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Today: 92 articles and 470 comments as of 13:31.
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Rabbani backs Qanooni for speaker of Afghan House
Today's Headlines
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Afghanistan
More on al-Libbi's video debut
One of four prisoners who escaped from Bagram airbase, north of the Afghan capital Kabul, in July, warned that militants would “sully the United State’s pride in the sand”, in a statement posted on the internet.

Yahya al Libbi, whose real name is Mohammad Hassan Qayid, indicated in a 20 minute videotape message entitled “The sermon of Eid al Fitr”, marking the end of Ramadan, which fell on 4 November this year, “We will humiliate the United States. Either we live proudly or our fate will be to enter paradise”.

“Signs of victory can be seen on the horizon, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya. Victory is forthcoming in spite of the wishes of all enemies, infidels and aggressors,” he added.

Al Libbi was one of four detainees who escaped from the US airbase in Bagram. The others are Saudi national Mohammad al Qahtani, Syrian national Abdullah al Hashemi, Iraqi national Mahmoud al Rashid, also known as Omar al Faruq, a senior al Qaeda figure. A U.S. military official described the men as “dangerous enemy combatants”.

At the time, a military source revealed he had discovered four orange prison uniforms dumped near Bagram prison in July. How they managed to escape remains a mystery but there are indications that they received outside assistance.
Brilliant, inspector, brilliant.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/21/2005 10:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “We will humiliate the United States. Either we live proudly or our fate will be to enter paradise ... Signs of victory can be seen on the horizon, in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Chechnya. Victory is forthcoming in spite of the wishes of all enemies, infidels and aggressors.”

He did get that bit right, anyway. ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 13:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Yahya al Libbi, whose real name is Mohammad Hassan Qayid.

Well, "Duh!" (I'm getting a bit slow at 58). But NOW, I finally get the correlation thing between the various ragger nick-name/AKA's, etc. Thanks Yah-ya (KEWL!!) It all comes down to that eternal ME dilemma...the family goat or the youngest son of the folks in the closest hovel. Hope you all fry VERY soon...heh-heh
Posted by: Asymmetrical Triangulation || 12/21/2005 20:42 Comments || Top||


Taliban who killed Seals hunted down and Killed!
U.S. Marines and Afghan forces killed more than 40 suspected militants in an operation against insurgents who had inflicted the deadliest blow to American forces since the Taliban's ouster, a military spokesman said Monday.

These are the guys who killed the 3 Seals and 16 other troops this June in the Koregnal Valley Afghanistan.

Good Job!!
Posted by: 3dc || 12/21/2005 01:44 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I guess you can say, 'they had it comin!', Hip-Hip-Hooray!! And Tallye-Ho!!
Posted by: smn || 12/21/2005 2:15 Comments || Top||

#2  aheart warming deed..SWEET
Posted by: Red Dog || 12/21/2005 2:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Ain't payback a bitch!
Posted by: raptor || 12/21/2005 6:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Early Xmas gift! Good hunting, boys!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 12/21/2005 6:28 Comments || Top||

#5  No worse enemy, no better friend, indeed. Very well done!
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 7:43 Comments || Top||

#6  Snif, cockels all toasty.
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 8:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Article was written August 22, 2005.
Posted by: ed || 12/21/2005 9:02 Comments || Top||

#8  "Wherever ye are, DEATH will find you out, even, if ye are in towers built up strong and high - "

The Holy Qu'ran, Sura 4:78.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 12/21/2005 9:08 Comments || Top||

#9  Maybe Steven Speilberg will make a movie out of it.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 9:24 Comments || Top||

#10  Maybe Steven Speilberg will make a movie out of it.

Hope not, if it will have the same moral equivalence reported in "Munich"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2005 9:53 Comments || Top||

#11  Soldiers have a long memory, and are always up for payback. Thank you Marines from those who lost friends that day. NSDQ!
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/21/2005 10:05 Comments || Top||

#12  Thank God Almighty for the United States Marine Corps.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 10:18 Comments || Top||

#13  Lemmee see, after the great turkey shoot by THE MARINES, and the Afghan Army, now there is the issue of 40 militants x 72 virgins succubuses... 2880... That is a tall order for the devil. 2,880? That will piss him off 'cause it's tea time in hell.




"Unshaven men with experience with goats and sheep. Big Red, er the boss provides so many searing opportunities!"
Posted by: BigEd || 12/21/2005 10:39 Comments || Top||

#14  I suppose sheep could be virgins. Just in case he runs out of human like ones.
Posted by: plainslow || 12/21/2005 11:45 Comments || Top||

#15  Burn their corpses and feed their bones to swine as an example for all to see.

Hoorah!

EP
Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding || 12/21/2005 12:34 Comments || Top||

#16  btw, welcome back from your real life, EP. I've learned a lot from your comments! (I didn't get back to RB in time to add that to the appropriate thread, sorry!)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 13:23 Comments || Top||

#17  Seeing it's the Marines, I found a new billboard here in Atlanta appropriate this morning. It's in the district of Cynthia McMoonbatKinney. Has a black background and in big white letters it says (actually the DEMOCRAT word is in yellow, lol):

Rep. Murtha:

DEMOCRATS
may cut and run, but
MARINES
never do!

Hoo-rah!

Wonder who paid for that billboard (right on the side of I-85, just inside I-285 just before N. Druid Hills exit heading south, for any RBers from the ATL)? And I wonder if there's similar ones in the other 2 districts of the moonbats who voted for Rep. Murtha's bill to cut and run. That district has to be the looniest, most out of touch in the entire Southeast.
Posted by: BA || 12/21/2005 14:01 Comments || Top||

#18  It isn't at all polite so I hope y'all will forgive me, but following on BA's post, *snicker*.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 14:49 Comments || Top||

#19  Does anyone else have trouble with Fox's website - I get all the downloading messages but when it's done, all I see is the Fox wallpaper.... happens that way 9 out of 10 times...
Posted by: Slomoth Clise6778 || 12/21/2005 15:42 Comments || Top||

#20  Thanks, TW. Pretty bad when even Murtha himself voted against it. I can't remember the other 2 moonbats who voted for it (in addition to McKinney), but I do wonder if the billboard "showed up" in those districts too, lol!
Posted by: BA || 12/21/2005 15:52 Comments || Top||

#21  This is a wonderful Christmas gift. More....
Posted by: Captain America || 12/21/2005 16:15 Comments || Top||

#22  #15: Burn their corpses and feed their bones to swine as an example for all to see.

Oh heavens no! Remember the last time some US Special Forces burned the bodies of some smelly ass and very dead Taliban? Just dump their bodies in some ravine... and leave a calling card.
Posted by: The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen || 12/21/2005 18:43 Comments || Top||


Three Italian soldiers hurt in Afghan attack
Three Italian soldiers were slightly wounded on Tuesday in an apparent suicide attack against NATO-led troops in Afghanistan’s western city of Herat, military and government officials said. A purported mouthpiece spokesman for the ousted Taleban government claimed responsibility for the blast, which struck a convoy of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on the main road to the city’s airport. “There was a vehicle that pulled up alongside and blew up next to one of our vehicles,” ISAF spokesman Andy Elmes said. “Three Italian soldiers working with ISAF have been lightly injured,” he said.
"Hey, Giuseppe! Howzit goin'? What's that? A hangnail?"
"Nah. A suicide boomer got me."
“It is a possible suicide attack,” interior ministry spokesman Yousuf Stanizai said in the capital, Kabul. He said the attacker had died.
That makes it a suicide attack, doesn't it?
A man who said he was a spokesman for the Taleban regime told AFP that one of the group’s members had carried out the attack, which he said was aimed at US troops. “One of our mujahedin... carried out a suicide car bomb attack involving an American convoy,” he said by telephone. His links with the ultra-conservative movement have not been verified.
Nor do we particular care to verify.
Italians, Americans, close enough...
Infidels all look the same to me. :: shrug ::
Posted by: Steve White || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Well, that'll be all for the Italians. They'll be ruck'n up and headed back home soon I suspect.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Despite the best efforts of a nice variety of idiots, the Italians haven't left yet. I actually didn't expect them to last as long as the French (who never came at all) or the Spaniards, so colour me impressed, fwiw.

He said the attacker had died. That makes it a suicide attack, doesn't it? Fred, most attackers die over there, thanks to the steady nerves and good marksmanship of our darling boys and girls in uniform. But surely only dieing on purpose should count as a suicide attack, getting all those extra raisins, yes?


Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 13:32 Comments || Top||


Africa Horn
U.N., African Union Condemn Darfur Attack
The United Nations and the African Union on Wednesday condemned an attack on a village in Darfur in western Sudan in which camel and horse-riding assailants killed 20 civilians and burned their huts. The 500 men, suspected Arab militiamen known as the Janjaweed, swept through the village of Abu Sorouj in the war-wrecked Darfur region on Monday, killing the villagers and destroying and looting their houses, U.N. spokeswoman Radhia Achouri told reporters.
500 guys on camels and horses riding around waving guns shouldn't be that difficult to spot from the air. Couple cluster bombs and a follow-up with helicopter gunships would sort them right out. That is, if you really wanted to stop them.

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the attack, Achouri said, warning that 'the security situation in Darfur remains volatile. Militia attacks on villages continue.'

Abu Sorouj was among a number of villages that were attacked this week in all three Darfur states 'and continuous displacements of people have been reported,' Achouri said. Recent fighting has forced 5,000 people to flea their homes in southern Darfur to northern areas, Achouri said.

The African Union, which maintains 7,000 peacekeepers in Darfur, said it was 'outraged' by the Abu Sorouj attack. An AU statement said the organization's peace mediator Salim Ahmed Salim, condemned 'the unwarranted brutal killings of numerous innocent civilians, including women and children, and the destruction of their homes and property by armed militia.' AU-sponsored peace talks ended Dec. 7 in Abuja, Nigeria, and another round is not expected before the new year.

