One of the most important Taleban leaders, Mullah Dadullah, has been captured in Afghanistan, Afghan officials have told the BBC. The senior military commander was said to have been detained by international troops in southern Kandahar province.
Mullah Dadullah was a member of the Taleban's 10-man leadership council before the US-led invasion in 2001. A Taleban spokesman, Mohammed Hanif, has denied the report of Mullah Dadullah's capture. Mullah Dadullah has been blamed for much of the recent violence in the southern province of Helmand where thousands of British troops are being deployed. Officials in Helmand say scores of militants and 13 policemen have been killed in fighting this week.
Our correspondent says Mullah Dadullah is very close to the Taleban leader, Mullah Omar. Mullah Dadullah has survived a number of attacks and lost one leg in battle.
Loss of body parts seems to be the rule.
He has a reputation for being one of the Taleban's most brutal commanders. High-ranking Afghan officials have told the BBC that he was captured in Kandahar and is being held by the coalition forces. There are no details as to how he was caught.
Damn. Looks like it's some other guy named "Stumpy."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/19/2006 12:34 ||
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He has a reputation for being one of the Taleban's most brutal commanders.
Ahh...Sounds like he needs to lose some more parts. Can we send this woman to be his interigator?
#3
This proves that they are losing because of attrition. He lost and leg, and therefore could'nt hop up and down the hills fast enough to get away. And then when he was about to be captured, probally kept falling as he tried to kick at his captors.
#5
I understand there's some controversy about whether they bagged him or not.
Maybe they just captured his leg.
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/19/2006 16:41 Comments ||
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#6
Unfortunately, Time Out on the Fat Lady. Got an update...
Officials of the U.S.-led coalition lauded Afghan security forces Friday for repulsing Taliban militants in fierce fighting, but raised doubts over Afghan claims that a captured man might be a top rebel leader.
A 24-hour storm of violence in southern Afghanistan ended Thursday with about 120 people dead and dozens of militants in custody, coalition and Afghan officials said.
One of the fighters captured in a joint Afghan-coalition operation in Kandahar province Wednesday could be the long-sought Mullah Dadullah, Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi, head of the Afghan militarys southern region, said Friday.
The capture of Dadullah _ one of the most trusted associates of Taliban leader Mullah Omar and commander of Taliban operations in eastern and southeastern Afghanistan _ would be a major setback for the Talibans operational leadership. But a U.S. military spokesman, Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick, said that after checking with coalition officials, it appeared the detained man was not Dadullah, who lost a leg fighting for the Taliban during the Islamic militias rise to power in the mid-1990s.
"The best information I have _ and I could be wrong _ but the best information I have is that its a no," he said.
KABUL - Five Afghan policemen and eight armed Taleban were killed in two separate incidents in Afghanistans southern province of Ghazni, senior officials said on Friday. Shir Alam Ibrahimi, the provincial governor of Ghazni, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur the members of the ousted Taleban late Thursday afternoon ambushed three vehicles in Nanai district of the province and killed three policemen. Later in the evening, another clash broke between the Taleban and Afghan police in Waghaz district of the province and resulted the killing of eight Taleban and two police. Nine other policemen were injured, Ibrahimi said, adding that one Taleban fighter was also arrested.
In the past three days, at least 95 people, including a Canadian, an American, several Afghan police and dozens of Taleban have been killed in fierce fighting in the southern provinces of Kandahar, Helmand and Ghazni. About 19,000 US-led troops in Afghanistan are hunting the remnants of the ousted Taleban regime and their allies from the al-Qaeda terrorist network, mainly in the south and south-eastern regions of the war-torn country.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/19/2006 10:11 ||
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MSM snuggles in a little closer with our enemies and wonders why their circulation and stock plummet.
Here's the real story: In all, more than 100 people were reported killed in a string of attacks and engagements across Afghanistan that started Wednesday and continued through Thursday: up to 87 insurgents, at least 15 Afghan police, an American civilian training Afghan forces, and the first female Canadian soldier to die in combat.
#5
The article in today's Gazette from Newsday never does mention that most of those killed were Taliban. They also say only 8 to 50 Taliban "may" have been killed. Damned traitors.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/19/2006 12:58 Comments ||
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#6
Ima just feel sorry for the Pak teenagers involved.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/19/2006 17:09 Comments ||
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One of the Taleban's leading commanders, Mullah Dadullah, has been captured by international troops in Afghanistan, the BBC has been told. He is said to have been detained in the southern province of Kandahar. The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says Mullah Dadullah has a reputation as a brutal military commander. Last year a court in Pakistan sentenced Mullah Dadullah to life in prison for trying to kill a member of the Pakistani parliament. Three years ago, Mullah Dadullah told the BBC the Taleban, deposed in 2001, hoped to regain power in Afghanistan.
Now, which Mullah Dadullah is this, I seem to remember two or three running around.
We'll take any of 'em ...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/19/2006 07:25 ||
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Maybe Fudlullah, Nasrullah or even Najibullah knowing Aunty Beeb?
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/19/2006 8:40 Comments ||
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#2
He's the one with the shifty beady eyes and the bad combover.
#7
The prisoner, who has one leg, is believed to be Mullah Dadullah, the Associated Press quoted Afghan Gen. Rehmatullah Raufi as saying.
Raufi said he was captured during the same operation that led to the death of Canadian Capt. Nichola Goddard on Wednesday. Eighteen militants were killed and 35 captured during the battle in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar province. Link.
Posted by: Great White Polar Bear ||
05/19/2006 14:09 Comments ||
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Islamic militants, some armed with machine guns, battled Afghan, U.S. and Canadian forces and exploded two suicide car bombs Thursday in some of the deadliest violence in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.
More than 100 people were killed in the string of attacks that started Wednesday: dozens of insurgents, at least 15 Afghan police, an American civilian training Afghan forces, and the first female Canadian soldier to die in combat.
One major reason for the increase in fighting, CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports, is that the Taliban have continued to have a safe haven across the Afghan border inside Pakistan, and no one has done anything about it.
The fighting concentrated in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar raised new concerns for the future of Afghanistan's fragile democracy. The Taliban have stepped up attacks in recent months, with roadside bombs and suicide assaults. But this week's fighting marked an escalation in a region where the U.S.-led coalition is to cede control of security operations to NATO by July.
President Hamid Karzai said the violence emanated from the mountainous border trial regions of neighboring Pakistan, populated by the ethnic Pashtuns who make up the majority of the Taliban militants and are believed to be hiding Osama bin Laden.
"We have credible reports that inside Pakistan, in the madrassas, the mullahs and teachers are saying to their students: 'Go to Afghanistan for jihad. Burn the schools and clinics,"' Karzai said.
Pakistan's Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Tasnim Aslam, called the allegations "baseless."
The violence started Wednesday in the small remote town of Musa Qala in Helmand, when an estimated 300 to 400 militants with assault rifles and machine guns attacked a police and government headquarters.
The attack sparked eight hours of clashes with Afghan security forces, the fiercest in Helmand since U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban in 2001 for hosting al Qaeda, said Deputy Gov. Amir Mohammed Akhunzaba. He said the fighting started at 10 p.m. Wednesday, though the Interior Ministry put the time at earlier.
He said the bodies of about 40 Taliban militants were recovered and that 13 police were killed and six wounded in the fight, some 280 miles southwest of Kabul.
Afghan police reinforcements forced the militants to flee. British soldiers helped evacuate casualties but did not provide military backup, in part so Afghan forces could prove themselves, said British military spokesman Capt. Drew Gibson.
"If they're the ones who are seen beating off the Taliban, there's a lot of credibility for them," Gibson said. "The ANP (Afghan National Police) did admirably in the circumstances, proven by the fact that Musa Qala is now back under ANP security."
Logan adds that some Afghans feel the Taliban is better equipped and armed than the Afghan security force. Also, the Taliban have taken over a lot of the responsibilities of al Qaeda in the border area because while Pakistan has been cracking down on al Qaeda, they've left the Taliban alone and may, in fact, actively support the Taliban.
"The Taliban never really went away," CBS News Consultant Jere Van Dyk says. "What happened was the Americans felt, and a lot of observers felt throughout the world, the Taliban were defeated very easily. But, in fact, what they did was move back into the country side, they took off their black turbans, went and became farmers, and they observed."
What the Taliban wants, ideally, Logan reports, is to fill the void in each village as U.S. forces pull out of southern Afghanistan later this year and hand over operations to NATO.
In neighboring Kandahar province, Canadian soldiers were supporting Afghan forces on a mission to oust Taliban fighters outside Kandahar city late Wednesday when militants attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire, Canadian military spokesman Maj. Scott Lundy said.
Those killed included 18 militants and Capt. Nichola Goddard. Although Canadian women died in action in both world wars, Goddard, from Calgary, Alberta, was the first killed in a combat role, Lundy said. About 35 militants were detained.
Also in Kandahar, the U.S.-led coalition said up to 27 Taliban militants were killed in an air strike Thursday near the village of Azizi.
The deadliest fighting since the ouster of the Taliban was in June 2005, when 178 people were killed in an offensive between Afghan forces and militants in the Miana Shien district of Kandahar province.
As many as 87 Taliban fighters were killed in the fighting Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. and Afghan officials said. Commanders of the U.S.-led coalition were still studying whether the attacks across the south were coordinated, Lundy said.
Defense Ministry spokesman Gen. Zahir Azimi said the impending handover of power in the south to NATO troops could be fanning the southern violence.
"Maybe the Taliban is trying to show NATO that they are active there, but coalition and NATO forces are both strong," he said.
NATO plans to deploy thousands of extra troops from nations including Canada, Britain and the Netherlands to take control of security operations from the U.S.-led coalition, which has been hunting for Taliban and al Qaeda militants in the south since late 2001.
