Sekimori has outdone herself. DailyPundit is now one of the spiffiest on the web. Only gripe I have is that it doesn't size precisely at 800x600 resolution. And I finally figured who the Worker⢠on his logo reminds me of: It's Li'l Abner.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 05:33 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
I have the same problem with my site re the sizing. I've heard it's from absolute sizing of the tables, but I think it has to do with the way I have my stylesheet set up. See, I like the purty colored scrollbar. So it sizes fine in my resolution (1240 by 780 or whatever it is) but at smaller rezes I get the Dreaded Horizontal Scrollbar. What to do? I haven't been able to figure out a hack yet. Rrrr.
Posted by: Andrea Harris ||
05/31/2002 21:10 Comments ||
Top||
#2
I think that's what it is. I set my narrow table to a fixed size so the links fit into it somewhat, and leave my main table to resize.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/31/2002 22:24 Comments ||
Top||
#3
It is pretty damn impressive looking I have to agree. However Opera hates it and crashes sometimes. It looks good when Opera finally takes to it.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge ||
06/01/2002 6:13 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I'm seeing the same scroll bar at 800x600 in IE 5.0. IE 5.0 has a bug in calculating content + padding + margin + border. It often goes wider than the designer intended. And sometimes assumptions are made about how much width you have in an 800x600 display. The answer is not 800 pixels, it's closer to 775-780. But I agree, other than minor quibbles I'm sure will be fixed, both of her redesigns look nice.
In case you've forgotten its address or (horrors!) never been there, visit Roadside America. While you're there, check out the dread Bureaux of Tourism.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 05:30 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Remnants of al Qaeda and the senior leadership of the Taliban are trying to build ties to a warlord, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, with the goal of attacking American-led forces and undermining the interim government in Kabul, senior American and British military officials here said today. This comes as a surprise to somebody? Where've they been?
Since Mr. Hekmatyar returned to Afghanistan earlier this year after several years of exile in Iran, he and his Islamic Party have been considered a threat to the government led by Hamid Karzai and to coalition troops operating here. But while coalition officials initially thought Mr. Hekmatyar was plotting to seize power for himself â as he brutally but unsuccessfully tried to do in the 1990's â they say they have now gathered intelligence indicating that he is also building alliances with al Qaeda and the Taliban. That's because he's been out of power and the Talibs destroyed part of his organization and absorbed the rest. He's a pariah and nobody likes him except for his klan.
Having been pushed out of eastern Afghanistan into the semiautonomous tribal areas of western Pakistan, senior Qaeda and Taliban officials are now thought to be trying to use Hekmatyar and his organization in Afghanistan to mount terrorist attacks to disrupt the selection of a new national government by the loya jirga. "He has links to al Qaeda and Taliban," a senior coalition military officer said. "He could be used by them to create a vector for them to return to power." Zackly the same as he intends to use them to return to power...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:35 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The Imam of the Afghan capitalâs main mosque has said that the participation of women in the upcoming Loya Jirga, on a par with men, contravenes the rules of Islam and could undermine the system. Qari Ubaidurahman Qarizada, Imam of the main Pulikheshti mosque in central Kabul, argued that the votes of women delegates to the Afghan grand assembly should not carry the same weight as those of men. He also said that Koranic teachings dictated that the assembly, which is due to select a new transitional government for Afghanistan when it convenes from June 10, could not choose a woman as the war-torn countryâs leader. Oh, good points. Obviously he's put a lot of thought into this. As good multiculturalists, we can certainly listen to his point of view, so nobody go distorting his positions, dangit!
"The views of women have to be heard by others (men) to see whether or not they are rational," he said. "Menâs views have to be accepted because they are higher than women," he said, adding that controversial issues should settled by the votes of men if there was a split decision. Well, that's pretty simple, isn't it? Well thought out, too. Men are higher than women, and some men are higher than a kite...
"The future system can be dangerous if equal rights are given to women," he said while stressing that Islam did not deny womenâs rights. "That's 'cause they have those bosoms. And hips. And they can do things to a man with their eyes. An'... An'... An' sometimes you can see their ankles, maybe even their legs!... An' under those burkas, they're naked! That's right! Naked and lascivious, with mounds of pleasure and hollows of delight! With the smooth curve of buttocks, with silken thighs... Oh, Allah! Where's my gun? I need to... I need to... I need to shoot!"
