I am in the process of cleaning my basement and came across Dean Ing's scifi novel "Soft Targets" (copyright 1978).
I said to my self - "Yes! That's the reason to be snarky and insulting toward the enemy in places like Rantburg".
But, enough of me.
Look what Larry Niven said in Sept. 2003: My favorite of his novels is Soft Targets. If I tried to describe the premise, you wouldn't believe me. It's up-to-the-minute relevant. I just can't quite believe it would work.
To quote the 1979 blurb in ANALOG:
Dean Ing's SOFT TARGETS is not science fiction. Or is it? It deals with a modern problem -- international terrorism -- and does it without positing any new technology. Id does however, propose a solution that is clasic in the "What if ...?" line. What if the media started ridiculing the terrorists? The story is both excellent and gripping. Do not read it when alone. --ANALOG
Dean's hero was a Johnny Carson type who made more and more fun of the terror chiefs every night until they got too enraged and sloppy...
If anybody is curious I can scan in Dean's Afterword written for the ACE paperback printing that came out shortly after the IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS.
#1
The problem is the Johnny Carson types are producing the exact propaganda the jihadis need: representing the US government as Darth Vader like in intention, and Laurel-and-Hardy-like in competence.
One of their biggest propaganda coups comes from the fact that we have taken as virtual prisoners-of-war the sort of people who would have been shot instead of taken prisoner in previous wars like WW2.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
06/29/2005 15:39 Comments ||
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Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US Prince Bandar bin Sultan, has resigned after more than 20 years in the post. The embassy in Washington has sought to play down rumours of his departure saying merely that he is on holiday. But Saudi officials have confirmed the persistent speculation that Prince Bandar has tendered his resignation. It is thought he would like a senior job back home, such as head of intelligence - a post that has been vacant for several months.
Prince Bandar became Saudi ambassador to Washington in 1983, when Ronald Reagan was in the White House. He has been close to every president since then. A man of extraordinary drive and energy and with a colourful lifestyle, he was once memorably described as an "Arab Gatsby". He played a central role in building the special relationship between Riyadh and Washington, a task that has become significantly harder since the 11 September 2001 attacks. Known to be in poor health, there has been speculation for some time that he wanted to leave his post.
If the ailing Saudi King Fahd were to die, it is expected that Crown Prince Abdullah would become king and Prince Bandar's father, Prince Sultan, the current defence minister, would become crown prince. Prince Bandar may wish to position himself for a new role in the post-Fahd era.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 09:06 ||
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#1
There's probably a lot of State employees wondering what's going to happen to their 'Saudi 401K' plans.
#5
And rheumatoid arthritis is greatly exacerbated by stress. It kept a beloved grandmother of mine bedridded for the last few years of her life when I was a small kid. Not a fun disease to deal with.
#8
Ah, but the Society pages will never be the same. Prince Bandar's got a sweet little spread on the Virginia shore of the Potomac...I wonder if the new guy gets it or has to forage for his own.
Kuwaiti Minister of Awqaf (endowment) and Islamic Affairs Dr. Abdallah Maatooq Al-Maatooq affirmed on Tuesday that terrorism is not related to any religion or civilization despite efforts by some to attribute it to Islam. Al-Maatooq, heading his delegation in a meeting of Muslim foreign ministers in Yemen, called on the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to reflect the real image of Islam and confront offensive campaigns that target it. "Islam is a religion of justice and equality and fundamentalism is renounced," Al-Maatooq said in a speech during the meeting.
Isn't Kuwait right next door to a pretty fundamentalist kingdom?
He indicated the importance of the meeting due to the issues discussed such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Iraq, affirming Kuwait's support to the Palestinian people and the Arab causes. Al-Maatooq stressed Kuwait's determination to assist Iraq in its reconstruction process and to restore security and order, calling on other Arab and Muslim states to support Iraq. He renewed calls to peacefully solve the disputes between neighboring Iran and UAE over the three islands. He voiced hope to conclude the meeting with serious decisions and suggestions that would meet Arab expectations and hopes.
#3
He's correct that there are wackos everywhere. IRA, ETA, Westboro Baptist, KKK, etc. What he's got to explain is why 95% of the world's wackos are Islamic and why they find so much comfort and acceptance from Islam and Islamic states.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/29/2005 9:21 Comments ||
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#4
Yeah, I'd agree terrorism is not related to any religion if Dr. Al-Maatooq denounced the Paleos killing of Jews and the so-called "insurgents" in Iraq. He didn't...he went on to lend Kuwait's "support" to the Paleos and reconstruction of Iraq. Wonder what kind of "support" the Paleos are getting from Kuwait, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
06/29/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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#5
Kuwaiti Minister of Awqaf (endowment) and Islamic Affairs Dr. Abdallah Maatooq Al-Maatooq affirmed on Tuesday that terrorism is not related to any religion or civilization despite efforts by some to attribute it to Islam.
While Bush administration fluffs off abuse charges from South Asian former Guantanamo detainees, it may have a harder time ignoring a lawsuit filed by former Guantanamo prisoner Airat Vakhitov.
Well, no, but let's play along, shall we?
Vakhitov, a Russian, alleges in his lawsuit that he was subjected to psychological torture, which included being denied sleep and guards provoking Muslim prisoners by desecrating the Koran; Vakhitov asserted, "The Koran was thrown into a lavatory pan before our eyes." Vakhitov said that the guards' belligerent attitude towards the prisoners triggered disorder in the prison; in 2003 Vakhitov said at least 300 people simultaneously went on hunger strike.
Horrors! Now, why do you suppose a Russian would end up in Gitmo? Let's read on, between the lines this time
Vakhitov, a resident of of Naberezhnye Chelny in Tatarstan was the imam at a local mosque until 1999.
And if you can't trust a imam....
Following a clerical visit to Chechnya,
Spreading the holy word, doing good deads, small arms training, etc..
Russian authorities put him on a wanted list, after which he escaped to Tajikistan and then to Afghanistan.
Funny, a lot of al-Qeada members had the same travel agent. Purely an accident I'm sure..
Arrested by the Taliban as a "Soviet spy,"
They weren't real big on outsiders without proper introductions
Vakhitov was in prison in Kandahar when the Taliban were overthrown, but handed over to the United States by the new government and shipped to Guantanamo.
Guess the Afghans didn't buy the "traveling imam" story either
In February 2004, Vakhitov and six other Russians were released to Russian authorities, who released them four months from a local prison without charges.
Yup, a totally believable source.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 15:50 ||
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Vakhitov said that the guards' belligerent attitude towards the prisoners triggered disorder in the prison; in 2003 Vakhitov said at least 300 people simultaneously went on hunger strike.
Well, this guy must have an unusual definition of "disorder", as a hunger strike hardly qualifies as such.
#6
After hearing the kind of abuse these scum hoist upon our troops who are tasked with guarding them, they're lucky they're not shipped en masse to San Quentin exercise yard. Those @$$h@t$ deserve some iron bar buggery.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
06/29/2005 23:41 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON - The House of Representatives sent a stern message to Mexico on Tuesday night, voting to block $66 million in U.S. aid if the country does not extradite suspected cop-killers without strings attached. Angered by the killing of Denver Police Detective Donald Young, the House voted 327-98 to approve an amendment offered by Rep. Bob Beauprez, R-Arvada, to a foreign operations spending bill. It calls for cutting off U.S. aid to any country that fails to extradite suspects in the killing of federal, state or local law enforcement officers.
Beauprez said it applies to Mexico because, based on a ruling of the country's supreme court, it will not extradite suspects if they could face the death penalty or life without possibility of parole in the United States. Beauprez is upset that Mexico's restrictions forced prosecutors to avoid first-degree murder charges against Raul Gomez-Garcia, who is being held in a Mexican prison in connection with the May 8 killing of Young. It's about time we do something
Posted by: Jan ||
06/29/2005 13:24 ||
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"Aw, hell no, we won't kill the guy. We'll just stick him in the general; pop and let out rumors that he's a child molester. I give him 30 minutes, tops."
Uzbekistan's authoritarian president said Tuesday that an uprising against his government in May was planned from abroad by mercenaries who "were trained at military training camps." Speaking during a meeting with his Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Islam Karimov said "we have enough facts to prove that the operation was prepared several months and perhaps several years in advance from outside Uzbekistan."
Putin said Russian secret services had information about militants crossing from Afghanistan into Central Asia and had warned governments in the region before the uprising in Andijan. The Russian president said he was unsure whether the information was conveyed to Karimov. Moscow has backed the Uzbek leader in his rejection of international demands for an independent investigation into the suppression of the uprising in Andijan, in which rights activists say government troops killed up to 750 people.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2005 00:00 ||
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Over the last 5 years, the Uzbekistan government has nurtured a relationship with Al-Azhar university in Cairo, via its Grand Shaykh Muhammed Tantawi. This relationship was designed to foster a âmoderateâ Uzbek Clergy and population in Uzbekistan that would undertake their Islamic rituals according to state sanctioned routes while separating their belief in Islam from their political views. The relationship also sought to produce an Uzbek clergy with some skills to counter the Islamic political groups in the country, particularly Hizb ut Tahrir, who are known to be extremely proficient in the sciences of Islam.