By the end of this year, NATO will also assume command in the volatile eastern region of Afghanistan, where U.S. forces will continue to operate but under the military alliance. But recent violence has been escalating beyond the south and the east, as militants expand their campaigns outside their bases along the Pakistan border.
One of Thursday's suicide bombers attacked in Herat, a city near the Iranian border not under Taliban control and until now spared much of this year's violence. The bomb killed Ron Zimmerman, 37, of Connersville, Ind., who was working on a U.S. project to train Afghan police, his family said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/19/2006 01:32 ||
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He said the bodies of about 40 Taliban militants were recovered and that 13 police were killed and six wounded in the fight, some 280 miles southwest of Kabul.
Ignoring a peace pact, armed militiamen attacked several villages this week in Sudan's Darfur region, killing at least 11 people and wounding many others, the United Nations said Wednesday.
Did anyone expect them to adhere to a peace pact?
The raids occurred in seven villages around the town of Kutum in north Darfur on Monday, the U.N. said. The U.N. did not blame any specific group for the attacks, but the African Union has said the raids were carried out by Arab militias known as the Janjaweed.
Who'd you expect? Lapplanders?
The attacks came as the U.N. and African Union pushed splinter rebel groups to endorse the May 5 agreement between Khartoum and the main rebel leader.
I'm sure this episode will point out to them the desirability of doing so...
Some of the rebels who rejected the peace accord enjoy strong support in the refugee camps of Darfur, a vast, arid region in western Sudan. Jan Pronk, the UN chief's special envoy to Sudan, said he was heading to Darfur this week to try to persuade the hold-out rebels to sign the peace agreement.
That's assuming Bashir lets him in the country and nobody bumps him off. Take the train, Jan, not a helicopter.
The two international organizations also pressed the Sudan government to fulfill its commitment of disarming the Janjaweed, who have been accused of some of the worst atrocities in the three-year conflict that has left more than 180,000 people dead and displaced another 2.5 million. Khartoum denies backing the Janjaweed but has said it will try to rein them in.
I expect approximately zippo from that promise.
The U.N. said the Sudanese government had arrested 23 people since clashes erupted Monday between refugees and Sudanese police in a Darfur refugee camp. At least three people were killed in the camp, including a protester shot by police and a Sudanese military intelligence officer lynched by the crowd.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Nuke Khartoum and a lot of the trouble in East Africa will come to a blazing halt.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/19/2006 13:40 Comments ||
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Leader of Sudan's Popular National Congress, Dr. Hassan Turabi, is calling for the overthrow of the Sudanese regime through popular resistance. Turabi said the Abuja peace agreement, which was signed earlier this week between the Sudan government and one of Darfur's rebel groups, lacks a legitimate basis. The regime will not fall "unless the people will replace it not to the benefit of any regime or party, but to the benefit of all," A-Turabi told reporters yesterday. The Islamist ideologist said the agreement on Darfur was achieved only as a result of American pressures, and added that the Sudanese government listens now to America the "lord of the earth" and not to "Allah, the lord of the skies."
Turabi , is a controversial figure in Sudanese politics, who once protected Osama Bin Laden, has spent much of the last five years in detention. He was once a close colleague of President Omar al-Bashir but he lost out in a power struggle with him in 1999. He was freed again in June 2005, after being held in connection with an alleged coup plot. Last month, Turabi was branded an apostate by Sudan's Muslim scholars for taking a liberal stand on womens rights in an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat.
I post here Dan Darling's comments about Turabi from yesterday:
In or out of the Sudanese government, Turabi apparently exercises enough clout and/or fear to keep getting himself out of jail despite the repeated accusations that he's tried to overthrow Bashir and his known association with al-Qaeda. The fact that the Sudanese accuse him of masterminding the Darfur rebellion yet simultaneously permit him to operate as a free agent more or less implies that they don't consider him as big of a threat as their own political dissidents, thus the ability of himself and his followers to send weapons to Aweys and Co in Somalia strikes me as quite plausible.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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My view is that Bashir is intimidated by Turabi, who has many followers. He represents Bin Laden's key supporter in Sudan. Look for AQ to make a major, overt push in Sudan within the next six months.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/19/2006 0:45 Comments ||
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#2
Someone needs to arrange for a case of plumbium poisoning for the "holy man." Lots at close range.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/19/2006 5:32 Comments ||
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Yemeni police seized 1.5 tons of gunpowder and TNT explosives during a raid in a rural area in central Dhamar province yesterday, security officials said. They said police in the Wasab Al-Aali District, about 100 kilometers south of the capital Sanaa, were tipped off that explosives weighing some 1,560 kilograms were to be stashed in a building in the district. Police raided the building and seized the explosives, Brig. Abdu Darjan Al-Qasimi, the district's top police officer, told reporters. He said the building owner was arrested, but other suspects managed to escape.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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A terrorist plot to blow up an El Al jet at Geneva airport with an RPG missile in December was uncovered by the Swiss and French intelligence agencies, details released for publication on Friday revealed.
The Yedioth Aharonot newspaper reported that a secret agent working undercover amongst an Islamic terror cell in the city discovered the plan after three immigrants of Arabic origin boasted of their attempts to smuggle weapons from Russia with the ultimate goal of shooting down an Israeli plane at the airport.
When the matter was reported to Israeli security, El Al changed the flight paths of all its Geneva-bound planes, landing them at Zurich Airport the following week.
Swiss officials reported than no arrests were made following the discovery since the plan had yet to reach its final operational stages.
El Al has reportedly installed the Flight Guard Self Protection System at a cost of 1 million dollars per plane on some of its fleet, and plans to install it in all its jets in the future.
The system is capable of detecting an approaching missile, warning the crew and automatically activating countermeasures that will divert the missile from its course, saving the aircraft and its passengers.
#3
Conspiracy to commit murder isn't a crime in Switzerland? Or just not if you don't want to offend terrorists and the backers? Now if they'd been planning to inconvenience a Swiss bank ...
Al-Qaeda's hierarchy in western Europe has vanished and the terrorist network's leadership has largely ceased direct management of attacks, a senior German police intelligence officer told a trial court this week. She said the al-Qaeda leadership now mainly relied on video and internet proclamations to inspire Islamists in the western world to act on their own.
Germany's BKA federal crime agency had no evidence of Islamists swearing an oath of loyalty to Osama bin Laden since 2001 to become al-Qaeda members. The only terrorist to have done so since that date was Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who mounts attacks in Iraq. She said a hierarchically organized al-Qaeda network in western Europe no longer existed.
The police officer, who investigates Islamist threats, was testifying at the trial in Dusseldorf of three Arab men accused of terrorism on behalf of al-Qaeda and an insurance scam aimed at raising funds for suicide attacks in Iraq. Prosecutors say they also tried to obtain nuclear material for a "dirty bomb". The three were arrested before they could act.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/19/2006 01:30 ||
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There's a serious logical flaw here. She says there's no evidence of al-qaeda in europe. All that means is that they haven't found any, not that it doesn't exist.
#2
Saying this a few weeks before the World Cup is pretty freakin stoopid.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/19/2006 6:41 Comments ||
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#3
Their point, I am sure is, "law enforcement" has taken care of the AQ problem. A War on Terror isn't neccessary. How European and leftist of them and also how wrong.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/19/2006 7:03 Comments ||
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There's a serious logical flaw here. She says there's no evidence of al-qaeda in europe. All that means is that they haven't found any, not that it doesn't exist.
IMHO, it means they've stopped looking.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/19/2006 8:53 Comments ||
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she doesnt say AQ is gone, but that the hierarchy is gone, and that they cant directly manage attacks. That doesnt seem all that far out, from what weve heard. If its true, its not just due to Euro LE (though thats been pretty active) but to US LE, intell (which by its nature has LE AND warlike aspects), and of course to the military campaign in Afghanistan, which has pushed AQ from control of a state, to control of, at most, parts of Waziristan, and isolation for all the key figures. And yes, intell extracted by the US at Gitmo and elsewhere may well have played a role as well.
A senior German police intelligence officer testified this week in a Dusseldorf court that an organized, hierarchical al Qaeda network no longer exists in Western Europe, Dutch media reported May 18. Al Qaeda's leadership has mostly ended direct planning and oversight of attacks, relying instead on video and Internet communications to inspire and promote continued attacks, she said. The officer was testifying in the trial of three Arab men accused of attempting to financially aid al Qaeda through an insurance scam, as well as attempting to procure material for a "dirty bomb."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/19/2006 01:29 ||
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And what if al-Q has just devolved its organization like the gangs in California? No "leader", just endless individuals all making mischief in ad-hoc groups more based in their neighborhood than anything else.
#2
Making mischief means beatings and killings and small explosions, not designer epidemics, gas attacks on entire cities, or smuggled-in nuclear/dirtynuke bombs. Making mischief is the "boys will be boys" default over there.
#3
The Germans may be right in a sense. Al Qaida has been pretty roughed up over the past five years. They may have pulled the heavy hitters out and brought them back to the Middle East in an attempt to rebuild their organization, leaving a skeleton group of agitators in place in Europe. We've seen the attempt to turn Somalia into another Afghanistan, the unrest between Sudan and Chad, the constant banging and booming in Yemen, the attacks in the Sinai, and the growing presence of AQ in "palestine". That doesn't mean AQ isn't still a threat in Europe, just that the 'big boys' are working elsewhere.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/19/2006 13:48 Comments ||
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A golden opportunity missed...
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - Prisoners wielding improvised weapons clashed with guards trying to stop a detainee from committing suicide at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the military said Friday. Okay, Achmed. You draw short straw. Here is rope. Say hello to Allah for me.