The AU also urged Sudanese officials to ensure that the assailants 'face the full force of the law.'
Yeah. Right.
Darfur's herding and farming communities, split by years of skirmishes over land and water, took up arms in large-scale fighting in 2003. So far, the ensuing famine and disease have killed more than 180,000 people. The Arab-dominated government in Khartoum, already accused of unfair distribution of wealth in the country, has been accused of unleashing the Janjaweed against the ethnic tribe members in Darfur.
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 15:27 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For those who may believe the United States is doing nothing to assist the AU peace effort in Darfur, the Euro's kicked in 200m this year, we kicked in $ 45m USD for the construction of barracks and other facilities.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 16:24 Comments || Top||

#2  The United Nations and the African Union on Wednesday condemned an attack on a village in Darfur in western Sudan in which camel and horse-riding assailants killed 20 civilians and burned their huts.

But if you ask the UN, it isn't genocide!
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/21/2005 17:15 Comments || Top||

#3  correct, B-rama. To get a sense of what they DO consider to be genocide, look under "Palestine" in the UN dictionary.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 12/21/2005 17:18 Comments || Top||

#4  The African Union has resisted our request that they do real work in Darfur. I suspect they are being bribed by various Arabic States.

Posted by: mhw || 12/21/2005 22:08 Comments || Top||

#5  Gee, 500 horses. That's 2000 feet + road apples. Shouldn't be too hard to track.
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2005 22:45 Comments || Top||


Africa Subsaharan
Nigeria pipeline blast kills eight
A suspected dynamite attack on a major Nigerian oil pipeline has killed eight people and cut output from the world's eighth largest exporter by 7%, authorities say. The sabotage by unidentified armed men on the pipeline operated by Royal Dutch Shell also caused a major oil spill and fire in the remote southern Niger Delta, the company said on Tuesday. "The attack was very devastating ... the whole community has been razed down by the explosion. Eight corpses have been recovered so far and many more are still missing," Monwan Etete, chairman of Andoni local government area, said in the Rivers state capital, Port Harcourt. Shell closed two oilfields to help curb the fire and said that 170,000 barrels per day (bpd) of oil output had been "deferred". The company originally said in a statement that only 170 bpd were affected.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Bangladesh
BDR seizes explosives, bomb-making devices in Sylhet
The members of Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) recovered huge explosives and bomb-making devices in the border areas of Companygonj in Sylhet and Joharpur in Chapainawabganj yesterday.

Our Sylhet Correspondent reports: The BDR personnel in two separate drives recovered four powerful bombs and huge quantity of bomb-making equipment from there. BDR 21 battalion sources said, on a tip-off, BDR personnel conducted the drive at Companygonj along border and recovered 5 packets power gel, 4 detonators and 9 fuse from near the 1249/1 pillar. The BDR team took the recovered bombs and explosive to the sector quarter at Akhalia in the city. Earlier, BDR personnel arrested two Indian citizens along with 4 bombs and 5 fuses while they entered Bangladeshi Territory on September 17 in 2004 from this area and two powerful bombs, huge explosives and bomb-making devices were recovered by the Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) personnel at Noyakut border area under Chhatak upazila of Sunamganj district on November 17.

Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Belfast court jugs Algerian al-Qaeda suspect
An al-Qaeda suspect who learnt how to blow up an aircraft on the internet at a Belfast library was today jailed for six years at Belfast Crown Court. The Algerian was tried as Abbas Boutrab, 27, but his true identity remains unclear. He has used at least seven aliases since his first known arrest in Paris 13 years ago.
"My real name? It's... ummm... I don't remember."
Judge Mr Justice Weatherup accused Boutrab - who was found guilty of possessing and collecting information connected with terrorism - of being involved in a more chilling threat to Northern Ireland than even the 30 years of paramilitarism. Passing sentence he said: "Now we find the terrorism threat is subsiding and a new threat is emerging. This new threat has an added horror because the terrorist stands amongst the innocent men, women and children. That’s a feature in the material that was recovered here. It provides instructions for improvised explosives with the objecting of bringing down an aircraft and the lives of all those on board."

Detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland crime operations department, the security services, the FBI and police in the Irish Republic, France and Holland, were all involved in the intelligence operation that led to Boutrab’s capture. He was arrested after an immigration raid on his flat at Whiteabbey on the northern outskirts of Belfast in April 2003. Police seized 25 computer discs containing instructions that had been downloaded from the internet in the city’s Central Library three months earlier. Librarians said that they never suspected the unassuming figure poring over Arabic-language websites could be a terrorist. It emerged in court that the files detailed how to construct a bomb and smuggle it on board a passenger jet. They also included information on how to make a silencer for an assault rifle using household items.

Boutrab, who still protests his innocence and plans to appeal the conviction, was also found guilty of possessing a stolen Italian passport. His head shaven and with a black beard, he refused to stand throughout the sentencing. Mr Justice Weatherup told him that he would be recommending his deportation after he has served his sentence. Police say that Boutrab has an allegiance to a terrorist group linked to the al-Qaeda network. He was the first suspected member of the Islamic extremists to be tried in Northern Ireland under the non-jury Diplock court system used for the trial of loyalist and republican paramilitaries.

During the investigation, PSNI detectives sent the instructions they had seized to the FBI where one of the agents followed them. A video showing the results was played to the court: it showed a bomb which blew apart a mocked-up row of airline seats and ripped through the aircraft shell beside them. After Boutrab’s conviction the officer who led the investigation, Detective Superintendent Esmond Adair, said a dangerous man had been removed from the streets. "I believe he is an unrepentant terrorist," he claimed. Boutrab has already spent two years on remand, meaning he could be released in a year’s time under rules for good behaviour.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/21/2005 10:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He is the poster child for AQ sleeper cell. Can't be activated for at least six years! LOL
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/21/2005 10:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Detective Superintendent Esmond Adair, the next Time Magazine Man of the Year, said a dangerous man had been removed from the streets. "I believe he is an unrepentant terrorist, he's fu**ed now Mike haha, lets go have a Christmas pint!"
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 10:51 Comments || Top||

#3  the next Time Magazine Man of the Year,
Wow! They said that? Or are you fucking with the original
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 16:31 Comments || Top||

#4  An Algerian in Ireland, and a nasty one at that. Is this another US funded IRA trained and sponsored terrorist?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2005 23:01 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 An Algerian in Ireland, and a nasty one at that. Is this another US funded IRA trained and sponsored terrorist?
Posted by: Skidmark 2005-12-21 23:01


I put $5. in the jar at the pub. They told me it was for Abba CD's for sister Jen's son stricken with polio in Dublin.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 23:07 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Children still sickened by mystery illness in Chechnya
A total of 55 people, 53 of them children, have been affected by a mysterious disease at a school in Russia’s volatile region of Chechnya, the Interfax news agency reported on Wednesday.

19 children are currently at the central children’s hospital, about 10 in the Shelkovskaya district hospital, and the rest are at home under medical supervision, the agency reported.

Doctors are still unable to diagnose the illness, but initial suggestions by specialists from the Emergencies Ministry said it could be nerve-gas poisoning.

Doctors from Moscow who traveled to Chechnya to examine the children categorically stated that the patients did not have the symptoms of food poisoning.

A team of specialists from the Zashchita emergency medical center left Grozny for the Shelkovskaya district on Wednesday morning. The team is being led by Professor Gennady Prostakishin and includes a toxicologist and a chemistry expert.

The experts will take samples at Shelkovskaya, Kobi, Starogladovskaya and other villages where the illness has been recorded for tests.

Prostakishin, however, told Interfax that “there is no confidence that there are any substances to take samples from.” If need be, specialists in other fields will also be dispatched to Grozny, he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/21/2005 10:52 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  [Comment removed by moderator]

Whoops! Did I type that out loud just now?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/21/2005 13:00 Comments || Top||

#2  you need to be a sick person to type that shit, bigjim-ky
Posted by: lyot || 12/21/2005 15:47 Comments || Top||

#3  Whoops! Did I type that out loud just now?

Yes, you did. And I removed it.

Do not do it again.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/21/2005 16:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Pappy: Didn't agree with it myself, but as an American I find your deletion a bit curious from a lst Amendment standpoint. There are a few comments on here I sometimes disagree with, but it appears to be open forum. Maybe not, evidently you be judge eh mate?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 16:21 Comments || Top||

#5  from a lst Amendment standpoint

LOL! It's the commercer clause not the bill of lights!

Jeebus.
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 16:33 Comments || Top||

#6  B., sometimes us moderators comment all day; sometimes we moderate. Sometimes we edit comments that are simply inappropriate. Any long time RB'er will tell you that edited comments are very few and far between. And please, no whingeing about the First Amendment. It's very well respected here.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/21/2005 16:55 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe not, evidently you be judge eh mate?

Sometimes, meneer. Sometimes executioner.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/21/2005 17:00 Comments || Top||

#8  The First Amendment to the Constitution reads:

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

Note it says "Congress". It doesn't say "Fred". This is Fred's web site, and he can make any damn rule he damn well feels like making and the Constitution does not impinge in any way on Fred's right to make those rules and enforce them.
Posted by: Dave D. || 12/21/2005 17:02 Comments || Top||

#9  Thanks, whatever it was, Pappy.
Posted by: Sneatle Crinemp3932 || 12/21/2005 17:08 Comments || Top||

#10  My thanks all for the primer on the Rantburg hierarchy, moderators, minders, medlers, whingeing(ers) et al. As a Burg novice I was totally clueless to the pecking order. I thought the fellows comment was, like a few others I've seen here, tactless and indeed distasteful. I suspect a few would judge some of my commentary as such as well. I would only ask (just asking, please no one give birth to a bloody Holstein) that if we're indeed supportive of free speech, and I'm sure most are, then lets practice what we preach. To do otherwise is a bit, well hypocritical.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 21:34 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Kent swore allegiance to jihad before Binny
Australian terror suspect Shane Kent made a commitment to conduct jihad as a requirement for meeting al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, a Melbourne Court has heard. Kent, who is one of 10 men arrested in a series of raids around Melbourne last month, is charged with being a member of a terrorist organisation.

