored for some time and tracked down to a shop and picked up from there," the official said."During the interrogation he said his name was Abdul Qayum, we are looking for more details."
This article starring:
ABDUL QAIUM
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
02/05/2005 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.
Five militants surrendered to Kuwaiti security forces who surrounded their hideout on Saturday in the oil-rich Gulf Arab state which is battling a surge in al Qaeda-linked violence, state media said. State television said security forces continued to search the area in Sulaibiya suburb, some 13 miles northwest of the capital Kuwait City. "Five terrorists holed up in a house in Sulaibiya area have surrendered," the television reported, saying two of the men were Saudi nationals and three were Jordanian. 
Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of Al Qaeda-linked violence in the Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against US forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected Al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month.
A Yemeni court has sentenced to death the leader of a group of 15 men found guilty last year of bombing a French supertanker. 
With the international anti-terrorism conference set to open today, security has been beefed up around the venue as well as Mariott Riyadh, site of the media center, and Royal Conference Palace, where the government's guests have been accommodated. 
Kuwaiti security forces are hunting a number of key militant suspects after a recent spate of al Qaeda-linked violence in the U.S.-allied oil-rich Gulf state, security sources said on Friday. Confessions of captured militants revealed they were planning suicide attacks against U.S. forces in Kuwait as well as Kuwait's state security forces, the sources said. Kuwaiti security killed five suspected al Qaeda militants and captured three, including the group's leader, on Monday in the fourth such gun battle in the country last month. State security officer Hamad al-Samhan, one of three police, wounded in the clash, died in hospital on Friday, the sources said. 
A BRITON released from Guantanamo Bay has admitted being interviewed for advanced-level terrorist training in Afghanistan by two senior Al-Qaeda leaders and later volunteering for a "martyrdom operation". 
A GRAVE holding 30 bodies has been found in the garden of an opulent villa where sadistic parties are said to have been hosted by the Iraqi general known as Chemical Ali, writes Adam Nathan. Police who found the grave say General Ali Hassan alMajid, a cousin of Saddam Hussein who got his nickname from the gas attacks he mounted on the Kurds of northern Iraq, used to entertain house guests with a "party game" that involved shooting prisoners tied to metal posts in the garden.
Algeria's armed forces have killed four Islamic militants during a sweep on a rebel stronghold in the west of the North African country, security sources said on Thursday. Army units confiscated three Kalashnikov AK-47 rifles during the raid on Tuesday in the Saida province, some 300 km (190 miles) west of the capital Algiers. Security sources also said one soldier died and three more were injured when they clashed with rebels in the Sidi Bel Abbes province on Tuesday evening. Three rebels died in that attack.
U.S. troops in Iraq have detained three French militants and police here rounded up 10 of their comrades from a group that sent raw youths from Europe to take part in the conflict with America, officials said Friday. The first confirmed capture of European Islamist fighters turns attention on the increasing movement of militants from countries such as Italy, Germany, France and Belgium to Iraq, European officials say. Several of the recruits reportedly have died in Iraq, but investigators were unaware Friday of any being held by U.S. forces other than the three Frenchmen.
U.S. and Iraqi security forces may have come close to capturing Iraqi al-Qaida leader 
An oil pipeline linking two of Iraq's major refineries has been attacked, the second such attack in three days, police and oil sources said. "The pipeline linking the Baiji refinery to that of Dura, in the capital, was sabotaged west of the city of Samarra," a local police officer said. He said the sabotage on Saturday was carried out with a 10kg explosive charge on one of a cluster of eight pipelines bringing oil to the capital from the Baiji refinery, about 190km north of Baghdad. Baiji refinery official Majid Mamnun confirmed the attack and added that the repairs would take up to a week. A similar attack was perpetrated in the same area on 2 February. Relentless attack on the country's oil industry by fighters opposed to foreign troops have cost Iraq $7 billion to $8 billion in exports since the March 2003 US-led invasion.
Four Iraqi soldiers have been killed in a motorcycle bomb near the southern city of Basra, as violence elsewhere left another seven Iraqis and two US troops dead. "The booby-trapped motorbike exploded as the patrol passed by. Four soldiers were killed and their vehicle destroyed," captain Farid al-Tamimi said. The attack took place behind the general hospital in al-Risala neighbourhood, in the centre of Basra, the country's second largest city on Saturday. British forces sealed off the site after the blast.
The Iraqi insurgent group the Army of 
Four Egyptian policemen were wounded in a gunbattle on Friday with Bedouin in Sinai believed to be sheltering key suspects in the bombing of three Red Sea resorts last year, security sources said. Security forces have since Wednesday besieged about 100 armed Bedouin in the Ras Sudr area of central Sinai, 150 km (94 miles) east of Cairo, and the shooting intensified late on Thursday, the sources said. One policeman was wounded by a bullet in the back and three others were injured when the Bedouin opened fire on their police car, causing it to overturn, they added. 
About 10 Darfur rebel commanders have renounced leadership of the main movement in Sudan's west, rebel officials said yesterday, raising fears that negotiations for a cease-fire in war-torn Darfur could stutter. The 
Pakistani police and intelligence agencies have arrested a Tunisian national suspected of links with Al-Qaeda, security officials said yesterday. The suspect, who identified himself as 