The fight occurred Thursday in a medium-security section of the camp as guards were responding to the fourth attempted suicide that day at the detention center on the U.S. Navy base, said Cmdr. Robert Durand.
Detainees used fans, light fixtures and other improvised weapons to attack the guards as they entered a communal living area to stop a prisoner who was trying to hang himself, Durand said. Okay. No more fans. Cuba in the summer? You won't need 'em.
Earlier in the day, three detainees in another part of the prison attempted suicide by swallowing prescription medicine they had been hoarding. Okay. So no more prescription medicine. Wouldn't want the boys to harm themselves now, would we?
The detainees who took part in the clash with guards were moved to higher-security sections. Welcome to Truncheon Land...
Those who attempted suicide received medical treatment, the military said. Their names were not released. What's next? Another "hunger strike"?
The incidents occurred on the same day the military transferred 15 Saudi detainees to their country, leaving about 460 detainees at Guantanamo. Soon to be in the Saudi "Cake or Die" Repentance Program.
There have been 39 suicide attempts at Guantanamo since the prison opened in January 2002, the military said. At least 12 were by Juma'a Mohammed al-Dossary, a 32-year-old from Bahrain. Keep trying, kid. You'll get it right one of these days.
Guantanamo Bay holds detainees suspected of links to al-Qaida or the Taliban. I thought they were all just victims of circumstances. Looks like some AP editor was asleep at the switch.
#2
Fix bayonets on their ass, see how much they like that shit. After their ringleader takes one through the running lights the rest will chill out most rik-tik. If not, then that's just less sand clowns the U.S. taxpayer has to house & feed.
#4
sounds more like an aborted attempt to draw guards in and take hostages?
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2006 16:09 Comments ||
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Good call, Frank...
U.S. guards were lured Thursday evening into a dorm-like room at a minimum-security wing of the detention center by a detainee pretending to prepare to hang himself, said Navy Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr.
The guards sought to save the detainee but were pounced on by others wielding broken light fixtures, fan blades and pieces of metal. The detainees were eventually subdued, and six were treated for "minor injuries," Harris said during a news conference.
Oh, I don't know. Most of those guys are gonna be under a lot of suspicion when they get released. Honest, I didn't tell 'em NUTHIN .... uh huh, yeah sure Achmed. It's not that we don't trust you or anything, but tell you what - why dontcha show your dedication to the cause with one of those boom belts over there? You know, take it downtown and ... celebrate.
"The detainees had slickened the floor of their block with feces, urine and soapy water in an attempt to trip the guards. They then assaulted the guards with broken light fixtures, fan blades and bits of metal," said Navy Rear Adm. Harry Harris, who commands the Guantanamo facility.
Army Col. Mike Bumgarner, in charge of detention operations, said detainees were jumping off beds on top of the guards and knocked some guards to the ground, adding: "Frankly we were losing the fight at that point."
The guards used pepper spray, then the shotgun that fired 18 small rubber balls and the M203 grenade launcher to gain control, U.S. officials said. The fighting lasted four to five minutes, they said.
A young police detective testified yesterday at the Herald Square bombing plot trial that he was recruited from the Police Academy 13 months after 9/11 to work deep undercover in the Muslim community to investigate Islamic extremists.
The detective, a Muslim who came to America from Bangladesh when he was 7, testified that he was a 23-year-old college graduate when he was plucked from the academy in October 2002. He took an apartment in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, where, he testified, his assignment was to be a "walking camera" among Muslims there.
He said he had no contact with the Police Department other than through his handler, to whom he reported by e-mail at first. During two years of living in Bay Ridge, he was involved in "numerous" investigations, he testified, and was at times shadowed by a field team to ensure his safety.
The Police Intelligence Division's program to post detectives overseas has been widely publicized. But this detective's testimony yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn provided the closest look yet at how the division is using undercover investigators to penetrate mosques, bookstores and other places where Muslims gather in the city.
His testimony confirmed what many Muslims have believed since the Sept. 11 attacks: that law enforcement agencies have worked to infiltrate their community during terrorism investigations. It also revealed the extraordinary steps the department took to create a fictitious identity so a Muslim investigator could live for years in an insular neighborhood where people have become highly suspicious of the authorities.
Beyond the detective's testimony, police officials yesterday would not discuss the scope of the program and provided no details about its structure, its guidelines or its successes or failures. The witness was identified only by a pseudonym Kamil Pasha to protect continuing investigations.
The detective was the final witness at the four-week trial of Shahawar Matin Siraj, 23, a Pakistani immigrant who is charged with plotting to blow up the Herald Square subway station in 2004. His lawyers have argued that he was entrapped by a paid police informer, a 50-year-old Egyptian-born nuclear engineer who they say was the driving force behind the plot. They have argued that their client was an inept dupe who was not predisposed to commit an act of terrorism until the informer inflamed him.
The undercover detective was called as a witness to rebut the defense arguments that the informer had drawn Mr. Siraj into the plot. He told the jury about statements Mr. Siraj had made long before he met the informer, which prosecutors contend show he had often spoken about violence and terrorism. The detective was not involved in the investigation of Mr. Siraj but came across him during his undercover work.
Much of the detective's testimony focused on Mr. Siraj's statements, but strands of information about the detective and his work were interlaced with his answers. And while prosecutors sought to limit testimony about the detective's background, objecting several times to questions by one of Mr. Siraj's lawyers, Martin R. Stolar, the judge, Nina Gershon, overruled the objections.
The detective testified that he graduated from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and entered the Police Academy in July 2002. In the middle of October, roughly halfway through his academy training, he left early when he was recruited to join the Intelligence Division, where he was assigned to the Special Services Unit, which runs the undercover program.
Within three weeks, according to his testimony, he made his first appearance at the Islamic Society of Bay Ridge, a mosque on Fifth Avenue in Brooklyn, next door to the Islamic bookstore where Mr. Siraj worked. He testified that he spent time there periodically. Mr. Stolar, while questioning the detective, indicated that his reports showed he had seen Mr. Siraj 72 times over the two years, mostly in the bookstore.
He testified that he started looking for an apartment and a job. At one point Mr. Siraj's uncle was going to help him find work. With a coterie of young men who sometimes frequented the bookstore, he got involved in essentially proselytizing Islam.
He also testified that at one point he had Mr. Siraj over to his apartment. But he said he never wore a secret recording device.
The detective said he was not given any special training to work undercover but was taught about self-defense, weapons, surveillance and undercover safety.
He said, "I was told to act like a civilian hang out in the neighborhood, gather information."
He said he was told "never to push for information," but instead to "take a back seat" and "observe, be the ears and eyes."
A slight man in a gray suit, a white shirt and a rust-colored patterned tie, the detective said he had never before testified in court. In fact, his youth and, perhaps, naïveté were in evidence at several points in the morning, including when he said he had never heard of suicide bombings before Mr. Siraj raised the subject, one he seemed to discuss often.
Mr. Stolar seemed incredulous. "You had never before heard of suicide bombings taking place in Israel?" he asked.
"I grew up with a very peaceful religion," the detective responded. "All of these comments radical beliefs came to me when I took this assignment." He added: "Where in Islam does it say you can blow up a train station?"
Over the course of the day, his poise on the stand grew. Most police officers make their trial debuts in less-charged atmospheres, perhaps in traffic or criminal court. For the witness yesterday, however, as the first Muslim undercover to testify, the stakes were far higher.
In fact, the stakes at the trial are perhaps higher still for the department, as evidenced by the presence for much of the proceedings of the department's highest ranking lawyer, S. Andrew Schaffer, the deputy commissioner for legal matters, and an aide. Also frequently present has been a civilian Intelligence Division analyst and for the last three days, as the possibility of the detective's testimony grew, a lieutenant from the department's press office.
Several questions about the investigation remained yesterday. When the undercover detective began visiting the Bay Ridge mosque in 2002, the Intelligence Division was governed by a 1985 consent decree stemming from a civil lawsuit. The decree limited police surveillance of political activity and religious services.
The guidelines set by the decree, which were loosened in February 2003, required that certain paperwork be filed before such an investigation could be conducted. It was unclear yesterday whether the guidelines were followed.
#1
His testimony confirmed what many Muslims have believed since the Sept. 11 attacks: that law enforcement agencies have worked to infiltrate their community during terrorism investigations.
You know something. Fuck the New York Times.
Nice work detective.
A senior British officer accused Pakistan of allowing the Taliban to use its territory as a "headquarters" for attacks on western troops in Afghanistan as insurgents struck on multiple fronts yesterday.
In one of the worst 24-hour periods since they were ousted from power in 2001, the Taliban launched two suicide bombs, numerous firefights and a massive assault on a village in Helmand province, where 3,300 British soldiers are being deployed. The violence, which started on Wednesday night, caused 105 deaths including 87 Taliban, 15 police, an American civilian and a Canadian woman soldier, according to the highest estimates. British forces were not involved.
Colonel Chris Vernon, chief of staff for southern Afghanistan, said the Taliban leadership was coordinating its campaign from the western Pakistani city of Quetta, near the Afghan border. "The thinking piece of the Taliban is out of Quetta in Pakistan. It's the major headquarters," he told the Guardian. "They use it to run a series of networks in Afghanistan."
The Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, echoed these comments by accusing Pakistan of arming the insurgents. "Pakistani intelligence gives military training to people and then sends them to Afghanistan with logistics," the Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press news agency quoted him as saying.
Col Vernon said the Quetta leadership controlled "about 25" mid-level commanders dotted across the Afghan south, one of whom was captured last month. He declined to name him.
The unusually forthright British criticism, reflecting sentiments normally expressed in private by western commanders, drew a furious denial from the Pakistani military.