Along with co-accused Amer Haddara, 26, of Yarraville, Kent is seeking bail in Melbourne Magistrates' Court.

The 28-year-old father of three, from the Melbourne suburb of Meadow Heights, wanted to participate in jihad but was frustrated by the attention of Australian authorities, police said today.

Crown Prosecutor Nick Robinson told the court Kent spoke of his frustration to Melbourne Muslim preacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika, 46, who is charged with directing a terrorist organisation and supplying funds to a terrorist organisation. Mr Robinson read a transcript of a conversation between the pair, in which Kent allegedly said, "Sheikh, it's too hard here ... we can't move, we can't do nothing".

Detective Senior Constable Ben Condon gave evidence that Kent made the pledge to commit himself to jihad when he visited a training camp in Afghanistan before the September 11 terrorist attacks. "He made a pledge to jihad in front of Osama bin Laden," Mr Condon said. "They were required to do that if they wanted to meet him."

But Kent's defence counsel Peta Murphy denied any pledge or oath of allegiance was made by her client, saying the Crown case was weak. "He has no role in any alleged organisation ... there's no evidence of conversations of bombings or killings of Australians," Ms Murphy said.

She said the matter could take years to come to trial, given the 35,000 hours (or four years) of recorded conversations between alleged members of the alleged organisation. Police have relied on 57 hours of conversation for evidence.
That's good enough.
Haddara's lawyer Rob Stary said "gaping holes" existed in the evidence against his client, who intends to plead not guilty. Haddara's father, Maarouf Ali Haddara, gave evidence today that he would offer the family home as surety if his son was released on bail.

Mr Stary said his client had met Benbrika twice and had discussed whether it would be legitimate to participate in a jihad.
Gonna be hard to defend against that; I think an Aussie jury will come to correct conclusion about a desire to lop off heads.
"He's (Haddara) said to be in possession of some literature, literature that is lawful, that is available and may express an alternative view to western ideology," Mr Stary said.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/21/2005 10:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What the hell kind of terrorist is named "Shane"? What's next? "Jody"?
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 11:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Haddara's lawyer Rob Stary said "gaping holes" existed in the evidence against his client, who intends to plead not guilty.

Too bad "gaping holes" don't exist in his client...
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/21/2005 11:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Police have relied on 57 hours of conversation for evidence. Haddara's lawyer Rob Stary said "gaping holes" existed in the evidence against his client, who intends to plead not guilty.

Gaping holes indeed. Damn man, after 57 hours, he's gotta have a piss!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 11:19 Comments || Top||

#4  When he left, Osama cried out: "Zawahiri's got things for you to do, and Zarqawi wants you. (the words "wants you" echo) I know she does. Shane. Shane! Come back! 'Bye, Shane."
Posted by: Hupamble Jang3152 || 12/21/2005 11:36 Comments || Top||

#5  I find it disturbing that we are seeing terrorists named Shane, but a few westerners in a population of billions are bound to be complete fuckwits.

Shane, we have some real fun times ahead for you.

EP

Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding || 12/21/2005 11:46 Comments || Top||

#6  Well, Elvis, at least it's not as bad as that German terror symp/Muslim convert named Christian Gancharski (or something like that...probably butchered it badly, but I remember his first name and that the last name started with a G).
Posted by: Desert Blondie || 12/21/2005 11:58 Comments || Top||

#7  The Western media never reports the nom de jihad of the converts... surely Shane's Moose limb name is sumthin' like Abu Mahmoud Achmed al-Melbourni.

I am also amused by his whinge to the holy man:

The 28-year-old father of three, from the Melbourne suburb of Meadow Heights, wanted to participate in jihad but was frustrated by the attention of Australian authorities, police said today. Crown Prosecutor Nick Robinson told the court Kent spoke of his frustration to Melbourne Muslim preacher Abdul Nacer Benbrika

Poor widdle shaheedawannabe.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/21/2005 12:07 Comments || Top||

#8 
I'm hanging up my vest Kid.
No! Shame! Shame Shame!


/wot's that in the road ahead Brandon?
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 13:20 Comments || Top||

#9  "He's (Haddara) said to be in possession of some literature, literature that is lawful, that is available and may express an alternative view to western ideology," Mr Stary said.
The Aussies aren't trying him for owning a copy of the Quran, but because he's promised to "wage jihad" against his fellow citizens. Stake him down 12 feet below the high tide level for 72 hours. If he survives, he's innocent. No artificial breathing apparatuses or long hoses allowed.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 12/21/2005 14:42 Comments || Top||


Europe
European rights groups lodge lawsuit over alleged CIA flights
PARIS - Two European human rights groups said they had lodged a lawsuit on Wednesday over alleged CIA flights stopping in France and carrying individuals detained in the US war on terror. The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the League of Human Rights (LDH), both based in Paris, said in a joint statement they wanted light shed on at least two instances in which planes believed to be used by the CIA set down at French airports.

“Big fears can be expressed over the transport of CIA prisoners on these flights,” they said. “The FIDH and the LDH consequently ask that all necessary investigations be made as soon as possible by legal authorities,” they said. The statement said the rights groups “intend to underline the responsibility of French authorities, have the incidents investigated and to prosecute those responsible.”

A lawyer for the FIDH, Patrick Baudouin, told AFP the lawsuit had been lodged at a court in the Paris suburb of Bobigny, which is responsible for one of the airports named in the documents, Le Bourget, just outside the capital. The other alleged Central Intelligence Agency flight was believed to have set down at the Guipavas airport outside the western city of Brest.
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 12:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The FIDH and the LDH can f'ing eat me.
Posted by: bgrebel9 || 12/21/2005 13:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe it was Lindbergh?
Posted by: tu3031 || 12/21/2005 13:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Maybe a temporary suspension of Air France landing privileges here in the big PX is in order until all of this is sorted out.
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 15:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Ten years ago I would have argued against torture, in all cases. Not any more. In fact, I could do it if the target was a proven terrorist, and it was certain same was witholding information of a terror attack. Spying of possible terrorists is an even easier sell.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/21/2005 17:15 Comments || Top||


"Lowland mujahiddeen" on trial in the Netherlands
The trial of 14 young radical Muslims is attracting widespread attention in Holland and elsewhere. This article examines the network and explains how young second-generation immigrants are radicalized to the pose an unprecedented security threat to the Dutch state.

Mohammed Bouyeri, who is already serving a life sentence for the murder of controversial Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh in November 2004, is among the 14 young Muslims whose trial started on 2005 December. All 14 have been charged with membership in a criminal terrorist organization, the so called Hofstadgroup (Hofstadt being another name for The Hague), of which Bouyeri was one of the leading figures.

The Hofstadgroup is mainly comprised of second-generation Dutch youth of Moroccan descent. Members of the Hofstadgroup were under surveillance by the Dutch intelligence agency AIVD since 2002. Group members are thought to have been planning attacks on Dutch politicians and institutions. Houses where the boys lived were wired, and excerpts of the taped conversations form part of the evidence against them. Moreover, the contents of their computers and their postings on radical websites and in Internet chat rooms will also be used as evidence.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/21/2005 10:35 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lowland Mujahiddeen (Nederlandus virgindesirii)

Peculiar mutation of Homo sapiens Seeks massive polygamous conditions in afterlife. Looks like an ordinary human except massive facial hair, and choses to wear white schmocks.

Has almost fetish like desire to blow self into red mist. Pathological fear of pigs. Same to be said of women not wearing tents, which they call burquas...

Proposal to place Lowland Mujahiddeen on Kingdom of Netherlands endangered species list under comsideration along with several other species, it is the only primate under consideration.

Note : Debate revolved around fact that it is an imported species from North Africa/Middle East, and would thus not be eligable for inclusion on the list.

Note : They are known for murder of descendents of great artists....

Image hosted by Photobucket.com

Theo and Vincent VanGogh
Posted by: BigEd || 12/21/2005 12:33 Comments || Top||

#2  Git 'em Ed!
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 13:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Bravo Ed. :: golf clap ::
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/21/2005 14:22 Comments || Top||

#4  Even Justice Minister Piet Hein Donner lately made clear he is not sure that strengthening the law would be the right step.

Ja, ja Piet! You've stumbled onto it for certain. Keeping them bloody OUT is the key mate!
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 15:30 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Pipe Bomb Near Cincinnati Mosque
Police don't know if it's a hate crime or a prank.

POLICE AND THE FBI ARE INVESTIGATING A SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS IN CLIFTON TUESDAY, ONE OF WHICH DAMAGED A BUILDING NEXT TO A MOSQUE.
AROUND 10:10pm, POLICE SAY THERE WAS A REPORT OF EXPLOSIONS NEAR LUDLOW AND CLIFTON AVENUE. THEN, 12 MINUTES LATER, NEIGHBORS OF THE SALAM MOSQUE AT CLIFTON AND MCALPIN. OFFICERS SAW DAMAGE, AND CORDONED OFF THE AREA.

Shouting in original; despite it being the lead story on EVERY news broadcast I heard this morning, no other local outlets had anything. The reporters are doing their usual excellent job of making the story less clear the more they report on it, too.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 12/21/2005 08:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That's the MSM for ye, Robert. The more information they give, the more confused everyone is. It's not a bug, it's a feature!
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 12/21/2005 8:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Police don't know if it's a hate crime or a prank.

or a workplace accident. Call OSHA.
Posted by: Snaving Grerong3569 || 12/21/2005 9:25 Comments || Top||

#3  At least one report said there was more than one, but like I said, the reporters are slurring their facts.