"What it has denied is their preference over men. From Islamâs point of view, a woman cannot be elected the leader of an Islamic country because women are unintelligent and their election as leader endangers the country," he said. The imam, on the other hand, is an absolutely towering intellect, as is immediately obvious. His sisters are all stupid, though. And his mother was dumbest of all. She was a first-class dullard, barely sentient...
Surrounded by a group of religious students, ...basking in his intellect...
Qarizada, wearing a white flowing outfit with matching turban, said that a female ruler in an Islamic country could not "militarily resist the enemy. Their understanding is not equal to menâs." So there you have it. Now, none of you women readers comment on this, 'cuz obviously it's over your heads. Only good, pious men, men with turbans and automatic weapons, can understand the finer points of Islamic law.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 10:59 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Anybody want to set this guy up with Hillary Clinton?
Posted by: Old Grouch ||
05/31/2002 19:05 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What does he mean? I don't understand -- I'm just a girl! The man used those big words like "rational" and "the."
Best solution to this guy's problem? A crowd of women pointing and laughing at him. He'd probably pop an artery and keel over.
Posted by: Andrea Harris ||
05/31/2002 21:06 Comments ||
Top||
Attack aircraft bombed a radar system in southern Iraq in the latest incident involving warplanes patrolling a no-fly zone over the Middle Eastern country. The U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Florida said aircraft from the force of U.S. and British planes used precision-guided weapons on Thursday to hit "components of an offensive radar system." It did not say whether U.S. or British planes were involved.
The attack at An Nasiriyah, 150 miles southeast of Baghdad, followed a series of bombings on Iraqi air defenses in response to what the U.S. military says are attacks on the patrolling aircraft from the ground. "Yo! You guys awake down there?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:25 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The U.S. government has alerted airlines and law enforcement agencies that new intelligence indicates that Islamic terrorists have smuggled shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles into the United States. Classified intelligence reports circulated among top Bush administration policymakers during the past two weeks identified the missiles as Russian-made SA-7 surface-to-air missiles or U.S.-made Stinger anti-aircraft missiles obtained covertly in Afghanistan, said intelligence officials who spoke on the condition of anonymity. Authorities are looking for three types of "manpads," or man-portable, air-defense systems, including SA-7s and Stingers, the officials said. The FBI sent out an intelligence alert two weeks ago warning about the missiles. The officials said the warning is based on intelligence and not a specific threat that the missiles are in the United States. Ummm... This is another act of war. Anybody caught with one of these who's not wearing a uniform â and it had better not be a U.S. uniform â is liable to be, and should be, shot, either on the spot or a little bit latter, standing against a wall smoking a cigarette and wearing a blindfold. Time to stop being squeamish about these things.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:38 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
shooting is too good - I propose subsidizing the anti-terrorist campaign with Sears tool ads..can't you imagine? "See how this 3 speed reversible cordless drill with a router bit goes through even thick bone..."
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/31/2002 12:54 Comments ||
Top||
A powerful D.C. lobbying house has been shaken by its controversial contract with Saudi Arabia and its link to hard-hitting anti-Israel ads. "There's unease," confirmed Stuart Pape, managing partner of Patton Boggs, a Washington lobbying institution. Crap. There goes the Mogen David contract...
Patton Boggs has a $50,000-per-month contract to arrange meetings between the Saudis and members of Congress and the Bush administration. But its partners are steamed about its relationship with Qorvis Communication, which has a $200,000-per-month p.r. contract to promote the Saudis as friends in the U.S. war against terrorism. The Qorvis p.r. blitz included pro-Saudi TV ads that some cable networks, including the History Channel and the Weather Channel, rejected as inappropriate. Most of us viewers just concluded they were stupid and went back to watching Jerry Springer.
Qorvis also played a role in airing hard-hitting radio ads that called for Israel's "withdrawal from the Palestinian land it has unjustly occupied for years." The ads were promoted by the "Alliance for Peace and Justice," a group that Qorvis helped create for a consulting fee paid by Arab-American supporters. Paid grass roots participation, by Gawd! Now dat's Capitalism!
