If it's a.) true and b.) serious, it's the most important story this year.
The Gulf Cooperation Council has pledged to increase efforts to block funds to Islamic insurgency groups. GCC leaders agreed at their summit in Manama to set as a priority the halt in funding to Al Qaida and related groups. In a communique that ended their two-day meeting on Tuesday, the GCC's supreme council pledged to sever what the panel termed the financing of terrorist operations. "On fighting terrorism, the GCC leaders renewed their stance on fighting the terrorism phenomenon through obstructing the terrorism financing source and explored ways to end that, stressing the importance of differentiating between terrorism and the right for resisting any mode of occupation," the communique said without elaborating. The communique urged GCC states to participate in international efforts to stop the flow of terrorist financing and money-laundering. Bahrain has agreed to host an international task force to combat terror financing in the Middle East.
True? Serious?
[Puts on Important Hair voice:]
"Only time will tell!"
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 11:41:07 AM ||
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#2
stressing the importance of differentiating between terrorism and the right to resist ... occupation...
It still ain't terrorism if Jews are involved. No real conceptual movement, but I suppose its a minor step that they are even using the language. Now, if they were really to cut off funding to Al Qaeda and even some other terrorist groups, who cares what they say!
THE Australian Defence Force insists it maintains strict controls over firearms, and has rejected claims that weapons including a rocket launcher and sniper rifle are missing. The ADF's assertion follows a report in The Sydney Morning Herald that said a cache of stolen military weapons might be for sale on the black market. The ADF admitted three privately owned sporting rifles had gone missing from an armoury at the Holsworthy army base, outside Sydney, in September 2002. But a police search warrant obtained by the Herald indicated police were looking for other weapons as well as the sporting rifles. They included a pair of Browning handguns, a .50 calibre sniper rifle and an 84mm Carl Gustav rocket launcher.
A defence spokesman confirmed three rifles had gone missing from Holsworthy in the September 2002 incident, and defence was investigating allegations raised in the newspaperd report. "There were three rifles but there was no rocket launcher that went missing," he said, adding that neither had a .50 calibre sniper rifle. The spokesman said the ADF was unaware at this time if such weapons had gone missing on any other occasion. "We are looking into these allegations. We don't think they are based on anything," he said.
Defence spokesman Brigadier Mike Hannan said defence maintained strict controls over weapons and ammunition. "If weapons go missing it is a defence requirement that the matter immediately be referred to civil police," he said. "Defence and civil police work very closely on these serious issues." The Opposition called on the Government to guarantee the security of storage arrangements for military weapons. Labor defence spokesman Robert McClelland said reports of high-powered weapons entering the community were of concern at any time but more so when the source appeared to be the military. "Any security failure which could allow weapons of this sort, including possibly a rocket launcher, to fall into the hands of criminals is the most unacceptable of failures," he said in a statement. "Labor will call the Government to account to guarantee the adequacy of security arrangements for storage of weapons at the Holsworthy army facility and all military bases where weapons are stored." Mr McClelland said Labor would use the forthcoming Senate estimates process to make sure the Government explained how these weapons could have gone missing and what has been done to rectify the problems.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/24/2004 12:34:47 AM ||
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A man who threatened to blow-up a Gold Coast high-rise during a 17-hour stand-off with police has been taken into custody. The area remains cordoned off as police examine a number of potentially dangerous devices. The stand-off at the Grand Hotel at Labrador began when a woman was allegedly assaulted in the man's hotel room early last night. The 43-year-old local sealed his room and told police he had explosives and hostages. Late this morning police negotiators coaxed the man to a window while officers forced their way into the room.
Detective Inspector John Hartwill says the man complied with all police requirements. "He put himself into a position where he could be observed from outside and put himself into custody when required," he said. Police are examining a number of devices found in the apartment, but there were no hostages. The man is facing several charges and could face court this afternoon.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/24/2004 12:36:20 AM ||
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A HOTEL room used in a siege on the Gold Coast was rigged to blow up with at least 10 different explosive devices. Police found the bombs inside a unit at The Grand Hotel in the northern Gold Coast suburb of Labrador after the overnight siege ended peacefully this morning. More than 16 hours after negotiations began, a 43-year-old man surrendered by raising his arms in the air in a 12th floor apartment window in full view of dozens of tourists who had gathered to watch the drama unfold. The bombs were to be removed from the apartment this afternoon and detonated at another site. Detective Inspector John Hartwell said the man did not make any specific demands during the ordeal and a motive was not immediately apparent. During the night, he claimed to be holding hostages and threatened to detonate explosive devices.
The nature of the bombs found by police was not revealed, but quantities of household chemicals were believed to have been in the unit. "Commercial chemicals that you can easily get anywhere and if you mix them in the right direction you are in strife," Inspector Rick Wall said. More chemicals were found and destroyed during a search of the man's house at Coombabah on the Gold Coast. The alarm was raised by a baby sitter who was called to the room at about 6pm (AEST) yesterday and was allegedly hit over the head by a piece of wood before she fled. She was treated in hospital and released. Another woman also was called to the room, but was stopped by police before going upstairs.
The first officers on the scene noticed the apartment door had been sealed shut with adhesive foam material. Police evacuated three floors of the hotel and blocked surrounding streets. A crowd of locals and tourists watched from outside a perimeter fence as police negotiated with the man. The man was described as upset, but not anxious or stressed. "It's a bit scary, not good for Christmas," New Zealand visitor Leanne Taylor said.
Shortly after 10am (AEST) today, the man opened the curtains of the apartment and took off his T-shirt while speaking with negotiators on a mobile phone. Looking directly into a video camera, which police had attached to a pole and hung outside the 12th floor window, the man threw both of his arms up in the air in the universal signal for surrender. "The male person has surrendered into police custody," Inspector Hartwell said a short time later. Officers forced open the sealed door of the room and completed the arrest. Police said numerous charges would be laid after investigations were completed.
Posted by: God Save The World ||
12/24/2004 12:29:29 AM ||
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I'm not sure I see anything wrong with that. It'd certainly fall under the heading of self-defense, I'd think...
PERTH: An Iraqi refugee pleaded not guilty in an Australian court Thursday to plotting to murder members of Saddam Hussein's deposed Baathist government in Iraq. Khairallah al-Bunajim, 40, denied conspiring to commit wilful murder in the Republic of Iraq. The court heard that al-Bunajim's father and brother were killed by Baathists in 1991 and the plot was intended to avenge their deaths. Police alleged he transferred 3,000 dollars (2,280 US) to an unnamed person in Sydney, with instructions to pass it on to Iraq to buy arms and a vehicle to carry out the planned assassinations. The intended targets of the plot were not named. Al-Bunajim was arrested at his Perth home on July 15 following an investigation involving Australian Federal Police counter-terrorism teams in Perth and Sydney, state police and the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
I really sympathize, Khairallah, but you're not in Iraq anymore. You have to play by the local rules.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 11:18:45 PM ||
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The Netherlands' intelligence service warned Thursday that radical Islamic ideology is spreading to thousands of young Dutch Muslims through Internet sites and online chat rooms. The agency, known by its acronym AIVD, identified the potential threat in an overview of domestic fundamentalist Islamic movements compiled for the Home Affairs Ministry in the wake of the country's first terrorist attack.
Perhaps, as a matter of self-preservation, you should track them down and kill them...
The publication comes nearly two months after the murder of film director Theo van Gogh, who was shot and stabbed to death on a busy Amsterdam street. A letter pinned to his chest with a knife threatened politicians and other "infidel nonbelievers."
... since they're already in the process of tracking down and killing you.
