Hi there, !
Today Thu 08/11/2005 Wed 08/10/2005 Tue 08/09/2005 Mon 08/08/2005 Sun 08/07/2005 Sat 08/06/2005 Fri 08/05/2005 Archives
Rantburg
531718 articles and 1856012 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 84 articles and 477 comments as of 15:56.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion           
Zambia extradites Aswad to UK
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
3 00:00 bigjim-ky [1] 
2 00:00 Jackal [] 
13 00:00 Sherry [1] 
2 00:00 macofromoc [] 
6 00:00 Kofi Annan [] 
19 00:00 smn [] 
8 00:00 Jan [] 
18 00:00 Frank G [1] 
15 00:00 Whiskey Mike [] 
6 00:00 Art [] 
18 00:00 NYer4wot [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 2b [] 
11 00:00 Marine Dad [] 
8 00:00 Jan [] 
6 00:00 Glenmore [] 
7 00:00 Fleater Javinter7622 [] 
3 00:00 john e morrissey [] 
1 00:00 trailing wife [] 
15 00:00 Vlad the Muslim Impaler [] 
2 00:00 Phinesing Jereck8420 [] 
18 00:00 3dc [] 
0 [1] 
9 00:00 Cheaque Gromosing5100 [] 
14 00:00 Jan [] 
9 00:00 anon [] 
1 00:00 .com [] 
0 [] 
9 00:00 JFM [] 
5 00:00 Frank G [] 
1 00:00 BigEd [] 
4 00:00 nfvc [] 
3 00:00 Howard UK [] 
5 00:00 O.B. Mohammed, Cleric [] 
3 00:00 Old MacDonald [] 
5 00:00 trailing wife [] 
0 [] 
Page 2: WoT Background
3 00:00 bigjim-ky []
4 00:00 mmurray821 [2]
0 [1]
10 00:00 2b []
1 00:00 Sock Puppet 0’ Doom []
1 00:00 hey mo []
10 00:00 JosephMendiola [2]
2 00:00 Pappy []
13 00:00 Alaska Paul []
0 []
1 00:00 Bobby []
0 []
1 00:00 .com []
6 00:00 interested conservative []
2 00:00 trailing wife []
5 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
3 00:00 Pappy []
2 00:00 john []
1 00:00 Jackal []
3 00:00 trailing wife []
1 00:00 BigEd []
2 00:00 Snimble Crinter7460 []
1 00:00 gromgoru []
0 []
7 00:00 JFM []
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 [1]
5 00:00 Pappy [1]
1 00:00 muck4doo []
9 00:00 eLarson []
0 []
20 00:00 JosephMendiola []
2 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
19 00:00 john []
21 00:00 JosephMendiola []
2 00:00 Sock Puppet 0’ Doom []
2 00:00 Zpaz []
30 00:00 Desert Blondie []
6 00:00 Poison Reverse []
4 00:00 BigEd []
13 00:00 john []
3 00:00 Jackal []
2 00:00 mojo []
2 00:00 USN, ret. []
4 00:00 Poison Reverse []
Page 4: Opinion
2 00:00 Xbalanke []
0 []
1 00:00 JFM []
-Short Attention Span Theater-
Two Egyptians detained after being flagged by U.S. authorities
Two Egyptians were detained at an airport in the Caribbean resort of Cancun after one appeared on a U.S. travel-restriction list, the Federal Preventive Police announced Sunday in a written statement.

The Egyptians were detained on Friday as they attempted to board a flight to Mexico City and were being held Sunday at a migration center in Mexico City, police said.
Posted by: Gluper Wholet7512 || 08/08/2005 20:45 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  well, I'm sure they were Christian Copts, not Muslims....right?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 22:24 Comments || Top||

#2  Probably Horus worshippers.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 23:24 Comments || Top||


