WND. Which reminds Me: I need to buy more salt this weekend. A senior Hamas activist recently arrested in Jerusalem has revealed to Israeli police the terror group maintains an operations command center in Saudi Arabia that finances suicide bombings and important Hamas campaigns, security sources told WND. While Hamas and other Palestinian terror groups have been known to raise funds in Saudi Arabia, the existence of a Hamas terror control center in the kingdom is "disturbing news," said a security official.
Yaakub Abu Assab, 35, of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of al-Souana, was arrested last month in an anti-terror operation. During his interrogation, police officials now expose, Assab detailed the existence of a Hamas headquarters in Saudi Arabia, and said he was a liaison between the terror group's Jerusalem and West Bank offices and its Saudi command center. Assab allegedly told interrogators he received operational instructions from Hamas' headquarters in Saudi Arabia that he was asked to relay to the terror group's West Bank offices. For example, Assab explained, according to the interrogators, he was sent money from senior Hamas officials in the kingdom and told to conduct surveys among Hamas' West Bank operatives about whether the terror group should participate in Palestinian legislative elections scheduled for January.
Assab said he was also asked to regularly update the Saudi command center about Hamas' latest activities in the field, and about Israel's construction of its West Bank security barrier and its razing of terrorists' homes. Assab said he also received large sums of money from Hamas in Saudi Arabia. He told interrogators he transferred hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hamas' Saudi headquarters to Hamas institutions in the West Bank, where he said the money was used to provide financial support for the families of suicide bombers and imprisoned operatives, and to finance Hamas attacks. Assab also reportedly transferred money to two eastern Jerusalem Hamas offices Israel has since shut down.
Matthew Levitt, director of the Terrorism Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, commented, "Neither the fact that individual Hamas operatives are active in Saudi Arabia nor the fact that Hamas receives significant funding from within the kingdom is news. ... [But] the revelation that Hamas operates a command center in Saudi Arabia with close ties to Hamas militants executing attacks and the movement's political and social-welfare operations is remarkable." Levitt noted in the early 1990s it had been known Hamas raised large sums of money in Saudi Arabia. Some Palestinian scholars claimed the kingdom and some Gulf states stepped up their financing of Hamas to strengthen it against the Palestinian Liberation Organization after the PLO supported Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
In September 2003, David Aufhauser, general counsel to the U.S. Department of the Treasury, testified to Congress that donating to Hamas was still not a crime in Saudi Arabia despite the kingdom's promises to curb terrorism financing.
Levitt pointed out: "Just last month, Saudi television ran a program on the jihad in Palestine that implored viewers to donate funds to the Palestinian intifada. A caption on the screen informed donors that they could send funds through ... [what was described as] a joint account at all Saudi banks. Meanwhile, a speaker instructed viewers, 'Jihad is the pinnacle of Islam.' He explained that the funds would go directly to those waging jihad, where it would, in his words, 'help them carry out this mission.'"
Dr. Reuven Erlich, director of the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies, told WND: "A Hamas control center in Saudi Arabia goes along with the escalations we have seen in financing and the terrorist ideology coming from there. Someone has to influence the Saudis to end this. If Hamas is operating a center in the kingdom, it means officials are allowing them to act there, and this needs to be stopped."
TOKYO - Japan may send military planes and ships to assist the US-led âwar on terrorâ and reconstruction missions, a report said on Thursday, in what would be a new step away from Tokyoâs post-World War II pacifism.
Japan and the United States are considering expanding the role of Japanâs military to ease the burden on US forces in a plan on the realignment of US forces, the Nihon Keizai Shimbun said. The two countries want to conclude the interim report this month and aim to reach a final agreement early next year, the business daily quoted Pentagon and Japanese government officials as saying in a dispatch from Washington.
The Nihon Keizai said Japan and the United States were considering deploying Japanâs P3C patrol planes and a destroyer equipped with Aegis naval weapons systems to spy on militants in anti-terrorist operations. Japanese forces would also provide large vessels to transport other countriesâ personnel or heavy machinery to nations rebuilding from war or natural disasters, the newspaper said.
The P3C planes would also head to disaster areas to provide information to US or other forces involved in rescue missions, it said.
A Defence Agency spokesman said Japan was studying what roles the military would share with the United States but declined comment on specific items under consideration.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/07/2005 00:09 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I imagine the Japanese military command is just itching to re-create a serious military force structure. It is damn obvious that sooner or later they will have to have one, and even their political leaders are coming around to the fact.
#2
For years Japan has had 240,000 in it's armed forces while spending alittle under 1% of GDP. Even at that small state, the military is already larger and higher tech than the US's principal ally, the UK. They can easily sustain a 3% GDP military and dominate the air and sea in east asia. Perhaps they are interested in a few Yamato Nimitz class carriers and F22s?
Posted by: ed ||
10/07/2005 14:15 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Yamato
Posted by: ed ||
10/07/2005 14:18 Comments ||
Top||
Australian Islamic leaders endorsed tough new anti-terorrism laws on Thursday after the government said the changes would not target Muslims. Australia announced a series of new anti-terrorism laws, including the detention of suspects for 48 hours without charge and the use of electronic devices to monitor suspected terrorists, following the July 7 London bus and subway bombings. The changes angered Australiaâs Muslim leaders, who feared the new laws would unfairly target Muslims and would lead to racial profiling, where people would be subjected to closer police scrutiny because of their ethnic background. Australia, a nation of 20 million people, has about 280,000 Muslims who live mainly in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne. Attorney-General Philip Ruddock detailed the changes during a two-hour meeting with 13 key Muslim leaders on Thursday, and said he had reassured them the laws would not directly target Muslims.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A leading Norwegian pro-Palestinian activist on Thursday claimed she infiltrated the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad as a double agent in the 1980s. Karin Linstad was a founding member of the Norwegian Palestine Committee, and is married to high-profile Norwegian Muslim Trond Ali Linstad, who converted to Islam in the 1980s. "I can't go into detail about the people and the organizations," she told The Associated Press. "My starting point and my loyalty has always been with the Palestinian side."
There seems to be some confusion. The BBC has a slightly different take: Norway activist 'was Mossad spy' A leading Norwegian pro-Palestinian activist has said she once worked for the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad as a double agent. Karin Linstad, member of the Norwegian Palestine Committee, is said to have provided details of Palestinians in Beirut before Israel's 1982 invasion.
Linstad said she decided to reveal her former role because she is being identified as an agent in the Norwegian book "War and Diplomacy" being published next week. According to the Norwegian media, the book by state television NRK Middle East correspondent Odd Karsten Tveit identifies Linstad as a former Mossad agent, but does not address any role as a double agent.
Linstad's husband of 32 years said he had be unaware of his wife's activities, but that her being an agent could explain some past incidents. He said he had no details about her tasks, but that "I have complete faith that her evaluations were right."
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Maybe she was tripled without knowing. Bet she gets a visit now.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
10/07/2005 1:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
but that her being an agent could explain some past incidents
"Those phone calls where the caller hung up when I answered, motel room charges on her credit card, the sexy underware she never wore for me...."
Posted by: Steve ||
10/07/2005 8:49 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Covering your ass there, Karin? We all know what the Pali's do to "collaborators". Got a feeling the Mossad won't be too happy either. So you're screwed either way.
A Muslim cleric in à rhus demands that daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten apologises for publishing cartoons featuring the prophet Mohammed.
Oh, horrors! A cartoon! Did they make him look like Porky Pig?
Daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten is facing accusations that it deliberately provoked and insulted Muslims by publishing twelve cartoons featuring the prophet Mohammed.
How do you say "Go pound sand up your ass" in Danish? Or should they say it in Arabic?
The newspaper urged cartoonists to send in drawings of the prophet, after an author complained that nobody dared to illustrate his book on Mohammed. The author claimed that illustrators feared that extremist Muslims would find it sacrilegious to break the Islamic ban on depicting Mohammed.
Sounds like he was right.
Twelve illustrators heeded the newspaper's call, and sent in cartoons of the prophet, which were published in the newspaper one week ago. Daily newspaper Kristeligt Dagblad said one Muslim, at least, had taken offence.
That's all it takes anymore, isn't it?
'This type of democracy is worthless for Muslims,' Imam Raed Hlayhel wrote in a statement. 'Muslims will never accept this kind of humiliation. The article has insulted every Muslim in the world. We demand an apology!'
Waht you need is a bus ticket back to wherever the hell you came from.
Jyllands-Posten described the cartoons as a defence for 'secular democracy and right to expression'.
Which will no doubt be assaulted by the combined forces of hypersensitive Islamism and damp-palmed dhimmism.
Hlayhel, however, said the newspaper had abused democracy with the single intention of humiliating Muslims. Lars Refn, one of the cartoonists who participated in the newspaper's call to arms, said he actually agreed with Hlayhel.
