#7
Found you almost from day 1 via a link from Insty. You are one of only 2, besides Insty, that I still follow out of dozens that I started following after that dark day.
#13
I think I was late to the party by a few days, but the 'Burg has been a daily haunt for the past 10 years. Other websites have come and gone, but Rantburg's been a permanent fixture at the top of my bookmark list. Thanks for all you do, Fred!
#14
RB is a daily visit for me and I have had a number of associates take my recommendation to read it daily. A superb news and opinion source. Thank you.
#17
Education with commentary. Thank you.
No card from Islamic Rage Boy?
Posted by: Steven ||
09/12/2011 13:53 Comments ||
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#18
Still the best clearinghouse for WoT news.
Posted by: Chris W. ||
09/12/2011 13:55 Comments ||
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#19
I also found Fred via Instapundit. That was back in the days before comments, even. Then we could comment, and then Fred started doing his hilarious in-lines.
I had been commenting for a while when he offered me the opportunity to be a 'moderator' (along with a couple other folks, all of whom have since moved on). What's that? Oh, a chance to post articles and do your own in-lines, he replied.
I took that like a trout taking a fly. Been moderating ever since. Not just for the fun, not just to read what's important in the world, not just to work with and for Fred, but for the pleasure of being around all the good people I've met*.
All y'all are great. Thank you, Fred.
* Isn't it time for another Rantapalooza?
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2011 14:11 Comments ||
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#22
Congratulations, Fred! I'm a relative 'newbie' here (only about 5 years, I believe) but I can surely echo what the others are saying regarding Rantburg being my first and foremost daily news 'read'. This truly is 'Tomorrow's News Today'
It also helps to know that there are lots of other folk who see the world as I do about so many issues and dangers. Keeps the depression at bay, plus I seem to learn something every day via 'Rantburg U'.
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/12/2011 14:28 Comments ||
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#23
Fred, I am a long time reader and very infrequent commenter and I treasure this site for all the valuable information it has provided me over the years. Sadly, I wish you weren't needed any more but am glad you are here as a much needed resource, Happy B'day Rantburg.
Posted by: Total War ||
09/12/2011 14:38 Comments ||
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#24
This site and Long war Journal i read daily.
Congratulations to Fred,TW etc.
We need to spread the truth to the general public regarding the likes of Saudi,Iran,Pakistan,China and Russia all Western enemies!
Posted by: Paul D ||
09/12/2011 14:43 Comments ||
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#25
10 years. It's aged well.
Glad I've been here for most of it.
Posted by: James ||
09/12/2011 16:28 Comments ||
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#29
Fred, the Burg has been daily reading for me for years now. We deeply appreciate all the effort. Now head to the O Club and grab yourself a frosty one.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
09/12/2011 16:51 Comments ||
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#30
Thank you Fred and everyone involved for putting together and maintaining such an excellent site.
#31
Thanks Fred. As I recall, I found Rantburg through a weekly print magazine which went under. Might have been called This Week. Rantburg was mentioned as an outstanding blogging site for info on the WOT. It has indeed proven to be!
#32
Best site around , the quality of posters says a lot on how valued you are Fred .. Rantburg is a shining beacon in this pus filled mire we call WOT
#33
Thank you Fred, Rantburg is a great wealth of information. I love the exchange of ideas and the comments are awesome.
Yes Rantapaloosa time toga toga toga
Close to Colorado this time?
Posted by: Jan at work ||
09/12/2011 17:33 Comments ||
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#34
I found Rantburg.com via one of Emperor Misha's very brief lulls in expressing invective, about 2002.
Yes, it is, Steve - somewhere around the DC/Baltimore area to accommodate me Fred would be my suggestion. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara ||
09/12/2011 18:49 Comments ||
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#36
Did Glenn ever share his energy drink recipe with you?