Arabia
Arms cache discovered in Saudi Arabia
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Saudi police discovered an arms cache in an artesian well on a deserted farm near Medina in western Saudi Arabia, the Interior Ministry said Monday. Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Mansour Turki was quoted in the daily al-Riyadh as saying police were still retrieving arms from the well, which was 200 meters (656 feet) deep and only 30 centimeters (12 inches) in diameter.
"Police extracted information about the arms cache after interrogating a terror suspect arrested recently," Turki said.
"Talk, or we'll go Bangladeshi on your ass!"
Elsewhere, police arrested an Asian man of undisclosed nationality and seized explosives from his car in the province of Yunbu' in western Saudi Arabia.
Is that real Asian or are they using the British version of the word?
The provincial police chief, Brig. Hamad Oufi, said police had received a tip concerning a car carrying explosives coming from Jeddah on the Red Sea. "The car was spotted and after a thorough search police discovered 155 dynamite sticks with equipment needed to detonate them," Oufi said.
Posted by: Steve || 08/08/2005 09:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Brit version - AOA = "Arab and Other Asian", one of Aramco's standard employee designations, makes the point, I think.
Posted by: .com || 08/08/2005 9:54 Comments || Top||

#2  ....discovered an arms cache in an artesian well on a deserted farm.... Now that they know what had the water stopped maybe they'll start farming again.
Posted by: GK || 08/08/2005 10:07 Comments || Top||

#3  i'm glad you explaine that one .com
Posted by: Thraing Hupoluper1864 || 08/08/2005 10:08 Comments || Top||

#4  Kinda of a breakthru in magazine development you gotta admit. The 12 inch wide thingy kinda slows dow access, hooks? nets?
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 12:16 Comments || Top||

#5  May have been disposing of evidence rather than storing them.
Posted by: buwaya || 08/08/2005 12:23 Comments || Top||

#6  Maybe the water flow had diminished and they were trying to 'frac' the well, to bring in more water. Hey, it works for a lot of oil wells. I wonder what they'll pay me to be their defense attorney?
(end sarcasm.)
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/08/2005 16:08 Comments || Top||


US embassy in Saudi Arabia closes after ‘threat’
RIYADH - The US embassy in Saudi Arabia said on Sunday its premises in Riyadh as well as two consulates will be shut for two days in response to an unspecified threat, an embassy statement said. “In response to a threat against US government buildings in the kingdom the US embassy in Riyadh and the US consulates general in Jeddah and Dhahran will be closed on August 8 and 9,” it said, without providing further details.

“American citizens are advised to exercise caution and maintain good situational awareness when visiting commercial establishments frequented by Westerners or in primarily Western environments,” it added.

The US embassy warned on July 20 that terrorists could strike again in Saudi Arabia, which has been rocked by a spate of bloody attacks attributed to Al-Qaeda militants in the past two years. “The American embassy in Riyadh advises all American citizens living in Saudi Arabia that it has received indications of operational planning for a terrorist attack or attacks in the kingdom,” the July warning said.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Just two days, huh? Interesting that whatever the threat is they consider it confined to those 2 days. That's far more specific than usual. We used to get very generic warnings in our Warden emails - along with the notice that the consulate had already been closed... It would reopen when State decided and ordered them to return to The Magik Kingdom from Bahrain and the UAE, where they invariably went for these impromptu holidays.
Posted by: .com || 08/08/2005 5:54 Comments || Top||


Yemen puts Iraqis on trial for embassy bomb plots
SANAA - Yemen began the trial on Sunday of four Iraqis charged with plotting to bomb the US and British embassies in the capital Sanaa in 2003. The four defendants, one being tried in absentia, were also charged with spying for the government of ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

Security sources said three of the defendants were arrested in 2003 with bags of explosives in their possession. The men had worked as teachers in Yemen since 2002. The three Iraqis who were present at court, all in their 40s, pleaded innocent and said they had been coerced into confessing to the charges.
"Lies! All lies!"
The session was adjourned for the men to hire lawyers. The defendants have not been linked to Al Qaeda.

Like most Arab countries, Yemen was opposed to the 2003 US-led war on Iraq but it has cooperated closely with the United States in its war on terror.
Since they learned the lesson we were offering ...
Posted by: Steve White || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Britain
Intelligence chiefs warn Blair of home-grown 'insurgency'
The Independent. EFL

Intelligence chiefs are warning Tony Blair that Britain faces a full-blown Islamist insurgency, sustained by thousands of young Muslim men with military training now resident in this country.

The grim possibility that the two London attacks were not simply a sporadic terror campaign is being discussed at the highest levels in Whitehall. Fears of a third strike remain high this weekend, based on concrete evidence supplied by an intercepted text message and the interrogation of a terror suspect being held outside Britain, say US reports.

As police and the security services work to prevent another cell murdering civilians, attention is focusing on the pool of migrants to this country from the Horn of Africa and central Asia. MI5 is working to an estimate that more than 10,000 young men from these regions have had at least basic training in light weapons and military explosives.

