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Brits Charge 3 More in Jetliner Terror Plot
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Video report: Deadly Hit-And-Run Rampage
At end of video: "One witness told us the suspect referred to himself as a terrorist."
Posted by: ed || 08/30/2006 08:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Good, file his teeth off.
Posted by: wxjames || 08/30/2006 9:10 Comments || Top||

#2  The BBC will use search-and-replace journalism to produce "One witness told us the suspect referred to himself as a militant."
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/30/2006 10:36 Comments || Top||

#3  San Francisco car rampage ends at
Jewish Community Center



Omeed Aziz Popal


The SUV struck two people in front of the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on California Street, a few blocks from where the rampage ended. [ also very close also Temple Emanu-El and Di-Fi house who's property abuts the Temple]

Blood covered the sidewalk in front of the center's gift store entrance, and 50 feet farther down the sidewalk lay a mangled bicycle.

Security cameras in front of the center captured images of the incident, which happened at 1:12 p.m., according to Aaron Rosenthal, spokesman for the community center.

ht/ The Anchoress: This is becoming an appalling habit in the press and by politicians. An Islamic fundamentalist shoots Jews in a Synagogue, and it’s some sort of random incident. An Islamic fundamentalist uses his car to kill people in front of a Synagogue, and in what would appear to be a somewhat “Jewish neighborhood” and the press takes a while to cover the story (probably looking for the appropriate “frame,”) until someone in authority can be found to sing out, “ROAD RAGE”! Yeah, that’s the ticket! Road rage! Mayor Newsom sees no problem, here…a “relatively young” person, obviously confused! Yes, that’s the ticket!
Omeed Aziz Popal, the poor confused youngster, is 29 years old.
~~~
He's a Muslim terrorist.

..anyone want to wager that he said Allah Akbar while 'coincidentally' running running over infidels and apostates?

Muslim Day Planner, note to self...

Don't forget that when you go...GO JIHAD.
Posted by: RD || 08/30/2006 11:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Maybe. Or maybe he is mentally ill. Remains to be determined.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 12:07 Comments || Top||

#5  beleiving anything in that terrorist manual called the Koran is a form of mentally illness.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/30/2006 12:13 Comments || Top||

#6  Not an act of terrorism. Just an isolated individual. Move along folks.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 12:58 Comments || Top||

#7  Was his dog driving? .....sorry
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/30/2006 13:12 Comments || Top||

#8  Was his dog driving?

dogs are way haram Besoeker.

~~

lotp: Maybe. Or maybe he is mentally ill. Remains to be determined.

lotp, fitnah X haraam = PC Scaramm

»:-)
Posted by: RD || 08/30/2006 13:47 Comments || Top||

#9  gromgoru, I'm not saying move along. I'm just saying the evidence is suggestive that this one really might have been the result of obvious mental illness.

I'll go back to lgf and allahpundit saying that some allegations of photoshopping don't hold up to scrutiny. Doesn't mean that the MSM isn't complicit up to its ears in faked pics, nor that we should close our eyes to it. But if it ain't faked it ain't faked.

And if the info we have suggests this guy might have hit over a dozen people and killed at least one because he's psychotic rather than a jihadi, we should be willing to acknowledge that.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 14:08 Comments || Top||

#10  The frustration on the other side is that it would be nice if the MSM and the government would acknowledge that the wacko was motivated by jihadi impulses if that is the case. But unless an airliner is involved these things are hushed up as quickly as possible by all ionvolved. Credibility is now so shredded the default setting is now cover-up.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 14:17 Comments || Top||

#11  Understood. And I am as frustrated as anyone about the MSM conspiracy of PC silence, not to mention the govt's complicity in it.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 14:19 Comments || Top||

#12  And just how are they gonna cover-up our first blast from a suicide bomb vest that gets activated, at say, a football game?

Just some student upset because his team didn't win? Seems to me, a suicide bomb vest fits the terrorist description, but what do I know? I only watch and read the news.
Posted by: Sherry || 08/30/2006 14:23 Comments || Top||

#13  I agree with LOTP on this one. The fact that he ended up hitting someone in front of the JCC doesn't really say much if you know the neighborhood and the way the streets go. I used to work out there and lived around the corner.

At this point I don't see that this was a pre-planned anti-Jew act of terror. It is much more random than the guy in Seattle. That was clearly terror. But this guy hit someone in Fremont first then drove over to the city. Maybe he hit the person in Fremont by accident, totally freaked out and then went nuts. I just think this one has some ambiguity based on what I know now.
Posted by: remoteman || 08/30/2006 14:27 Comments || Top||

#14  beleiving anything in that terrorist manual called the Koran is a form of mentally illness.

lotp, while I totally understand your concern regarding this suspect's mental health and whatever umbrage you take at the word "psychosis" being bandied about, I'm, hoping you might agree that Islam does inculcate a definite symptomology that strongly resembles mental illness.

Disregarding terrorism, for the moment (difficult, I know), let's just focus solely on the institutionalized abuse of women in Arab culture. This sort of almost pathological misogeny signifies a fundamental warping of character and morality that would recommend itself for clinical therapy or confinement in most Western societies. Much of the everyday treatment Arab women receive would qualify their mates for legal charges of spousal abuse or, at least, court-ordered counseling.

Further examination of just how stagnant overall Arab societies have remained for almost a solid millennia only provides further proof of how paralysing Islamic doctrine is to an individual's personal, emotional and spiritual growth. The added dimension of terrorism with its death obsession and callous disregard for innocent human life is damning confirmation of the above indicators' veracity.

Bereft of any congenital excuse or alibi, Islam rapidly assumes the nature of a pathological meme. The overall impact of its interaction with progressive society resembles nothing more than a millstone around our collective neck. Brief examination of the massive security expenditures, necessary military interventions, avoidable epidemics, constant abuse of human rights and famines that result from the ideological excercise of Islam all prove it to be little more than a parasite on enlightened cultures.

From all appearances, once a person is infected with this virulent meme, the only affordable cure is killing them before they murder people or contribute thereto, be it overtly or covertly.

Credibility is now so shredded the default setting is now cover-up.

Or collusion, NS
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 15:14 Comments || Top||

#15  Zen, can't take time right now to respond to that. Will do so this evening, though because you raise a couple important points IMO.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 15:16 Comments || Top||

#16  Thank you, lotp. I'm a patient man and am very interested in your response.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 15:45 Comments || Top||

#17 
Posted by: Texas Redneck || 08/30/2006 17:52 Comments || Top||

#18  No matter what race or religion, he's a terrorist, even if he wasn't a Muslim, but he is..hmmm.
Posted by: Jesing Ebbease3087 || 08/30/2006 19:40 Comments || Top||

#19  Zen, I'm not ignoring your comment -- I'm up to my ears in meeting a drop-dead deadline. for work I'll get back if I can later ...
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 19:44 Comments || Top||

#20  lotp, I trust your sincerity. Please don't stress.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 19:47 Comments || Top||

#21  We will soon learn that the FBI had this fellow under surveillance for the past five years, knew he was a pizza delivery man who owned his own BMW SUV, was enrolled in a private Evasive, Offensive and Defensive Combat Driving and shooting courses......and that the SAC dutifully reported it to Bureau, but Washington dismissed it as "possible profiling" and never connected the dots.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/30/2006 19:58 Comments || Top||

#22  We will soon learn that the FBI had this fellow under surveillance for the past five years, knew he was a pizza delivery man who owned his own BMW SUV, was enrolled in a private Evasive, Offensive and Defensive Combat Driving and shooting courses....

Taught by the Deliverator, I suppose?

(Seriously, if this guy was tied into a network, or more than just mentally unhinged, wouldn't the body count have been much higher? I mean, we all read every day about how Al Qaeda has put the plans for building your own Thermobaric device out of material available at your local welder's supply store on the internet...)
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 22:16 Comments || Top||

#23  AS, I'm a little disconcerted at the efforts you and lotp have put in to deny it could be a malicious act. I'll await the facts, but the evidence (other than self-serving comments from th efamily) shows a willful act against western and Joooooish interests. We are all aware of the power of mental illnesses. We are also aware of the use of that defense to minimize culpability. Cool out, everyone?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/30/2006 22:37 Comments || Top||

#24  We are all aware of the power of mental illnesses.

I'll also ask people not to forget how that, even if this man suffers from mental illness, being exposed to the intensely hateful messages of Islam could easily have exacerbated his condition to where murder became an option.

Only rarely are the voices heard by schizophrenics benign in nature. More often they are admonitory, abusive or otherwise compelling, even being perceived as divine in origin. After being inundated with Islam's typical drivel it is more than easy to imagine how whatever voices he heard began exhorting this individual to kill Jews and infidels.

I maintain that even in the presence of mental illness, Islam is still not off of the hook.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 23:06 Comments || Top||


Arranged nuptials may have stressed suspect, relatives say
Relatives of a Fremont man connected to Tuesday's deadly driving rampage said he may have been distraught after returning recently from Afghanistan without his newlywed wife, who is waiting for a visa.
Lack of nookie = kill infidels.
Omeed Aziz Popal, 29, who sources said was being held by San Francisco police, was normally kind and gentle, said Hamid Nekrawesh, 43, a first cousin in Fremont.
Cept when not gettin' any.
But a recent trip to Afghanistan to participate in an arranged marriage could have caused him a lot of stress, Nekrawesh said. ``He was a very respectful, quiet, nice guy,'' Nekrawesh said. ``I've never seen him do anything violent.''
If you don't count running over infidels with an SUV.
Friends and relatives said Popal had been hearing voices since returning a month ago from Afghanistan. ``He thought the devil was coming for him,'' said Zarghona Ramish of San Jose, who also identified herself as Popal's cousin.
Watched "Devil in Ms. Jones" one too many times.
Rest at link.

Posted by: ed || 08/30/2006 08:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One report had the Muz saying, "I am a terrorist."

Yet another example of Sudden-Jihad-Syndrome. Coming to your neighborhood soon, Allah willing.
Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 || 08/30/2006 8:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Or an example of schizophrenia, and a psychotic break. Late 20s is the classic age for onset of that illness.

Friends and relatives said Popal had been hearing voices

Maybe they're blowing smoke, but quite possibly they're not.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 9:05 Comments || Top||

#3  THose arranged marriages sure can be stressful . . .

'...Now, listen, lad. In twenty minutes you're gettin' married to a girl whose father owns the biggest *tracts* of open land in Britain."

"But I don't want land!"

"Listen, Alex..."

"'Erbert..."

"'Erbert. We live in a bloody swamp! We need all the land we can get!!"

"But... but I don't *like* 'er!"

"Don't like 'er?!? What's wrong with 'er? She's...beautiful, she's...*rich*, she's got... HUGE.............tracts o' land..."

"Ah...ah know. But I want the girl that I marry to have...a certain...*special*...something..."

"Cut that out!! Cut that out.... You're marryin' Princess Lucky, so you'd better get used to the idea!"

Posted by: Mike || 08/30/2006 9:13 Comments || Top||

#4  From the link at Michelle Malkin's site:

A woman who identified herself as his cousin said he was having recurring nightmares about someone coming to kill him and had been taking medication.

Right now I'm laying odds this is not an intentional 'jihad' so much as a psychotic break in the context of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. I'm not wedded to this theory -- new info could change that.

But just as Charles Johnson and Allahpundit speak up when photos are falsely claimed to be photoshopped, so too I think it's important not to always assume that violence by a Muslim is meant to be jihad.

If this guy was on psychoactive drugs, went to Afghanistan, was even more freaked by the whole bit there and kept hearing the word 'jihad' he might well have used it yesterday. But if he wasn't coherent, that's just a sound -- doesn't automatically mean he is an Islamacist who wanted to kill Americans or Jews.

Just worth keeping in mind. We have enough of the real kind around, it just muddies things if we see jihad when it isn't there.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 9:33 Comments || Top||

#5  OK, the next obvious stupid question is...

What medicines did they have him on?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 9:41 Comments || Top||

#6  That's a Murky News article.

The Comical adds:

But those involved in the investigation -- speaking on condition of anonymity -- discount any mental illness, saying the 29-year-old Afghanistan native seemed coherent, unrepentant and claimed that he repeatedly drove at pedestrians because he "just wanted to.''

About two months ago, Popal falsely confessed to killing someone in San Francisco, Samara said. He said Popal was interviewed by investigators in Fremont and his statement turned out to be a "John Karr confession,''

A month ago, the one-time autoworker returned home after getting married in his native Afghanistan, his family said. There was a wedding celebration two weeks ago, and Popal seemed to have everything to live for, some family members said. The family said Popal's father had arranged the marriage.

Popal was usually friendly but wasn't talkative lately, Silva said. "It seemed like since he got married he quieted down," he said.


Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 9:53 Comments || Top||

#7  Maybe it's "Sudden Jihad Syndrome", maybe it's not; probably not, from what I've read. Maybe the guy's just schizophrenic, maybe he's not. Kinda sounds like it.

But whatever, I think it's probably a pretty damn safe bet that Islam provided a major component of the "flavor" of this guy's deeds (Shamed? Dishonored? Then go out and kill a bunch of kufr for Allah!) as well as most of the propulsive force.

Islam: making crazy people crazier for 1,400 years...

Posted by: Dave D. || 08/30/2006 9:55 Comments || Top||

#8  Gamil Gharbi, an Algerian immigrant to Canada, slaughtered 14 women who were insufficiently deferential to his Arab maleness. (Political correctitude prevented media reference to his Muslim background.) In fact, the murderer was referred to only by his Kafir name, Marc Lepine.

http://www.vdare.com/fulford/051208_fulford_file.htm
Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 || 08/30/2006 10:07 Comments || Top||

#9  If he didn't care for the old arrangment, he's unlikely to enjoy the new one he has in San Francisco prison. Or maybe...
Posted by: Ebbeng Elmetch7992 || 08/30/2006 10:10 Comments || Top||

#10  For men, the age of onset for schizophrenia is often ages 16 to 20. He's 29.
Posted by: Darrell || 08/30/2006 10:10 Comments || Top||

#11  Whereas when wosshername in Houston killed _her_ kids after her psychotic break, she added a Christian context to her actions.

I'm not saying it's what happened... but imagine that this guy was carrying the genetic factors for schizophrenia (hell, let's just start out by saying there are genetic factors for schizophrenia, although I don't think they've been found).

His family doctor picks up that _something_ is wrong, prescribes him antidepressants which either make it worse, or mask the problem as it gets worse naturally, or both. His family decides it's because he's lonely so they arrange a marriage for him, in the idea that a little (well, you know) might help his mental state.

And when it turns out that neither of those are particularly helpful to what he actually had... this is what you get.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 10:11 Comments || Top||

#12  I offer that as a hypothetical. I don't know if that's what happened. Usually in cases like this they avoid mentioning stuff like what specific drugs they were on, or how that might actually aggravate pre-existing conditions if the shrinkologists have guessed wrong.

(The big classical example in that sort of case is giving antidepressants to someone with bipolar or "schizoaffective" disorder.)