Then why the hell did you draw the picture, dumbass?
Therefore, his cartoon did not feature the prophet Mohammed, but a normal Danish schoolboy Mohammed, who had written a Persian text on his schoolroom's blackboard.
The text said "Lars has no testicles."
'On the blackboard it says in Persian with Arabic letters that 'Jyllands-Posten's journalists are a bunch of reactionary provocateurs',' Refn said. 'Of course we shouldn't let ourselves be censored by a few extremist Muslims, but Jyllands-Posten's only goal is to vent the fires as soon as they get the opportunity. There's nothing constructive in that.'
He means, other than giving the enemy the chance to prove that the Moose limbs say what goes in Denmark...
Flemming Rose, cultural editor at the newspaper, denied that the purpose had been to provoke Muslim. It was simply a reaction to the rising number of situations where artists and writers censured themselves out of fear of radical Islamists, he said. 'Religious feelings cannot demand special treatment in a secular society,' he added. 'In a democracy one must from time to time accept criticism or becoming a laughingstock.' It is not the first time Hlayhel has created headlines in Denmark. One year ago, he became the target of criticism from Muslims and non-Muslims alike, when he said in a sermon during Friday prayer, that Danish women's behaviour and dress invited rape.
Posted by: DanNY ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Poppycock. It's a bunch of cartoons. Get over it. Now, crashing planes and suicide bombers -- THAT'S provocation.
#8
Ok, apology demanded. Death threat to issue officially in 10 days or less. They do doth protest, cry and lament far too much over far too little. This type of democracy is worthless to muslims the man tells us but by the same token his ideal type of muslim is less than worthless to a vibrant free society enjoying democracy. Sounds like he would be crying for the atee-tood adjustah methinks.
You cannot have it both ways. Either live in whatever theocratic sh!thole you came from and never have your deity profaned by anyone. Or live in a free secular society where no one chops off your head and hands but anyone gets to poke fun at you.
To presume that you can dictate legal exceptions on a religious basis in a free society makes you an enemy of the state. Too bad these f&*kwits just don't get it. It bodes especially ill that the Europeans do not understand this either.
LONDON - Leading human rights groups on Thursday called on the British government to intervene in the ongoing hunger strike of an estimated 210 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the US military base on Cuba.
Sure, that'll work.
Amnesty International and the pressure group Reprieve said at least six British residents were among detainees currently refusing food in protest against their continuing detention without charge or trial.
Really? Six? My.
The two groups have written to Prime Minister Tony Blair seeking assurances that ministers will seek a pledge from US authorities to allow independent observers access to all hunger strikers. At a news conference in London, Amnestyâs director Kate Allen said: âReports emerging from the camp concerning the treatment of hunger strikers are disturbing to us, anyway and underline the need for an immediate resolution.â
âWe need to see the UK Government intervening to prevent deaths and injuries and to see that all detainees - including at least six UK residents on hunger strike - are either properly tried or immediately released in accordance with international human rights law,â she said.
Reprieveâs legal director, Clive Stafford Smith, a lawyer who is acting for 40 Guantanamo Bay detainees, said: âConditions there at the best of times are disturbing.
âBut to imagine my clients being held in four point restraints with a tube forced down their noses, after all that they have been through, just makes me sick,â he said.
A two-fer!
All the prisoners were asking for was that the US military abide by the Geneva Conventions, added Stafford Smith.
They are. We've determined that the GC doesn't apply to them.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/07/2005 00:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Wow, there's a whole lotta suffering going on in Sudan, and all these AI idiots are doing is locking their gaze on Gitmo.
#3
Note it says British residents, not citizens. I think I'm right in saying that all the British citizens that were in Gitmo have returned to European revolving door justice.
I don't think these scum are resident any longer (although annexing Cuba might be a good idea)
#4
So what do these assholes want? For the force feeding to stop so these scumbags can die? I hope that's what they want.
My bet is about 2 hours after they pull those feeding tubes, brave Jihadi warrior is screaming for his chicken l'orange.
From the Oklahoma Daily, an independent OU campus newspaper:
As the first night of Ramadan wound down Wednesday, two children tossed a football through the rain in the parking lot of the Masjid Al-Nur Islamic mosque, 1304 George Ave.
Look at them cute kiddies. Ain't they just the cutest all-Americans you ever laid eyes on.
Standing to the side was Hossam Barakat, an OU Arabic instructor who lives nearby at Parkview Apartments, 606 Stinson Ave.
Of course it's only a mere coincidence that the kindly professor was living in the boomer's apartment building. Life's funny like that, sometimes...
Although he was also celebrating the Muslim holiday, Barakat was also thinking about the events of this past weekend, when Joel âJoeâ Henry Hinrichs, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering junior, died in an explosion around 7:30 p.m. Saturday while sitting on a park bench on the South Oval about 100 yards away from Oklahoma Memorial Stadium during the second quarter of the OU-Kansas State football game. "Iâm concerned about the the fact that hundreds of people could have died [Muslim] community,â Barakat said. âHopefully by next week itâs going to be cleared that heâs not involved in this community.â
Hope a little harder, Professor.
With Internet reports and newscasts purporting a supposed connection between Hinrichs and the mosque, Barakat and other Muslims are worried about public perception. âIâve never seen (Hinrichs) before, just on the news,â Barakat said.
"OK, maybe I saw him around the laundry room sometimes. And there was that one poker game. And we baked cookies every few weeks for the mosque social. And I wrote him a recommendation for his graduate program in Lahore. But it's not like I knew him or anything."
He did, however, know OU finance major Fazal M. Cheema, Hinrichsâ roommate.
"Fazal really knew how I liked my hotdogs at the mini-mart."
On the night of the explosion, Barakat was visiting friends, including Cheema, at his apartment complex. Around midnight â about four and a half hours after the explosion on the South Oval â Cheema exited the apartment and Barakat said he heard Cheema being taken into custody by Norman Police Department officers, who urged Barakat and the six or seven others to stay inside. Around 4 a.m. Barakat and the others were taken one-by-one and questioned by the FBI. They were questioned again the next day and cleared of suspicion, Barakat said.
"See? It's all settled. Case closed. Now go away."
Now, after the public has seen Hinrichsâ picture and heard that Muslims were questioned by law enforcement agencies, Barakat is more concerned that some people are connecting dots that arenât there. âOf course [Iâm afraid] of the social reaction,â Barakat said, âbecause the government has law â you can get a lawyer. I believe everyone is so worried now about what is going to happen.â
Well, *I* am certainly worried.
Adeel Khan, former Muslim Student Association president and psychology and mathematics junior, said he comes to the mosque âpretty oftenâ and also said he had never heard of Hinrichs or seen him at the mosque.
"Generally I don't hang out with guyz named Joel, if you catch my drift."
Khan also said he is worried about people connecting bits of information to establish a false relationship between Hinrichs and Muslims because stereotyping is already so prevalent.
Stand by for taqiyya:
âYou take the actions of a minority of a group and apply them to the group overall,â he said. âSome Malaysian sees on TV reports of Catholic priests (molesting children) a few years ago â whatâs he going to think about priests?â Still, Khan said that, generally, most OU students have reacted reasonably. âIâd have to say thereâs been no negativity directed at me or my friends,â he said. Ashraf Hussein, president of Muslim Student Association and petroleum and electrical engineering junior, said he is disturbed by the mediaâs focus. â(Hinrichs) had a Muslim roommate; he had a Muslim roommate â thatâs all theyâre mentioning,â Hussein said. Barakat agreed, saying people are afraid of the media because it appears they take information and change it for their purposes. He said the eventâs specific social dynamics worsen the situation. âItâs considered very Middle Eastern, the way (Hinrichs) killed himself or tried to kill others,â he said. âItâs different from someone taking a machine gun and killing everyone."
A failed homicide bombing is certainly different from someone taking a machine gun and killing everyone. A successful homicide bombing is remarkably similar, except there's more parts to pick up afterwards.
#3
Khan also said he is worried about people connecting bits of information to establish a false relationship between Hinrichs and Muslims because stereotyping is already so prevalent
WTF --- it's the stereotyping that's blowing up people??? It's amazing how Muslims/Arabs are able to spin themselves as victims from any situation.
In a letter to U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, national commander of the Legion, Thomas L. Bock, said Gonzales should lead the way in overturning Hellersteinâs âextremely dangerousâ ruling, adding it could produce additional dangers for American troops still fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan by further enraging Iraqis.