A well-connected source said there were more than 100,000 people in Britain from "completely militarised" regions, including Somalia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa, and Afghanistan and territories bordering the country. "Every one of them knows how to use an AK-47," said the source. "About 10 per cent can strip and reassemble such a weapon blindfolded, and probably a similar proportion have some knowledge of how to use military explosives. That adds up to tens of thousands of men."

Even though the vast majority had come to Britain to escape the lawlessness of their homelands, the source added, there remained an alarmingly large pool of trained men who could be lured into violent action here.

This threat had been largely neglected while attention focused on British-born militants who had been through training camps run by al-Qa'ida in Afghanistan.

Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 18:35 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ya think? I guess all those clerics were just joshin' ya. It's just a little adolescent fun - like cherry bombs in mailboxes. Boys will be boys.
Posted by: 2b || 08/08/2005 18:42 Comments || Top||

#2  "A well-connected source said there were more than 100,000 people in Britain from "completely militarised"

Well if the source is that well connected, setup him with an interrogation meeting with the DeWalt Quality Assurance Division.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 19:12 Comments || Top||

#3  rkb, can you teach us how to make our comments disappear?
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 19:15 Comments || Top||

#4  No.

I've been mulling on this story since yesterday. We know that some of the Islamacists have made it clear they'd like to turn the UK into an Islamic state. While we tend to snicker at such ravings, it gives me pause ...

Britain isn't like France or the Scandanavian countries, where moslem immigrants are mostly ghettoed (by whosever choice). You've already got Galloway and other ethnically-British converts, plus a fair number of university trained Islamacists in the country.

And, it's part of the EU. If the UK were, under some wild scenario, to go Islamicist quickly, all of the EU protocols for trans-border travel etc. would be in effect, no?

And it's a country where the populace by and large has chosen not to allow gun ownership or violence in self-defense. A bit of a worrisome mix ...
Posted by: rkb || 08/08/2005 19:35 Comments || Top||

#5 
And, it's part of the EU. If the UK were, under some wild scenario, to go Islamicist quickly, all of the EU protocols for trans-border travel etc. would be in effect, no?


I believe France already excercised the "national security option" and declared those null and void. At least, in so far as France is concerned.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/08/2005 19:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Darn. That was so clever. I wanted to teach AK and .com.

I think the chances of every Muslim in Britain failing to see the next sunrise are much, much higher than that the UK would ever turn into an Islamist state. I should not be surprised to see gun restirctions loosened, with or without Parliamentary action.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 19:48 Comments || Top||

#7  I believe France already excercised the "national security option" and declared those null and void. At least, in so far as France is concerned.7

That's my understanding as well. But if there were no signs of *imminent* violence elsewhere and an apparently stable Islamacist government emerged in Britain, I'm not at all sure that things wouldn't revert to the EU norm pretty quickly.

All of which is wildly speculative, of course. But it does suggest one reason that an insuregency and attempted Islamacist state might emerge in Britain -- or at least be attempted there -- before countries like France. There are leaders, there are sympathizers and there are those who would dress up nicely and present a "civilized" face on such a "resistance / independence / human rights" movement.
Posted by: rkb || 08/08/2005 21:46 Comments || Top||

#8  One other point that I think Americans don't necessarily think about often:

It was Britain, more than any other colonial power, that established the national boundaries and ruling families in much of the middle east. Geraldine Bell and all that ....

The muslim world may not have much education, industry or democracy -- but it DOES have a long memory for that sort of thing. Another reason to target Britain in the minds of some.
Posted by: rkb || 08/08/2005 21:51 Comments || Top||

#9  Well what the hell did they think would happen when they invited all the radical nutjobs the Islamic world had to live in their country? Did they think they would hold hands and sing kumbia?
Posted by: mmurray821 || 08/08/2005 22:18 Comments || Top||

#10  Is Britain not ready for a fight? Yes, the terrorists have bombing capabilities. But how do these bombing capabilities compare to the bombings of the Hitler regime? Are they more powerful?

Cause... those bombings, like the terrorists of today, killed people. Destroyed parts of London And the Germany of that time, had a far superior army than the Islam terrorists of today. Planes, tanks an boots on the ground.

Help me here... I'm still having some problems... that the Muslim community can overthrown the British government. Is there not some consolation in the fact that Britain has a far superior army than the Muslim front? Realizing there are military coups throughout the third-world counties all the time, I'm such a novice to believe that this 10% of militant Muslims can defeat the British armed forces.