Gotta run.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 10:13 Comments || Top||

#13  Just like in North Carolina. All the doctor's fault.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 10:14 Comments || Top||

#14  Is he "bipolar" yet?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/30/2006 10:19 Comments || Top||

#15  How many total points did this guy score ?
Posted by: wxjames || 08/30/2006 11:22 Comments || Top||

#16  Standard scoring or Massachusetts rules?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 11:26 Comments || Top||

#17  Does anyone give a shit what set the moonbat off ? He very purposely tried to kill a number of people. Give him a nice trial and execute this scum.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 08/30/2006 11:36 Comments || Top||

#18  I do, primarily because if we're connecting dots about the prevalence of jihadism - or its likely emergence in lone muslims - then I'd like us to be connecting dots that are valid.

And secondarily, if this guy really is schizophrenic, schizoaffective or bipolar suffering a psychotic break, then he should be treated differently than a sane man who chose to be murderous.

And no, the fact that the guy may (or may not) have claimed to be a terrorist doesn't prove anything, by itself. The Chapel Hill guy was lucid over time and gave extended interviews in which he advanced the usual Islamacist ideology. This guy hasn't, at least not to this point.

#12 AS is right - a potential schizoaffective or schizophrenic given antidepressants will often emerge into a psychotic break within a few weeks or months.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 11:48 Comments || Top||

#19  "Hearing voices" is also one of the side effects of methamphetimine addiction. Know that from the experiences of my 30-year-old son who got hooked. They put him on massive doses of anti-depressants and other psychoactive drugs. I also believe that heroin addicts "hear voices". He might have gone to Afghanistan, got together with his relatives, and had a quiet "pipeful" or two... It doesn't really matter - the guy is a threat to himself and obviously to others, and needs to be locked up for a long, long time. Whether he needs treatment or not is irrelevant.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/30/2006 12:06 Comments || Top||

#20  Agreed with the lockup. Disagree it's irrelevant. Too many people are assuming he was on jihad and killing Jews in particular.

Maybe he was. And certainly the MSM wouldn't report it if it were true. But let's wait for real evidence on that before we just assume it's true because he's Muslim.

After all, yesterday he was reported to have said he wanted to kill his family next -- a family that was sufficiently traditional to send him to Afghanistan for an arranged marriage to an Afghan woman.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 12:09 Comments || Top||

#21  This is San Fran so my prediction is….Lawyer up (Public Defender), psych evaluation, plea bargain based on mental deficiency with a touch of “cultural time-bomb syndrome”, time served plus probation and ongoing mental health treatment at taxpayer expense. *sigh*
Posted by: DepotGuy || 08/30/2006 12:09 Comments || Top||

#22  Good point, OP.

Would it be too shocking for the "libertarians" and/or the people who think psychotic breaks don't happen and/or the just plain oversensitive for me to point out that heroin, methamphetamines, or cocaine use can also cause the sort of psychotic breaks I mentioned earlier in the thread?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 12:10 Comments || Top||

#23  Abdominal Snowman,

As psychosis vulnerability is inherited, are you also planning to ban those carrying the genes, they are a much higher risk than former drug users.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/30/2006 12:17 Comments || Top||

#24  No, I wasn't. I suppose you think I'm a fucking hypocrite for saying that.

Last time I checked, though, undiagnosed (or even diagnosed) people with affective disorders attempting to self-medicate accounted for a significantly high fraction of illicit drug users.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 12:20 Comments || Top||

#25  Does it leave somebody with the ability to drive from target practice in Fremont to a Jewish neighborhood in the middle of San Francisco and then suddenly lose it and start plinking pedestrians with an SUV?

What will we call it the next time this kind of mass murder with a Muslim moving vehicle occurs?

Or are most of the Jihadis mentally normal? To my mind, anybody who is a Jihadi is a couple of beers short of a six pack. The specific diagnosis doesn't matter.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 12:24 Comments || Top||

#26  If he is truely unstable, hospitalize his ass, otherwise shoot his ass.

Simple.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/30/2006 12:29 Comments || Top||

#27  I'd say the unstable version needs a killin' too. But that's just me.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 08/30/2006 12:35 Comments || Top||

#28  Does it leave somebody with the ability to drive from target practice in Fremont to a Jewish neighborhood in the middle of San Francisco and then suddenly lose it and start plinking pedestrians with an SUV?

Short answer - yes.

AS is right that people self-medicating for affective disorders represent a significant proportion of those who abuse illegal drugs.

OP is right that other drugs can cause psychosis-like symptoms. Conversely, Ecstasy is known to trigger schizophrenia, affective disorders and sometimes psychotic breaks in some who are genetically susceptible to those problems. There are some complex inter-relationships between genetics, behaviors like drug use and visible symptoms of these disorders.

I agree with Darth V. on the response to this guy.

I disagree that jihadis are necessarily a beer short of a sixpack. Terror tactics are rationally efficient when those targeted react the way the West has done for a good while. Suicide bombers are more problematic, as there is evidence that the terror networks prey on the unstable for that role. But not always.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 13:07 Comments || Top||

#29  Ahhhh, the rational and the emotional. Both valid viewpoints. Opinons are like navels - everybody has one.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 13:18 Comments || Top||

#30  I am now convinced Thomas Szasz is right.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 13:23 Comments || Top||

#31  Ahhhh, the rational and the emotional. Both valid viewpoints. Opinons are like navels - everybody has one.

I knew I could count on Rantburg for my daily dose of relativism.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 13:38 Comments || Top||

#32  I am now convinced Thomas Szasz is right.

I'm a little unclear on Szasz's history. Is he ever going to share his magical schizophrenia cure with the rest of the world, or does he just stick to therapy sessions with people with Woody Allen syndrone?
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 13:46 Comments || Top||

#33  OK, let me bring up another case. Andrea Yates.

Near the time of her psychotic break and subsequent murder spree she was seeing a doctor who prescribed her Haldol.

When he did so, her symptoms went away. He then figured she was cured and then discontinued the course of treatment.

Then when the inetivable eventually happened we got bombarded for the next couple years with news reports about how horrible it was that her husband was an evangelical christian.
Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 13:51 Comments || Top||

#34  I knew I could count on Rantburg for my daily dose of relativism.

Opinions are relative, facts are not.

Sometimes we disagree on what is a fact.

Relativism, in the pejorative sense, is the notion that my opinions or theories are equivalent to your facts.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 13:56 Comments || Top||

#35  You guys are off track. We're not supposed to be talking about the Muslim (terrorist) who mowed down people in SF or the Muzzy who shot up the Joos in Seattle. The press has decided it's all about Karr now. Get with it!
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 08/30/2006 14:01 Comments || Top||

#36  intrinsicpilot, I couldn't agree with you more about the MSM's agenda and priorities.

Nor about the guy in Seattle.

But this guy, I'm not sure he's a terrorist. He might be. But I know enough about some mental illnesses to look at the info that's out there so far and have some serious doubts.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 14:04 Comments || Top||

#37  Maybe he's not a terrorist but I can't stand to see the length at which the MSM will go to cover up the fact he's a Muzzy. If it's determined that he's not mentally ill then the press will call himm something else. Never terrorist. Maybe an Afghan freedom fighter? Perhaps a displaced separatist? Or the good old standby, a "rebel".
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 08/30/2006 14:11 Comments || Top||

#38  yeah -- and it infuriates me too! We *do* have to break though the MSM conspiracy of PC silence.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 14:17 Comments || Top||

#39  Given the city, is the Twinkie Defense a possibility?
Posted by: Mizzou Mafia || 08/30/2006 14:18 Comments || Top||

#40  If he's a fireman.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 14:20 Comments || Top||

#41  I'm with lotp on this one: first, figure out if he has a significant psychiatric problem. Without all the facts I can't even begin to hazard a guess, but a competent forensic psychiatrist combined with a good medical psychiatrist can get the job done.

If he has a psychiatric problem, you then have to figure out if he meets the legal definition of insane. Again, I don't know near all the facts.

If he has a psychiatric problem, he gets treated. If he's insane, he gets hospitalized for a long time. If he's sane, he gets tried in a court.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/30/2006 14:37 Comments || Top||

#42  This guys gonna walk. It will be a conspiracy something like this:

SF public defender gets money and help from local CAIR rep and shops the case to his favorite penis-pump judge for a quick dismissal.
Posted by: Intrinsicpilot || 08/30/2006 14:52 Comments || Top||

#43  I disagree that jihadis are necessarily a beer short of a sixpack.

lotp, please see my post in the other "SF Hit & Run" thread concerning Islam and how it resembles mental illness.

Terror tactics are rationally efficient when those targeted react the way the West has done for a good while.

And here I think you are totally off base. Have you read Wretchard's "The Three Conjectures"? If so, you might want to reconsider your stance. The West's patience with Islam is running out. Any "rational" terrorist (if such a thing even exists), must certainly be able to project the eventual outcome of repeated and escalating atrocities. However debatable Hitler's mental health may be, he most certainly knew that his only chance of imposing Nazism upon this world was by force and that he faced certain annihilation if he proved unable to do so.

So it is with Islamic fascism. Without genuine and authentic religious reformation Islamist terrorism, too, will continue to escalate until the only recourse is annihilation of all Muslims. Islamic leaders clearly understand this and the proof of it is their feverish scramble to acquire nuclear weapons as a shield and tool for their vile undertakings.

Please do not proclaim such profound shortsightedness to be "rationally efficient" when, in fact, it is a near-guarantee of extermination.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 15:42 Comments || Top||

#44  Wretchard assumes the West ultimately will defend itself. Up until now, that assumption might be questioned based on how Europe and to some degree we have responded to their aggression.
Posted by: lotp || 08/30/2006 15:51 Comments || Top||

#45  This guys gonna walk. It will be a conspiracy something like this:

SF public defender gets money and help from local CAIR rep and shops the case to his favorite penis-pump judge for a quick dismissal.


And we're all part of the conspiracy by talking about the possibility that this guy had a psychotic break, right?

Posted by: Abdominal Snowman || 08/30/2006 15:52 Comments || Top||

#46  Wretchard assumes the West ultimately will defend itself.

Take that to the bank.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 15:59 Comments || Top||

#47  Let me see if I got this straight:
Lack of sex causes man to hear voices, causes man to go crazy and run over people with an SUV.

If that were true, there would be several incidents like this every day.

This incident proves sex is a misdemeanor. The more you miss the meaner you get.

Al
Posted by: frozen al || 08/30/2006 16:17 Comments || Top||

#48  Al, if that were true I'd be the meanest SOB in the world.
Posted by: Shineling Hupemble1026 || 08/30/2006 16:48 Comments || Top||

#49  #48 was me. The Cookie Monster got me again.
Posted by: Deacon Blues || 08/30/2006 16:49 Comments || Top||

#50  Mizzou nailed it. The rest of you guys are just hyperventilating. The jihadi punk probably ate a whole damn box of those things just before he got behind the wheel. We should all be glad it wasn't HO HOs!
Posted by: mac || 08/30/2006 17:46 Comments || Top||

#51  Maybe he was. And certainly the MSM wouldn't report it if it were true. But let's wait for real evidence on that before we just assume it's true because he's Muslim.

Nah. Assume it's true because he's a Muslim who just got back from Pakistan.
Posted by: Rob Crawford || 08/30/2006 18:14 Comments || Top||

#52  Assume it's true because he's a Muslim who just got back from Pakistan.

It was Afghanistan, RC. Still no reason why he couldn't have gotten an infection earful of jihadist bullsh!t.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 18:17 Comments || Top||

#53  So was this asshat doing this as a jihad? I'm seeing different reations here.
Posted by: Thoth || 08/30/2006 21:09 Comments || Top||

#54  OMG!!! He got homicidal bloo balls over that!!~???!!
Posted by: Thoth || 08/30/2006 21:10 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Saudi Arabia Releases 9 Guantanamo Returnees
Saudi Arabia has released 9 former inmates of Guantanamo Bay where they were being held on suspicion of belonging to al Qaeda, an official said on Tuesday. The United States this year sent 29 Saudis back home after negotiating a framework agreement with Saudi Arabia for the return of its citizens. Saudi officials had said they were reviewing whether they should face charges in their homeland. "Nine of them have been released. They were investigated and we didn't find any wrongdoing in relation to local laws," said Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki.
“'There is no evidence (against them),' he said, adding that there is no agreement with Washington obliging Saudi Arabia to keep them incarcerated...”
"There is no evidence (against them)," he said, adding that there is no agreement with Washington obliging Saudi Arabia to keep them incarcerated. He gave no more details.

About 95 of the 450 men still held at Guantanamo are Saudi citizens and the government has said it hopes to bring all of them back within a year. Many of the men held at the prison in Cuba were captured in Afghanistan in the U.S.-led war to oust the Taliban after al Qaeda carried out the September 11, 2001, attacks against U.S. cities. Two Saudis are among 10 Guantanamo prisoners who have been charged with war crimes in a tribunal system which the U.S. Supreme Court struck down in June.

Public anger over the treatment of the Saudi detainees has been high. Two Saudis were among the three prisoners who hanged themselves in June at the controversial prison, which lies outside the jurisdiction of international law. Many Saudis suspect they died from maltreatment. The authorities have organized a wedding for one of the returnees and have supported the education of their children.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What a f**king surprise this is. Just fell off my damn chair.
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 08/30/2006 0:36 Comments || Top||

#2  Spank and release.

Oops, I left out the slap-in-the-face part.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 5:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Many Saudis suspect they [the Guantanamo prisoners], died from maltreatment.

Unlike 3,000 other innocent people on 9-11.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 5:09 Comments || Top||

#4  With all that business with Iran, lets not forget what Saudia is.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:35 Comments || Top||

#5  "Nine of them have been released. They were investigated and we didn't find any wrongdoing in relation to local laws," said Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki.

Local Laws in Saudi Arabia probably consider killing infidels as a civil problem payable with fines and tiem served. It is not as if they killed (or tried to kill) Muslims or anything.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/30/2006 12:32 Comments || Top||

#6  Let the word get out that they sang like canaries. I mean, why else would we let them out, right? Then let nature take it's course...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/30/2006 16:50 Comments || Top||

#7  don't worry we'll kill them in afghanistan or irag in a few day
Posted by: sinse || 08/30/2006 17:04 Comments || Top||


Bangladesh
Tales from the Crossfire Gazette
Three members of the infamous 'Lalchad Bahini' (gang) were killed in separate incidents of shootout between the criminals and the Rapid Action Battalion (Rab) in Daulatpur upazila of the district in the last two days.
Huzzah! I thought we'd seen the last 'crossfire'
The dead were identified as Mahbubul Haq, 25, Rezaul Karim Ilu, 32 and Saidul Islam, 42 of Philipnagar of the upazila. The first two were the nephews of the leader of the gang, Lalchad.
Uncle Lalchad bringing them into the family business
Acting on a tip off, a team of Rab-5 of Rajshahi raided the Philipnagar bazar and surrounded the Philipnagar High School area, some 45 kilometres off the district headquarters, at about 5:30pm on Monday, where some members of the gang were holding a meeting, said a Rab statement.