âThis ruling is deplorable,â Bock said. âIt will only serve to rally the insurgents into a frenzied crescendo of violence against our servicemen and women, indeed against all Americans living and working overseas.â
Bock said he would lead the 2.7-million member organization in a fight against Hellersteinâs ruling and would âmake the journeyâ with Gonzales âall the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.â
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The U.N. employees union has criticized Secretary-General Kofi Annan for retaining his former chief-of-staff as an adviser despite accusations the aide authorized shredding three years of files on the corrupt oil-for-food program for Iraq.
The Independent Inquiry Committee led by former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker criticized Iqbal Riza for giving approval to shred the documents on April 22, 2004 - a day after the U.N. Security Council authorized an investigation into the oil-for-food program. A resolution adopted by the Staff Council, the union's executive, and obtained Thursday by The Associated Press, said keeping Riza as a personal adviser "is inconsistent with the requirement that all those working for the United Nations organization shall be of the highest integrity." The resolution was passed on Tuesday.
The $64 billion oil-for-food program was the largest U.N. humanitarian aid operation, running from 1996-2003. It allowed Saddam Hussein's government to sell limited - and eventually unlimited - oil in exchange for food, medical supplies and other humanitarian goods as an exemption from tough U.N. sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait.
Saddam Hussein, who could choose the buyers of Iraqi oil and the sellers of humanitarian goods, manipulated the program by awarding contracts to - and getting kickbacks from - favored buyers, who most often supported his regime or opposed the sanctions. He allegedly gave former government officials, journalists and U.N. officials vouchers for Iraqi oil that could then be resold at a profit.
Riza has claimed the shredded files were duplicates. But a report by the Volcker committee said in March they included documents related to the oil-for-food program that were unavailable in the U.N. records file. Riza retired as Annan's chief-of-staff at the end of last year and then became a personal adviser to the secretary-general. He was replaced by Mark Malloch Brown.
In a report in September, Volcker said Riza "played a greater role than he was willing to state" in the oil-for-food program. He was "the primary point of access to the secretary-general, routinely received copies of significant documents," and reviewed a March 7, 2001 memorandum on allegations of kickbacks and surcharges which he forwarded to the secretary-general. In an Aug. 29 letter to Volcker, Riza took issue with this assessment.
He said he dealt with a vast range of subjects, which occasionally included the oil-for-food program. But it "certainly was not a subject with which I dealt regularly or frequently." Riza said he told investigators that although he had no clear recollection, he had probably seen news reports of kickbacks and participated in discussions where they came up. In late April, Annan said Riza's actions were careless, but not a deliberate attempt to impede the Volcker investigation and did not violate U.N. staff rules.
A letter from Annan to Riza dated April 19 said: "I accept your apology and assure you that I still have great faith in your professionalism and well known integrity."
"Thanks for clearing up those damm files, the deposit has been made to the Swiss account. Love, K."
But the Staff Council's resolution questioned Annan's assessment of Riza, stressing "the importance of upholding the highest standards of integrity in the United Nations" and "the need for the senior-most management to lead by example." The council called on Annan "to correct this inconsistency to demonstrate his personal commitment to restore organizational integrity."
Volcker has also criticized Annan for his lack of oversight of the oil-for-food program and said he did not sufficiently investigate conflicts of interest involving his son. Kojo Annan was employed by a Swiss company that won an oil-for-food. But Volcker concluded there was not enough evidence to show that the secretary-general knew about the contract bid.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/07/2005 09:51 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"I accept your apology and assure you that I still have great faith in your professionalism and well known integrity."
...which I have bought and paid for.
Posted by: K. Annan ||
10/07/2005 11:15 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Good help is hard to find when you've got a coverup to manage.
OSLO (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and its head Mohamed ElBaradei won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in an award calculated to help efforts to banish the peril of nuclear arms six decades after Hiroshima.
Giggle. Snicker. Bwahahahah.......oh, this isn't Scrappleface?
The Nobel Committee praised the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and ElBaradei, a 63-year-old Egyptian, for work to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to new states and to terrorists, and to ensure safe civilian use of nuclear energy.
Well, I suppose if you leave out North Korea, Iran and the Khan network.....
ElBaradei learnt he had won from television news at home after missing a telephone call to his Vienna office from the Nobel Committee in Norway. ElBaradei "was very humbled by the announcement. Surprised, humbled", IAEA spokesman Marc Vidricaire said. "He sees this as support to what the agency has been doing in the field of non-proliferation, in the field of disarmament."
Not to mention getting a third term over the US objection
Congratulations came from world leaders like Britain's Tony Blair and France's Jacques Chirac, who said he was "delighted". Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, the 1990 laureate, praised ElBaradei for doing his job "solidly and responsibly".
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, also a peace laureate, called it "a welcome reminder of the acute need to make progress on the issue of nuclear non-proliferation and disarmament".
Kofi is a sterling example of why this prise has as much value as one you'd find in a Cracker Jack box. Without the tastey snack.
The IAEA has had little success in recent standoffs with Iran and North Korea and ElBaradei has faced criticism from many quarters, most recently from both the United States and Iran in his efforts to investigate Tehran's nuclear programme.
So tell me again why he won?
Washington had opposed his reappointment to a new term.
OK, thanks. I rest my case.
He came to prominence before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 by challenging Washington's argument that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. No such weapons were found after the overthrow of Saddam. A programme discovered in the early 1990s appeared to have been abandoned as Iraq had said.
More like put on hold
Some experts say the IAEA has achieved too little in North Korea and Iran to merit the prize. Elbaradei is unbowed.
"Nah na na nah na!"
"There have been two nuclear shocks to the world already," ElBaradei once said. "The Chernobyl accident and the IAEA's discovery of Iraq's clandestine nuclear weapons program. It is vital we do all in our power to prevent a third."
You mean the Khan network? Oh, wait, you missed that one didn't you?
The Nobel Committee, acknowledging that the world's lack of progress in nuclear disarmament, expressed hope that this award would spur work to outlaw atomic weapons 60 years after the U.S. atom bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Good intentions and putting on a show being more important than acomplishing anything
ElBaradei was an "unafraid advocate" of measures to strengthen non-proliferation, it said. He and the IAEA had been among favourites for the award and won from a record field of 199 candidates ranging from presidents to Irish rock star Bono.
Bono's done more for peace than ElBaradei's left pinky toe.
"At a time when disarmament efforts appear deadlocked, when there is a danger that nuclear arms will spread both to states and to terrorist groups, and when nuclear power again appears to be playing an increasingly significant role, IAEA's work is of incalculable importance," the Committee said.
"They can stick their heads in the sand with the best of 'em!"
The prize, named after Sweden's Alfred Nobel, a philanthropist and inventor of dynamite, is worth $1.3 million and is due to be handed out in Oslo on December 10. The 2004 prize also went to an African, Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai. ElBaradei was the first Egyptian winner since President Anwar Sadat in 1978.
Sadat died for his Prize. Keep that in mind, Mo.
Nobel Committee chairman Ole Danbolt Mjoes said the prize was not a veiled criticism of Washington after ElBaradei and President George W. Bush feuded over Iraq.
He's correct, there is no veil
"This is not a kick in the legs to any country," he told a news conference. A former chairman described the 2002 prize to former U.S. President Jimmy Carter as a "kick in the legs" to Bush. Still, one expert said the prize would have clearly been less controversial if it had gone to the IAEA alone. ElBaradei's inclusion "is an implicit criticism of the United States", said Stein Toennesson, head of the Peace Research Institute, Oslo.
We noticed
The 2005 award seems to confirm an anti-nuclear trend on major anniversaries of Hiroshima.
Only the anklebiters are anti-nuclear.
In 1995, British ban-the-bomb scientist Joseph Rotblat won with his Pugwash organisation. And in 1985, the award went to a U.S-Soviet group of doctors, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War. "The Norwegian Nobel Committee has concentrated on the struggle to diminish the significance of nuclear arms in international politics, with a view to their abolition," the committee said in a statement. "That the world has achieved little in this respect makes active opposition to nuclear arms all the more important today," it said.
Especially when those arms are held by the United States and Israel.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/07/2005 08:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
*GAG*
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/07/2005 8:37 Comments ||
Top||
#2
You have to admit, ol' MEB can turn his head the other way like no one else in history.
Isn't the part where he missed the phone call just perfect?
#12
History will record ElBi and crew the most inept of the inept. Can Nobel be far behind?
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/07/2005 11:11 Comments ||
Top||
#13
Next the prize will be awarded to Osama Bin Laden and Zarqawi for their work in opposing Zionist aggression. Alfred must be rollling over in his grave and crying.
#14
The U.N. nuclear watchdog and its head Mohamed ElBaradei won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in an award calculated to help efforts to banish the peril of nuclear arms..
Can't wait for the job to be completed first before handing out the awards, eh?
#15
Some experts say the IAEA has achieved too little in North Korea and Iran to merit the prize. Elbaradei is unbowed.