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
09/12/2011 18:55 Comments ||
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#37
TGFR, and thank you, Fred, for the space and freedom that is here, moderated on such a fine balance, Tx, Mods. A 3XDaily read for many years wherever I may be. I am gathering every front page to be used as a History book 40 years hence, (with relevant ° issues solved, of course). Happy Birthday, to all Burgers, too, truly Rantburg-U, all the time.Thanks, once again.
#39
Happy 10th!!! Fred, thank you for all you have done. And to the mods, Steve, Bad, TW, LOTP, et all! And to the folks that made the site great, folks like .com, Frank, hehe had to put them together, OS, AP and the rest of the great RB family! And Yes it is time for another Rantapoloza!!!!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/12/2011 21:07 Comments ||
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#40
Happy 10th, Fred! How much is that in blog years?
I raise a glass to you and all the people who have made this possible, and to the time when the whole WOT becomes a relic of the past. F-150, Q-ship, Arclight!
#41
Fred, you have built a place that I had always hoped to build myself. But your creation is better and more well thought out than my vision ever had been. Thanks.
#42
I am honored to be "put together" with .com. I miss him
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/12/2011 22:52 Comments ||
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#43
Thanks for the decade.. 3dc/watermodem....
On another topic.. Fred - Get Well and enjoy retirement!
Posted by: Water Modem ||
09/12/2011 23:50 Comments ||
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#44
I'm not sure exactly when or how I found Rantburg. It was a while after that before I dared post, I was so awed by those already sitting around Fred's campfire, chewing over the news. I'm still awed by y'all, and honoured that you gave me my very own clue bat, the heavily padded one with the periwinkle ribbons. ;-) And I'm very pleased to meet those of you posting for the first time, and to see the rara avii (is that right?) who generally prefer to read and ponder. Welcome and thrice welcome!
Has it been years already? I must have been napping long than I thought...
TRIPOLI: Bouzaid Dorda, the head of Muammar Qaddafi's external security organization, has been arrested by anti-Qaddafi fighters, Reuters witnesses said Sunday. Dorda, Qaddafi's foreign intelligence service chief, will be handed over to Libya's interim governing council later, an anti-Qaddafi fighter said.
Betcha he's already not feeling so good...
A team of Reuters journalists visited a house in the capital's Zenata district where Dorda, a former prime minister, was held by members of a unit of anti-Qaddafi fighters who call themselves Brigades of the Martyr Abdelati Ghaddour.
Dorda was kept in the downstairs living room of a private house, which was guarded by about 20 fighters clad in battle fatigues and armed with assault rifles.
Dorda took on his job in May after his predecessor Moussa Koussa defected. Dorda is one of several former government officials rounded up since Tripoli fell to anti-Qaddafi forces last month. Qaddafi's foreign minister, Abdelati Obeidi, was arrested on Aug. 31 in a suburb west of Tripoli.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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"Life" in Britian ammounts to 20 Years.
Big deal.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/12/2011 3:17 Comments ||
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[Tripoli Post] The head of Libya's new leadership, National Transitional Council chief Mustafa Abdul Jalil, Saturday flew in to the country's capital, Tripoli, from Benghazi for his first visit since the NTC fighters seized Tripolil and ousted former leader Muammar Al Qadaffy ...a reminder that a single man with an idea can screw up an entire nation...
Abdul Jalil, who landed at an air force base on the outskirts of Tripoli, the Maitiga airport, was given a rapturous welcome and greeted by a boisterous red carpet ceremony that is meant to show that he is taking charge of the interim government thus replacing the Al Qadaffy's dictatorial regime.
Hundreds of fighters and officials rushed toward the plane as Abdul Jalil, NTC leader since March, walked down the steps, with most of them flashing victory signs ad shouted "God is great." A large crowd gathered around him on his way to the air force building. The NTC called the arrival Mustafa Abdel Jalil, "historic".
After meeting with local leaders inside, Abdul-Jalil called for unity among Libyans to finish the fight against Al Qadaffy loyalists. He also called for forgiveness to allow Libyans to rebuild the country.
