Folks, I was doing some editor work and accidently clicked a button that labeled Raptor a troll. No such thing! I've restored his comments manually but until Fred can help me out I can't remove the TROLL label from his name on the list of commenters.
My apologies, Raptor! Please keep commenting and I'll make sure they get posted in the thread.
Posted by: Robin Burk ||
03/27/2005 9:36:06 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No problem. I fixed it.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 10:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
How utterly wonderful -- Moderators have human moments like the rest of us!
#3
RB, you really don't have the hang of this media thing. Instead of correcting your mistake and apologizing, if you worked at CBS News you would have posted a memo from Raptor in which he admits to being a troll. If you were Maureen Dowd [God forbid], you wouldn't have posted a correction at all. If you were the Washington Post, you would have posted the correction to a thread from 2003.
Posted by: Matt ||
03/27/2005 12:39 Comments ||
Top||
#5
No problem,Robin.But you did have me wondering what I could of said that was so horrible.There are few insults that are worse than being labeled a Troll.If I was Dowd I would just shoot myself,just so I could put myself out of your misry.
#8
I live in the heart of Colorado Springs, yet there's a sparrow hawk that nests in a tree two streets over. I frequently see the female flying by in the summer with mice and other small rodents to feed her chicks. I know they've nested in that same cottonwood for at least three years.
And there IS a troll that lives a couple of houses up on the next street over. Grouchy old $&&%&$&%*&45! Isn't Raptor, though...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/27/2005 14:43 Comments ||
Top||
#9
We've got a bunch of Mockeringbird Trolls here. They always have some gripe.
#10
'Tis said that Mockingbirds still sing the songs of the dinosaurs :-) The mockingbird that perches on my mailbox hasn't sung to me yet, though, so I can't say for certain.
Eight al-Qaeda suspects, including an Iraqi with Swiss nationality, admitted in Sana'a Counter-Terrorism Monday, March 21 to planning attacks on Western embassies here, while six convicted terrorists were sentenced to two years in jail in another case. The Sana'a Counter-Terrorism court earlier in the day sentenced six men to two years in prison after they were convicted of forming an armed gang in Afghanistan camps between 1998 and 2002 and were plotting and raising funds for "criminal acts" inside Yemen and abroad. The court acquitted five others of the 11-member group whose trial started Feb. 15. The suspects were also charged to have had planned to travel to Iraq to fight US-led forces. The charges against them included possession of arms and explosives and forging documents and passports. All 11 men were acquitted of another charge of setting up an armed group to carry out attacks in Yemen.
Six of the 11 men were handed over to Yemen by Saudi Arabian authorities, as per a security agreement between the two countries. In the court chaired by judge Najeeb Qaderi, the chief prosecutor Saeed al-Akil charged the eight-member group, including an Iraqi and two Syrians, with forming an armed gang and planning attacks on Western interests in Yemen, including the British Embassy, Italian Embassy, the French Cultural Centre in Sanaa. Some of suspects told the court that they had planned to attack the British and Italian embassies and the French Cultural Center and that they received money and instructions from al-Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia while others denied some of the charges.
The prosecution said Al Jailani lived in Kuwait and entered Yemen from Kenya in 2001 with a forged document. He also traveled to Switzerland and came back to Yemen from which he went to Saudi Arabia where he met somebody called al-Hizabr who authorized him to attack the British and Italian embassies and the French Cultural Center in 2003. But al-Jailani accused of leading al-Qaeda cell in Yemen and living in Marib where he met Abu Ali al-Harithi refused to say anything before the court except in the presence of defense lawyers. Al-Harithi who killed in 2002 by a US aircraft in the desert of Marib was accused of plotting the USS Cole terrorist operation in Aden in 2000.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH YAHYA AL WADAI
al-Qaeda
ABDULRAHMAN BASURAH
al-Qaeda
ABDUL RAUF ABDULLAH NASIB
al-Qaeda
ABU ALI AL HARITHI
al-Qaeda
AHMED ABDULWAHAB KHAIT
al-Qaeda
AHMED MOHAMED AL KARDAI
al-Qaeda
AMRAN AL FAQIH
al-Qaeda
ANWAR BAIAN SADIQ AL GAILANI
al-Qaeda
chief prosecutor Saeed al-Akil
FARES AL NAHDI
al-Qaeda
FARES MOHAMED AL BARAQ
al-Qaeda
FARES MOHAMED ALI
al-Qaeda
IBRAHIM MOHAMED AL MUKRI
al-Qaeda
ISMAIL AL HUSAMI
al-Qaeda
judge Najeeb Qaderi
KHALED AL BATATI
al-Qaeda
MAJED BURAIK MIZAN
al-Qaeda
MANSUR NASER AL BIHANI
al-Qaeda
MOHAMED ABDULWAHAB KHAIT
al-Qaeda
MOHAMED AHMED HATEM
al-Qaeda
MOHAMED SALEH AL KAZMI
al-Qaeda
SADAM HUSEIN ISMAIL
al-Qaeda
SALAH MOHAMED OTHMAN
al-Qaeda
SHAFIQ AHMED OMAR
al-Qaeda
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
These were all proved guilty of forging Saudi, Yemeni and Iraqi passports.
Don't these guys know if you want something forged right, you call the Pakistanis?