Philipnagar High, home of the Fighting Dacoits

When the Rab asked the gangsters to surrender,
"All right, youse mugs. Come out with your hands up!"
they opened fire on the law enforcers sparking off a half-an hour long gunfight.
"You'll never take us alive, coppers!"
"Ok "
The Rab found the body of Mahbub on the spot after the criminals fled the scene.
"Hey, looky here what I found!"
A foreign revolver and three bullets were also recovered.
Shutter gun must have been retired to the RAB Hall of Fame
The body was handed over to Daulatpur police. Mahbub was accused in five murder cases, police said.

On information that the criminals of the same gang are holding another meeting, a team of Rab-12 of Kushtia unit raided the same village at about 4:30am yesterday and encircled an open field of Abederghat near the bank of Padma.
4:30am, dark lonely open field, now that's the Rab we know and love
Ignoring the Rab's call to surrender,
"Give it up or you'll get what Mahbub got!"
"Never! Eat lead, lawdogs!"
the gangsters opened fire on the Rab team triggering a one and a half hours long fierce gunfight.
"Bangbangkapowpoppopbangkaboom!"

The bodies of Rezaul and Saidul were discovered at the spot after the gunfight ended
....and the other criminals fled the scene, leaving not a trace
Both were accused in several cases including murder, police said.
wanted men on twelve systems
Rab recovered one light gun, one pistol and 44 bullets from the scene.
A new record

Locals and relatives of the dead, however, differed with Rab's account of the incidents.
"They's lying! Dem wuz good boyz."
Rezaul and Saidul were arrested hours before the 'crossfire'
Arrested, questioned, confessed, road tripped, arms cache hunting, ambushed, crossfired, "He's dead, Jim", etc....
and no other criminals were seen fleeing after the 'gunfight,' they claimed.
like I said, not a trace
Linked with a local lawmaker of ruling BNP, Crazy Uncle Lalchad is accused in at least 20 murder cases.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hurrah! The RAB is on the job again!
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/30/2006 7:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Another Haq in the news...they're everywhere!
Posted by: Inspector Clueso || 08/30/2006 11:50 Comments || Top||

#3  One and one half hours gunfight, eh ?
What else took that long ? Does the RAB get favors from gang members ? Special favors.
Posted by: wxjames || 08/30/2006 12:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Looks almost like a summer replacement series: 2 ( not one) bad guys T.U., many round of bullets (not just the one or few) , and outsourced weaponry and a loss in efficiency ( a gun battle taking so long). but the good news is, sounds like the RAB has been signed for another season!!!!
Posted by: USN, ret. || 08/30/2006 14:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Too many meetings usually lead to no good.
And what's the bag limit on murders over there?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/30/2006 16:38 Comments || Top||

#6  "On information that the criminals of the same gang are holding another meeting..."

These Bangla criminals seem rather unclear on the concept of "not being seen" don't they? I wonder if they publish an agenda for these meetings, whaddaya think?

And what do they have to meet about, anyway? The fact that the last meeting got raided?
Posted by: mojo || 08/30/2006 17:36 Comments || Top||

#7  Return of Crossfire and .com in the same week. Ima know omens when I reads 'em.
Posted by: 6 || 08/30/2006 18:39 Comments || Top||

#8  What's this about .com? I've read some things that sure sounded like him, but is someone claiming to be him back?
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 18:47 Comments || Top||

#9  Philipnagar Highs Fighting Dacoits played the Aberdeghat Middle Madrassa Marauding Miscreants last year for the title. It was a tie.
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger1073 || 08/30/2006 20:22 Comments || Top||

#10  NS - he's back. Alaska Paul and I can confirm it. Watch for posting under other nyms - some seem.....familiar :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 08/30/2006 21:27 Comments || Top||

#11  No doubt about them seeming familiar. I'm waiting for the photos to start. Then we'll know it's the real McCoy.

I'm very relieved to hear you can confirm it. I was worried.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 21:49 Comments || Top||

#12  .com showed up in this thread, Nimble Spemble, over his very own name. Comment number thirty-something, I think. Happy reading! :-)
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/30/2006 23:12 Comments || Top||


Britain
British Authorities Charge 3 More in Jetliner Terror Plot
Three more people were charged Wednesday with conspiring to commit murder in the alleged plot to blow up U.S.-bound airliners, British police said. Mohammed Yasar Gulzar, Mohammed Shamin Uddin and Nabeel Hussain were also charged with preparing to commit terrorism by helping in an alleged plan to smuggle explosives aboard the planes, police said. A total of 11 people have been charged on those two counts. Four others were charged with lesser offenses, including having knowledge of a terrorist activity but not disclosing information about it.

A Scotland Yard statement said Gulzar, Uddin and Hussain conspired with eight other suspects in the alleged plot and had intended to commit "acts of terrorism engaged in conduct to give effect to their intention to smuggle the component parts of improvised explosive devices onto aircraft and assemble and detonate them on board." All three men will be arraigned on Wednesday.

Of the 25 people originally arrested, 15 have been charged, five remain in custody and five have been released. Chief Magistrate Timothy Workman earlier ordered Nabeel's brother, Mehran Hussain, held in custody until Sept. 19. Mehran Hussain, and his other brother, Umair, are charged with failing to tell police about Nabeel's alleged involvement in what prosecutors say was a plot to down airliners using plastic explosives.

Workman also ordered Cossar Ali, 24, held in custody until Sept. 5, when her lawyer David Gottlieb said he intends to apply for bail. Ali, the only woman charged so far in connection with the alleged plot, is accused of failing to disclose information about a possible terrorist attack. Her husband, Ahmed Abdullah Ali, also is among the 12 people charged in the case.

Earlier in the day, a 17-year-old accused of storing an explosives manual and other documents connected to an alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic airliners was denied bail during a court appearance. The teenager, who cannot be identified, was remanded until a Sept. 19 hearing at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court. His attorney, Gareth Peirce, said the teenager intended to plead not guilty. He faces up to 10 years in jail if convicted, prosecutor Colin Gibbs told the court. Gibbs told the court the teenager is accused of storing an explosives manual, a map of Afghanistan and five wills made out by people planning to commit suicide bombings — items police consider likely connected to planned acts of terrorism.

A deadline for the detention of the remaining seven suspects expires on Wednesday, but a police spokesman said it was not yet decided whether they would be charged or if police would seek further time for questioning. Senior police officers said last week they were analyzing thousands of pieces of evidence seized in searches of dozens of properties and two stretches of woodland. Investigators have found chemicals that can be used to make bombs, including hydrogen peroxide, and electrical components during their searches, said Peter Clarke, head of Scotland Yard's anti-terrorist department. Months of surveillance had produced "significant video and audio recordings" about the alleged plot, he said, including "martyrdom videos" by some of the suspects. More than 8,000 items of data storage, such as compact discs, DVDs and memory sticks, were found, authorities said.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Now, let's have the seeth.
Posted by: Duh! || 08/30/2006 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Each leads to the next bunch. Send them to prison or back where they came from -- either way the polity is improved... and those considering commuter jihad will start to notice the real risks attached to their contemplated activity.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/30/2006 7:18 Comments || Top||

#3  The wages of appeasement.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:33 Comments || Top||

#4  Does anyone else get the feeling that if the British authorities follow up every single lead evolving from this case that they'll end up detaining the country's entire Muslim population?
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:50 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
50 Chechen fighters surrender arms
GUDERMES: Fifty men who fought Russian rule in Chechnya said on Tuesday they were downing their weapons under an amnesty and urged remaining fighters to halt their 12-year separatist insurgency.
“'We are ready to return to a normal life,' Razvan Alkhastov told journalists...”
The Kremlin says it has restored central authority in Chechnya, with life and industry returning to normal - despite nearly daily attacks on its servicemen in and around the region. The 50 men were presented in Gudermes, Chechnya's second largest town, with pro-Moscow Prime Minister Ramzan Kadyrov looking on and a cache of weapons displayed nearby. The men, all in civilian clothes and well groomed, appeared relaxed and swapped stories with Kadyrov and other officials. "We are ready to return to a normal life," Razvan Alkhastov, in his mid-30s, told journalists in the building's courtyard. "I'm tired of being on the run," echoed Saikhan Asambiyev, also in his 30s. "I will tell others to stop fighting."
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
KCNA Comments on "Ulji Focus Lens"
Pyongyang, August 29 (KCNA) -- The U.S.-south Korea "Ulji Focus Lens" joint military exercises against the DPRK are now getting frantic. The large-scale joint military exercises targeting the DPRK at a time when the political and military situation of the Korean Peninsula has become extremely strained and complicated are a prelude to the second Korean war to be launched by the U.S. according to its nuclear preemptive attack strategy. Now the confrontation between the DPRK and the United States has gone to extremes owing to the U.S. moves to isolate and stifle the DPRK and, accordingly, it is more important than ever before to ease the tension and ensure peace in and around the Korean Peninsula.

It is nonsensical for the U.S. to claim that the joint military exercises getting on the nerves of the DPRK are "annual military exercises".
"I mean, just because they hold them every year...."
This clearly proves that the U.S. has no willingness to remove the standoff with the DPRK.
Nope, we're just going to sit over here, eating our Big Macs, watching you starve to death.
The exercises are an undisguised military threat to the DPRK and a dangerous war move as they were prompted by the U.S. adventurous attempt to lead the DPRK-U.S. confrontation to a war.

The U.S. is now stepping up the reinforcement and relocation of its troops in south Korea under the pretext of "strategic flexibility" and modified its operation plan against the north on the basis of its preemptive attack strategy. The "Ulji Focus Lens" is also a preliminary war to perfect the combat command and operation system of the armed forces of aggression and complete the preparations for a war on the basis of the U.S. new military policy against the DPRK.
Hummmm, yes
The U.S. is asserting that the "exercises are aimed to help the U.S. forces and the south Korean army get familiar with the procedures of cooperation in case of emergency on the Korean Peninsula." What they called "emergency on the Korean Peninsula" means the second Korean war. The exercises simulate an actual war.
By George, I think he's got it!
During the past military exercises, too, the U.S. and south Korean warmongers conducted different forms of military drills from "exercises of commanding staff" for a preemptive attack on the DPRK to "landing operations," "naval offensive operations," "surprise air strike exercises," "river-crossing operations" and even "biological and chemical warfare drills" with weapons of mass destruction under the simulated conditions of an actual war. Its alleged annual military exercises show that the U.S. is steadily increasing, training and perfecting its capability to wage an actual war against the north according to its operation plan for invasion of the north.
You should think about that before you go firing off any more missiles
All the facts clearly prove that the joint military exercises are a dangerous preliminary war, a nuclear test war for surprise invasion of the north. The U.S. can never evade the responsibility for aggravating tension and harassing peace in the Korean Peninsula.
No Sogun, no Jung, no Sea of Fire, pretty weak. 4.2
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 13:23 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Steve,

In their defense, August is the usual vacation month in the DPRK, where everywhere leaves the city, heads out to the country, and collects all the grass clippings and bark shavings they can find for the upcoming winter.
Posted by: Dreadnought || 08/30/2006 13:59 Comments || Top||

#2  Steve, you gonna finish those fries?
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/30/2006 14:17 Comments || Top||

#3  Why does this just seem so hysterical. I know they are dead serious but there are comics who pay for writers to produce stuff like this.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 08/30/2006 14:45 Comments || Top||

#4  socialism breeds this stupidity....afterall when you have a record like 50 million dead to starvation or the politics of difference, it becomes a necessity to rationalize out loud....me thiks they forget there are folks within earshot.
Posted by: Hupusing Uneter3867 || 08/30/2006 15:08 Comments || Top||

#5  "Ulji Focus Lens?" Who comes up with these codenames? I mean, come on! Think of the classic code names: "Overlord," "Dragoon," "Husky," "Olympic," "Torch," "Avalanche." They all have that bold, decisive quality to them. "Ulji Focus Lens" -- sounds like a cheapass third-party accessory for that no-name Pentax-thread 35mm camera you got in the duty-free shop in Ulaan Bator.
Posted by: Mike || 08/30/2006 15:48 Comments || Top||

#6  So, I take it you're not a fan of RSOI/Foal Eagle, then?
Posted by: Dreadnought || 08/30/2006 16:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Why does this just seem so hysterical. I know they are dead serious but there are comics who pay for writers to produce stuff like this.

This is really tame and lame compared to the KCNA I used to know and love. I really miss the "sea of fire" and splittle-spewing rhetoric of old.
Posted by: Xbalanke || 08/30/2006 16:06 Comments || Top||

#8  "Operation Eagle" -- that works.
"Operation Foal" -- passable.
"Operation RSOI/Foal Eagle" -- too clunky.
"Operation Steamroller" -- now you're talkin!
Posted by: Mike || 08/30/2006 16:24 Comments || Top||

#9  Ulji Focus Lens or "UFL" as it is know in the states is an abbreviation for some Korean words. The "U" is the last name of some famous Korean warrior and I don't remember about the rest. I thought it was pretty gay the first time I heard it too....
Posted by: Bama Marine || 08/30/2006 16:35 Comments || Top||

#10  This is really tame and lame compared to the KCNA I used to know and love. I really miss the "sea of fire" and splittle-spewing rhetoric of old.

Things just haven't been the same ever since Ahmadinejad hired away Baghdad Bob from Kimmie.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:45 Comments || Top||

#11  Ulji Focus Lens?
Ooooooooooooohhhhhh Shit!
Posted by: Ulgi Ant || 08/30/2006 18:41 Comments || Top||

#12  The NorKor Commies proclaimed to be fighting for pan-Korean liberation from Japan, "foreign white devils", and China. Their usefulness to the Chicoms is to die for China while holding off South Korea, Japan, and the USA-UN Command whilst the PLA moves against Taiwan-SE Asia-WESTPAC andor attacks Northern Japan from Siberia, i.e. where US-Allied milfors are NOT. The Norkies = Lebanese = Syrian, etal have to decide what their people are, and what kind of freeedoms and future they want by and for themselves. 'Cuz right now, the enemy of the USA = Israel is NOT for them - any destruction of the USA = Israel does NOT mean they "win".
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/30/2006 23:22 Comments || Top||


China Prevents Bomb Plots By Muslim Seperatists
Uighur militants in the predominantly Muslim Xinjiang region of north-west China, fighting to make an independent province named East Turkestan, have been prevented from bombing oilfields, power plants and major roads by Chinese police. "We've forcefully dealt a blow to the 'three forces' (extremism, separatism and terrorism) and maintained stability in Xinjiang" said the local public security deputy chief Wang Lexiang.

41 tonnes of explosives, 4.15 metric tons of materials for explosive manufacture and 6,540 grenades have been confiscated since 1990. The Xinjiang province borders Pakistan, Afghanistan and former Soviet Asian republics.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/30/2006 07:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too bad.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:44 Comments || Top||

#2  But go ahead China, keep supporting your Muslim buddies in Iran through the UN. And they won't allow any attacks on your land.
Posted by: plainslow || 08/30/2006 7:56 Comments || Top||

#3  China, too?

This should be an easy question for someone at Rantburg:

What countries have had failed or successful attacks by Muslim 'activists'?

And is there a link, so we could remind less learned of our folks how many fronts there are in the (Muslim) War on Terror?