Jalil said: "This is not the time for retribution. This is not the time for taking matters into your own hands. Many rights have been lost and many tragedies have occurred. We have to realise that Muammar Al Qadaffy is not done yet and we must direct all our means to liberate the rest of the cities."
With this visit Jalil meant to show that the former rebels are getting ready to establish their government in the capital. Until now, most of leaders of the anti-Al Qadaffy movement had been based in the eastern city of Benghazi.
He said that his current visit to Tripoli was "temporary" and that soon, after the "full liberation" of the country the council he heads would be transferred to Tripoli.
An NTC member from the coastal city of Zawiyah, Abdullah Gzema, was quoted saying: "It's a day that shows Libya is finally in the hands of its people. We know we have nothing ahead of us but challenges. The challenge now is to organise the state and that will be harder than the military campaign."
The revolutionary forces captured Tripoli six months after the beginning of the conflict, on August 2. That victory sealed the ousting of the Al Qadaffy regime. However, some men learn by reading. A few learn by observation. The rest have to pee on the electric fence for themselves... Abdul-Jalil a former justice minister in Al Qadaffy's government who defected at the start of the conflict, stayed away from the capital until Saturday.
Officials close to Abdul-Jalil cited security concerns as one of the reasons for his prolonged absence that at times had raised questions about the former rebels' ability to take charge.
At the same time of Abdul Ajlil 's visit to Tripoli, the International Monetary Fund recognised the NTC as Libya's legitimate governing body, saying it planned to send a team there when it is safe enough.
While the new leadership controls most of Libya, there are still three Al Qadaffy strongholds where the former dictator's supporters still stubbornly appear to believe he could survive. One of these is Bani Walid where fierce fighting raged Saturday.
From hiding, in audio messages, the runaway Al Qadaffy has exhorted loyalists to keep fighting, little realising that there's no future for him and for them if they keep resisting.
Al Qadaffy and his son Seif, who, it is believed is in Bani Walid, a town about 140 kilometres southeast of Tripoli, is pushing and forcing the loyalists to keep fighting for his father have no consideration for their fellow citizens.
Theirs is a lost cause as even if they survive the battle, they will stay on the run after the warrants for their arrests by the International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... that is accusing them of crimes against humanity. They just cannot escape justice, because if they manage to flee from Libya or settle in another country with Interpol after them.
Revolutionary forces and regime loyalists had been engaged in off-and-on surrender talks in Bani Walid for more than a week. But the pro-Al Qadaffy fighters won't let up and Saturday afternoon the NTC forces came under heavy attack in a desert valley some three kilometres from the town. There were mortar attacks, while snipers also targeted anti-Al Qadaffy fighters.
The NTC fighters were told to retreat because of NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A single organization with differing goals, equipment, language, doctrine, and organization.... . The field commanders ordered the retreat because the military allince was going to bomb strategic installations. They were waiting for orders from their comrades to go back in again.
NATO confirmed its aircraft were flying missions over Bani Walid but would not comment on any air strikes. But all the rebel fighters knew that aircraft were aiding their advance in Bani Walid.
The commander of the assault, Daw Salaheen, called on the city's residents to lay down their arms, saying anyone who does so will be safe in our hands. "We are not far from liberating Bani Walid. We urge Al Qadaffy fighters to lay down their weapons. You can go to any house and will be safe. It is not too late," he said.
Meanwhile, ...back at the wreckage, Captain Poindexter awoke groggily, his hand still stuck in the Ming vase... volunteers from all over Libya signed up to join the battle for Bani Walid and Sirte. Many seem to be getting increasingly impatient with the standoff and crowded around inside a mosque in Wishtata, 40 kilometres from Bani Walid, to register their names, and give a hand in their quest to "get rid of Al Qadaffy once and for all."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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After decades of tyranny, a despotic ruler is finally ousted. And against all odds a fledgling Democracy begins to emerge. And just then...