Suspected Islamic rebels detonated two bombs and opened fire on authorities riding in an armored railway car early Sunday in southern Thailand, wounding at least 19 people, police said. The armored car was making a routine inspection of track near the Sungai Kolok district station in Narathiwat province when the bombs exploded, tearing apart the track and overturning the car, police Lt. Nathiwat Deekaew said. The bombs were triggered by a mobile phone at around 6:15 a.m., just minutes after the train departed from the station, he added. Insurgents hiding nearby then ambushed the passengers, leaving at least 11 police officers and eight railway officials wounded, he said, adding it was not known how many passengers were on the train. A gunfight ensued but ended after about 10 minutes. No rebel casualties were reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 4:25:04 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Police detonated a small homemade bomb found near the Spanish embassy in Makati City late Saturday, as security forces were on alert after warnings of attacks over the Holy Week.
A Spanish foreign ministry statement issued in Madrid said police safely detonated two devices outside its embassy in Makati City without causing any damage. It said extra security measures were being taken to safeguard Spanish interests in the Philippines.
However, National Capital Region Police Office chief Director Avelino Razon said authorities found only one bomb, in a shoe box contained in an orange plastic bag, and that it lacked components and a blasting cap.
He said a Marine guard had noticed the bomb outside the ACT Tower at the corner of Sen. Gil Puyat Avenue and Nicanor Garcia street. The Spanish embassy is on the fifth floor of the building.
The guard called the police and the improvised bomb was defused.
Razon downplayed the incident, saying the device was not similar to those normally used by either the Jemaah Islamiyah or the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf guerrillas who had threatened a wave of bombings in the Philippines over the Holy Week.
The device was apparently not powerful enough to cause much damage, he said.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Arturo Lomibao and Razon personally inspected the area where the explosive was found.
PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Leopoldo Bataoil said the explosive material was discovered at around 8:30 p.m. on Saturday outside the back door of the building.
He said the bomb, made of gunpowder wrapped with firecracker paper and stuffed in a canister wired to a cell phone and a nine-volt battery, was considered by bomb disposal experts as "incomplete."
"It was detonated and had been rendered safe at 8:45 p.m., or merely 15 minutes after it was found, with no damage to property," Bataoil said.
Southern Police District director Chief Superintendent Wilfredo Garcia said the bomb, being "very crude" and "incomplete," was "never meant to explode, only to scare."
He said any involvement by the Abu Sayyaf has been ruled out.
"When our bomb disposal team arrived, they found firecracker explosives inside the box but there was no blasting cap... so it was not intended to explode," Garcia said.
He added that the bomb "was so weak it hardly left a mark on the pavement when police destroyed it."
A source from the Explosives and Ordnance Division of the Makati City police said the black gunpowder was a chemical used for the manufacture of fireworks but with no capacity to explode.
"Black powder will not explode. We disposed of it in water. It might catch fire if it's accidentally ignited," the source said, adding that they opened the shoe box with a "bomb disruptor."
Makati police chief Superintendent Jovito Gutierrez denied that two bombs were found, saying the "Spanish embassy may have been misinformed."
Police are investigating who left the bomb and why. Makati City officials downplayed reports that those who left the homemade device near the ACT Tower building were actually targeting the Spanish embassy.
Lito Anzures, spokesman for Makati Mayor Jejomar Binay, said the building was "not even a high-profile target."
"Yung mga tunay na terorista, 'di na nananakot (Real terrorists go beyond scare tactics)," he said.
The Makati police assured residents that mobile and foot patrol units will go around the city on a 24-hour basis, and that they should not be alarmed when mobile patrol vehicles turn on their sirens, since it is part of the plan to improve police visibility in the city.
Just over a week ago, an improvised bomb shattered the glass windows of a building where First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo has an office.
No one was hurt when the homemade bomb went off in front of the LTA building. The bomb was believed to have been hurled during a street fight between two gangs.
Security forces across the Philippines have been on heightened alert after threats by the Abu Sayyaf to hit "soft targets" in Manila to avenge the deaths of 22 of the gang's members who died in a failed jailbreak two weeks ago.
Police said bombings planned by the Abu Sayyaf may have been preempted after troops arrested a suspected Muslim militant who provided information that led to last week's discovery of about 600 kilos of explosive materials, enough to flatten an entire shopping mall.
The military said the explosives were intended for terror attacks in Metro Manila during the Holy Week.
Despite the setback, there were indications that militants were pursuing terror plots. One plan by members of the Abu Sayyaf, the JI, and local Muslim converts involved separate attacks in Metro Manila and a southern city using at least two car bombs, according to a security official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Police and troops — already on alert after the Valentine's Day bombing spree — were guarding malls, seaports and airports, bus terminals, churches and other crowded areas yesterday, Razon said.
The tight security will continue as Manila prepares to host a six-day conference next week of more than 1,300 lawmakers, including 46 heads of parliament, from 145 countries, police officials said.
In a related development, peace advocates in central Mindanao asked a team of peace monitors led by Maj. Gen. Zulkefli bin Mohammad Zin of Malaysia to look into reports that renegade members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front are coddling foreign terrorists in known MILF strongholds in southern Mindanao.
