Hi there, !
Today Wed 06/04/2003 Tue 06/03/2003 Mon 06/02/2003 Sun 06/01/2003 Sat 05/31/2003 Fri 05/30/2003 Thu 05/29/2003 Archives
Rantburg
531687 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 36 articles and 66 comments as of 10:07.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area:                    
Suspect kills two Saudi policemen
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
4 00:00 Ptah [1] 
0 [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
8 00:00 AWW [] 
1 00:00 liberalhawk [1] 
1 00:00 Raptor [2] 
0 [1] 
1 00:00 DANEgerus [] 
7 00:00 liberalhawk [1] 
0 [] 
2 00:00 Fred [] 
0 [] 
3 00:00 Fred [3] 
2 00:00 Chuck [] 
3 00:00 Frank G [] 
0 [2] 
1 00:00 Frank G [] 
0 [] 
2 00:00 Chuck [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 Douglas De Bono [] 
1 00:00 Frank G [] 
0 [] 
3 00:00 Ptah [1] 
0 [] 
0 [] 
2 00:00 Anonymous Troll [] 
4 00:00 RW [1] 
2 00:00 af [] 
4 00:00 Ray [1] 
5 00:00 Raptor [] 
1 00:00 The Marmot [] 
0 [] 
8 00:00 Raptor [] 
Arabia
Bull storms into Yemeni parliament
SANAA - A raging bull stormed into the courtyard of the Yemeni parliament yesterday, injuring an employee, a guard and a passer-by before it was shot dead by security, eyewitnesses said. The bull was brought by tribesmen from the southern Beit-Meyad suburb to be slaughtered in front of the building in a customary tribal immolation practice. The tribe intended to offer up the bull in protest over a decision by the city's local council to confiscate lands belonging to them, allegedly without compensation, the report said.
They've got a machine in Sanaa that makes this stuff up, don't they? It can't be real...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:49 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Too bad they couldn't "lose" it inside the Parliament chamber...
Posted by: mojo || 06/01/2003 13:04 Comments || Top||

#2  bull in parliment...oh, so many ways to go...
Posted by: Chuck || 06/01/2003 14:51 Comments || Top||


Two Kuwaiti Al Qaeda supporters arrested over Riyadh blasts
KUWAIT CITY - Two Kuwaiti supporters of the Al Qaeda terror network have been arrested in connection with the suicide blasts in Saudi Arabia that left 34 people dead last month, a newspaper reported on Sunday. Quoting Kuwaiti security sources, Al-Rai Al-Aam said the two men were arrested “in the framework of investigations” into the May 12 attacks on expatriate housing compounds in Riyadh. The newspaper identified the two only by the initials L.S.H. and F.A. Kuwaiti authorities were still pursuing an undisclosed number of people whose names were provided to a Kuwaiti security delegation that recently visited Riyadh, the daily said. “These names were extracted from investigations by Saudi authorities with a number of suspects held in connection with the blasts,” it added. The sources did not rule out that the Kuwaitis arrested, or those still at large, could be directly connected to the deadly bombings or that they may have been accomplices. Saudi authorities have said more than 20 people with suspected links to the suicide bombings have been arrested.
I'd guess there might be similar operations going on in the UAE and Yemen — not that I'd expect much to come out of Yemen.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:29 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  gotta like that phrase:
"These names were extracted from investigations by Saudi authorities with a number of suspects held in connection with the blasts,”

Truncheon Fever™ - Catch It!
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 11:38 Comments || Top||


Court views Kandari will tape in Failaka case
KUWAIT CITY: The Criminal Court Saturday viewed a videotape showing the will left by Anas Al-Kandari - one of the two men (the other was Jassem Al-Hajeri) who carried out an attack in Failaka killing an American soldier and wounding another, before being killed by other American soldiers — for his family and Muslims all over the world. In the tape, Al-Kandari after reciting some verses from the Holy Quran asks his family to fear God and calls on Muslims all over the world to fight corruption and non-believers, lawyer Adel Al-Abdul Hadi, who is representing two people linked to the case, told the Arab Times.
No doubt the usual lugubrious vid, complete with green headband...
The court presided by Judge Ali Al-Debaibi, adjourned the hearing to June 21, in a case filed against 12 men - Suleiman Al-Kandari, Ahmed M. Al-Kandari, Mohamed Al-Kandari, Adnan Al-Kandari, Ibraheem Al-Kandari, Ahmed J. Al-Kandari, Abdullah Al-Kandari, Ghazi Al-Tarrah, Dhari Al-Shimmari, Yousef Al-Kandari, Mostafa Sarab and Saad Al-Saeed - to summon the Forensics expert and the Criminal Evidences Department expert to examine the seized weapons.
Do you get the impression the Failaka attack may heave been an al-Kandari family project? I hope those aren't all brothers — it would mean poor Mrs. al-Kandari kept having boyz until she ran out of names...
All the men are facing charges of providing assistance to kill the American soldiers on Failaka island in October 2002. Some of the men have also been charged with belonging to an organisation which considers the society in the country as a society of infidels while others are charged with possessing unlicensed arms and ammunition. When Attorney Adel Al-Abdul Hadi, lawyer for two of the accused, asked the arresting officer, Captain Abdul Aziz Saud, for information on Al-Kandari and Al-Hajeri, Saud said the former was well-known to the State Security Department. He added the SSD immediately identified the corpse of Kandari, while it took some time for the Criminal Evidences Personnel to identify Al-Hajeri’s corpse because he was not known to them. The officer said they had watched the suspects for a long time before the incident because they were part of a gang headed by Anas Al-Kandari.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:24 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror suspect kills two Saudi policemen
RIYADH - Two Saudi policemen were killed when a “terror” suspect they had been chasing threw a hand grenade at them. Al-Watan daily said the suspect, and an unidentified man travelling with him, also seriously wounded three policemen in the clash in northern Saudi Arabia on Saturday. One of the suspects was killed while the other fled.
Soddy cops aren't real good at giving chase, are they? They don't wear those long robes, do they?
It was not clear if the two were linked to the May 12 suicide bombings in the capital Riyadh, blamed on Saudi-born Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network. The newspaper described the two men as “terrorists” and said they had been stopped by police at a checkpoint. “The driver gave them his licence and it turned out that he was wanted by security forces,” it said. The two men sped off but their car got stuck in a desert area. When the two policemen approached, the wanted man threw a hand grenade at them. Another police patrol arrived and came under fire, the daily added. One of the suspects was killed in the shootout but it was not clear if it was the man sought by authorities.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:13 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “The driver gave them his licence and it turned out that he was wanted by security forces,”

He got pinched with his real ID? How UnIslamic!
Posted by: Raj || 06/01/2003 11:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Well, he had the "Get Out of Jail Free" card attached.
Posted by: Chuck || 06/01/2003 14:52 Comments || Top||


Saudi coppers still rooting them out
Saudi security officers stormed an apartment building in the holy city of Madinah on Friday night after receiving a tip-off and arrested two people. In an adjoining apartment, police found filters, scales and material that “could be used to make explosives,” according to Al-Riyadh newspaper. Interior Minister Prince Nayef said on Wednesday that 11 suspects were arrested in the same city over the past week, including three self-appointed religious leaders who allegedly instigated terrorist operations. Police meanwhile cordoned off a village located 100 kilometers west of Madinah after receiving information that some suspects were hiding there.
They're taking that part of it seriously, anyway. But I'll be more impressed when they cut a few heads off...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 10:53 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  aren't explosives required in an islamic holy city? where was the crime?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 11:19 Comments || Top||