It's also been a while since I could hear the news. By now they may have wrapped up the investigation.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 12/21/2005 9:30 Comments || Top||

#4  Police and federal agents now say they're investigating twin explosions that hit a Cincinnati mosque complex late Tuesday night. An FBI spokesman says there were blasts at each of two adjoining buildings owned by the Islamic Association of Cincinnati. But special agent Michael Brooks said he can't comment about the size or type of explosive. Brooks won't say whether investigators have identified the source of the blasts. Brooks says both buildings were used as mosques. He said authorities won't speculate on why the buildings were targeted.

A neighbor told the Associated Press he heard a "big boom" that seemed like thunder at first. But Chad Withers said he saw white smoke and an orange flash when he went outside. One of the explosions damaged a door on a house that used to serve as the mosque. The other damaged an overhead panel in the front entryway of the new mosque, but it wasn't powerful enough to break the glass front door.

"It's extremely scary especially when you see these things happen around the country ... We haven't had anything like this in Cincinnati so it's very upsetting to have this happen here," said Karen Dabdoub, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Cincinnati. Police said there were no reports of injuries, and they haven't found any witnesses.

The explosions hit late Tuesday night, about two hours after evening prayers had ended. Security has been added at a larger mosque in an adjacent county, but there were no reports of threats at that mosque.
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 15:09 Comments || Top||

#5  Links to the Cincinnati Enquirer link 1 Imtiaz Ahmad, 48, who worships at the mosque, said it has had no problems since the 9/11 attacks. The mosque sits among many churches. Hebrew Union College also is nearby.
link 2 Jewish and Catholic leadership deplore the attack, which is being treated as a hate crime.

Nobody was hurt, no real damage to the buildings.

Security has been added at a larger mosque in an adjacent county, but there were no reports of threats at that mosque. That would be the really big mosque with a golden dome, built with Saudi money in the outer suburb of West Chester, Butler County, about 25 minutes from downtown. (Cincinnati is Hamilton County) That's my part of the world. About two years ago the head of the W.Chester mosque was an Egyptian, who owned a little Moroccan restaurant. The food didn't meet Mr. Wife's standards, but then he'd eaten the real thing when he was doing a factory start-up over there. ;-) The Moroccan restaurant has been replaced by a Lebanese one, I think, and I have no idea if the Egyptian gentlemen is still involved in either the mosque or the restaurant.
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 15:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Probably a muzzie system test or training accident. Did a bunch of the little fu*** run back into the Mosque after the booms?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 15:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Trailing W..Living in Maineville, I often pass that mosk...the one with the American flag on the pole out front. Figured they were hiding.
Posted by: mjslack || 12/21/2005 22:35 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Hatemonger clerics to have their arms licences revoked
Only in a Muslim country would this be even a matter for discussion. And not all of them.
The government has decided to cancel arms licences issued to religious leaders who fan sectarianism and violate the Amplifier Act. The Interior Ministry has directed provincial home secretaries, the Northern Areas chief secretary and Islamabad chief commissioner to present evidence against those prayer leaders who deliver sectarian speeches and criticise government policies in their Friday sermons.

Reports submitted by the intelligence agencies to the interior ministry revealed that more than 25,000 arms licences had been issued to the religious leaders during the last 10 years, sources told Daily Times. Most of the 593 prayer leaders placed in the category of Anti-Terrorism Act 1997 on charges of fanning sectarianism, have these licences, the sources said. They said a number of operatives of defunct religious outfits had been issued licences and these had not been cancelled so far.

The federal and provincial authorities concerned have also been directed to send details of these people within a couple of weeks so that the procedure for the cancellation of their licences could be initiated, the sources added.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And they say Texas is wild.
Posted by: Bardo || 12/21/2005 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  Ten-gallon turbans as far as the eye can see...yee haw, kufr.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/21/2005 0:30 Comments || Top||

#3  "Have a nice day at the Mosque honey, Oh!, don't forget your koran, and you extra ammo."
Posted by: Omoger Hupolunter1076 || 12/21/2005 7:46 Comments || Top||

#4  "Have a nice day at the Mosque honey, Oh!, don't forget your koran, and you extra ammo."
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/21/2005 7:47 Comments || Top||

#5  Outrage! This is like removing crackers and Gallo from them of the Papist persuasion.
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 8:56 Comments || Top||

#6  wispers from the past brought to you by Ernesto and Julio.

What's the word?
Thunderbird
How's it sold?
Good and cold
What's the jive?
Bird's alive
What's the price?
Thirty twice.

Thunderbird fortified (20% alcohol content)


Posted by: Bum Spemble XX || 12/21/2005 11:32 Comments || Top||

#7  Gosh...I wonder if this will stop Father O'Malley from packin' heat?
Posted by: DepotGuy || 12/21/2005 11:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Sounds like it's pretty easy to get a full-auto weapons license in the PA to me. Surprise, huh?

Unexplained: why holy men need so many guns.
Posted by: mojo || 12/21/2005 11:50 Comments || Top||

#9  LOL XX!
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 13:30 Comments || Top||

#10  Impact on Mosque gun toting.

Hi impact (____)
Low impact (____)
Very Low impact (____)
No impact whatsoever ( X )
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 15:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Unexplained: why holy men need so many guns.
Honest answer, because they're afraid.
Leads to the question "Why are they afraid?"
again the answer. because folks want to kill them. (With good cause)
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/21/2005 19:51 Comments || Top||


Fighting continues as tribesmen blow up Sibi rail track
Paramilitary forces clashed with Baloch tribesmen in Bhambhor and Fazil Chail villages of Kohlu on Tuesday as rebel tribesmen attacked rail track and government buildings. Paramilitary forces backed by gunship helicopters launched an offensive on Monday against what the government calls “miscreants” after a series of rocket attacks in Balochistan, including one in Kohlu as President General Pervez Musharraf visited the district.
Trying to rocket Perv probably wasn't the best idea they ever had...
A railway line between Sibi and Harnai at Kachaki was blown up early on Tuesday, said FC spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Jamil Hassan. A train was due to pass over the track shortly after the blast, but it was halted in time. Four rockets hit an FC base in Dera Bugti and two fell near a government office in Kohlu district but there were no casualties, he said. Hassan said the operation against “miscreants” was still going on.

He said that paramilitary forces had found a huge cache of weapons including 59 rockets and six rocket launchers in the Sui area, home to Pakistan’s largest gas field, in Dera Bugti. No arrests were made as the area had been abandoned, he said. Reports from Loralai said that a pickup truck had struck a landmine but no casualty was reported. Jamhoori Watan Party leader Shahid Bugti said that paramilitary forces have targeted tribesmen in Dera Bugti and the two sides are standing “eyeball to eyeball”.
If you're not real good at forming your sight picture and squeezing off a round or two, I guess eyeball-to-eyeball works. Doesn't allow for a lot of finesse, of course...
The Balochistan Students Organisation (BSO) claimed on Tuesday that 70 people had been killed and hundreds injured so far due to the firing of gunship helicopters in Kohlu district. Authorities have not given any details of casualties.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Usman Chotoo held in Karachi
Security agencies have arrested Lashkar-e-Jhangvi’s operations chief Usman Chotoo, an official said on Tuesday. Chotoo, who was wanted for sectarian killings, was captured on the outskirts of Karachi over the weekend.
If I was a Pak copper looking hard for Usman, I'd start looking in Jhang or Multan, but I'd definitely not overlook Karachi. In fact, if I was a lazy Pak copper who didn't feel like going to Jhang or Multan, I'd stay in Karachi and wait for Usman to come to me...
Chotoo had stepped in as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi chief in September after the arrest of Asif Chotoo. “He was one of the most wanted sectarian terrorists and had Rs 1 million on his head,” the official said. “It is a major success in the fight against sectarian terrorism in the country.” Osman attracted police attention when he allegedly took part in the murder of a senior police officer in Lahore at the age of 13. He has been on the run since then.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


International-UN-NGOs
Weekly Piracy Report 13-19 December 2005
Somalia - NE and Eastern Coast: Thirty five incidents have been reported since March 15 2005.

December 16 2005 at 2227 LT in position 03:01.9N - 051:17.7E, off eastern coast of Somalia. A container ship underway detected a craft on radar. Master took evasive maneuvers to avoid collision. Craft changed course and continued to follow the ship. Master increased speed and craft moved away.

December 15 2005 at 2040 LT in position 12:12.8N - 046:10.8E, Gulf of Aden. An unlit white colored speedboat doing over 25 kts came close to a bulk carrier underway. Persons inside speedboat asked master to stop. Master took evasive maneuvers and crew mustered. After 20 mins speedboat fled.

December 15 2005 at 0145 LT in position 06:44.7S - 039:20.2E, Dar Es Salaam OPL anchorage, Tanzania. Seven persons in an unlit boat approached a bulk carrier. Two persons attempted to board via anchor chain. Alert crew prevented boarding.

December 15 2005 at 0100 LT at Dar Es Salaam outer anchorage, Tanzania. One robber boarded a container ship using grapnel hook and removed hawse pipe cover and three of his accomplices boarded via anchor chain. Duty A/B raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers jumped overboard and escaped empty handed in a boat waiting with four accomplices.

December 07 2005 off Hobyo, east coast of Somalia. A general cargo ship underway was hijacked by pirates. Hijackers have demanded ransom for release of 11 crewmembers and ship.
Posted by: Pappy || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
Huge weapons cache found - Surprise Surprise where some fresh ordnance originated
EFL
ZUWAD KHALAF, Iraq — Working on a tip from an informant, soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division on Tuesday dug up more than a thousand aging rockets and missiles wrapped in plastic, some of which had been buried as recently as two weeks ago, Army officials said.