Observers said the 60-member monitoring team — tasked to monitor the compliance of a truce between the government and the MILF — was silent on the issue despite the recent arrests of suspected militants who claimed to have been trained in bomb-making in areas covered by the ceasefire.
Leaders of the MILF, who have yet to forge a final peace pact with the government, have denied coddling JI members in the group's strongholds.
Major Gen. Raul Relano, commander of the Army's 6th Infantry Division, earlier said renegade MILF commanders, many of whom still refuse to recognize the leadership of MILF chairman Al-Haj Murad, could be conniving with the JI and the Abu Sayyaf without the knowledge of their superiors. Murad succeeded the MILF's founding chairman, the late Hashim Salamat.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP), on the other hand, said the United States' warning that the Philippines is under threat of "multiple" terrorist attacks was merely a "publicity spin."
CPP spokesman Gregorio Rosal claimed that American covert operatives reportedly based in the country are apparently planning to stage "terrorist attacks in the Philippines that it would blame on other threat groups."
The objective of this plot is to "justify the escalation of US military intervention in the country," he added.
Rosal said it was not "farfetched" that the US military's alleged "dirty tricks department" now plans to bomb certain areas of the country "through its agents and contacts within the Abu Sayyaf."
The Abu Sayyaf's founders were "CIA-trained" in the 1980s and that "instances of collusion" among the US, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, and the Abu Sayyaf "now abound," he added. The CPP, together with its armed wing, the New People's Army, has been tagged by Washington since 2002 as an "international terrorist organization."
Rosal said his group strongly believes that US covert operatives were actually behind the spate of bombings in the country, particularly in Mindanao.
He cited the case of Michael Meiring, an agent of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who was arrested in a Davao City hotel in 2002 after a bomb he was preparing accidentally exploded.
Rosal said Meiring was never investigated and was "whisked off to the US by American and Philippine intelligence units."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 2:08:43 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
It's becoming a pretty common occurrence now. Golly. I wonder who could possibly be behind the bombs?
A bomb caused a large explosion in a suburb of east Beirut, a security source said on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the scene, witnesses said. "A large bomb exploded near a commercial centre in Sin Al Fil," said the security source who declined to be named. Two explosions in the past week have targeted commercial areas in the anti-Syrian Christian heartland, killing three people and wounding 16.
The assassination of former prime minister Rafik Al Hariri on February. 14 has plunged Lebanon into its biggest political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. Lebanon's opposition who blame Syria for Hariri's death urged the country's Syrian-backed security chiefs on Saturday to resign to make way for an international probe into the killing. Syria denies involvement in the assassination. The opposition seized on mass street protests to force the pro-Syrian government to resign last month and Damascus to bow to international pressure to withdraw the forces it poured into the country early in the civil war.
More, from Beirut Daily Star...
East Beirut was rocked by a huge explosion, the third blast in the past week, that a police officer said was caused by a car bomb and which left eight people hurt according to local media. One of the injured was said to be an Indian national. "It was a car bomb explosion," an officer said after another outbreak of violence that was certain to heighten fears of a resurgence in the sort of communal strife that devastated Lebanon during its 1975-1990 civil war.
An AFP photographer reported seeing a burned out car several meters (yards) from the site of the explosion outside a building in an industrial district near Dekouaneh. But the police press office said only that the explosion occurred in a plastics products factory, without giving a cause of the blast. Five buildings and shops in the area were in flames. "It's an apocalyptic sight," said one witness. The explosion occurred at 9:30 pm (1930 GMT) and resonated throughout the capital, shaking buildings on hills to the east of the capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
must be the Joooos - who else could possibly want to destabilize the country just so they could stay intervening for national peace? Oh, wait.....I get it
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2005 11:47 Comments ||
Top||
The United States was said to have embarked on a plan to destabilize Syria. Western diplomatic sources and analysts said the United States and France have agreed to cooperate in a policy meant to significantly weaken the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. They said the U.S.-French strategy called for support of opposition groups in Lebanon and Syria as well as pro-U.S. elements within Syria's ruling Baath Party and encouraging Kurdish separatism. The policy has also sought to create fissures between the Iranian-backed Hizbullah and Damascus, the sources said. Hizbullah, which maintains a dialogue with France, has been the leading ally of Damascus in maintaining the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. "France and the United States want Assad to sweat and they're helping those in a position to do so," a Western diplomat said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"and then," the Western diplomat continued, "The French will turn around and sell the Americans down the river."
Posted by: Jonathan ||
03/27/2005 0:05 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Not so sure about that, Jonathan. Like all rational international players, the French will side with us when our interests coincide. Getting Syria out of Lebanon is such a case. No need to trust the bastards in general because of this exceptional case, of course.
#4
We have some friends in the French military, FWIW. Always good to keep those friendships alive even while we find ways to hamstring Chiraq.
Posted by: too true ||
03/27/2005 9:57 Comments ||
Top||
#5
kcspence: You think the Phrench are "rational international players"?
I want some of what you've been smoking. ;-p
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/27/2005 10:46 Comments ||
Top||
#6
"...strategy called for support of opposition groups..." I HATE this catch phrase. It a useless thing, an impotent tactic, like having a group discussion. There are a thousand things the US, oh yeah, and France, can do to destabilize the regime. And most of them are nasty, mean, brutal, and effective. Which is why they use the euphamism. They can't come out and say "First of all, we're going to give Assad's mistress a severe case of the clap, and then we're going to car bomb them back times 10 for the Harari assassination, and then we're going to crush them economically by ripping off their private Swiss bank accounts, and then start causing some blood feuds between tribes, etc."