Unbowed, and entirely uncontaminated by the least semblance of success in taking to task those who most endanger this world. North Korea, Iran, Pakistan and even his native Egypt's own covert nuclear activities have utterly eluded his feeble grasp. Much like how his boss seems incapable of forcefully addressing the genocides that continually rear to spoil his feast at the UN trough.
Sad to say that the Nobel Peace Prize is rapidly becoming a badge of incompetence. Its being awarded to Arafat pretty much cemented that notion.
The environmental group Greenpeace said Friday it was "shocked" that the Nobel committee has given its prestigious peace prize this year to Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency, arguing that the U.N. agency's promotion of atomic energy has increased the risk of nuclear weapons proliferation. "With the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to such an organization, the meaning of this instrument of peace is seriously put into question," Jan van de Putte, an atomic expert with Greenpeace, said in a statement. "Through the IAEA's worldwide support of nuclear power, 35 to 40 countries today have the capability of building atomic weapons within several months, as ElBaradei himself has recently admitted," Greenpeace said.
#17
Will the Nobel committee take it back when Iran goes nuclear or will they be too scared to because Oslo will be within nuclear armed missile range?
Posted by: ed ||
10/07/2005 12:49 Comments ||
Top||
#18
If the Iranian MMs get nukes but do not set one off by the time the next Nobel Piece Prize Rigged Lotto selection comes around, then they will be awarded the Prize and a pony [/cynical snarky comment] Peace, brothers and sisters.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/07/2005 19:48 Comments ||
Top||
#19
Put me down as shocked, yet strangely calm. And no, I've never considered a Renault.
The Pentagon said on Thursday the United States had obtained a letter written by al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, to the network's leader in Iraq saying tactics being used such as bombing mosques and killing hostages might alienate the Muslim masses. Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman described the letter as written by Zawahri, the No. 2 in al Qaeda behind Osama bin Laden, to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian who heads al Qaeda's branch in Iraq that is engaged in a guerrilla war with U.S. troops and Iraqi forces. Whitman said the United States considered the letter authentic, but refused to say how, when or where it was obtained or by whom in order to protect "sources and methods" used. Whitman described the letter as "recent," but was not more precise.
"Zawahri does say that the insurgents in Iraq should avoid using tactics such as bombing of mosques and slaughtering of hostages in order not to alienate the masses. In this letter, he talks about believing that the eventual governance of Iraq must include the Muslim masses, and that they are at risk of alienating those," Whitman told reporters.
Whitman declined to release the letter, which was in Arabic. Whitman also said Zawahri makes a plea to Zarqawi for financial support. Whitman declined to say whether Zarqawi responded in any way to the letter. "Zawahri says that they've lost many of their key leaders and that they've virtually resigned themselves to defeat in Afghanistan, that their lines of communication and funding have been severely disrupted," Whitman said.
Whitman said the letter emphasizes that Muslim extremists intend to create a broad Islamic state centered on Iraq and expanding into neighboring Muslim countries, although he declined to state which countries were mentioned.
How many neighbors does Iraq have?
Intelligence officials believe Zarqawi communicates with bin Laden and Zawahri through couriers who can take weeks to make the journey between eastern Afghanistan to western Iraq. Officials say bin Laden and Zawahri have set general parameters within which they expect Zarqawi to run his insurgent struggle against U.S. forces in Iraq. But they say the two sides have clashed over Zarqawi attacks on Shi'ite Muslims. When the Sunni Zarqawi declared war on Iraq's Shi'ites last month, U.S. officials speculated the move could suggest a disagreement between the Iraq insurgent leader and the top al Qaeda militants. Intelligence officials have also said they believe Zarqawi's association with al Qaeda has given him access to new wealthy donors in the Gulf region and enabled him to build up his organization through the addition of local and tribal groups in Iraq attracted by the al Qaeda banner.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/07/2005 01:01 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The US army said Thursday that an Iraqi detainee died in Buka prison in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. A Multinational Forces (MNF) statement said a 43-year-old Iraqi detainee, whose name was not disclosed, died Wednesday in Buka prison. According to the MNF statement, Buka detainees carried their prison mate, fainted at that time, to another complex and notified guards about his situation. Medical staff carried the detainee to a hospital inside Buka camp where he died despite medical attempts to save him, added the statement. A heart attack caused the death, said the statement, adding the body would be delivered to the deceased family in accordance with law.
Life's tough. Look on the bright side, though: eventually it stops.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
After declaring Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip a victory for their "resistance operations," Hamas is now planning to focus attacks on the West Bank, where it will fire rockets and carry out guerrilla operations against nearby Jewish towns until Israel leaves the territory, a research center affiliated with Hamas announced in a published study. "[Hamas will be] transporting warfare technologies such as mortars and rockets from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank. These will provide an easy way to bombard Israeli populated areas adjacent to the security fence, and the fence, which is currently under construction, will therefore become useless," stated a recent publication by the Al-Mustaqbal Research Center in Gaza.
Al-Mustaqbal is headed by a Palestinian professor and, according to the Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at Israel's Center for Special Studies, is associated with Hamas and is known to publish surveys and studies that reflect the terror group's attitudes. The study credited Israel's West Bank security barrier with limiting Hamas' ability to infiltrate Jewish cities to perpetuate suicide bombings, but it said, "Carrying out such acts remains an option since Hamas will find methods to circumvent the obstacle built by Israel. The length of the fence and its proximity to populated areas will make the task easier."
Al-Mustaqbal said Israel's withdrawal in August from four West Bank towns provides Hamas and other terror groups with a staging ground from which to launch attacks and to transport rockets to other West Bank communities. It said the Gaza and West Bank withdrawals prove Israel will vacate other areas in response to repeated attacks. "[Following Israel's withdrawal] the new warfare technology [of Qassams and mortars] will be produced, and from there, they will be distributed to other West Bank areas," said the study.
Along with rocket fire at West Bank Jewish communities, Hamas will carry out guerrilla attacks against local residents and Israeli Defense Forces positions, the study stated, citing what it said was Hezbollah's success in using such attacks to drive Israel from Lebanon in 2000. "The fighting in the West Bank in the new era [after Israel's Gaza withdrawal] will be characterized by guerrilla actions carried out by small groups of terrorists as was done in south Lebanon, and by long-distance shooting as was done in the Gaza Strip during the lull in the fighting. These actions will focus on soldiers and settlers, and they will consist of attacks on roads, military bases and settlements," al-Mustaqbal published.
Israel last week rounded up over 450 suspected Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in the West Bank, and has been warning that the terror groups are planning to step up operations in the area. A senior security source told WND: "The terror groups will now attempt to step up attacks because they believe they can drive Israel from the rest of the West Bank. Al Aqsa and Islamic Jihad have recently been the dominant players [in the West Bank], but signs are Hamas is poised to catch up."
Since Israel withdrew its troops from Gaza last month, Palestinian terrorists have fired over 30 mortars and rockets at nearby Israeli Negev towns. So far, there has been no rocket fire in the West Bank.
Hamas senior spokesman Sami Abi Zuhri told WND last week the terror group believes it can force Israel from the West Bank with continued attacks. "There is no doubt that Israel's withdrawal from Gaza is a victory for the Palestinian resistance and its operations against the occupation," said Zuhri. "The resistance will be the principal tool to liberate the rest of our other occupied territories. "
#1
I call bullsh*t on account of the "no friendlies in the kill zone" idea for why Sharon pulled out of the Gaza to begin with, and seeing the laughable result left behind -- even though it was interesting seeing Palestinian cops storm Parliament and demand a crackdown on Hamas.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
10/07/2005 1:54 Comments ||
Top||
a couple of days ago about 40 PA policemen stormed the PA parliament, firing in the air to protest the humiliation the police are facing because of attacks by Hamas militants, a day after a fierce clash between the cops and Hamas in Gaza and nearby Shati refugee camp when Hamas gunmen attacked the local police station with assault rifles and rocket-propelled grenades, killing the camp's deputy police chief.
They were begging for bullets to protect the citizens and themselves. Reuters, apparently, quoted one of the black-clad policemen as stating, "We want the PA to take a stand on Hamas. Our blood is flowing for the Authority and they are not doing anything."
The police-Hamas confrontation was triggered when executed Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi's son was being arrested following a fight that broke out in a line-up at a cash machine outside of a Gaza City bank.
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
10/07/2005 4:09 Comments ||
Top||
#3
This sounds like the O'Banion gang wants to pull a heist in the Capone territory. Al might have something to say about that.
Israelâs Supreme Court on Thursday banned the army from using Palestinian civilians as âhuman shieldsâ during arrest operations aimed at flushing out wanted militants from hiding places. The ruling that the practice violates international law followed petitions filed three years ago by two human rights groups in Israel. The Supreme Court, the countryâs highest court, had already issued a temporary injunction against the practice in August 2002, after the petition was filed in May of that year.