Hundreds of fighters and officials rushed toward the plane as Abdul Jalil, NTC leader since March, walked down the steps, with most of them flashing victory signs and shoutedGod is great"Allahu Akbar".
[An Nahar] At least 12 people were killed and 16 maimed when two groups of fighters opposed to Moammar Qadaffy ...whose instability has been an inspiration to dictators everywhere... turned on each other in Libya's west, two officials said on Sunday.
The fighting, which has its roots in ancient rivalries and pitted combatants from the towns of Gharyan and Kikla on the one side and from Asabah on the other,
One hopes it's not still about the four colours of chariot teams in Constantinople...
broke out on Saturday, according to the chief of the Gharyan council and confirmed by the head of the military council of Asabah.
The towns are on the eastern edge of the Nafusa mountains and were important centers of resistance to Qadaffy's forces in months of fighting to oust the strongman.
"Twelve people were killed and 16 others were maimed during the fighting which erupted when a brigade from Gharyan and Kikla came under fire at the town of Asabah," said Gharyan council head Wahid Barshan.
He added that the brigade had been ambushed "after demanding the return of their heavy weapons" left behind during fighting against Qadaffy's forces.
The toll and the version of events was confirmed by the chairman of the Asabah military council, Saad al-Shartaa.
Traditionally, many people in Asabah were Qadaffy supporters, and according to the two officials, 20 of his fighters were captured during Saturday's fighting.
Shartaa said efforts had been made "to contain the situation" and that Libya's new ruling National Transitional Council had intervened in a bid to calm passions.
He said the origin of the feuding lies in the fact that Asabah is the hometown of Qadaffy's one-time right-hand man, Ahmed Ramadan.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
"Hey, that's my sprocket!"
"I don't see yer name on it, pal!"
"Give it here, you SOB!"
"Here ya go!" (BANG, BANG, BANGETY BANG!)
[An Nahar] Former rebel fighters clashed on Sunday with pro-Moammar Qadaffy ...Custodian of Wheelus AFB for 42 long years... forces at the oasis town of Bani Walid and were closing in on Sirte, poised for all-out assaults on the fallen leader's remaining strongholds.
Medics said at least two fighters were killed and 12 maimed in the skirmishes on the outskirts of Bani Walid, near to where forces loyal to Libya's new rulers were massed, waiting for the final signal to storm the town.
Interim leader Mustafa Abdul Jalil on Saturday gave the green light to attack Bani Walid southeast of Tripoli, Qadaffy's hometown Sirte to the east and Sabha in the deep south after declaring the deadline for pro-Qadaffy enclaves to surrender over.
While united on the front lines, political tensions were however beginning to show between the ex-rebels in a number of regions, including in west Libya where fighting between anti-Qadaffy rival groups left 12 people dead, officials said.
Streams of National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters backed by armored vehicles mounted with anti-aircraft guns arrived during the day on the edge of Bani Walid, 180 kilometers from Tripoli, an Agence La Belle France Presse correspondent said.
The fighters said they had routed Qadaffy loyalists and snipers from Wadi Dinar, a valley in the shadow of Bani Walid, as they pushed towards the oasis.
Clashes broke out in the afternoon in the Bani Walid neighborhoods of al-Mansila and al-Hawasim, according to fighter Ahmed al-Warfalli, who added that heavy weapons were used.
Military commanders insisted that the main assault had yet to begin, however.
"Today we are still on standby and waiting for orders," said one commander, General Atiya Ali Tarhuni.
A pro-Qadaffy radio station all afternoon broadcast an appeal to residents to rally against the attackers.
"Go out on the streets to protect Warfalla, they are coming to kill us," it said, referring to the main tribe in the area.
"They want to spread corruption and destruction everywhere. Go today, today, today -- now you are armed there is no excuse. This is the time for jihad (holy warfare)."