Am I missing something here? What is the strategy and the tactics the Muslim community can invoke to overpower the British and flag the Muslim flag over 10 Downing Street? Sure, there are the Galloway's of the community of the British.... but I just have to believe, there are far more British against his beliefs, and more than willing to stand for those beliefs.

They have done it before, and I do believe, they will do it again. We, here in the States, have often voiced how this generation of our children and grandchildren would stand in the face of danger. Since 9-11, I think they can stand tall... it is their generation and they are doing quiet well, thank you.. and I want to believe that the British would never stand for a different flag over 10 Downing Street. And I know, we, their "country cousins" would stand with them in that fight.
Posted by: Sherry || 08/08/2005 22:22 Comments || Top||

#11  A Brit sent me this (I don't know which publication he got it from) :


Special forces turn sights from Iraq to hunt terrorists in Britain
Michael Smith

BRITAIN’S special forces commanders have temporarily switched the main thrust of their attention from Iraq and Afghanistan to hunting down suspected terrorists at home.

A number of special forces teams are on an hour’s notice to move anywhere in the UK to support police operations against the terrorist threat.

The teams have a number of aircraft, including civilian helicopters and two small executive jets, assigned to them to ensure they can get anywhere in Britain as swiftly as possible.

“The UK is now at the top of our agenda and the two (terrorist) incidents will result in significant changes to our workload for the near future,” a senior defence source said.

Each of the rapid reaction teams includes a mix of SAS and Special Boat Service counter-terrorist experts, specialist human surveillance operatives and special forces bomb disposal officers.

They also include technical surveillance experts from a fifth special forces unit, 18th (UKSF) Signal Regiment, which was secretly created this year. The regiment is the third new special forces unit set up to support 22 SAS Regiment and the navy’s SBS in an expansion of Britain’s special forces to cope with the war on terror.

The new regiment includes soldiers who can monitor mobile and satellite phones and has a number of high-tech methods of listening in to conversations from up to half a mile away.

The Sunday Times revealed last week that special forces intelligence personnel were part of the surveillance operation that resulted in the shooting of an innocent Brazilian.

SAS troops also played a role in the capture nine days ago of three men suspected of taking part in the failed July 21 bomb attacks. The soldiers provided expertise in explosive entry techniques to back up raids by police firearms officers.

The extent of the involvement by special forces and the scope of their capabilities have remained secret until now. “Our people are carrying out what I can only describe as a vital role within the current operation,” one source said. “It is complex and spread across a large part of the UK. The team includes aspects of the new units assigned to UKSF (UK special forces) within the past year.”

Part of this role is understood to involve special forces merging into the background in London and other British cities. Plainclothes SAS teams have also monitored airports and main railway stations to identify any security weaknesses.

Members of the SBS have worked alongside Home Office officials on exercises at key ports to try to spot security problems. One exercise scenario involved suicide bombers hijacking an oil tanker which they aimed to blow up in a port.

However, defence sources said that although the elite military teams are under the overall control of the director of special forces, any counter-terror operations will remain under the authority of the police.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2005 22:45 Comments || Top||

#12  3dc,

The Mooselimbs shouldn't have ever stirred up the hornets nest. Now they are going to be sorry. After the SF is through with these animals, the words "civil rights" won't even be in the UK dictionary.

"any counter-terror operations will remain under the authority of the police"

This is so ludicrous that I am going to LMAO and then I am going to ROFL. SF under the authority of Barney Fife. Riiiight!!
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 23:11 Comments || Top||

#13  I do remember that day TV was carrying live, a take down of some of the 7/21 guys, before they cut the live broadcast off.... a van pulled up and guys got out, and began to prepare to go inside.

One of the commentators Fox had on (from Scotland Yard)... remarked, these guys aren't police.... he watched them, remarked on their professionalism... and you just knew, from him, they were military. He hinted then, that the British military had been extremely involved in much that had been happening.