Britain
Blair: I have secret proof of weapons
Prime Minister Tony Blair last night insisted he had secret proof that weapons of mass destruction will be found in Iraq in his strongest signal yet that coalition forces believe they may have begun to uncover leads to Iraq's alleged deadly arms cache.
Dear God, Tony, don't screw this up.
Stung by claims that the Government exaggerated the threat from Saddam, Blair said he was waiting to publish a 'complete picture' of both intelligence gained before the war and 'what we've actually found'.
Is he going to pull a GWB?
Asked if he knew things he could not yet reveal, he said: 'I certainly do know some of the stuff that has been already accumulated as a result of interviews and others... which is not yet public, but what we are going to do is assemble that evidence and present it properly.' His words, in an interview with Sky TV, came as Downing Street moved to halt damaging leaks over its handling of the evidence by heaping praise on the intelligence services. 'The Prime Minister hugely values the work of the intelligence agencies,' his spokesman said in St Petersburg, where heads of state were celebrating the Russian city's tercententary, yesterday.
British and U.S. intelligence at the collection and analysis stages is beyond good. If it's tasked, and it's there, they'll find it, perhaps in outline, often in detail. The weak point often comes with the use to which the finished product is put. If the guys who receive the reports don't believe them, factual reports can be discounted or reinterpreted. The higher the level of comsumer, the more likely politix is to enter into the interpretation. At the analysis level, the questions are who, what, when, where, and how. At the consumer level the "why" enters into it...
The pointed comment followed a week of furious rows over whether the intelligence dossier on Iraq published by the Government last September was 'sexed up' to convince a sceptical public that they were in danger from Saddam. It will fuel speculation that private assurances have been given to the intelligence community that they will not be left to carry the can over the failure to find WMD after a week of briefing against senior Blair officials by intelligence officials over the alleged ramping up of intelligence.
I don't think Tony would screw the Intel boys over. I hope not.
Labour backbenchers, increasingly convinced they were unwilling to listen to the truth misled, are unlikely to be impressed by Blair's argument that they must trust in proof they cannot see. According to intelligence sources the new leads have been provided by Iraqi scientists and a member of the State Security Organisation who are currently being debriefed by MI6 and the CIA. This follows a week in which Government and intelligence sources appear to have changed their story on the likelihood of finding WMD on an almost daily basis. One source claimed mid-week that British intelligence suggested Saddam had destroyed his WMD even before UN inspectors visited Iraq, a version of events that had changed by yesterday morning to the claim that chemical weapons may actually have been deployed in the field and then destroyed as American troops advanced. Yesterday the US announced that another 1,400 experts will join the hunt for banned weapons - a signal that Washington has accepted the political significance of the issue.
We always knew it was important.
In Britain it is thought that Ministers want eventually to publish a checklist of claims made before the war alongside subsequent discoveries which they believe vindicate the warnings. So far the only publicly announced discovery has been that of two trailers thought to have been part of a mobile laboratory system. Blair said in his interview that claims that the existence of WMD was 'a great big fib got out by the security services' would be proved wrong. He said he had 'absolutely no knowledge' of an alleged meeting between the Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw and his US counterpart Colin Powell, in a New York hotel to discuss concerns over whether the evidence on WMD would be strong enough. Leaked transcripts suggested Straw had warned the issue could 'explode in our faces'.
That could be an entirely innocent meeting (if it happened). I would think Straw and Powell would demand to see all the data and would review it with a skeptical eye. After all, they have to defend it.
The Foreign Office insisted the two men had not met on the date given in February.
Should be simple enough to check the calendars.
Downing Street has been hampered in its argument by repeated suggestions from the Bush administration that WMD may never be found. Paul Wolfowitz, deputy to the US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, suggested last week that WMD were a bureaucratic pretext to start a war.
No, he didn't, and you can read the full transcript of what he said here. Wolfie pointed out all three reasons why we went into Iraq, but of course the pundits seized on only one and took it out of context.
Blair told Sky that WMD were the basis in law for taking military action - but 'that's not the same as saying it's a bureaucratic pretext'.
Exactly.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2003 01:58 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It doesn't matter if the weapons were destroyed just before the war or not(why all the obstruction of the inspectors if they didn't have them).There were plenty of other reasons!
Anybody who doubts he had them is a fool!
Posted by: Raptor || 06/01/2003 6:52 Comments || Top||

#2  I agree that Sammy had them, and can't believe that he got rid of them all. At this point I'm going with the Bush strategy to pull the war opponents into the "you lied to us about the WMD" argument at the top of their lungs, then produce the evidence. Dr Germ should be a show and tell on her own. Probably no nukes, but real chem and bio weapons will be found
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 7:32 Comments || Top||

#3  It's pretty damned hard to dispute- as some seem to be trying to do- that Saddam ever had WMD; after all, he did use them, during the Iran/Iraq war and later on his own Kurdish population. So those who parrot the "Bush and Blair lied to us" argument are forgetting- or deliberately ignoring- the blatantly obvious. They're also ignoring the fact that Bill Clinton also cited Saddam's WMD in justifying his own policy of regime change in Iraq (they do remember, don't they, that was Clinton's policy? Clinton just didn't act on it, while Bush did), so if they want to accuse Bush of lying they also have to figure out how to accuse their beloved Slick Willie of lying, too.

"Did Saddam have WMD?" is not the question. The question is, "What happened to Saddam's WMD?" Getting an answer is important, but not for the purpose of knowing whether Bush was lying; we all know perfectly well, or ought to, that he wasn't.
Posted by: Dave D. || 06/01/2003 10:14 Comments || Top||

#4  I bet the weapons are buried--probably somewhere outside Damascus, along with the Iraqi treasury! The latter awaiting transfer to the secretive Swiss banks/gnomes/Nazi collaborators "Vhat gold? Ve know nothink"
Posted by: Not Mike Moore || 06/01/2003 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  The debate has now gone from antiquities thefts, not caring about mass graves, etc to WMD. I'm concerned too that they have not been found yet, although, what about the materials found in the river at the beginning of the war? All the barrels of questionable materials? The two bio labs?

In any case, Clinton and UN said he had them when inspectors left in 98; there were no documents stating WMD had been disposed of in the meantime; Saddam had handlers stuck to Inspectors prior to war. So what are we to think? He doesn't have them? Dr Khidir Hamza said they were there and that's good enough for me. They've been moved, destroyed, extra buried, whatever. The debate for this week is WMD; in a fortnight, who knows?
Posted by: Michael || 06/01/2003 21:17 Comments || Top||

#6  Ugly, real ugly. Assuming that there *is* highly sensitive, close-hold information concerning the existence of WMD that hasn't been released, chances are it's so tightly held that quite a few of the people you'd normally have to vet such information haven't seen it, which means that parts of it may not quite have the bang apparently promised.

OTOH, it could be that the substance of the various arguments made were verified on many points, and that, in their eagerness to skewer their political opponents, certain officials are choosing to ignore information they already possess, in which case, bringing it to their attention won't shut them up.
Posted by: Ray || 06/01/2003 23:02 Comments || Top||

#7  why would sammy play the games he did if Iraq didnt have weapons - one theory Ive heard, based on what we're learning about the kind of state this was, is that sammy THOUGHT he had the weapons - his scientists werent (for technical reasons) able to maintain a weapons inventory - and they were scared to let the higher ups know that they had failed - seeing that the consequnces were likely death - and so they fudged it. Not sure if that really makes any sense (how hard would it really have been for them to make and maintain VX?) but its an interesting thought, nonetheless.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2003 8:00 Comments || Top||

#8  Agents such as VX are binary agents:2seperate chemicals that by themselves are relativlyharmless,but when combined are deadly.Maintaingy them is not difficult as long as the components are seperate.

ex.chlorine+amonia=chlorine gas
Posted by: Raptor || 06/03/2003 8:24 Comments || Top||


Europe
No bomb found after Egypt Air plane makes emergency landing in Athens
ATHENS - An Egypt Air airliner en route from Madrid to Cairo made an emergency landing at Athens airport after a bomb alert but no explosives were found. Greek authorities quickly evacuated the 85 passengers and nine crew members of the Airbus A320 upon landing late Saturday and then searched the aircraft. “The result of the inspection of the plane is negative,” police spokesman Leftheris Oikonomou told reporters after a four-hour search by Greek special services. The aircraft made the emergency landing at Eleftherios VÚnizelos outside Athens at 9:00 pm after “a member of the crew found... a note on a piece of paper in the plane’s toilets on which was written the words “Found the bomb?’,” said Oikonomou. Officials at Cairo airport, where the plane landed Sunday with a nine-hour delay, said the Greek authorities had detained two Kuwaiti passengers who were the last believed to have used the toilets before the note was found.
An actual bomb isn't always needed for terrorism, is it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:34 am || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:


Fifth Column
G-8 Summit Protesters Block Roads, Bridges
ANNEMASSE, France - Anti-globalization rubes demonstrators blocked a highway to the Group of Eight summit site in Evian on Sunday morning, and riot police fired tear gas to break up the protest. In Switzerland, simple-minded rustics protesters occupied several bridges. The early morning protests kicked off a day of demonstrations scheduled to coincide with the arrival in Evian of most of the leaders of the world's top seven industrial powers and Russia. Police and soldiers enforced a large security cordon around Evian. Outside Annemasse, the main French town where wingnuts protesters are allowed to operate, thousands of tiny-brained fools demonstrators gathered at dawn Sunday on the main highway leading west to the summit site. The idjits protesters shouted slogans and unfurled a banner that read, "We don't bathe" ``Stop: Danger G-8.'' Police helicopters clattered overhead and about 50 agents fired tear gas to stop the deluded throngs from violating the security barrier and marching toward Evian, as they have threatened to do. Across the border in Geneva, activities were peaceful early Sunday. Several hundred mopes demonstrators blocked the city's main bridge - the Mont-Blanc - and several others, blaring Vivaldi's ``Four Seasons'' on the banks of Lake Geneva. Cars attempting to cross the bridges were turned away.
At least they had decent music!
Protest agitators organizers planned two marches Sunday, one starting from Annemasse and one from Geneva along police-approved routes. The two were to converge on the Franco-Swiss border and end in France.
Whereupon the French will surrender.
Authorities were expecting between 30,000 and 50,000 bored, middle-class spoiled demonstrators, who accuse the G-8 of ignoring the needs of the poor and the environment.
They said before retiring to dinner.
Demonstrations turned violent on Saturday. Thugs Protesters in Annemasse smashed windows at a meeting of the Socialist Party and clashed with police before dispersing. Late Saturday night, anarchists youths stormed through downtown Geneva, breaking windows and setting fires. Riot police moved in and the violence stopped after the police finished beating them. Also Saturday night, some 500 Swiss G-8 potential arsonists protesters lit 52 bonfires simultaneously along the crescent-shaped shoreline of Lake Geneva in a peaceful ``Ring of Fire'' demonstration meant to contrast with summit protests that have turned violent in the past.
After which they made s'mores.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2003 02:19 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "ignoring the needs of the poor and the environment"
"breaking windows and setting fires"
``Ring of Fire''

That is really a great help to the environment.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/01/2003 6:32 Comments || Top||

#2  actually they're protesting in the nude now - at least this one has a nice butt...with slogans on it lol
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 12:14 Comments || Top||

#3  How come Smoke on the Water, by Deep Purple keeps running through my brain?
Posted by: Denny || 06/01/2003 15:06 Comments || Top||

#4  Thanks Denny, now I've got that three chord wonder in my head...damn
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 15:17 Comments || Top||

#5  Yea but those 3 chords still Rock,along with"Space Truckin","My Woman From Tokayo".Bought the rereleased CD 2 weeks back.