Following the massacre in Andijan and Karasu, Shaykh Muhammed Tantawi met with Uzbek Foreign Minister Jahon, to discuss the events. Tantawi is reported to have compared the massacre of civilians in Andijan to a coup dâetat attempt led by Salah Sirrey in Egypt in the 1970âs. He drew these similarities claiming the (fictional) âmilitary wingâ of Hizb-ut-Tahrir to be at blame. Itar-Tass reported that he went on to say that if the plans of the extremists are put into effect, this would drive the Islamic world many centuries back. Forum 18 reported that the Uzbek foreign minister claimed that Tantawi said that the ârevival of the Islamic Khilafahâ and âjihadâ were âanti-human.â
The Russian news agency, Ria Novosti reported that âThe sheikh dubbed all appeals to setting up a caliphate as a conspiracy of people who have sidetracked from the righteous path.â Although the reports on what the Grand Shaykh actually said differ, what is consistent between them is that he supported the Uzbek governments brutal suppression of its people and considered the idea of reinstating the Khilafah, the very system implemented by the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wasallam), the Sahaba (companions ra) and the Salaf-as-salih (righteous early followers) as a bad idea.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2005 00:00 ||
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So is that good or bad? Because I have no idea what these guys just said.
#2
Simplisme: the Learned Elder of Islam's in bed with the bloody-handed Central Asian dictator who's thumping on Hizb-ut-Tahrir. If Hizb-ut-Tahrir eventually wins, he'll crawl in bed with them, too...
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2005 8:02 Comments ||
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Pyongyang, June 28 (KCNA) -- The rainy season has set in in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea from June 26 afternoon. Jong Ryong U, vice chief of the National Meteorological Institute under the Hydro-Meteorological Service, told KCNA that the year's rainy season has begun more than one week earlier than the normal year. He went on to say:
The feature of this rainy weather, which is likely to last for two months, is conspicuous from the beginning. It had been difficult to distinguish the rainy season from dry season in recent years. From last year the start and end of the rainy season have become obvious again. It is expected that there would be a heavy fall of rain coupled with strong wind and flood during the current rainy season.
"We expect rain, to be interrupted by periods of heavy rain. Strong winds, flooding, hail with brief showers of frogs."
This rainy weather will seriously affect the yield of first crops such as wheat and barley, the growth of which has been delayed owing to unfavorable climate, he added.
"The good news is we are expecting a bumper crop of moss"
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 11:18 ||
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"... with brief showers of frogs."
Showers of frogs would be like manna from heaven for most NKors.
Caught via Capt Ed A mosque has fired a religious leader accused of speaking out against the United States and supporting Osama bin Laden in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Shabbir Ahmed, 39, is one of two imams detained on immigration charges as part of an FBI investigation into alleged terror activities in the Islamic community in Lodi, a wine-growing region about 30 miles south of Sacramento. The mosqueâs board of directors unanimously voted to fire Ahmed in a special session Sunday night, said Mohammed Shoaib, president of Lodi Muslim Mosque. âWe donât want that kind of person who has spoken against the United States,â Shoaib said.
At a hearing on Friday, Ahmed denied making any speeches against the United States. Justice Department attorney Paul Nishiie said Ahmed was linked to a terrorist group in Pakistan and had preached about attacking Americans a few months after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Ahmed was one of five men arrested during the FBIâs terrorism investigation. He was brought to Lodi in 2002 by Muhammed Adil Khan, the second imam held on immigration complaints. His son, Mohammad Hassan Adil, also is being held pending an immigration hearing in August.
Two other Lodi residents also are facing charges. Hamid Hayat, 22, is charged with two counts of lying to the FBI earlier this month when he said he did not attend a terrorism camp in Pakistan in 2003 and 2004. His father, Umer Hayat, 47, was indicted on a single count of lying to investigators by denying his son attended the camp.
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/29/2005 10:11 ||
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The Imam actually admitted to the anti-U.S. speeches but now after living among the infidels recants them. Too late to keep his job and I thik this speaks VOLUMES about the Pakis living in Lodi. I am not willing to give them a clean bill of health, but Mohammed Shoaib has gone further than anyone connected with CAIR in renouncing hate speech like this. Bravo!
EFL Democrats are criticizing President Bush for raising the Sept. 11 attacks while he defends his plan to keep U.S. troops in Iraq as long as it takes to ensure peace in the country. The president, urging patience on an American public showing doubts about his Iraq policy, mentioned the deadly 2001 terrorist attacks five times during a 28-minute address Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, N.C. Some Democrats accused him of falsely reviving the link that he originally used to help justify launching strikes against Baghdad. "The president's frequent references to the terrorist attacks of September 11 show the weakness of his arguments," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said. "He is willing to exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq." Some of us know different, Nancy.
Dang, she's an idiot.
"The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001," Bush told a national television audience and 750 soldiers and airmen in dress uniform who mostly listened quietly as they had been asked to do. "Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war," he continued. "Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women, and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York, in Washington and Pennsylvania. There is only one course of action against them — to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home. We fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we will fight them there, we will fight them across the world and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won."
Yo, Nancy: there's the connection.
He offered no shift in course in Iraq. None needed, Bozo. Work on your patience!
"We have a clear path forward," the president said. "As the Iraqis stand up, we will stand down."
Republican Sen. John McCain defended Bush's call to stop terrorism abroad before it reaches the U.S. shore in an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" program. He said those spreading violence in Iraq "are the same guys who would be in New York if we don't win in Iraq." Democrats criticized Bush for not offering more specifics ... like a timetable. We want a timetable, so we can complain about that!
... about how to achieve success in Iraq along with his frequent mention of the Sept. 11 attacks. "The president's numerous references to September 11 did not provide a way forward in Iraq," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said. "They only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose and al-Qaida remains capable of doing this nation great harm nearly four years after it attacked America." Right, Harry. Catch ObL and the war is all over!
Bush urged Americans to remember the lessons of Sept. 11 and protect "the future of the Middle East" from men like bin Laden. He repeatedly referred to the insurgents in Iraq as terrorists and said they were killing innocent people to try to "shake our will in Iraq, just as they tried to shake our will on September the 11th, 2001." Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., said it's because of the lessons of the Sept. 11 attacks that he opposes Bush's approach to keeping the troops in Iraq without any timetable for withdrawal.
Let him speak! The man's obviously a military genius...
"The U.S. military presence in Iraq has become a powerful recruiting tool for terrorists, and Iraq is now the premier training ground and networking venue for the next generation of jihadists," Feingold said. Like moths to a flame, all these terrorists "recruited" go to Iraq. Better there than here, Russ.
Deal with them in Fallujah or in Milwaukee, Russ.
We're there to kill terrs. So quit bitching about having to fight terrs.
I listened to Bush's speech last night. It's the best one I've ever heard him give. Whoever wrote it had obviously read a lot of Churchill's wartime speeches, and probably recently. Churchill would have pronounced the words differently, his cadences would have been more majestic, but he'd have said much the same thing: "We shall fight, and we shall suffer perils..."
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 07:08 ||
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So Harry your main beef is that we don't have Bin Laden? If we did have him, would your main beef be that he'd be in Gitmo having his Koran abused?
How about when we find out for sure where he is, we nuke the place to make sure we get him? Would you be okay with that?
As far as Pelosi, it's usually not a good idea to listen to the ravings of a menopausal housewife.
#2
You have to wonder if the dems really believe their own talking points on how "compartmentalized" and unrelated to any other military action they believe the WoT to be, or if they just need to come down on the opposite side of whatever the President says.
Its hard for me to grasp that there are people in positions of power in this country that are as blatantly stupid and partisan as Pelosi, or Kennedy, Kerry, TurbinDurbun et al.
#3
"The U.S. military presence in Iraq has become a powerful recruiting tool for terrorists, and Iraq is now the premier training ground and networking venue for the next generation of jihadists," Feingold said."
Why are these otherwise intelligent individuals (Pelosi excepted) still parroting this crap? Let terrorists be recruited and let them go to Iraq.
And there they will die at the hands of the U.S. military.
#4
Two talk jocks explained it best this morning on the radio. The Democrats are like a small child that decides it doesnât want to go anywhere once you are at Disneyland. You already there, you paid for your ticket, and now you should do something. But the small child just stomps its feet and refuses to participate. I like it when the Democrats are portrayed as small children because they seem to go out of their way to act like one. Thank GOD they are not in power.
#5
the Donk leadership proves to be the gift that keeps on giving
Posted by: Frank G ||
06/29/2005 10:47 Comments ||
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#6
I know it's really petty to remark on appearances, BUT: between Dragon Lady Pelosi and Sen. Milquetoast Reid, the Dems don't inspire much confidence even when they don't open their mouths.
#8
I've never believed the "we're got Bin Laden and we're keeping him on ice" poppycock but I could really see how useful that might be. MOst sane people know the war won't be over with a Bin Laden capture, does anyone doubt that the Dem leaders will declare it's over though?
People tire of war and the Democrats are trying to exploit that because they know they are weak on defence issues and really, really wish it was over.
#9
Nan's probably doesn't get it at home either. And if she did, she wouldn't know it.
Posted by: Captain America ||
06/29/2005 18:22 Comments ||
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#10
...This is one reason why I've always said that even if we whacked Bin Laden tomorrow, the smartest thing the leadership could do is deny it forever. Once the Dims had proof that he was gone, they'd cut the throat of anything even resembling a war on terror...because after all, if Bin Laden's dead, the war's over, isn't it?