Kinda comforted me... and I'm deep in the heart of Texas!
Posted by: Sherry || 08/08/2005 23:25 Comments || Top||


Holy man beats feet, or "Curly-toed slippers, don't fail me now!"
No link yet, source is the BBC
Omar Bakri Mohammed was one of three expected to face scrutiny
And he's the type you expect to bravely run away...
A controversial Islamic cleric has left the UK for the Middle East amid speculation he would be investigated for treason, said his spokesman. Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed - former head of radical group Al Muhajiroun - left on Saturday for Lebanon, his colleague Anjem Choudary told the BBC. Tony Blair had warned Mr Mohammed's organisations faced a potential ban under new anti-terrorism measures. Mr Choudary said the cleric believed "Britain had declared war on Muslims".
More like they're fighting back, which is why the "sheikh" ran away. Wotta putz.
Posted by: I P Daley || 08/08/2005 14:47 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Seems to be having the desired effect.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 15:21 Comments || Top||

#2  But his parasite wives and parasite children remain, to be fed, clother, housed and driven by the British taxpayer.

Posted by: john || 08/08/2005 15:25 Comments || Top||

#3  I lose more business this way.
Posted by: AbuRatcatcherToTheStars || 08/08/2005 15:27 Comments || Top||

#4  What John said...
Posted by: O.B. Mohammed, Cleric || 08/08/2005 15:27 Comments || Top||

#5  I guess he wasn't interested in glazed chicken served in a tropical Caribbean environment...
Posted by: BigEd || 08/08/2005 15:35 Comments || Top||

#6  "Curly-toed slippers, don't fail me now!"



Click your heels three times and say, "There's no place like Mecca...There's no place like Mecca...There's no place like Mecca..."
Posted by: BigEd || 08/08/2005 15:38 Comments || Top||

#7  I wonder why he didn't go to Iraq or Afghanistan, isn't he concerned about all the suffering there? Oh yeah, forgot, a little too dangerous there right now.
Posted by: NYer4wot || 08/08/2005 15:39 Comments || Top||

#8  what a pussy.
Posted by: anymouse || 08/08/2005 15:44 Comments || Top||

#9  You think the threat of treason charges might have been what done it? Kinda of rich to say the UK has declared wars on Muslims...seeing as it was his lot that tried to blow the hell out of Londons not once but twice.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge || 08/08/2005 15:58 Comments || Top||

#10  Bravely Sheikh Mohammed rode forth from Camelot
He was not afraid to die, O brave Sheikh Mohammed
He was not at all afraid to be killed in nasty ways
Brave, brave, brave, Sheikh Mohammed
He was not in the least bit scared to be mashed into a pulp
Or to have his eyes gouged out and his elbows broken
To have his kneecaps split and his body burned away
And all his limbs hacked and mangled, brave Sheikh Mohammed
His head smashed in and his heart cut out
And his liver removed and his bowels unplugged
And his nostrils raped and his bottom burnt off and his penis...
He is brave Sheikh Mohammed,
Brave Sheikh Mohammed who...
...............
Sheikh Mohammed ran away
Bravely, ran away...away...
When danger reared its ugly head
He bravely turned his tail and fled
Yes, brave Sheikh Mohammed turned about
And gallantly he chickened out
Bravely talking to his feet
He beat a very brave retreat
Bravest of the brave, Sheikh Mohammed
Posted by: BH || 08/08/2005 16:00 Comments || Top||

#11  Excellent BH!
Posted by: Brett || 08/08/2005 16:08 Comments || Top||

#12  When are you heading out, Anjem? I'm sure O.B. pines for your purty mouth and perky butt...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/08/2005 17:27 Comments || Top||

#13  Proved he is a coward. Watch them claim a victory as they run like little girls for a spider.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 08/08/2005 17:49 Comments || Top||

#14  On the other hand, I can see this being a pre-arranged "starters pistol" for pre-planned attacks from his followers.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/08/2005 17:58 Comments || Top||

#15  Yeah, or maybe even "from a spider".
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 08/08/2005 19:26 Comments || Top||


Youth wing of UK Muslim group calls for jihad
On a similar note, the "Valeurs actuelles" conservative french mag has recently revealed how openly sold islamic literature for young children in France emphasizes calls for jihad and rejection of the judeo-christians.
By Shiv Malik
Children as young as 11 are being targeted by radical Muslims who appear to have infiltrated a mainstream Muslim website, The Independent on Sunday can reveal. Literature aimed at children between 11 and 18 on the youth section of the Islamic Society of Britain (ISB) website calls on them to "boycott those who openly wage war against Allah". The article containing that quote, entitled "Imam Hassan al-Banna on jihad", goes on to say: "Jihad is a powerful invigorating yearning for Islam's might and glory ... which makes you cry when looking at the weakness of Muslims today and the humiliating tragedies crushing him to death everywhere. Jihad is to be a soldier for Allah. When the bugle calls ... you should be the first to answer the call to join the ranks for jihad." Other articles on atheism and secularism appear to be against integration. One article is entitled "Zionism, a black historical record", and another, "Israel simply has no right to exist".