The 60-page report said a variety of sources of radical Islam pose a threat to the country, ranging from Salifist mosques openly preaching anti-Western, antidemocratic ideas to an underground political movement backing violent jihad, or Islamic holy war. "Europe and the Netherlands have been confronted with extreme violence," the report said, referring to Van Gogh's murder Nov. 2 and the train bombings in Madrid, Spain, last March 11.
So what kind of extreme measures are you gonna take to counter it?
The spread of radical Web sites as an alternative to traditional outlets of Islamic teaching, such as mosques, makes it harder for authorities to isolate potential threats, the report said. "Especially the youth have found their way to Web sites of radical Islamic spiritual leaders," it said. "These Web sites increasingly contribute to the radicalization of Muslim communities in the Netherlands."
So that would seem to indicate you've got to do some serious intel work, scarfing their IP addresses, tracing them back to their residences, infiltrating, that sort of stuff...
The report lists 20 guidelines for reducing the threat of radicalization, such as promoting positive role models and the emancipation of Islamic women.
I'm sure that warm milk is very tasty. Are you gonna do anything serious?
But it warns against focusing on terrorist groups and ignoring social problems that lead some young people to militancy.
Apparently not. It's too much work, isn't it? And it would be so unpleasant...
The agency also sees problems in "dawa" movements, which are not violent but promote radical Islamic ideology. Among them are al-Takfir, which seeks to convert immigrant Muslims in the West back to the fundamentalist Islam of the 7th century.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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#1
What would we do without the Dutch informing us of these things?
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/24/2004 0:29 Comments ||
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My friend in Holand says for most people it's back to the same old same old. They are living blind to it all as usual.
#6
Fred and .com #4 and #5---cynical.....but true.
New headings:
Short Attention Span Theater---General
Short Attention Span Theater---Europe
I like it....
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Irvine, CA ||
12/24/2004 13:29 Comments ||
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#7
I have a friend I trade stamps with that lives up on the northwest coast of the Netherlands. He says many of the most violent Muslim websites are located either in Germany or in the Gulf States. Kind of hard for the Dutch to crack down on German service providers. There's also one very nasty site hosted by someone in the UK. Maybe Rantburgers could do some Googling and find out more...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/24/2004 14:03 Comments ||
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#8
One of the categories I was fiddling with on my 'blog was called "Stupid Europe Tricks."
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/24/2004 15:04 Comments ||
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Actual title: AIR RAGE, PART II (but I am not as nice as Mrs Malkin.....). I'm placing this on Pg 1 since it is terror related :).
Some federal air marshals are playing a high-tech game of hide-and-seek to dodge supervisors from inspecting their attire and ensuring compliance with a mandatory dress code. "The 'suit Nazis' are out there, so the guys are hiding," said one senior official with the Federal Air Marshal Service (FAMS)."It's sort of an underground operation." The official said air marshals are turning off their government-issued cell phones so supervisors can't find them for wardrobe inspections, and instead are using personal phones and beepers to send warnings when supervisors approach. "It's crazy, and it sounds funny, but it's scary what the guys are having to do to dodge the suit Nazis," the official said. "There is such a rift between the management and employees. They view us as the enemy, rather than al Qaeda." ...National Directive FLT 6002, which establishes "standards of dress required of federal air marshals," was issued by Mr. Quinn on May 9, 2002, and says marshals must wear "a business suit or sport coat with dress What? No large 'target' over their chest? They don't have to carry a 4'x6' "Kill me First and take my gun" sign? I'm shocked!
Michelle Malkin has a lot more (including David Adams's (Federal Air Marshall spokesman) flat-out LIE that they do not have any such dress code.
Posted by: Suit Nazi ||
12/24/2004 15:40 Comments ||
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I saw this asshat on Fox. He is a bastard. This is some Frank Burns type pencil pushers wet dream. Bush needs to pick up the phone and tell this shitball to get his ass in line. This whole operation so far has appeard to be a management cluster (cant use that full word sequence), time to kick some butts George.
#5
I'm reminded of an old Gahan Wilson comic of some wiseguys talking to a hippie, telling him that if he wanted to be a drug dealer for the syndicate, he had to get a haircut and wear a suit and tie.
#6
guys like that thrive without the sunshine. Maybe Fox, MM, and RB? Can help spread the embarrassment high enuf to getthis pencil-pusher fired and policies revised to common sense?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2004 16:08 Comments ||
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#8
It's quite obvious that Mr. Fuckwit Quinn won't be happy until all of the Air Marshalls are wearing nice shiny badges.
For f&*k's sake, these individuals are operating undercover. Their apparel should have little, if anything, to do with their job. So long as what they wear conceals their carry and back-up, who gives a rip what they look like?
My only regret is that we aren't allowed to ship in actual terrorists for them to cap during the training mock-up runs that use live ammunition.
#12
Have they made up their minds yet whether they're being armed with guns or red Streamline staplers?
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/24/2004 23:44 Comments ||
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If the suits don't give them away the diapers will. Hell, given that the marshalls can't take a leak without leaving their guns behind, maybe diapers aren't such a bad idea.
Posted by: Mr. Oni ||
12/25/2004 6:40 Comments ||
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The threat of a terrorist attack on the United States still exists, but counterterrorism officials say there is a conspicuous lack of intelligence "chatter" being picked up. It is a stark contrast to last year's holiday season, when there was chatter indicating a plot could be in the works. The nation was under heightened alert, and a number of foreign flights to America were canceled because of specific threats. U.S. and foreign intelligence and law enforcement services report a continuing stream of vague, lower-level threats from al-Qaeda and other Islamic extremist groups against American interests at home and abroad. But officials say nothing specific and credible has emerged in recent months that would require the government to raise the risk level above yellow, or elevated, the midpoint on the five-level threat scale.
FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence chief Gary Bald said in an interview yesterday: "It's a little bit like a duck on a pond. You've got a lot going on under the surface, but you don't have any big waves." Just before Christmas 2003, the threat level was raised to orange, or high, and flights to the United States from Paris, London, Scotland and elsewhere were canceled over several days. The FBI, Homeland Security Department and other agencies scrambled to check names booked on those flights for possible al-Qaeda operatives either trying to get into the United States or to target the flights themselves. In those cases, U.S. and European officials were acting on difficult-to-obtain intelligence singling out specific flights of concern. But even then, no arrests were announced and it was unclear whether any plots were thwarted. Nothing similar has surfaced this year, despite a general concern that terrorists might try to disrupt the holidays or take advantage of hectic travel times to mount an attack. "We have no information about specific plots as we enter the holiday season," Homeland Security spokesman Brian Roehrkasse said.
Still, officials and outside experts say the relative calm and lack of an al-Qaeda attack on the U.S. homeland since Sept. 11, 2001, should not be viewed as evidence of victory over terrorists. Al-Qaeda is known to plan attacks patiently and could have operatives already in the United States primed for a long-awaited signal. "When we're in a state of high alert, that's when things are not going to happen," said Michael Greenberger, director of the University of Maryland's Center for Health and Homeland Security. "It's when we're not looking, when we're overconfident, that something will happen."