#8
Hell, Shipman, within L'il Kimmie's framework, he's rational too.
Every nation acts in its own interests - that's normal. The pathetic thing about the Phrench is they'll act against their own long-term interests if they think that, in the short term, they can screw us, and the Brits, and just about everybody else.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
03/27/2005 13:59 Comments ||
Top||
#9
According to another well known source,"the MEnewsline reporter learned his journalistic techniques by reading the New York Times."
#11
The French have been acting against their long-term interests for at least half a milennium. They sided with the Turks at Lepanto and during the seige of Vienna. Historically, this is normal behavior for them. One could say that the one period they acted in accord with their long-term interests -- when they and England were allied in the first half of the 20th century -- was when they got really pounded.
The French are weasels. Always have been. Always will be. Its part of their national character. English humorists and cartoonists have lampooned the French for their spinelessness since at least the 1700's. I have no doubt at all that when the Islamists finally get out of control there, the French will turn to Le Pen or one of his successors to "fix" the problem. Then after one generation of hanging their heads in shame, they will return to being the triangulating, unprincipled, hypocritical, whining Phwench that we all know and love.
Iraqi forces said on Saturday that they had arrested 120 suspects, including foreign Arabs, Pakistanis and Afghans, on suspicion of planning attacks against the country's Shia community. A source at the defence ministry said the suspects were arrested during a raid in Jurf al-Sakhr, about 60km south of Baghdad. "We found explosive devices and materials, booby-trapped cars and compact discs showing beheadings," said the source, who did not wish to be identified. He said preliminary interrogation of the suspects had revealed that they had a list of clerics targeted for assassination in the mid-Euphrates region, which includes the Shia shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf. "Some of them were tasked with attacking pilgrims with small arms fire and roadside bombs and even poisoning their food," the source said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 4:17:38 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
I guess "self-determination" includes being determined to kill each other. Remember to thank Emma Goldman when you reach the sweet bye-and-bye, boys...
Fighting in southern Somalia continued for a second straight day between militias run by two lawmakers in a dispute over where to locate the country's transitional government. Reports from Baidoa, located several nearly 300 kilometers west of Mogadishu, say fighters commanded by Mohamed Ibrahim Habsadeh took control of the city early Sunday after heavy fighting against forces aligned with Colonel Hassan Mohamed Nur Shargudud. The French news agency, AFP, reports that at least 15 people have been killed in two days of clashes. On Saturday, witnesses said at least five people were killed. In addition to the location of the transitional government, Mr. Habsadeh and Colonel Shargudud are engaged in a dispute over whether to allow neighboring countries to take part in a regional peacekeeping force.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 2:17:17 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Whoa Emma G. and Somalia in the same thread, thisn why everybody should read Nabokov, WAIT not him the other russian the one with less sex... the Loon Lake guy, world's sQuare
#4
Imagine Boxer's Bullies v. McCain's Men!
I'd be more inclined to call them "McCain's Minnions", but that's another story. Actually, it might do us some good to have such a shootout. At least it would reduce the number of moonbats voting for either of the two. It might also wake this nation up to the threat the power of entrenched senators have, and we could repeal the 17th Amendment.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
03/27/2005 20:20 Comments ||
Top||
Security officials opened fire on a crowd of protesters Sunday, killing one, and Al Qaeda's arm in Iraq posted a video purportedly showing an Iraqi Interior Ministry official being killed.
Iraq's newly elected lawmakers, meanwhile, were expected to meet Tuesday to choose a speaker and two deputies, according to a National Assembly statement released Sunday. The lawmakers met on March 16, but have repeatedly postponed a second meeting because of negotiations over Cabinet positions; it was unclear whether they would name the country's new president on Tuesday, expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani.
Violence persisted Sunday, with bodyguards for Science and Technology Minister Rashad Mandan Omar opening fire on a crowd of protesters who had gathered in front of the ministry's offices to demand their full wages, said Hamid Balasem, an engineer at the ministry.
Balasem said about 50 ministry guards were demonstrating because they said they were paid only part of their wages. It was unclear why the guards opened fire.
Also Sunday, insurgents hit a police patrol with a roadside bomb in the southern oil city of Basra, injuring one nearby civilian, Lt. Col. Karim Ali Al-Zaydi said. They also damaged an oil pipeline in northern Iraq, halting exports to Turkey. The pipeline has been targeted in the past.
Late Saturday, assailants opened fire on a cafe popular with ethnic Kurds in Kirkuk, killing one and injuring three, said Sarhat Kadre of the police force in the ethnically mixed city 180 miles north of Baghdad. The motive in the attack was not known.
Iraq's insurgency appears to be scaling back attacks on U.S. military forces while focusing its deadly efforts on government workers, primarily targeting Iraq's fledgling security forces.
A video posted Sunday on the Internet purportedly showed an Iraqi Interior Ministry official hostage being shot dead by militants from Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's terror network.
There was no way to independently authenticate the video, which was posted on a militant Web site.