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/29/2005 21:31 Comments ||
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WASHINGTON â After months of declining enlistment, the Army has more than met its recruitment goals for the month of June. Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers announced the turnaround during a "town hall" meeting this afternoon at the Pentagon. Myers did not provide numbers, nor did he indicate how far above the recruitment target the enlistment number is. Going into the month of June, the Army had failed to meet its recruitment goals for four consecutive months.
Only in support branches, combat arms recruiting met theirs
Officials blame a strong economy and the continuing carnage in Iraq.
Just last night, during his speech on the situation in Iraq, President Bush urged Americans to consider joining one of the service branches during this time of war.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 15:37 ||
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#1
Is this an artifact of high school seniors graduating in June and figuring out that a high school diploma won't get you dick in the marketplace, or have we turned a corner on recruiting? (The assumption being that this might be a spike due to graduation rather than the beginning of a trend.)
Posted by: Jonathan ||
06/29/2005 15:49 Comments ||
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#2
Officials blame a strong economy and the continuing carnage in Iraq. Say what? That'd be a rationale for not meeting goals, but how do they (Fox News) rationalizre meeting the goals in June? Sloppy bookkeeping? Raising the enlistment age? Lowering the standards? Michael Moore? Turbin Dick?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 15:54 Comments ||
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#3
Or, for that matter, how do "the officials" (whoever they are) explain meeting the goal, if not due to the strong economy? And carnage. Can't forget carnage.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 15:56 Comments ||
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#4
No surprise they met the June goal. All the high schoolers graduated. Historically, in summer the military has the highest recruitment.
#6
I can kind of understand this. If you want to be a Paratrooper or a Ranger, then you expect combat and the fact we are actually in combat doesn't faze you.
OTOP, if you aren't sure what you want to do, or if you are looking for "free" training in diesel mechanics (or whatever), then the fact the cowardly terrorists try to target the "non-combat" MOSs makes working at WalMart to pay tuition to Devry look a lot better.
#9
...Okay, listen carefully and I shall explain the likely sleight of hand involved here.
All the services have a Delayed Enlistment Plan of one sort or another - that is, you actually enlist in, say, February but you don't go to basic until June or July. Those people are supposed to be counted during the months they actually did their paperwork, took their physicals, and entered the DEP.(Actually, you can go up to a year later, but I digress.)
What I think the Army has done here is count the DEP people who reported to basic from 15 May to 15 June as June enlistees - even though they were already counted when they processed the first time.
The key here is that nobody seems to be willing to discuss actual numbers. That right there tells me there's been some shenanigans somewhere. It's been done before, all the services (except the USMC) did it at one time or another while I was recruiting 89-93. There is no other way you can possibly explain the serious problems they had within the last 45 to 60 days followed by a turnaround this dramatic.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/29/2005 19:36 Comments ||
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#10
You hit the nail on the head, Mike. 30% of al enlistees come via delayed enlistment. In 2004, when the recruiting goal was increased (for the 30,000 increase in army size) from 60-65,000 to 77,000, the pool of delayed enlistees was brought forward to meet the new recruting goals. It's like in sales, do you book a sale this quarter to make your numbers, or leave it till next quarter to have a little margin. Thus 2005 recruiting (80,000 goal) began with a large deficit since their were few delayed enlistees left in the pool.
Posted by: ed ||
06/29/2005 19:54 Comments ||
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CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas - A member of a violent gang with roots in El Salvador has been arrested as part of a nationwide crackdown, officials announced Wednesday. Giovanni Bermudez-Arevalo, 26, was arrested last week along with 15 other illegal immigrants after the Bee County Sheriff's Department stopped the van they were in during a traffic stop.
Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Border Patrol realized Bermudez-Arevalo was part of the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang after noticing various tattoos and body markings common among the group's members. Bermudez-Arevalo, from El Salvador, admitted being a member of MS-13 since joining in Los Angeles in 1995. He said he quit the gang after two years of frequent fights with rival gang members, U.S. immigration officials said. Bermudez-Arevalo was convicted on drug charges in October 2002 and ordered deported in July 2004.
ICE agents confirmed Bermudez-Arevalo had entered the country in 1988 as a permanent resident, but lost his status after his criminal conviction. He admitted re-entering illegally to visit his mother in New Jersey. Bermudez-Arevalo faces federal charges for illegally re-entering the country after being deported. If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison. His arrest was part of Operation Community Shield, a national effort launched in January by ICE to target and dismantle violent street gangs across the country. More than 200 members of the MS-13 gang have been arrested since the operation began.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 14:37 ||
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The Arab television network Al-Jazeera pulled the plug Monday on a series of news reports about the Arizona-Mexico border amid criticism that the information could help terrorists slip into the United States.
Al-Jazeera planned to launch the series this week with coverage of a Phoenix rally by the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps, a volunteer civilian border-watch group that has attracted international media attention. "I wanted to cover the story from the human point of view," said Nasreddine Hssaini, the Washington, D.C.-based Al-Jazeera reporter behind the series. "I wanted to go to Tombstone and Sasabe. I wanted to tell the story of democracy in action."
The network canceled the project, Hssaini said, after Minuteman organizer Chris Simcox refused to cooperate and then notified the Border Patrol and members of the state's congressional delegation about Al-Jazeera's plans. "They decided it wasn't worth it," the reporter said.
Al-Jazeera has attracted millions of viewers throughout the Arab world with its coverage of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and its airing of tapes of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States. But Al-Jazeera's growing popularity has brought greater scrutiny. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld accused the Qatar-based network of encouraging militants by airing hostage executions.
For Simcox, Al-Jazeera and al-Qaida are virtually one and the same. They wanted to come to Arizona "to do reconnaissance," he said. "I will not have a part in that. I will not work with the enemy."
U.S. Rep. Trent Franks, R-Ariz., noting that Al-Jazeera has been known to broadcast messages from the al-Qaida leadership to terrorist cells around the globe, was outraged that the network planned to visit Arizona. "It is insane policy to allow Al-Jazeera to film Arizona's unsecured border with Mexico and then broadcast it to the very people who perpetrated 9/11," Franks said.
Hssaini, who described himself as a Moroccan-born citizen of Canada working legally in the United States, dismissed the suggestion that his motive for coming to Arizona concerned something other than journalism. "I am a professional journalist. They think bin Laden himself is sending me out there," he said. "I find it a little bit racist."
Local journalism professors sided with Hssaini and defended Al-Jazeera as a serious news outlet. "They are a legitimate news organization," said Jacqueline Sharkey, head of the journalism department at the University of Arizona. "There has been criticism in some of the ways they have covered the war in Iraq - just as there's been criticism of the way some of the U.S. media have covered the war in Iraq."
The U.S.-Mexico border has also been the source of much concern that terrorists could easily slip across it. U.S. officials have been saying since the Sept. 11 terror attacks that a group such as al-Qaida may use the open border with Mexico to slip across. With constant news that Middle Easterners may try to slip through Mexico, it's no wonder that an Arab news channel would also be interested, said Alan Weisman, a UA journalism professor. "Al-Jazeera is a legitimate news organization. If we have the right to go into Middle Eastern countries to cover issues, why on earth shouldn't we allow them to come here, particularly since we allege that Middle Easterners might try to cross the border? That's a story of great journalistic interest," Weisman said. "I certainly defend the right of any journalist to go anywhere to cover any story."
#2
"They are a legitimate news organization," said Jacqueline Sharkey, head of the journalism department at the University of Arizona. "There has been criticism in some of the ways they have covered the war in Iraq - just as there's been criticism of the way some of the U.S. media have covered the war in Iraq."
#3
The network canceled the project, Hssaini said, after Minuteman organizer Chris Simcox refused to cooperate and then notified the Border Patrol and members of the state's congressional delegation about Al-Jazeera's plans.
"They decided it wasn't worth it," the reporter said.
"After all," he continued, "now that the Border Patrol is aware, there's a chance they might beef up patrols in the areas we cover. If some of our sponsors get arrested, they might think we set them up."
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/29/2005 12:51 Comments ||
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#4
"I am a professional journalist. They think bin Laden himself is sending me out there," he said. "I find it a little bit racist."
Well, I find you more-than-a-little-bit stupid. Leave us assume for the moment you are exactly who you say you are, with motives as pure as the driven snow. Will you bet me your life that there will be nothing in the report the bad guys can use? Any bad guys? I didn't think so.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 13:26 Comments ||
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#5
I wanted to tell the story of democracy in action.
#6
I wonder if Al Jazeera would have made it clear that the folks are trying to get into America (helpful for Al Queda) or make it look as though folks are trying to get out of America (helpful for Arab propoganda in general).
#7
"They are a legitimate news organization," said Jacqueline Sharkey
Yeah, and so was Pravda.
Jacqueline Sharkey is a standard leftist professor type, who repeatedly has claimed that Cheney is trying to censor the media.
#8
Keep trying there, Nasdarooney. It worked for me. They thought I was a friggin saint at the Times. Me and Joe Stalin laugh about that all time when they're not shoving hot pokers up our asses here in Hell.