Israeli soldiers, however, have continued to use Palestinian civilians as decoys by forcing them, often at gunpoint, to approach homes or places where wanted militants are hiding so that they can be extracted and arrested. Chief Justice Aharon Barak wrote that it was impossible to determine whether a warning for a wanted militant to come out may endanger the life of the Palestinian civilian âhuman shieldâ. âIn light of the inequality which exists between the apprehending force and the local resident, the civilian cannot be expected to resist the request to pass on an alert,â he was quoted as writing in the ruling.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
One of the big issues here was Israeli soldiers who had arrested a stone thrower boy and had mounted him on the front hood of their jeep, having no space inside the vehicle. The twist was the route they took going to the police station happened to be through a "hot" neighborhood.
Rather crafty idea, if I do say so. Was he just being detained, or was he a human shield? Or both?
Although it has been added to the US State Department's official list of foreign terrorist groups, the armed wing of the ruling Fatah party, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, is planning to run in the next elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council. The group's decision is likely to embarrass Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is already under heavy pressure from Israel to prevent Hamas from participating in the vote.
That's okay. He doesn't appear to feel shame like we do.
Moreover, it is understood that the US and the European Union are opposed to the participation of Hamas and other terrorist groups in the elections. Abbas, according to some of his aides, is seriously considering postponing the parliamentary elections slated for next January because of ongoing anarchy in PA-ruled areas, and fears that Hamas would make a strong showing.
Not if you give them the chance to hold a few more parades. Hold enough parades and there might not be any of them left.
The Aqsa Brigades' decision is also seen as a challenge to Abbas and other veteran leaders by representatives of the young guard in Fatah. The militant group consists solely of young Fatah gunmen from the West Bank and Gaza Strip who are often critical of Abbas and Palestinian leaders who returned from Tunis after the signing of the Oslo Accords. The power struggle between the young guard and the old guard is seen by many Palestinians as a revolt by the grassroots activists against the rule of the Abu's â a reference to the nom de geurres used by Yasser Arafat and many of his lieutenants.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
does Aqsa running split the Fatah vote, helping Hamas, or does it split the pro-terrorist vote, helping the Abbas wing of Fatah?
More likely it just means AAMB has seen the benefits of having a "political" wing, and wants them.
#3
The group's decision is likely to embarrass Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas,..
I just don't see how that's possible. He won't disarm terrorist orgs operating in his territory because he's afraid of a civil war, and then he goes and tries "co-opting" terrorists by having them in his employ. Can't be much more embarrassing than having that sort of stupidity on public display.
At least one person has been killed in violence in southern Thailand, during Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's tour of the troubled region.
Mr Thaksin spent Thursday night in the area, after saying he wanted to show he did not fear insurgents there. He stayed near the army checkpoint where five Thai policemen were killed by suspected insurgents on Wednesday. The unrest in the Muslim-majority south has led to the deaths of about 950 people since the beginning of 2004.
In the latest killing in the region, a policeman was shot dead by two suspected militants in a drive-by shooting in Yala province. Sergeant Charin Parnnark, the driver of the provincial police chief, was shot early on Friday, police said. In another incident, a bomb went off in the town of Sungai Kolok on Thursday evening, close to where Mr Thaksin was staying. The blast seriously injured at least one person.
Mr Thaksin travelled through the region with a 1,000-strong security force, which reportedly sealed off villages before his arrival.
Stupid, he ain't
He spent the night in Cho-I-Rong district, Narathiwat province, near where the five soldiers were killed in an ambush on Wednesday. He also visited the village of Tanyong Limo, where two marines were taken hostage and beaten to death last month.
Later on Friday he inspected the distribution of new microchip "smart ID cards", which are due to replace national identification cards in the southern provinces. The authorities hope the new fingerprint-embedded cards will help them hunt down suspected insurgents, and those with dual Thai-Malay nationality. The government believes that some insurgents with dual nationality flee across the border after committing attacks.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/07/2005 08:54 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Indonesia's counterterrorism forces say the suspected suicide bombers who carried out the attack in Bali last Saturday appear to have been a small group with no prior criminal record or link to a large organization like Al Qaeda, giving the case echoes of the London subway bombings in July.
A senior Indonesian counterterrorism official said Thursday in an interview that the bombers seemed to have been "jihadists" without previous involvement in terrorist acts that would have brought them to the attention of the authorities.
A former senior member of Jemaah Islamiyah, the radical Islamic organization here, who has defected and is helping the government, said he did not recognize any of the men, the official said. The heads of the presumed bombers were severed in the blast, and pictures of them have appeared on television and in newspapers. The official spoke on condition that he not be identified, because he is not the authorized spokesman for his agency.
The Bali attack, which in addition to the 3 bombers killed 19 people, most of them Indonesians, in separate explosions at three restaurants, seems indicative of the way in which terrorism is shifting, terrorism experts say.
It was less sophisticated, complex, costly and deadly than the terrorist operation in Bali three years ago, in which a van loaded with explosives exploded in front of a nightclub, killing 202 people. And the organizations that financed the earlier attack, Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah, have been severely weakened.
Yet the terrorist threat remains, while presenting a different challenge from when Al Qaeda provided training, financing and direction.
"Outside of the Middle East and North Africa, this is the first time we have seen suicide bombers walk into a restaurant and blow themselves up à la Israel," said a senior Western official who has closely monitored terrorist groups and activities for the last four years.
"It is only a matter of time before what you saw in Bali on Saturday night happens in a Western country," he said. The official spoke on condition that his name and country not be used, a condition imposed by most individuals of his position with access to intelligence information.
The threads between the London, Madrid and Bali attacks are not organizational, he said: "They are threads of the mind."
The terrorists have a common world view, a shared ideology. There is no evidence of outside direction, he said, and that makes fighting them challenging in a different way. He argued further that small attacks could add up to a devastation equal in some ways to large, catastrophic ones by eating away at people's security and at the economy.
These attacks should be seen less as a change in tactics than "a demonstration of another capability," said a security adviser with experience in the public and private sectors. He declined to be identified, in part for security reasons and because he has close ties to Western law enforcement agencies that would not be as willing to share information with him if they knew he talked to reporters.
In the London bombings it is not clear who may have been behind the bombers. Here, the main suspects as the masterminds are Azhari Husin, a skilled bomb-maker, and Mohamad Noordin Top, a charismatic recruiter and fund-raiser, who are thought to be operating on their own.
In that sense, their personal terrorist trajectories mirror the evolution of terrorism. They began as members of Jemaah Islamiyah and acted on direction from Al Qaeda, but officials here and elsewhere say they now form ad hoc groups to carry out attacks.
They have a large pool of men to recruit from. Thousands of young Indonesian men have been indoctrinated at religious schools in hatred of the West and of Jews. Some 300 Indonesian men trained in Afghanistan before the fall of the Taliban, and another 300 or so have trained at Jemaah Islamiyah camps in the Philippines. Training continues at the Philippine camps, but on a smaller scale, the officials say.
As a teenager, Mr. Azhari, who was born in Malaysia, went to Australia and studied at Adelaide University, where he showed a greater interest in motorbikes, sports and partying than in studying, Sally Neighbour wrote in "In the Shadow of Swords" (HarperCollins, 2004), a compelling account of the Southeast Asian terror network and the first Bali bombing.
He earned a doctorate from Reading University in England and then returned to Malaysia, where he became a university professor and acquired a reputation as an "irrepressible joker," Ms. Neighbour wrote.
Along the way, Mr. Azhari became a convert to fundamentalist Islam. He fell in with Abu Bakar Bashir, the spiritual head of Jemaah Islamiyah, who was then in exile in Malaysia, and Riduan Isamuddin, better known as Hambali, who was Al Qaeda's senior operative in Southeast Asia. Mr. Noordin was part of the group.
In February 2002, Mr. Azhari and Mr. Noordin met with Hambali in Bangkok and are said to have decided to go after "soft targets," resulting in the first Bali attack. They were financed by Al Qaeda, and Mr. Bashir endorsed the attack, according to one of the men who carried it out and was later captured.
The next big Azhari-Noordin operation is said to have been the attack on the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003, financed by Hambali and Al Qaeda. In the weeks before the Marriott bombing, Mr. Azhari sat in the lobby sketching the layout, according to the Indonesian police.
Days after the attack, Hambali was captured in a C.I.A. operation in Bangkok and is now in C.I.A. custody at a secret site. Mr. Bashir has been arrested and is in jail in Indonesia.
Jemaah Islamiyah is a shadow of what it once was, officials and experts say. "Its leadership has been decimated, it is strapped for cash and it is riven by internal dissension," said Sidney Jones, who has written extensively about the organization for the International Crisis Group. The main faction of the organization does not agree with violent terrorist acts, Ms. Jones said.