Still, the plastic around some of the rockets — of Soviet, German and French origins — appeared to be fresh
and had not deteriorated as it had on some of the older munitions.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 12/21/2005 11:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Working on a tip from an informant

The big victory.
Posted by: Spetch Therese3388 || 12/21/2005 12:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Any date codes on the munitions?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/21/2005 12:10 Comments || Top||

#3 
Mon Dieu? France? Non! C'est forgerie!


FRESH Missiles from Russia in Iraq? Comrade. There is a place in Siberia you need to see.


Damn that Schroeder. Here is another bunch of SHIT he left behind.
Posted by: BigEd || 12/21/2005 12:11 Comments || Top||

#4  Bomb-a-rama,
There are date codes on ALL munitions.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/21/2005 12:51 Comments || Top||

#5  Lets get those lot numbers and see when they were made. Check hazmat shipment records to see when they were shipped, unless they were shipped Illegally which they probably were because two of these countries are but soon to be were members of Nato.
Posted by: newc || 12/21/2005 13:04 Comments || Top||

#6 
Is that the French Social Model I'm always hearin' about?? Nice goin Jack..
Posted by: macofromoc || 12/21/2005 13:29 Comments || Top||

#7  Re-read the sentence.
Still, the plastic around some of the rockets — of Soviet, German and French origins — appeared to be fresh and had not deteriorated as it had on some of the older munitions.
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 13:33 Comments || Top||

#8  Bingo. What Buckminster said...
Posted by: BigEd || 12/21/2005 13:34 Comments || Top||

#9  There are date codes on ALL munitions.

Yep, and I'd be VERY interested to hear when those "items" were made....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/21/2005 14:17 Comments || Top||

#10  On produit les armements, Nous vendons des armements aux insurges, qui cachent les armements. Quelqu'un alert les Americains, qui ensuite trouvent les armements cachees. Puis, les insurges commandent encore des armements! C'est le meillure!
Posted by: Curt Simon || 12/21/2005 14:38 Comments || Top||

#11  It's just business, Curt. Nothing personal, just business.
Posted by: J.C. || 12/21/2005 14:53 Comments || Top||

#12  Soviet ??

See, we're all clear.
Posted by: Rasputin || 12/21/2005 14:56 Comments || Top||

#13  I'm sorry, Curt. *Said with a perfect French accent, thanks to my several girlfriends who went on to become French teachers, but nonetheless true* Je parle pas Francais. May I have a translation, pretty please?
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 14:57 Comments || Top||

#14  Basically:

"One produces the armaments. We sell the armaments to the insurgents, who hide them. Somebody alerts the Americans, who find the cache. The insurgents order armanents again. It's great!"
Posted by: Pappy || 12/21/2005 16:30 Comments || Top||

#15  Babelfish translation-

"One produces the armaments, We sell armaments with rise, which hide the armaments. Somebody alert Americains, who then find the armaments cachees. Then, rise them still order armaments! It is the meillure!"

whatever that means
Posted by: Jim || 12/21/2005 16:54 Comments || Top||

#16  Le Babelfish sucks.
Posted by: J.C. || 12/21/2005 17:14 Comments || Top||

#17  I'm with newc on this one. If a substantial portion of these weapons are of recent manufacture, then we should raise an almighty stink about it. France, Germany and Russia should be given strong "encouragement" to trace back the chain of arms deals that landed this cache in Iraq. If we encounter any resistance, publicize this like there's no tomorrow. After their complicity in the Oil-for-Palaces scandal, these putative allies owe us some explanations.
Posted by: Zenster || 12/21/2005 18:30 Comments || Top||

#18  I wouldn't hold my breath to find that these are recent armaments. If they are, then State and the administration will just keep it quiet to use as arm-twisting ammo (pun intended). If not, the MSM will be too stupid or biased to ask or report about it.
Posted by: remoteman || 12/21/2005 19:19 Comments || Top||

#19  Just at a guess, but also from the wording in the article, these are older armaments but some of them were recently buried in that location.
Posted by: lotp || 12/21/2005 21:01 Comments || Top||

#20  This might be old, but it will make you smile. Go to Google and type in French military victories. Then hit the I'm feeling lucky button.
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/21/2005 22:19 Comments || Top||


Driver of Jordanian ambassador kidnapped in Baghdad
Gunmen seized the driver of the Jordanian ambassador to Iraq in Baghdad Tuesday, the latest abduction of a foreigner to jolt the war-torn country, Jordanian and Iraqi sources said. The kidnapping prompted Jordan to announce that it was considering relocating its staff from the embassy, hit by a deadly car bomb two years ago.

The driver, a Jordanian living in Iraq for several years, was snatched in the southern district of Saydiyya, Iraqi police said. "Mahmoud Salman Saaidiyyat was kidnapped by gunmen traveling in two cars, a Honda and a Nissan pick-up, which police are now looking for," the source said. "The Jordanian government has started contacts to determine who is responsible for this abduction," an official said. Jordan has named a new ambassador to Iraq, but Ahmad Lawzi has not yet taken up his post in Baghdad where the embassy is currently being run by charge d'affaires, Suleiman Arabiyyat.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Israelis Kill Hamas Militant
Tel Aviv, 21 Dec. (AKI) - Israeli troops on Wednesday killed a Hamas militant during a raid in the West Bank, Palestinian security sources told the Tel Aviv daily Haaretz. The killing happened during a skirmish between Palestinians fighters and Israeli troops who had entered the West Bank town of Jenin in an attempt to arrest a Hamas militant. The Israel army confirmed that it was carrying out an arrest operation in Jenin but did not provide further details.
"Nice shot, David. Hit the 10-spot."
"Thanks, Avi."
Also on Wednesday, the Israeli army warned it may cut electrical power supplies to the Gaza Strip if militants again use the territory as a base to launch rockets into Israel. The Israelis say that they expect violence to escalate in the run-up to Palestinian legislative elections on 26 Janaury and fear that the Palestinian Authority will not be able to control the situation.

"After the elections in the Authority we may find ourselves facing a terror offensive, therefore the IDF must be deployed and ready so that Israel is not surprised, and will know how to defend its citizens," Israeli defence minister, Shaul Mofaz was quoted as saying. Mofaz is expected to meet Wednesday with Egypt's intelligence chief General Omar Sulieman and ask him to pressure Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to fight militant groups.
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 09:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ..and fear that the Palestinian Authority will not be able to control the situation.

If the jerks can't control it now, what makes any rational person think that the PA can control things then??

Mofaz is expected to meet Wednesday with Egypt's intelligence chief General Omar Sulieman and ask him to pressure Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas to fight militant groups.

Time to give up on this. He didn't do it before, he's not doing it now, and there's no reason to believe that he'll do it anytime soon. Faced with a choice between a civil war and doing something about terrorism, Mazen apparently would rather that Jewish civilians die before he would dare clean his own house. Fine. The Paleos had their chance, they blew it, so to use a tired old saying, it's time to "move on". All this nonsense about a Paleo state should be tossed onto an upper shelf to sit for a while. It can then be dusted off and re-evaluated in like say, another twenty five years at the very least.

But for now, enough is enough.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/21/2005 9:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I think the stipend for suicide bombers pretty much screwed the pooch. Abu Mazen can't control anyone, much less armed militants.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/21/2005 10:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Isn't killing Hamas militants when spotted in the Israeli soldier's job description. You know something that would come up when you get your performance review? I imagine that not killing Hamas militants would not improve your leverage in salary and promotion discussions. Maybe even put you in the feared bottom 10 percent for rating and ranking...
Posted by: 3dc || 12/21/2005 10:31 Comments || Top||

#4  Isn't killing Hamas militants when spotted in the Israeli soldier's job description.

Precisely 3dc. What is the big deal here? It's just another notch in that soldier's gun, and a brownie point on his next performance review. Yawn....
Posted by: BigEd || 12/21/2005 12:14 Comments || Top||

#5  UPDATE: JENIN, West Bank - A local leader of the radical Palestinian movement Hamas was shot dead on Wednesday by Israeli soldiers in the West Bank city of Jenin, medical and military sources said. Medics said Zayed Mussa, 28, was killed in an exchange of fire while he was holed up in a house in the the northern city.

The army said Mussa had opened fire at a special border police unit that had come to arrest him over his alleged involvement in the killing of a soldier, Staff Sergeant Jonathan Evron, early last month. A border policeman was lightly injured in the shooting and an army search dog killed, the military said.

The operation in Jenin came after Israeli soldiers had also been involved in clashes that left eight Palestinians wounded in and around the largest northern city of Nablus. Soldiers rolled into the centre of Nablus at daybreak, as well as the neighbouring Balata refugee camp, where they came under attack from stone-throwing youths. The troops responded by firing rubber-coated bullets at the youths, wounding six in Nablus’s Old City neighbourhood.

In Balata, two members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an armed offshoot of the ruling Fatah faction, were lightly wounded by Israeli gunfire, the sources added.
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 12:54 Comments || Top||

#6  You've already run this story dozens of times this year!!!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 12/21/2005 13:21 Comments || Top||

#7 
But it's still time for CAR SWARM.

credit to LGF for that one..

Posted by: macofromoc || 12/21/2005 13:34 Comments || Top||

#8  Still awaiting the first official missile strike on a Palestinian CAR SWARM. Now that would make a great hit!
Posted by: The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen || 12/21/2005 15:28 Comments || Top||

#9  Just one was it?
Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 16:02 Comments || Top||


Science & Technology
Pain Ray finally heading to Iraq
Posted by: 3dc || 12/21/2005 00:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If that's it in the picture, it's going to be one helluva RPG magnet.
Posted by: Rafael || 12/21/2005 1:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Aim it at the family jewels , it'll be too hard to hold that RPG and cupping at the same time!!
Posted by: smn || 12/21/2005 2:46 Comments || Top||

#3  Run away! Run away!
Posted by: Spot || 12/21/2005 8:16 Comments || Top||

#4  SInce it is a skin effect, only to a depth of 1/64th of an inch, I wonder if it can be countermeasured easily by applying some lotion, and of course shielding your eyes.