Damn,at first though she was asking tro be mounted!
Posted by: Raptor || 06/02/2003 7:31 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Asad involved in Pearl’s murder
MULTAN: Qari Asad was closely linked with Al Qaeda and trained the killers of Daniel Pearl, Deputy Superintendent Police Owais Malik told an anti-terrorism court on Friday. “Qari Asad also planed suicide attacks in different parts of the country. He trained about 1500 people in the last nine years. This was after he ran away from Shehr Sultan where he killed six people by planting a bomb in an Imam Bargah in January 1994,” Malik added. The DSP refused to answer questions raised by journalists who were waiting for him outside the courtroom. However, he claimed that Asad “will help the police in apprehending Al Qaeda and Taliban operatives hiding in different parts of Pakistan”. He also confessed he was not sure if Asad would prove helpful in catching Bin Laden or Mullah Omar.
My guess would be not, but go ahead and see what you can get...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 03:25 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Two LJ activists arrested in Lahore
LAHORE: Police have arrested two men for suspected links with the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, an outlawed militant outfit, and Qari Asad, who is in police custody and is stated to be the right hand of Omar Saeed Sheikh, a convict in the murder case of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Daily Times has learnt. Sources said the arrested men were suspected of involvement in Daniel Pearl’s murder as well as other terrorist activities. One of the suspects, Hafiz Naveed, was arrested from his house in Shadbagh on Friday night.
They've been looking for him for a year? I hope he wasn't home watching teevee all that while, but I suspect he was — when he wasn't out doing other things.
On the basis of information extracted from him, police arrested the other suspect, Hafiz Shafique, from his house at Tibba Azeem Chowk in Ghoray Shah. Sources said police had also recovered one Kalashnikov and one pump action gun from Shafique’s house. Both suspects were taken to the CIA, Kotwali, from where they were shifted to Multan, sources added.
They took his remote, too. Those Pak cops are tough...
Sources said police had arrested Qari Asad for his involvement in the Daniel Pearl case. Sources said police believed that Asad had aided and abetted Pearl’s killers and had close links with Al Qaeda and Taliban. After his arrest, Asad was produced before Dera Ghazi Khan District and Sessions Judge Abdul Latif Qureshi, who was later notified as an acting judge of the Anti Terrorism Court, DG Khan on Friday. The judge allowed Asad’s three-day physical remand for interrogations.
"Ahmed, you ain't gonna wear that turban to an interrogation, are you? Here, try this fez..."
Sources said Asad was also accused of masterminding several acts of terrorism in different parts of the country and training about 1,500 Qaeda and Taliban activists in the last nine years. Sources said he had disappeared to Afghanistan after a bomb exploded at the Shehr-e-Sultan Imam Bargah in January 1994. Six persons were killed in the blast.
"Then I looked around me, and — Thhhhppp! — he was gone!"
Sources said police, following a tip of Qari Asad, arrested a terrorist Kashif alias Chota Usman, who was involved in two incidents of sectarian killings in Bahawalpur, from Lahore a few days ago. During interrogation, Kashif pointed out that one Faisal was his close aide and police also arrested him from Lahore, said sources, adding on Faisal’s tip, police arrest Hafiz Naveed.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 03:19 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror court jurisdiction challenged by lawyers
KARACHI: Defence attorneys yesterday challenged the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court trying five militants charged with attempting to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
"So they were trying to assassinate the president. Show me where it says that's terrorism!"
The court was to announce tomorrow whether it was appropriate for the trial to convene in the anti-terror court, said prosecution lawyer Abdul Waheed Khan.
It being a Pak court, there's no telling what it'll decide...
Among the accused were two men already sentenced to death by a different court for masterminding a suicide car bomb attack outside the US consulate in Karachi that killed 12 Pakistanis. Police allege the accused had parked a Suzuki pick-up truck on a busy commercial road to blow up Musharraf's car when he was visiting this southern port city on April 26 to attend a rally. The same vehicle was later used in the June attack outside the US consulate.
That was because they hosed the first explosion...
In his petition, defence lawyer Abdul Waheed Katpar said the case had no substance and it did not not fall under the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court. "My plea is that neither any act of terrorism had been committed nor the action created any scare or panic in the public, therefore it does not fall in the jurisdiction of an anti-terrorism court," he said. All five defendants, Mohammad Imran Bhai, Hanif Ayub, Arslan Sharib Farooqi, Mohammad Ashraf and Wasim Akhtar, were indicted last month on not guilty pleas.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 12:00 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't think that attempting to assassinate the military dictator of a country counts as terrorism... An act of guerilla warfare, perhaps.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 06/01/2003 12:12 Comments || Top||

#2  I may be an absolutist, but I feel like if there's a car bomb involved, it's terrorism...
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2003 12:56 Comments || Top||


Army moves 10,000 troops to nail terrorists
Turning on the heat after Operation Sarpvinash in the Surankote sector, the Army has moved in 10 battalions (nearly 10,000 men) to nail terrorists north of the Pir Panjal. As many as 45 militants have been gunned down and another 10, including an Al Qaeda operative, taken captive this week. Official sources in New Delhi today confirmed Army force levels have been increased in the Poonch-Naushera sector to strengthen the counter-insurgency grid, forcing militants to engage security forces or move out from their hideouts. The Army, in the meantime, has also started fencing 275 km of the Line of Control (LoC), prone to infiltration. Nearly 4,000 personnel from the Corps of Engineers are working round the clock to ensure that the work’s completed on time. By next year, South Block sources say, fencing work will intensify and will be undertaken along 600 km. ‘‘We plan to put up electrified fences along key points along the LoC to ensure that infiltration can be checked,’’ a senior Army official said. The spurt in terrorist kills by security forces has been a fallout of the operations at Hill Kaka where an estimated 350 terrorists were believed to have taken refuge.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/01/2003 03:36 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "electrified fences"
I'm shocked,I tell'ya.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/01/2003 6:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Excuse my near constant refrain, but 45 militants?! Imagine if the Zionists had done that. The frantic, fevered orgy of press coverage would make make Scott Peterson jealous faster than you can say Jenin.
Posted by: af || 06/01/2003 9:55 Comments || Top||


Iraq
Was Saddam Betrayed? (Whaddya think?)
Saddam Hussein was betrayed by three of his cousins, senior military officers, and a former cabinet minister, in moves that allowed the fall of Baghdad, ex regime officials have said. According to these former officials Saddam's cousins ordered troops not to fight against the US-led coalition and issued reports saying that the Iraqi leader was dead. "The head of the Republican Guard Sufian al-Tikriti, who was considered the shadow of Saddam, told the troops not to fight when US forces entered Baghdad on April 8," one of the sources said on condition of anonymity. "The verbal order was confirmed by the head of intelligence, Taher Jalil al-Harbush al-Tikriti, as well as military officer Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti whose son headed the office of Saddam's youngest son Qusay," the source said.
And then we bumped off poor Maher Sufian for all this help. That's the thanks you get...
At the same time a rumour that Saddam was killed in the bombing of the Baghdad neighbourhood of Al-Mansour on April 7 began to spread among government members. The information was spread by one cabinet minister, the source said, refusing to identify the former official. "This minister was then evacuated by American troops along with his family and now lives in a European country," the source said. The three military officers and their families were also evacuated by US troops aboard a military aircraft following the fall of Baghdad, the source said. The former officials also said that Saddam had visited the Al-Azamiya district in central Baghdad on April 8 with Qusay. A videotape broadcast by Abu Dhabi television in April showed Saddam being cheered by a crowd of supporters in Al-Azamiya, but it was reported to have happened on April 9, the day Baghdad fell to US forces. "During that visit Saddam said he had been betrayed, referring to two US bombardments targetting him," one of the sources said, quoting witnesses present in Al-Azamiya. "Saddam Hussein knew he had been betrayed and that information on his whereabouts had been handed over to the Americans on the night of March 19," one of the sources said.
You just can't trust anybody, can you?
The former Iraqi leader then ordered a close surveillance of his personal guards who were among the very few to know about his activities, the source added. "Thus he voluntarily let it be known that he would be visiting Al-Mansour on April 7," he said. "As usual he took a taxi that was discretely followed by his guards and went to a restaurant but while his guards thought he was inside the building, Saddam came out from a rear door," he said.
And what happened next?
US forces bombed the building soon after but Saddam emerged unscathed, the source added. "Saddam Hussein no longer needed proof and ordered the execution of these officers who were known to be among those most faithful to him," the source added.
"Mahmoud, shoot them. Shoot them all."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 12:27 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I have it on good authority that Sean Penn spirited Saddam and his sons out and their staying in Sean's mansion in Hollywood.
Posted by: DANEgerus || 06/01/2003 21:11 Comments || Top||