Mr. Azhari and Mr. Noordin have split off and continue to operate. In September 2004, their target was the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, according to the Indonesian police.
In making a recruiting pitch to a Muslim radical to take part in the bombing, Mr. Noordin boasted that he was "the most wanted man in Southeast Asia," Ms. Jones said.
Mr. Azhari drove the bomb-laden vehicle within a few hundred yards of the embassy, the police have said, then got out and hopped on a motorcycle, looking over his shoulder as the bomb went off.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/07/2005 01:08 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
October 7, 2005: The Strait of Hormuz has been a hot spot in the past, most notably during the later stages of the Iran-Iraq War, and is one area that probably occupies the mind of American military planners. Itâs no surprise, since a lot of maritime traffic (particularly supertankers) goes through that famous chokepoint. One of the countries alongside that chokepoint is Iran, which has been in the news lately.
One of the things Iran has threatened to respond in âmany waysâ should the European Union refer its nuclear program to the Security Council. While the report of this threat indicated that Iran would cut back oil production, it also should be noted that Iran could decide to try to close the Strait of Hormuz, hoping to force the world to back off in the face of a threat to the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf.
A straight fight with the United States is out of the question for Iran, due to the fact that Iran cannot hope to win one. In April 1988, American and Iranian naval forces engaged in a series of sharp actions after the frigate Samuel B. Roberts was struck by an Iranian mine. Iran has recently bought more modern weapons from Russia (MiG-29 fighters and three Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines) and China (C-802 anti-ship missiles retro-fitted to three Saam-class frigates and ten Kaman-class patrol craft and ten Houdong-class patrol craft for the Revolutionary Guards, C-801 missiles for shore launches, and numerous Silkworm anti-ship missiles). Iran could also lay mines â this latter approach is the most likely to damage an American vessel, and has the benefit of being deniable. However, mining operations are not without risk, as was demonstrated by the capture of the Iran ship Ajr in 1987 (after it was caught heaving mines into the water). Furthermore, in a period where tensions are already high, such an incident could lead to an American preemption. Suicide operations (using aircraft or small speedboats like the Boghammer) are another option which could be effective. The only problem is that they would lack the deniability of mining, and thereby draw a very strong response from the United States.
The United States can bring overwhelming combat power against Iranâs newly modernized force. A carrier battle group, supported by submarines, could quickly place Iranâs navy on the bottom. Even Iranian mines could be countered relatively quickly, because of the basing of two Osprey-class coastal minesweepers in Bahrain. Additional minesweeping craft would have to come from the United States, but this is much more capability than was present in the late 1980s. In a naval-air confrontation, one carrier battle group of the United States has a huge advantage against the Iranian military.
While Iran has added new capabilities, the United States has not stood still. Any attempt by Iran to shut down the Strait of Hormuz will end in a naval-air confrontation that will probably end with most of Iranâs acquisitions from China and Russia on the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz.
Posted by: Steve ||
10/07/2005 10:16 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I would hope that we would have a "3 hour plan", so that 3 hours after they decided to shut the strait, we could say "with what?", the balance of their surface and submarine fleet gracing the sea floor. No big "boom", just "plop, plop, fizz, fizz."
#2
Any attempt by Iran to shut down the Strait of Hormuz will end in a naval-air confrontation that will probably end with most of Iranâs acquisitions from China and Russia on the bottom of the Strait of Hormuz.
Hopefully along with a lot of their above-ground nuclear and military facilities.
#3
There ya go, B-A-R. Cause mischief in the Strait of Hormuz, and the MM's military assets are destroyed, with the Bushehr reactor suffering rubble-itis extensive collateral damage, as well as damage to access tunnels to centrifuge caverns, heh.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
10/07/2005 19:33 Comments ||
Top||
#4
No big "boom", just "plop, plop, fizz, fizz."
Exactly. Small live fire exercise for the USN, short exciting taste of war for the Mullahs-at-Sea.
The Bush administration, searching for ways to induce Iran to resume negotiations to end its nuclear programs, is exploring a wide range of options. But expanded diplomatic contact is not among them. "If we need to get a message across there are numerous ways to do that," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Thursday.
He denounced Iran as "a regime that is seeking nuclear weapons, that supports terrrorism and that oppresses its people" and said existing channels, including U.N. offices in New York, were available, if needed.
Diplomatic contacts with Iran have been extremely limited since its fundamentalist revolution in 1979. By contrast, the European allies that have been negotiating with Iran have diplomatic relations with Tehran. "There is no change in our policy with respect to Iran," McCormack said. "If anything, over the past weeks and months, you have seen an ever tougher-minded U.S. policy as well as a tougher-minded policy from the international community," he said.
A briefing paper circulated within the State Department suggests direct diplomatic contact with Iran to try to reopen negotiations with the European Union. But McCormack flatly ruled that out as an option. "Secretary of State (Condoleezza) Rice is not contemplating any such change in U.S. policy," McCormack said.
"Secretary Rice, senior policy-makers in the U.S. government, are not broadening U.S. diplomatic engagement with Iran," he said. "There are already existing diplomatic channels," including an "interest section" in Tehran through which Swiss diplomats look after American interests, he said.
The White House last month warned Iran of the prospect that Tehran's nuclear activities could be brought before the U.N. Security Council where Iran would run the risk of censure or economic sanctions, if the United States and its allies achieved a majority and averted a veto by Russia or China.
On another front, the administration considers Iran to be the most avid supporter of terrorism in the world. In Iraq, however, where infiltration of militant fighters is a tough obstacle to postwar reconstruction, Syria is considered a far more active channel.
Still, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Thursday that new explosive devices used against coalition forces in Iraq "lead us either to Iranian elements or to Hezbollah." While stressing that "we cannot be sure" about Iran's possible role, the British leader linked the issue to the diplomatic confrontation between Tehran and Western nations over Iran's nuclear program.
Responding, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said "certainly that would be of concern to us."
"I think you have heard us talk about how it's important for Iran to have a good, constructive relationship with their neighbors, including Iraq," McClellan said.
The White House and State Department spokesman, while expressing concern about Iranian activities, did not directly endorse a senior British official's assertion on Wednesday that Iran's Revolutionary Guard is believed to have supplied explosive technology that has killed eight British soldiers in incidents over the summer. "We stand with the British government as they investigate this matter," McCormack said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/07/2005 00:57 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
Syria should open an embassy in Lebanon as evidence of its good intentions towards Beirut, according to a high-ranking British diplomat. Indicating that doubts existed on Damascusâs involvement in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the source re-affirmed it was crucial to await the conclusions of the UN investigation into the killing, adding that the German judge Detlev Mehlis was diligently overseeing the probe and was admired by the European Union and the United Kingdom.
I don't think they're very big doubts, from what we've read to date. Now, whether somebody tries to cover up or dismiss the evidence is a different matter...
Speaking during a meeting with a small number of Arab journalists at the Foreign Office headquarters in London, the diplomat said, â[Broad] doubts exist as to possible Syrian involvement but it is necessary to await the final report to judge more clearly.â
I love stories with unnamed sources, don't you?
The source added that the report into the assassination and its recommendations will be subjected to "the Lebanese authoritiesâ, adding that the investigation was being carried out in agreement with Beirut and would not supersede the authority of the government. âIt is impossible to remain silent on the assassination attempts supported by a certain governmentâ and added that refusing this sort of activity was the main reason âbehind the Security Council resolution 1559.â Syria had âto abide by all the elements of resolution 1559â, the source said. One way Damascus could show its cooperation and good intentions towards its neighbor âand to recognize it was to open an embassy in Beirutâ.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[5 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
There is no doubt wait intil 25th October when the report is made public
Posted by: Tom ||
10/07/2005 3:02 Comments ||
Top||
#2
"doubts exist" == Please give me a big big bribe.
The UN announced that UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan met here this afternoon with Detlev Mehlis, Head of the United Nations International Independent Investigation Commission into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. UN officials said, no statement would be issued on the contents of the meeting.
"Make way! Make way! Hot potato! Hot potato!"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
Fred posted about this article awhile ago but Atlantic Mag has now put the complete article online for free viewing.
The Wrath of Khan
How A. Q. Khan made Pakistan a nuclear powerâand showed that the spread of atomic weapons can't be stopped
From Baghdad to Bali, suicide attacks on civilians are dividing ideologues of global jihad, some of whom worry that the carnage is alienating even Muslims once sympathetic to the militant cause.
Militants such as Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, with his declaration of all-out war on Shi'ite Muslims and willingness to slaughter Iraqi civilians in Allah's name, have dismayed even their own original religious mentors.