Posted by: The Ghost of Walter Duranty ||
06/29/2005 17:04 Comments ||
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#9
Local journalism professors sided with Hssaini and defended Al-Jazeera as a serious news outlet. "They are a legitimate news organization," said Jacqueline Sharkey, head of the journalism department at the University of Looney Left Liberal Hack Journalism and Delicatesain.
#11
Can one of the more enlighted scholars here help me> I recently read about a doctrine in islam, or at least a branch of islam that permits deception, disinformation and outright lies by their followers if it serves the casue of jihad and they are weak. Can anyone point me to it. I need to be able to confront some public statements by imams by questioning their truthfulness in light of this doctrine. Any help?
Posted by: Just About Enough! ||
06/29/2005 22:32 Comments ||
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#12
No. I am ignorant of the kram. Prehaps posting the question 10 or 12 times on one site will help.
#13
fortunately, both Fred and .com knew the answer. as for repeating the question, i didn't realize the multiple posts would somehow offend someone or be impolite. Thanks for the sarcasm!
Posted by: Just About Enough! ||
06/29/2005 22:59 Comments ||
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Finally there are the "takfiri": those who discard muslim practice in order to blend in to infidel society to kill them. Zawahiri, Zarqawi, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman (mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing) and Mohammed Atta and the Hamburg cell of AQ that did 9/11 were thought to belong to Al Takfir Wal Hijra.
Posted by: ed ||
06/29/2005 23:12 Comments ||
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#16
Whoops. Thats:
You are thinkng of "taqiyya". Here is an islamic explanation of it: part 1part 2part 3
Posted by: ed ||
06/29/2005 23:14 Comments ||
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#17
Now that's an authoritative and complete response! Kudos, ed.
The fate of Ali al-Timimi, a Muslim lecturer from Fairfax (VA) who is accused of recruiting terrorists to fight American troops, will be decided July 13 when a judge in U.S. District Court in Alexandria hands down a sentence. Although al-Timimi was convicted by a jury in April, his lawyers filed post-trial motions asking the conviction to be overturned, arguing that government prosecutors engaged in misconduct throughout the trial by using arguments that appealed to religious bias.
I don't think pointing out that he's an Islamist nutbag appeals to religious bias.
In a recent response to the defense motions, prosecutors said their arguments - which included claims that al-Timimi was a religious extremist who hated the United States - were supported by facts and "directly relevant to the charges against [him]."
That's why I don't think it's religious bias...
Through the trial, prosecutors portrayed al-Timimi as a violent interpreter of Islam, who expressed anti-American sentiments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Gordon D. Kromberg rebutted the "false premise" that it was "unfairly prejudicial for the government to argue that al-Timimi hated the United States ... While such arguments may be unfairly prejudicial in a case involving a typical bank robbery, drug trafficking or mail fraud," Kromberg wrote, "al-Timimi was charged with much different offenses."
Which, in an earlier, more innocent — but more manly — age, would have been characterized as treason. In those bygone days of yesteryear the sonofabitch's neck would have already been stretched, he'd be dead, buried, and the occasional dog would be peeing on his grave.
Al-Timimi, 41, who was born and raised in the Washington area, allegedly urged a group of followers in Northern Virginia to attend terrorist camps abroad and train for battle against American troops.
The fact that he was born and raised here would have been grounds for the neck-stretching. You can understand, kinda sorta, the immigrants who want to make this just like the Olde Countrie, but the domestic traitors shouldn't be tolerated.
The government alleged just a minute - he's been convicted!
that al-Timimi's urging occurred during a meeting in Fairfax on Sept. 16, 2001 - just five days after the terrorist attacks. Some of the men - three of whom eventually ended up at a terrorist camp in Pakistan - cooperated with federal prosecutors and testified against al-Timimi, who was a frequent lecturer at a Falls Church mosque they attended. They told the court they practiced guerilla tactics by playing paintball - a revelation that led courtroom observers to dub al-Timimi the "Paintball Sheikh." After al-Timimi's conviction on 10 counts, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema left open the possibility that some of the charges could be thrown out and chose to release al-Timimi on bond since he was born in D.C., surely he's not a flight risk!
because "there might be a reasonable basis for revocation -or some reversal of the jury's verdict." But prosecutors said a "virtually identical claim" challenging the fairness of the government's arguments had failed to convince the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the conviction of Omar Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim lecturer convicted of plotting terrorist attacks on New York landmarks. Al-Timimi faces a mandatory maximum sentence of life in prison if the jury's verdict is not vacated. Why can't he be deported to Pakistan?
Why can't he be strung up?
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 07:08 ||
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#3
I bet Timmy wishes he could go to Gitmo and not the Federal Pen. I think the appeal is automatic and the lawyers are just wishful of a mistrial being declared or some other overturing. Unless there is clear compelling evidence of innocence the judge is unlike to call for an new trial. Suffice to say that if you took 12 new people and had a new trial, the outcome would be the same. My barracks lawyer two cents.
#4
The al Tamimi Clan (and yes, I'll bet it's the same one and just another example of phonetic spelling confusion) is well connected. For example, they have the "franchise" for Safeway in The Magic Kingdom. I shopped at the Tamimi Safeway (near Jarir's Bookstore) regularly - best place to find Pace picante sauce - but always before dark... the parking lot of that little strip center had become the "go to" place for gay Saudis to congregate in Al Khobar. Don't ask.
WASHINGTON, June 28 - The names of more than 30 fugitives, including 9 murder suspects and one person on the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted list, did not trigger any warnings in a test of the nation's passport processing system, federal auditors have found.
Insufficient oversight by the State Department allows criminals, illegal immigrants and suspected terrorists to fraudulently obtain a United States passport far too easily, according to a report on the test by the Government Accountability Office to be released Wednesday.
This is the State Dept. we're talking about, not a government agency that has any sense of urgency since 9/11 ...
The lapses occurred because passport applications are not routinely checked against comprehensive lists of wanted criminals and suspected terrorists, according to the report, which was provided to The New York Times by an official critical of the State Department who had access to it in advance. For example, one of the 67 suspects included in the test managed to get a passport 17 months after he was first placed on an F.B.I. wanted list, the report said.
The State Department also too often fails to aggressively pursue leads that could allow the government to catch black-market sellers of fake identification documents essential to getting a fraudulent passport, said Michael Johnson, a former State Department security official.
Once issued, a passport typically becomes a critical tool for illegal immigrants who are seeking work or who want to travel internationally, as well as for people involved in drug smuggling, money laundering, Social Security fraud and even terrorism, the federal auditors said. "A fraudulent passport can enable a holder to conceal his true identity and his citizenship," said Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine and chairwoman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. "These are exactly the kinds of problems that allowed the terrorists to attack our country."
If we're going to be serious about this, perhaps we should hire a couple of Pakistani experts ...
The security committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on the subject of passport fraud on Wednesday.
State Department officials said they were already moving to expand the crosschecking of passport applications against more complete lists of suspected criminals and terrorists. But they disputed reports that the department had been lax in its investigation of suspected fraud. "The United States passport, I believe, is among the most valuable documents on the planet," Maura Harty, assistant secretary for the State Department's Bureau of Consular Affairs, said in an interview on Tuesday. "What we have is a tremendous challenge knowing how people who ought not have a passport would like to try to get one from us."
The State Department has long been engaged in a campaign to crack down on passport fraud, which with older, less tamper-proof passports was often simply a matter of switching a photograph. Current passports have the bearer's image laminated onto the identification page, with a holograph over it. Soon, the State Department plans to issue electronic passports embedded with a computer chip containing a digital image and biographical information about the holder.
But the department has not done enough, federal auditors say, to prevent people using fraudulent documents from getting passports.
Mr. Johnson, who was the special agent in charge of the Miami field office of the State Department's Bureau of Diplomatic Security from 2002 to 2004, said the department placed too much emphasis on rapidly processing passport applications. He also said it insufficiently pursued suspicions of fraud, missing opportunities to arrest leaders of crime rings that sold forged documents. He said that while he was in Miami, he was asked by his bosses to terminate investigations into more than 400 cases because the department did not have enough staff to complete the inquiries within a year.
In the G.A.O. report, the State Department did not dispute that many cases had gone unresolved, saying that "the field officers had been encouraged to close old cases." The real problem, Ms. Harty said, is the ease with which people can obtain fraudulent identification, like birth certificates, to apply for a passport. The State Department, she said, tries to block fraudulent applications by checking them against other records, like Social Security files.
Ms. Harty said that to screen passport applicants better, she had secured commitments from the F.B.I. and the federal Terrorist Screening Center to provide more complete access to records, including the comprehensive list of suspected terrorists. "Nobody should have a passport in an attempt to flee from prosecution," Ms. Harty said.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/29/2005 00:00 ||
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VIENNA, 29 June 2005 â The UN has learned of âvery, very seriousâ allegations that the United States is secretly detaining terrorism suspects in various locations around the world, notably aboard prison ships, the UNâs special rapporteur on terrorism said yesterday. While the accusations were rumors, rapporteur Manfred Nowak said the situation was sufficiently serious to merit an official inquiry.
"The seriousness of the charge outways the lack of any shred of evidence that it's true"
âThere are very, very serious accusations that the United States is maintaining secret camps, notably on ships,â the Austrian UN official told AFP, adding that the vessels were believed to be in the Indian Ocean region. âThey are only rumors, but they appear sufficiently well-based to merit an official inquiry,â he added.