"It is absolutely absurd that someone is talking like this. If the Taliban leadership was in Quetta we would be out of our minds not to arrest them," said a spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan. "They should give us actionable intelligence so that we can take action."
The clash reflects growing tensions between Pakistan and the west as Nato prepares to assume command of southern Afghanistan from the US on July 31.
About 7,000 troops from Britain, Canada and the Netherlands are deploying to Helmand, Kandahar and Uruzgan provinces, while another 1,000 Americans and Romanians will be stationed in Zabul.
Kandahar has suffered the worst upheaval, much of it apparently aimed at unbalancing the Nato mission before it can settle down. Canadian troops have been pummelled with a string a suicide attacks, roadside bombs and an axe attack on an officer during a village meeting.
On Wednesday a suicide bomber rammed into a UN vehicle near the main coalition base at Kandahar airport, killing himself and injuring the driver. Col Vernon said he had tightened security on the road after similar attacks in March by "imposing Northern Ireland procedures". On Wednesday night hundreds of Taliban fighters assailed Musa Qala village in northern Helmand, sparking an eight-hour battle that officials said left 40 militants and 13 police dead.
Having convulsed the volatile south, the guerrilla summer offensive now threatens the rest of the country. Yesterday suicide bombers struck in the normally peaceful cities of Herat in the west and Ghazni to the north, killing an Afghan motorcyclist and a US police trainer.
"This is the worst things have been since the fall of the Taliban," said a western source in Kandahar.
Across the border, worried British and Canadian diplomats are pressing the Pakistani government to take a tougher approach to the Taliban. Although Pakistan forces have killed or arrested hundreds of al-Qaida suspects since 2001, it has detained only a handful of Taliban officials. The last big catch was spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi, who was arrested in October 2005 after his mobile phone was traced to Quetta.
"Clearly the Taliban are at large in Baluchistan, operating in Quetta. Obviously that's a cause for concern," said a British diplomat in Islamabad. "There's no evidence of a serious network of Taliban camps but it's easy for them to take cover in Afghan refugee camps."
The 930-mile border, most of it barren mountains and desert, is notoriously porous. Maj Gen Sultan said that it was impossible for Pakistani officials to discriminate between ordinary Afghans and Taliban insurgents.
Col Vernon did not say whether Mullah Omar, the Taliban's leader, was also sheltering in Quetta. Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan worsened sharply in March after Afghan allegations that Omar, Osama bin Laden and more than 100 Taliban leaders were hiding in Pakistan.
The Taliban fight has also become a propaganda war. The insurgents regularly paste "night letters" - threatening tracts against "collaborators" - on walls and doors in southern villages. A Taliban radio station has also started operating in Helmand, where the British troops are being deployed. Nato commanders are retaliating, pushing local media to publicise their successes. Domestic pressure means western journalists are also coming under scrutiny.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/19/2006 01:40 ||
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"we would be out of our minds..." You are.
"They should give us actionable intelligence so that we can take action." They have repeatedly. You take no action or warn the terrorists before operastions are caried out.
Sectors fo the ISI support the Taliban. Sectors of the militarty support the Taliban. OBL and Mullha One Eye are still protected guests in your country. Saying it's not true means nothing. The facts are what they are.
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/19/2006 2:02 Comments ||
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Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/19/2006 4:07 Comments ||
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#4
Heh - Pakistan - the next target in the WoT.
Nope. There will never be another target in the WoT. At least, from the West.
We've given up. We've decided it's just not worth defending ourselves.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
05/19/2006 8:54 Comments ||
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#5
I have no problem targeting inside the Pak border. But I'm still frustrated with the Pak sideshow, and thats all it really is. Iran is where we need to be to end this war against the Muslim extreemists and their plans to defeat Israel.
Lets break this down a bit. From my slightly jaded perspective. Afghanistan was little more than the training grounds for the terrorists and now a battle ground that they are losing. While this was a great strategic victory for us, I believe all along Palistine and Israel continue to be the real objective battle ground for Iran, Their center of gravity. Iran is the real driving force and I believe they are the center of gravity in this war if we are to end it.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/19/2006 8:56 Comments ||
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#7
Senior U.S. officials also report sights of the sun rising in the East and setting in the West, and stopped clocks being right precisely twice each day.
#8
While Pak military and muslim imams push the taliban and aid and abet them, the money comes from Saudi Arabia and Iran. Striking one while ignoring the other won't stop the conflict. We need to slaughter the house of saud, down to the tiniest child, and turn the western half of the nation over to Jordan. Keep the eastern half as a "protectorate" for a few hundred years.
Nuke Iran, any place where there may be military equipment, any city over 5000 people, and anything else that strikes our fancy. Until we destroy Iran, the islamofascists will have a protector and fundraiser. Paleostain and Pakiwakiland would both collape in three days without the support of Iran. There would be some serious implosions in Syria and Lebanon as well.
We need to conquer all the Middle East, and SLOWLY let them learn to live in a democracy, starting at the local level, working up to region, and finally, if they learn their lessons well enough, to the national level. This "war" will only be long as long as we try to do everything piecemeal. Let the iron fist fall, and let the weeping begin.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/19/2006 14:28 Comments ||
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Thank you very much Colonel Chris "The Scoop" Vernon.
QUETTA: A Frontier Corps soldier was killed when a mine exploded in Kohlu on Thursday. Ansar Ahmad was seriously injured by the blast and died at the hospital. Later, suspected tribal militants fired rockets on FC checkpoints in Chashma and Sangseela. No casualty was reported.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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WANA: Unidentified men on Thursday kidnapped the brother of a pro-government militant commander at Zeri Noor area of Wana in South Waziristan Agency. No one has claimed the responsibility for abducting Asadullah Wazir, brother of Commander Rafiuddin Wazir.
In a separate incident, unidentified men gunned down a social worker Sakhi in Kari Kot Waha in Wana. Sources said that they could not yet confirm whether the killing was an act of terrorism or provoked by personal enmity.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Delhi police have slapped charges of funding and supplying weapons to militants on a Dubai-based Kashmiri businessman close to Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The charges were filed in a court on the same day moderate Mirwaiz was pleading his friends release in order to make the talks with the Indian prime minister successful.
No wonder if Mirwaiz may himself find in the dock as police told the court while filing the charge sheet that its investigations are still not complete and it may have to interrogate some more people linked with the case. The case had been listed for arguments in a Delhi court on Wednesday but was deferred until May 27.
Mirwaiz and Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) chief Syed Salahuddin figure in the confession of the 36-year old Nasir Mir, who was arrested with arms and hawala money in February, as among those for whom he worked. In a startling disclosure, Nasir has also reportedly confessed that slain HM commander Abdul Majid Dar was his partner in his exchange companies through which the money was routed to the militants. It was Nasir who had reportedly escorted Dar from Pakistan to Dubai and then brought him to Srinagar where he had announced a unilateral cease-fire on July 24, 2000 and later held talks with the central government. He was gunned down in March 2003 by militants in Sopore town in the valley.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
I dig the purple lips, well-coordinated with the pale green fez-like hat, and the black eyes and pilosity. Obviously, this man has great fashion style! Does he use gloss?
HYDERABAD: Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who has been convicted of kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal's reporter Daniel Pearl, was shifted to Karachi from Central Jail Hyderabad under tight security on Thursday afternoon, police sources told Daily Times. Omer was later taken to Islamabad from Karachi, said sources, adding he had been shifted to Islamabad for interrogation of an old case.
What? No Daring Escape™? I'm surprised.
The British-born Islamic militant was sentenced to death on July 14, 2002 by an anti-terrorism court at Hyderabad. His co-accused Salman Saqib, Fahad Naseem and Sheikh Adil were sentenced to life imprisonment.
He hasn't been strung up yet, obviously...
Sources said Sheikh was brought to Hyderabad airport under heavy security and then flown to Karachi in a helicopter.
Not the old "killed in a helicopter crash" wheeze? Please!
It was the second time that Sheikh was taken away from Hyderabad as he was shifted to Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi, on January 18, 2004. He was held briefly at Adiala in connection with the probe into an abortive attempt on the life of President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003, and was later shifted back to Hyderabad jail.
We'll see what happens on the trip back. If the heli crashes, I sure hope we demand to see the body.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Should be dead by now.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/19/2006 0:57 Comments ||
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LAHORE: Security agencies have arrested an Iraqi national from the Sabzazar area of the city, Radio Tehran reported on Thursday. They have sized a fake Pakistani passport and a national identity card from Abdullah Ebrahim Ahmad, who had reportedly been living in various areas of Punjab province for the past six years. He had also married a local woman. Sabzazar police were ignorant of the arrest.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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PESHAWAR: Two homemade bombs exploded minutes apart at the entrance of a mosque in the tribal region of Bajaur late on Wednesday, wounding three Khasadar force personnel, officials said.
Explosions and mosques just seem to go together, don't they?
The blast occurred at a mosque in the main town of Khar used mainly by the local tribal police. Witnesses said that one of the bombs had been placed at the mosque's main gate where people remove their shoes. The second device detonated 15 minutes later, a few yards away. Those injured included a local administration official, Amir Zaman, and two local policemen. No one has claimed the responsibility for the attack. Local officials said that efforts were underway to trace and capture the culprits.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Two homemade bombs exploded minutes apart at the entrance of a mosque
QUETTA: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) handed down a prison sentence of 20 years each to Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and his two sons for having failed to appear in the court on charges of being in possession of illegal weapons.
Didn't show up, huh? Think they're gonna show up to do their jug time?