Most jihadists support suicide attacks on U.S.-led forces "occupying" Iraq, but for some, those targeting their Iraqi collaborators fall into a grey area. Others have deep qualms about attacks on civilians in Iraq and elsewhere.
"Martyrdom operations related to civilians, whatever their nationality, can cause big divisions," said Egyptian lawyer Muntasser Zayat, who has represented Islamist defendants. "They do not have majority approval in Islamic and jihadi groups."
There is no such debate among global jihadists over Palestinian suicide bombings against Israeli civilians.
"In Palestine, there is almost consensus that the Zionist project is a military project and all Israeli civilians are military in one way or another," said Kamal Habib, an Egyptian expert on Islamist groups who is close to Egypt's Islamic Jihad.
Some jihadist clerics have spoken out in recent months to condemn the actions of those whom they may have inspired, incurring bitter criticism from more radical voices.
Jailed Indonesian cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, believed to be the spiritual leader of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network, condemned Saturday's suicide bombings in Bali.
"I am sorry for the bombing victims, who essentially know nothing, especially the Muslims," he said in a statement.
Indonesian investigators say they suspect Jemaah Islamiah of being behind the blasts that killed 22 people. Bashir is in jail for conspiracy to carry out the 2002 Bali nightclub bombings.
Two days after the July 7 bombings in London, an influential London-based Syrian jihadi scholar named Abu Basir al-Tartusi described the attacks that killed 52 people as "a disgraceful and shameful act, with no manhood, bravery or morality".
His assertion that Islam has no place for the "symmetry of revenge" attracted a counter-blast from an anonymous scholar whose booklet argued that the West has killed thousands of Muslim civilians so Western civilians are fair game for Muslims.
Another Islamist ideologue, Abu Mohammed al-Maqdissi, whose teachings inspired Zarqawi while they were in jail in Jordan in the 1990s, has attacked his protege for giving jihad a bad name.
Briefly freed from prison, he criticised Zarqawi in July for violence that fails to distinguish civilians from U.S. forces and which aims at Shi'ite mosques, churches and holy places.
"Such action in Iraq or in any other Muslim country distorts the image of the blessed jihad. Jihadists should not aim their wars and explosives at Muslims," said Maqdissi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who first met Zarqawi in Afghanistan in 1991.
Zarqawi, also a Jordanian, has ignored the advice, redoubling his attacks on Iraqi civilians and security forces.
In Saudi Arabia, however, widespread revulsion at al Qaeda suicide attacks on housing compounds in Riyadh in May and November 2003, when many of the victims were Muslims, does appear to have prompted militants to avoid repeating the tactic.
Several Saudi clerics once seen as close to the jihadists now condemn violence aimed at Muslim or non-Muslim civilians.
"Islam prohibits targeting innocent people...even when there is actually a war being waged between the Muslims and the disbelievers," Sheikh Salman al-Awdah writes on his website, adding that disbelief alone does not justify killing someone.
The debate over violence is argued out in theological terms, citing the Koran, sayings of the Prophet Mohammad and examples from Islam's early years, which Salafis, a purist group among Sunni Muslims, seek to emulate as literally as possible.
Bernard Haykel, a Lebanese-American scholar at New York University, says his research shows that suicide attacks are turning many Muslims, including Salafis, against the jihadis.
"The Salafis are not a homogeneous religious community, but are split on issues of politics and militant action. Not all Salafis advocate al Qaeda's militant jihad, and a majority is politically silent," he wrote for London's Chatham House. It is not clear if the splits among jihadis, perhaps partly generational, will weaken them or prompt changes in tactics.
Haykel says some al Qaeda figures have urged jihadis to focus less on Iraq, where their main victims have been Shi'ites not Americans, and focus on launching spectacular attacks in the West such as those of Sept. 11, 2001, in the United States.
Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, while he has acknowledged Zarqawi as his man in Iraq, may have scant control over him, says Abdul-Bari Atwan, editor of London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper.
Atwan said divisions among jihadis were nothing new.
"When bin Laden issued his 1998 fatwa ordering the killing of Crusaders and Jews, there were protests even inside al Qaeda from some who said, 'What's this? We can't kill everyone'."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/07/2005 01:23 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The White House on Thursday released a list of the 10 serious terror plots President Bush said were foiled by the United States and its allies over the past four years.
In his speech earlier in the day, President Bush did not offer details but said that three targeted the United States.
The speech came hours before New York City officials announced they had received information about a "specific threat" against the city's subway system.
1. West Coast Airliner Plot:
In mid-2002 the United States disrupted a plot to use hijacked airplanes to attack targets on the West Coast of the United States. The plotters included at least one major operational planner behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
2. East Coast Airliner Plot:
In mid-2003 the United States and a partner disrupted a plot to use hijacked commercial airplanes to attack targets on the East Coast of the United States.
3. The Jose Padilla Plot:
In May 2002 the United States disrupted a plot that involved blowing up apartment buildings in the United States. One of the alleged plotters, Jose Padilla, allegedly discussed the possibility of using a "dirty bomb" inside the United States. Bush has designated him an "enemy combatant."
4. 2004 British Urban Targets Plot:
In mid-2004 the United States and partners disrupted a plot to bomb urban targets in Britain.
5. 2003 Karachi Plot:
In spring 2003 the United States and a partner disrupted a plot to attack westerners at several targets in Karachi, Pakistan.
6. Heathrow Airport Plot:
In 2003 the United States and several partners disrupted a plot to attack London's Heathrow Airport using hijacked commercial airliners. The planning for this alleged attack was undertaken by a major operational figure in the September 11, 2001 attacks.
7. 2004 Britain Plot:
In the spring of 2004 the United States and partners, using a combination of law enforcement and intelligence resources, disrupted a plot to conduct large-scale bombings in Britain.
8. 2002 Arabian Gulf Shipping Plot:
In late 2002 and 2003 the United States and a partner nation disrupted a plot by al Qaeda operatives to attack ships in the Arabian Gulf.
9. 2002 Strait of Hormuz Plot:
In 2002 the United States and partners disrupted a plot to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the entrance to the Persian Gulf from the Indian Ocean.
10. 2003 Tourist Site Plot:
In 2003 the United States and a partner nation disrupted a plot to attack a tourist site outside the United States. The White House did not list what site that was.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/07/2005 01:12 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Osama bin Laden is expected to remain in hiding until he stages another attack on the United States, an ex-CIA expert who had tracked the terror mastermind for two decades warned in an interview on Wednesday.
"As soon as he hits us in the United States again we'll see how important he is in the Islamic world," Michael Scheuer, the former head of the "bin Laden unit" at the CIA, told AFP in an interview.
Despite his low profile, bin Laden remains powerful, Scheuer said, shrugging off reports that the al-Qaeda chief was isolated and his communication network shattered due to a relentless hunt for him.
"We mistake quiet for defeat or irrelevance. And all quiet is disquiet," said Scheuer, a fierce critic of the Bush administration and its "War on Terror" policy since he left the CIA in November last year.
Scheuer said that bin Laden's right-hand-man Ayman al-Zawahiri, who last appeared on a video aired 10 days before the anniversary of the September 11 2001 attacks on the United States, seemed to have temporarily taken over the al-Qaeda leadership apparently for the boss to prepare for another United States strike.
Bin Laden last surfaced in a video footage aired on the eve of the US presidential elections in November last year. In the tape, declared authentic by the authorities, the Saudi-born radical directly admitted he ordered the September 11 attacks.
Asked why he thought the al-Qaeda leader had not resurfaced since then, Scheuer said: "I don't think we are going to hear from him until he attacks us again.
"His feature on the eve of the election was simply to say that: This is it, I have warned you four times. I punched my ticket in the Islamic world, I've given you all the warning that the religion requires me.
"I think that's why Zawahiri is taking the lead at the moment," said Scheuer, the author of the best-selling book Imperial Hubris, which was originally published anonymously as required by the CIA.
One key al-Qaeda suspect revealed under interrogation that bin Laden was using couriers travelling on foot or horseback instead of communicating by satellite telephone or the internet to avoid being detected, according to Pakistan's chief military spokesperson, Major General Shaukat Sultan.
But Scheuer, currently an adjunct professor of security studies at Georgetown University, said, "I'm one that believes that we have not destroyed their (al-Qaeda's) capability to attack us."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
10/07/2005 01:02 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Scheuer is such a waste. How the hell would he know what Binny's plan for an appearance is?
Hell, he was part of the problem, not the solution.
Posted by: Captain America ||
10/07/2005 1:29 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Scheuer who?