It brings up lots of technical questions. I would guess that what they really want is everyone to run away as soon as it pulls up.

Tell the jihadis the most effective coutermeasure is rubbing lard all over yourself.
Posted by: Penguin || 12/21/2005 8:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Captain Mistress XXXXXXX whips those wearing lotion.
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 9:04 Comments || Top||

#6  No. The lotion layer is too thin. Hosing down your clothes and wrapping a towel around your head (shade of Total Recall) should work. For optimal penetration, use 7.62mm.
Posted by: ed || 12/21/2005 9:21 Comments || Top||

#7  From the comments at the link:

Does anyone else think sitting in a vehicle with an eight-foot across pain-ray dish on top in Iraq is not an occupation conducive to a long retirement?

LOL.
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/21/2005 9:37 Comments || Top||

#8  Can we use it on the left side of congress???
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/21/2005 10:17 Comments || Top||

#9  They ought to see if the WTO is interested in buying one.
Posted by: BH || 12/21/2005 10:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Yesterday, there was a report about Syria working with Iran. Today, the fabulous "microwave-a-mullah" weapon gets deployed. Maybe Baby-I-Doc should reconsider his choices?

Posted by: BigEd || 12/21/2005 10:43 Comments || Top||

#11  I've just rendered it obsolete.

Posted by: Yosemite Sam || 12/21/2005 11:42 Comments || Top||

#12  5 years from now the arny will be sued for causing cancer and birth defects.
Posted by: DoDo || 12/21/2005 12:12 Comments || Top||

#13  Turn that sombitch up and just fry the fuckers. 1/64th my ass I want to see some crispy critters, go a full inch and watch the rats run about aflame.

Helicopters mounted with this hard core shit would bring a biblical flying scorpion reality to bear on our bestest of friends in Iraq and Afghanistan, and then their friendly Iranian neighbors too.

Talk about Helicopters of the apocalypse! Mmmm fried rats!

EP
Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding || 12/21/2005 12:44 Comments || Top||

#14  YS,

It's like you were reading my thoughts, which serves me right for not wearing my Anti-Zionist Minding Reading Ray Aluminum Coated Beret (now lined with Chomskium, the densest material known to man).
Posted by: Dreadnought || 12/21/2005 14:17 Comments || Top||

#15  "Ensign Chehkov, report to the agony booth."
Posted by: Mike || 12/21/2005 16:02 Comments || Top||

#16 

funky pain ray pic


lab assistant opperator 3rd class


full strength test subject #1


Oh My God Pain generator/ black ops


test subject #2 5 second exposure
Posted by: Spembelov Labs Inc || 12/21/2005 17:16 Comments || Top||

#17 
Oh My God Pain generator/ black ops


test subject #1 5 second exposure

Posted by: Spembelov Labs Inc || 12/21/2005 17:18 Comments || Top||

#18  I've been exposed to the little test version of this thing and it really works. Clothes or wet towels will not defeat it. The current version is big, but future ones will be quite a bit smaller. This is amazing technology.
Posted by: remoteman || 12/21/2005 19:28 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
New Manila bomb plot thwarted by arrest of 3 Abu Sayyaf members
Security forces have captured three persons with alleged links to the terror group Abu Sayyaf in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines, officials said Tuesday.

Officials said one of the men was Pio De Vera, who is wanted by the military and police in connection with the series of Valentine's Day bombings that hit the financial districts of Manila and the cities of Davao and General Santos in the south.

De Vera, an alleged bomb expert, is said to be a senior member of the radical group Rajah Solaiman Movement, tagged as behind the February 14 bombings.

"There is an ongoing operation against the terrorists. Their capture is a joint effort between the military and the police. And this is part of the government's campaign against terrorism," said Army Colonel Edgardo Gidaya, head of the anti-terror Task Force Zamboanga.

Major Gamal Hayudini, a spokesman for the Southern Command, said De Vera was arrested along with his wife, Jean Hayag, near a pier in Zamboanga City Friday and another man, Aujin Marail, a senior member of the Abu Sayyaf was nabbed before sunrise Tuesday in the remote village of Dita by combined military and police forces.

"Civilians tipped off authorities about the presence of Marail, and from there we built up intelligence and planned his arrest. It is over now," Hayudini said.

He said Marail was one of 53 inmates who escaped last year at a prison facility in Basilan island.

"The arrest of the duo is a strong manifestation of our campaign to neutralize terrorists," Hayudini said.

De Vera, along with Hilarion Santos, leader of the Rajah Solaiman Movement and Khadaffy Janjalani, chieftain of the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group, and several dozens more was charged last month by the Department of Justice in connection with the Valentine's Day attacks that killed 11 people and wounded 53 more.

Santos and seven of his followers were captured in Zamboanga City in October after Gidaya's group stormed their hideout in San Jose village.

The military implicated Santos in the kidnapping of 21 mostly Asian and Western holidaymakers in Malaysia's Sipadan island resort in 2000 and a foiled bombing in Manila in 2003.

Officials said the Abu Sayyaf and the Jemaah Islamiya are working increasingly with the Rajah Solaiman Movement.

Southern Command chief Lieutenant Edilberto Adan has previously said that the Rajah Solaiman Movement is the most radical next to the Abu Sayyaf group and has cells across the country.

He also linked the Rajah Solaiman to the Indonesian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiya and the homegrown Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/21/2005 10:55 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


JI may target foreigners in Indonesia
Foreigners in Indonesia could be kidnap targets for violent militants in the Christmas and New Year season, Syamsir Siregar, the chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN), said yesterday.

News emerged last month that a web site purportedly set up under militant orders gave instructions on how to shoot foreigners in the streets of Jakarta or throw grenades at motorists stuck in traffic in the car-clogged city.

Siregar told reporters that another militant tactic, possibly in the holiday season, could be kidnapping.

“They plan to do something in order to mess the situation up ... They will think a thousand times to try to do something.”

“They have plans to change targets, like to kidnap people from a certain group,” he said, adding that foreigners or Indonesian officials would be likely kidnap subjects.

That would be a new twist in attacks in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, which has already seen sporadic bombings blamed on the Al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah, a militant Southeast Asian network.

Authorities say Jemaah Islamiyah was behind the October 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, subsequent suicide attacks against the Marriott hotel and Australian embassy in Jakarta, and again in Bali in October this year against tourist sites.

The first attack killed mainly foreign tourists, but in the latter three most of the dead were Indonesians, despite the nature of the targets.

The US and Australian embassies have issued warnings in recent weeks that foreigners could be targeted during the holiday season.

Police across Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 17,000 islands, have been tightening security ahead of the holidays to prevent attacks, including a repeat of 2000 Christmas Eve bombings of churches in several Indonesian cities which killed 19.

“Hopefully the activity of security forces will limit their (militants’) space,” Siregar said. Volunteers from Indonesia’s largest Islamic group have said they would help police guard churches.

Around 85% of Indonesia’s 220 people are Muslim. Christians form the second largest religious group in the country.

Although Indonesia has been relatively calm in recent weeks, security analysts say the threat of militant attacks is still high because police have yet to catch one of the alleged masterminds of previous bombings, Malaysian-born Noordin M Top.
Posted by: Dan Darling || 12/21/2005 10:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There goes my Indo' vacation. Actually, the only thing worth seeing in that primitive rat-hole is: Bali. And Bali is Hindu. Be aware: in spite of the extermination of 3-500,000 ethnic Chinese by Indo-Muslim paramilitaries in the mid sixties, the Chinese form 5% of the total population, but control over 60% of Indo' companies. Why? Seculars trump religious morons, every time. Religion sucks.
Posted by: CaziFarkus || 12/21/2005 17:03 Comments || Top||

#2  may?
Posted by: Slash Gleretle2635 || 12/21/2005 17:08 Comments || Top||


Three suspected militants held for series of bombings
Three suspected militants, two of them belonging to the Rajah Solaiman Movement, have been arrested in the Philippines, official sources said on Tuesday. They have been captured for their alleged participation in a series of bombings that killed 11 people and injured 60 others in Makati City, the financial district, and in Davao and General Santos cities in the south on February 14, police and military sources said.

Pio De Vera, alleged No 2 and operations chief of the RSM, was arrested with his wife Jean Hayag in Zamboanga City in the south on Thursday. The RSM is a Manila-based group composed of Islam converts. De Vera masterminded bombing of nightclubs and entertainment areas in Metro Manila, said Colonel Edgardo Gidaya, head of Zamboanga City's anti-terror task force. The bombing plot, however, failed

The police also arrested Virgilio Carino, another RSM member, at a shopping mall in Manila on Saturday. Police said Carino was also responsible for the February 14 blasts. Meanwhile, military and police forces also arrested Aujin Marail, a senior member of the Abu Sayyaf group, in Dita village in Zamboanga at dawn yesterday, said Major Gamal Hayudini, a spokesman for the Southern Command. Last year, Marail and 52 other inmates had escaped from a prison on Basilan island in the south. "Civilians tipped off authorities about Marail's presence in the village which helped us plan his arrest," Hayudini said.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
US vows to hunt down Mohammed Ali Hamadi
The United States says it will attempt to hunt down and put on trial a Lebanese hijacker released on parole after being in jail in Germany for 19 years. Sean McCormack, spokesman at the State Department, said on Tuesday that President George Bush's administration was disappointed by Germany's decision to free Mohammed Ali Hamadi, convicted in the 1985 hijacking of a Trans World Airlines jetliner.