Police had raided a location in Kahan, headquarters of the Marri tribe, and seized a large illegal weapons cache. The police then registered four seperate criminal cases against Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and Nawabzada Baloch Marri and Nawabzada Hyerbyar Marri, a former provincial minister. The ATC issued notices to Baloch Marri and his sons, asking them to appear before the court after the prosecution submitted their challans.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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At least one person was killed and 18 others were injured Thursday when guerrillas lobbed a grenade at the security personnel in the main market of a town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, police said. The powerful explosion at a market in Pulwama town, 45 km from Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, occurred when militants threw a hand grenade at a vehicle of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, according to the news agency.
Another one. That's been one a day for the past three days, hasn't it?
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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COLORADO SPRINGS In a speech this morning to recently returned troops from the 3rd Armored Cavalry in Fort Carson, an Iraqi mayor thanked the soldiers for securing his city of Tel Afar and asked the American public to support the mission in his war-torn country.
Mayor Najim Al Jibouri patted his hand on his heart and made the peace sign as a crowd of soldiers and their families gave him a standing ovation.
"Are you truly my friends?" he asked [rhetorically] through a translator. "Yes! I walk a happier man because you are my friends. You are the world to me. I smell the sweet perfume that emanates from your flower of your strength, honor and greatness in every corner of Tel Afar. The nightmares of terror fled when the lion of your bravery entered our city."
[mutha]Quagmire! They Hate Us! We are Losing we must get out NOW[/murtha]
#4
BellaPelosi looks remarkably similar to Fireman Bill in "In Living Color"
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/19/2006 18:47 Comments ||
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This should be personally embarassing to Rep Murtha ... an Iraqi mayor doing more for out troops than this mealy mouthed former Marine ... semper fi my a**.
Pictures at site -- H/T OP-FOR
In the southern waters off Iraq, the patrol ship USS Whirlwind keeps a constant vigil over two offshore oil-transfer platforms that are indispensable to Iraq. Some sailors call them the crown jewels.
The oil platforms bear the scars of a turbulent history: bullet holes and other damage from the Iran-Iraq war and also from the first Gulf War.
U.S. naval personnel work together with Iraqi marines to protect the oil platforms. On the al-Bashrah oil terminal, known as ABOT, the Iraqis live in a large building at one end called the White House, which has sleeping quarters and a mess hall. At the other end of the platform, the Americans live in converted cargo containers, piled three high. Their meals are sent over from the main ship. The Internet is intermittent, and the platforms are fully exposed to the ferocious heat.
Capt. Chris Noble, head of the joint task force in the area, says it's a grueling assignment, but security of the terminals is essential to Iraq's future. Noble says that 85 percent of Iraq's oil -- the essence of the country's economy --- currently flows through the ABOT platform.
"The main product they have to offer the rest of the global community is this oil," Noble says. "And the pretty much established figure is around $10 billion worth a year comes out of there."
Noble says there are more than a dozen rehearsed contingency plans for attacks against the two platforms, by air or sea. It's not solely an American effort. A joint force that includes British and Australian units also helps secure the platforms and train the Iraqi navy.
In addition to protecting the terminals from terrorists and suicide bombers, the forces also have their eyes on the Iranian navy, which often intrudes several hundred yards into Iraqi waters.
Captain Pat Roane of the USS Lake Champlain says that coalition forces regularly have to tell the Iranian navy to back off.
"We're working international law," Roane says. "We're working with a coalition to say that's where the border is, don't take advantage of turmoil in Iraq to use that to Iran's advantage."
Captain Roane won't say when coalition naval forces will allow the Iraqi navy to take control of its own waters. The area is too unstable, he says, and the oil platforms too important to Iraq.
Noted late yesterday on the Burg so carried over to today.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Four US soldiers and their Iraqi interpreter died on Thursday when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle northwest of Baghdad, the US command said. It had earlier said that a US sailor had died Wednesday in western Anbar province, the heart of the Sunni Arab insurgency.
The names of the soldiers and sailor were being withheld pending notification of next of kin. Details of the attack were not released. Sailors often team up with US Army and Marine forces in Iraq, sometimes serving as medics or in other support roles. The service member who died Wednesday was assigned to US Marine Regimental Combat Team 5.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Honestly...we need to send a hard message to Iran.
The government of Iraq's Kurdistani accused Thursday Turkish troops of firing missiles towards an Iraqi Kurdish town near the Turkish border. The government said in a statement that the missiles landed this afternoon on the town of Kafar Shour near the city of Kanni Masi, adding that three shells landed in the same area but no casualties have been reported yet. Turkish troops are present on the Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish triangle borders aiming to track down members of the Kurdistani Labor Party. In addition Iranian troops recently also bombed the same area.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Two Iraqi civilians were killed and another was kidnapped, while police found a beheaded body near kirkuk. A source from the Iraqi Police in Kirkuk told KUNA the body is that of a middle-aged woman. Police also announced Thursday it defused two bombs and found a large quantity of weapons and explosives in the Najaf province. A security source told KUNA that Iraqi troops found the two roadside bombs in Kufa city.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Middle-aged woman.
Yet another sterling performance by the brave lions of Islam.
Iraqi police raided a popular Baghdad market Thursday and seized large amounts of military gear up for sale. An interior ministry statement issued today said, members of the Iraqi police's Freedom Brigade raided Harj market in Al-Bab Al-Sharqi which is known to sell all types of military gear. Terrorists are easily executing their plans disguised as military men, the statement said. The police seized a number of bullet-proof vests, army fatigues, helmets, cots, two-way radios, forfeited documents, and official stamps.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Actual competence from the I police? Good, may it continue.
#2
I'd like to see a follow-up article on the Western-trained police that al Jabr held back so he could run his Shia death squads. Are they now on the job? This may be evidence.
Posted by: random styling ||
05/19/2006 9:51 Comments ||
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Unknown gunmen killed a member of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in central Kirkuk Thursday, a party member said. The source, speaking to KUNA, said a group of "armed terrorists" opened fire at Najm Abdullah Omar, a member in PUK in Kirkuk, and killed him on the spot.
PUK is one of the two major parties in Iraq's Kurdistan. The other one is the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) of Kurdistan's president Masoud Barzani.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Iraqis armed with bombs destroyed a Sunni Arab shrine near the volatile city of Baqouba on Thursday in an apparent reprisal attack less than a week after similar bombings heavily damaged six Shiite shrines in the area. The attack, like the previous ones, was carried out early in the morning, resulting in no casualties, but desecration of the holy sites occurred in a mixed Sunni Arab-Shiite region of the country where sectarian tensions are running high. In Thursday's strike, hidden bombs exploded inside the small Sharhabil bin Hassan shrine in Kanan, a town about 13 miles northeast of Baqouba, police said on condition of anonymity out of concern for their own security. The building was destroyed.
Last Saturday, six Shiite shrines were heavily damaged or destroyed by bombs hidden in or near them in the Baqouba area, creating widespread fears of reprisal attacks against Sunnis. "Such acts anger God and hurt the feeling of all honest Iraqis," Shiite cleric Adnan al-Rubaie from Baqouba had said at the time. "The goal is clear to ignite a civil strife. God's curse on everybody who tries to create sedition in this country."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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Palestinian border police briefly detained a Hamas official accused of smuggling more than $800,000 (£427,000) into the Gaza Strip from Egypt.
Dozens of Hamas gunmen rushed to the border, guarded by presidential troops, raising fears of fresh fighting.
Latest reports say the money has been released and put under the control of the Hamas-run interior ministry. sure....after Fatah got their cut
The Hamas-led Palestinian Authority faces a severe financial crisis because of an international aid embargo. Israel has also been withholding about $55m in tax collected monthly on behalf of the authority since Hamas came to power in January.
The Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, was apparently trying to smuggle the money under his clothes.
Hamas says it is unable to transfer cash to Palestinian territory to fund government activities and pay salaries, as banks fear US sanctions for dealing with the militant group. Mr Abu Zuhri is a well known figure because of his frequent appearances in the Arabic media.
"Sami Abu Zuhri did not declare the money. The Palestinian security and customs officials found it and confiscated it," the observer, Julio de la Guardia, said. LOLOLOL
Travellers crossing through Rafah must declare all sums over $2,000 and explain the origin of the cash, Mr de la Guardia told reporters. Mr Zuhri was said to have been returning to the Gaza Strip from Qatar, which has previously pledged to donate $50m to the Palestinian Authority.
Hamas has complained that US and European sanctions make it impossible for Qatar and other donors to transfer money to the Palestinian government because of the fears of financial institutions.
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2006 10:40 ||
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Dozens of Hamas gunmen rushed to the border, guarded by presidential troops, raising fears of fresh fighting.
Fresh fighting, my ass. There's serious scratch up for grabs here.
So, let's see. We got border cops, presidential troops, Hamas gunmen and customs officials.
How much of that 800G's ya think is left "for the people"?
#3
I suspect that $800k is still chump change compared to what they need to run the govt. for a month. This would only pay for the very top tier of the govt. or the most volitile "security forces" for a month or so.
#7
Update: Abbas Orders Inquiry Into Cash Smuggling
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A senior Hamas official on Friday tried to sneak $817,000 into the Gaza Strip in a pouch under his shirt, the first major cash smuggling attempt by an increasingly desperate Hamas government choked by Western sanctions.
Palestinian security forces confiscated the money at the Egypt-Gaza border, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Hamas' main political rival ordered a criminal inquiry. Abbas' decision was bound to raise tensions already high after police loyal to Abbas and a new Hamas militia exchanged fire earlier Friday. Hamas demanded that the money all in 500-euro bills be returned, saying private donors abroad intended it for Gaza's poor. The alleged smuggler, Hamas spokesman Abu Zuhri, "resorted to this way ... when all other ways were blocked," said government official Ghazi Hamad. "This money is donated from abroad, it was meant for poor people," Hamad said.