The FBI, CIA and other agencies have carefully analyzed audio and video communications from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden for clues about plots or timing. Although bin Laden's most recent statement focused on attacking foreign targets in Saudi Arabia, American officials aren't letting down their guard. "I think it would be incredibly naive for us to think that someone won't try another attack," Bald said. Looking ahead, officials are planning exceptionally heavy security for President Bush's second inauguration Jan. 20. Security also will be tight for major college bowl games and the Feb. 6 Super Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2004 3:22:47 AM ||
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The Arab League is trying to mediate in a dispute among two of its members caused by accusations Libya plotted an assassination attempt on the Saudi crown prince, the league's chief said yesterday. Saudi Arabia announced Wednesday it was withdrawing its ambassador to Libya and asking the Libyan ambassador to leave the Kingdom in response to accusations of a plot against Crown Prince Abdullah first made months ago by the United States. Libya, which has denied the accusations, asked the league to intervene, league Secretary-General Amr Moussa told reporters. "We will work on discussing the issue to solve it, not inflame it," Moussa said, adding he would visit both countries if necessary. Moussa said that his aides met separately with Libyan and Saudi representatives to the Arab League to "listen to each country's position and asked each to provide the Arab League with all the information necessary about the crisis."
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 12:07:53 AM ||
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The UN Development Program denied that any government has asked to suppress a new report on "Freedoms and Good Governance in Arab countries" which is in its final stages of preparation. The UN agency, known as UNDP, said it was responding to numerous press reports in recent days about the new Arab Human Development Report, which had been expected in October. "While at different times concerns have been raised by some governments about the content of the forthcoming report, no formal discussions on editorial content have taken place, no government has asked for their suppression, and press reports that the US has threatened to cut future contributions to UNDP in relation to the upcoming report are inaccurate," the agency said in a statement. It said further details on publication of the new report will be provided after consultations on the possible creation of an independent center in the Middle East that could become the institutional home of an editorially independent report.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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#1
Every story out of the UN like this sends me off to The Diplomad for a dose of refreshing debunkery. The UN's uselessness, coupled with its costs (in $, wasted time, distraction, pointless motion, etc), is truly breathtaking. Thanks to lex (IIRC) for the great link.
I think I may have mentioned that a time or two...
Despite numerous exercises and an arms buildup, Iran's conventional military forces remain weak and unable to fight the United States. A leading U.S. analyst said Iran's military has not recovered from the 1980-88 war with Iraq and remains saddled with aging equipment and a poor command structure. The analyst said many of Iran's weapons were based on 1970s technology and that Teheran could not sustain an invasion of a foreign country.
"Whatever plans have been announced and whatever grandiose reports have sometimes surfaced, Iran has not been able to acquire significant numbers of modern aircraft," Anthony Cordesman, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, said. "It has not been able to reconfigure and rebuild its major surface ships. It has imported surface-to-air missiles, but some of those missiles are more than a quarter of a century old in terms of design and technology." Addressing a seminar on Iran's military power, Cordesman, a former senior Defense Department official, said Iran has been unable to develop sensors and command and control systems required to fight a war against the United States. Iran spends about $3 billion a year for defense, less than one-sixth of the expenditure of Saudi Arabia.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 11:38:40 AM ||
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#1
So the bottom line is the Iranian leaders, those amazing priests who gleefully sent tens of thousands of their countrymen as infantrymen to be slaughtered by Saddam's mechanized infantry. Men who are so delusional they believe that *most* of the US defense budget is spent to arm Israel, and that the Iranian navy controls the Arabian Gulf. Will the Iranian military take over the government to prevent the destruction of their country, or has nuclear fever spread to them, too?
#2
Anonymoose: I guess that depends on how thoroughly the regular military has been purged of potential coup plotters. I don't know if the Iranian regulars are saddled with commissars, like the Soviet military; if not, there might be a secret cabal of officers concerned with maintaining the independence of the military from the state, much as the German army did between the wars. Perhaps if it came to a real crisis the Iranian army would confine itself to barracks or even side with, say, student insurgents. It would be nice to think that CIA/SIS are in contact with such a cabal, but I'm not optimistic.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/24/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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I'd bet they have learned how to build IEDs.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/24/2004 13:01 Comments ||
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My understanding is that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) ( AKA Pasdaran ) are a religious element in Iranian military life, like the Soviet Commisar system in the Soviet Union 1921-91. Being that, Pasdaran ground units are called Pasdaran when they have at least one battalion per Brigade.
I do not known if there is a mullah attached to Iranian command staff at any level, but, speculating here, it would seem prudent to keep IRG infleunce in as many units as possible. So, a Brigade Mullah could have a staff that does this sort of thing in regular army units, or the obverse: Brigade Mullahs are like chaplains and there is a seperate additional staff representing the religious authority in Iran.
I would say that if the second instance is true, not only is the Iranian army a worthless rabble, but units are far more likely to stand down/surrender in the event of an invasion.
You know: make the Mullah's staff take a one way vacation, courtesy of Mr. Makarov Express...
#7
thks Badanov. From my talks with Iranian expat engineers, the country's ripe for tipping. They talk/travel back to visit, and say it's worse than we ever hear... the populace wants freedom
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2004 15:42 Comments ||
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#9
I was just reading something written by "Robert X. Cringely" around the time of the election; he recounted a time when he was covering the Iran-Iraq War, and witnessed a bayonet charge by Iranians against the Iraqis, where several battalions got out of the trenches and marched into machine-gun fire, dying to absolutely no real effect (the stated intended effect was to "intimidate the cowardly Iraqi soldiers.")
He therefore concluded that there was nothing whatsoever we could do against such believers, and therefore the Bush Doctrine would never work. (Of course, he wouldn't suggest anything that would work... and I don't think he's figured out that surrender would mean converting...)
He seems to be oblivious to the possibility that the soldiers in question (most of them in their early teens) might have committed suicide under orders for a different reason than those stated by the mullahs: to keep their own families from being killed, and that the mullahs might have done it for a different reason: killing off large numbers of the segment of the population most likely to overthrow them.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/24/2004 20:20 Comments ||
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#10
And we have better (faster rate of fire) machine guns, too, heh.
#11
Considering the 04' US Defense Expenditure tops $400 Billion, we can easily see how grossly mismatched Iran would be if they picked a fight with the Bald Eagle!!
#12
The putative militia of the Iranians ( the rabble of impressed 'soldiers' ) would be easy to break. And you only need to break one unit in order for the right result to spread throughout an army unit ( panic and/or desertions )
The Iranian Army faces logistical problems of gathering these 'volunteers', getting them to the front, getting them prepared for a human wave attack against a highly trained, highly mobile, highly motivated military which will be deploying snipers, paid black operatives, and a high degree of battlefield intelligence from the air, from space and from captees(sp?).
Smart elements of the Pasdaran have already likely realize that the WWI sryle battle tactics used against Iraq will only get the cadres of units captured and killed, and their charges deserting. When, not if, but when that happens, the religious authority have only their own professional military to rely on, and that is when politics could come into play.
Professional Iranian Army officers likely already know just how badly they will be beat in the event of an US invasion, and may well already have their own eyes and ears out for a way out.
We should start now letting them know there is.
Iranian Army officers would much rather plan to have a parade than to fight in a battle they know they will lose.
#14
Well, maybe it wasn't such a Good Idea for the Wahabbi and like minded people to start spreading the same blood libel lies against Israel and America at the same time.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
12/24/2004 23:42 Comments ||
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The US is contemplating incursions into Syrian territory in an attempt to kill or capture Iraqi Ba'athists who, it believes, are directing at least part of the attacks against US targets in Iraq, a senior administration official told The Jerusalem Post. Assad, time for chit chat is up.
The official said that fresh sanctions are likely to be implemented, but added that the US needs to be more "aggressive" after Tuesday's deadly attack on a US base in Mosul. The comment suggested that the US believes the attack on the mess tent, in which 22 people were killed, may have been coordinated from inside Syrian territory. Straw that broke the camel's back, comes to mind.
"I think the sanctions are one thing. But I think the other thing [the Syrians] have got to start worrying about is whether we would take cross-border military action in hot pursuit or something like that. In other words, nothing like full-scale military hostilities. But when you're being attacked from safe havens across the border — we've been through this a lot of times before — we're just not going to sit there. In other words, Colin Powell won't save you this time.