By evening, ambulances were rushing to and from the front line, as paramedics reported two fighters killed and 12 maimed -- shot by snipers or injured in kabooms.
An emergency services doctor operating a field clinic in the hamlet of Wishtata, 40 kilometers from Bani Walid, said most of the maimed were treated for "sniper shots and kabooms."
"There are Qadaffy military people in the heights of Bani Walid shooting down at rebels," said the doctor, Mehdi Barout.
After dark a pickup truck arrived with four men the fighters said were pro-Qadaffy prisoners. They were locked in a room at the clinic.
Similar skirmishes on Friday night saw four NTC fighters killed and 26 maimed.
Another AFP correspondent said that to the west of Sirte, around 200 pickup trucks with mounted light artillery gathered before dawn in the desert and began moving south, cutting through a string of villages to the west and southwest, where they met no resistance.
Armed with Katyusha and Grad rockets ...Soviet-developed 122-mm rockets, usually launched from trucks. Newer versions are reported to have a range of up to 30 km.... , anti-aircraft guns and heavy machine guns, they ripped down pro-Qadaffy flags en route, and were met by villagers flashing victory signs and shouting "Allahu Akbar (God is greatest)."
"We will not fire unless we are fired upon," said Ahmed al-Akhtal, from the al-Jebel Brigade.
NTC leader Abdul Jalil arrived on Saturday to a red-carpet welcome at Tripoli's Metiga military base where he was mobbed by hundreds of supporters.
The visit, his first to Tripoli since his forces seized the city last month, was eagerly awaited in the hope that it would help tackle rivalries emerging among rebel groups that overthrew the runaway Qadaffy.
Abdul Jalil said the NTC "has mapped out a path and we hope that Libyans understand that we have to move along this path fast and that it is no time for Dire Revenge™."
Many NTC members, including half of the executive committee, moved to Tripoli after it fell late last month, but Abdul Jalil and his deputy Mahmoud Jibril were slow to arrive in the capital.
He is expected to tackle political tensions already surfacing between the capital Tripoli and other NTC strongholds, particularly the second-largest city Benghazi, which was the rebels' wartime base, and the third-largest city Misrata, which endured a prolonged siege by Qadaffy forces.
Anti-Qadaffy fighters in Misrata have started to challenge NTC authority, refusing to turn over abandoned tanks as requested by interim leaders.
In western Libya, at least 12 people were killed and 16 maimed when two groups of fighters opposed to Qadaffy turned on each other, two officials said on Sunday.
The fighting, which pitted combatants from the towns of Gharyan and Kikla on the one side and from Asabah on the other, broke out on Saturday during a dispute over ownership of heavy weapons, according to the chief of the Gharyan council and confirmed by the head of the military council of Asabah.
The whereabouts of Qadaffy himself remain a mystery. The NTC fears that he may try to slip across one of Libya's mostly non-existent borders.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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One of deposed Libyan leader Moammar Qadaffy ...Megalomaniac dictator of Libya, admired everywhere for his garish costumes, funny hats, harem of cutie bodyguards, and incoherent ravings. As far as is known, he is the only person who's ever declared jihad on Switzerland... 's sons, Al-Saadi Qadaffy, arrived Sunday in Niger, a government front man said.
"Today, September 11, a patrol of the Nigerien armed forces intercepted a convoy in which was found one of Qadaffy's sons," Marou Amadou said.
It was Al-Saadi Qadaffy, "the footballer", said Amadou, who is also Niger's justice minister.
"At this moment the convoy is en route to Agadez (northern Niger). The convoy could arrive in Niamey between now and tomorrow," he added.
Al-Saadi, 38, the third of Qadaffy's seven sons, is known as a playboy who renounced a football career in 2004 to join the army, where he led an elite unit.
Niger vowed Friday to respect international commitments if wanted Libyans entered its territory, and confirmed that three Qadaffy-era generals, including his air force chief, Al-Rifi Ali al-Sharif, had arrived in Agadez.