The United States filed federal murder charges against Hamadi in 1985, and asked Germany to extradite him after his capture. He was arrested at the Frankfurt airport on 13 January 1987, when customs officials discovered liquid explosives in his luggage. The Germans denied the extradition request. Later, McCormack's office said no new extradition request was filed because the US-German extradition treaty did not allow extradition on an identical charge for which the fugitive had been tried. Hamadi would face the possibility of a death sentence if convicted in US courts of the murder of a US serviceman. Germany has no death penalty and refused to hand over Hamadi when he was arrested. Most European states refuse to extradite fugitives into possible death sentences.

"We were certainly disappointed at the time that we did not get our hands on him then," McCormack said on Tuesday, "and we are disappointed that he was released before the end of his full sentence." Hamadi apparently has returned to Lebanon. His whereabouts are unclear.
Word is that he was picked up when he got off the plane
The United States is talking to Lebanese officials about handing him over, a process that is complicated by the lack of a formal extradition treaty between the two countries, McCormack said.
And the still lingering Syrian influence
It is not clear whether Hamadi could be tried twice for what is essentially the same crime, but McCormack said US authorities believed they could bring a case. "Since his arrest and conviction, the United States has made its views known that Hamadi should face trial in the US for the murder of Mr. Stethem; and that we have demonstrated over the years that when we believe an individual is responsible for the murder of innocent American civilians, that we will track them down and that we will bring them to justice in the United States," McCormack said. "It does not matter how long it takes, but we will track them down and they will face justice in the United States."

McCormack said Germany notified the United States of Hamadi's release before he reached Lebanon. It was not clear how much notice was given or whether the United States formally renewed its request to extradite Hamadi. German Justice Ministry spokeswoman Eva Schmierer said Berlin had received no extradition request. She said the matter was handled by the regional legal system, not the federal government.
Yeah, right
Reports linked the release of Hamadi with the release of a German hostage in Iraq.
Martin Jaeger, a spokesman for the German Foreign Ministry, said there was no connection between his release and that of Susanne Osthoff, a German woman released recently after spending more than three weeks as a hostage in Iraq.
"No, certainly not"
The Frankfurt prosecutor's office too denied any link to Osthoff's release. Hammadi was released after a standard review of his case, a lengthy process that began long before Osthoff was seized, Moeller-Scheu said.

Hamadi was released and returned to Beirut a few days ago, a Hizb Allah official in Beirut told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity. A Lebanese security official also confirmed that Hamadi had arrived four days ago aboard a commercial flight from Germany, but would not elaborate. It was not immediately known where Hamadi went after his entry to Lebanon. A US official who spoke on condition of anonymity said Hamadi was in temporary Lebanese custody.

Hizb Allah is not known to operate in Iraq, though security experts say it has links to some of the many Shia groups there. These groups have kidnapped people in Iraq, often for ransom. A Lebanese source said a senior German intelligence officer visited Damascus early this month but did not disclose the purpose of the trip. Syria is a key backer of Hizb Allah.
Surprise, surprise, surprise
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 10:12 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1 

I was hoping that we would explore a more...how shall we put...expedient method. Like an out-of-court settlement of the two shots to the back of the head kind.
Posted by: Dreadnought || 12/21/2005 10:36 Comments || Top||

#2  "You'll never take me alive, coppers!"
[BANG!] "Hokay."
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 10:51 Comments || Top||

#3  It would be much more fun to chase him into a zoo's tiger pit like the police do in South Africa....
Posted by: 3dc || 12/21/2005 10:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Why do these guys even bother with comments? What if after dispensing all that hot air about hunting him down, the guy manages to slip through their fingers? Just get the wheels moving with the proper "experts" and let them do their damned job, which should be putting a bullet through Hamadi's head.

The United States says it will attempt to hunt down and put on trial..

Ooooh, he's going to be put "on trial". Yeah, that'll get him quaking in his boots....
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/21/2005 11:12 Comments || Top||

#5  The Frankfurt prosecutor's office too denied any link to Osthoff's release. Hammadi was released after a standard review of his case, a lengthy typically anal German process that began long before Osthoff was seized, Moeller-Scheu said, with a long yawn.

It's quite alright krautfucks, we know how historically adverse you are to torture, executions, death, et al. We'll handle it from here. But know for certain before you release the next piece of kak, that this ones a 'dead man walking.'

Posted by: Besoeker || 12/21/2005 11:26 Comments || Top||

#6  Thank you, Schroeder Merkel, whomever.
Posted by: Angising Graviter4253 || 12/21/2005 11:43 Comments || Top||

#7  McCormack said Germany notified the United States of Hamadi's release before he reached Lebanon.

I dunno, this could be a good scenario for all. Well, except Hamadi. Germany gets their hostage back and unload Hamadi. They're probably angry about the hostage-taking by Hamadi's brethren and may have changed their mind about the death penalty. So the US gets Hamadi. Lebanon probably gets something for their cooperation. And everybody gets to deny their participation in the press. I'm probably naive, but this sounds like a pretty good transaction.
Posted by: BH || 12/21/2005 11:50 Comments || Top||

#8  Always remember: Targeted Assasination can be your friend. Why we don't see/hear more of it is beyond me. Good Lord knows appropriate targets can be found worldwide in abundance. TA should be a tool in our quiver in the war on jihadists. Get the Will and use it.
Posted by: Mark Z. || 12/21/2005 13:30 Comments || Top||

#9  #3: It would be much more fun to chase him into a zoo's tiger pit like the police do in South Africa....

That was one of the Tarzan books, he trapped a lion in a valley and fed him Nazis.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/21/2005 14:03 Comments || Top||

#10  I wouldn't expect to hear much about targetted assassinations at below the National Leader (we aren't still after Castro, are we?) level. Not like the recent spray'n'pray aimed at whatsisname President of Iran. When our boys reach out and touch someone, nobody sees it coming... and its so easy to attribute the result to the random gun sex that happens all the time...
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 15:03 Comments || Top||

#11  Something tells me that Hamadi is not going to Club Gitmo for the holidays.
Posted by: Curt Simon || 12/21/2005 15:24 Comments || Top||

#12  "A Lebanese source said a senior German intelligence officer visited Damascus early this month but did not disclose the purpose of the trip. Syria is a key backer of Hizb Allah."

Sounds to me like the grandsons and grand-daughters of the hobnob booted bullies of Europe cut a deal with Syria.
Posted by: The Happy Fliegerabwehrkanonen || 12/21/2005 15:26 Comments || Top||

#13  Well, considering the influence of Himmler's SS on the formation and doctrine of the Baath Party, why would anyone be surprised by that little meeting? Jew-haters working together to finish the "Final Solution".
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 12/21/2005 19:01 Comments || Top||

#14  Isn't Hamadi the last (living) of those pukes who hijacked that aircraft? I'm sure that there are many good Americans who will work ensure this animal never makes it to the comfort of a prison cell again. Good Hunting!
Posted by: Old Marine || 12/21/2005 22:46 Comments || Top||

#15  Hunt him down and kill him on the spot, let's have real justice for this son of a bitch.
Posted by: Captain America || 12/21/2005 23:18 Comments || Top||


PA Takes Over Insurgents In Lebanon
The Palestinian Authority has been authorized to take control over the Palestinian insurgency in Lebanon. Palestinian sources said Fatah and other insurgency groups have agreed to a proposal that the PA would help form a military infrastructure in Lebanon. The sources said the PA would be responsible for both Palestinian insurgents as well as their weapons, based in refugee camps in Lebanon.

The PA takeover was proposed by Brig. Gen. Sultan Abu Al Einan, commander of Fatah in Lebanon. Abu Al Einan and other PLO factions drafted a program to redefine Palestinian forces in Lebanon . The 25-page plan called for the creation of a military and other committees that would help control the 13 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon . The insurgents also agreed to form a brigade that would unite factions and weaponry under the PA command.
This doesn't make an awful lot of sense to me, but that might be because of the way my mind works. For a bunch who're as touchy as Arabs are about their sovreignty, they seem to be willing enough to allow the Paleos to wave guns and make faces. But only in Leb, not in Jordan, not in Egypt, and not in Syria except under supervision.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  That is because Lebanon is the only Arab country with a sizable Christian population. The Paleos have Islamified most of the formerly Christian towns of the West Bank, and the Paleo Christians are emigrating as fast as they can get out. But the kuffirs in Lebanon fight back and refuse to leave. And the Coptics in Egypt are so dhimmified that they have rewritten sections of the Bible to sooth Muslim sensibilities.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 12/21/2005 2:51 Comments || Top||

#2  Also, Lebanon and Israel are the only two countries over there that have Druze populations with political power and influence. Most Muslims consider Druze apostates worthy only of a hideous death.
Posted by: Shieldwolf || 12/21/2005 2:55 Comments || Top||

#3  Sounds to me like the Paleo's are planning a coup in Lebanon.
Posted by: raptor || 12/21/2005 6:21 Comments || Top||

#4  A coup in Lebanon? Would anyone be able to tell the difference? ;-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 12/21/2005 15:04 Comments || Top||


Syria Moves To Block Insurgency Flow
For the first time, the U.S. military has acknowledged Syrian efforts to block the flow of Sunni insurgents into Iraq. U.S. commanders reported Syrian troop deployment along its side of the 600-kilometer border with Iraq. They said Syrian authorities have also captured Al Qaida-aligned insurgents before they reached the Iraqi border. "On the other side, the Syrians appear to be taking some action to pick up foreign fighters and suicide bombers coming through Syria," Gen. George Casey, commander of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq said on Dec. 16. "We have indications of a few -- not a major change in their operating style."

In November, Syria announced the deployment of 10,000 troops along the border with Iraq. Syrian officials said the regime of President Bashar Assad has erected barriers and barbed wire along parts of the border.
Posted by: Fred || 12/21/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "We have indications of a few -- not a major change in their operating style."