"You get a tragedy [like the attack in Mosul] and it reminds people that it is still a very serious problem. If I were Syria, I'd be worried," the senior administration official said. Everybody stand back, there is no rhetoric to see here.
Another US official said that sentiment reflects a "growing level of frustration" in Washington at Syria's reluctance to detain Ba'athists and others who are organizing attacks from Syrian territory. The official cautioned, however, that whether to take cross-border military action is still a matter of discussion within the administration and that a military incursion is still "premature." The key words are "discussion WITHIN the administration" if this is the case, Assad, it's your ass.
The senior official said US anger increased substantially after a prolonged incursion into Fallujah last month, which revealed "how much of the insurgency is now being directed through Syria." The US has not publicly detailed the evidence it has regarding the extent to which attacks are being organized from within Syria. But a report in The Times of London on Thursday suggested not only that Syria is becoming a base for Iraqis to operate, but that Syrian officials are themselves involved.
The newspaper said Iraq had confronted Syria with evidence that included photographs of senior Syrian officials taken from Iraqi fighters captured during the Fallujah offensive. It also said US marines in Fallujah found a hand-held global-positioning system receiver with waypoints originating in western Syria and the names of four Syrians in a list of 27 fighters contained in a ledger.
On Sunday, the Post reported that the US had provided Syria with a list of people it would like to see detained but that Syrian authorities have so far been unresponsive. What list? I know nothing about a steenking list. In other news, Syria will also be unresponsive when the U.S. hits them.
The Post quoted a senior government official predicting a confrontation with Syria "unless the Syrians reverse their policy." US forces already operate along the Syrian border with Iraq, conducting air and mobile patrols. No doubt, it will happen for sure this time.
This week, US President George W. Bush warned of possible new sanctions on Syria. "We have tools at our disposal, a variety of tools ranging from diplomatic tools to economic pressure. Nothing's taken off the table," he said. You have no clue about the tools we possess.
And in an interview with a Lebanese newspaper, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage echoed the threat of new sanctions. In particular, Armitage said Washington wanted action taken against fugitive officials of the ousted regime, who remained at liberty in Syria and who "seem to us to be responsible for funding anti-US attacks in Iraq." "We want them to turn off this faucet," said Armitage, according to the paper's Arabic translation of his remarks. Armitage: "If you don't stop funding the attacks were going to...going to...threaten you 10 more times."
Syria says it is doing all it can to allow prevent insurgents from crossing the Syrian border into Iraq and insists it would need more help to confront the problem. It also says it is being unfairly singled out whereas Ba'athists and others feeding the insurgency are hiding in other countries in the region. Yes but, we only a small part of the overall problem. Can you pretty please bomb the other countries before you bomb us?
Posted by: Poison Reverse ||
12/24/2004 12:13:21 AM ||
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#1
The administration is preparing a case against the Syrians, and this is really all the causus belli they need. Time for the boy optometrist to learn what Saddam learned too late: Don't tug on Superman's cape.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/24/2004 0:37 Comments ||
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#2
But what will the *seething* Arab maniacs street do in response?
#6
My $0.02... Iran and Syria are a package (with Lebanon a bonus), with Iran directing all non-Ba'athist-specific activity and funding most of the insurgency. I believe that Syria is where we will find Al Dhouri - "Red" - and that he's been there for a long time - using some of the Saddam money that Syria refuses to hand over to run his side of the insurgency in the Sunni North and West. Of course the Mad mullahs handle the Shi'a South. I presume cooperation in Baghdad operations with each doing whatever it can pull off to keep the attacks going.
I figure Al Zarqawi is a "field general" for operations planning / execution and is probably considered a convenient, but rather self-important mad dog by both Red and the Mad Mullahs.
There is a LOT of money changing hands to keep the fodder coming and the bombs going off - more and more of both must be brought in, nowadays.
I've often called Iran a 3-fer... topple the Mad Mullahs and Baby Asshat will fold or become very compliant and Lebanon is suddenly in play, as well. It all hinges on Iran, IMHO.
I believe we may make some unkind gestures toward Syria to intimidate Baby / disrupt the flow and buy some measure of peace - with one month to go before the elections, it is very timely indeed to rattle the saber at him and maybe tweak his nose with some nasty ops.
But the big deal is Iran. What we will do depends upon a ton of factors, the nuke stuff being paramount, and we are not privy to what we know (or think we know) or how accurate it is. I keep recalling Chalabi and the imbroglio involving him and feel there was soooo much going on there we don't know about - and, whatever it was, it was important, given the rather strident statements that flew about at the time. I would not be surprised to see some nasty border ops on that side, as well, to put the Mad Mullahs off their game.
I know everyone wants action. I do too. The timeframes are getting shorter and we may get what we wish for... it's only been a few weeks since Bush found out he was still President, y'know. Jan 30 is the next pivot point. Just my take.
#8
It is hard to se us moving before February. After February we wil need to get agreement from Iraq. While it will probably be agreed to, It will be a non-triavial decision for them as it will be one of their first.
The way we involve the Iraqis will also be part of the message we send to Iran. I would not be surprised to see the Iraqis involved, even if only as hangers on. The experience will be good for them and it will remove the "troop shortage" from the Iranian security blanket.
It will also be interesting to see how we use the Kurds and what we do with them in northern Syria. That would be a great message for Turkey as well as Iran.
Finally, would we let Israel kick the Syrians out of Lebannon? Or will we be able to convince Syria that their mighty army can be of greater use transferred to the eastern border?
Lot's of problems can be solved with Syria's overthrow. Then we can focus on Iran.
I still believe that absent Iranian provocation we will not attack there. But attempts to overthrow the government will go into high gear once Syria is taken care of.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/24/2004 7:17 Comments ||
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#9
Stop talking about it. Do it.
Posted by: Infidel Bob ||
12/24/2004 9:04 Comments ||
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#10
I think .com called. We are playing poker and now is not the time to bust a move.
#11
But when youâre being attacked from safe havens across the border â weâve been through this a lot of times before â weâre just not going to sit there.
#12
Pity that the US did not pay attention to the arms smuggling tunnels that Egypt turned a blind eye to.
They would have noticed lots of comings and goings through the tunnels by Hezbollah guys.
Iran through Syria and ultimately Hezbollah is hitting the US but there is too much PC nonsense to have learned something from the situation in Israel.
All the different groups have been swapping intel and training each other in techniques and the West was too busy differentiating between "types" of terrorism to pay attention.
#13
Great analysis, .com. Lots to think about. I would like to see Syria paying a price for their support of the insurgency, though. This would involve clando ops. The Syrians need to have a quiet but deadly message sent to them.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Irvine, CA ||
12/24/2004 13:44 Comments ||
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#14
One at a time please, one at a time!However, I agree that at least 50% to 75% of the Sunni Triangle problems (perhaps 90%) can be eliminated by taking out the Syrian command and control sector. (There is some criminal smuggling, etc. that has gone on for over 1000 years. That will not change). (The Iranian threat is there also, but again One at a time). One punishment for Syria (and eventually Iran) that I expect will occur is that the Syrian Kurdish land area will be severed from Syria to become a part of "Kurdistan" (and give them access to ocean shipping). Probably the Kurdish lands will be also taken from Iran in a border re-alignment.
That scares the "bejesus" out of the Turks, but I expect to see it in the next 10 years. I know Kurdistan has NEVER BEEN a real geopolitical goal, but the Syrians and Iranians have NEVER BEEN such obvious trouble makers before either.The Turks will seethe, but if their security needs are met they MIGHT even want to separate Kurdish Turkey and get rid of it themselves. (I really doubt that will happen), but a Syrian border relignment could take place in the next 24 months.