Posted by: Bobby ||
10/07/2005 22:55 Comments ||
Top||
KABUL - Afghanistan hopes neighbouring Pakistan will hunt down more Taleban militants, a government minister said on Thursday, while Pakistan said it would consider handing over the insurgentsâ spokesman arrested this week. Pakistani security forces arrested the top Taleban spokesman, Abdul Latif Hakimi, on Tuesday in Baluchistan province near southern Afghanistan. Afghan Defence Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak praised Pakistan for what he described as its renewed security cooperation. âPakistan has recently increased its efforts and the arrest of this person is also result of that fresh cooperation,â he told Reuters. âWe are hopeful that these arrests continue for terrorism is a common enemy of ours and the arrests will help boost security.â Wardak said he has no list of Taleban figures the Afghan government wanted Pakistan to arrest.
They could check Thugburg ...
However, Afghanistan has complained in the past that Hakimi and other Taleban figures, including key commanders and supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar, have been able to operate from Pakistan. Pakistanâs Foreign Ministry said Pakistan would consider handing over Hakimi to Afghanistan if the Afghan government made a formal request.
Will a fax do? I'm sure I could whip something up with MS Word ...
Afghan President Hamid Karzai told Franceâs LCI television during a visit to France on Wednesday his country would seek the extradition of Hakimi, who Karzai said was responsible for many atrocities in Afghanistan. Pakistani intelligence officials say they have been questioning Hakimi vigorously about his links with senior Taleban leaders, the organisation and structure of the Taleban, and to determine how we was operating in Pakistan.
Posted by: Steve White ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistan will consider handing over Taliban spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi to Afghanistan if the Afghan government makes a formal request, the Foreign Ministry said on Thursday. Afghan President Hamid Karzai told France's LCI television during a visit to France on Wednesday that his country would seek Hakimi's extradition, who Karzai said was responsible for many atrocities in Afghanistan.
"We have seen the reports in the newspapers but we have not formally received a request from Afghanistan for Hakimi's extradition," said Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam. "When we will receive the request, we will consider it," she said. Afghan Defence Minister Abdur Rahim Wardak praised Pakistan for what he described as renewed security cooperation. "Pakistan has increased its efforts and Hakimi's arrest is also the result of that cooperation," he told Reuters. "We hope that such arrests continue for terrorism is our common enemy."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
LAHORE: At least ten men were arrested on Thursday for displaying weapons during the third phase of local council elections, police sources told Daily Times. More than 3,000 officials of police and law enforcement agencies were deployed at 27 polling stations to maintain law and order. The senior superintendents of police (SSPs), Operations and Investigations, monitored the security arrangements and visited various polling stations. All the SPs, sub-divisional police officers and station house officers were present at the polling stations in their precincts and no police officers were deployed at the police stations to record people's complainants. The police banned the use of cell phones in polling stations' premises on opposition's complaints. Clashes between opposition candidates and the police occurred at polling stations in Ravi, Data Gang Bukhsh, Shalimar and Wagah towns.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
DUBAI: Al Qaeda has put job advertisements on the Internet asking for supporters to help put together its Web statements and video montages, an Arabic newspaper reported. The London-based Asharq al-Awsat said on its Web site this week that Al Qaeda had âvacant positionsâ for video production and editing statements, footage and international media coverage about militants in Iraq, the Palestinian territories, Chechnya and other conflict zones where militants are active.
The paper said the Global Islamic Media Front, an Al Qaeda-linked Web-based organisation, would âfollow up with members interested in joining and contact them via emailâ. The paper did not say how applicants should contact the Global Islamic Media Front. Al Qaeda supporters widely use the Internet to spread the groupâs statements through dozens of Islamist sites where anyone can post messages. Al Qaeda-linked groups also set up their own sites, which frequently have to move after being shut by Internet service providers. The advertisements, however, could not be found on mainstream Islamist Web sites where Al Qaeda and other affiliate groups post their statements.
Asharq al-Awsat said the advert did not specify salary amounts, but added: âEvery Muslim knows his life is not his, since it belongs to this violated Islamic nation whose blood is being spilled. Nothing should take precedence over this.â The Front this week issued the second broadcast of a weekly Web news programme called Voice of the Caliphate, which it says aims to combat anti-Qaeda âlies and propagandaâ on major global and Arab television channels such as CNN and Al Jazeera.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Wow, Michael Moore's big chance to branch out into broadcast journalism!
DHAKA: More Bangladeshis should follow Islam's teachings of peace and rejection of violence, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia said on Thursday in comments seen as a reaction to a wave of militant bombings across the country.
Oh, yeah. That oughta take care of it. Next problem?
In a speech marking the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, she also urged people in the mainly Muslim country to refrain from lavish spending and give to the poor. "Let us adhere more strictly to the teachings of Islam that promote peace, harmony and friendship, but denounce violence," Khaleda said.
I think I'm becoming lactose intolerant. Warm milk makes me want to throw up.
A spate of countrywide bomb blasts, blamed on Islamic militants, have rocked Bangladesh and its 140 million people since August, killing four people and wounding more than 100.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The mainstream opposition parties are going to issue an ultimatum to the ruling BNP to expel its partners from the four-party coalition for their "link to militancy."
I doubt that'll happen. Khaleda seems to like her turbans.
The 14-party opposition will announce the ultimatum tomorrow from a joint press conference, asking BNP to axe Jamaat-e-Islami and other militant elements from the ruling alliance, sources said. The decision was taken yesterday at a meeting of the 14-party alliance, comprising main opposition Awami League (AL), 11-Party alliance, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal (JSD) and National Awami Party (NAP), at the residence of AL leader Abdur Razzak. The opposition will set November 15 as deadline for expelling the militant-linked parties from the coalition, meeting sources said. "We will ask the BNP to oust Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh and other elements whose involvement in militant activities is now crystal clear," said an AL leader after the meeting.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/07/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A senior Hamas activist recently arrested in Jerusalem has revealed to Israeli police the terror group maintains an operations command center in Saudi Arabia that finances suicide bombings and important 
A leading Norwegian pro-Palestinian activist on Thursday claimed she infiltrated the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad as a double agent in the 1980s. Karin Linstad was a founding member of the Norwegian Palestine Committee, and is married to high-profile Norwegian Muslim Trond Ali Linstad, who converted to Islam in the 1980s. "I can't go into detail about the people and the organizations," she told The Associated Press. "My starting point and my loyalty has always been with the Palestinian side." 
A Muslim cleric in Ã
rhus demands that daily newspaper Jyllands-Posten apologises for publishing cartoons featuring the prophet Mohammed. 
LONDON - Leading human rights groups on Thursday called on the British government to intervene in the ongoing hunger strike of an estimated 210 detainees at Guantanamo Bay, the US military base on Cuba.
OSLO (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog and its head Mohamed ElBaradei won the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in an award calculated to help efforts to banish the peril of nuclear arms six decades after Hiroshima. 
The Pentagon said on Thursday the United States had obtained a letter written by al Qaeda's second in command, 
The US army said Thursday that an Iraqi detainee died in Buka prison in the southern Iraqi city of Basra. A Multinational Forces (MNF) statement said a 43-year-old Iraqi detainee, whose name was not disclosed, died Wednesday in Buka prison. According to the MNF statement, Buka detainees carried their prison mate, fainted at that time, to another complex and notified guards about his situation. Medical staff carried the detainee to a hospital inside Buka camp where he died despite medical attempts to save him, added the statement. A heart attack caused the death, said the statement, adding the body would be delivered to the deceased family in accordance with law. 
Although it has been added to the US State Department's official list of foreign terrorist groups, the armed wing of the ruling Fatah party, Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, is planning to run in the next elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council. The group's decision is likely to embarrass Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is already under heavy pressure from Israel to prevent Hamas from participating in the vote. 
Syria should open an embassy in Lebanon as evidence of its good intentions towards Beirut, according to a high-ranking British diplomat. Indicating that doubts existed on Damascusâs involvement in the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister 
LAHORE: At least ten men were arrested on Thursday for displaying weapons during the third phase of local council elections, police sources told Daily Times. More than 3,000 officials of police and law enforcement agencies were deployed at 27 polling stations to maintain law and order. The senior superintendents of police (SSPs), Operations and Investigations, monitored the security arrangements and visited various polling stations. All the SPs, sub-divisional police officers and station house officers were present at the polling stations in their precincts and no police officers were deployed at the police stations to record people's complainants. The police banned the use of cell phones in polling stations' premises on opposition's complaints. Clashes between opposition candidates and the police occurred at polling stations in Ravi, Data Gang Bukhsh, Shalimar and Wagah towns.
DUBAI: Al Qaeda has put job advertisements on the Internet asking for supporters to help put together its Web statements and video montages, an Arabic newspaper reported. The London-based 
DHAKA: More Bangladeshis should follow Islam's teachings of peace and rejection of violence, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia said on Thursday in comments seen as a reaction to a wave of militant bombings across the country. 