The video showed a man identifying himself as Col. Ryadh Gatie Olyway seated between two masked men wearing black. He displayed his Interior Ministry identification card and said he was a liaison officer with the American forces. Behind the men was the black banner of Al Qaeda in Iraq.
Olyway said he provided the U.S. military with the names "of officers of the former Iraqi army, who are Sunnis, and their addresses."
An Interior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of ', said Olyway worked as a liaison officer between the Interior and Oil ministries and was kidnapped more than a month ago. He had not seen the video, and could not confirm whether the hostage was Olyway.
The hostage, referring to alleged female Iraqi prisoners, said he had witnessed "different methods of torture and violation of their honor" at the hands of American troops.
Al Qaeda in Iraq has said many of its latest killings were in revenge for female Iraqi prisoners. The American military has denied it is holding any Iraqi women.
Olyway was then shown blindfolded, and a third masked man appeared to shoot him once in the head.
Also Sunday, the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, met with top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani in Najaf, but details of the meeting were not immediately released.
Congregants gathered at the Virgin Mary Church in Baghdad to celebrate Easter.
"We wish Iraqis in general and Christians in particular a happy Easter and wish them a happy year," said one parishioner, Sabah Rasam, part of a Christian community that accounts for an estimated 3 percent of Iraq's 25 million people. "We are brothers with all Iraqis and will remain so forever."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 2:02:55 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
We've already killed all the femalian prisoners and have their purses.
Loyalists of al-Qaeda's Iraq frontman, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, posted a video on their website on Sunday showing the execution of a man who said he was an Iraqi colonel.
The man, who identified himself as Colonel Ryad Kateh Olyway, was shown being shot in the head blindfold by a masked man after "confessing" that he had "collaborated" with US forces in Iraq.
"The religious court of the Organisation of al-Qaeda of Jihad in the Land of Two Rivers has decided to implement God's order on this infidel ... to serve as a lesson to others," said the gunman before shooting his captive.
The shooter was flanked by two masked men armed with assault rifles who posed in front of a banner carrying the organisation's name.
The captive was earlier shown sitting on a chair, with his hands tied behind his back, saying: "I worked at the interior ministry to collaborate with the American forces.
"I gave the names and addresses of my fellow officers in the former army" of Saddam Hussein's regime, said Olyway.
"I saw terrible things at the ministry of interior, many Iraqi female prisoners subjected to various kinds of torture, humiliation and harm to their honour," he said.
"I also spied on other ministries for the interior ministry."
Olyway added: "There is a lot of confessionalism at the interior ministry where there is a large presence of Kurdish elements as well as members of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq (a Shiite religious party)."
Islamic militant groups, including al-Qaeda, have sought to exploit the disenchantment of Iraq's ousted Sunni Arab elite by targeting both the long oppressed Shiite Arab majority and the Kurds.
"I am very sorry for what I did, and I urge my fellow officers at the interior ministry to know the right path ... as the hands of the heroic Iraqi fighters will undoubtedly reach them," Olyway added.
The video showed close-up shots of what it said was his interior ministry badge which mentioned his position as "liaison officer."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 2:00:34 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Security officials opened fire on a crowd of protesters outside a government building Sunday, killing one, and al-Qaida's arm in Iraq posted a video purportedly showing an Iraqi Interior Ministry official being killed. Iraq's newly elected lawmakers, meanwhile, were expected to meet Tuesday to choose a speaker and two deputies, the National Assembly said. The lawmakers met March 16 but repeatedly have postponed a second meeting because of negotiations over Cabinet positions. It was unclear whether they would name the country's new president, expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, on Tuesday. In a letter to the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, politicians who ran under a coalition formed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, warned against allowing religion to play a greater role in Iraq's government, saying it could "lead to instability in the relations between political forces in the Iraqi arena."
Some have worried that the Shiite dominance of the National Assembly could lead to the establishment of Islamic rule, although Shiite leaders have repeatedly denied that and promised to form an inclusive government that includes Kurds and Sunni Arabs in top Cabinet posts. Influential Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani met with the top U.N. envoy in Iraq, Ashraf Qazi, on Sunday in Najaf, telling Qazi he did not intend to involve himself in politics except for expressing his opinion in times of crises.
Violence persisted Sunday, with bodyguards for Science and Technology Minister Rashad Mandan Omar firing on a crowd of protesters in front of the ministry's offices demanding their full wages, said Hamid Balasem, an engineer at the ministry. About 50 ministry guards were demonstrating, saying they had only been paid in part, Balasem said. It was unclear why the minister's bodyguards opened fire.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 2:10:48 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"Also, authorities in Baqouba, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, discovered the bodies of a local official from the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and two of his relatives in an abandoned car,..." and this is a bad thing, why?
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's al-Irani's dont they mean? We ought to point out who the paymaster are, shouldn't we?
The United States has transferred two leading insurgents to Libya. Islamic sources said the United States facilitated the transfer of two Islamic operatives to Libya over the last few months. The sources said the two were members of Al Jamaa Al Islamiya Combatant Group, regarded as the leading insurgency group in Libya. The two men were captured in China and Thailand in 2003, the sources said. They said the operatives were extradited to Libya in 2004 and interrogated regarding any link to Al Qaida.