Meaning excluding the IRA, and any other plots by the other People of the Book or Hindus, Buddists, Mormans, Wiccans, or Zoarostians, et al.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 8:17 Comments || Top||

#4  Uighur idiots have only succeeded in causing massive population shifts from the rest of China to their territory. They are being swamped by Mandarin speakers. A couple of generations and they are gonzo.

During the Cultural Revolution, Red Guards forced Muslim imams to tend pig farms, and shovel pig crap. The Muslim Moon-God wouldn't like smelling that at heaven's gate.
Posted by: Snease Shaiting3550 || 08/30/2006 8:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Here is the official US State Department list of terrorist attacks for the period of 1961 - 2003. I pulled the muslim attacks up to 9-11 out of that:

Attack on the Munich Airport, February 10, 1970: Three terrorists attacked El Al passengers in a bus at the Munich Airport with guns and grenades. One passenger was killed and 11 were injured. All three terrorists were captured by airport police. The Action Organization for the Liberation of Palestine and the Popular Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack.

Munich Olympic Massacre, September 5, 1972: Eight Palestinian "Black September" terrorists seized eleven Israeli athletes in the Olympic Village in Munich, West Germany. In a bungled rescue attempt by West German authorities, nine of the hostages and five terrorists were killed.

Ambassador to Sudan Assassinated, March 2, 1973: U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo A. Noel and other diplomats were assassinated at the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum by members of the Black September organization.

Attack and Hijacking at the Rome Airport, December 17, 1973: Five terrorists pulled weapons from their luggage in the terminal lounge at the Rome airport, killing two persons. They then attacked a Pan American 707 bound for Beirut and Tehran, destroying it with incendiary grenades and killing 29 persons, including 4 senior Moroccan officials and 14 American employees of ARAMCO. They then herded 5 Italian hostages into a Lufthansa airliner and killed an Italian customs agent as he tried to escape, after which they forced the pilot to fly to Beirut. After Lebanese authorities refused to let the plane land, it landed in Athens, where the terrorists demanded the release of 2 Arab terrorists. In order to make Greek authorities comply with their demands, the terrorists killed a hostage and threw his body onto the tarmac. The plane then flew to Damascus, where it stopped for two hours to obtain fuel and food. It then flew to Kuwait, where the terrorists released their hostages in return for passage to an unknown destination. The Palestine Liberation Organization disavowed the attack, and no group claimed responsibility for it.

Entebbe Hostage Crisis, June 27, 1976: Members of the Baader-Meinhof Group and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) seized an Air France airliner and its 258 passengers. They forced the plane to land in Uganda. On July 3 Israeli commandos successfully rescued the passengers.

Ambassador to Afghanistan Assassinated, February 14, 1979: Four Afghans kidnapped U.S. Ambassador Adolph Dubs in Kabul and demanded the release of various "religious figures." Dubs was killed, along with four alleged terrorists, when Afghan police stormed the hotel room where he was being held.

Iran Hostage Crisis, November 4, 1979: After President Carter agreed to admit the Shah of Iran into the US, Iranian radicals seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took 66 American diplomats hostage. Thirteen hostages were soon released, but the remaining 53 were held until their release on January 20, 1981.

Grand Mosque Seizure, November 20, 1979: 200 Islamic terrorists seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, taking hundreds of pilgrims hostage. Saudi and French security forces retook the shrine after an intense battle in which some 250 people were killed and 600 wounded.

Assassination of Egyptian President, October 6, 1981: Soldiers who were secretly members of the Takfir Wal-Hajira sect attacked and killed Egyptian President Anwar Sadat during a troop review.

Assassination of Lebanese President, September 14, 1982: President Bashir Gemayel was assassinated by a car bomb parked outside his party’s Beirut headquarters.

Bombing of U.S. Embassy in Beirut, April 18, 1983: Sixty-three people, including the CIA’s Middle East director, were killed and 120 were injured in a 400-pound suicide truck-bomb attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon. The Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Bombing of Marine Barracks, Beirut, October 23, 1983: Simultaneous suicide truck-bomb attacks were made on American and French compounds in Beirut, Lebanon. A 12,000-pound bomb destroyed the U.S. compound, killing 242 Americans, while 58 French troops were killed when a 400-pound device destroyed a French base. Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility.

Kidnapping of Embassy Official, March 16, 1984: The Islamic Jihad kidnapped and later murdered Political Officer William Buckley in Beirut, Lebanon. Other U.S. citizens not connected to the U.S. government were seized over a succeeding two-year period.

TWA Hijacking, June 14, 1985: A Trans-World Airlines flight was hijacked en route to Rome from Athens by two Lebanese Hizballah terrorists and forced to fly to Beirut. The eight crew members and 145 passengers were held for seventeen days, during which one American hostage, a U.S. Navy sailor, was murdered. After being flown twice to Algiers, the aircraft was returned to Beirut after Israel released 435 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners.

Soviet Diplomats Kidnapped, September 30, 1985: In Beirut, Lebanon, Sunni terrorists kidnapped four Soviet diplomats. One was killed but three were later released.

Achille Lauro Hijacking, October 7, 1985: Four Palestinian Liberation Front terrorists seized the Italian cruise liner in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, taking more than 700 hostages. One U.S. passenger was murdered before the Egyptian government offered the terrorists safe haven in return for the hostages’ freedom.

Egyptian Airliner Hijacking, November 23, 1985: An EgyptAir airplane bound from Athens to Malta and carrying several U.S. citizens was hijacked by the Abu Nidal Group.

Airport Attacks in Rome and Vienna, December 27, 1985: Four gunmen belonging to the Abu Nidal Organization attacked the El Al and Trans World Airlines ticket counters at Rome’s Leonardo da Vinci Airport with grenades and automatic rifles. Thirteen persons were killed and 75 were wounded before Italian police and Israeli security guards killed three of the gunmen and captured the fourth. Three more Abu Nidal gunmen attacked the El Al ticket counter at Vienna’s Schwechat Airport, killing three persons and wounding 30. Austrian police killed one of the gunmen and captured the others.

Aircraft Bombing in Greece, March 30, 1986: A Palestinian splinter group detonated a bomb as TWA Flight 840 approached Athens airport, killing four U.S. citizens.

Berlin Discothèque Bombing, April 5, 1986: Two U.S. soldiers were killed and 79 American servicemen were injured in a Libyan bomb attack on a nightclub in West Berlin, West Germany. In retaliation U.S. military jets bombed targets in and around Tripoli and Benghazi.

Kidnapping of William Higgins, February 17, 1988: U.S. Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel W. Higgins was kidnapped and murdered by the Iranian-backed Hizballah group while serving with the United Nations Truce Supervisory Organization (UNTSO) in southern Lebanon.

Naples USO Attack, April 14, 1988: The Organization of Jihad Brigades exploded a car-bomb outside a USO Club in Naples, Italy, killing one U.S. sailor.

Pan Am 103 Bombing, December 21, 1988: Pan American Airlines Flight 103 was blown up over Lockerbie, Scotland, by a bomb believed to have been placed on the aircraft by Libyan terrorists in Frankfurt, West Germany. All 259 people on board were killed.

Bombing of UTA Flight 772, September 19, 1989: A bomb explosion destroyed UTA Flight 772 over the Sahara Desert in southern Niger during a flight from Brazzaville to Paris. All 170 persons aboard were killed. Six Libyans were later found guilty in absentia and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Attempted Iraqi Attacks on U.S. Posts, January 18-19, 1991: Iraqi agents planted bombs at the U.S. Ambassador to Indonesia’s home residence and at the USIS library in Manila.

Bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, March 17, 1992: Hizballah claimed responsibility for a blast that leveled the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, causing the deaths of 29 and wounding 242.

World Trade Center Bombing, February 26, 1993: The World Trade Center in New York City was badly damaged when a car bomb planted by Islamic terrorists exploded in an underground garage. The bomb left 6 people dead and 1,000 injured. The men carrying out the attack were followers of Umar Abd al-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric who preached in the New York City area.

Attempted Assassination of President Bush by Iraqi Agents, April 14, 1993: The Iraqi intelligence service attempted to assassinate former U.S. President George Bush during a visit to Kuwait. In retaliation, the U.S. launched a cruise missile attack 2 months later on the Iraqi capital Baghdad.

Air France Hijacking, December 24, 1994: Members of the Armed Islamic Group seized an Air France Flight to Algeria. The four terrorists were killed during a rescue effort.

Attack on U.S. Diplomats in Pakistan, March 8, 1995: Two unidentified gunmen killed two U.S. diplomats and wounded a third in Karachi, Pakistan.

Kashmiri Hostage-taking, July 4, 1995: In India six foreigners, including two U.S. citizens, were taken hostage by Al-Faran, a Kashmiri separatist group. One non-U.S. hostage was later found beheaded.

Jerusalem Bus Attack, August 21, 1995: HAMAS claimed responsibility for the detonation of a bomb that killed 6 and injured over 100 persons, including several U.S. citizens.

Saudi Military Installation Attack, November 13, 1995: The Islamic Movement of Change planted a bomb in a Riyadh military compound that killed one U.S. citizen, several foreign national employees of the U.S. government, and over 40 others.

Egyptian Embassy Attack, November 19, 1995: A suicide bomber drove a vehicle into the Egyptian Embassy compound in Islamabad, Pakistan, killing at least 16 and injuring 60 persons. Three militant Islamic groups claimed responsibility.

HAMAS Bus Attack, February 26, 1996: In Jerusalem, a suicide bomber blew up a bus, killing 26 persons, including three U.S. citizens, and injuring some 80 persons, including three other US citizens.

Dizengoff Center Bombing, March 4, 1996: HAMAS and the Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ) both claimed responsibility for a bombing outside of Tel Aviv's largest shopping mall that killed 20 persons and injured 75 others, including 2 U.S. citizens.

West Bank Attack, May 13, 1996: Arab gunmen opened fire on a bus and a group of Yeshiva students near the Bet El settlement, killing a dual U.S./Israeli citizen and wounding three Israelis. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but HAMAS was suspected.

Zekharya Attack, June 9, 1996: Unidentified gunmen opened fire on a car near Zekharya, killing a dual U.S./Israeli citizen and an Israeli. The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) was suspected.

Khobar Towers Bombing, June 25, 1996: A fuel truck carrying a bomb exploded outside the US military's Khobar Towers housing facility in Dhahran, killing 19 U.S. military personnel and wounding 515 persons, including 240 U.S. personnel. Several groups claimed responsibility for the attack.

Bombing of Archbishop of Oran, August 1, 1996: A bomb exploded at the home of the French Archbishop of Oran, killing him and his chauffeur. The attack occurred after the Archbishop's meeting with the French Foreign Minister. The Algerian Armed Islamic Group (GIA) is suspected.

Sudanese Rebel Kidnapping, August 17, 1996: Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA) rebels kidnapped six missionaries in Mapourdit, including a U.S. citizen, an Italian, three Australians, and a Sudanese. The SPLA released the hostages 11 days later.

Paris Subway Explosion, December 3, 1996: A bomb exploded aboard a Paris subway train as it arrived at the Port Royal station, killing two French nationals, a Moroccan, and a Canadian, and injuring 86 persons. Among those injured were one U.S. citizen and a Canadian. No one claimed responsibility for the attack, but Algerian extremists are suspected.

Egyptian Letter Bombs, January 2-13, 1997: A series of letter bombs with Alexandria, Egypt, postmarks were discovered at Al-Hayat newspaper bureaus in Washington, New York City, London, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Three similar devices, also postmarked in Egypt, were found at a prison facility in Leavenworth, Kansas. Bomb disposal experts defused all the devices, but one detonated at the Al-Hayat office in London, injuring two security guards and causing minor damage.

Tajik Hostage Abductions, February 4-17, 1997: Near Komsomolabad, Tajikistan, a paramilitary group led by Bakhrom Sodirov abducted four United Nations (UN) military observers. The victims included two Swiss, one Austrian, one Ukrainian, and their Tajik interpreter. The kidnappers demanded safe passage for their supporters from Afghanistan to Tajikistan. In four separate incidents occurring between Dushanbe and Garm, Bakhrom Sodirov and his group kidnapped two International Committee for the Red Cross members, four Russian journalists and their Tajik driver, four UNHCR members, and the Tajik Security Minister, Saidamir Zukhurov.

Empire State Building Sniper Attack, February 23, 1997: A Palestinian gunman opened fire on tourists at an observation deck atop the Empire State Building in New York City, killing a Danish national and wounding visitors from the United States, Argentina, Switzerland, and France before turning the gun on himself. A handwritten note carried by the gunman claimed this was a punishment attack against the "enemies of Palestine."

Israeli Shopping Mall Bombing, September 4, 1997: Three suicide bombers of HAMAS detonated bombs in the Ben Yehuda shopping mall in Jerusalem, killing eight persons, including the bombers, and wounding nearly 200 others. A dual U.S./Israeli citizen was among the dead, and 7 U.S. citizens were wounded.

Murder of U.S. Businessmen in Pakistan, November 12, 1997: Two unidentified gunmen shot to death four U.S. auditors from Union Texas Petroleum Corporation and their Pakistani driver after they drove away from the Sheraton Hotel in Karachi. The Islami Inqilabi Council, or Islamic Revolutionary Council, claimed responsibility in a call to the U.S. Consulate in Karachi. In a letter to Pakistani newspapers, the Aimal Khufia Action Committee also claimed responsibility.

Tourist Killings in Egypt, November 17, 1997: Al-Gama'at al-Islamiyya (IG) gunmen shot and killed 58 tourists and four Egyptians and wounded 26 others at the Hatshepsut Temple in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. Thirty-four Swiss, eight Japanese, five Germans, four Britons, one French, one Colombian, a dual Bulgarian/British citizen, and four unidentified persons were among the dead. Twelve Swiss, two Japanese, two Germans, one French, and nine Egyptians were among the wounded.

Somali Hostage-takings, April 15, 1998: Somali militiamen abducted nine Red Cross and Red Crescent workers at an airstrip north of Mogadishu. The hostages included a U.S. citizen, a German, a Belgian, a French, a Norwegian, two Swiss, and one Somali. The gunmen were members of a sub-clan loyal to Ali Mahdi Mohammed, who controlled the northern section of the capital.

U.S. Embassy Bombings in East Africa, August 7, 1998: A bomb exploded at the rear entrance of the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, killing 12 U.S. citizens, 32 Foreign Service Nationals (FSNs), and 247 Kenyan citizens. Approximately 5,000 Kenyans, 6 U.S. citizens, and 13 FSNs were injured. The U.S. Embassy building sustained extensive structural damage. Almost simultaneously, a bomb detonated outside the U.S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, killing 7 FSNs and 3 Tanzanian citizens, and injuring 1 U.S. citizen and 76 Tanzanians. The explosion caused major structural damage to the U.S. Embassy facility. The U.S. Government held Usama Bin Laden responsible.

Kidnappings in Kyrgyzstan, August 12, 2000: In the Kara-Su Valley, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan took four U.S. citizens hostage. The Americans escaped on August 12.

Church Bombing in Tajikistan, October 1, 2000: Unidentified militants detonated two bombs in a Christian church in Dushanbe, killing seven persons and injuring 70 others. The church was founded by a Korean-born U.S. citizen, and most of those killed and wounded were Korean. No one claimed responsibility.