Yes, I know, they all say keep Iraq intact. That depends on the Sunni Arabs in the elections in 2005. Remember, Sunni Arabs are like the Palestinians.... they NEVER MISS an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
#17
I just hope the administration learned something from Iraq. Put out the full case openly. The case is there, and I suspect would be convincing to all non-moonbats, but they have to make it.
Turkey and Syria on Wednesday signed a free trade agreement to bolster bilateral economic ties and exchanged views on the situation in their common neighbour, Iraq. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan flew to Damascus on a two-day visit aimed at cementing improved ties between the two countries which nearly went to war in 1998 over Turkish charges that Syria was harbouring Turkish Kurdish guerrillas. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a landmark visit to Turkey in January to bury the hatchet after years of tension over the rebels and disputes over land and water resources.
"Yeah, Mr. Erdogan, I know we're not the EU and all, but at least you get to sign a treaty with someone!"
Posted by: Steve White ||
12/24/2004 12:12:45 AM ||
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LOL Stevie, bolsterin economic ties is not a bad thing, we have to find an alternative for our Iraq trade which is recently flattened by Bush.
Posted by: Murat ||
12/24/2004 4:34 Comments ||
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#2
Wonder what Syria has to sell. Or what it can afford to buy.
#3
Not much, but even if trade would stand at a poor $2 - 3bln, it would mean that 20 or 30 companies in Turkey can exist on that, a little bit is better than nothing.
Posted by: Murat ||
12/24/2004 5:45 Comments ||
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#4
Right. Murat II must be an econ major.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
12/24/2004 8:15 Comments ||
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#5
Obviously not an expert in Causes => Effects
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2004 9:38 Comments ||
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#6
..we have to find an alternative for our Iraq trade which is recently flattened by Bush.
Well sir, there's probably a reason for that. I won't go into detail here, as it's pretty apparent that you wouldn't understand...
#7
Turkey Iraq trade:
1990: 2.5 billion U.S. dollars (pre Kuwait invasion and annexation)
1999: $661 million
2000: $1.26 billion
2004: around $2 billion
2005: $5 billion goal
2006 and on: ???
Seems the invasion and democratic transformation of Iraq is quite lucrative for Turkey. Of course principaled Turks like Murat were quite happy with Saddam when he was invading a brother muslim neighbor or murdering 200,000 Kurds and driving even more off their lands.
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Iraq was Turkey's fourth largest trade partner before the 1991 Gulf War, with the trade volume standing at 2.5 billion U.S. dollars. But the U.N. sanctions, imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, almost eliminated the trade between the two neighbors until recent years.
In 1999, the Turkish-Iraqi trade volume amounted to 661 million dollars, and to 1.26 billion dollars in 2000.
Tuzmen also said Turkey wants to increase its annual trade with Iraq from around $2 billion to $5 billion in 2005, but added that "the biggest obstacle" to doing that is the lack of security in Iraq.
Posted by: ed ||
12/24/2004 15:05 Comments ||
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#8
Bush is like a virus for our trade, Bush I senior, Bush II junior, hope there is no Bush junior III, fact is family Bush crushed all trade with 3 of our neighbours, Iran, Iraq and Syria.
Trade of $5bln with Iraq, yeah sure, with Iraq in flames and civil war, I bet you're right.
Posted by: Murat ||
12/24/2004 16:04 Comments ||
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#9
Murat - your gov'ts policies are to blame - stick with your friends and things would be different. Live and learn? Or is that beyond your economic genius?
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2004 16:06 Comments ||
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#10
Are the rugs getting cheaper? I like a burgundy motif myself. Wait a second.... that's them presians. Sorry Murat. No dough for you.
#12
doesn't the NFL do well over 3 Billion $ in trade/impact? Jeez, Murat, get an NFL franchise or 2 ....Oops! Another coalition that doesn't want you...so sad
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2004 17:29 Comments ||
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#14
If I recall correctly from an investment course I took many years ago, Present Value of Money Theory says that values halve due to inflation every 10 years, ie things cost twice as much. In that case (and those who know more than I about what I think I know please correct me), Turkey's $5bil. goal for 2005 is still significantly less than pre-Gulf War I. Murat and ed are correct, the wars against Iraq have cost Turkey significantly. Economic meltdown is too strong a description, but their economy was very badly hit both times, and by the boycott in between. I have friends who went from wealth to poverty, much as happened in Mexico. And nobody seems to have cared, which may well be why Erdogan was so responsive to Chiraq's manuvering (sp?). Cause and effect isn't only one way, guys.
Hamas has rejected a Palestinian Authority request to surrender weapons of the insurgency group. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar said the movement would not surrender its weapons to the PA even after an Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Zahar said Hamas was ready to help capture weapons held by other Palestinians. "We will never drop our guns until the end of the occupation and until we will have secure borders for a Palestinian homeland," Zahar said. The assertion marked the rejection of a key PA plan to restore order to the Gaza Strip. PLO chairman Mahmoud Abbas has called on all insurgency groups to surrender their weapons to facilitate the resumption of peace talks with Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 11:39:43 AM ||
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Hamas was ready to help capture weapons held by other Palestinians
How generous! Permanent collections centers.....
Kill.them.
Posted by: Frank G ||
12/24/2004 13:59 Comments ||
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#2
Peace process proceeds as well as could be expected.
Osama bin Laden appears to be trying to transform himself from terrorist to political leader, the conclusion reached by some Middle Eastern experts from watching recent messages attributed to the al-Qaida leader. But at least one of those experts questions whether bin Laden has anything to offer his followers beyond a call to arms, saying he does not have solutions to the economic and social issues facing young Muslims.
Abdel Rahim Ali, who studies Islamic movements, said many Islamic fundamentalist or radical groups turned into political movements after their violent campaigns lost steam. For example, Egypt's Islamic Group denounced terrorism and revised its holy war strategy after its attempt to topple Egypt's regime by force was met with a fierce crackdown. ``This is only natural for any radical movement. First they start as militant and secretive and then they try to get credibility from the public before they turn into a political movement,'' said Ali, author of ``Alliance of Terror: al-Qaida Organization.''
Ali said the cease-fire that bin Laden offered the Europeans in April in exchange for their withdrawal from Iraq was a political message that differed markedly from his usual uncompromising posture. Also, in a video aired on the satellite station Al-Jazeera days before the November presidential election in the United States, bin Laden made an unusual overture to the American people, telling them they could avoid another Sept. 11 attack if they chose leaders who did not threaten Muslims. ``Even Spartacus turned his revolt into a political movement,'' Ali said. ``So why not bin Laden?''
They crucified Spartacus. I find that strangely comforting...
Ali said bin Laden might want to transform al-Qaida into an organization with both military and political wings, mirroring paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland or the Palestinian movement.
It's already got political wings — the Islamic front organizations like Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia and Hizb ut-Tahrir and the Pak fundo parties. They just don't advertise the fact.
In bin Laden's latest message released Dec. 16, his first directed specifically at Saudis in years, he advised his followers to attack the kingdom's oil installations to weaken both the West and the Saudi royal family. That led to speculation al-Qaida intended to adopt the tactics of insurgents, not terrorists.
This was followed by Faqih's people trying to stage a few demonstrations in Soddy Arabia...
While some analysts say al-Qaida has been forced to change course because it has been weakened and possibly shattered by a U.S. crackdown, others believe that any shifting by bin Laden is only temporary and tactical. ``His goal is to build an Islamic state and his means will remain holy war,'' said Saudi writer Mshari al-Thaydi, who has been monitoring Islamic radical groups for years. ``He does not know any other means to make his point.''