Fake, but accurate, Manfred?
Last Thursday Nowak and three other UN human rights experts said they were opening an inquiry into the US detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Washington has been holding more than 500 people without trial, and into other such locations. The United States has neither refused nor granted requests by Nowakâs group to visit Guantanamo.
âWe have accepted, upon the request of the State Department and Pentagon, to limit our investigation for now to Guantanamo, but even in accepting this we have not had a positive responseâ to the request for a visit, Nowak said. He said that if the âinvestigation into Guantanamo leads us to other things, we will follow them. We will bring up all these matters to the US government and expect Washington to say officially where these camps are.â
Don't hold your breath
The use of prison ships would allow investigators to interrogate people secretly and in international waters out of the reach of US law, British security expert Francis Tusa said.
Yes, wouldn't it. Whoever thought it up deserves a medal.
âThis opens the door to very tough interrogations on key prisoners before it even has been revealed that they have been captured,â said Tusa, an editor for the British magazine Janeâs Intelligence Review.
Nowak said the prison ships would not be âfloating Guantanamosâ since âthey are much smaller, holding less than a dozen detainees.â
Mental picture of al-Qeada prisoners chained in the hold of a rusting hulk anchored in the middle of a blazing sea with Captain Bligh striding the deck. It's a beautiful thing.
Tusa said the Americans may also be using their island base of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean as a site for prisoners.
Prisoners? What prisoners?
Some 520 people suspected of terrorism are currently being held without trial at Guantanamo (those are the low-value cannon fodder) and others are in camps the United States has refused to acknowledge,
or, as we like to call it; Camp Black Hole
the human rights organization Amnesty International has said.
The United States has said that prisoners considered foreign combatants in its âwar on terrorismâ are not covered by the Geneva Conventions.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 09:40 ||
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#1
Cruise ships and tropical retreats? Where do I sign up? Oh wait thats the Navy!
#5
blazing sea with Captain Bligh striding the deck.
Steal my coconuts and pay the price. Fletcher Christian is an ass and still owes me money. The only thing I lacked on the Bounty was the usual detail of Royal Marines. I was too soft on the trip out.
#6
Aye, Bligh. To much rum and sodomy and not enough lash spoils the crew.
Posted by: Nelson ||
06/29/2005 12:08 Comments ||
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#7
I certainly hope we have such ships for the jihadis. And a lot more.
The worthless UN can go piss up a rope.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
06/29/2005 12:40 Comments ||
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#8
Oh, good! And it's published in Arab News, so there will be more riots and deaths! And the root of this evil (the deaths, that is, not the figment-of-some-overactive-imagination prison-camp claim) is .....
The American Amnesty International "claim" that there were 70,000 prisoners "somewhere", being held in deplorable conditions. The left kills more innocents.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 13:21 Comments ||
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#9
Info must have come from the same "koran flushing" sources used by Newsweak.
#10
Hey, I've learned of allegations that Kofi Annan is fucking sheep. There's not much evidence to back that up, but the allegation is serious enough that we should probably bring him down to the station and ask him about it, no?
#12
Note the scare quotes in the last sentence (around "War on Terror"). Yeah, the jihadis will be storming the streets looking for sheep infidels soon!
Posted by: BA ||
06/29/2005 13:45 Comments ||
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#13
Crap, if Manny finds out about the intergalactic prison ships, we're screwed.
Posted by: Captain James T Kirk ||
06/29/2005 13:58 Comments ||
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#16
Don't they think the US could have afforded space for 500 more prisoners on those fictional ships and avoided the Guantanimo thing all together?
What happened to Politicians having a bit of sense and not giving credence to every single rumor that gets shat out of the tin-foil hat crowd. I think the UNs special rapporteur on terrorism Manfred Nowak should be looking for a job next week. The UN is in trouble and he's just pouring gasoline on the fire with this idiocy.
#17
Noooooo! Dochaya see? If we put them all on prison ships, the UN woulda figgered it out sooner, saying, "Wait a minute! Where are you keeping your illegally-detained prisoners?"
That Karl Rove is a genius!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 16:13 Comments ||
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#18
What I want to know is, are they keeping the jihadis on the same ships as the prostitutes? 'Cause that seems counterproductive to me.
[June 26 2005] at 0230 LT at Chittagong anchorage 'C', Bangladesh. Robbers in a boat attempted to board a container ship by using a hook attached to ropes. Anti-piracy watch spotted them and raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers aborted boarding and escaped in their boat.
[June 25 2005] at 0230 LT at Tema anchorage, Ghana. Three robbers boarded a container ship via hawse pipe. They cut forward store lock but were unable to open door. Duty A/B raised alarm and crew mustered. Robbers escaped empty handed in their boat waiting with one accomplice. Port control informed.
[June 24 2005] at 0440 LT at Jakarta anchorage, Indonesia. Robbers boarded a container ship. They stole a life raft and escaped in a speedboat.
[June 23 2005] at 0530 LT in position 01:27.2S - 116:42.0E, Lawi-Lawi oil terminal anchorage, Balikpapan, Indonesia. Two robbers boarded a tanker at forecastle. Alarm was raised and crew mustered. Robbers stole ship's stores and escaped in a boat waiting with four accomplices.
[June 20 2005] at 1015 LT in position 01:17N - 104:12E, Singapore Straits. Persons wearing dark clothes in four speedboats with open tops about 6-8 meters long, approached a tug underway. Bosun raised alarm and crew mustered. One boat came very close to stern and persons inside attempted to board. Crew activated fire hoses and boats moved back and later moved away.
According to Reuters, Malaysia has proposed that foreign surveillance planes help fight piracy in the Strait of Malacca, allowing maritime aircraft from nations such as the U.S., Japan, and Australia to use its domestic airspace. Malaysia's Deputy Prime Minister explained the responsibility of the security of the Strait of Malacca primarily rests on the littoral states and that the actual interdictions will be done by Malaysian, Singaporean, or Indonesian Navy or maritime police patrol boats
Local Thai media reports the Royal Thai Armed Forces are ready to cooperate with Indonesia to combat piracy. The Royal Thai Armed Forces will provide intelligence support to the Indonesian Navy.
Japanese media reported that a Japanese armed patrol vessel went to Jakarta, Indonesia, for joint drills. A Japanese Coast Guard spokesperson mentioned the 5,200-ton Yashima, with a surveillance helicopter on board, would be ready to respond to reports of piracy in the Malacca Strait and join in rescue
operations.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I'm dissappointed she would sully herself and acknowledge Annan at all.
I propose that whenever some state dept genius wants the US to show up at the UN, that we send a chimp in a tuxedo.
It would would be a bonus if he could be trained to sit in on security council meetings and fling feces.
Ten Indonesian pirates who hijacked the "Nepline Delima", a Malaysian-owned ship, off Langkawi on June 14, Tuesday pleaded guilty to gang robbery in the Sessions Court here. Judge Ghazali Cha will sentence them on July 10.
They were charged under Section 395 of the Penal Code, which provides for a 20 years jail sentence and whipping. The judge ordered all of them, who were unrepresented, to be detained at the Alor Star prison pending sentencing. Deputy Public Prosecutor Azhar Abdul Hamid later told reporters two other Indonesians, who were members of the ship's crew and who were arrested soon after the hijack, would be charged with assisting the pirates.
London, Jun. 29 - Iran Focus has learnt that the photograph of Iranâs newly-elected president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, holding the arm of a blindfolded American hostage on the premises of the United States embassy in Tehran was taken by an Associated Press photographer in November 1979. Prior to the first round of the presidential elections on June 17, Iran Focus was the first news service to reveal Ahmadinejadâs role in the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
I do not know how credible Iran Focus is, but the story sounds right
The identity of Ahmadinejad in the photograph was revealed to Iran Focus by a source in Tehran, whose identity could not be revealed for fear of persecution.
Soon after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, Ahmadinejad, who was studying in Tehranâs University of Science and Technology, became a member of the central council of the Office for Strengthening of Unity Between Universities and Theological Seminaries, the main pro-Khomeini student body. The OSU played a central role in the seizure of the United States embassy in Tehran in November 1979. Members of the OSU central council, who included Ahmadinejad as well as Ibrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mohsen Kadivar, Hashem Aghajari, and Abbas Abdi, were regularly received by Khomeini himself.
Former OSU officials involved in the takeover of the U.S. embassy said Ahmadinejad was in charge of security during the occupation, a key role that put him in direct contact with the nascent security organizations of the clerical regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, which he later joined. After the 444-day occupation of the U.S. embassy, Ahmadinejad joined the special forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Prosecutorâs Office, based in Evin Prison. The âRevolutionary Prosecutorâ was Assadollah Lajevardi, who earned the nickname the Butcher of Evin after the execution of thousands of political dissidents in the 1980s.
Defectors from the clerical regimeâs security forces have revealed that Ahmadinejad led the firing squads that carried out many of the executions. He personally fired coup de grace shots at the heads of prisoners after their execution and became known as âTir Khalas Zanâ (literally, the Terminator).
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 12:22 ||
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#1
Probably had an American girlfriend who insulted his johnson...