Attack on U.S.S. Cole, October 12, 2000: In Aden, Yemen, a small dingy carrying explosives rammed the destroyer U.S.S. Cole, killing 17 sailors and injuring 39 others. Supporters of Usama Bin Laden were suspected.

Manila Bombing, December 30, 2000: A bomb exploded in a plaza across the street from the U.S. Embassy in Manila, injuring nine persons. The Moro Islamic Liberation Front was likely responsible.

Srinagar Airport Attack and Assassination Attempt, January 17, 2001: In India, six members of the Lashkar-e-Tayyba militant group were killed when they attempted to seize a local airport. Members of Hizbul Mujaheddin fired two rifle grenades at Farooq Abdullah, Chief Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. Two persons were wounded in the unsuccessful assassination attempt.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, March 4, 2001: A suicide bomb attack in Netanya killed 3 persons and wounded 65. HAMAS later claimed responsibility.

Airliner Hijacking in Istanbul, March 15, 2001: Three Chechens hijacked a Russian airliner during a flight from Istanbul to Moscow and forced it to fly to Medina, Saudi Arabia. The plane carried 162 passengers and a crew of 12. After a 22-hour siege during which more than 40 passengers were released, Saudi security forces stormed the plane, killing a hijacker, a passenger, and a flight attendant.

Bus Stop Bombing, April 22, 2001: A member of HAMAS detonated a bomb he was carrying near a bus stop in Kfar Siva, Israel, killing one person and injuring 60.

Philippines Hostage Incident, May 27, 2001: Muslim Abu Sayyaf guerrillas seized 13 tourists and 3 staff members at a resort on Palawan Island and took their captives to Basilan Island. The captives included three U.S. citizens: Guellermo Sobero and missionaries Martin and Gracia Burnham. Philippine troops fought a series of battles with the guerrillas between June 1 and June 3 during which 9 hostages escaped and two were found dead. The guerrillas took additional hostages when they seized the hospital in the town of Lamitan. On June 12, Abu Sayyaf spokesman Abu Sabaya claimed that Sobero had been killed and beheaded; his body was found in October. The Burnhams remained in captivity until June 2002.

Tel-Aviv Nightclub Bombing, June 1, 2001: HAMAS claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing of a popular Israeli nightclub that caused over 140 casualties.

HAMAS Restaurant Bombing, August 9, 2001: A HAMAS-planted bomb detonated in a Jerusalem pizza restaurant, killing 15 people and wounding more than 90. The Israeli response included occupation of Orient House, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s political headquarters in East Jerusalem.

Suicide Bombing in Israel, September 9, 2001: The first suicide bombing carried out by an Israeli Arab killed 3 persons in Nahariya. HAMAS claimed responsibility.

Death of "the Lion of the Panjshir", September 9, 2001: Two suicide bombers fatally wounded Ahmed Shah Massoud, a leader of Afghanistan’s Northern Alliance, which had opposed both the Soviet occupation and the post-Soviet Taliban government. The bombers posed as journalists and were apparently linked to al-Qaida. The Northern Alliance did not confirm Massoud’s death until September 15.

Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Homeland, September 11, 2001: Two hijacked airliners crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center. Soon thereafter, the Pentagon was struck by a third hijacked plane. A fourth hijacked plane, suspected to be bound for a high-profile target in Washington, crashed into a field in southern Pennsylvania. The attacks killed 3,025 U.S. citizens and other nationals. President Bush and Cabinet officials indicated that Usama Bin Laden was the prime suspect and that they considered the United States in a state of war with international terrorism. In the aftermath of the attacks, the United States formed the Global Coalition Against Terrorism.
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 9:14 Comments || Top||

#6  plainslow:

it really has very little to do with religion. it's all about realpolitik -- making decisions based on practicalities and realities. So, supporting Iran is in their best interest for oil and to keep the US bogged down in that part of the world. And viciously dealing with the "militants" in China is simply aimed at teaching them that terror won't work. simple as that, as I see it. probably as they do, too.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 08/30/2006 9:25 Comments || Top||

#7  No arguement on that from me Planetdan. I just see it as us in Afghanistan helping Muslim's beat back the Russian's. We were looking at it the same as China, to bog down the Russians. Came back to haunt us.
Posted by: plainslow || 08/30/2006 10:55 Comments || Top||

#8  plainslow: Came back to haunt us.

Nah. They were just a bunch of ungrateful scum. They used Uncle Sam to help expel the Soviets and then turned around and attacked us. On the other hand, the Soviets did the same thing to us after WWII, by supporting North Korea and North Vietnam, and inflicting on us 100,000 dead GI's, something that wouldn't have happened without massive Soviet sponsorship.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/30/2006 11:27 Comments || Top||

#9  Re: #5 thanks, Steve. Quite a list. I have bookmarked the State Department site.

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of a spreadsheet, with countries down the side and years across the top. An "X" would indicate there was at least one attack in that country in that year.

Even better, would be the number of attacks, or casualties (killed and wounded). It's gotta be out there someplace!
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 11:33 Comments || Top||

#10  Steve's list also shows us that we (the Western world) have been at war since 1970. The United States has acknowledged that war following 9/11. Most of Europe is still in denial.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/30/2006 12:18 Comments || Top||

#11  A condensed and useful version of the above list reads as follows:

Muslims kill
Muslims kill
Muslims kill
Muslims kill
Muslims kill
Muslims kill
Muslims kill
Muslims kill......just repeat it 70 or 80 times
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 08/30/2006 12:33 Comments || Top||

#12  I am sort of surprised that China hasn't used the War on Terror as an excuse to slaughter and displace the residents of East Turkistan.

A friend of mine visited China and he told me about a railroad being built to allow for a massive population shift into Tibet. Tibet isn't a threat, I'd assumed that would be the plan for Xinjiang instead.

It is not as if the Muslim friends will remain friends.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/30/2006 12:38 Comments || Top||

#13  "We've forcefully dealt a blow to the 'three forces' (extremism, separatism and terrorism) ..."

China's expertise derives from their mastery of same.

Steve's list also shows us that we (the Western world) have been at war since 1970. The United States has acknowledged that war following 9/11. Most of Europe is still in denial.

Word, Old Patriot. The sheer length of that State Department list should be nothing more than the guarantee of an impending Muslim Holocaust™. This sh!t has been going on for far too long. Both sides know it is evil and the piper will be paid in torrents of blood, Muslim blood.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 15:57 Comments || Top||


Europe
U.S. Troops Set To Leave Bosnia
Sarajevo, 30 August (AKI) - American troops stationed in northeastern Bosnian town of Tuzla will leave the country by the end of this year, but will be replaced by a Dutch contingent, Sarajevo daily Oslobodjenje said on Wednesday. The paper said that one hundred members of Texas National Guard, stationed in the military base “Orao” in Tuzla were beginning to dismantle their facilities and will start leaving by the end of November. The international community has kept a strong presence in Bosnia, safeguarding peace, since the end of civil war in 1995. Last year NATO troops were replaced by 7,000 strong force from European countries (Eufor), but NATO has retained a command post in Bosnia.

Oslobodjenje said Bosnian authorities were concerned by the American departure, because they see the United States as their main ally and guarantor of Bosnia’s security. But the American embassy in Sarajevo said the departure was a result of “exceptional progress that Bosnia-Herzegovina has achieved in the past several years. The United States will continue a strong presence in Bosnia-Herzegovina and the region and be actively included in aiding Bosnia-Herzegovina joining Partnership for Peace, with further striving to NATO membership,” the embassy said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 12:31 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  We are really leaving there after how many years jeesh and they think Iraq taking to long.
Posted by: djohn66 || 08/30/2006 12:50 Comments || Top||

#2  It's about time.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 13:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Just like Clinton said...home by Christmas.
Posted by: Phineter Thraviger1073 || 08/30/2006 13:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Bosnia, NATOs vietnam.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/30/2006 13:50 Comments || Top||

#5  Are those really the last US troops in the area? I thought we had a bunch more in various other parts of the region, like Serbia and Kosovo. But I am not very familiar with the situation, I could be totally wrong.
Posted by: WhitecollarRedneck || 08/30/2006 14:51 Comments || Top||

#6  The Dutch have done some good work in the past in that area...grmmpfff. US still has one of the largest camps in Kosovo...camp Bond Steel
Posted by: Critle Omosh8136 || 08/30/2006 16:12 Comments || Top||

#7  We have some still in Macedonia, but I'm glad they are out of Bosnia now.
Posted by: DarthVader || 08/30/2006 17:08 Comments || Top||

#8  Where was the freakin time table?
Posted by: Captain America || 08/30/2006 20:59 Comments || Top||


Fifth Column
Navy charges lawyer in secrets case
Snip, duplicate, see 'Home Front: WoT'.
Posted by: ed || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Can't say this guy doesn't know what's coming to him.
Posted by: Captain America || 08/30/2006 0:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Hang him.
Posted by: JSU || 08/30/2006 0:28 Comments || Top||

#3  Nah, the ACLU will ge thim off.

Wait, it's a military trial?

Cool!
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 6:41 Comments || Top||

#4  I'm willing to bet that lawyers are responsible for the vast majority of leaks from within the military to the press. Insert quote from Shakespeare here.
Posted by: Jonathan || 08/30/2006 7:15 Comments || Top||

#5  What are things comming to ,if you cannot trust even the lawyers?
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:28 Comments || Top||

#6  Whahahahahahaaa
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/30/2006 8:35 Comments || Top||

#7  At least he's already had a chance to preview his future "accomodations".
As Tom Clancy puts is;

"Substandard federally supplied housing with substandard federally supplied room-mates."
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front: WoT
Navy says officer passed secret Gitmo data
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The military has charged a U.S. Navy officer who worked as a lawyer at Guantanamo Bay with mailing classified information on foreign terrorism suspects there to an unauthorized person, the Navy said on Tuesday.

Lt. Cmdr. Matthew Diaz, stationed from July 2004 to January 2005 at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, faced a total of eight counts of three criminal charges and could spend 36 1/2 years in prison if convicted on all, the Navy said. Diaz, 40, was not charged with espionage and remains free, working at a Navy office in Jacksonville, Florida, ahead of a military hearing set for October in Norfolk, on whether the case will proceed to court-martial, said Navy Mid-Atlantic Region spokeswoman Beth Baker said.

The charges relate to improper safeguarding of classified information and improper forwarding of classified information to a person not authorized to receive it. Diaz was accused of mailing "a multi-page classified document that contained the names and other identifying information" about Guantanamo detainees from that base to "a nongovernmental organization not authorized to receive it," Baker said.

The charge sheet provided by the Navy said Diaz copied and transmitted secret national defense information "with intent or reason to believe that the said information was to be used to the injury of the United States or to the advantage of a foreign nation." Baker declined to identify the organization beyond saying it was in the United States, and said the group turned over the document to federal authorities, prompting the investigation that led to the charges.
LGF, carrying this story, guesses a) ACLU b) National Lawyers Guild c) CAIR.
As deputy staff judge advocate at Guantanamo, Diaz's job was to give legal advice on a variety of issues to military commanders, Baker said, and he never represented any Guantanamo detainees.

The charge sheet stated between December 20, 2004 and February 28, 2005, Diaz violated a Navy regulation by failing to properly safeguard and store classified secret information and failing to properly transport and mail such information by sending it via routine first-class mail. It also said he was derelict in his duties.

Diaz has served for 11 years as an officer in the Navy after spending eight years as an enlisted soldier in the Army, Baker said. Baker said his hometown is Topeka, Kansas. Diaz was formally charged on Monday, Baker said. Rear Adm. Frederic Ruehe is scheduled to decide after the October hearing whether Diaz will face trial, Baker said.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Shooting is too good for him, hanging is too good for him. He should be cut into little bitty pieces and buried alive!" Prosecuter of Hannover Fiste (Heavy Metal movie)
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/30/2006 12:33 Comments || Top||

#2  This nation almost needs to be put on a war footing so we can summarily execute bastards like this.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:27 Comments || Top||

#3  ...and said the group turned over the document to federal authorities, prompting the investigation that led to the charges.

Now I'm really interested in who he sent it to...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/30/2006 16:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Just remain on that nice army cot Cmdr Diaz, and do not move!

Varoom varoom, clank clank clank.

]]]]]]]]]]]

]]]]]]]]]]]
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/30/2006 16:48 Comments || Top||


US to block assets of US-based Islamic group
The Bush administration moved on Tuesday to isolate a Lebanese organization financially for allegedly funneling money to bankroll Hizbullah's terror. The Treasury Department's action, which covers the Islamic Resistance Support Organization, or IRSO, means any assets belonging to the group found in the United States must be frozen.
“... donors can choose from a series of projects to contribute to, including, supporting and equipping fighters and purchasing rockets and ammunition...”
Americans also are prohibited from contributing to the organization.

Hizbullah uses the organization to solicit donations to support terror, the department alleged. Treasury said the group solicits money for the Lebanese Shiite militia and political party through advertisements aired on Hizbullah's al-Manar TV station, which was put on the government's asset-blocking list this year. "Solicitation materials distributed by IRSO inform prospective donors that funds will be used to purchase sophisticated weapons and conduct operations," Treasury said. "Indeed, donors can choose from a series of projects to contribute to, including, supporting and equipping fighters and purchasing rockets and ammunition."
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Islamic Resistance Support Organization
Closing that down was a no brainer.
Posted by: ed || 08/30/2006 0:19 Comments || Top||

#2  Duh, let me guess. Is their headquarters in Dearborn ?
Posted by: SOP35/Rat || 08/30/2006 0:38 Comments || Top||

#3  The forms are very user-friendly. Just scratch out "pizza oven" and write in "machine gun", and make sure you put the right stamp on the envelope.
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/30/2006 0:42 Comments || Top||

#4  "pizza oven"

Code for: Jew Crematorium.

No fooling this little black duck!
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 5:40 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Brother of BBC reporter kidnapped, killed
DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - A 15-year-old brother of a BBC reporter was kidnapped and shot dead in a volatile northwestern Pakistani tribal region, the broadcaster and a security official said on Wednesday. Taimor Khan, younger brother of journalist Dilawar Wazir, was kidnapped Tuesday after leaving for home from school in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan, and his bullet-riddled body was found in the same area Wednesday, a security official said on the condition of anonymity because he was unauthorized to speak to media.
The brave Lions of Islam strike again
The official said the journalist, Wazir, had previously received threats from unidentified pro-Taleban local Islamic militants who believed he was writing stories against them.’
At the BBC?
The kidnappers of Wazir’s brother were unknown and police are investigating, the official said.

Zafar Abbas, BBC’s senior corespondent in the capital, Islamabad, confirmed the killing of Wazir’s brother. Wazir works for BBC’s Urdu service.
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 13:03 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here's what the BBC says:

Brother of BBC journalist killed

The 15-year-old brother of a BBC reporter has been killed in Pakistan's tribal region of South Waziristan.
Taimur Khan, brother of Dilawar Khan Wazir, was found with severe head wounds in the town of Wana on Wednesday after going missing on Tuesday night.

He later succumbed to his injuries in hospital. Officials say it is not clear who carried out the attack or why.