U.S. Soldier, Two Iraqis Killed In Bomb Attack: Al-Jazeera
BAGHDAD - One U.S. soldier and two Iraqis were killed in a grenade attack on a U.S. tank in central Baghdad Sunday, June 1, Al-Jazeera satellite channel reported. “One American soldier was shot dead in the attack on a U.S. armored vehicle before Abu Hanifa mosque in Al-Azamiya district, and in the ensuing fire exchange two Iraqi passers-by were shot down,” the channel’s correspondent said. The correspondent quoted eyewitnesses as saying that another American soldier was also killed in the clashes. “Two other U.S. soldiers were wounded in the same assault near Abu Hanifa mosque in the neighborhood,” she added, giving no clue to the identity of the attackers.
I think there's some pretty obvious significance to the fact that so many of these attacks take place near mosques...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 12:07 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq’s Sacked Media Workers Demand Jobs
Denouncing the United States, hundreds of former employees of Saddam Hussein’s Information Ministry protested yesterday against the loss of their jobs following a US decree dissolving the ministry. “America is against human rights. American democracy in Iraq means poverty and unemployment,” they chanted outside Baghdad’s Palestine Hotel, where some foreign media are based. The US civil administrator for Iraq, Paul Bremer, sacked more than 5,000 staff who used to run Iraqi state television, radio, the Iraqi News Agency and several newspapers, when he abolished the ministry a week ago.
I hope he's abolished the Information Ministry itself by now...
In other moves to rid Iraq of links to Saddam’s era, Bremer also dissolved the armed forces, several security bodies and the Defense Ministry, firing more than 400,000 people.
Most of the people who kept Sammy in power, in fact. Wonder why he did that?
The demonstrators, some of whom had spent more than 30 years at the Information Ministry, urged Bremer to reconsider. “It is an unjust decision,” Abdul Mutaleb Mahmoud, former journalist at Al-Qadissiya newspaper, told Reuters. Amad Al-Ataibi, a former editor at INA, said Bremer should negotiate with the sacked employees, saying they had suffered under Saddam when there was no freedom of expression. “Before they invaded, the Americans said they would make Iraqis live better. Is firing 5,000 employees who feed around 25,000 people the way to make us live better?” INA engineer Samir Mehdi Al-Ubaidi asked. Some said they were not Baathists and demanded their pension rights. “I spent 25 years running Al-Hurriya printing house in Baghdad and had nothing to do with Saddam’s media, so why I am sacked?” asked Nuha Najeeb, a mother of five.
Because there's no government press anymore?
US officials say each ministry employee is eligible for a termination payment of $50, but Mahmoud said this was derisory. “I’m not going to take that money. It is humiliating,” he said. “In Europe and America, they pay the unemployed at least $300 per week, why they are paying us only $50?”
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:04 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  “It is an unjust decision,” Abdul Mutaleb Mahmoud, former journalist at Al-Qadissiya newspaper, told Reuters.

I'm sure he could find a job at the NYT or CNN (Network of Tyrants) as part of their diversity program.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 06/01/2003 11:22 Comments || Top||


Baghdad Bob lives!
"Comical Ali" [alias "Baghdad Bob," alias "Skippy,"] is alive and living in a Baghdad suburb - and still wearing his trademark uniform and beret, according to reports. The Mail on Sunday said it had tracked down the former Iraqi information minister, ending speculation he had committed suicide or fled the country.
"I'm not dead! I'm getting better!"
The newspaper said it found him "cowering in his modest home, terrified his own people will kill him".
"I think I won't go for a walk!"
They said his wife and daughter act as his human shields while his sons had temporarily left their jobs as doctors to help protect him.
"I feel terrified! I feel terrified!"
The paper described Ali - full name Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf - as "a broken man, spending his days pacing his study in his uniform and green beret".
"I am not broken! I am not within one hundred miles of broken!"
He refused to talk to the paper and friends said he may never go out in public again. "The family are worried he is going out of his mind", it reported one friend as saying.
He can't be going out of his mind. To do that, he'd have to have a mind to go out of.
Al-Sahaf was dubbed "Comical Ali" after his outrageous denials of the US-led advance into Iraq. He told the world there were no US troops in Baghdad while TV viewers watched American tanks roll through the Iraqi capital's streets.
Posted by: Mike || 06/01/2003 05:44 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "The family are worried he is going out of his mind"
Perhaps he should look on the roof of the Palistine hotel.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/01/2003 6:42 Comments || Top||

#2  Maybe he and Sean Penn can start collaborating on a history of the war.
Posted by: Matt || 06/01/2003 8:38 Comments || Top||

#3  The reason he may be going mad is that he thought he was important enough to be on the deck of cards, but when he tried to surrender, all they wanted from him was his autograph.
He just doesn't see the opportunities here: I bet you he would make a popular reality show, something akin to the Osbournes. Sign him up Hollywood! I'd watch...
Posted by: RW || 06/01/2003 16:12 Comments || Top||

#4  "Dear, here are your scrambled eggs..."
"There are no eggs in this house! All the eggs committed suicide jumping from the kitchen counter! Don't listen to them!"
"...and here is your toast and orange juice."
"All the toast was burned alive in the toaster!! There is no toast here!!"

Sorry, couldn't resist...
Posted by: RW || 06/01/2003 16:19 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
New Al-Qaida Operations Concealed By The Media
Source: Alshorouq.org, KFMD TV & Islammessage.com, Translated by JUS
According to sources closely related to the Al-Qaeda organization, two successful operations were carried approximately ten days ago in Kuwait and in the USA, and both of them were totally neglected or concealed by both Arab and western media.
We do that all the time. So does the Arab media...
The first operation took place in Al-Abdali area in Kuwait when an Afghan driver opened up heavy gun fire on American soldiers near a military camp killing more than 25 and injuring 7 Nevertheless, the Kuwaiti and Arab media ignored the attack that was rated by Al-Qaida as middle-scale operation. So far the information about this attack is hidden and scarce, but Al-Qaida related websites promised to release more details soon.
We'll be waiting for the details...
The second operation took place in the main oil refinery in Texas that led to the total destruction of the refinery and unknown number of casualties.
The main oil refinery in Texas, hmmm?
Sources criticized the American coward and liar way of controlling the media not only in the US but in the Arab world as well so that no single bit of information was announced about the 2 operations or even the losses. The sources promised to release a new audio tape for Osama Bin Laden the Head of Al-Qaida organization about the Mujahedeen operations especially this major one in Texas, in addition to commenting on the current events that took place the area recently.
Should be coming any time now...
On the other hand, some American sources mentioned that a huge explosion took place in the main oil refinery in Texas.
Thought you said nobody mentioned it? Make up your mind, if any...
According to Lieutenant Paul Limoin from Niches police station, the explosion fires spread from 300 to 400 feet vertically in the air that could be seen and heard from miles. The explosion was so strong that it resulted in very strong pressure in the area.
The local American TV station KFDM was the only one to transmit the incident live on Tuesday the 20th of May at about 11 PM. KFDM attributed the incident to a tough explosion in a natural gas tube line at Jefferson district.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 12:15 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I live in Texas, and while I have not been paying close attention to the print or TV lately I have not heard of even an industrial accident at any Texas refinery. I will check out Niches. Anyway, the story about some "lone gunman" killing 25 troops is really unbelieveable as the lack of shooting skills by these clowns was amply demonstrated during the war. Al-Qaeda is sounding desparate trying to prove it can hurt the US, despite 1.5 years of no attacks on US soil and our victories in Afghanistan and Iraq. Quess they hope it will be believed by the "Arab Street".
Posted by: Rifke308 || 06/01/2003 12:32 Comments || Top||

#2  KFMD appears to be a Denver FM station, rather than a Texas television station. Islammessage.com is a religious site with a "weekly message" content. It looks like it was designed by the same web designer who did Taliban On-Line, which has been defunct lately. Alshorouq.org is in Arabic. It appears to be a news site.
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2003 12:54 Comments || Top||

#3  I looked around the net, KFMD is a radio station in Denver CO. There is no town of "Niches" in Texas. And I misspelled my name last post as Rifke, it is Rifle, sigh.
And Fred beat me to the punch...
Posted by: Rifle308 || 06/01/2003 13:02 Comments || Top||

#4  They seem to think Texas is some piddly little area like Kuwait or Quatar. The MAIN refinery is a good'un...
Posted by: mojo || 06/01/2003 13:26 Comments || Top||