Cooperation, albeit grudging and desultory. Kind of like a student picking up trash as an alternative to detention...
Posted by: Pappy || 12/21/2005 0:15 Comments || Top||

#2  Or the Syrians cells are being reassigned, pending further developments in The Fall of Assad©
Posted by: Seafarious || 12/21/2005 0:22 Comments || Top||

#3  "This border Sunni litter cleanup sponsored by the:

Syrian Military"
Posted by: Frank G || 12/21/2005 0:24 Comments || Top||

#4  You can 'Shop this, Frank...
Hmmmm, Syrian Ba'athists...
Or you could leave it as is...
Same difference, methinks.
Posted by: .com || 12/21/2005 0:37 Comments || Top||

#5  Probably more to do with events in Israel more than anything. For Israel, the road (or flight path) to Iran might go through Syria. If Syria shows just an inkling of cooperation, Israel might be persuaded to leave them alone, this time.
There's enough to keep the Syrians guessing: Israeli elections coming up, Israel's suggestion of military planning (smart move), Ahmadinejad gone berserk, Sharon in the hospital...
Posted by: Rafael || 12/21/2005 0:38 Comments || Top||

#6  Syria and Baby Assad have two problems - Iranian-controlled armed militias, and the now burgeoning, anti-everyone Palestinian armed fractions desirous of "living space". By his recent agreement to supp Iran, Assad JR is only getting sovereign Syria into a deeper Inter-Muslim mess - THE IRONY HERE IS IFF BABY ASSAD ISN'T CAREFUL, HE MIGHT HAVE TO ASK DUBYA TO SAVE HIS OWN SKIN AND THAT OF ANY ASSAD DYNASTY FROM HIS FELLOW MUSLIMS.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 12/21/2005 2:25 Comments || Top||

#7  Joe! Loan me some Buddy, it's working!
Posted by: Buckminster Spemble1220 || 12/21/2005 8:59 Comments || Top||

#8  Cooperation, albeit grudging and desultory.

I wouldn't call it even that. Their minimal activity is being noticed, but it has no real impact.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/21/2005 10:04 Comments || Top||

#9  Helping the US is looking like a far better dean to Baby A than having to defend against us or explain why we are in his country. We historically have not had a problem chasing bad guys into other nations and continuing the persuit with or without their permission. He's dumb but not totally stupid.
Posted by: 49 pan || 12/21/2005 10:22 Comments || Top||

#10  We historically have not had a problem chasing bad guys into other nations and continuing the persuit with or without their permission.

I don't know about that. Remember the whining about Cambodia?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 12/21/2005 11:44 Comments || Top||

#11  I don't know about that. Remember the whining about Cambodia?
I remember that, I also remember that all they did was complain, and our guys just kept it quieter from then on.
Posted by: Redneck Jim || 12/21/2005 14:07 Comments || Top||

#12  Maybe they could put up a toll booth like in "Blazing Saddles", and make all the nasties go back to get quarters...
Posted by: mojo || 12/21/2005 16:55 Comments || Top||

#13  Half ass and probably aimed at his own enemies anyway. Assad knows he better play nice or his destruction is guaranteed.

Half ass attempts on his behalf will result in half ass efforts on our behalf to save him from the gallows later methinks.

EP
Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding || 12/21/2005 17:38 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
Cartoons Latest Al-Qaeda Weapon
Rome, 21 Dec. (AKI) - Sharpshooters who strike American tanks and suicide bombers who blow themselves up amid a Western convoy. In the latest propaganda effort, attributable to the al-Qaeda network, however, these are not grainy gory video images but cartoons. Posted to web sites frequently used for the statements of al-Qaeda number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Iraqi point man Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the cartoon is the latest 'weapon' in a media war after the al-Qaeda 'tv news bulletins' and 'talk shows'.

The first cartoon of its type, which Adnkronos International (AKI) has been able to identify, was posted to the Internet directly by the webmaster of one of the jihadi forums close to al-Qaeda. Five minutes in length, the cartoon comprises two episode, but at the end writing in Arabic promises a sequel

The aim of the cartoon - the first part is set in an Iraqi-type environment, the second in a Western city - appears to be offering examples of terrorist attacks or simple guerilla actions. It opens with a burst of fire from a bazooka by a stylised figure of a man, dressed in green and filmed from above. Then the action begins, a battle scene in the streets of a city, filmed from above where armoured vehicles on patrol are targeted by mujahadeen hidden in the houses, who set traps for the soldiers, destroying their tanks. At a certain point, the angle of vision changes and one sees a tank advancing as a guerilla, his face covered, lies in wait. When the tank stops, the face of an American soldier, with a highly caricaturised face, emerges cautiously. Once he has looked around and feels it safe, the soldier emerges from the vehicle, only to be struck in the head by a sharpshooter's bullets.

The second part of the film opens with the image of a kalashnikov which assembles itself and fires shots, followed by a phrase in Arabic. "One of the citties where the convoys of the tyrants move." The scene could easily be a Western city and in particular an area surrounded by sea that recalls Manhattan, New York. This part of the cartoon shows how to carry out an attack against a convoy, at the centre of which seems to be a vehicle that carries an important person, a minister or even head of state. The route to follow is indicated with a red arrow which stops at the point where in a short period of time, the attack will occur. When it reaches this point, the convoy is struck by the car suicide bomb.

The aim of the cartoon seems to be to explain how to cause maximum damage and loss of life with the means on hand. In fact, after this first attack on the tank, on the video screen a phrase appears: "The true battle will commence soon".

This is the cue for the arrival of police cars. When one of these vehicles is separated from the others, a muajadeen comes out of a nearby building and fires on the policemen. In both sections the animated cartoon takes as it's model the guerilla techniques of al-Qaeda in Iraq to create major damage.
So they've advanced to developing animated training videos. Likely using gaming software to produce them. I've read most game developers can't resist signing their creation somewhere in the code. Might be something to look for if you could download a copy and dig deep into it.
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 15:09 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  So it's not abu Marlette after all! That was close.
Posted by: Leon Clavin || 12/21/2005 17:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I was guessing either Doonesbury or Ted Rall.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 12/21/2005 17:57 Comments || Top||

#3  I remain amazed that this crap flows into cyberspace. Is it a defense of the freedom of speech, or just no worthy american hacks to shut these sites down?
Posted by: Skidmark || 12/21/2005 22:48 Comments || Top||

#4  Likely using gaming software to produce them

From the picture posted along with the story, it looks like it is a Flash animation, so a bit cruder than it's made out to be, but still a dangerous evolution.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 12/22/2005 0:00 Comments || Top||


The War Between Zarqawi and Bin Laden
December 21, 2005: One American counter-terrorism strategy is working. Al Qaeda seems to be in some disarray. The group seems to be losing support in much of the Moslem world, and particularly among Arabs. Reportedly, most volunteers for Al Qaeda are now non-Arab Moslems, often from Central Asia. This decline in influence is certainly due in large part to the adverse publicity that Al Qaeda in Iraq has gained because of its often indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and particularly in its targeting of Moslems who are openly opposed to the insurgency or who are leaders of the Shia movement. These policies were deliberately adopted by the organization's leader, Abu Musab Al Zarqawi, reportedly against the wishes of Osama bin Laden.

This suggests that Al Qaeda may be having a crisis in its leadership. Osama bin Laden has not been heard from directly in more than a year. In contrast, the number two man in Al Qaeda, Ayman al Zawahiri has produced eight or ten public statements, of in the form of video or audio messages over the internet, usually accompanied by a printed version as well, and even gave an interview that appeared on the internet on December 7th.

Bin-Laden may just be lying low. But his long absence from "public" appearance may also suggest that he's either extremely isolated (getting to some areas along the Afghan-Pakistani frontier could easily take months) or may be no more than a figurehead. And while there have been erroneous reports of his death in the past, it's not a possibility that should be dismissed..
Posted by: Steve || 12/21/2005 09:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  While Binny is off dreaming of a caliphate, Zarq's dealing with operational realities on the ground.

Of course he was targeting Shiia, the Sunni consider them infidel, as does Binny, but Binny doesn't have a shitload of Sunni soldiers, warlords, etc.. questioning his activities and motives everyday and threatening to hold back soldiers and support if he doesn't target the Shiia heretics, whereas Zarq obviously does.

These fools represent Islam like Kentucky snakehandlers represent Christianity; the sooner most average Muslims realize this the better off they'll be and the longer they'll live.

EP
Posted by: ElvisHasLeftTheBuilding || 12/21/2005 12:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Bin-Laden may just be lying low

Yeah, about six feet under.
Posted by: DMFD || 12/21/2005 20:46 Comments || Top||



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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.
Click here for more information

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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2005-12-21
  Rabbani backs Qanooni for speaker of Afghan House
Tue 2005-12-20
  Eight convicted Iraqi terrs executed
Mon 2005-12-19
  Sharon in hospital after minor stroke
Sun 2005-12-18
  Mehlis: Syria killed al-Hariri
Sat 2005-12-17
  Iraq Votes
Fri 2005-12-16
  FSB director confirms death of Abu Omar al-Saif
Thu 2005-12-15
  Jordanian PM vows preemptive war on "Takfiri culture"
Wed 2005-12-14
  Iraq Guards Intercept Forged Ballots From Iran
Tue 2005-12-13
  US, UK, troop pull-out to begin in months
Mon 2005-12-12
  Iraq Poised to Vote
Sun 2005-12-11
  Chechens confirm death of also al-Saif, deputy emir also toes up
Sat 2005-12-10
  EU concealed deal allowing rendition flights
Fri 2005-12-09
  Plans for establishing Al-Qaeda in North African countries
Thu 2005-12-08
  Iraq Orders Closure Of Syrian Border
Wed 2005-12-07
  Passenger who made bomb threat banged at Miami International

Better than the average link...



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