The Khans' house was targeted by a bomb last year. Our reporter says his family has no personal or tribal enmities.

Previous attacks


The federal government's assistant representative in the region, Arshad Naveed, told the BBC it was not yet clear whether Taimur Khan had been stoned or if he received his wounds through a fall.

Dilawar Khan's house and a school run by his family were targeted by unidentified people with bombs last December.

The journalist and his family escaped unhurt - the explosion damaged part of their house wall in Wana town.

It is not clear whether the murder of Taimur Khan is part of a series of targeted killings in the region.


Posted by: Slomose Elmeretch7643 || 08/30/2006 14:31 Comments || Top||

#2  Brother of BBC reporter kidnapped, killed

The height of ingratitude. After everything the BBC has done for them in such an unstinting fashion.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:15 Comments || Top||


Beheaded bodies of two Afghans found in Pakistan tribal area
MIRANSHAH, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities in a tribal region Wednesday found headless bodies of two Afghan refugees with notes saying they were spying for the US-backed government in neighbouring Afghanistan. The bodies were dumped at separate places near Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan tribal district, a hub of pro-Taleban militants on the porous border with Afghanistan.

The notes, written in Pashtu, said: “This is the fate of those who are spying for the government of (Afghan President) Hamid Karzai”, a local official said.
The two were identified in the notes as Haq Nawaz and Noor Wali, both living in North Waziristan, the official said.

Three days ago another Afghan refugee was found shot dead with a similar note on his body just outside Miranshah, he said. Several tribesmen have been shot dead or beheaded this year for allegedly spying for US-led forces in Afghanistan or supporting Pakistan’s campaign against Al Qaeda and other militants in the rugged region.
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 12:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Rail and road links to Balochistan suspended
The movement of all trains towards Balochistan, and particularly to capital Quetta, from other parts of Pakistan has been suspended in the wake of more reports of mayhem following the death of Baloch leader Akbar Khan Bugti.

Informed sources said that most of the railway tracks leading out of Quetta have been blocked and boulders have been placed on railway lines.

Officials at the Railways headquarters in Lahore have issued directives not to operate any train between Quetta and Sibbi.

Railway traffic on the 141-kilometre track between Quetta and Sibbi has been closed till further orders.

The Bolan Mail and Balochistan Express trains that run between Karachi and Quetta are being operated only up to Sibbi.

The Quetta Express originating from Peshawar, and Jaffar Express from Rawalpindi are under suspension.

The railway headquarters has issued directives not to make any reservations for Quetta, as trains would operate only up to Sibbi.

Routine life has come to a complete halt in Quetta, almost 72 hours after the torching and ransacking of several government buildings, banks and private property.

Even as funeral prayers were being held for Akbar Bugti at the Ayub Stadium, grief-stricken mobs have been roaming around in a frenzy, setting ablaze and smashing anything in sight, cars, tyres, glassed buildings and windows.

The protesters continue to vent their anger by putting up huge bonfires.

A restive Balochistan has also been crippled by a strike organised by the four-party Baloch Alliance.

All business centres, markets and shops have downed their shutters and vehicles have gone off the road in roads in Quetta, Turbat, Mund, Buleda, Dasht, Tamp, Naukundi, Saindak, Khuzdar, Taftan, Usta Muhammad, Gandakha, Jhall Magsi, Naseer Abad and Dera Allahyar.

The main national highways, including Quetta-Khuzdar-Karachi, Quetta-Dalbandin-Taftan-Nokandi as well as Quetta-Jaccobabad, were blocked for all kinds of traffic.

Unruly protesters are being repeatedly confronted by paramilitaries and other security personnel in an attempt to bring the situation under control.

Troops are resorting to firing in the air to disperse the mobs in different localities.

Meanwhile, all government offices and educational institutions continue to remain closed in anticipation of further violence. Tuesday was declared a holiday in the province by the local administration to pre-empt trouble.

So far, over 100 persons, including a senator and two members of the Balochistan Assembly, have been taken into custody for disturbing the peace.

Jan Muhammad Buladi and Rahmat Ali Baloch, both members of the Balochistan Assembly, and Senator Dr Abdul Malik Baloch have been detained in the Bijli Ghar and BIjli Road police stations respectively.
Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 07:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And we thought that the Bugtis only hated pipelines..
Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 8:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Agitation in Baluchistan is now spreading, and on Wednesday, the main RCD Highway connecting Baluchistan to the rest of Pakistan was sealed by protesting Baloch.

Life in Quetta, besides other parts of Balochistan has been severely affected by a partial strike.

Trucks carrying supplies from Sindh to other parts of Pakistan were stopped. Those trucks carrying goods from Punjab province were particularly targeted.

All along the RCD Highway on Wednesday, bands of Baloch youth, shouting `Azadi' slogans, brought traffic to a complete standstill.

"We have nothing to do with Pakistan and its rulers (Pervez Musharraf and Shaukat Aziz), who have killed Bugti saheb," said some of the protesters.

Heavy boulders and roads have been placed on various parts of the highway, while Quetta City was cut-off from the highway.

Protesters putting up burnt tyres and raising barriers at the Hub River Bridge linking Karachi to Balochistan have cut off the road from Sindh to the industrial city of Hub.

The enraged demonstrators have also raised barriers on the Quetta-Karachi National Highway at Lakh Pas, Mastung, Qalat, Khuzdar, Wadh and other areas obstructing all sorts of traffic.

The road between Quetta and Iran has also been blocked off. Traffic has also been blocked at Nowshki, Dalbadin, Chaghi and Taftan.

The anger is spilling over, and the violence has wrecked large parts of Baluchistan, where the mood is to cut off ties and communication with the rest of the country.

Reports of violence and destruction of property have come in from areas like Turbat, Mand, Tump, Baleda, Dasht, Punjgur and Mastung. In Turbat, an under construction radio transmission building was damaged extensively.

Agitators were also reported to have staged a protest demonstration along the Coastal Highway in Gawadar; and some shops were ransacked in Chaghi.
Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 16:55 Comments || Top||

#3 

Anti-Pakistan Rioters step on a portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the father of Pakistan during a violent demonstration August 29, 2006 in Quetta, Pakistan.
Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 16:57 Comments || Top||

#4  informed sources said that most of the railway tracks leading out of Quetta have been blocked and boulders have been placed on railway lines.

Why do they hate trains?
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/30/2006 16:57 Comments || Top||

#5  Devolution in action.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 17:08 Comments || Top||

#6  "My name is Baluchi Montoya. You killed my nawab. Prepare to die."
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/30/2006 17:45 Comments || Top||


Blast in Baluchistan kills three
QUETTA, Pakistan - A bomb went off in a hotel in a town in the gas-rich Pakistani province of Baluchistan on Tuesday killing three people, police said. “Three people were killed on the spot while another three are seriously injured,” Maqsood Anwar, a police officer in the town of Hub, told Reuters.

Provincial interior minister Shoaib Nausherwani said the blast went off in a roadside hotel in Hub. He said it was too early to say if the blast was linked to the violent protests over the weekend killing of a veteran Baluch politician, Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.
I know, tough call.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Policeman probing Mumbai-blasts killed
MUMBAI: An anti-terrorism police officer probing last month's blasts in Mumbai was found dead on railway tracks in the western Indian city, police said on Tuesday. The body of assistant police commissioner Vinod Bhatt was recovered from the tracks near the suburbs of Dadar.
“A police spokesman said the detective was hit by a speeding train on Monday...”
A police spokesman said the detective was hit by a speeding train on Monday.
I think I saw that on an old Cary Grant movie last year...
The spokesman ruled out foul play but did not say why Bhatt was on the busy line of a suburban train network that carries millions of commuters everyday. Bhatt, who joined the Mumbai police force in 1974, was part of an anti-terrorism squad formed following the attacks on seven Mumbai trains which left 183 people dead and nearly 900 injured on July 11.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He reportedly sent his driver home, telling him he would catch the train.
Perhaps he was to meet a contact there?

Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 0:09 Comments || Top||

#2  In Mumbai, if you don't catch train, the train catches you!
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/30/2006 0:11 Comments || Top||

#3  :> Ha!
Posted by: 6 || 08/30/2006 18:44 Comments || Top||

#4  He was following the tracks of an important lead.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 19:18 Comments || Top||


Taliban seek 'huge compensation' for North Waziristan peace deal
PESHAWAR: Negotiations between Taliban leaders and a tribal jirga in North Waziristan have reached an impasse over the formers demand for a "huge compensation", sources told Daily Times on Tuesday. "The peace talks are hostage to the issue of compensation, which militants say the government should pay them for damages suffered in military operations," said the sources.
“Around Rs 50 million was paid to key Taliban commanders in South Waziristan in 2004 after they surrendered following a peace deal with the government, but the Taliban in North Waziristan are demanding Rs 200 million as compensation... ”
They said the ceasefire was extended because of "differences" between Taliban commanders and jirga members over the issue. "The sum they are demanding is quite large. It is in billions," they added.

Around Rs 50 million was paid to key Taliban commanders in South Waziristan in 2004 after they surrendered following a peace deal with the government, but the Taliban in North Waziristan, according to the sources, are demanding Rs 200 million as compensation. "We are trying to convince the Taliban commanders to reconsider their demand. We know about the damages, but the militants are trying to exploit the situation," a senior jirga member told Daily Times over the telephone from Miranshah. He said the government saw the militants' demand as "beyond justifiable".
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I suggest a 50 cal. enima as appropriate compensation.
Posted by: anymouse || 08/30/2006 1:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Aw fer cryin' out loud. How 'bout this: We promise not to kill you and rape your wife and kids. These guys aren't going to give up for money, are they? No. Suppose it's another hudna? Every rupee they get is going to be recycled into guns. Damages suffered in military operations? You get what you ask for. Be happy you're still walking. I can't believe they gave them Rs50M to begin with! That was either stupid or an excuse to hand a ton of government money to someone's own cousin. With appropriate kickbacks, of course.
Posted by: gorb || 08/30/2006 3:45 Comments || Top||

#3  I got one word for them.

Bangladesh.

It could happen to you.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/30/2006 6:38 Comments || Top||

#4  Is the opium bidnid not producing enough cash to maintain the Talib operations in Afghanistan? Do they really need a Pak government subsidy?
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 11:16 Comments || Top||

#5  That won't work, bigjim-ky. They're already so close to being another Bangladesh that they won't understand the implications.
Posted by: Darrell || 08/30/2006 11:26 Comments || Top||

#6  I also have one word for them - napalm. Gather together in large groups, so we can be more effective. Be sure to remember to bring the fluffy bunnies and baby duckies with you.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/30/2006 12:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Taliban seek 'huge compensation'

No gold, just lead.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:10 Comments || Top||


Police ambushed, SI killed
SWABI: A sub-inspector (SI) was killed and a constable injured when two unidentified motorcyclists opened fire at police on Tuesday. Sources said police was attacked while patrolling Swabi-Maneri road resulting in the death of SI Daad Bahadar Khan and injuring Constable Niaz Muhammad. The injured was rushed to hospital. The assailants managed to escape. Police have raided many locations and an FIR has been filed.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


5 tribesmen killed in clashes between religious groups
BARA: Five tribesmen were killed and three others were injured in armed clashes between two religious groups in the inaccessible Tirah Valley of Khyber Agency late on Monday night. According to reports from the area bordering Afghanistan, the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI)-backed Ansarul Islam attacked a group of armed Lashkar-e-Islam supporters, killing four men. Lashkar-e-Islam retaliated and killed one Ansarul Islam activist in addition to injuring three others. Sources said the incident triggered more armed conflicts between supporters of both groups in Darpar, Donga and Landa Kass. Authorities reportedly moved a heavy constabulary of paramilitary troops to the adjoining mountains surrounding Bara to maintain law and order in the area under its control.
JUI — both the Fazl affiliate and the Sami branch, if it hasn't gone out of business — are deeply involved with the cross-border Taliban.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Hafiz Saeed arrested again
Authorities detained Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, an hour after he was released following a court ruling his detention was illegal, his lawyer and spokesman said on Tuesday. Hafiz Mohammad Saeed was first placed under house arrest on August 10. But the Lahore High Court ordered his release on Monday. Released on Monday evening, Saeed was detained again an hour later, said his lawyer. Authorities said they feared his activities could affect law and order but had nothing to do with a plot foiled to blow up airliners over the Atlantic. "We were told that Hafiz was detained under the Maintenance of Public Order," said Jamat-ud-Dawa spokesman, Yahya Mujahid.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just enough time to take a shower and change his clothes. One can only hope he took advantage of the opportunity.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/30/2006 7:28 Comments || Top||

#2  Release and Catch, now there's a refreshing change.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:23 Comments || Top||


2,000 militants surrender
KOHLU: Six important Marri commanders and 2,000 militants surrendered to district authorities in Tadri, a town 140 kilometres from Kohlu, on Tuesday. Commanders Wadera Gazi Khan Marri, Wadera Bakht Ali Sherani Marri, Kari Khan Marri, Ruba Goryani Marri, Wadera Azeem alias Bhuda and Wadera Shamboo Khan Marri laid down their weapons. The district coordination officer said that this was the first time that the Marri tribesmen had surrendered and decided to support the government.
Snuffing Foster Brooks seems to have done some good.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Meet Nawab Khair Bakhsh Marri



Reportedly the Marris are hell bent on revenge for a series of airstrikes that killed some of their kin.

I would take this surrender story with a whole lot of salt.

Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 0:17 Comments || Top||

#2  I would take this surrender story with a whole lot of salt.

Good. This should leave enough to rub in their wounds afterwards.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 6:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Foster Brooks replaced with John Houseman
Posted by: Frank G || 08/30/2006 12:28 Comments || Top||

#4  John Houseman I thought he wuz ded.
Posted by: The Ironic Woman || 08/30/2006 18:46 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Iraqi minister cancels truce with Shia militia
DIWANIYAH, Iraq - Iraq’s defence minister declared the army’s truce with Shiite militants in the central city of Diwaniyah null and void on Wednesday and demanded an inquiry into the murder of 13 soldiers. Fighting erupted in Diwaniyah on Sunday between Iraqi army troops and the Mahdi Army militia. Officials reported that 23 soldiers, 50 militants and eight civilians were killed before local officials could negotiate a ceasefire.

Visiting the city Wednesday, Defence Minister Abdel Qader Jassim Mohammed denounced the truce under which the army agreed to pull out of residential areas, and rejected the idea of concessions to the gunmen.
Gloves off, we hope?
He also said that 13 of the military’s dead had been ‘executed’ by the militia fighters and demanded that this be investigatied while an ‘extraordinary security plan’ be implemented in the city.
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 12:44 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Def Min's a Sunni. Interior Min's a Shiite.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 12:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Gloves off, we hope?

me hope so too!

rip Sadr and Sadr City a new one.
Posted by: RD || 08/30/2006 13:51 Comments || Top||

#3  At some point either now when they got US backup or later when not the Iraqi gov is going to have to make clear the pecking order with the Mehdi boys very clear that the GOV is Trump.

Hopefully this is the straw that broke the camels back.

I like by Tater Tots extra crispy.