Abu Zuhri was returning from Qatar when he was caught with the cash in a white pouch under his shirt and jacket at the Rafah border crossing, said Julio De La Guardia, spokesman for European observers who monitor the crossing.
Travelers must declare any sum over $2,000 and explain where the money came from, said De La Guardia, adding: "He did not declare that money, he tried to smuggle it."
Dozens of Hamas gunmen briefly blocked the crossing after the money was confiscated. Another Hamas official escorted Abu Zuhri out.
"We are upset to be dealt with this way at a time when the Palestinian people are suffering from siege and starvation," Abu Zuhri told the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera.
Abbas sent the money to the Palestinian attorney general, with the request to open an investigation, said Saeb Erekat, an Abbas adviser.
Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau based in Damascus, Syria, said the money should be returned. "This money is part of the money supporting the Palestinian people which the (Palestinian) Authority cannot confiscate," he told The Associated Press.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades opened fire in the air near the PNA headquarters in Tulkarem, where the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Nasser Al-Shaer was present. Palestinian security sources said that several armed men, along with families of POWs demanded the government to pay out the stipend of the children of the POWs. A Hamas group negotiated with the brigades to allow Al-Shaer to leave the headquarters but when he left dozens of armed men blocked his patrol and opened fire in the air. The Palestinian official vowed to pay out the stipend of the POWs and the freed prisoners within one week, stressing the importance of the national unity.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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How much longer will secular Turkey put up with all this Islamist nonsense?
An Israeli military spokesman told Israeli radio on Thursday that six Palestinian missiles were launched where one exploded near a strategic facility. The source added the other five exploded near a military base south of Israel where splinters reached a soldiers compound with no casualties recorded.
Al-Quds brigades the military wing of the Islamic Jihad movement earlier today claimed responsibility of bombing Al-Majdal town south of Israel with four missiles. "A surprise is awaiting Israel," a paragraph mentioned in the brigades statement. The statement affirmed that this bombing is retaliation against bombing Palestinian targets in the last few days.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 00:00 ||
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These guys are pathetic. They launch oversized skyrockets and then whine when a real military force responds with real weapons. The surprise awaiting Israel is the pleasure of a target-rich environment.
#2
Not if the IDF choose again to strike at an *empty* soccer field used for sending qassams as symbolical retaliation, or bomb a few *empty* rockets factories (which function thanks to electricity graciously provided by Israel anyway).
What's the use of having overhelming superiority, if you don't use it decisively?
Posted by: SPoD ||
05/19/2006 5:34 Comments ||
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#4
obviously conventional superiority is of limited (though not zero) usefulness in a counterinsurgency, even more so in a complicated political game like the territories.
But why whine about it? The jokers from the terr groups launch missiles that miss, Islamic Jihad is being steadily ground to nothing, the seperation barrier is on its way to completion, the Israeli economy is growing (a huge investment from Warren Buffett the other day, investments from Intel, etc) Hamas and Fatah have their hands around each others throats, Jordan is cooperating against Hamas - why endanger this by getting too heavy handed? What significant thing would be achieved by an electricity cutoff, or a water cutoff, that isnt already being achieved?
#6
What it would achieve is to make it clear to the Pals that they are truely a defeated people and exist only at the whim of the state of Israel.
They NEED an electric shock to their brains to make this clear to them.
#10
It's just that from an American point of view, I think an overwhelming retaliation by Israel would be enormously gratifying LiberalHawk. Especially to some of the older RBurgers that can remember some of the shitty things the paleos have done over the years.
#12
If they got a hold of one of them, I'd be more worried if I was Palestinian then an Israeli.
"Hey, what does this do, Achmed?"
Gaza Depopulated. Film at eleven...
#13
LH - voice of maturity until they actually hit something with a bad weapon. F*ck em - rapid and sweeping anti-battery fire. Explain here's how it's going to be and Paleos that love their homes will stop them or suffer th econsequences. Since everyone is armed, shouldn't be an issue
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2006 17:49 Comments ||
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BRUSSELS - The European Union has agreed in principle to put Sri Lankas Tamil Tiger group on its list of terrorist groups, diplomats said on Friday, despite a warning by the rebels that the move could lead to war. A formal decision on the blacklisting could come extremely quickly, perhaps as early next week, one EU diplomat said. Another said that it would come before June. A number of diplomats, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the extremely sensitive nature of the subject, told AFP that the agreement had been reached by EU officials late on Thursday.
It comes just two days after a US State Department official, on a visit to Sri Lanka, said that Washington had urged the 25-nation bloc to ban the Tigers, declare them a terrorist group and cut off their international funding. By putting a group on the list, the EU automatically freezes its assets and puts in place special cooperation measures to combat it.
The separatist ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972. More than 200 people died last month despite a four-year truce between government forces and the rebels, brokered by Norway.
In Colombo, a top rebel negotiator said that any EU ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would only lead to war. Emboldened by international support, and especially by further proscriptions of the LTTE, the Sinhala hardline elements will undoubtedly take steps to further escalate the violence and precipitate a war in which they hope to destroy the LTTE, Anton Balasingham said in a statement. If this happens, the LTTE will be compelled to resist, Balasingham, who has led Tamil Tiger delegations in negotiations with various Sri Lankan governments, was quoted as saying by the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website.
Norway has often hosted peace talks between the Sri Lankan government and the rebels, and EU states Sweden, Finland and Denmark were said to have resisted the blacklist move out of solidarity with their Nordic neighbour. The Tamil Tigers already figure on Britains and Germanys terror blacklists, as well as those of the United States, Canada and India.
Britain banned the Tigers in February 2001 while the EU in October slapped travel restrictions on them after holding the LTTE responsible for the August 2005 assassination of Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. The EU warned at the time that the Tigers could face a complete ban, which would affect fund-raising among the many Tamils living in Europe, unless they renounce violence.
In Colombo on Tuesday, US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Donald Camp said: We have encouraged the EU to list the LTTE.
We think the LTTE is very deserving of that label. We think it will help cut off financial supplies and weapons procurement and the like, he said.
The EU blacklist was drawn up late in 2001, following the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington and is revised regularly. The Palestinian group Hamas and the former Basque separatist party Batasuna are on it.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/19/2006 10:13 ||
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#1
And the listing will last almost as long as EU's committment to withhold $$ from the Paleos...
All rev, no torque.
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran initially enriched uranium from China but is now using domestically processed uranium in its nuclear programme, an Iranian diplomat said on Friday after some doubts were cast on his country's recent enrichment claims.
Iran said last month it had enriched uranium to the level used in power stations for the first time, crediting its own scientists for the breakthrough. The U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed this from samples taken in Iran.
But diplomats in Vienna, where the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is based, said on Thursday that the processed uranium, uranium hexafluoride (UF6), that Iran purified was almost certainly Chinese UF6 and not Iranian.
"This is correct. Preliminary tests were made using UF6 bought from China but one week after that, we started to use the UF6 that we have produced in Isfahan and now the UF6 that is being used in Natanz facility for enrichment is our own product," the Iranian diplomat, who asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity, told Reuters.
Iran's uranium conversion facility which makes UF6 is in Isfahan, a city south of the capital, while enrichment takes place at the nearby site of Natanz.
Iran said in April that its Isfahan plant had stockpiled 110 tonnes of feedstock UF6 gas.
Vienna diplomats have said Iran has had difficulty producing good quality UF6. In September the material was of such poor quality that it would have damaged the centrifuges -- machines that enrich uranium -- had it been used, they said.
The sale to Iran of Chinese processed uranium would have come shortly before China joined the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1992, binding Beijing to strict export controls.
A diplomat from the European Union accredited to the IAEA said Iran had probably chosen to use the better Chinese UF6 to hasten the process so President Mahmoud Ahmadinejdad could announce to the world without delay Iran's enrichment success.
Enrichment is a process of purifying uranium for use in nuclear power plants or, when very highly enriched, in bombs.
The European Union and United States believe Iran is secretly developing atomic weapons under cover of a civilian nuclear energy programme. Iran says its programme is solely aimed at the peaceful generation of electricity.
The IAEA has found no hard proof of any project to make atomic bombs but says that, after more than three years of probing, it still cannot confirm that Iran's intentions are entirely peaceful.
IAEA inspectors routinely visit Iran to monitor nuclear facilities but, after Iran's case was sent to the U.N. Security Council, Tehran stopped allowing unannounced inspections of sites at short notice.
A team of IAEA inspectors will arrive in Iran on Friday for one of their routine visits, state television reported.
#1
Soon to be smoking on a Chinese rocket to a town near you.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/19/2006 10:50 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Oh My Goodness...........that's just breath-taking. I mean isn't it wonderful that those quaint little guys up in Qum making those divine rugs can now land a 1.2 MT Nuke in your back yard.
I am just completely befuddled by how the libs seem to be soooooooooo bound and determined to have my grandchildren wearing Buhrkas and headscarfs....not to mention Pharsee and Arabic.
#3
The Chinese aren't going to give the Iranians anything that could reach the United States, and it's doubtful they'll be given anything that can reach beyond the Middle East. They currently have the North Korean NoDong-2, which when it works, has a range of about 3000km. That won't reach any significant part of China, but would reach as far as Greece in Europe. I believe all the rest of their blathering is just that - talk. That's still not a reason to allow them to develop nuclear weapons.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
05/19/2006 15:04 Comments ||
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#4
They're only interested in hitting roughly 2000km west.