Al-Thaydi said both bin Laden and his top lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri, who addressed such issues as human rights and corruption in recent messages, abhor political means and only trust power. He noted that al-Zawahri, in his book ``The Bitter Harvest,'' harshly criticized the Muslim Brotherhood, the biggest Islamic movement, for resorting to social and political programs to advance its quest for power. Al-Thaydi said bin Laden's focus on Saudi Arabia in the recent message attributed to him showed that he intended to step up al-Qaida's terrorist activities in his homeland with the ultimate goal of toppling the monarchy and assuming power. ``Osama thinks if he takes over Saudi Arabia he can topple all other Islamic regimes,'' al-Thaydi said.
Bin Laden has readjusted in the past ``to cope with challenges and circumstances,'' said Radwan al Sayed, a respected Lebanese writer on Islamic affairs. Bin Laden's main shift came in 1990, when he clashed with Saudi rulers over the kingdom's decision to allow U.S.-led coalition troops to use its territory to stage the war to liberate Kuwait from Saddam, said al Sayed, whose works include ``Struggle For Islam.''
``That made him believe that Islam's enemies are not only outside, but also inside,'' al Sayed said. But he added that al-Qaida lacked what it took to lead a country or win support from mainstream Muslims, who have other forums for voicing their concerns, and risked alienating its most radical supporters by advocating Western-style secular politics. ``They can stir opposition but they cannot rule and be in power,'' he said, adding that if bin Laden were trying to present a new image, it was an acknowledgment of bankruptcy. ``Practically speaking, his enterprise has failed. He has nothing to offer Muslims but increasing their frustration. Young Muslims want meaningful things,'' he said. For example, Muslims face issues of poverty, unemployment and greater rights for women. ``There is no endless holy war,'' al Sayed said. ``Holy war must have a goal. So what is its goal now?''
Ask Hamas.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
12/24/2004 3:27:20 AM ||
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#1
You can put this in your pipe and smoke it!
He's wanted 'Dead Or Alive', if's he is determined to be location certain, a most unforetunate triggering of events would be initiated!
#3
If Binny wants to be a successful politician he will have to explain away those first two purple hearts and the fact that he wasn't really in Cambodia when he said he was.
#4
MHW, Cool and Very Funny! Is that why Moonbat Moore was quoted so much? A-ha! Now we know Binny boy's ALIAS and location. He shaved and is living in Boston and represented the Moonbat party in the U.S. election.
#3
palestinianlosers.org.
When I first read it, I thought it said "paleostainlosers.org" and almost swallowed a pretzel. I agree with the "losers" part, anyway.
Israel and Jordan agreed yesterday to tear down many of their remaining trade barriers in a deal that paves the way for the Jewish state's first free trade accord with an Arab state by the end of 2010. "This new agreement will allow greater exports from both Israel and Jordan to the United States and the EU," Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Ehud Olmert told Reuters. The deal obliges Jordan to abolish many customs duties on Israeli products by 2010. The European Union has long pressed for such a move, which Jordan hopes will secure better customs and trade quota terms with the wealthy bloc. Israel sees Jordan as a bridge to the Arab world, and views the prospect of close economic and trade ties with an Arab state as an important step towards easing its regional isolation among its more hesitant Arab neighbors.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 12:02:10 AM ||
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A dozen Israeli lawmakers have signed a pledge to join Jewish settlers in resisting the dismantling of settlements in the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank — the latest sign that protests could be fierce. Lawmaker Effie Eitam, a leader of the group, told Israel Army Radio yesterday that the petition calls for nonviolent protests, but acknowledged that things could get out of hand. "We must not carry out this evacuation. I think the prime minister has to understand that this evacuation stretches...the limits of democracy," Eitam said. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to dismantle 25 settlements and remove 8,600 settlers from their homes has infuriated Israeli hard-liners. Protests escalated this week, after Sharon managed to stabilize his wobbly coalition and the settlers' political options were dwindling. Some settlers, comparing the evacuation of settlements to the Nazi Holocaust, began wearing orange Star of David patches, similar to those the Nazis forced Jews to pin to their lapels.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 12:02:57 AM ||
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei attacked Tony Blair's planned London meeting on Palestinian reform on Thursday, saying what was really needed was a peace conference. Qorie would not be in a position to decide whether Palestinians attend the meeting proposed by the British prime minister, but the comments were a clear sign of division within the new Palestinian leadership after Yasser Arafat's death. Palestine Liberation Organisation leader Mahmoud Abbas, frontrunner to succeed Arafat, on Wednesday welcomed Blair's proposal to host a conference on Palestinian reform next year. Qorei said he rejected Blair's suggestion that Palestinians needed reform before there could be progress on the peace process.
"Hell, no! We're happy and efficient like we are! We don't need no reforms!"
"We reject these remarks. They are unacceptable and we are capable and have the means and expertise for peace and negotiations," Qorei told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "It is the Israeli side that requires rehabilitation for peace not us. We are in need of a peace conference and not a meeting."
There aren't many things they don't reject, are there?
Money.
Blair gave more details of his planned London conference during a visit to the Middle East on Wednesday, saying that it would focus on Palestinian political, economic and security reform. Israel has no plans to attend. Diplomats said Blair's conference idea was a scaled down version of what had originally been grander plans for a meeting to help revive Middle East peace efforts.
That's probably because cooler and more realistic heads in Washington don't want to go rushing into things. This is a grand opportunity for the Paleostinians, and if they hold true to form they'll go out of their way to miss it. It looks like Qurei and Hamas are doing just that.
Meanwhile, the radical Islamic movement Hamas fiercely criticised British Prime Minister Tony Blair's plan to hold a Middle East conference in London and urged the Palestinian Authority not to participate. Ismail Haniya, one of the movement's senior figures in the Gaza Strip, said the aim of the conference was "to intensify the pressure on the Palestinian Authority to undertake structural reforms for the benefit of Israel".
"Structural reforms, of course, would be of no benefit to the Paleostinians. With our low 60 percent unemployment rate, why, we're doing just fine, a veritable model of development!"
Haniya added in a statement that the conference was designed to "make it appear that the Palestinian people and the resistance, and not the occupation and oppression, is the origin of the problem in the region".
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qorei attacked Tony Blairâs planned London meeting on Palestinian reform on Thursday, saying what was really needed was a peace conference.
Peace ain't gonna happen unless there's CHANGE, and that means change in Paleo attitudes. Or, it can be called R-E-F-O-R-M. Whatever. Deal with it.
âIt is the Israeli side that requires rehabilitation for peace not us. We are in need of a peace conference and not a meeting.â
Note to Mr. Blair: Don't bother with a conference; your precious money is better spent on other things that might actually produce positive results.
Haniya added in a statement that the conference was designed to âmake it appear that the Palestinian people and the resistance, and not the occupation and oppression, is the origin of the problem in the regionâ.
The Paleos don't have to be "made to appear" to be the problem; they ARE the problem.
#2
âWe reject these remarks. They are unacceptable and we are capable and have the means and expertise for peace and negotiations,â Qorei told reporters in the West Bank city of Ramallah."
#3
The fact that the Arabs haven't figured out that life is not a zero-sum game in 1400 years since they left the desert, is a strong indication that they simply can't.