Niamey has confirmed allowing in a dozen Qadaffy aides, including his internal security chief Mansour Daw, for "humanitarian reasons".
They are being held under house arrest in Niamey, in a tightly guarded state-owned villa on the banks of the Niger river.
Sources said more Qadaffy loyalists in a dozen vehicles arrived in Agadez Friday, escorted by Nigerien troops.
Niamey has denied that Qadaffy himself was on its soil.
Al-Saadi Qadaffy said on August 21 he was ready to give himself up "if my surrender stops the spilling of blood."
Officials of Libya's new ruling council gave assurances at the time that his life would be safe if he gave himself up.
The whereabouts of Moammar Qadaffy and his pre-revolution heir apparent Seif al-Islam remain unknown since the fall of Tripoli last month.
The International Criminal Court ... where Milosevich died of old age before being convicted ... has issued warrants for the two men and other Qadaffy loyalists for alleged crimes against humanity.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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ADEN/SANAA - Yemeni troops killed four Islamist militants on Sunday as the army consolidated its grip on Zinjibar, a day after recapturing the southern city from a group calling itself Ansar Al Sharia, a military spokesman said.
Residents said a Yemeni air strike killed at least three fighters near the militant-held town of Jaar, apparently as they were fleeing towards it from Zinjibar.
Ansar Al Sharia, which the government says is linked to the Yemen-based Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), seized Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, in May, cutting off an army brigade in a nearby barracks.
The army said on Saturday it had retaken the coastal city and linked up with the stranded 25th brigade after a two-month offensive backed by air strikes and heavy weaponry.
Zinjibar, lying east of a shipping strait through which some 3 million barrels of oil pass daily, has been devastated by fighting and air strikes, the military spokesman said. Tens of thousands of Zinjibar residents fled to Aden after their city became a battle zone and the government lost control.
Good news is that it's a straight shot to Zinjibar from Somalia...
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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[Tolo News] A British judge sentenced a former member of the Taliban to life in prison after he tried to recruit people to wage holy war in Afghanistan.
Pak-born Munir Farooqi, 54, who moved to Britannia as a child, also taught recruits how to make bombs and intended to carry out an attack in the UK, the Telegraph newspaper reported security sources as saying.
In Britain as a child but never absorbed British values: doesn't drink ale, doesn't throw darts, doesn't say 'quite', and doesn't appreciate either Arsenal or Manchester United.
Farooqi was jugged after two undercover coppers infiltrated his recruitment operation.
The officers spent nearly a year pretending to be radicalised by Farooqi, converting to Islam and adopting Mohammedan names.
Oh dear. That means they're probably apostates now, with all that entails.
Farooqi boasted to recruits that he had fought alongside the Taliban and told them they could become deaders for the jihadi cause, the undercover officers said.
Judge Richard Henriques found Farooqi guilty of engaging in conduct in preparation for acts of terrorism and distributing terrorist publications. He handed Farooqi four life sentences and told him he must serve a minimum of nine years before being eligible for parole.
At the sentencing, Justice Henriques said: "You are in my judgment a very dangerous man, an turban, a fundamentalist with a determination to fight abroad."
Farooqi, a father of three, moved with his family to Britannia when he was about five. He travelled to Afghanistan within weeks of the September 11 attacks to fight with the Taliban.
This article starring:
Munir Farooqi
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
Uh, Fred,
While not caring the least for wife and kids, he avidly supported Sheffield Wednesday, along with those watered-down 5-litre pip cans.
#3
No Alan; the judge set a minimum of Nine years. Early release ahead of that Nine years is not possible, well unless the sentence is appealed, which although is possible, isn't very likely owing to the unquestionable evidence against this faggot.
Changing "extremist" to "turban" isn't very fair on Sikhs.
#5
Good point AC. This does pose an interesting question; will we strip this faggot of citizenship? Nine years, plus a little, is hardly enough time to turn this sucker around.