One of the insurgents was identified as as Sami Mustafa Al Saedi, also known as Abu Monzer Al Saedi. The sources said Al Saedi was regarded as a leading member of the Arab mercenary community in Afghanistan trained and supported by Al Qaida and Taliban.
This article starring:
ABU MONZER AL SAEDI
Al Jamaa Al Islamiya Combatant Group
SAMI MUSTAFA AL SAEDI
Al Jamaa Al Islamiya Combatant Group
Al Jamaa Al Islamiya Combatant Group
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 2:15:07 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Hmm...the truncheon, or the blackjack? Choices, choices...
A CAIRO court sentenced an Egyptian to 35 years in prison today for spying for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and planning to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The court sentenced Mahmoud Eid Mohamed Dabbous to 25 years for plotting to kill Mr Mubarak and 10 years for supplying information to the Revolutionary Guard about a petrochemicals plant in the Saudi oil city of Yanbu with the aim of blowing it up.
Egypt's public prosecutor had previously said Dabbous, who was working in Saudi Arabia at the time, had supplied Iranian diplomat Mohammad Reza Hosseindost with information that helped orchestrate an attack on Yanbu in May. A wing of the militant group al Qaeda claimed the attack, which killed five Western engineers. Iran has denied that Dabbous spied for its Revolutionary Guard. Dabbous said during his trial that he made confessions under pressure about planning to kill the president.
The court also sentenced in absentia Iranian diplomat Hosseindost to 25 years in prison for recruiting Dabbous and plotting terror attacks and political assassinations in Egypt. Iran has not had full diplomatic ties with Egypt since the Iranian revolution in 1979, when Tehran broke off relations because Egypt had signed a peace treaty with Israel. Hosseindost worked in the Iranian interests office in Cairo.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
03/27/2005 2:10:31 PM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Goodbye Dabbous! Bet 25 yrs in Egyptian jail will just sail by...ask Martha Stewart
Posted by: Frank G ||
03/27/2005 15:25 Comments ||
Top||
Posted by: Matt ||
03/27/2005 11:05 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Nothing really new here, but this is like Pravda reporting the failure of the Five Year Plan. Note also the absence of any reference to our guys -- and gals-- whipping the snot out of the "resistance."
Posted by: Matt ||
03/27/2005 11:36 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Matt, eveyone knows that it was the reasonable, soft power of the EU that enticed them to a more enlightened frame of mind. [/sarcasm]
Posted by: too true ||
03/27/2005 11:48 Comments ||
Top||
#3
The fact that Al-Guardian is even reporting that maybe the resistence might not be as popular as first thought is cause for celebration. It's like Howard Dean admitting that getting rid of Saddam is not as bad as he thought. By 2008 the Dems (and maybe Al-Guardian) will claim that they invited the idea of Democracy in the Middle East and the Neocons are an impedement to that. I hinge that on a couple of peaceful transitions of power and fair elections.
"That's a lotta hardware you boyz have with yez. Where y'headed?"
"Ummm... We're goin' elk huntin'!"
"Hmmm... Y'ain't from around here, are you?"
Police arrested three terror suspects and seized a large quantity of weapons from them on Saturday. District Police Officer Syed Marwat Ali Shah told reporters that police intercepted two vehicles near Koh-e-Noor Mill at Sawan Camp and seized semi-automatic rifles, Kalashnikovs, pen pistols, small machine-guns and more than 5,000 rounds and shells which the suspects were trying to take to Lahore for sabotage. He identified two suspects as Noor Wadi Khan and Lal Zar Khan.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
An alleged Al Qaeda suspect was killed in mysterious circumstances and police was investigating whether the deceased was a member of the terror network, a police official said on Saturday. "We suspect Farooq may be an Al Qaeda man but we have not reached any conclusion as yet," District Police Officer Zebullah Khan told Daily Times. The police officer said that senior officials were in touch with him about investigations into Farooq's death. Sources said that bearded Farooq, said to be in 20s, was staying with local resident Rafiq in Zarguri area, 25 kilometres from Hangu city, as a guest when another guest killed him on Friday night.
"Aaaar! I'm holier'n you!"
"Nobody sez that to me! Go fer yer guns, Farooq!"
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Safdar Hussain Malik, judge of the Anti Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi, on Saturday deferred the hearing of the case of the assassination attempt on Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz until March 29. The seven accused, Abdul Manum, Muhammad Nisar, Abdul Basit, Zerbadsha, Qari Suleman, Qari Saddique and Muhammad Suleman, were produced in the court amid tight security. The attorneys of the accused did not appear in court because of the lawyers' strike against the demolition of lawyers' chambers in Gujar Khan.
This article starring:
ABDUL BASIT
Jaish e-Muhammad
ABDUL MANUM
Jaish e-Muhammad
MUHAMAD NISAR
Jaish e-Muhammad
MUHAMAD SULEMAN
Jaish e-Muhammad
Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz
QARI SADIQUE
Jaish e-Muhammad
QARI SULEMAN
Jaish e-Muhammad
ZERBADSHA
Jaish e-Muhammad
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Suspected militants killed seven people, including three women of a Muslim family in held Kashmir, a police spokesman said Saturday. He said suspected militants early Saturday barged into the house of Shabir Gujjary in the village of Hassote in the state's southern Udhampur district and shot dead his mother, wife and infant daughter. "Before fleeing, the militants also set fire to the house," the spokesman said, adding Gujjary was a former militant who had surrendered last year. Later, the militants barged into the house of another man in a neighbouring village and shot him dead.