#5
should void the efects of any Chinese veto in ?UNSC? You gav the dog rabies, now you prohibit it's neutralization? F*CK OFF. BTW - Advanced weapons for Taiwan on the ASAP
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2006 20:48 Comments ||
Top||
#6
In any case, the new Iran-alleged uranium ore deposits are close enough to the Caspian Sea and Black Sea ports, espec the near-abroad Caspian side of Iran, for PDeniably "black mafias" to sneak in processed, semi-, or un-processed uranium or other nuclear materials. ALos, do not forget about Iran's mountain ranges near central Asia. Post-DESERT STORM, Saddam and IAEA-inspected Iraq was not supposed to have nuke-capable tactical rockets, uranium or plutonium caches, mustard or sarin gas arty shells, biologicals, ... etc. but he did. The MSM and Failed Left > IT DOESN'T MATTER IF IRAN HAS ONE NUKE OR 1000 NUKES, OR IRAN SEZZES IT HAS, THE BURDEN IS ON DUBYA, THE GOP, AND AMERICA, AND ONLY THE SAME, TO PROVE AND VERIFY EVERYTHING TO THE "KNOW NOTHING, SEE NOTHING, DID NOTHING", SGT SCHULTZ, RINO CINO BLAMELESS "ITS YOUR FAULT I HAVE TO LIE TO YOU AND AMERICA" LEFTIES = the WORLD.
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."
Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."
We heard that one, but the next part is new
The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims. Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.
That'll make the roundup so much easier
"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."
Yeah, don't hold your breath
Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."
Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year. It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.
Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.
The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures. "This is nothing to do with anything here," said a press secretary who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani. "We are not here to answer such questions."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure. "The world should not ignore this," said Rabbi Hier. "The world ignored Hitler for many years -- he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power -- and we were all wrong."
Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr. Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called "chilling," and his previous string of anti-Semitic statements. "There are some very frightening parallels here," he said. "It's time to start considering how we're going to deal with this person."
We've got some ideas on that, but you'd probably dismiss them as too extreme.
Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis' "Final Solution."
Looking for pointers?
He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, but Tehran believed by Western nations to be developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties. The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/19/2006 09:30 ||
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#1
to ahmadinajad: keep digging
To Iranian Jews and other non-muslims: Get out, now!
#2
These laws will not be followed and are unlikely to be enforced. The net effect of such a law is good for our side in that it further erodes respect for the regime and provides a visible daily example of disobedience (wearing normal clothes). I wish they'd make it effective immediately.
#5
Unlike the early to mid 1930s when the Nazis were willing to lets the German Jews emigrate, I'm not sure the mullahs would permit their minorities free emigration at this point.
Iran report of Holocaust-style badges questioned
2006-05-19 09:06:12
The National Post is sending shockwaves across the country this morning with a report that Irans Parliament has passed a law requiring mandatory Holocaust style badges to identify Jews and Christians.
But independent reporter Meir Javdanfar, an Israeli Middle East expert who was born and raised in Tehran, says the report is false.
Its absolutely factually incorrect, he told The New 940 Montreal. Nowhere in the law is there any talk of Jews and Christians having to wear different colours. Ive checked it with sources both inside Iran and outside. The Iranian people would never stand for it. The Iranian government wouldnt be stupid enough to do it.
Want to bet your life on that? Now, all the stories so far report the Canadian paper National Post as their source, so we'll see.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/19/2006 14:06 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Harper of Canada and Howard of Australia have spoken about it, denouncing it IF it is true. Apparently the Majlis is looking at legislation to establish a standard Islamic dress code (pretty bizarre on its own) and I suppose in that context the issue of dress for non-muslims has come up. As Harper says, even if this hasnt been passed, the notion of it being considered is pretty bad.
Some Israeli commentators suggested the story still needed to be fully verified, pointing to the fact that the source of the story was Iranian exiles strongly opposed to the regime ruling their country.
#12
Keep in mind that the current Majlis is made up of 156 hardliners, 39 reformists, 31 independents, and 5 designated minority seats, which means that the hardliners have a supra-majority for any whacked-out legislation they want to pass. This is different from the pre-2004 set-up in which the Majlis was dominated by the Islamic Participation Front but was rendered impotent from actually doing anything by the Council of Guardians.
I would also note the Abadgaran movement is one of the leading lights within the current Majlis and is Ahmadinejad's party. There's a lot of overlap between them and the Shi'ite supremacist Hojjatieh cult that Ayatollah Mohammed Taghi Mesbah Yazdi (the real power behind Ahmadinejad) runs, which believes that chaos and violence has to be created in order for the 12th Imam to emerge. This apocalypticism distinguishes them from Rafsanjani, Khamenei, and quite possibly Hassan Rohani, all of whom are basically classical tyrants without any eschatological ambitions.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/19/2006 15:03 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Dan,
I am impressed with your ability to follow the various groups, etc.
Another example of what you get when you have too much sex sects.
Human rights groups are raising alarms over a new law passed by the Iranian parliament that would require the country's Jews and Christians to wear coloured badges to identify them and other religious minorities as non-Muslims.
"This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis."
Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments."
The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims.
Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.
"There's no reason to believe they won't pass this," said Rabbi Hier. "It will certainly pass unless there's some sort of international outcry over this."
Bernie Farber, the chief executive of the Canadian Jewish Congress, said he was "stunned" by the measure. "We thought this had gone the way of the dodo bird, but clearly in Iran everything old and bad is new again," he said. "It's state-sponsored religious discrimination."
Ali Behroozian, an Iranian exile living in Toronto, said the law could come into force as early as next year.
It would make religious minorities immediately identifiable and allow Muslims to avoid contact with non-Muslims.
Mr. Behroozian said it will make life even more difficult for Iran's small pockets of Jewish, Christian and other religious minorities -- the country is overwhelmingly Shi'ite Muslim. "They have all been persecuted for a while, but these new dress rules are going to make things worse for them," he said.
The new law was drafted two years ago, but was stuck in the Iranian parliament until recently when it was revived at the behest of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
A spokesman for the Iranian Embassy in Ottawa refused to comment on the measures. "This is nothing to do with anything here," said a press secretary who identified himself as Mr. Gharmani.
"We are not here to answer such questions."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre has written to Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, protesting the Iranian law and calling on the international community to bring pressure on Iran to drop the measure.
"The world should not ignore this," said Rabbi Hier. "The world ignored Hitler for many years -- he was dismissed as a demagogue, they said he'd never come to power -- and we were all wrong."
Mr. Farber said Canada and other nations should take action to isolate Mr. Ahmadinejad in light of the new law, which he called "chilling," and his previous string of anti-Semitic statements.
"There are some very frightening parallels here," he said. "It's time to start considering how we're going to deal with this person."
Mr. Ahmadinejad has repeatedly described the Holocaust as a myth and earlier this year announced Iran would host a conference to re-examine the history of the Nazis' "Final Solution."
He has caused international outrage by publicly calling for Israel to be "wiped off the map."
Iran does not yet have nuclear weapons, but Tehran believed by Western nations to be developing its own nuclear military capability, in defiance of international protocols and peace treaties.
The United States, France and Israel accuse Iran of using a civilian nuclear program to secretly build a weapon. Iran denies this, saying its program is confined to generating electricity.
#1
The Nazi parallels are starting to pile up. Who will be the US equivalent of Neville Chamberlain caterwauling "Peace In our Time"? Harry Reid? Teddy? Just wondering.
#2
Well, I'm no specialist of the Dhimmi Status(tm), but from what I've read, this is straight from the scriptures and the Sunna(tm), which requier dhimmis to wear special clothes so they can be identified by the faithful; the christian medieval pratice of having jews sport distinctive clothes or yellow rubbon was copied from the muslims. Also, if I recall, there were other clothing limitations for dhimmis, such as the jews in northern Africa (what's now Algeria) not being allowed to wear shoes outside of their ghettoes.
The taliban did the same, for buddhists and hinduist, as there are only an handful of jews in Afghanistan, and IIRC, that one one of the few occasions the West took a stance, because it played on its buttons (WWII, nazis,...).
#6
It's going to be hard to deny it, but deny it they will. Count on it.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/19/2006 10:05 Comments ||
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#7
I'd propose Ahdinnerjacket wear a red laser dot
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/19/2006 10:39 Comments ||
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#8
When this jerk claims the holocaust did not happpen just might be meaning the holocaust of WWII is nothing to the holocaust he is planning for the Jews and the west. He is building his nuclear arsinal, has stated his intent to destroy us, and we sit wondering. His first strike is gonna hurt.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
05/19/2006 10:46 Comments ||
Top||
#9
I don't think laser tagging Ahmahandjob will be enough. He speaks for the ruling clique.
#12
Take out Qom with an industrial accident in their nuke industry... a flash accident.. They happen. Like that big dump in the late 50's in the USSR.
#13
I'm sure Russia and China could explain this for them in a satisfactory manner. They'll sell them the fabric to do it, that'll make it O.K. with them.
#14
We need to, very publically and very thoroughly blow Ahmadinejad's head off in front of a large assembly. This sh!thead must be taken to task for his vile blathering in a way that sends a direct message to all who would emulate him. That message would be, "Emulate him, and we'll blow you to straight to hell too!"
#16
prior to 1979 there were about 100,000 Jews in Iran. In the years following the revolution, about 75,000 left, mainly for Israel and the US (esp Los Angeles) There are still 25,000 Jews, largely older people who dont want to leave their homes and businesses. AFAIK they have largely been left in peace (unlike, say, the Bahais).
Yep! But not nearly as bad as our response. We have a Fleet Ballistic Missle force and they do not.
Once Iran sets off one of their firecrackers, if/when they get them, then we have carte blanche to set off a few of our own.
I envision that one day there will be robotic oil pumping stations and terminals in the ME, and not much else. Well...besides the radiation that is, and the pretty glowing things at night.