Qorvis executive Michael Petruzello said the ads were produced and placed by Sandler-Innocenzi, a D.C. advertising firm run by two former top officials for the National Republican Congressional Committee. Petruzello said the financial backers of the "alliance" include the Arab-American Institute, the U.S.-Saudi Arabian Business Council and the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee. Why'd they forget to hit up CAIR?
Sandler-Innocenzi, which has done work for many top Republicans, also placed the controversial pro-Saudi TV ads for Qorvis, although Sandler-Innocenzi didn't register with the Justice Department as a foreign agent as required by law. Patton Boggs has a 15 percent ownership of Qorvis, but sources say Qorvis' anti-Israel stance could end the relationship. Don't bother. You still ain't gettin' the Mogen David contract. And Murray's Bagels? Pfui. Maybe you can get the contract to market Arafat Cheese Chips, if you hustle.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 10:16 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Tuesday that a war between India and Pakistan could be prevented with the "change of regime" in Pakistan. "Yes, folks! That's right! Put me in charge and there's no cause for war! All your problems will evaporate! They'll be gone in a flash!"
In an Op-ed piece in the Los Angeles Times "War is likely if Musharraf Stays" Ms Bhutto says: "Regime change in Islamabad offers the possibility of halting hostilities to permit a new government to make a fresh start. "The voices of the international community, as well as the Pakistani armed forces, are critical determinants as to the calculations made. They will determine whether Musharraf resigns to defuse the crisis or clings to power in a show of nuclear brinkmanship." Being a cheap pol, Bhutto is more concerned with getting rid of Perv and grabbing power back for herself and her cronies. Switching drivers isn't going to shut down the jihadis, and shutting down the jihadis in Kashmir is the only way war is going to be averted.
Lambasting Gen Musharraf Ms Bhutto said: "He missed an opportunity in 2000 to sign a confidence-building treaty with New Delhi. He carries the baggage of being the architect of the last major battle along the Line of Control near Kargil, which nearly led to an Indo-Pakistani war in 1999. His "lone ranger" politics pit him against domestic political forces polarizing the country." And his eventual successor, probably sooner than later, will have a mess to clean up, assuming there's a country left. But it's policies and a really busy Fifth Column that's driving the relentless march toward nuclear incineration. It's not 1990's internal politix anymore.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:25 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Militants threw a grenade at a group of police in India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir on Friday, wounding five officers, police said. "The policemen were returning to a camp when militants hurled a grenade in which they received splinter injuries. No one was killed," a senior police official said. The attack occurred near Khanetar in Poonch district, 160 miles north of Jammu, the winter capital of the troubled state. The Bad Guys are determined to keep up the pressure until there's war. That's the whole reason behind the attacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:25 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistan's defence is impregnable as it achieved its nuclear deterrence in 1984, said renowned scientist Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan at the Islamia College here on Thursday. The college awards a gold medal every year on this date to a scientist or scholar of world repute. For the current year, Dr Qadeer Khan was chosen to receive the medal. Speaking on the occasion, he said May 30 was an important day in Pakistan's history as on the same date Pakistan tested its nuclear capability again after it decided to go nuclear on May 28, 1998, in the wake of Indian nuclear tests. Nobody could deny the fact that Pakistan's defence was strong and the nation had achieved its indigenous nuclear deterrence, he said, recalling that the country was capable to detonate its nuclear devices on a week's notice in 1984.
"Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan, accused in the West of nuclear espionage, is Pakistan's nuclear hero as architect of the country's newly-declared nuclear prowess."
Dr Khan discounts the value of conventional means and the fact that there is a finite number of weapons available. A claw hammer is a much less sophisticated tool than even a cheap desktop computer. It's easy to destroy the computer with the claw hammer, though.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:25 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
Pakistan withdrew troops from the Afghan border Friday, possibly to move them to the Kashmir frontier for a faceoff with India. The United States, meanwhile, stepped up efforts to avert war on the subcontinent even as it advised its diplomats to leave India. A war between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan would be "somewhere between terrible and catastrophic" and would destroy hard-earned improvements in U.S. relations with both nations, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz said. He said the U.S. efforts to prevent war include both promises of incentives and warnings of punishments. "I don't think we believe in exhortation alone," Wolfowitz said Friday in Singapore, where he was meeting with other defense officials at a conference on terrorism and security.