#4
It just doesn't matter. If some atheist woman won, would that actually change any laws or policies? As long as the Mad Mullahs can override any decision, what difference does it make?
#5
The writer of IRAN ON THE BRINK, an article in the Washington Times, claims that Iran may have already collected enuff nuke material for up to 20-25 bombs - so wonder how a guy whom allegedly put bullets into the back of people's heads in the name of Allah and the Revolution can make use of such bombs, or will the USA find only 1-3, iff any, after ALLIED CENTCOM invades.
Iraqi and Syrian officials on Wednesday met to discuss restoring full diplomatic relations and reopening their embassies 23 years after breaking ties, a senior Iraqi Foreign Ministry official said.
No date has been set for opening the embassies and appointing ambassadors, deputy Foreign Ministry Labeed Abou said, but Prime Minister Ibrhaim al-Jaafari has said he would soon be visiting
Syria and neighboring
Iran.
The talks come at a time of heightened tension between the two neighbors following allegations that Syria has failed to stem the flow of foreign fighters across the porous border into
Iraq. U.S. and Iraqi forces have tried to staunch the infiltration by carrying out counterinsurgency operations, including one that began Tuesday in western Anbar province.
Syrian officials have said they would ask the Iraqi government to provide evidence that insurgents have been moving across the border. Damascus has recently taken some steps to prevent infiltration, including increasing border guards and filling wadis ââ¬â gullies gouged by rainstorms ââ¬â with cement blocks and barbed wire to block passage.
A Syrian delegation was in Baghdad for the meetings. A similar Iraqi delegation was expected to visit Damascus following Syrian approval for the trip.
Syria broke relations with Baghdad in 1982 after accusing
Saddam Hussein's Iraq of inciting riots by the banned Muslim Brotherhood in Syria. Commercial ties improved in the last few years of Saddam's regime before he was overthrown in 2003.
The two countries maintain interest sections in each other's capitals. Syria is represented in Baghdad through the Algerian embassy.
On September 12, 2001, commanders from Iran's Revolutionary Guards gathered in Tehran. General Mohammad Ahayi began his speech with a verse from the Koran: "Whosoever battles with Allah, Allah will do battle with him." General Ayahi then turned to his fellow commanders. Did you see how we (banging his fist into his chest) brought them down? How we brought America to its knees? Colonel B, a Revolutionary Guards officer, was in the audience. Just the year before, he had been assigned to a terrorist training camp northeast of Tehran, and had seen with his own eyes the Lebanese, Libyans, Azeris, Chechens, Iraqis, and others who had come to Iran to learn the disciplines of murder. He turned to a friend, the intelligence director of the Qods battalion, the Revolutionary Guards' overseas action arm responsible for terrorist attacks and assassinations. Did we have anything to do with this event?, he asked. His friend smiled and admonished him with a shake of his finger. Don't dig into details. Leave it alone. You don't want to know more.
How come I wasn't told about any of this before?, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz asked. The date was October 26, 2001. Mr. Wolfowitz had just learned from a Defense Intelligence Agency briefer about the al Qaeda "rat line" that operated between Afghanistan and Europe, with the full knowledge and cooperation of the Iranian government. Once they crossed the border into Iran, al Qaeda operatives were welcomed at special camps outside the eastern Iranian city of Mashad, then given fresh travel documents so they could travel on to Europe and America without arousing suspicion, the briefer said. The level of cooperation between Iran and al Qaeda was stunning, and went against everything Mr. Wolfowitz thought he knew. The briefer mumbled some excuse to Mr. Wolfowitz's question. But the real reason was that DIA higher-ups had forbidden the analysts from presenting the briefing to Mr. Wolfowitz earlier because it contradicted "the Concept" -- the intelligence community's firm belief that Iran had no operational ties to al Qaeda and had gotten out of the terror game with President Mohammad Khatami's election in 1997. It also violated the doctrine that had become a matter of faith among Middle East analysts and "experts" on Islam that there could be no cooperation between the Shia and Sunni fundamentalists.
If they bought into that, they did so in the fact of glaring evidence to the contrary, starting with Iran's financial support to Hamas — a Muslim Brotherhood creation. There was also the Jerusalem Project, which paid no attention to the shape or color of the turban. The date was a little early in the development of Ansar al-Islam. I believe it was still Jund al-Islam at the time, but it couldn't have been set up without Iranian cooperation and sanctuaries. Take a few minutes and another half dozen incidences of close cooperation will pop to mind as well.
Whenever intelligence personnel or journalists turned up evidence that al Qaeda was working with Iran, those analysts made sure the reports were discredited. Bucking the conventional wisdom was an invitation to ridicule, as the briefer's colleagues at the DIA's tiny Iran unit at Bolling Air Force Base knew well. They had gotten approval to brief Mr. Wolfowitz only because he had explicitly tasked the DIA to examine the possibility of Iran/al Qaeda ties -- a possibility their political bosses at the DIA's policy support office in the Pentagon had discounted long ago.
I'm not too sure about the accuracy of that statement. It's been awhile, but DIA wasn't set up with "political bosses" — that'd be appointees, rather than civil service — last time I had anything to do with it. I think the head of DIA was an appointee — a 3-star — with a civilian deputy, who'd be selected from within the Agency. The ring of truth has a subtly discordant clang to it...
Al Qaeda had been working with Iran since at least 1992, when Iranian general Mohammad Bagr Zolqadr was running a Revolutionary Guard training camp in the Sudan, the briefer said. Zolqadr's ties to Osama bin Laden had been brokered by Ayman al-Zawahri -- the Egyptian terrorist known as "the Doctor." Zawahri and his Egyptian Islamic Jihad group provided the muscle men for al Qaeda, giving bin Laden access to a virtually unlimited pool of manpower. Zawahri was the man with the Iran contacts. Throughout the 1990s, he traveled repeatedly to Iran as the guest of Minister of Intelligence and Security Ali Fallahian and the head of foreign terrorist operations, Ahmad Vahidi. Vahidi was the commander of the Qods Force and the man who supervised the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing.
In the months before Sept. 11, Egyptian Islamic Jihad commanders transited in large numbers through Mashad en route to Afghanistan to join bin Laden's ranks, the briefer said. They had solid reporting and hard evidence from human sources and from national technical means confirming the rat line. Bin Laden preferred the Iranian route because he believed that U.S. intelligence officials were monitoring Pakistani airports and were responsible for the arrest of several of his top operatives during the last six years. Seven to ten days before the Sept. 11 attacks, Iran suddenly closed the Mashad rat line to the Egyptian jihadis, the briefer said. Some sources believe it was because the Iranians knew a major terrorist attack was about to occur and didn't want to give the United States cause for military retaliation against Iran. The latest piece of the puzzle was still being evaluated, he said. Just one week ago, the DIA had reports that the notorious terrorist Imad Mugniyeh had come to Mashad with Hossein Mosleh,Vahidi's deputy. According to one source, the two met with Iraqi intelligence chief Taher Jalil Haboosh.
Kenneth R. Timmerman is author of "Countdown to Crisis: The Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran," from which this is excerpted.
#1
The first 100 days of the Ahmadinejad regime will be interesting.
He campaigned on the platform of getting rid of corruption. However, much of the corruption (and it is egregious) is by the lead Mullahs and their chief lackeys who ride in limos and SUVs and live in mansions guarded by govt employed junior junior lackeys.
I haven't seen this meme mentioned anywhere (even in the anti Mullah blogs).
#2
"'The era of oppression, hegemonic regimes, tyranny and injustice has reached its end,' he said"
Ummmm so I guess if that is his plan, he will dissolve the tyranic Iranian regime first????????????
Doubtful... this guy and his "victory" is a joke.
Lebanon's new parliament re-elected a diehard friend of Syria to the powerful post of speaker Tuesday, setting off firework celebration across Beirut and in Shiite villages in south Lebanon by supporters of the one-time Shiite Muslim warlord. Lebanon's stunning changes this year have swept many of Syria's close allies from office after the Syrian military's withdrawal in April. Many had expected Nabih Berri to be no exception. He was the prime enforcer of Damascus' policies for the last 13 years in parliament and defended Syrian control to the last minute.
But the 67-year-old not only managed to stay in office but he secured an overwhelming majority of 90 in a vote at the opening session of the 128-seat parliament, now dominated by anti-Syrians after elections earlier this month. Fireworks and gunfire reverberated across Beirut and in Shiite villages in south Lebanon after his re-election. Berri supporters drove around the city in cars plastered with his picture, waving the green flag of his Amal party and the yellow flag of Hezbollah, the Shiite guerrilla movement that backed him.
"Hurrah! Hurrah! The Syrians are gone! Lebanon's independent! And we've still got Knobby!"
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
meet your new boss, same as your old boss. Score one for the baby Assman. There are many lessons to be learned her, the primary one that you can't stop the spread of cancer by simply cutting out infected lymph nodes. Time to get serious about removing the tumor.
#1
Guess I will just have to keep this sexy name of Unavigum Ebbimp2047 since it doesn't seem to want to be changed to Sherry! But something about the "bimp" part of the name causes me to think "blimp"
#2
Really an interesting and revealing animation--it truly shows where the hot beds of activity are/were, and how the river geography dictates Iraqi society.