Police said suspected militants also killed two more people in the southern districts of Anantnag and Rajouri. None of the dozen militant groups active in Kashmir claimed responsibility for the killings. Militants have been targeting pro-India politicians and surrendered colleagues. Meanwhile, militants on Saturday shot dead a policeman in a gunbattle in of Yamrach, near Kulgam town.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Iraqi forces have detained scores of foreigners, including Arabs, Pakistanis and Afghans, on suspicion of planning attacks on the country's Shiites. A Defense Ministry source yesterday said some 130 suspects were arrested during a raid in Jurf Al-Sakhr, about 60 km south of Baghdad. "We found explosive devices and materials, booby-trapped cars and compact discs showing beheadings," said the source. He said preliminary interrogation of the suspects had revealed that they had a list of clerics targeted for assassination in the mid-Euphrates region, which includes Karbala and Najaf. "Some of them were tasked with attacking visitors to Karbala and Najaf with small-arms fire and roadside bombs and even poisoning their food," the source said.
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 AM ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[7 views]
Top|| File under:
#3
I would seriously consider wasting any foreign fighters caught in Iraq. Or kneecapping and shattering elbows too so they can't create any more mischief in this lifetime. They should be reduced to watching the Jihad on TV back in the flyblown 3rd world pit that spawned them
A leading Al Qaida-aligned group has threatened to launch attacks on Arab leaders. The Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call warned that it would attack pro-U.S. Arab leaders and their governments. The group said the Salafists would take revenge against anybody who obeys Israel or the United States. The brigade posted its warning on the Internet during the Arab League summit in Algiers. The Salafist brigade has been regarded as the largest Islamic insurgency group in North Africa and has rarely discussed anything beyond its base in Algeria. "The apostate rulers have proved at every catastrophe that they are the roots of affliction and the symbols of treachery," Salafist leader Abu Mussab Abdul Ouadud said. "The downtrodden nation is marching with firm steps to wreak revenge on you and avenge the blood of its sons whom you have offered as sacrificial victims to America."
This article starring:
ABU MUSAB ABDUL UADUD
Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call
Salafist Brigade for Combat and Call
Posted by: Fred ||
03/27/2005 00:00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
*yawn* anything new to say , nah didnt think so .
#2
"The downtrodden nation is marching with firm steps to wreak revenge on you and avenge the blood of its sons whom you have offered as sacrificial victims to America."
These people make me think about Islamocide. Not nice thoughts to have. They as a religion truly don't seem to get it, coexist or die. How does this cult differ from mad dog cults like Koresh, Aum Shinrikyo and Peoples Temple?
One reason I'm rooting for the lady Muslim preachers here and the others who came to hear them. Two weeks in a row, the fatwas are flying against them both.
Posted by: too true ||
03/27/2005 15:41 Comments ||
Top||
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.
Eight al-Qaeda suspects, including an Iraqi with Swiss nationality, admitted in Sana'a Counter-Terrorism Monday, March 21 to planning attacks on Western embassies here, while six convicted terrorists were sentenced to two years in jail in another case. The Sana'a Counter-Terrorism court earlier in the day sentenced six men to two years in prison after they were convicted of forming an armed gang in Afghanistan camps between 1998 and 2002 and were plotting and raising funds for "criminal acts" inside Yemen and abroad. The court acquitted five others of the 11-member group whose trial started Feb. 15. The suspects were also charged to have had planned to travel to Iraq to fight US-led forces. The charges against them included possession of arms and explosives and forging documents and passports. All 11 men were acquitted of another charge of setting up an armed group to carry out attacks in Yemen. 
Suspected Islamic rebels detonated two bombs and opened fire on authorities riding in an armored railway car early Sunday in southern Thailand, wounding at least 19 people, police said. The armored car was making a routine inspection of track near the Sungai Kolok district station in Narathiwat province when the bombs exploded, tearing apart the track and overturning the car, police Lt. Nathiwat Deekaew said. The bombs were triggered by a mobile phone at around 6:15 a.m., just minutes after the train departed from the station, he added. Insurgents hiding nearby then ambushed the passengers, leaving at least 11 police officers and eight railway officials wounded, he said, adding it was not known how many passengers were on the train. A gunfight ensued but ended after about 10 minutes. No rebel casualties were reported.
A bomb caused a large explosion in a suburb of east Beirut, a security source said on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. Ambulances and rescue workers rushed to the scene, witnesses said. "A large bomb exploded near a commercial centre in Sin Al Fil," said the security source who declined to be named. Two explosions in the past week have targeted commercial areas in the anti-Syrian Christian heartland, killing three people and wounding 16. 
The United States was said to have embarked on a plan to destabilize Syria. Western diplomatic sources and analysts said the United States and France have agreed to cooperate in a policy meant to significantly weaken the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. They said the U.S.-French strategy called for support of opposition groups in Lebanon and Syria as well as pro-U.S. elements within Syria's ruling Baath Party and encouraging Kurdish separatism. The policy has also sought to create fissures between the Iranian-backed Hizbullah and Damascus, the sources said. Hizbullah, which maintains a dialogue with France, has been the leading ally of Damascus in maintaining the Syrian occupation of Lebanon. "France and the United States want Assad to sweat and they're helping those in a position to do so," a Western diplomat said.