President Bush announced Thursday that he would send Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld to the region next week. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage also is scheduled to visit Islamabad and New Delhi next week. The purpose having been accomplished, we might see the Kashmir tension wind down for awhile now. That's unless the jihadis are actually serious in wanting to become radioactive dust...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:41 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Dreadful as nuclear war is, consider this: In a nuclear exchance, India would be hurt and Pakland destroyed. If Omar, bin Lasden, et. el, are really in Pakistan, they'd be radioactive dust.
Pakistan's ambassador to the United Nations, Munir Akram on Wednesday defended Pakistan's decision not to promise "no first nuclear strike" in case of an attack by India saying that it would give India a "license to kill" Pakistanis. Addressing a news conference Akram said: "So long as the use of force is outlawed, we will accept 'no first use of nuclear weapons' also. India should not have the license to kill with the use of conventional weapons while our hands are tied.
Calling upon the United Nations Security Council to actively intervene in resolving the Kashmir dispute between the two countries, Akram said Pakistan would not attack India unless it was first attacked, it had never subscribed to the doctrine of "no first use" of nuclear arms. To a certain distorted way of thinking, there's no deterrence to nuclear weapons if you promise not to be the first to use them. All the other side has to do is refrain from using theirs while they're whipping you conventionally. On the other hand, if they can whip you both ways, probably the best deterrence is to shut the hell up and stay out of trouble, but that's not an option if you're into turbans.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:43 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The State Department on Friday advised all but essential American diplomats and about 60,000 Americans to leave India because of rising danger of conflict between that nation and Pakistan. "Tensions have risen to serious levels" and conflict between India and Pakistan cannot be ruled out, the State Department said. About 60,000 U.S. citizens in India also were urged to depart. "Conditions along India's border with Pakistan and in the state of Jammu and Kashmir have deteriorated," the State Department said in its travel warning. Dependents of nonessential U.S. personnel in the embassy in New Delhi and U.S. consulates in Calcutta, Mumbai and Chennai also were encouraged to depart at U.S. government expense. They're that close to the wire...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 09:44 am ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Indian military sources say India has secretly told the US and Britain that it will wait two weeks to see if international diplomatic pressure halts infiltration of Islamic militants into Indian territory. "This could be easily verified by monitoring [radio and telephone] intercepts," says Ret. Major Gen. Ashok Mehta, an Indian military analyst. If infiltration does not significantly drop, a senior Army official says India plans a 10-day assault in Kashmir. "It will be like Kargil [the 1999 war between India and Pakistan]," says Mr. Mehta. "The military action will be predominantly infantry led and intensively supported by the Air Force." The short Indian military operation is designed to capture territory and destroy the infrastructure of Islamic militants quickly. The battle-field scenario, says a senior Indian military official, is premised on the calculation that it will operate under the nuclear threshold and that the international community will step in to prevent the conflict from escalating. That would be using what they've got â lots of infantry, some of it very good, and an adequate air force â rather than rigging something elaborate that'll be more likely to fail.
Within the first 48 hours, India is expected to attack the Neelam Valley Road across the Kupwara sector in Indian-held Kashmir, says an Indian Air Force officer involved in the planning. The Indian Air Force will try to destroy an important bridge over the Jhelum River which connects Pakistan with Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. But "Indian action will attract heavy Pakistani punishment," says General Mehta. Not so heavy if the Paks use retirees and jihadis as their first line of defense or for a counter-incursion. Suman says this is a possibility:
"If Pakistan has fought wars before using retired soldiers and massed civilians as shock troops, using them again to launch an offensive into Indian territory is not unlikely. It would be a one-sided crap-shoot. I would not want to be an Indian soldier forced to fight untrained civilians and old men. The spin value of such a strategy to Musharraf would be invaluable."
Perv's problem at that point wouldn't be spin, but self-defense, and sending large numbers of people with targets painted on their chests would be a phenomenally stupid move. And world opinion â certainly at that point â wouldn't care. All the civilian press would see was a bunch of dead men in uniform, shot while invading. The press didn't notice that the thousands of Iraqis surrendering at the end of the Gulf War were cannon fodder, barely trained farm boys whose panic and demoralization then spread to the regulars. Meanwhile the folks back home would be asking each other what in the world he was doing as the casualties mounted like they did in the Afghan jihad.