The ISB immediately disowned this content after being informed of it by the IoS, and promised to remove it. In a statement, a spokesman said: "We were not aware of the material being on the website and it is not in agreement and consistency with the ethos and message of the organisation. We will immediately look at this and remove anything that is disagreeable and apologise for any offence that has been caused."

Nadeem Malik, a vice-president of the ISB, added that the literature was the responsibility of the organisation's youth wing, Young Muslims, which has a degree of autonomy. "Anything that is there is within the remit of the ISB," he said. "I'm not going to justify what is on there. But if it is on there it is a very small part of a much bigger structure that is very much against those views." He added that the ISB and Young Muslims UK were merged in 1994, and internal debate has created a contradiction of views in the organisation. At the heart of that debate is whether Muslims interpret the Koran literally or within its historical context. This has led to a situation where the mainstream of Muslims in the UK believe in integration, while a small, vocal minority is opposed to Muslims living within a non-Muslim structure of law and education. Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is non-violent, is one example of the radical groups.
Hizb loudly claims to be non-violent, but devotes itself into recruiting young cannon fodder for groups that are violent. They also claim not to be an al-Qaeda front.
It is made up of professionals - managers, academics and doctors - and has a membership of between 2,000 and 3,000. But its strict interpretation of the Koran leads it to instruct its members not to vote in a political system dominated by Kaffirs, or unbelievers. During this year's election, its members were told that to vote was forbidden by God.
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 08/08/2005 09:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Assimilate and integrate that for starters.
Posted by: MunkarKat || 08/08/2005 10:00 Comments || Top||

#2  Put all of the ISB staff, their families, their friends, their goats, the whole shebang on that deportation list. Then execute.
Posted by: .com || 08/08/2005 10:08 Comments || Top||

#3  Or you could just forget the deportation and simply, um, Execute.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 10:57 Comments || Top||

#4  But where will The Guardian find their new and improved islamic type journalist interns then?
Posted by: MunkarKat || 08/08/2005 11:04 Comments || Top||

#5  That is the typical stuff. That someone found it in a form readable by English speakers is the exception, not the rule. You should read the garbage about the "Zionist Empire" and how jooos can make the government of the US do anything. Oh yes and the "fact" that the US and Israel kill thousands of Muslims every day right here on the wonderful "interweb". I am seeing statements like this on all kinds of websites posted in the comments sections. That means that the propaganda has had it's desired effect, plenty of young muslims believe it.

These bastards just got caught propagating it and claim to know nothing about it. Knowing what I do about the doctrine of this sect I don't believe it.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 08/08/2005 11:07 Comments || Top||

#6  I guess it was just words last week about clearing out the country of folks with any connections to extreme terrorists, or getting out of the country if you didn't agree with it's way of life. Sigh. To be brain washing the youth, OMG. What's that about ignorance of the law....
SPoD, scary to think that we're only seeing what's been translated. America not being fluent with their language is definately hurting us.
Posted by: Jan || 08/08/2005 13:21 Comments || Top||

#7  Byline by "Shiv" Malik?

Are the muzzies adopting like wiseguy names?
Posted by: Cholung Elmatle6813 || 08/08/2005 13:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Jan, if you want to see what isn't written in English, go to the MEMRI website. They've got Friday sermons, tv interviews, magazine and newspaper articles, textbooks, etc, from across the Muslim world. You can even pick the language you want to read in: English, French, German and Hebrew for a start, although they may have added more by now. It was started as the dissertation project of a German student, but has proven so much in demand that it just blossomed. He is still working there now, from what I understand. I would wish you happy reading, but you will come out informed and unhappy.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2005 15:02 Comments || Top||

#9  to comment #2:

Execute the plan?
or just plain execute THEM?
My vote for the latter.
Posted by: Glereper Craviter7929 || 08/08/2005 16:48 Comments || Top||

#10  Trailing Wife, thanks for the site info.
Posted by: Jan || 08/08/2005 16:53 Comments || Top||