[An Nahar] Swedish police in the southwestern city of Gothenburg have placed in durance vile four people suspected of preparing a terror attack, Swedish media said Sunday quoting intelligence reports.
"Four people suspected of preparing a terror attack" were placed in durance vile late Saturday, said TT news agency quoting Sara Kvarnstroem, front man of the Saepo intelligence agency.
The arrests were announced after hundreds of people were evacuated from Gothenburg's Roeda Sten building, venue of the city's art biennale, on Saturday night.
Contacted by Agence La Belle France Presse Saepo would not confirm the report which was also carried by the Expressen tabloid.
"We were warned of a possible threat," biennale official Ulrika Sten told the press.
"Police helped us evacuate the building," she said. "They have started searching the premises and the area has been closed off."
Police did not give details about the four placed in durance vile or the circumstances of the arrest. But TT agency said they were placed in durance vile near the biennale building.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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(Reuters) - Ten years after al Qaeda's attack on the United States, the vast majority of the 9/11 Commission's investigative records remain sealed at the National Archives in Washington, even though the commission had directed the archives to make most of the material public in 2009.
Matt Fulgham, assistant director of the archives' center for legislative affairs which has oversight of the commission documents, said that more than a third of the material has been reviewed for possible release. But many of those documents have been withheld or heavily redacted, and the released material includes documents that already were in the public domain, such as press articles.
In its 2004 letter, the commission had asked the archives to submit all classified material to the agencies that created the documents to review them for declassification. But Fulgham said the archives has not done so. He said there was little point in asking agencies such as the CIA and State Department to declassify the material. Former commission chairman Kean said when he headed the commission, "Most of what I read that was classified shouldn't have been." He said. "Easily 60 percent of the classified documents have no reason to be classified - none."
#1
It is tremendously easy to classify documents, but it is harder than blazes to declassify, because almost nobody knows what potentially *could* be important secrets, or could indirectly give away important secrets.
[Dawn] Pak intelligence officials say a suspected US missile strike has killed three people in an al-Qaeda and Taliban safe haven along the Afghan border.
The two officials say a pair of missiles Sunday struck a house near Mir Ali town in North Wazoo. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk with news hounds.
The attack is another reminder of America's ongoing fight against gunnies 10 years after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.
The United States has fired scores of missiles into northwest Pakistain since 2008, trying to keep al-Qaeda operatives there on the run.
The undeclared program is a source of tension with Pakistain, which has not launched a military operation in North Waziristan despite American requests.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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#1
trying to keep al-Qaeda operatives there on the run.
Or better still, unable to run (or anything else) anymore.
ANBAR / Aswat al-Iraq: At least 37 Austrian-made rockets have been discovered in a large weapons depot in west Iraqs Anbar Province on Sunday, according to an Anbar Police Commands source.
Intelligence information have enabled the Police forces in Haditha city, west of Anbar Province, to discover a rockets depot in its Mohammadiat area, comprising 37 Austrian rockets, 21 ammunition containers and 2 rocket-launching pads, the Police source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency, charging that security information had pointed out that the depot belongs for al-Qaeda organization.
He said the Police forces had also managed to arrest 2 wanted persons, charged with having carried out armed acts against civilians in the Province.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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Posted by: Water Modem ||
09/12/2011 1:26 Comments ||
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#3
Hmm, rockets in Anbar--that's where the Sunnis/Baathists remain. The al Qaeda speculation sounds consistent with that. One would think a third party Eastern European country would have been involved in the transfer.
Posted by: American Delight ||
09/12/2011 1:38 Comments ||
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Four people in one family, including two children, were injured Sunday when an explosive device planted on a roadside exploded. A bomb squad rushed to the scene and sent the wounded to a nearby hospital.
The victims are Abdulraso Duramae, 38, and his wife Aharo Duramae, 35, as well as their two boys aged 7 and 3.
The incident took place while they were on a motorcycle following a military pickup truck which apparently was the target of the roadside bomb, but the army vehicle passed through shortly before the bomb was detonated.