Posted by: C-Low || 08/30/2006 15:32 Comments || Top||

#4  If the upshot doesn't include one very dead Moqtada Sadr, then it's only a partial measure.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:17 Comments || Top||

#5  it's about time to kick sadrs' ass even mopre than fallujah

ah
Posted by: sinse || 08/30/2006 17:01 Comments || Top||


Fuel Pipeline Explosion in Iraq Kills 36
A pipeline carrying oil byproducts exploded in a southern Iraqi city Tuesday, sparking a massive fire and killing at least 36 people, the Interior Ministry said. Several people had been siphoning fuel from the pipeline when the explosion occurred in an industrial zone south of Diwaniyah, 80 miles south of Baghdad, police Lt. Raid Jabir said. The Interior Ministry in Baghdad said 36 people were killed and 45 were injured. The reason for the explosion was not immediately clear.
"Mahmoud! I told yez to put out that see-gaar!"
The pipeline is located six miles south of Diwaniyah. It was originally used to transport gas from the Shuaiba oil field in Basra to the Musayyib power station, but former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein converted it in 2003 to hold gasoline reserves for the army, Jabir said. He said locals made a hole in the pipeline to siphon off fuel after the fall of Saddam's regime in 2003.
KUNA says 60 killed, 20 injured... Make that 82 and rising...

Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This happens all the time in Nigeria but I hadn't heard of it before in Iraq.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/30/2006 0:26 Comments || Top||

#2  The pipeline is located six miles south of Diwaniyah.

Home of Sadr's latest insurgence. Roast in hell, baby.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 6:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Tsk, tsk, tsk.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:32 Comments || Top||


Four more US soldiers die in Iraq
BAGHDAD - The US military on Tuesday announced the deaths of four US soldiers, bringing to 12 the number of troops that have died over three days.

Two soldiers died in separate incidents from wounds received in ”enemy action” on Sunday in the western Al Anbar province of Iraq, according to a statement from coalition headquarters. The two casualties brought to 10 the number of servicemen to have died as a result of wounds sustained on Sunday in insurgent attacks, with eight of them reported dead in and around Baghdad.

In another incident, a soldier died on Sunday from non-hostile causes, a statement said without offering details. Earlier Tuesday the military had said another US soldier died after his Humvee utility vehicle rolled into an Iraqi canal. A statement said a National Guardsman from Nebraska died as a result of injuries sustained a week earlier when the Humvee flipped into water near Camp Anaconda outside Balad, northern Iraq. “Two others were injured in the accident (and) are still undergoing treatment for their injuries,” it added.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Humvees tendency to flip over would have been aggravated by adding a lot of bolt-on armor.

Still, six or eight months ago, I read (here) an account where after US forces tried for hours to recover their comrades from a flipped-over Humvee in a canal, the Iraqi army came by and took over the recovery opperation.

I'm sure the NYT carried the story, too.....
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 6:48 Comments || Top||

#2  In other words, those that screamed the military failed because the Hummers were not tanks are complicit.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 6:49 Comments || Top||

#3  GOd bless them and their families.
Posted by: 49 Pan || 08/30/2006 8:19 Comments || Top||

#4  In other words, those that screamed the military failed because the Hummers were not tanks are complicit.

Yep. Just like the screaming safety nannies who forced the auto industry to install passenger side airbags without enough testing resulting in infants being killed. No one pillors these twerps in front of cameras with the video records of their demands and then pictures of the consequences.
Posted by: Grinter Snereter2038 || 08/30/2006 10:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Grinter-
Sadly, their response would be that the military screwed it up and that it certainly wasn't their fault...

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski || 08/30/2006 11:00 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Islamic Jihad leader dies in Jordan hospital
A senior Palestinian militant leader who was shot by undercover Israeli troops in the West Bank a week ago died on Wednesday in a hospital in Jordan, representatives of his group said. Hosam Jaradat, the leader of Islamic Jihad in the town of Jenin, was shot and wounded on Aug. 23 by Israeli troops hiding out in a vehicle, witnesses said at the time. He was taken to hospital, where he was said to be in critical condition. Islamic Jihad representatives said on Wednesday he died in hospital in Jordan, but did not provide further details.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/30/2006 07:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Every day, the World is becoming a better place.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Given the islamic world's birthrate, I think not.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 08/30/2006 8:16 Comments || Top||

#3  hiding out in a vehicle

How shameful! Why, that's just like a sniper! How rude!
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 8:18 Comments || Top||

#4  gillie suit made of fine corinthian leather?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/30/2006 8:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Hey, no fair! I thought only Jihadis could hide out and strike without warning.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 08/30/2006 8:50 Comments || Top||

#6  hey mcsegeek1:

you have it almost right.

jihadi leaders hide out and send jihadi fighters to fight.
jihadi fighters strike without warning. and die.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 08/30/2006 9:31 Comments || Top||

#7  Those poor virgins.
Posted by: BigEd || 08/30/2006 11:37 Comments || Top||

#8  #7 Those poor virgins.
Yep, it'd be just like Mohamhead to "forget" to tell his "disciples" that they ALL have to SHARE the same 72, wouldn't it? It must be getting quite crowded in the waiting room...
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/30/2006 12:38 Comments || Top||

#9  #2 We seek to produce a rational kzin muslem.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 13:00 Comments || Top||

#10  Hey, no fair! I thought only Jihadis could hide out and strike without warning.

At least that's what the press says.

Yep, it'd be just like Mohamhead to "forget" to tell his "disciples" that they ALL have to SHARE the same 72, wouldn't it?

Talk about "sloppy seconds"! Yerg.

Nice Niven reference, gromgoru.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:05 Comments || Top||

#11  Nice Niven reference, gromgoru.

Here, at general products, we aim to please.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 20:04 Comments || Top||

#12  gillie suit made of fine Corinthian leather?

LOL Frank...de humor, blood rare just like-I-like it!!
Posted by: RD || 08/30/2006 21:14 Comments || Top||

#13  :-)
Posted by: Frank G || 08/30/2006 21:24 Comments || Top||

#14  "Islamic Jihad leader dies in Jordan hospital"

Any chance it was painful?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/30/2006 21:55 Comments || Top||

#15  I prefer slow and painful, Barbara.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 23:16 Comments || Top||


Three Israeli airstrikes on eastern Gaza kill five Palestinians
Five Palestinians were killed and three were injured on Wednesday morning in three separate Israeli army airstrikes carried out by reconnaissance drones on eastern Gaza City, medics and eyewitnesses reported. The witnesses said that Israeli drones fired three air-to- ground missiles at groups of people, including militants gathering into Sheja'eya neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, killing five militants and wounding three civilians.

They said that following the first strike, in which three were killed, militants gathered again in the area and clashes with Israeli soldiers, and the drone fired another missile which killed a forth Palestinian. Then the drone came back again and fired a third missile at the militants who were opening fire at Israeli soldiers while seizing the roofs of buildings in the neighborhood, killing the fifth Palestinian. Palestinian doctors at Shiffa Hospital in Gaza City confirmed that the hospital firstly received three dead bodies and three wounded people by the first airstrike, and two other bodies were received later separately after the second and the third airstrikes.

The Israeli army has been carrying a ground operation into the neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, which is not far from Karni commercial crossing point, which was also closed down before Palestinian commerce.
Posted by: ryuge || 08/30/2006 07:19 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  the drone came back again and fired a third missile at the militants who were opening fire at Israeli soldiers while seizing the roofs of buildings in the neighborhood, killing the fifth Palestinian.

The wrath of SkyNet.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:27 Comments || Top||

#2  let's see.

3 attacks = 5 dead.

mumble mumble.....carry the 5...mumble mumble....square root of 349.05438.....mumble mumble.....

only 857,328 more attacks to go and we're home free.
Posted by: PlanetDan || 08/30/2006 9:29 Comments || Top||

#3  857,327 You forgot the effects of this one.
Posted by: JFM || 08/30/2006 10:39 Comments || Top||

#4  Need to arm one of these drones with a 7.62mm chain gun and a thousand rounds of ammo. It would be more cost-effective in the long run. I'm sure those missiles are expensive.

Global Hawk could easily carry that much.

Hmmmm, may be a good idea for OUR southern border. Kinda hard on the women and kids, but would sure put a stop to the "undocumented workers" streaming across the border.
Posted by: Old Patriot || 08/30/2006 12:42 Comments || Top||

#5  might be more fun to rig an A-10 up as a big R/C toy and turn it loose with the big gun. probably be quicker than all the gov't BS in 'qualifying' a new weapons system ( ie Chain Hawk)
Posted by: USN, ret. || 08/30/2006 14:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Chain Hawk

That does have a certain special ring to it.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:21 Comments || Top||

#7  As a former SAC-trained killer, I can only lament the continuing downgrading of the term airstrike. An airstrike used to be three cells of B-52s unloading 170+ tons of 750 pound bombs. Now it is a helicopter shooting one Hellfire missile. In another few years it will be a Raven UAV dropping a cherry bomb.
Posted by: RWV || 08/30/2006 20:42 Comments || Top||

#8  RWV, I almost read that as;

"In another few years it will be a Raven UAV dropping a cherry bomb."
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 21:40 Comments || Top||


Al-Quds brigades bomb Israeli military tractor, two Israeli towns
(KUNA) -- Al-Quds brigades, the military wing of Islamic Jihad, claimed Tuesday responsibility for bombing an Israeli military tractor
"Hrarrr! Boom the tractor, Mahmoud!"
"Yes, O Corpulent One!"
and launching two rockets on two southern Israeli towns.
"And launch the rockets!"
"Yes, Your Immensity! What are the targeting coordinates?"
"Over that way and, ummm... over that way."
The brigades said in a statement that its fighters successfully totaled an Israeli tractor, noting the fighters returned safely to the movement's bases.
"The tractor is totalled, Your Purulence!"
"Awright. Back to base. Try not to get hurt this time!"
In another statement, the brigades said it launched two Quds rockets on the southern Israeli towns of Sderot and Zakim. The statements stressed these operations were in retaliation to the Zionist crimes against Palestinian people.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Iff the Cold War is any measure, probably did more damage to the food supplies and jobs of their own people than to the IDF.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/30/2006 2:49 Comments || Top||

#2  LOL, Fred!
Posted by: flyover || 08/30/2006 3:13 Comments || Top||


Palestinian finance minister's detention extended
“In all, more than two-dozen Hamas lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers were rounded up.”
The military court extended the detention of the Palestinian finance minister, Omar Abdel Razek and several other Hamas officials for two more weeks, the army said on Tuesday. Razek is among dozens of top Hamas officials rounded up by Israel after Hamas members kidnapped Cpl. Gilad Shalit in June. In all, more than two-dozen Hamas lawmakers and five Cabinet ministers were rounded up. Four other government ministers were arrested, but later released.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Te, he, he!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/30/2006 6:41 Comments || Top||

#2  To be traded for another player at a later date ...
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:25 Comments || Top||

#3  The Palestinian Finance Minister?
Well, it's not like he's been doing much lately...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/30/2006 16:46 Comments || Top||


Sri Lanka
Death toll in Sri Lankan military operation exceeds 100
(KUNA) -- The death toll in a Sri Lankan military operation against Tamil rebels has exceeded 100 after two days of fighting, government said Tuesday. Sri Lankan government troops supported by air and artillery began the offensive Sunday. At least 13 soldiers have been killed and over 80 injured. The military said it killed more than 90 rebels, Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told reporters Tuesday at capital Colombo, news agency Indo-Asian News Service reported.

The Sri Lankan military wants to control Trincomalee harbour on the country's Eastern Coast. Colombo accuses the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to launch attacks on the naval base at Trincomalee and shipping lines. The Military spokesman claimed the operation was in retaliation to rebel attacks in the area and was not an offensive action.

Meanwhile in a separate incident, at least 16 LTTE cadres were killed by Army when they tried to infiltrate the military's forward defence lines in Puarasankulam, 260 kms north of Colombo, Samarasinghe said. Meanwhile, an editor at a Tamil radio station in Colombo was abducted Tuesday morning, the news agency reported. He was working for the Sooryan FM radio station, known for its in-depth coverage of the situation in the north and eastern provinces.
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A hundred dead? The Sri Lankan press must be apoplectic! They've got to withdraw from the quagmire.

Oh, right. They live there.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 6:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Where's the UNSC urgent meeting?
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:34 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iranian Submarine Launched Missiles
August 30, 2006: Iran test fired what appeared to be a Russian Klub-S (3M54) submarine launched anti-ship missile. Weighing two tons, and fired from a 533mm (21 inch) torpedo tube on a Kilo class sub, it has a 440 pound warhead. The anti-ship version speeds up to 3,000 kilometers an hour during its last minute or so of its flight, and has a range of 220 kilometers. There is also a land attack version, with a 300 kilometers range and an 880 pound warhead.

Iran has three Kilo class subs, bought from Russia in the 1990s. China has a dozen on order. China already has some of its Kilos, and has received 3M54 missiles as well. So Iran could have gotten the 3M54s from Russia or China. It???s unlikely Iran built their new missiles themselves. Even China, with far more resources, has not gotten far in this area. Much easier to make a deal to get them from Russia or China. Or even India, which also has the 3M54, although is not likely to sell them to Iran.

It's also possible that Iran has an earlier Russian cruise missile launched from a torpedo tube (the "Granit"). This was a 1980s development, made obsolete by the recently developed 3M54 (nicknamed "Klub"). The Granit is not designed to hit ships at sea, but fixed targets on land.

The problem with the 3M54 is that it would make it easer for Iran to shut down oil exports from the Persian Gulf, at least for a while. China and India have economies heavily dependent on that oil, and would suffer if the oil supplies were interrupted. But Russia, as a major oil exporter, would benefit enormously if Iran shut off Persian Gulf oil for a while, and oil prices spiked.
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 16:21 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There are different versions of the Klub. Most are anti-ship. One is Land Attack.

Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 16:28 Comments || Top||

#2  The problem with the 3M54 is that it would make it easer for Iran to shut down oil exports from the Persian Gulf, at least for a while.

That's assuming the subs even make it out of their pens.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:29 Comments || Top||

#3  That's assuming the subs even make it out of their pens.

No doubt the recent Iranian exercise gave our fast-attack boys a chance to listen in up close.

I pray to the God of Irony that JIMMY CARTER was one of the boats involved.
Posted by: SteveS || 08/30/2006 16:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Iran can shut, or at lesat threaten, the gulf with land based missiles. These subs would probably be targeting the U.S. Navy.

I would bet that they don't go anywhere without a tail.
Posted by: DoDo || 08/30/2006 16:41 Comments || Top||

#5  #4 I would bet that they don't go anywhere without a tail.

A guy I work with just confirmed that. Navy P3 guy as a sub hunter (And that is ALL he will say!) To quote him, when we were discussing them firing missles from subs, "well, all I will say, is for each of their little bitty subs, there is one big one trailing along behind," and walked off.
Posted by: Sherry || 08/30/2006 17:13 Comments || Top||

#6  I pray to the God of Irony that JIMMY CARTER was one of the boats involved.