In the Kargil conflict, the Indian government decided not to cross the 460-mileLine of Control that divides Indian-held Kashmir from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. This policy was to ensure that the "limited conflict" did not escalate into a full-fledged conventional war. The two nations have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947. Two of the wars were over Kashmir. If it starts this time, maybe they'll finish it and the world can move on to the next intractable problem, secure in the knowledge that violence never solves anything.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 04:22 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
More than two-thirds of Kashmiris believe that Pakistan's involvement has damaged their cause, three out of every five believe they are politically and economically better off with India, and nearly 90 per cent desperately want cross-border infiltration by foreign militants to stop, according to the latest opinion poll released by MORI International.
An overwhelming majority of Kashmiris oppose India and Pakistan going to war to solve the Kashmir problem and a similar percentage oppose the bifurcation or trifurcation of the state on ethnic or religious lines. Lord Eric Avebury, who commissioned the poll, told The Times of India that "the poll showed how much had changed in Jammu and Kashmir, how encouraging things are and how much the people want peace and economic prosperity". Avebury, a human rights activist who belongs to the 20-member, London-based Friends of Kashmir Group, comprising British politicians and businessmen, said the poll was meant to "allow the Kashmiri peopleâs voice to be heard".
Describing as "legitimate", questions about why Pakistan-occupied Kashmir was not surveyed as well, the British peer said "we had a lack of resources, that is why we restricted ourselves to in and around Srinagar, Jammu and Leh and could not even go to Baramullah, Ananatnag and Sopore". In that case, have the plebiscite and get it on record.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 06:12 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Although mystery still shrouds the killing of Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Lone during a public rally in Srinagar on May 21, the needle of suspicion is increasingly pointing towards three Lashkar-e-Taiba thugs. Radio intercepts indicate that Abu Hadeed, along with two other associates, Abu Raheel and Abu Hamza, were assigned the task of eliminating the Hurriyat leader. The whole plan was master-minded by Jamaat-ul-Mujhideenâs chief Gulam Rasool Bhat, alias General Abdullah, who had directed Laskhar operation commander, Abu Shamas, to carry out the assassination of Abdul Gani Lone through a group, headed by Abu Hadeed. It's little tidbits like this that can establish that the Jamiat is a level up from Lashkar. They can also show the pitfalls of drawing intelligence conclusions based on small amounts of information.
Since tasking flows down the chain of command, and reporting flows up, Lashkar and Jaish-e-Mohammad would probably correspond to independent battalions or brigades within the overall structure. An alternative interpretation would simply be a "contract" between Jamiat and Lashkar for specific missions. Shamas was previously identified as Jamiat's operations officer, however, which might indicate the entire operation to be Jamiat's and the equation to Lashkar a product of the Indian papers. A previous report seems to have nailed Abu Hadid as a Lashkar man, though, and if the terminal he was talking too was indeed on the Pak side, it would seem to indicate that the independent battalion or brigade interpretation is the correct one.
The Indos would have the actual relationships worked out in detail â given six months worth of radio traffic logs the structure couldn't be hidden.
Instruction to eliminate Lone had been given to Abu Hadeed by Abu Shamas, while hiding in Rajwar Forests in Kupwara in north Kashmir. Hadeed was also advised not to own the responsibility of the killing publicly besides supporting the call of strike in protest, according to the intercepts. "Colonel" Abu Shamas is one of Jamiat's district commanders.
