Rantburg is now on a new server, which is - we hope - going to be nice and stable for extended periods. I'll start ranting about gunnies and thugs tonight, as soon as I'm done ranting about hosting and trunks and having to change my code.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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#1
(Grumble. Grumble.) Have to change code all over the place...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2002 13:36 Comments ||
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Even the comments were hosed...
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2002 13:50 Comments ||
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Fred,Congrats on your new site design.I especially like Thugburg and the orgaizations page.They are helpful in puzzeling out the creeps.I could't figure out what was happening with my broken bookmark,new server thing flumoxed me.
Posted by: michael kapsalakis ||
04/22/2002 14:58 Comments ||
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Thanks. You think you were flummoxed! Lucky me, I was on vacation all last week. Guess what I spent the time doing?
Posted by: Fred ||
04/22/2002 17:09 Comments ||
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Iraq's military has in recent days moved anti-aircraft missiles into northern and southern "no-fly" zones to an extent not seen in years. But Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Pentagon briefing the air defense build-up in the two Iraqi zones policed by U.S. and British warplanes appeared simply to be part of "episodic" movements in and out of the areas. Myers noted the western jets attacked air defenses in the zones twice last week in response to threats from the ground, but did not suggest exchanges were increasing after more than a decade of patrols prompted by the 1991 Gulf War.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Israeli troops kept Yasser Arafat's headquarters and Bethlehem's Nativity Church under tight siege Monday and a U.S. envoy seemed to make little progress in talks on the crisis with the Palestinian leader. "I would not say that it was a positive meeting," Mohammed Rashid, an adviser to Arafat, told Reuters after the 90-minute session with U.S. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns at the Palestinian president's encircled compound in Ramallah. Yasser didn't pull a rod on him, did he?
Rashid complained that Israeli troops had prevented senior Palestinians from attending. Wouldn't let 'em out of jail, huh? That happens sometimes.
Another Arafat aide, Nabil Abu Rdainah, said the Palestinian leader had demanded an unconditional Israeli pullout from all the areas occupied by troops in a West Bank offensive launched on March 29 after suicide bombings killed scores of Israelis. Yeah. An' he wants unconditional surrender, too. An' he wants Sharon shot, then drawn and quartered. An' he wants an hour - a whole hour, mind you - alone with Britney Spears at the No-Tell Motel. An' then he wants a pony.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Arab foreign ministers walked out of the first working session of a summit meeting in Valencia between European and Mediterranean countries in protest at Israeli military action in the Palestinian territories. The walkout came when Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Rabbi Michael Melchoir was about to deliver his prepared remarks. Reacting to the development, Chris Patten, the European Union external affairs commissioner, told CNN, "I think that's a pity. I think it would have been better if they could have heard what he had to say, but I think it demonstrates the strength of their feelings about the present situation." If you stomp out, you don't have to listen to what he said. If you didn't listen to what he said, then it's the same thing as him not saying it.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat gave his approval Monday for Palestinians to negotiate with Israel and a third party to end the weeks-long standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. The decision marks a departure from the Palestinian position that negotiations leading to a possible cease-fire could not proceed so long as Israelis continued their reoccupation of Palestinian territories. Canon Andrew White, the special representative of the Archbishop of Canterbury, said Arafat met with Assistant U.S. Secretary of State William Burns, where he gave "his sanction" to the negotiations. A third party to the negotiations has not been chosen, he said. Since they're out of groceries, they're going to be out soon anyway, so Yasser wants to see how many concessions he can wring for something that's inevitable.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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UN Secretary General Kofi Annan named three eminent persons to uncover the facts of the Israeli army's assault on the Jenin refugee camp and said Israel had promised to cooperate with them. "In my discussions with senior Israeli officials, who say they have nothing to hide, I have been given an assurance that the team will have access to everyone they want to see," Annan told a news conference.
Finland's former president Martti Ahtisaari, who will head the fact-finding team, said: "Hopefully we will be on the spot sometime in the latter part of this week." He said it was too early to say how long it would take to "develop accurate information regarding recent events in Jenin" -- words used in a UN Security Council resolution on Friday welcoming Annan's decision to set up the team.
The United States agreed to support the resolution on condition the team would report to Annan and not act under a mandate from the council, which Israel regards as biased against it. The observer of Palestine to the United Nations, Nasser Al-Kidwa, repeated the charge of massacre, saying that what happened was worse than a war crime. He welcomed the formation of the team, which includes Sadako Ogata of Japan, a former UN high commissioner for refugees, and Cornelio Sammaruga, the Swiss former head of the International Committee of the Red Cross. "They are people of high integrity and credibility," Al-Kidwa said, but he added that the Israelis could be expected to obstruct their work. A retired US general, William Nash, will act as military adviser and a senior Irish police officer, Peter Fitzgerald, as police adviser. Pretty neutral on its face... Except that it's stacked with former heads of ICRC and the UNHCR.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Violence flared in the Gaza Strip, with three Palestinians shot dead overnight, after Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said a massive three-week military operation in the West Bank was over for the time being. There's usually a background noise of mindless violence from the Gaza Strip, and this isn't much over the noise level. Yet.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Calling for the destruction of the United States, Jews and Russia, Zacarias Moussaoui, the Frenchman charged with conspiracy in the Sept. 11 attacks on America, sought on Monday to fire his lawyers and represent himself. Moussaoui, who has pleaded not guilty to conspiring with Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda to carry out the attacks on New York and Washington, said his court-appointed lawyers did not understand how to represent him as a Muslim and were motivated by "greed, fame and vanity."