#4
The only way to change the minds of the paleostumblebums is to bomb the hell out of them. As long as they can whine and seethe and get payoffs from the Euroweenies, they'll continue to blow stuff up, mainly in Israel. Drop a few thousand 220kg explosive birthday presents on them, and they'll finally get the message. If Israel has to nuke somebody in order to remain free, I hope they hold one back to use on Paris and another for Brussels.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
12/24/2004 14:13 Comments ||
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U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, on a surprise Christmas Eve visit with the troops three days after the devastating attack on a U.S. military dining hall here, told soldiers he remained confident of defeating the insurgency and stabilizing Iraq, while noting that to some "it looks bleak." "There's no doubt in my mind, this is achievable," Rumsfeld, who flew here under tight security, told a couple of hundred 1st Brigade soldiers of the 25th Infantry Division at their commander's headquarters. He promised them that later in life they will look back and feel pride at having contributed to a mission of historic importance. "When it looks bleak, when one worries about how it's going to come out, when one reads and hears the naysayers and the doubters who say it can't be done, and that we're in a quagmire here," one should recall that there have been such doubters "throughout every conflict in the history of the world," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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Rummy's a class act, and he proves it often. Merry Christmas, Mr. Secretary.
Posted by: Jonathan ||
12/24/2004 0:31 Comments ||
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#2
Perhaps, but I have no more interest in whether Rummy's class or crass than Lincoln had in Grant's drinking habits. I care about winning, period. I believe Rummy shares my commitment. I do not believe that the majority of the chiefs, or CIA officers, or midwestern and southern isolationist-inclined Republican senators, and certainly not Rummy's MSM critics, share this commitment to victory over fascism in Iraq.
#3
Mr Secretary, your a good man. Your taking entirly too much criticism on the armour front, even though your critics dont seem to have the facts on this issue. Up armoring using steel based solutions degrades performance of vehicles while increasing their cost to operate. Ceramic solutions are the best solutions from a ballistic protection point of view, the DOD needs to do a much better job framing this debate. Congress would have us spend millions on uparmouring using the wrong armour, then doing it all over again when ceramics are the only rational alternative to this force protection issue.
#4
I think the biggest problem for Rumsfeld are the "winning hearts and minds" folks whomever they may be - for sure the MSM, both stripes of Congressmen and women, JAG no doubt, and even the WH. I suspect that Rumsfeld is not a "hearts and minds" type of guy. He's more the break things and overwhelm the bad guys (Sunni) until they yell uncle, and then he'd let the Shiites and Kurds take charge for long term smack downs and not according to the Geneva Convention, thank you very much. This "winning hearts and minds" crapolla should be implemented in Iraq in person by the bright lights( calling Jeanne Kirkpatrick, Paul Wolfowitz, State Department) who were stupid enough to dream it up in the first place. This piece of snot goal should not be an albatross for Rumsfeld and his military. And no, Virginia, extremist tribal Muslims are not the same as Germans and Japanese in WWII.
At least 20 people were killed in an explosion as they stole fuel from a damaged pipeline in a fishing community near Nigeria's economic capital Lagos, police said Thursday. Fire broke out on Tuesday night in the Ilado community on a pipeline operated by the state-run Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), Lagos State police spokesman Emmanuel Ighodalo told AFP. "We understand some 20 people were killed. But we are still investigating the incident to get an accurate picture of the situation," he said. A senior officer with the police marine unit said officers had cordoned off the scene of the blast.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 11:25:36 PM ||
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A Darfur rebel group will not return to African Union-sponsored peace talks in the Nigerian capital Abuja and is rejecting the pan-African body as mediator to end the 22-month-old conflict in Sudan's remote west. The leader of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM), Khalil Ibrahim, told Reuters on Thursday it would only accept the United Nations as lead mediator in any peace talks and wanted UN troops stationed in Darfur. He said the African Union had failed to hold the Sudanese government to account. "JEM is rejecting the African Union. We are not going again to Abuja again under the auspices of the African Union," he said. JEM is one of two main rebel groups who were in faltering talks in Abuja to find a political solution to the conflict.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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"...would only accept the United Nations as lead mediator in any peace talks and wanted UN troops stationed in Darfur."
Certainly has tightened the definition in our neck of the woods...
A Muslim scholar said on Thursday that terrorism harmed the legitimacy of liberation movements in Indian Held Kashmir, Palestine and Chechnya.
I was thinking about maybe Darfur, and Aceh, and the Shan States in Burma, and places like that as legitimate liberation movements. I'd be perfectly happy to see India retaining Kashmir in perpetuity, ruling the resident Moose limbs with an iron fist and converting them forcibly to Hinduism. If the place wasn't the home to the most barbarous sort of terrorism, I might not feel like that. I'd be unmoved to watch the Russers deport all the ethnic Chechens to someplace 400 miles north of Khabarovsk and replace them with honest Slavs and Veps and Udmurts. That's because the Chechens are a savage lot who're willing to slaughter school children in the pursuit of their goals. And I wouldn't turn a hair if the entire Paleostinian people was chased out of Gaza and the West Bank. That's because they're savages who're perfectly happy to shoot little children in their beds and blow up teenagers whose only sin was to want to go out dancing.
"Some terrorists have weakened the Kashmiri liberation cause," said Muhammad Farooq Khan, a scholar, at a seminar 'Phenomena of Terrorism: Implications for Pakistan and the Muslim World' organised jointly by the international relations department of University of Peshawar, and Media Cell of Federally Administered Tribal Areas secretariat.
Not "some" terrorists, you beturbanned would-be overlord. All terrorists.
He said targeting soft targets in Kashmir had changed the true cause into terrorism and the world now viewed the problem differently adding, "The same is the case with Palestine and Chechnya". Mr Khan piously denounced the people who carry out terrorist attacks under the garb of religion. "Exploding bombs in buses in Israel has changed the world's view about the Palestinian struggle for independence," he said and added Bill Clinton, former US president, had presented a good road map but nothing was done.
It changed the world's view not because it's not an effective tactic, but because it's wrong. I know that word doesn't appear in the Koran, but the civilized world does recognize right and wrong, even if sometimes only subliminally.
He said Pakistan and the Muslim world should not allow the United States to formulate the definition of terrorism and that the term must be defined soon. Dr Qibla Ayaz, faculty dean of Islamic and Oriental Studies in the University of Peshawar, said Islam does not warrant terrorism and demanded that jihad should be redefined.
You continue blathering. We've got people to hunt down and kill.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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Scatalogical, badanov, but tee-rue. These so-called Muslim scholars cannot think outside themselves. Those who do learn from their mistakes and make the world a better place. Those who do not wind up in the physical, cultural, or mental backwaters of this world.
Posted by: Alaska Paul in Irvine, CA ||
12/24/2004 13:18 Comments ||
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That could be it, but I'da said it was the explosions and the liking of the natives for lopping people's heads off...
Mrs Meena Ehsan Leghari, chairperson of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Tourism, on Thursday said lack of a comprehensive tourism policy, infrastructure and basic information about tourist destinations were the reasons foreign tourists did not flock to Pakistan. In her opening remarks as chairperson of the meeting held at the Parliament House, she said that Pakistan had immense tourism potential, which if properly exploited, could boost the national economy. The MNA urged the ministry to adopt a well-coordinated and cohesive strategy to develop the country's tourism industry. She directed the ministry to provide world-class facilities, commensurate with the rich cultural heritage and archaeological heritage of Pakistan.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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The MNA urged the ministry to adopt a well-coordinated and cohesive strategy to develop the countryâs tourism industry.
For starters, bumping off terrorists and terrorist sympathizers inside Pakistani borders might help a little....
..commensurate with the rich cultural heritage and archaeological heritage of Pakistan.
Using the word "rich" to describe Pakistan's cultural heritage up to now might be considered to be a bit inaccurate, to put it mildly.
The Mutahidda Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) will not hold talks with the government unless the ongoing government-MMA dialogue produces results, said Qazi Hussain Ahmed, MMA president on Thursday.