The security forces came upon the information when Hadeed was apprising his bosses in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir about the killing through Khaber communication station on Kalia Pahad. The intercepts reveal that some Laskhar commanders in PoK were annoyed about the attack but Hadeed explained to them that he had operated on the instructions from Abu Shamas. Hadeed had been specially deputed from Sopore [on the Pak side of the Line of Control] to Srinagar by Shamas a month earlier to assist Abu Raheel in the task of killing of Hurriyat leader. While quoting from the radio interceptions, the officer informed, that Abu Hadeed was present at the funeral procession of Abdul Gani Lone on May 22 all the way to the graveyard situated in the old city. So they bumped him off and then had the gall to go to the funeral?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 07:53 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Israeli troops poured into the West Bank city of Nablus and a neighboring refugee camp Friday, declaring a curfew and searching for militants. Nearby, a Palestinian was shot and killed while infiltrating a Jewish settlement carrying an assault rifle. Israel Radio reported that he threw grenades at a kindergarten, but the report could not immediately be confirmed. The Israeli troops entered Nablus in about 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers, Palestinians said. They also moved into the Balata camp, headquarters of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade militia. Israeli forces arrested the Fatah leader in Nablus, Issam Abu Bakr, one of the top political figures in the city. The Israeli military said its forces entered Nablus and the Balata camp "in the wake of recent murderous attacks." In a statement, the military said a curfew was imposed, two Palestinians were arrested and the operation was continuing. I liked the part about tossing the grenades into the kindergarten. (Well, figuratively, anyway... From a turbanned point of view...)
Y'see, if the purpose is to provoke an Israeli overreaction, that's probably the way to do it. Why would they want to provoke an overreaction? They don't expect the IDF to destroy the Palestinians. In fact, the PA has moved closer to actually forming a state than they were before Operation Defensive Shield.
But if you're a Learned Elder of Islam, or Ernst Stavro Blofeld, or Gharlane of Eddore, then you're keeping these things juggled. The Paks were getting too close on their western border â big potential for losses to al-Qaeda â so a diversion was needed. Heat things up on the eastern border. Troops moved, mission accomplished, except that now the Indos are ready to pave Pak. What's to do? Blow up the Middle East again and nobody will notice when the Paks back off just far enough. When the Middle East gets too hot, blow something up somewhere else...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 12:28 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Israel's domestic security service said on Thursday it had arrested an Israeli woman and her Palestinian husband who had confessed to aiding a suicide bombing that killed two Israelis last week. The Shin Bet also said that the May 22 attack in a park in Rishon Letzion near Tel Aviv, in which 27 Israelis were also wounded, could have been deadlier if a Palestinian woman meant to be a second bomber had not pulled out at the last minute. Another one who backed out, by golly. And a woman. Could it be they're running out of suicidal men?
The bombing was claimed by the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades. In a statement, Shin Bet said the bomber, a 17-year-old from the Bethlehem area, had been driven to the attack site by the married couple. The husband and wife, a 33-year-old Palestinian from Dehaishe refugee camp near Bethlehem and a 26-year-old Jewish immigrant from Russia, were arrested on May 23 and confessed to aiding the attack. "While dozens of Israeli Arabs have been arrested on suspicion of abetting Palestinian terrorists during the intifada, such complicity on the part of Israeli Jews is almost unheard of," Israeli police spokesman said. Here's hoping it earns her some significant jug time or there will be more Palestinian lotharios romancing the immigrant babes for an entry into society for nefarious purposes...
A 20-year-old Palestinian woman from the Bethlehem area was also in Shin Bet custody. The agency said she rode with the couple and the bomber and was meant to carry out a follow-up suicide bombing at the Rishon Letzion park after emergency crews rushed to the scene. The Shin Bet cited the couple as saying the woman, who was arrested Wednesday and admitted her role in the plot, backed out as they were en route to Rishon Letzion. Was that when the boomer's head went past at 90 miles an hour, or when his innards hit the windshield?
The Israeli woman told the Shin Bet that it was only when the Palestinian woman turned back that she realized they were on the way to a suicide bombing. 'Bout the time the boom occurred, huh? Tough for her. People know you by your friends, in this case by your relatives by marriage.
But the Shin Bet said her husband was fully aware of the plan, had mapped out the target site and later showed the Israeli authorities a car waiting nearby with a second, unused explosive belt. All of the Fatah members in Dehaishe directly involved with the plot had been caught. The army said they were among 42 suspected militants it had arrested in Bethlehem after seizing parts of the biblical West Bank city on Monday. Troops left on Thursday afternoon. Sure hope they're keeping that intel network taken care of, because it's a gem. Shin Bet is damned good.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 12:54 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat has signed a package of laws granting basic rights to his people and regulating his government, officials said Thursday, just before world diplomats began arriving to press him for reforms. Arafat signed the Basic Law, which had been sitting on his desk for five years, on Tuesday. Palestinian officials, however, did not confirm the signing until Thursday. It is a kind of framework for a constitution.