#5  In refinery news, Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P.'s oil off-loading operations were reportedly restarting Thursday (22 May) at the company's Nederland, Texas, terminal after a natural gas pipeline explosion late Tuesday (20 May)caused a fire and power outage that shut down the facility.
This is the only oil fire in Texas on that date. We have so many no one noticed.
Posted by: Steve || 06/01/2003 16:22 Comments || Top||

#6  Ronda Vize works for KFDM, the CBS affiliate out of Beaumont, TX.
Posted by: Nick || 06/01/2003 17:30 Comments || Top||

#7  rifke - i have an inlaw named rifke. Yiddish diminuitive form, of Rivka, Hebrew for Rebecca (well actually Rebecca is English for Rivka, but no matter)
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2003 8:03 Comments || Top||


East/Subsaharan Africa
Fresh massacre in DR Congo
Fresh reports have emerged about mass killings in the north-east of the Democratic Republic of Congo where bitter ethnic conflict broke out after Ugandan troops withdrew last month.
A Ugandan military commander Brigadier Kale Kaihura has told the BBC that fighters from the majority Lendu community have slaughtered at least 100 people in a village of Kyomna populated by Hema people.
Hema leader Bawunde Kisangani told the French news agency AFP that he visited the village and counted 253 dead bodies, including about 20 babies.
He said the attackers used machetes and rifles to kill their victims. "They stormed a hospital and killed people they found there."
The attackers included fighters of another rebel group, the Congolese Rally for Democracy-Liberation Movement, as well as Kinshasa government troops, he said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 06/01/2003 07:21 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sounds like the Hema could have used a Second Amendment of their own. Some of them would still have died, but so would many of their attackers. Thugs don't like it when their victims fight back.

I'd say "Handgun Control, take note," but I'm sure they know the logical end result of their campaign if they should prevail (of course, they will have armed guards, since they're more important than we peasants). We probably won't have to worry too much about machetes....
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 06/01/2003 21:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Iraq was filled with weapons, even during the Saddam Hussein era. He never cared to take them away from the population. They didn't do any good to the population.

Second Amendment supporters overestimate the usefulness of handguns in defending against massacres and other violations of human rights..
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 06/01/2003 21:52 Comments || Top||

#3  Not exactly true. Actually, the weapons in Iraq were mainly in the hands of the Saddamite thugs, and they weren't just handguns. Also, most Arab countries are tribal societies withsout a sense fo nationhood. As they say, "My cousin and I against the world, and my brother and I against my cousin."
Posted by: Anonymous Troll || 06/01/2003 22:05 Comments || Top||

#4  You need the will and the credibility to use the weapons. No guarantees of victory, but deterrence is not about victory as it is about being left alone, which is what the Hema really wanted.
Posted by: Ptah || 06/02/2003 6:02 Comments || Top||


Korea
US warns Pyongyang to abandon atomic weapons
US President George W. Bush on Sunday warned Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear ambitions as tensions rose again in east Asia following a naval clash between North Korea and South Korea.
using a typically stupid NK incident to ratchet up the pressure
"We strongly urge North Korea to visibly, verifiably, and irreversibly dismantle its nuclear weapons programme," Mr Bush said in St Petersburg, following talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. "The United States and Russia are determined to meet the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction and the means to deliver them." South Korea's navy on Sunday fired warning shots after North Korean fishing boats crossed the disputed maritime border for the fifth time in seven days. The incident increased fears that the two Koreas could be heading for a repeat of last June's naval battle, in which five South Korean sailors and an unknown number of North Koreans died.

Mr Bush's warnings came as other senior US officials cautioned that time was running out to stop North Korea's weapons programme. Paul Wolfowitz, the US deputy defence secretary, described the possibility of North Korean nuclear exports to other countries or terrorist groups as a "real and immediate danger". At a weekend meeting of ministers, military leaders and policy analysts organised by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies in Singapore, one senior western official described North Korea as Washington's "first priority in Asia". The official criticised Pyongyang's "very aggressive weapons of mass destruction programme". "We don't have much time to solve it." US officials want Seoul, Tokyo and above all Beijing to apply pressure on North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons ambitions and rejoin the Nuclear Non- Proliferation Treaty. Mr Wolfowitz said: "A consensus is beginning to take shape that the only way we will be able to solve this problem peacefully is through a carefully managed multilateral approach to Pyongyang." But some delegates at the IISS conference held out the possibility of a US first strike to destroy North Korean nuclear targets. "The path we're on is letting North Korea go nuclear, and I think that's an unacceptable path," said one military strategist.
Pretty much leaves 3 options - diplomatic disarmament and a nuke strike
Asian leaders have stressed that the North Korean threat must be dealt with peacefully.
fallout sucks
Hu Jintao, Chinese president, and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed at a meeting in Russia on Saturday that tensions surrounding North Korea's nuclear programme should be dealt with through dialogue - but offered little specific action.
Kinda hard to hold a dialogue when you've got nothing to day...
Japanese officials told reporters in St Petersburg that Mr Hu had expressed "understanding" for Japan's desire to be included in future negotiations with Pyongyang, following a recent round of talks that were limited to North Korea, the US and host China.
Maybe we're finally getting a consensus of the neighbors that NK has to be dealt with?
"Bartender! More dialogue for me and my friends here!"
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 04:38 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Iran
Iran wants Pak help against Qaeda
TEHRAN: Iran urged Pakistan on Saturday to join it in fighting “terrorism” by stopping Al Qaeda fighters from slipping into Iran across its eastern border, the official IRNA news agency said. “Iran and Pakistan’s joint campaign against terrorism, particularly against the al Qaeda group is important,” the agency quoted Supreme National Security Council chief Hassan Rohani as saying. “The best way to confront al Qaeda is through regional cooperation and... Pakistan should do its utmost to prevent al Qaeda members from entering into Iran,” Rohani told Pakistani Foreign Minister Mian Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri.
To which Kasuri replied, "Sure, sure! Look at the great job we're doing keeping them from nobbling into Afghanistan!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 03:22 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
A Theory of Everything
Not bad for a Tom Friedman editorial. EFL
During the 1990's, America became exponentially more powerful — economically, militarily and technologically — than any other country in the world, if not in history. Broadly speaking, this was because the collapse of the Soviet empire, and the alternative to free-market capitalism, coincided with the Internet-technology revolution in America. The net effect was that U.S. power, culture and economic ideas about how society should be organized became so dominant (a dominance magnified through globalization) that America began to touch people's lives around the planet — "more than their own governments," as a Pakistani diplomat once said to me. Yes, we began to touch people's lives — directly or indirectly — more than their own governments.
As Joe Stalin once said, "Historical analogies limp." However, I believe that the last time that such a situation existed was during the Roman Empire. I've been doing a lot of reading of Josephus lately, especially the Jewish War. There are a lot of good "lessons learned" there for any student of the current conflict.
As people realized this, they began to organize against it in a very inchoate manner. The first manifestation of that was the 1999 Seattle protest, which triggered a global movement. Seattle had its idiot side, but what the serious protesters there were saying was: "You, America, are now touching my life more than my own government. You are touching it by how your culture seeps into mine, by how your technologies are speeding up change in all aspects of my life, and by how your economic rules have been `imposed' on me. I want to have a vote on how your power is exercised, because it's a force now shaping my life."
I'm less charitable than Friedman. I think that it has less to do with "votes" than with power. America's culture and values undermine the Islamists' power over his women and kinfolk. Nothing scares the French elites more than the sheep of the French underclass one day waking up and asking why their society has so little choice and upward mobility. Indian bramins and Latino criollos tremble at the thought of mestizos and dalits sitting next to them at the bargaining table. America is the greatest fear of every tyrant, petty or otherwise.
Why didn't nations organize militarily against the U.S.? ...because the world basically understands that America is a benign hegemon, the ganging up does not take the shape of warfare. Instead, it is an effort to Gulliverize America, an attempt to tie it down, using the rules of the World Trade Organization or U.N. — and in so doing demanding a vote on how American power is used."
I'm even less charitable here. Europe has lost the will to fight. Hell, they've lost the will to reproduce (birthrates at about 1.3 non-Muslim births per woman -- well below the replacement rate). The Arabs have been fighting us through terror-proxies since 1967. The Chinese are just biding their time.
"Where we are now," says Nayan Chanda, publications director at the Yale Center for the Study of Globalization (whose Web site yaleglobal .yale.edu is full of valuable nuggets), "is that you have this sullen anger out in the world at America. Because people realize they are not going to get a vote over American power, they cannot do anything about it, but they will be affected by it."
Supposedly, some Nazi once said, "When I hear the word 'culture,' I reach for my pistol." Likewise, I start reaching for mine when I hear a member of any third world power elite start talking about votes or democracy.
Finding a stable way to manage this situation will be critical to managing America's relations with the rest of the globe. Any ideas? Let's hear 'em: thfrie@nytimes.com.
I was tempted to send Tom the link to Rantburg.
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/01/2003 01:52 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "When I hear the word "culture", I reach for my revolver."

The full quotation is: "Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning." It comes from Hanns Johst's most famous play, Schlageter (first performed in April 1933, for Hitler's birthday) and occurs in Act 1, Scene 1. The character who says the line is called Thiemann.