Iraqi forces said on Saturday that they had arrested 120 suspects, including foreign Arabs, Pakistanis and Afghans, on suspicion of planning attacks against the country's Shia community. A source at the defence ministry said the suspects were arrested during a raid in Jurf al-Sakhr, about 60km south of Baghdad. "We found explosive devices and materials, booby-trapped cars and compact discs showing beheadings," said the source, who did not wish to be identified. He said preliminary interrogation of the suspects had revealed that they had a list of clerics targeted for assassination in the mid-Euphrates region, which includes the Shia shrine cities of Karbala and Najaf. "Some of them were tasked with attacking pilgrims with small arms fire and roadside bombs and even poisoning their food," the source said.
Fighting in southern Somalia continued for a second straight day between militias run by two lawmakers in a dispute over where to locate the country's transitional government. Reports from Baidoa, located several nearly 300 kilometers west of Mogadishu, say fighters commanded by Mohamed Ibrahim Habsadeh took control of the city early Sunday after heavy fighting against forces aligned with Colonel Hassan Mohamed Nur Shargudud. The French news agency, AFP, reports that at least 15 people have been killed in two days of clashes. On Saturday, witnesses said at least five people were killed. In addition to the location of the transitional government, Mr. Habsadeh and Colonel Shargudud are engaged in a dispute over whether to allow neighboring countries to take part in a regional peacekeeping force.
Security officials opened fire on a crowd of protesters outside a government building Sunday, killing one, and al-Qaida's arm in Iraq posted a video purportedly showing an Iraqi Interior Ministry official being killed. Iraq's newly elected lawmakers, meanwhile, were expected to meet Tuesday to choose a speaker and two deputies, the National Assembly said. The lawmakers met March 16 but repeatedly have postponed a second meeting because of negotiations over Cabinet positions. It was unclear whether they would name the country's new president, expected to be Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani, on Tuesday. In a letter to the Shiite-led United Iraqi Alliance, politicians who ran under a coalition formed by interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, a secular Shiite, warned against allowing religion to play a greater role in Iraq's government, saying it could "lead to instability in the relations between political forces in the Iraqi arena."
The United States has transferred two leading insurgents to Libya. Islamic sources said the United States facilitated the transfer of two Islamic operatives to Libya over the last few months. The sources said the two were members of 
A CAIRO court sentenced an Egyptian to 35 years in prison today for spying for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and planning to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The court sentenced Mahmoud Eid Mohamed Dabbous to 25 years for plotting to kill Mr Mubarak and 10 years for supplying information to the Revolutionary Guard about a petrochemicals plant in the Saudi oil city of Yanbu with the aim of blowing it up.
Police arrested three terror suspects and seized a large quantity of weapons from them on Saturday. District Police Officer Syed Marwat Ali Shah told reporters that police intercepted two vehicles near Koh-e-Noor Mill at Sawan Camp and seized semi-automatic rifles, Kalashnikovs, pen pistols, small machine-guns and more than 5,000 rounds and shells which the suspects were trying to take to Lahore for sabotage. He identified two suspects as 
An alleged Al Qaeda suspect was killed in mysterious circumstances and police was investigating whether the deceased was a member of the terror network, a police official said on Saturday. "We suspect Farooq may be an Al Qaeda man but we have not reached any conclusion as yet," District Police Officer Zebullah Khan told Daily Times. The police officer said that senior officials were in touch with him about investigations into Farooq's death. Sources said that bearded Farooq, said to be in 20s, was staying with local resident Rafiq in Zarguri area, 25 kilometres from Hangu city, as a guest when another guest killed him on Friday night. 
Safdar Hussain Malik, judge of the Anti Terrorism Court in Rawalpindi, on Saturday deferred the hearing of the case of the assassination attempt on 
Suspected militants killed seven people, including three women of a Muslim family in held Kashmir, a police spokesman said Saturday. He said suspected militants early Saturday barged into the house of Shabir Gujjary in the village of Hassote in the state's southern Udhampur district and shot dead his mother, wife and infant daughter. "Before fleeing, the militants also set fire to the house," the spokesman said, adding Gujjary was a former militant who had surrendered last year. Later, the militants barged into the house of another man in a neighbouring village and shot him dead. 
Iraqi forces have detained scores of foreigners, including Arabs, Pakistanis and Afghans, on suspicion of planning attacks on the country's Shiites. A Defense Ministry source yesterday said some 130 suspects were arrested during a raid in Jurf Al-Sakhr, about 60 km south of Baghdad. "We found explosive devices and materials, booby-trapped cars and compact discs showing beheadings," said the source. He said preliminary interrogation of the suspects had revealed that they had a list of clerics targeted for assassination in the mid-Euphrates region, which includes Karbala and Najaf. "Some of them were tasked with attacking visitors to Karbala and Najaf with small-arms fire and roadside bombs and even poisoning their food," the source said.
A leading Al Qaida-aligned group has threatened to launch attacks on Arab leaders. The 