Posted by: Dar ||
06/29/2005 14:38 Comments ||
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#3
Looking at this several times, one might conclude there were a bunch of deaths recently, and therefore, the Dims are correct. I noticed big surges in April and May, 2004 - just before the sovereignity date, (which failed to have the desired effect), and another flurry around November,(Ramadan, so the killers could get to their final destination quicker), and then a recent increase as the American press has encouraged them to push a little harder, since we are about ready to give up.
Excuse me, I have to go throw up.
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 14:54 Comments ||
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#3
American Left to Iraqi People: Go to hell, little brown people.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
06/29/2005 18:14 Comments ||
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#4
Iraqi's to American Right: Thanks for writing the request for us Mr. Rove, it sounded good. I hope we can continue to facilkitate your propoganda needs in the future, tell us if you need us to say Saddam was in NY Sept of 01. Tell the guys over at Halliburton we appreciate the handouts.
Posted by: Mountain Man ||
06/29/2005 18:18 Comments ||
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#5
Ah, I see the short bus favored us with a visit again.
EFL. Link will expire by end of week, so go read the whole thing A.S.A.P.
The dispute between an irascible lesbian conservative from Queens and a militant new group well on the fringes of the cityâs Muslim community might appear to be a marginal conflict. But to New Yorkâs gays and to some of its Muslim leaders, the scene in Jackson Heights bears a worrying similarity to communal conflicts that are challenging the idea of tolerance across Europe, with particular flashpoints in Holland and Scandinavia. There, young immigrants and the children of immigrants have been drawn to a more radical Islamic ideology than that of their parents. On the extreme fringes, these young men have committed acts of violence against Jews and gays, and in a case that shocked Europe, one young Dutchman of Moroccan origin murdered the filmmaker Theo van Gogh in an Amsterdam street.
...
The groupâs informal spokesman and the siteâs most prolific poster, who goes by the name Mohammed Nussrah, has a personal page in which the groupâs anti-violence motto was placed directly beneath a picture of the Koran beside an automatic weapon.
After The Observer contacted the group, Mr. Nussrahâs picture of the Koran and the gun disappeared, as did the image of Osama bin Laden elsewhere on the site.
Mr. Nussrah, who is identified on the groupâs videos as a tall, light-skinned man, has been identified by the Associated Press as a Brooklyn native, but could not be located under that name.
Mr. Nussrahâs profile on the Islamic Thinkers site also links to a personal art site. There, at www.islamicpics.tk, Oddly, no pictures are to be found at that site anymore. are images of dead and grieving American soldiers with the caption: "Say to those who disbelieve, âYou will be defeated and gathered together in Hell âŠ. â" The site also features a map of North America with two guns crossed beneath it and, for good measure, an image with the caption "Shias Are Toilets." (The Islamic Thinkers are, according to discussions on their site, faithful to a strict Sunni tradition, said Michael Kern, an analyst at the SITE Institute.)
One image is a mock advertisement for an imaginary video game, "Mujahideen Strike II," which features an airplane crashing into the World Trade Center and an ax slicing the Statue of Liberty in half. (For good measure, the statue is placed atop a Star of David.)
Another image depicts a sword over a favorite quote: "When you meet those who disbelieve smite at their necks till when you have killed and wounded many of them." It's a tinderbox. And how odd it will be if the spark that causes the explosion is violence between NYC gays and Muslims in Queens.
#3
Anyone remember "The Lavender Panthers"? They were a group of gay martial artists on the left coast that banded together to bash gay bashers in the 1970s. Well, I have no doubt that there are a large number of 'butch' homosexuals in NYC (forget stereotypes, some of those guys look like neanderthals), who would just love to patriotically beat seven bells out of fanatics like these. Properly speaking, they could get a cross-dressed squish to act as bait, blowing kisses and such, and get about a dozen of the ragheads to charge him. He then ducks into an alley where an ambush has been prepared. Thwappity-thwap time.
June 29, 2005: As if Iraq didnât have enough problem with terrorists, it now has a growing piracy problem off itâs small coast. Youâd think that the presence of coalition warships, and a growing number of Iraqi patrol boats, would discourage piracy. But no, it seems that the much increased commercial ship traffic has attracted speed boats full of gunmen. Going after tankers and large cargo ships, the pirates try to scramble aboard and, basically, mug the crew, before speeding away. The pirates know that the police, or someoneâs navy, could show up quickly. The pirates cannot always be sure the crew did not send out a distress message, even when the raid is made in the middle of the night. The temptation is great, for these large foreign vessels carry at lot of portable wealth worth stealing. The government is more concerned about terrorists in speedboats, who could commandeer a large tanker and ram it into oil pumping facilities. So offshore security is getting a major boost, before al Qaeda realizes what opportunities there are in piracy.
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 09:37 ||
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#1
This looks like a job for a Q-ship or two.
Posted by: Mike ||
06/29/2005 10:14 Comments ||
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#2
Probably Iranian intel collecting info in the guise of pirates.
June 28, 2005: The prime minister announced that the Sunni Arab rebellion would be settled in two years. This is largely in response to calls from American politicians and mass media for a "timetable." Ignoring the fact that no war has ever been fought by a timetable, and that the timetable issue is mainly another ploy by opponents to the Iraq invasion, the Iraqi prime minister was, in effect, saying that most Iraqis did not have a lot of patience with the rebellious Sunni Arabs. One angle that has not been pursued, yet, by the mass media, is the popular desire, in Iraq, to punish all Sunni Arabs, severely, for the current violence, and decades of past atrocities. All talk of violence in Iraq tends to ignore the fact that the terrorists represent only a minority of the Sunni Arab community (who are only about twenty percent of the population.) The majority of Sunni Arabs are very concerned about retribution by the Kurds and Shia Arabs. From the time Saddam's Sunni Arab government fell, Sunni Arab leaders have sought out American diplomats and military commanders, to get assurance that the Americans would protect the Sunni Arabs from the majority of Iraqis who were now arming and training to fight and, as many feared, massacre Sunni Arabs. The terrorists are largely Sunni Arabs (both Iraqi and foreign), who seek to goad the majority of Iraqis into attacking the Iraqi Sunni Arabs. This, it is believed, would trigger intervention by the world-wide Sunni Moslem community (which is over 90 percent of all Moslems.) At the very least, the Sunni Arab nations that border Iraq (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan, Syria) are expected to intervene. Sure, these countries could probably not defeat the American troops, but Saudi Arabia could cut off oil shipments to the United States. Surely, something good would happen, for Sunni Arab Iraqis, if a civil war could be triggered. They really believe this.
The mass media rarely pick up on the pronouncements of radical groups. Passing mention at best, but the details are so outrageously off-the-wall and illogical, that they are just played down or tuned out. But the devil is in the details, because these odd ideas are what motivates the enemy fighters. When your foe is basing his military strategy on an impossible situation, this should be news. And anyone with a knowledge of military history will know that crazy situations like this are not uncommon (remember Pearl Harbor? The War of the War of the Triple Alliance?) Arabs, in particular, are prone to suicidal strategies and tragic tactics. Look at all of the Arab-Israeli wars. Look at the economic and social polices of the Arab oil states. Look at how Arab governments have dealt with Islamic radicalism. Actually, on this last point, there have been rather more pragmatic and well thought out policies. When faced with violent Islamic radicals in the 1990s, Egypt struck back hard, very hard. The religious radicals backed off, many fleeing the country. Same thing in Algeria, Syria and, today, in Saudi Arabia. This is called a trend, a tendency, and knowing that, what do you think is going to happen in Iraq? And how long are the majority of Iraqis going to tolerate their quirky, and violent, Sunni Arabs? How long?
Posted by: Steve ||
06/29/2005 09:30 ||
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WASHINGTON (AFX) - The defense ministers of the US and India have signed a 10-year agreement paving the way for joint weapons production, cooperation on missile defense and possible lifting of US export controls for sensitive military technologies.
'The United States and India have entered a new era,' a statement said after the signing by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his Indian counterpart, Pranab Mukherjee, who is on a visit to Washington.
'We are transforming our relationship to reflect our common principles and shared national interests,' it said of the so-called New framework for the US-India defense relationship' signed at the Pentagon.
The ministers agreed to set up a 'defense procurement and production group' to oversee defense trade, as well as prospects for co-production and technology collaboration,' and to sign deals on military 'research, development, testing and evaluation' as well as naval pilot training.
The military pact came three months after the US unveiled plans to help India become a 'major world power in the 21st century' and ahead of a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the invitation of President George W Bush from July 18 to 20.
Singh is scheduled to address a joint meeting of Congress.
Washington has given the greenlight to Lockheed Martin and Boeing to offer F-16 and F-18 warplanes as candidates for the Indian Air Force's multi-role fighter program, while also pledging support for Indian requests for other transformative systems in areas such as command and control, early warning, and missile defense.
India has relied so far on French and Russian frontline fighters.
The United States also might train Indian naval pilots in strategic aircraft carrier operations, reports have suggested.
#1
The United States also might train Indian naval pilots in strategic aircraft carrier operations
Ah yes, help those new Indian aircraft carriers to come up to standard. I hope this causes the Chinese to wail and gnash their teeth.
Reaching out to Vietnam - military cooperationa nd crosspostings there...
Reaching out to India, 10 year pact, and hints of a far closer alliance...
Nah, there's no Bush policy on China, there's no working at ringing them in with allies...