This is usually translated as "Whenever I hear the word culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!"

From the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations entry for Johst, Hanns (1890 - 1978) German playwright.

Hope that helps. ^_^ You can find the reference here.

http://www.thinkinginenglish.com/notes.htm


Posted by: Ed Becerra || 06/01/2003 14:41 Comments || Top||

#2  Thanks, Ed. I remembered that the quote was often misattributed to Goering or some other Nazi, but did not know that it was from a play. I disagree with the translation. The Browning that was fetishized by European revolutionaries of the right and left during that era was an automatic pistol, not a revolver. It was as much part of the revolutionary image of that era as the AK-47 is now. If OBL had lived in the pre-WWII era, he would have carried a Browning.
Posted by: 11A5S || 06/01/2003 16:24 Comments || Top||

#3  One thing I have never been able to understand is why people in these s***holes in the third world when exposed to what conditions are like in the US, Canada, Europe,and Japan don't rise up in protest against the governments that keep them poor and oppressed. A classic example is Africa, Blessed with abundant natural resources the politicians there have only seemed to be interested in Swiss Bank accounts and formenting tribal conflicts.
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire || 06/01/2003 16:32 Comments || Top||

#4  I have little patience for Friedman's brand of narcissistic navel-gazing and subtle America-blaming, or for those who keep telling us we need to "understand why they hate us so much."

It's really a lot simpler than people like Friedman want to acknowledge: they hate us because their culture, and particularly their religion, fill them with hate. They are hateful, and there's nothing more to it than that.

The French arch-jackass Rousseau put forth the proposition that these people are "noble savages." He was wrong. They're not noble savages; they're just savages.
Posted by: Dave D. || 06/01/2003 16:40 Comments || Top||

#5  The Chinese are just biding their time.

Look at the population for the PRC and the male:female birth rate. Their distribution curves are seriously distorted and their population will top out in a few years, to start shrinking. From their economy to their military made in the Cultural Revolution times, the PRC isn't a threat to the United States.
Posted by: Brian || 06/01/2003 16:49 Comments || Top||

#6  Brian is quite correct. While China would wish it otherwise, female infantacide is STILL quite strong in the rural countryside, practiced by families desperate to have male sons to carry on the family name. In China, when a family has only daughters, the name is lost due to the practice of a married woman leaving her family and becoming part of her husband's family. (IE., Miss Jones becomes Mrs. Smith, and the Jones family is left without an heir to the family NAME, which is held to be as important, if not more than, the real property.)

The end result of families killing girl children at birth is a massive underpopulation of females to create the next generation.

The desperation to preserve their family names has, unfortunately, blinded the rural Chinese to one brutal fact of nature.. that when you want 100 babies, you MUST have 100 women. But only ONE man.

So China's in a hole they're not able to climb out of on their own. Certain friends of mine in the international intellegence community have told me (off the record) that it's so serious, some members of the ruling elite have actually suggested going to war with India just to (a) kill off the excess number of young men who will never have brides of their own and (b) if possible, indulge in bridal-kidnapping on a mass scale.

China PROBABLY won't do this, it's too damn risky and there are other, far more practical, solutions. But the fact that the idea was even brought up in serious discussion shows just how bad off the situation is.

Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 06/01/2003 21:26 Comments || Top||

#7  A couple of things, here.
Yes, it's just pure hatred on the part of the Mohammedans... we're infidels, and we must all die. They won't rest until the West has been destroyed. (Remember, Islam is an evil religion, and Muslims in America are a Fifth Column.)
As for the Chinese, we will be at war with them within 24 years. They also despise us as "Western Devils".
Isn't it great we're allowing Muslims and Chinese to pour into America?
Posted by: dickweed || 06/01/2003 21:48 Comments || Top||

#8  I agree a bit with Dave D. I find Friedman frustrating in that he sounds reasonable but then veers into left wing or liberal dogma/answers. Classic example - he was on Charlie Rose the other night and while he rightly blamed much of the Middle East mess on Saudia Arabia, Egypt, etc. he then blamed Bush for not signing Kyoto which (Friedman said) would greatly reduce the U.S." "far out of proportion" energy consumption and help resolve the Middle East crises.
Posted by: AWW || 06/01/2003 22:52 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Hamas: Jordanian envoy’s statement incites civil strife
That's as opposed to what they have now, which is, ummm... civil strife.
Gaza - The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, has lashed out at statements by Jordanian ambassador to Washington Karim Kawar at a political seminar in the USA recently. Kawar said, “The new (Palestinian Authority) premier should be given the support he wished to combat terrorism, he needs to launch war against Hamas and Islamic Jihad”.
Sounds reasonable to me...
Hamas, describing his statement as serious, said that it was a clear call for igniting civil strife in the Palestinian street that would only benefit the Zionist enemy. The Movement said that the statement further justified the Zionist savage crimes against the Palestinian people and even “encourages (Zionist premier Ariel) Sharon on committing more terrorism against our Mujahid people who are endeavoring to attain legitimate rights”. Hamas asked the Jordanian government to denounce such a serious statement and urged Amman to put an end to similar acts that harmed the Palestinian people and their legitimate resistance.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 01:49 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  havent seen any coverage of original story, about statements by Kawar. I would think that a call by an Arab ambassador for PA to go to war on Hamas would be newsworthy, wouldnt you?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 06/02/2003 8:07 Comments || Top||


PA security apparatuses receive “terrorism” combat gear
Gaza - Unconfirmed reports have recently indicated that the Palestinian Authority’s security apparatuses had recently received several types of anti-“terrorism” gear. The reports said that those apparatuses recently received a new shipment of small “balls” that emanate on firing anesthetic gases to be used in arrest campaigns.
Like the kind they used in Moscow?
The apparatuses also received new modern vehicles supplied with advanced equipment to jam mobile telephone conversations to be used during raids on resistance elements. Meanwhile, Palestinian sources said that the PA security command was planning a 45 days refresher course for all security elements under the title “a course to deter terrorism”.
Yeah, I'd say they need a refresher course...
They pointed out that 300 men were recruited from various security apparatuses in the “anti-terrorism” apparatus that was recently formed. The police force in Gaza also received five armored vehicles specially designed to spray hot water on demonstrators in addition to a big shipment of batons, armors, gas canisters, rubber bullets and other equipment used in quelling and dispersing demonstrations.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 12:38 pm || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who gave the stuff to them?
Posted by: Raptor || 06/02/2003 8:13 Comments || Top||


Zionist occupation arrests two Palestinian girls
Nablus - Zionist occupation forces at dawn yesterday arrested Alaa Khaled Dawabshe, 21, student in the Najah University from her family’s house in Duma village, Nablus district. Ammar Dawabshe, brother of the detainee and a journalist, said that all members of the family expressed surprise at the arrest of Alaa.
"Arrested? Alaa? Whatever for?"
"She was fitted for a new girdle last week. Maybe that was it."
He said that around 60 Zionist intelligence agents and Special Forces besieged their house then broke into it asking for Alaa. One of the accompanying female conscripts searched Alaa before taking her to an unknown destination. Dawabshe expressed conviction that his sister had no activities whatsoever that could justify her arrest.
"Well, maybe the girdle. But nothing other than that..."
A few days earlier the Zionist forces arrested Rawya Assad, 18, from her family house in Tulkarm refugee camp after storming the house. Her father said that the soldiers handcuffed and blindfolded Rawya before taking her to the army barracks in Qadomim. He noted that the occupation forces had arrested his other daughter Riham and his son Mohammed a few months ago.
Something to do with the family business, perhaps?
Rawya since her detention a week ago was facing constant interrogation and assaults while imprisoned alone in a cell not fit for humans. Zionist interrogators, according to information leaked from the detention camp, beat her up, insulted her and threatened to rape her but she was not shaken and remained steadfast.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 12:34 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


North Africa
Suspect held in Morocco
RABAT - A local official from Morocco's Justice and Development Party (PJD) was arrested on Friday under suspicion of having had prior knowledge of deadly terror attacks, the Interior Ministry said yesterday. The suspect, Younes Ousalah, is treasurer of a section of the PJD in Sidi Taiebi, north of Rabat, in an area considered to be a conservative stronghold.
Bad Younes. Watch your liver when they take you over to Fez for that little talk...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:54 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Boy George (who?) beats it from Turkey
British pop star Boy George abruptly cut short a visit to Turkey and left the country about 30 minutes after arriving there, deterred by media interest, local newspapers reported yesterday. He was due to give three concerts at a large discotheque in Bodrum, in southeast Turkey, and had said he did not want to be filmed or photographed on his arrival at Istanbul airport, Milliyet said. But once through immigration formalities he was confronted by photographers and had to hide his face behind a copy of the magazine Gay.
What else?
He made immediately for the British Airways counter and bought a ticket home, said Hurriyet. Shortly afterwards he left Istanbul aboard the aircraft on which he had arrived, rather to the surprise of the officials who had just seen him land.
"Who was that masked, uhhh... man?"
The "news" in this item is that he's still around. Who'da thunkit?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:52 am || Comments || Link || [3 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Doing 3 shows in a Turkish Discotheque? Does that qualify as a professional career any more? What a surprise about the magazine. I read yesterday that, in advance of a autobiography book tour, Richard Chamberlain came out of the closet too. Now there's a surprise (/sarcasm off)
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 12:18 Comments || Top||