That's called Islamic logic. Don't hold talks unless they produce results.
Qazi, who is also the Jamaat-e-Islami ameer, said the MMA Supreme Council would decide about the agitation against the president's uniform in a meeting today (Friday). "President Musharraf will not be a constitutional president from January 1 if he does not hang up his uniform by December 31," Qazi told reporters after a Christmas party at the St John's Cathedral here. He said the 17th Amendment would lose its efficacy if the president did not hang up his uniform. "Our basic demand in the 17th Amendment was that the president would have to hang up his uniform by December 31 and if the government does not accept it, the amendment will have no value," he said. The JI ameer alleged that Musharraf was violating the Constitution. "He is a friend of America which is interfering in Pakistan's affairs and wants Pakistan to be a secular state," Qazi. He said the US wanted to change the syllabi of Pakistani schools and "Even the education minister says that there is no need to mention Islam in every textbook." He said the Aga Khan Board was part of the US global village agenda through which America wanted India and Pakistan to reunite.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 10:43:06 PM ||
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The supreme council of the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal is likely to approve the proposal by Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazlur Rehman group (JUI-F) to start the next phase of the on-going protest campaign against President General Pervez Musharraf with the cooperation of the Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy (ARD). The Central Executive Council of the JUI-F in its recent meeting had recommended to the MMA supreme council that the religious alliance should start the second phase of its anti uniform campaign after ensuring the coordination of ARD. "It is likely that the MMA would adopt the proposal of the JUI-F that both the anti government alliances should start a joint protest campaign," MMA sources told Daily Times.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 10:47:31 PM ||
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President General Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday the government was working hard for political harmony, but would not be dictated to by a minority. "We are trying our best, but one thing ought to be clearly understood: that there cannot be the rule of the minority. Democracy means the rule of majority, and the rule of majority has to prevail, the rule of minority cannot prevail," Gen Musharraf said at the 15th dinner reception of the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee. "While rapprochement and reconciliation are underway, it does not mean that the minority should rule the majority," he said.
The president said Pakistan today had "real democracy" where people's fundamental rights were respected. "An essence of democracy is freedom of speech and expression. Today nobody is put behind bars for their views or criticism in both the print and electronic media - they are not targeted, they are not victimised," he said. On Pakistan-India relations, he said Pakistan was prepared to be flexible in the dispute over Kashmir if India was willing to reciprocate. "We will be flexible, when the other side also shows flexibility. Both sides need to move back from their maximalist positions on Kashmir ... we need to meet somewhere midway," he said.
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12/24/2004 00:00:00 ||
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âWe are trying our best, but one thing ought to be clearly understood: that there cannot be the rule of the minority."
Someone forward this to Dianne Feinstein's office.
Pakistan has turned down Abdullah Mehsud's offer to surrender, a senior official said on Thursday. Mehsud, a former Guantanamo Bay inmate, is wanted for the kidnapping of two Chinese engineers. The one-legged militant commander had made only a conditional offer to give himself up, said Mehmood Shah, security chief for Pakistan's tribal areas on the Afghan border. "Our terms for his surrender are that he should hand himself over to the authorities without any preconditions," Mehmood told AFP. "We will agree to his surrender offer only when he sets no conditions."
Pakistan last week offered a Rs 5 million ($83,350) reward for information leading to the capture of the former Taliban fighter. Mehsud was behind the October kidnapping of two Chinese engineers, which he used to press for an end to army operations hunting Al Qaeda-linked insurgents in South Waziristan. One of the victims died in a rescue operation. Mehsud, 29, who is also wanted for leading a bloody uprising against Pakistani troops, has been on the run ever since. According to the security chief, Mehsud had said in his offer that he "must be forgiven" for his past actions before he lays down arms.
Posted by: Fred ||
12/24/2004 10:37:37 PM ||
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Trying to make sure Fazl stays bought, I'd guess...
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Thursday invited Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly, to talks to resolve the political differences between the government and the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA). "The prime minister talked with Mr Rehman on the phone for three minuets and invited him to a meeting," sources privy to their conversation told Daily Times. The sources said that Fazl refused talks on the issue of the uniform of President Musharraf. Fazl asked Aziz to give an agenda for the meeting before he would accept or reject talks, the sources said. Fazl was willing to meet Aziz as a goodwill gesture, but not to discuss "settled issues". Sources said that Fazl made clear he would discuss issues such as the NSC and the NFC award only if the prime minister announced that these issues would be discussed at the meeting. Fazl also said he could not meet with the prime minister unless the Supreme Council of the MMA allowed him to. Fazl said he would tell the council of the government invitation at its meeting today.
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12/24/2004 10:36:04 PM ||
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Okay, I finally remember where I've seen that fabric. Dolly P. was showing an identical bath towel from a family size box of Breeze. I've just googled and can't find a good site for Breeze towel memorablia.... I see a niche. Rich! I'll be Rich!
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.
A man who threatened to blow-up a Gold Coast high-rise during a 17-hour stand-off with police has been taken into custody. The area remains cordoned off as police examine a number of potentially dangerous devices. The stand-off at the Grand Hotel at Labrador began when a woman was allegedly assaulted in the man's hotel room early last night. The 43-year-old local sealed his room and told police he had explosives and hostages. Late this morning police negotiators coaxed the man to a window while officers forced their way into the room. 
A HOTEL room used in a siege on the Gold Coast was rigged to blow up with at least 10 different explosive devices. Police found the bombs inside a unit at The Grand Hotel in the northern Gold Coast suburb of Labrador after the overnight siege ended peacefully this morning. More than 16 hours after negotiations began, a 43-year-old man surrendered by raising his arms in the air in a 12th floor apartment window in full view of dozens of tourists who had gathered to watch the drama unfold. The bombs were to be removed from the apartment this afternoon and detonated at another site. Detective Inspector John Hartwell said the man did not make any specific demands during the ordeal and a motive was not immediately apparent. During the night, he claimed to be holding hostages and threatened to detonate explosive devices.
The Netherlands' intelligence service warned Thursday that radical Islamic ideology is spreading to thousands of young Dutch Muslims through Internet sites and online chat rooms. The agency, known by its acronym AIVD, identified the potential threat in an overview of domestic fundamentalist Islamic movements compiled for the Home Affairs Ministry in the wake of the country's first terrorist attack.
Turkey and Syria on Wednesday signed a free trade agreement to bolster bilateral economic ties and exchanged views on the situation in their common neighbour, Iraq. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan flew to Damascus on a two-day visit aimed at cementing improved ties between the two countries which nearly went to war in 1998 over Turkish charges that Syria was harbouring Turkish Kurdish guerrillas. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad made a landmark visit to Turkey in January to bury the hatchet after years of tension over the rebels and disputes over land and water resources.
Hamas has rejected a Palestinian Authority request to surrender weapons of the insurgency group. 
Osama bin Laden appears to be trying to transform himself from terrorist to political leader, the conclusion reached by some Middle Eastern experts from watching recent messages attributed to the al-Qaida leader. But at least one of those experts questions whether bin Laden has anything to offer his followers beyond a call to arms, saying he does not have solutions to the economic and social issues facing young Muslims. 
The 
President General Pervez Musharraf said on Thursday the government was working hard for political harmony, but would not be dictated to by a minority. "We are trying our best, but one thing ought to be clearly understood: that there cannot be the rule of the minority. Democracy means the rule of majority, and the rule of majority has to prevail, the rule of minority cannot prevail," Gen Musharraf said at the 15th dinner reception of the Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee. "While rapprochement and reconciliation are underway, it does not mean that the minority should rule the majority," he said.