I don't think Carter even deserves that shred of ostensible redemption.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 17:22 Comments || Top||

#7  One sub missile flys to Pakistan
One to Saudi

We could warn both stand by, and eat some popcorn.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/30/2006 17:47 Comments || Top||

#8  I pray to the God of Irony that JIMMY CARTER was one of the boats involved.

I'm sure that, inspite of all that Carter did for them the Iranian probably named their boats after some mullah or iman or something....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/30/2006 17:58 Comments || Top||

#9  Uh, we named a boat after JC. The spy sub that does underwater black bag jobs. The one least likely to get mentioned in a press release.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 18:51 Comments || Top||

#10  I know about that NS. I was just implying that the Mullahs might want to honor their best friend - who helped so much - Jimmy Carter.

I hope we are keeping a close eye on these subs. Having one of them surface in one of our ports wiht a nuke on board would allow the Iranians to take a major city hostage.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/30/2006 19:08 Comments || Top||

#11  could that missile carry a nuke?
Posted by: Kalle || 08/30/2006 19:33 Comments || Top||

#12  could that missile carry a nuke?

Not one the Iranians could build. Warhead miniaturization is a ridiculously advanced science that is light years beyond Iran's abilities.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 19:46 Comments || Top||

#13  I predict that the Jimmy Carter will be attacked by a nuclear rabbit
Posted by: Captain America || 08/30/2006 21:07 Comments || Top||

#14  one would unfortunately assume the USS Jimmy Carter to be unarmed, leaderless, with the crew wearing cardigans to save fuel and stopping in to negotiate at NK, Iran, Syria, et al, against orders from the C-in-C. I am told this is not the case
Posted by: Frank G || 08/30/2006 21:21 Comments || Top||

#15  Jimmy is bringing the last Iranian Prez into the US to speak with him.

Can Jimmy please leave our country for good?

What's his problem? Didn't he fuck up the USA enough as Prez?
Posted by: 3dc || 08/30/2006 21:32 Comments || Top||

#16  I thought the USS Jimmy Carter was the Brunwick garbage tug.
Posted by: SR-71 || 08/30/2006 21:46 Comments || Top||

#17  I think Jimmy must be on the on the Imam's payroll. He should finally choose sides for once.... and quick.
Posted by: WITT || 08/30/2006 23:00 Comments || Top||

#18  Radical Iran would have to either attack first or launch first before their new subs + everything else gets blown to camel-reenies. Its SOP in the USN - any and all air, land, and undersea, now add space, current threats or potential = LR threats is eliminated-contained, preferably eliminated, before a CVBG andor MAG gets even close.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/30/2006 23:02 Comments || Top||


Hezbo Brawl Predicted in January
From Memri

In January 2006, Raghida Dergham, New York bureau chief for the London daily Al-Hayat, published an analysis titled "Various Scenarios That Would Prompt an Israeli Strike on Lebanon and Syria." In one of the scenarios she described, Syria and Iran would try to draw Israel into a war by using Hizbullah and Palestinian factions, with the aim of easing the international pressure on them.
Posted by: Hupeagum Jolush5969 || 08/30/2006 16:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is supposed to be news?
Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden || 08/30/2006 18:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Do they think they are like Rommel? Hardly.
Posted by: newc || 08/30/2006 19:52 Comments || Top||

#3  surprise meter?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/30/2006 21:22 Comments || Top||


Iran ignores six powers, UN Security Council demand on enrichment
VIENNA, Austria - Shrugging off the threat of UN sanctions, Iran continued to enrich uranium as recently as on Tuesday, two days before a Security Council deadline to freeze such activity, while ignoring overtures from world powers for a new meeting on its nuclear program, UN and European officials said on Wednesday. The officials, who demanded anonymity because their information was confidential, said Iranian defiance on enrichment -to be detailed in a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency due to be completed Thursday - could act as a trigger for the Security Council, which had set Aug. 31 as the final day for Teheran to freeze such activity.

Sanctions do not loom immediately, with permanent council members Russia and China likely to resist US-led efforts for a quick response.

In another sign of Iran’s willingness to confront the international community, a senior European government said Teheran has not responded to a recent European Union offer on behalf of the five Security Council members plus Germany to discuss Teheran’s terms for new nuclear talks. Such behaviour will likely strengthen Washington’s push to move toward economic sanctions on the Islamic republic sooner than later.

Inspectors for the Vienna-based IAEA remained in Iran Wednesday as they continued gathering information that will go into Thursday’s restricted report. While their most recent findings were not available by Wednesday afternoon, a senior UN official said that Iranian centrifuges were enriching small quantities of uranium gas as late as Tuesday. Iran insists it has a right to enrich for what it says is a future nuclear power program. There is increasing concern, however, that Teheran could misuse the technology to aim for material enriched to the level required for weapons, to be used as the fissile core of nuclear weapons.

The United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany offered Iran a package of technological and political incentives June 1 in exchange for Teheran’s commitment to freeze enrichment before talks began. Teheran’s response Aug. 21, which heads of governments and senior diplomats have characterized as an inadequate counteroffer that will be rejected, makes no mention of any willingness to suspend enrichment before talks let alone consider a long-term moratorium on such activity.

Still, senior EU foreign policy official Javier Solana has offered to meet with Iranian nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani to explore if there is common ground, but up to now Iran has snubbed that overture, said the senior European official.
Posted by: Steve || 08/30/2006 12:52 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sanctions do not loom immediately, with permanent council members Russia and China likely to resist US-led efforts for a quick response.

I think Iran feels totally secure at the UN believing China needs its oil and Russia needs it's cash for weapons.
Posted by: Jesing Ebbease3087 || 08/30/2006 19:58 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't think they understand that the UN will only be collateral damage.
Posted by: Nimble Spemble || 08/30/2006 20:26 Comments || Top||

#3  Iran has to accept the UNO sanctions - unilateral, state-specific sanctions outside of the UNO only means Radical Iran will incur some delays but over time will still prevail as to its nucprogs. No acceptance by Iran of sanctions = divided UNSC = disunified/fragmented International sanctions = no UNSC military action > IRAN WINS, AND IRAN KNOWS IT. DUBYA'S = USA'S CHOICE > DO NOTHING PERIOD AND TOLERATE THE ISLAMIST/MUSLIM BOMB, OR INITIATE MILITARY ACTION, WITH OR WITHOUT THE UNO'S CONSENT.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/30/2006 23:33 Comments || Top||


Italian Task Force Sets Sail for Lebanon
ABOARD THE GIUSEPPE GARIBALDI (AP) - A five-ship Italian fleet set off for Lebanon on Tuesday carrying more than 800 soldiers bound for U.N. peacekeeping duties. The task force, led by Italy's only aircraft carrier the Giuseppe Garibaldi, assembled some 20 miles off the southern port of Brindisi for a brief sendoff ceremony.

Marines and engineering corps specialists are included in the vanguard of a 2,500-strong contingent Italy is contributing to the expanded UNIFIL force. It is the largest national contingent so far committed to the force, which is to help the Lebanese army maintain a fragile cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah militants.

Three landing platform dock ships and a corvette also departed Brindisi with more than 1,300 sailors aboard, while a small frigate already in Cyprus was to join the Italian mission, the Defense Ministry said. The carrier has loaded only four combat jets. The rest of its aircraft are transport helicopters.

The Italian troops were expected to reach the coast of Lebanon on Friday. Chief of Staff Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola said the contingent was likely to be deployed in and around Tyre, a southern port city.
The Italians are actually getting on with it. I'm impressed; getting the contingent and ships going from a standing start takes hard work.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  FRANCE has decided to send 900 troops + LECLERC MBTs.
Posted by: JosephMendiola || 08/30/2006 2:51 Comments || Top||

#2  New shields for Hezbollah.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/30/2006 7:31 Comments || Top||

#3  France has decided several different things already, as posted here at Rantburg. I'll believe it when they've all landed in Lebanon and taken up posts there.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/30/2006 7:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Impressive capability from such a small navy
Posted by: john || 08/30/2006 7:38 Comments || Top||

#5  Whew! Italians on the way. We can all relax now.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 08/30/2006 8:54 Comments || Top||

#6  I hope the Italian soldiers keep safe. This is very dangerous mission to be either Hezb'allahs human sheilds or Hezb'Allahs dis-armers.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles || 08/30/2006 11:12 Comments || Top||

#7  Hezb'allahs human sheilds or Hezb'Allahs dis-armers.

One of your possibilities is very probable, the other extremely remote.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 16:59 Comments || Top||


Lebanon Seizes Hezbollah Arms
The Lebanese Army has seized weapons belonging to Hezbollah in south Lebanon, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora was quoted as saying in a French newspaper yesterday. “The army has been seizing certain weapons, that is confirmed,” Siniora told a group of four journalists, including Le Monde’s correspondent, accompanying UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to Beirut. “There have been interceptions, but our policy is not to make announcements on such matters,” he said, adding that the seizures involved “heavy weapons.”

“We are not the enemies of Hezbollah,” he said, “but we will tolerate no armed presence, either carrying weapons or wearing uniforms.” He said: “No area will be off limits to the army.” He vowed that Lebanese forces would “confiscate any weapons that it finds. That is already what is happening in a firm but friendly way.”
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He musta learned what happens when the Hezbos start cooking off those fireworks, IAF boomers.
Posted by: Captain America || 08/30/2006 0:13 Comments || Top||

#2  Fuad's word is as reliable as a fa*t.
Posted by: Duh! || 08/30/2006 0:14 Comments || Top||

#3  I wonder if they seize more than a small fraction of the total flow.

"See? I claim to have seized three rusty AK-47s. Proof positive that I am on your side."
Posted by: gorb || 08/30/2006 3:40 Comments || Top||

#4  Fuad Siniora and Koffi the Comedian what a team it is. It won't be long till Hebollah will kick him out....."Each one hopes that if it feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last"....Winston Churchill
Posted by: Glang Glulet9525 || 08/30/2006 4:45 Comments || Top||

#5  So ... a couple of clips later.
Posted by: Zenster || 08/30/2006 5:11 Comments || Top||

#6  Every silver lining has another silver lining - at least he knows what he's expected to do - and say.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/30/2006 6:14 Comments || Top||

#7  Probably obsolete, non-working, without ammo, stuff like what shows up to the "gun buy-back" programs the liberal idiots do in our cities.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/30/2006 8:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Yeah, sounds credible to me. I trust the Lebs implicitly.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 08/30/2006 8:55 Comments || Top||

#9  even if its a lie, or even if its only obsolete non-working stuff, this sets a precedent. If Hezb and Syria sit by while Siniora SAYS hes seized arms, it makes it just a tad less credible for them to get upset if and when he later really does so.

OTOH Siniora has a huge incentive to make things look good NOW, to end the blockade. Once the blockade ends we can expect positive moves to slow down.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 08/30/2006 10:20 Comments || Top||

#10  If you fired off your rockets would there be anything left at the launch point of value? I'm wondering if they grabbed spent ordinance and claimed a victory.
Posted by: rjschwarz || 08/30/2006 12:34 Comments || Top||

#11  Michael Totten had some photographs of literal museum pieces sitting outside of a Hezbollah propaganda museum near the border, before the war. Wonder if that gave one of Siniora's people an idea...
Posted by: Mitch H. || 08/30/2006 14:08 Comments || Top||


Good morning...
Chavez 'united' with Syria against US aggressionBritish Authorities Charge 3 More in Jetliner Terror Plot2,000 militants surrenderDeath toll in Sri Lankan military operation exceeds 100On Lebanon Trip, Annan Retreats On HostagesFuel Pipeline Explosion in Iraq Kills 3650 Chechen fighters surrender armsOlmert Denies Destroying Hezbollah Was War's AimPM Aziz Wins Trust Vote in Parliament
Posted by: Fred || 08/30/2006 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I got it, come and get it
Posted by: Captain America || 08/30/2006 0:06 Comments || Top||

#2  Go ahead. We promise not to peek. ;-)
Posted by: Scott R || 08/30/2006 1:03 Comments || Top||

#3  You bozos stay where you are.

Let me get that for you miss!
Posted by: gorb || 08/30/2006 3:37 Comments || Top||

#4  Is that Joan Blondell? Joan had a great towel rack...
Posted by: JDB || 08/30/2006 6:40 Comments || Top||

#5  *knock* *knock* *knock*
"Who's there?"
"It's the blind man."
"I'm in the tub... but seeing as your blind, well go ahead."
"Say! Nice rack! Where do you need these blinds installed?"
Posted by: eLarson || 08/30/2006 7:17 Comments || Top||

#6  The good thing about the Good Morning series, is that you can always bet on the first 4 replies, being a tongues-out comment about the babe.

And yes, that's Joan Blondell.

It's from the aptly-named 1931 film, Blonde Crazy.

Cheers,
Victoria (Strawberry Blonde Crazy)
Posted by: Victoria || 08/30/2006 8:11 Comments || Top||

#7  If you think that's a funny pic, just try doing this in a prison collective shower, for crissakes!
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 08/30/2006 8:14 Comments || Top||

#8  That's a little more of your past than I needed to explore, 5089.
Posted by: mcsegeek1 || 08/30/2006 8:53 Comments || Top||

#9  Thanks for the helpful photo. The only time I know what I'm "really" doing is when I'm stairing at the porcelain.
Posted by: Besoeker || 08/30/2006 8:56 Comments || Top||

#10  Oh, for the good ol' days, when beautiful women took baths with ribbons in their hair.

Though I hope that pic was taken with a WA lens, otherwise Fred's got the goods on an alien life form.
Posted by: mrp || 08/30/2006 9:41 Comments || Top||

#11  In honor of .com's return - this photo claims to be Joan Blondell in the buff

Posted by: 3dc || 08/30/2006 18:15 Comments || Top||

#12  Well, I don't know if that's Joan Blondell, but she certainly is well buffed!
Posted by: Parabellum || 08/30/2006 18:41 Comments || Top||

#13  You mean like This guy 5089?

[youtube link]
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/30/2006 19:15 Comments || Top||



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Two weeks of WOT
Wed 2006-08-30
  Brits Charge 3 More in Jetliner Terror Plot
Tue 2006-08-29
  50 Tater Tots and 20 soldiers killed in Iraq
Mon 2006-08-28
  Syrian Charged in Germany Over Failed Bomb Plot
Sun 2006-08-27
  Iran tests submarine-to-surface missile
Sat 2006-08-26
  Akbar Bugti killed in Kohlu operation
Fri 2006-08-25
  Frenchies to Send 2,000 Troops to Lebanon
Thu 2006-08-24
  Clashes kill 25 more Taleban in southern Afghanistan
Wed 2006-08-23
  Group claims abduction of Fox News journalists
Tue 2006-08-22
  Iran ready to talk interminably
Mon 2006-08-21
  Iran Denies Inspectors Access to Site
Sun 2006-08-20
  Annan: UN won't 'wage war' in Lebanon
Sat 2006-08-19
  Lebanese Army memo: stand with HizbAllah
Fri 2006-08-18
  Frenchies Throw U.N Peacekeeping Plans Into Disarray
Thu 2006-08-17
  Lebanese Army Moves South
Wed 2006-08-16
  Leb contorts, obfuscates over Hezbollah disarmament

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