#2  Knowing a significant number of "gay" persons( my wife works for an "alternate lifestyle" individual )I personally don't care what they do or do not do in their private lives. But I do object to the fact that they can just as bigoted amongst themselves about straights and bigoted across the gender gap as any redneck. Kinda like "black people can't be racist"


Maybe Goerge heard the one about Turkish men buying xl condoms and he wasz looking for a thrill
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire || 06/01/2003 16:21 Comments || Top||

#3  They can do as they please, as long as I'm not required to join in. But that guy's strange. I'd think twice before leaving him alone with my house plants...
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2003 19:15 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon
Another deader in Ein el-Hellhole
EIN EL-HILWEH - A member of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group was shot dead overnight in the Ain el-Helweh refugee camp of southern Lebanon. “Unknown persons during the night knocked at the door of Raed Hajir, who is aged about 30, and shot him dead before fleeing,” one of the sources in the camp said. Factional fighting in Ein el-Helweh between Fatah and Islamist groups left eight people dead and 25 wounded on May 19, a day after another Fatah member was assassinated. An agreement was reached after mediation by Lebanese fundamentalist Sheikh Maher Hammoud, who negotiated the withdrawal of the warring militias to either side of the camp.
Another deader. Probably there's a reason that makes sense to somebody, not that it matters to him now...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:45 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Knock, knock!"
"Who's there?"
"You're dead!"
"You're dead who? ..." [BANG]
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2003 13:13 Comments || Top||

#2  “Unknown persons", huh? I think we could make a guess.
Posted by: mojo || 06/01/2003 13:21 Comments || Top||

#3  At least now we know
"Where is Raed?"
he's dead
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 14:26 Comments || Top||


Iran
US Favors Different Kind of Regime in Iran
The United States would like to see a different kind of regime in Iran, which will move away from “pursuing an aggressive agenda based on terrorism and weapons of mass destruction”, Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser to US President George W. Bush, told yesterday’s Financial Times. But Rice’s statement of US ambitions in an interview with the paper fell short of the desire for regime change in Tehran. The FT said, however, that Rice had signaled that Washington was determined to address an Iranian threat, describing it in similar terms to that formerly posed by Saddam Hussein’s toppled regime in Iraq. Rice told the paper that the White House wanted to see an elected government in Tehran which meets the demands of the Iranian people for “a regime which protects the rights of women, which is forward looking and modern.”
As opposed to a show democracy that's subject to the veto of theocrats...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 11:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


East/Subsaharan Africa
Terror Suspects Held in Sudan May Be Extradited to Saudi
Seventeen Saudis and a Palestinian arrested in Sudan on suspicion of belonging to a terrorist network will probably be extradited, police in Khartoum said. The group, which also includes a Sudanese, is still being investigated, the office of the Sudan police spokesman, Gen. Adil Sidahmed, said in a statement faxed to AFP. “It is likely that the detainees will be extradited to their home countries in compliance with the relevant international agreements,” it said. The group was recently arrested as it was “engaged in suspicious activities and carrying out illegal military training,” at a camp near Laqawa town in central West Kordofan State, the police said. The police added they were still searching for another Sudanese in connection with the case. A team of Saudi security experts is also helping the investigation into the suspects, who are being detained in Khartoum, according to local press reports. Gen. Al-Tayeb Abdel Rahman, the governor of West Kordofan State, said last week the suspects claimed they did not belong to any organization and that they were traveling “on the path of Allah”.
A path that seems to usually be travelled with guns and explosives...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 10:50 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Sudanese government rejects idea of secular Khartoum
KHARTOUM - Sudan's government has rejected a demand by the southern and northern opposition for the capital Khartoum to be ruled under secular rather than Islamic laws, an official said in remarks published Thursday. "Islamic Sharia laws in the national capital cannot be abrogated because the majority of its population that constitutes one-fifth of the country's population are Muslims," presidential peace Adviser Ghazi Salah Eddin Atabani was quoted by SUNA news agency as saying.
That's why no peace agreement is going to work in Sudan...
The status of the capital "has already been resolved in the Machakos agreement which provided for application of Islamic Sharia in the north and Khartoum is part of the north," Atabani said. He was referring to an appeal for a secular capital made by three opposition leaders — Mohamed Osman al-Mirghani, John Garang and Sadeq al-Mahdi — in Cairo on Saturday. Garang is the leader of the southern rebels of the Sudan People's Liberation Army (SPLA), which has been waging a 20-year war against the Islamist government in Khartoum. Mirghani and Mahdi head two northern opposition groups. "The status of the national capital cannot be reconsidered, otherwise the entire Machakos agreement will be reconsidered," Atabani warned. The ruling National Congress (NC) party issued a statement reinforcing the government stand. "The exemption of the capital from Sharia, as suggested in the tripartite (opposition) meeting, is absolutely rejected and will hinder and take the peace process back to square one," NC secretary general Ibrahim Ahmed Omar was quoted by Al-Anbaa daily as saying.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 10:42 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "because the majority of its population that constitutes one-fifth of the country's population are Muslims"??
pretty fractious population if 20% is now a majority, hmmmm?
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 11:32 Comments || Top||

#2  He probably meant that the city's population is 20% of the country's population, and that the city's majority are muslims.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 06/01/2003 12:26 Comments || Top||

#3  So, it only takes at least 10% of a country's population to make the Islamists demand sharia...
Posted by: Ptah || 06/02/2003 6:03 Comments || Top||


Sudan denies rebel claims they killed 500 government troops
KHARTOUM -- The Sudanese government army denied Saturday a claim by rebels that they had killed 500 army troops and captured 300 others in fighting in North Darfur state.
"Nope. Musta been somebody else they slaughtered..."
An official in the office of army spokesman General Mohammed Beshir Suleiman described the claim as a "false media rattle and fabrication." The official said "a small army reconnaissance team set out on Thursday to a place about 60 kilometres (37 miles) north of Kutum on a military mission. He said the team "engaged with a gang of armed robbers," which it defeated before continuing with its mission and returning safely to its base. He added that government forces "are now in full control of North Darfur."
"Yep. We're in charge here. Nothin' to see... Duck!"
On Thursday, a leader of the Sudan Liberation Army/Movement (SLM) said its forces had killed the troops and taken the prisoners during fighting earlier in the day. "We totally destroyed an infantry batallion moving in the area and we caused 500 deaths and took 300 prisoners during an ambush Thursday north of the city of Kutum," SLM secretary general Mani Arkoi Minawi told AFP. The SLM has claimed a number of attacks in the Darfur region since it surfaced for the first time in February.
But I'm not believing too heavily in the success of this one. The casualty figures sound a little, ummm... inflated...
The government has refused to acknowledge any political motivation for unrest in the states of North, South and West Darfur, blaming it instead on "armed criminal gangs and outlaws," who it says are aided by tribes from neighboring Chad. Sudanese authorities have also accused the southern separatist Sudan People's Liberation Army of helping the "outlaws" in the Darfur region, a charge the SPLA denies.
But which could very well be true. Probably depends on how Islamist the SLM is — and even then, I wouldn't rule out tactical alliances against a common target...
The SLM is not included in the framework of peace talks aimed at ending Khartoum's 20-year-old civil war with the SPLA, with which it has denied having any links.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 10:38 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Tsvingarai must tell his followers to stay at home or face arrest
Harare - Zim-Bob-We's police got a high court interdict on Saturday ordering opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai to call off street protests next week or face arrest. The order was issued by High Court Judge Ben Hlatshwayo after the police filed an urgent application in which they claimed the planned protests would undermine law and order and challenged the country's constitutional democracy.
Come the revolution, Ben's gonna go the blindfold and cigarette route...
Tsvangirai's Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) said on Friday it would press ahead next week with protests against President Robert Mugabe and warned that militant government supporters could turn the demonstrations bloody. Chief Inspector Andrew Phiri confirmed police had got a provisional order from the court outlawing the protests. "It is declared that the respondents (MDC and Tsvangirai) have acted unlawfully in calling for demonstrations intended to oust a legitimately elected president.
... who defines legitimacy himself.
Accordingly it is ordered that the respondents be indicted from organizing, urging or suggesting, or setting up the demonstrations intended to remove the lawfully elected president and government," the order said. The order gave the MDC the right to argue its own case. MDC legislator and lawyer David Coltart complained that they had received the order only at the time police served it but they intended to appeal against it on Sunday. "The MDC is not organizing violent protests, but peaceful protests," Tsvangirai spokesman William Bango said.
Don't worry. ZANU-PF will supply that part of it...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 06/01/2003 10:31 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Amman Court Sentences Japanese Photojournalist To Jail
Remember the journalist who brought the "grenade" war souveneir from Iraq back and it exploded? It was a cluster bomb. What a dumbass
AMMAN - Jordan's military court sentenced a Japanese photographer Sunday to 1 1/2 years in jail for unintentionally causing the death of a Jordanian security official in a cluster bomb blast at Amman airport last month. The court also found Hiroki Gomi of Japan's Mainichi Shimbun newspaper guilty of accidental damage to property at Amman's Queen Alia International Airport on May 1. On May 1, an Iraqi battlefield souvenir that Gomi, 36, had carried in his luggage exploded during a manual search at the airport, killing a Jordanian security guard and wounding three others. The court acquitted Gomi's Jordanian translator, Abdul-Salam Hilweh, 32. The presiding judge, Col. Fawaz al-Buqour, said there was no evidence to incriminate Hilweh, to whom Gomi had given a similar battlefield souvenir when they were covering the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Hilweh's cluster bomb was detonated by Jordanian bomb squads three days after the airport explosion. The sentence can be appealed. Gomi and Hilweh, wearing light blue prison uniform, stood silently as the verdict was read in the small courtroom crowded by Japanese diplomats and media representatives. Gomi pleaded innocent to charges that included negligence resulting in the death of the security guard, Ali al-Sarhan, and illegal possession of an explosive device. Gomi told the court he was unaware that the bomb was live.
dumbass
Al-Buqour, presiding over a three-man tribunal, said he "found no evidence that Mr. Gomi had criminal intentions when he carried the cluster bomb." He acquitted Gomi of illegal possession of explosives. Gomi was on his way back to Japan when the cluster bomb exploded in al-Sarhan's hands after an X-ray machine detected a metal object in his luggage. Al-Sarhan demanded a manual search as Gomi answered a mobile phone yards away. A Mainichi spokesman said Sunday evening in Tokyo that he could not comment immediately because he had not yet read the verdict. The spokesman, who did not give his name, said the newspaper would probably issue a statement later.
Posted by: Frank G || 06/01/2003 08:26 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  A battlefield souvenir, and he "didn't know it was live"?