Meanwhile, a parade of diplomats headed to Ramallah. Assistant Secretary of State William Burns was the first to see the Palestinian leader. Afterward, Burns expressed support for negotiations that would result in a Palestinian state and "supporting Palestinian efforts to build strong institutions," a reference to the demands for reforms.
German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer also met Arafat Thursday, and Osama el-Baz, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's political adviser, was due for talks Friday. Over the weekend, CIA Director George Tenet is to begin a mission aimed at restructuring the myriad and competing Palestinian security services.
After meeting Fischer, Arafat said "we have already started" the reform process, noting that he had signed the basic law and others governing the judiciary and banking systems. The sudden stream of high-level diplomats to the region indicated renewed world efforts to put an end to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict before it threatens other world efforts, like the struggle against international terrorism. Uhuh. This should be (yawn!) interesting...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 05:05 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
A network of Islamic militants has been recruiting young Muslim immigrants at mosques in the Netherlands, urging them to join the "holy war" in places like Afghanistan or Kashmir, the Dutch Internal Security Agency said in a report this week. This is news? They do it in Britain, too. They do it in Belgium. They do it everywhere they go. Why should the Dutchies be any different?
The agency is also investigating reports that groups with links to Al Qaeda have instructed their Dutch Muslim followers that they should join the Dutch Army in order to get military training. But Sybrand van Hulst, the director of the Dutch Internal Security Agency, said at a news conference this week that there was as yet no evidence that the recruiters themselves were from Al Qaeda. Rather, he said, they were apparently from the Algerian Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat and other groups from the Middle East. It's the same idea, so it doesn't matter which.
As evidence of ongoing recruitment, the agency disclosed that two Dutch-born sons of Moroccan parents were found dead in January in Kashmir, where they had apparently joined Muslim rebels fighting against India. The agency said the two men â Ahmed el-Bakiouli, 20, and Khalid el-Hassnaoui, 21 â had been killed by Indian security forces, who told the Dutch that the men were suicide fighters who had tried to kill Indian border guards. The two men, both high school graduates but not soldiers, were the first Dutch Muslims known to be involved directly with Islamic fighters. I believe the spin from the jihadis was that they were tourists...
In recent weeks, the Dutch police have also arrested as many as 10 young men suspected of links with armed militants, but they were foreign nationals who had been in the country only briefly. Cleaning up, are they? Good idea...
The disclosures come at a time of growing public concern in the Netherlands about the recent large influx of Muslim immigrants, who make up close to 6 percent of the population. Most of them are from Morocco, Turkey and Suriname, countries where Islam is largely moderate. They also coincide with government concern about the activities of fundamentalist teachers at Islamic schools, which it has said receive funds from foreign Muslim foundations, in particular from Saudi Arabia. Whoa! Doesn't that come as a surprise? Heh heh.
In recent months, the government has stepped up its surveillance of religious and political groups in schools and mosques, a government official said. Some of the Islamic schools are teaching anti-Western attitudes, the official said, for instance that Muslims should battle people until they believed that Allah is the only God. Doesn't seem to fit real well with the Dutchies' "do your own thing" attitude.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 04:56 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
Yemen is holding 85 people suspected of links al Qaeda and another militant group, the official Saba news agency reported Thursday. "Some of those (detainees) are also suspected of committing illegal acts and are being interrogated," Saba quoted a security official as saying.
The detainees belonged to al Qaeda, blamed for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, and Islamic Jihad, a militant group operating in several Middle Eastern countries, the official said.
Wednesday, Yemen told Washington it was committed to supporting the war on terrorism. Yemeni authorities said earlier they had detained about 170 suspected militants. Parliamentary Speaker Sheikh Abdullah bin Hussein al-Ahmar, who heads an opposition party, said earlier this month that Yemen was holding "hundreds or maybe thousands" of people in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks. Prime Minister Abdul-Qader Bagammal denied earlier this month that al Qaeda had a presence in Yemen, but said some of its Yemeni members had returned home.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/31/2002 05:02 pm ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 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.