The soldiers were not injured and their vehicle was not damaged, but the family on their motorcycle was hit by shrapnel from the blast, which also knocked down a large tree which blocked the road.
[An Nahar] A woman was rubbed out in eastern Syria on Sunday and a teenager died of wounds suffered at a funeral in the capital Damascus ...The City of Jasmin is the oldest continuously-inhabited city in the world. It has not always been inhabited by the same set of fascisti... on Saturday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.
"A 40-year-old woman was killed at noon on Sunday by a stray bullet as security forces were tracking wanted people in the town of Bukamal," the Britannia-based rights group cited an activist in Deir al-Zour province as saying.
The Observatory also told Agence La Belle France Presse that a youth had died of wounds received on Saturday when security forces opened fire on mourners at the funeral of an activist in Daraya, near Damascus.
"A 17-year-old succumbed to his wounds on Sunday after security forces the day before fired on a crowd at the funeral of Ghiyath Matar," it said.
Matar, 26, had been a key player in organizing protests against the regime of President-for-Life Bashir Pencilneck al-Assad One of the last of the old-fashioned hereditary iron-fisted fascist dictators. Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor... , and died in detention after being tortured, according to the international watchdog Human Rights Watch ... dedicated to bitching about human rights violations around the world... (HRW).
His body, which was returned to his family on Saturday after his arrest on September 6, bore bruises on the chest and signs of injuries to the face, activists cited by HRW said.
Matar disappeared on the same day as one of his friends, Yahya Sharbaji. The two were jugged in a car after a chase by security forces in the Sehnaya district of the capital, according to a relative.
The latest deaths come after security forces killed at least 12 people on Saturday in their ongoing bid to crush anti-regime dissent, activists said, and as the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... announced an agreement with Assad on long-promised reforms.
Also on Sunday, the Observatory said prominent rights campaigner Najati Tayara was in a "very bad" health condition after being "severely" beaten at a Homs prison in central Syria.
It said in a statement received by AFP that it "has learned that Sherlocks at the so-called 'Polish' prison in Homs severely beat Tayara on Friday.
"He is in a very bad health condition. He has been moved to the military intelligence division in Damascus," it added.
Tayara, 66, was placed in long-term storage in Homs on May 12, a day after he reported that shelling and gunfire had rocked the city, the country's third largest.
"He was referred to court on charges of harming the prestige of the state," the statement said, adding that he was released from Homs central prison on August 31 but later replaced in long-term storage.
According to the Observatory, security forces have placed in long-term storage "more than 70,000 people" in their crackdown on anti-regime protests that erupted in mid-March, and "15,000 of them are still in detention."
Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi met Assad on Saturday with a 13-point document outlining Arab proposals to broker an end to the bloodshed, hold elections and push for reforms.
During his talks with Assad, Arabi said the League and other Arab countries "reject any form of foreign interference in Syrian domestic affairs," the official news agency SANA reported.
Arabi said upon returning to Cairo that they had reached an "agreement on steps to carry out the reforms, (and) the elements will be submitted to the council of the vaporous Arab League" in Cairo on Monday.
SANA reported Assad as saying that there was a need "to not get caught in campaigns of disinformation against Syria."
It said he denounced the campaign of spreading "wrong facts" aimed in his opinion "to harm the image of Syria and destabilize" the country.
The United Nations ...an organization which on balance has done more bad than good, with the good not done well and the bad done thoroughly... says more than 2,200 people -- mostly civilians -- have been killed in a crackdown on almost daily protests by pro-democracy and anti-regime demonstrators in Syria since mid-March.
Rights groups say more than 10,000 people are behind bars.
The Syrian regime blames the violence on "armed terrorist gangs."
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2011 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
International Criminal Court
[An Nahar] At least 12 people were killed and 16 
One of deposed Libyan leader Moammar 
Wazoo
President-for-Life Bashir 