Dumbass indeed.
Posted by: mojo || 06/01/2003 13:20 Comments || Top||

#2  And Japan has the strictest gun control laws of any country. Nothing regulating cluster bombs, apparently.
Posted by: Anonymous Troll || 06/01/2003 23:35 Comments || Top||


Home Front
9/11 Lawsuits for the Justice Department?
The release of a report critical of the DOJ's post-Sept. 11 roundup of terror suspects could mean legal action against some officials. Certain employees of the Justice Department have been advised to hire lawyers to defend them in a spate of lawsuits that could be filed shortly by people who were detained in the wake of 9/11.
Our legal system at work...
On Monday, the department's Inspector General is expected to release a report that will be critical of the government's roundup of nearly 800 individuals on immigration charges after the terrorist bombings in New York and Washington. The report, according to someone who is familiar with it, will criticize officials for not allowing many of the detainees to see an immigration judge, and holding detainees for lengthy periods even when it was increasingly clear they had nothing to do with terrorism.
They did go a little overboard those first few months.
The Inspector General's office said last July that the report should be ready by October 2002. In January of this year, it said its findings were complete and the report should be out shortly. It's unclear why the report has taken so long to be finalized, but sources say that there were discussions within the administration about the feasibility of delaying its release. Another portion of the report, dealing with conditions of confinement and access to counsel, is expected to be less critical. Among the officials who are most likely to be named in lawsuits, and thus who may be seeking individual counsel, are Justice Department Criminal Division head Michael Chertoff, former DOJ Assistant Attorney General Viet Dinh and former Immigration and Naturalization Service head James Ziglar, all of whom were architects of the roundup policy. Plaintiffs have been waiting for the IG report to be issued, believing — apparently accurately — that it could provide them with more ammunition for their complaints.
If they made misakes as part of their jobs, they should be held accountable. But the gummint is on the hook and should pay the lawyers, not these individuals.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2003 02:29 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Errors in judgement,probablly,but understandable never the less.
Posted by: Raptor || 06/01/2003 6:24 Comments || Top||

#2  I think it fell into the "better safe than sorry" category. Subsequent attacks after 9-11 would have resulted in lawsuit precisely because they hadn't done what they did. It was a lose-lose.
Posted by: Fred || 06/01/2003 10:44 Comments || Top||

#3  Yip yip Fred. In our sue-happy country, ya gonna be sued either way. And I for one would rather be sued alive than dead.
Posted by: TPF || 06/01/2003 21:26 Comments || Top||

#4  Um ... they were government officials acting in accordance with policy. Their superiors should have the decency to back them up, and let any lawsuits be against the US government, not throw them to the wolves.
Posted by: Ray || 06/01/2003 23:05 Comments || Top||


Korea
S. Korea Fires Shots at N. Korean Boats
South Korea's navy fired warning shots Sunday after three North Korean fishing boats entered the South's territory, South Korea's Defense Ministry said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The incident occurred near Yongpyong Island west of the Korean peninsula. The fishing boats turned back after South Korea's navy ships fired shots into sky, a ministry spokesman said. It was the sixth encounter between North and South Korean vessels along the disputed western sea border in seven days.
If they can sink one they could start a museum of their own.
The maritime border between the two Koreas is not clearly marked, and North Korean fishing boats occasionally cross over into South Korean waters during the crab catching season, which peaks in June. South Korea is studying whether the repeated violations are intentional. It sent a protest letter to North Korea on Wednesday, urging Pyongyang to prevent such crossings. On Thursday, North Korea accused South Korean navy ships of repeatedly violating its territorial waters off the western coast and warned of ``irrevocable serious consequences.''
Spittle factor = 2.5.
South Korea's Defense Ministry rejected the accusations as hilarious false. The two Koreas fought deadly skirmishes in the western sea in 1999 and 2002. South Korea recognizes a western sea border demarcated by the United Nations after the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. North Korea claims a boundary farther south.
Wherever you'd draw the line, the NKors would move it south.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2003 02:16 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yup... it's crab fishin' season again...
By the way, we already have a museum of our own over here - there's a Nork sub on diplay in Kangnung (a small town on the East Sea / Sea of Japan / West Canada Sea). Can't say the ROK Navy sank that one though; if memory serves me right, I believe it got tangled in some fishing nets - something all you submariners out there should probably avoid.
Posted by: The Marmot || 06/01/2003 14:52 Comments || Top||


Spy Boat Reminds Japan of N. Korea Threat
TOKYO - Shigeharu Hoshide peered through the display case at the rusty machine gun and clips of bullets recovered from the bottom of the East China Sea. What he saw made him uneasy. Hoshide was one of more than 7,000 people who braved heavy rains Saturday to see a salvaged North Korean spy boat on display outside a Tokyo museum a year and a half after it sunk in a firefight with the Japanese coast guard. ``This brings home that there are real threats facing this country,'' said the 35-year-old Japanese entrepreneur.
Okay, there's one who gets it!
The pockmarked hull of the 100-foot boat and an arsenal of sophisticated weaponry and espionage gear were brought to the surface last September in a $49 million operation. The exhibit opened at a time of mounting concern in Japan about North Korea's missile and nuclear programs. ``It reminds you that we're right next door to the kind of country capable of lobbing a missile this way,'' said Masatoshi Nagasaki, 36.
And there's another!
North Korea test-fired a ballistic missile over Japan's main island in 1998 and Japan was shaken again last year when North Korea admitted its spies had abducted a dozen Japanese nationals in the 1970s and 1980s to serve as language teachers for Pyongyang's intelligence community. North Korean spy boats are suspected of involvement in the kidnappings and in smuggling drugs to raise hard currency for the cash-strapped communist nation. The boat on display was disguised as a Chinese fishing trawler and Japan believes it was being used for drug smuggling. Three Japanese sailors were wounded in the Dec. 22, 2001 shootout in which the North Koreans fired shoulder-launched rockets and automatic weapons. All 10 army-based thugs believed on board drowned. The boat was equipped for clandestine landings and armed with an antiaircraft gun and recoilless rifle.
Lotta firepower for a drug-running trawler.
Posted by: Steve White || 06/01/2003 02:11 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
36[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sun 2003-06-01
  Suspect kills two Saudi policemen
Sat 2003-05-31
  Sully in jug in Iran?
Fri 2003-05-30
  Car Bomb Blast Kills Two People in Spain
Thu 2003-05-29
  Guy named Greg, passengers, thump would-be hijacker
Wed 2003-05-28
  Alleged Casablanca Mastermind Caught, Dies
Tue 2003-05-27
  PI snags bomb Big
Mon 2003-05-26
  Trucker nabbed in U.S. Al-Qaeda Bust
Sun 2003-05-25
  Morocco arrests 3 over Casablanca blasts
Sat 2003-05-24
  14 Russian troops killed in Chechen attacks
Fri 2003-05-23
  Pygmies want UN tribunal to address cannibalism
Thu 2003-05-22
  NYC Cabbie Sought to Buy Explosives
Wed 2003-05-21
  Saudi Suspects Accused of Plotting Hijack
Tue 2003-05-20
  Turkish toilet bomb kills one
Mon 2003-05-19
  Fifth Paleoboom in three days
Sun 2003-05-18
  Jerusalem blasts kill 7

Better than the average link...



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.
44.223.37.137
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
(0)    (0)    (0)    (0)    (0)