Beirut, 19 May (AKI) - A Lebanese soldier shot in a skirmish between Lebanese army troops and Palestinian militants near the Syrian border died on Friday. The soldier, Mustafa Mitlej, died at the Jab Janine hospital in the southern Bekaa Valley following the injuries he sustained on Wednesday, medical sources said. The fighting began on Wednesday morning when armed members of a Syrian-backed Palestinian group, Fatah-Intifada, opened fire on a Lebanese army patrol. Mitlej and two Palestinian fighters were injured in the ensuing gunfight.
Fatah-Intifada's top representative in Lebanon, Abu Fadi Hammad, said Friday said Mitlej's shooting was and "accident." "We are saddened by the death of the Lebanese soldier. It is not in our interest that such incidents occur," he told Adnkronos-International (AKI).
"Ya know how pissed off soldiers git when one of their buddies gets wacked"
The skirmish comes amid reports that Fatah-Intifada is bolstering its deployment of men and equipment along the Lebanese-Syrian border. Lebanese authorities have confirmed news reports of some 15 trucks carrying weapons and Fatah-Intifada militants crossing into Lebanon from Syria on Wednesday night.
Lebanese authorities have in turn increased the deployment of troops along the border, reports said.
Sniff, sniff. Say, do I smell popcorn cooking?
The Lebanon's main political groupings have recently agreed on a deadline of six months by which time all Palestinian armed groups outside Palestinian refugee camps must disband. The request is also backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution which calls for the disarming of all militias in Lebanon.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/19/2006 08:25 ||
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#2
ah, this clarifies our discussion of the other day. These arent mainstream Abbas-Fatahniks, but a group under Syrian control, being used by Syria to guard the border (on the Leb side)in place of Syrian troops. Lebs are playing tough, good for them.
A controversial trailer for Oliver Stone's World Trade Center will unspool for the first time preceding screenings of The Da Vinci code this weekend. Producers reportedly sent theater owners a warning that some members of their audiences might find the images upsetting. Co-producer Stacey Sher told CBS News, "They wanted the theatre owners to know that people might inquire at the box office whether or not the trailer would be shown and then it would be their decision whether they wanted to see it or not." Michael Shamberg, another producer of the film, said, "I think it's an intense recreation of what happened that day and that might be disturbing for people."
The trailer has also been posted on the Internet at http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/wtc.
That link doesn't work, go here. You'll need QuickTime. Trailer looks outstanding to me, maybe, just maybe Oliver Stone didn't screw this one up.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/19/2006 12:40 ||
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[5 views]
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#1
Looks interesting. If Ollie wants to become a viable director again, he played it as a straight story and left his politics out of it.
"I think it's an intense recreation of what happened that day and that might be disturbing for people."
Look. It couldn't be worse then what we all saw that day. And why does Hollywood seem to think the public is all a bunch of pussies?
#2
Wonder if we'll hear "too soon!" on this one or if he'll get a pass because he's a lib and probably filled the movie with Bush hate.
I don't trust Oliver Stone to be honest and just because he didn't show the controlled demolitions in the trailer doesn't mean he didn't put them in to his movie.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
One of the most important Taleban leaders, Mullah Dadullah, has been captured in Afghanistan, Afghan officials have told the BBC. The senior military commander was said to have been detained by international troops in southern Kandahar province.
One of the Taleban's leading commanders, Mullah Dadullah, has been captured by international troops in Afghanistan, the BBC has been told. He is said to have been detained in the southern province of Kandahar. The BBC's Alastair Leithead in Kabul says Mullah Dadullah has a reputation as a brutal military commander. Last year a court in Pakistan sentenced Mullah Dadullah to life in prison for trying to kill a member of the Pakistani parliament. Three years ago, Mullah Dadullah told the BBC the Taleban, deposed in 2001, hoped to regain power in Afghanistan. 
Islamic militants, some armed with machine guns, battled Afghan, U.S. and Canadian forces and exploded two suicide car bombs Thursday in some of the deadliest violence in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban.
The fighting concentrated in the southern provinces of Helmand and Kandahar raised new concerns for the future of Afghanistan's fragile democracy. The Taliban have stepped up attacks in recent months, with roadside bombs and suicide assaults. But this week's fighting marked an escalation in a region where the U.S.-led coalition is to cede control of security operations to NATO by July.
The violence started Wednesday in the small remote town of Musa Qala in Helmand, when an estimated 300 to 400 militants with assault rifles and machine guns attacked a police and government headquarters.
Ignoring a peace pact, armed militiamen attacked several villages this week in Sudan's Darfur region, killing at least 11 people and wounding many others, the United Nations said Wednesday.
Leader of Sudan's Popular National Congress, Dr. 
Yemeni police seized 1.5 tons of gunpowder and TNT explosives during a raid in a rural area in central Dhamar province yesterday, security officials said. They said police in the Wasab Al-Aali District, about 100 kilometers south of the capital Sanaa, were tipped off that explosives weighing some 1,560 kilograms were to be stashed in a building in the district. Police raided the building and seized the explosives, Brig. Abdu Darjan Al-Qasimi, the district's top police officer, told reporters. He said the building owner was arrested, but other suspects managed to escape.
A young police detective testified yesterday at the Herald Square bombing plot trial that he was recruited from the Police Academy 13 months after 9/11 to work deep undercover in the Muslim community to investigate Islamic extremists.
WANA: Unidentified men on Thursday kidnapped the brother of a pro-government militant commander at Zeri Noor area of Wana in South Waziristan Agency. No one has claimed the responsibility for abducting Asadullah Wazir, brother of Commander Rafiuddin Wazir. 
Delhi police have slapped charges of funding and supplying weapons to militants on a Dubai-based Kashmiri businessman close to Hurriyat Chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq. The charges were filed in a court on the same day moderate Mirwaiz was pleading his friends release in order to make the talks with the Indian prime minister successful.
HYDERABAD: Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, who has been convicted of kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal's reporter Daniel Pearl, was shifted to Karachi from Central Jail Hyderabad under tight security on Thursday afternoon, police sources told Daily Times. Omer was later taken to Islamabad from Karachi, said sources, adding he had been shifted to Islamabad for interrogation of an old case.
LAHORE: Security agencies have arrested an Iraqi national from the Sabzazar area of the city, Radio Tehran reported on Thursday. They have sized a fake Pakistani passport and a national identity card from Abdullah Ebrahim Ahmad, who had reportedly been living in various areas of Punjab province for the past six years. He had also married a local woman. Sabzazar police were ignorant of the arrest.
PESHAWAR: Two homemade bombs exploded minutes apart at the entrance of a mosque in the tribal region of Bajaur late on Wednesday, wounding three Khasadar force personnel, officials said.
QUETTA: An anti-terrorism court (ATC) handed down a prison sentence of 20 years each to Baloch nationalist leader Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri and his two sons for having failed to appear in the court on charges of being in possession of illegal weapons. 
At least one person was killed and 18 others were injured Thursday when guerrillas lobbed a grenade at the security personnel in the main market of a town in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir, police said. The powerful explosion at a market in Pulwama town, 45 km from Srinagar, summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, occurred when militants threw a hand grenade at a vehicle of the Indian Central Reserve Police Force, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the blast, according to the news agency. 
The government of Iraq's Kurdistani accused Thursday Turkish troops of firing missiles towards an Iraqi Kurdish town near the Turkish border. The government said in a statement that the missiles landed this afternoon on the town of Kafar Shour near the city of Kanni Masi, adding that three shells landed in the same area but no casualties have been reported yet. Turkish troops are present on the Iraqi, Iranian, Turkish triangle borders aiming to track down members of the Kurdistani Labor Party. In addition Iranian troops recently also bombed the same area.
Iraqi police raided a popular Baghdad market Thursday and seized large amounts of military gear up for sale. An interior ministry statement issued today said, members of the Iraqi police's Freedom Brigade raided Harj market in Al-Bab Al-Sharqi which is known to sell all types of military gear. Terrorists are easily executing their plans disguised as military men, the statement said. The police seized a number of bullet-proof vests, army fatigues, helmets, cots, two-way radios, forfeited documents, and official stamps.
Unknown gunmen killed a member of Iraqi president Jalal Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) in central Kirkuk Thursday, a party member said. The source, speaking to KUNA, said a group of "armed terrorists" opened fire at Najm Abdullah Omar, a member in PUK in Kirkuk, and killed him on the spot.
Iraqis armed with bombs destroyed a Sunni Arab shrine near the volatile city of Baqouba on Thursday in an apparent reprisal attack less than a week after similar bombings heavily damaged six Shiite shrines in the area. The attack, like the previous ones, was carried out early in the morning, resulting in no casualties, but desecration of the holy sites occurred in a mixed Sunni Arab-Shiite region of the country where sectarian tensions are running high. In Thursday's strike, hidden bombs exploded inside the small Sharhabil bin Hassan shrine in Kanan, a town about 13 miles northeast of Baqouba, police said on condition of anonymity out of concern for their own security. The building was destroyed.
Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades opened fire in the air near the PNA headquarters in Tulkarem, where the Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister Dr. Nasser Al-Shaer was present. Palestinian security sources said that several armed men, along with families of POWs demanded the government to pay out the stipend of the children of the POWs. A Hamas group negotiated with the brigades to allow Al-Shaer to leave the headquarters but when he left dozens of armed men blocked his patrol and opened fire in the air. The Palestinian official vowed to pay out the stipend of the POWs and the freed prisoners within one week, stressing the importance of the national unity.
An Israeli military spokesman told Israeli radio on Thursday that six Palestinian missiles were launched where one exploded near a strategic facility. The source added the other five exploded near a military base south of Israel where splinters reached a soldiers compound with no casualties recorded.