The most frustrating thing about the Bush era is the refusal of the administration to blow its own horn when it comes to policy. Execution? Yep, doing a lot. Letting peopel know? Nope.
I wish we could get some Reagan-esque (or even Clinton-esque) talk to go with the walk.
But all in all, better to have the walk without the talk like now, then the talk without the walk like in the late 90's.
This week it was reported that following Israel's misguided sale of Harpy aerial drones to China, Washington is now demanding control over its weapons exports to India and Singapore.
Seems to me that the Harpy business was not quite so clear cut.
#6
Agreed, Old Spook, but faster please! Ima wonderin' if this has anything to do with the recent Chinese sub accident and/or the reports of the Indians outgunning our flyboyz (although, like many here, I'd be willing to be dollars to doughnuts that our boyz were under restricted RoE)? Or is it just a general cowboy attitude to ride high and tick the Chinese off over Taiwan? Inquiring minds wanna know (and Karl Rove must be ROFLHAO)!
Posted by: BA ||
06/29/2005 10:43 Comments ||
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#7
OS, this is the Roosevelt policy - Speak softly and carry a big stick. I like it fine. It gives the Chinese less room to complain than if we were trumpeting how we are securing the perimeter.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
06/29/2005 10:50 Comments ||
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The Bush administration has authorized the sale of 25 Avenger anti-aircraft missile launchers to Egypt, calling its ally "an important force for political stability and economic progress in the Middle East."
After screwing the Roadmap?
#9
There's technology and then there's technology ...
The issue with some of the Israeli proposed / actual sales is that they involved technologies we developed or are more advanced tech than we're ready to share with countries like India and Singapore -- not to mention China.
Posted by: too true ||
06/29/2005 11:54 Comments ||
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#15
...Avenger is unlikely to ever see combat against Israeli aircraft. On the other hand, it's gonna come in handy against some Islamoid nutcase fighter driver who decides he's going to send Hosni to commune with the Prophet.
And Sergeant York...*sob*...I just can't talk about it.
But ask me sometime about how one almost killed an outhouse.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
06/29/2005 21:41 Comments ||
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JERUSALEM - A young Israeli soldier who disobeyed orders to take part in demolitions of deserted buildings in a Jewish settlement in Gaza was sentenced on Tuesday to 56 days in jail, the army said.
The sentence handed down at a military disciplinary hearing against Corporal Avi Bieber was seen as setting a precedent for punishment of soldiers who balk at orders to remove settlers during a pullout from occupied Gaza due to begin in August. A senior army officer convicted Bieber, 19, on three counts of refusing to carry out an order, threatening and insulting a commander and giving media interviews against army regulations, an army spokeswoman said.
âI didnât come to Israel to beat up Jews,â Bieber shouted at reporters on Sunday as fellow soldiers scuffled with rightist Jews trying to prevent a bulldozing of abandoned bungalows his engineering unit had been ordered to demolish.
So after he serves his time, ship his butt back to the States.
Bieber, born in the United States and brought to Israel as a boy, was led away by other soldiers from the scene of the clashes and placed under military arrest. Soldiers and police dragged away the protesters.
Israeli authorities fear that a recent influx of ultranationalist supporters into settler enclaves could make evacuations more difficult and increase the chance of violence.
Bieberâs attorney, Shai Galili, said before the verdict was read that his client âwill not get a fair trialâ because the army wanted to use him as an example to try to dissuade other soldiers from refusing to evacuate settlers. âThey want to convict Avi at any price,â Galili told Army Radio.
Armies don't like it when soldiers refuse orders, I'm told.
The commander of Israeli forces in Gaza, Brigadier General Aviv Kochavi, played down any notion of widespread dissent in the ranks over the pullout and noted that 150 of Bieberâs comrades had taken part in the demolition.
Posted by: Steve White ||
06/29/2005 00:00 ||
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An All Parties âHurmat-i-Quranâ Conference (APHQC) has decided to extend its activities worldwide to make Muslims aware of the conspiracies being hatched against the Holy Quran. The decision came at a day-long conference organized by Jamaat ad-Dawah at a hotel here on Sunday. It was attended by 44 political, religious, social and professional organisations from across the country. It adopted a joint declaration demanding closure of the notorious Guantanamo Bay, Abu Gharib and Bagram torture cells.
No doubt there'll be a declaration demanding the cessation of cutting people's heads off any time now...
The conference termed Pentagonâs report on desecration of the Holy Quran as insufficient and demanded an impartial inquiry by a committee consisting of renowned international personalities. The APHQC urged Muslim states to immediately distance themselves from the American war against terrorism which was in fact a crusade against Muslims and Islam. It also urged them to declare that they would not abide by any accord with Washington if the US failed to fulfil the requirement of justice in the probe into the desecration of Holy Quran incidents. The participants urged Muslim states to dismantle torture houses from their territories and provide fundamental human rights to their citizens.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
The decision came at a day-long conference organized by Jamaat ad-Dawah at a hotel here on Sunday.
Sorry i missed out on the smell.
/not
The APHQC strongly condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran by American forces and demanded that the US government should tender an unqualified apology for hurting Ummahâs sentiments.
Again, these sensitive bastards are gonna wear down their seething buds if they don't give it a break.
When i was a wee lad..i raised a few pigs, if we ever get another one I will Definitely name it Ummah.
Huuum a BLT would go good right now.
#3
NO! Let's have an inquiry! Let's invite the real experts - the "44 political, religious, social and professional organisations from across the country". Let them spend two or three days decades there, then they can complain!
Posted by: Bobby ||
06/29/2005 7:55 Comments ||
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#4
...and then they took their fat asses to the parking lot and did The Wave.
#7
The participants urged Muslim states to dismantle torture houses from their territories and provide fundamental human rights to their citizens.
"Yeah, only we guys, not the gov'ts, can have torture houses, and we look forward to "fundamental" human rights, like the right for women NOT to drive or go out w/o their burkhah on, or for us men to have 24 wives, or our right to not bathe, or our right to not wear that infidel deoderant or use infidel soap, etc!"
Posted by: BA ||
06/29/2005 10:32 Comments ||
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#8
How come these stupid conferences of dingbats never blow up, that's what I wanna know...
#12
Can one of the more enlighted scholars here help me> I recently read about a doctrine in islam, or at least a branch of islam that permits deception, disinformation and outright lies by their followers if it serves the casue of jihad and they are weak. Can anyone point me to it. I need to be able to confront some public statements by imams by questioning their truthfulness in light of this doctrine. Any help?
Posted by: Just About Enough! ||
06/29/2005 22:35 Comments ||
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#13
Google "taqiya". That will give you the info.
Posted by: Fred ||
06/29/2005 22:38 Comments ||
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#14
Lol - I just suggested the same thing (same question on a different thread) - but using the 2 other spellings I was aware of, taqqiya and taqiyya, lol! Hell, everything about Islam is like that.
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.
Kuwaiti Minister of Awqaf (endowment) and Islamic Affairs Dr. 
Uzbekistan's authoritarian president said Tuesday that an uprising against his government in May was planned from abroad by mercenaries who "were trained at military training camps." Speaking during a meeting with his Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Islam Karimov said "we have enough facts to prove that the operation was prepared several months and perhaps several years in advance from outside Uzbekistan."
Over the last 5 years, the Uzbekistan government has nurtured a relationship with Al-Azhar university in Cairo, via its Grand Shaykh 
A mosque has fired a religious leader accused of speaking out against the United States and supporting Osama bin Laden in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks. 
Democrats are criticizing President Bush for raising the Sept. 11 attacks while he defends his plan to keep U.S. troops in Iraq as long as it takes to ensure peace in the country. The president, urging patience on an American public showing doubts about his Iraq policy, mentioned the deadly 2001 terrorist attacks five times during a 28-minute address Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, N.C. Some Democrats accused him of falsely reviving the link that he originally used to help justify launching strikes against Baghdad. "The president's frequent references to the terrorist attacks of September 11 show the weakness of his arguments," House Democratic leader 
"The president's numerous references to September 11 did not provide a way forward in Iraq," Senate Democratic leader 
Ten Indonesian pirates who hijacked the "Nepline Delima", a Malaysian-owned ship, off Langkawi on June 14, Tuesday pleaded guilty to gang robbery in the Sessions Court here. Judge Ghazali Cha will sentence them on July 10.
Lebanon's new parliament re-elected a diehard friend of Syria to the powerful post of speaker Tuesday, setting off firework celebration across Beirut and in Shiite villages in south Lebanon by supporters of the one-time Shiite Muslim warlord. Lebanon's stunning changes this year have swept many of Syria's close allies from office after the Syrian military's withdrawal in April. Many had expected Nabih Berri to be no exception. He was the prime enforcer of Damascus' policies for the last 13 years in parliament and defended Syrian control to the last minute.
An All Parties âHurmat-i-Quranâ Conference (APHQC) has decided to extend its activities worldwide to make Muslims aware of the conspiracies being hatched against the Holy Quran. The decision came at a day-long conference organized by Jamaat ad-Dawah at a hotel here on Sunday. It was attended by 44 political, religious, social and professional organisations from across the country. It adopted a joint declaration demanding closure of the notorious Guantanamo Bay, Abu Gharib and Bagram torture cells.