"They have no understanding of terrorism, of mujahideen," he said in English, as his lawyers looked on, shaking their heads. "Y'honor, my client may be a whacko, but that dudn't mean he dunnit. An' even if he did, he din't know what he was doin'. Matter o' fact, he ain't sure what he's doin' now."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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An Algerian accused of plotting to blow up Los Angeles International Airport over the millennium appeared in a British court on Monday to fight extradition to the United States. Amar Makhlulif, also known as Abu Doha and "The Doctor," was arrested in February last year at London's Heathrow airport while trying to board a plane to Saudi Arabia. The United States alleges that he oversaw a group of Algerian terrorists plotting to bomb the airport before the millennium celebrations and met bin Laden to coordinate efforts. Boarding a plane for Saudi Arabia, huh? Gosh, wonder why he wanted to go there?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Five Hizbul Mujahideen were killed by security forces in an 8-hour encounter in Doda district.
With the recovery of another Bad Guy's body of today, the toll in yesterdayâs shootout in Kupwara district rose to three. Rifleman Babu Ram was injured in the incident. The remains have been identified as all that's left of Ghulam Mustaffa, Abu Turab alias Sherbaz and Abu Talibâall from Pakistan.
Security forces iced two gunnies during search operations in Suroti village of Mendhar Tehsil. One of the deaders came from Drabkillan area of Pakistan.
A hard boy was popped by army troops in Rajouri district. Another army ambush party zapped a foreign snuffy in Nilahi village in the district. And security forces ventilated a tough guy at Shalinar in Badgam district late last night.
Security forces assisted a tough guy to the Great Hereafter in an encounter in Doda, while another militant was drowned when he jumped into the Chenab river after a gunbattle with the security forces. His body was yet to be recovered.
Gun totin' hard boys killed a civilian at Gambir Mughlan village in Rajouri district yesterday. They didn't say why.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Laskar Jihad, blamed for fueling several sectarian conflicts in Indonesia, has entered into the predominantly Christian province of Papua. "There is no reason for Laskar Jihad to be here. What we worry about most is that their presence may cause conflict between Papuan people - religious conflict, ethnic conflict, racial conflict," Thoha Al-Hamid, secretary-general of the Papuan Presidium Council(PDP), told CNN by telephone from the provincial capital of Jayapura. Thoha accused the government and military of being behind Laskar Jihad's presence in Papua, saying they were set up as militias to fight the independence movement. "This is a game from Jakarta. Laskar Jihad is training people in the villages to fight pro-independence Papuans, regardless of whether they are Christians or Muslims. They are militias dressed in religious robes," said Thoha, adding that their activities intensified since the end of last year. The eventual design will be to spread them throughout Indonesia...
Laskar Jihad denied the charges, saying they were involved purely in social and educational work. "We have no intention of doing anything to cause trouble. We are there to help empower the local people, whether they are Christians or Muslims. Our activities there consist mainly of Islamic studies and social work," Laskar Jihad spokesman, Ayip Syafruddin, told CNN. Syafruddin said a total of 200 members were in Papua and branches had been established in three regencies. Bingo! Missing piece falls into place! The question is what proportion of actual control over these guys exists within the military intel organization? Are they really, truly tools of the brass hats? Or do the brass hats have the false impression that they're in control of the tool that'll turn around and bite them at first opportunity? Or is the integration partial, like it is with ISI, with wheels turning within wheels? Wish there was more real news coming out of Indonesia...
Papua police chief Inspector-General Made Mangku Pastika said there were no signs Laskar Jihad was training people to fight the pro-independence movement. "From our monitoring, there are no signs of that," Pastika told CNN. And there you have it: "Nope, didn't see nuttin'?" Not even a "we saw some, but not much."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Once known as the largest armed group fighting for Muslim self-rule in the Philippines, the deeply divided Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) has further descended into the abyss of factionalism. With former ARMM Regional Legislative Assembly Speaker Alvarez Isnaji declaring himself the new chairman, the MNLF now has three heads. Isnaji recently said he was assuming the top MNLF post, replacing Nur Misuari, who is under detention in Sta Rosa, Laguna, on charges of rebellion. Isnaji also took the place of Misuari as governor of the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM), in an acting capacity, when Misuariâs term expired last September.
The post is now held by estranged Misuari ally Parouk Hussin, who won in an election late last year. Hussin and other senior MNLF leaders kicked upstairs the ineffectual Misuari as MNLF chair in April last year, assigning power to a 15-member Executive Council. Misuari was given the figurehead title "chairman emeritus" but he never acknowledged it.
When Hussin assumed his ARMM post, Vice Chairman Hatimil Hasan took over as interim council chairman. Hasan yesterday laughed off Isnajiâs new claim of becoming MNLF chairman, describing the meeting convened by Isnajiâs group to declare him chairman as "highly illegal." He said Isnajiâs group has only two original Central Committee members and the rest were picked up from individuals who had no background with the revolutionary organization. Among the personalities listed in the group include Misuariâs former foreign affairs chief Abdulbaki Abubakar and former chief of staff Milram Alam. Hasan asserted it was his group that is presently recognized by the Arroyo administration as well as the OIC Committee of the Eight, and this is expected to be formalized by the OIC Foreign Minister Conference in June.
But Jimmy Labawan, Misuariâs vice chairman, said both Isnaji and Hasan are pretenders to the MNLF throne. âNone of them have the moral right to claim to be the mainstream MNLF. The truth is that both of them are power usurpers,â he countered. This is pretty good news, besides being funny. It's nice to watch a group of Islamothugs trying to self-destruct using ego as the explosive. There may well be something similar in the PLO's future once Yasser has his stroke.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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British-born Islamic militant Omar Sheikh pleaded not guilty during his trial for the abduction and murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl. Omar also reiterated his refusal to recognise "British law" and demanded a trial under Islamic law. Seems they don't hang you for cutting people's heads off under Islamic law...
Judge Abdul Ghafoor Memon read out the charges of murder, kidnapping for ransom and terrorist activities -- which are punishable by death -- to the four accused present in the court, and all pleaded not guilty. Seven other suspects have been formally charged with the same crimes but remain at large. Memon ruled Monday that their trial would be separated from the ongoing proceedings and would take place at a later date. Assuming they don't die of old age first...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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A bomb exploded in the southern Philippines just before President Gloria Arroyo arrived to see the damage left by a series of explosions a day earlier in which 14 people died and 60 were injured. No one was hurt in the latest blast in a docked motorboat in the southern port city of General Santos. The explosion, which totally destroyed the private boat, occurred as city officials were preparing to welcome Arroyo, who flew in by private plane under tight security. In a radio interview in Manila just before departing for General Santos, President Arroyo said she was considering putting key southern cities under a state of emergency. The point isn't to accomplish anything, it's to have an explosion. That way people think you could have accomplished something.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Police arrested two suspected members of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the country's largest Muslim separatist group, over Sunday's bomb blasts in General Santos. General Santos police commander Chief Superintendent Bartolome Baluyot said weapons, including handguns and a grenade, were seized from the arrested duo, adding police wanted to find out whether they were involved with other Muslim rebel groups. Baluyot said police were tipped off that the two arrested men had left the bomb in a motorized tricycle parked near a department store that had exploded on Sunday.
A self-proclaimed spokesman of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim Sayyaf kidnap-for-ransom gang, which has links to the al-Qaeda terror network, had claimed responsibility for the weekend bombings.
The MILF and the government had agreed on a ceasefire to open the way for peace talks but skirmishes continue amid mutual accusations that the truce is not being respected. Arroyo did not link the MILF with the bombings but said under the agreements with the government, the rebel group was suppose to help hunt down "kidnappers and terrorists in the areas where they have influence." Sure, they're gonna do that. It could happen. Really. If you can't trust MILF, who can you trust?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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Abu Zubaydah, who until his capture March 28 was bin Laden's chief of operations, has told interrogators al Qaeda knows how to build a so-called dirty bomb that would spew radiation into the atmosphere. He also said al Qaeda knows how it could be smuggled into the United States. Since a "dirty bomb" is nothing but a mixture of common explosive and radioactive material, it's a foregone conclusion that they "know how" to make one. I have a hard time understanding that panic over this - it seems manufactured. A dirty bomb doesn't carry with it any explosive power greater than the dynamite or C4 or whatever is used as the boom agent, only the filthy detritus, which is confined within a small area. It also isn't dependant on having its component parts smuggled into the country. God knows there are enough Pakistani and Saudi physicians in this country that radioactive cobalt, for instance, could be procured without raising undue suspicion. The use of such a thing would be an incredibly stupid move on the part of the Bad Guys, since the retaliation for, say, a McVeigh-style truck bombing with radioactive chaser would result in some real radioactivity being applied to the perpetrators, probably in the form of neutron bombs or nuclear artillery.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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The U.S. Embassy in Yemen has received information that a terrorist attack against U.S. interests in Yemen might occur as early as Tuesday. "The Embassy has received information that a terrorist attack against U.S. interests in Yemen might occur on or about April 23, 2002," the embassy said on its Web site. The notice said there were no details as to the possible target, adding that the embassy is taking a number of security measures beyond those already in place.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/22/2002 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