#11  The poster attached to the article depicting the 'Hitler Youth' is really appropriate.The ISB is calling to the Muslim youth to join their Jihad as a soldier of Allah. Hitler called upon Germany's youth to become soldiers of the Third Reich. Like the Nazis, the ISB will then begin to teach the children to distrust their parents and instruct them that displaying affection for their parents is a sign of weakness. BRAINWASHING. Wonder what section of the Koran teaches that ?...oh yeah, the Nazis were losers to.
Posted by: Marine Dad || 08/08/2005 17:09 Comments || Top||


UK terrorists got cash from Saudi Arabia before 7/7
By Toby Harnden in Riyadh and Andrew Alderson

Two senior al-Qaeda operatives in Saudi Arabia made money transfers and used coded text messages to communicate with suspected terrorists in Britain before last month's attacks in London, according to officials in the kingdom.

The two men, of Moroccan descent, have since been shot dead. Younis Mohammed Ibrahim al-Hayari, allegedly al-Qaeda's leader in Saudi Arabia, was killed in Riyadh three weeks ago and Abdel Karim al-Mejati died in a shoot-out in the central al-Qassim region in April.

Saudi security officials suspect both men of involvement in the attacks in London on July 7 and 21 and say that al-Qaeda is definitely operating in Britain. "It's beyond doubt they're active in your country," said one.

Huge amounts of chemicals and other bomb-making materials were found at al-Hayari's hideout. Al-Mejati is said to have planned the train bombings in Madrid in March last year.

The Sunday Telegraph revealed last week that Scotland Yard was investigating evidence that the two waves of terrorist attacks in London were also planned in Saudi Arabia.

In an exclusive interview, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to London, said this week that his country had warned Britain less than four months ago that such an attack was pending. Scotland Yard is investigating who received the coded messages and money - transferred from Saudi to Britain via businesses at both ends before July this year.

A Saudi security adviser said: "We are trying to establish whether the money was directly linked to the individuals who carried out either the first or the second sets of bombings in London.

"The messages and the money transfers were highly professional. They were using SIM cards for six hours and then throwing them away."

Last week The Sunday Telegraph revealed that Hussain Osman, 27, the suspected failed Shepherd's Bush bomber, had called a mobile phone in Saudi Arabia shortly before his arrest. Saudi security officials said Osman was phoning his parents, of Ethiopian extraction, while travelling by Eurostar from London to Rome. They are believed to have been living in the Jeddah area, near the Red Sea, for several years.

The call was monitored by a British intelligence agency as Osman spoke first to his mother and then to his father. His parents are not suspected of involvement in terrorism.

Scotland Yard is to train up to 500 extra firearms officers because of the increased threat of attacks. Sir Ian Blair, the Metropolitan Police commissioner, said: "It's not so much about how many we can put on the street tomorrow, but it is the issue of sustaining the [anti-terror] campaign."
Posted by: anonymous5089 || 08/08/2005 09:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Golly gee, I just broke my suprise meter. Anyone know where I can get a new one that pegs out at "Ho-Hum"!
Posted by: Joey B. Brown || 08/08/2005 10:59 Comments || Top||

#2  You can get a very nice handmade knockoff in Quetta made by traditional tribal child labor. I wouldn't go local to pick it up in person though. They don't play well with others but they'd be happy to take your cash and whatever else they can get.
Posted by: MunkarKat || 08/08/2005 11:07 Comments || Top||

#3  In an exclusive interview, Prince Turki al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to London, said this week that his country had warned Britain less than four months ago that such an attack was pending.

What kind of protections are ambassadors afforded that Prince Turki al-Faisal can warn THREATEN of an attack without being prosecuted? Not that I want to stop the information flowing, but come on here, it sounds like a threat to me. Did he follow it with what countermeasure he was enacting? Of course not.
Posted by: Jan || 08/08/2005 13:30 Comments || Top||

#4  my usual comment:
get rid of one or two of their preachers as well as one or two of their bankers..........then pause and see..........
Posted by: Omaling Sleter7907 || 08/08/2005 13:59 Comments || Top||

#5  I've no doubt the warning was of the useless, general type. Something along the lines of, "We're hearing increased chatter about something happening in England this summer. Look out for men wearing blue." Had the Saudis passed on actionable information, someone would have publically thanked them by now.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2005 15:07 Comments || Top||

#6  "Beware the man in blue! I can say no more!"

**Lifts cloak to cover face, exits stage left**
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 16:05 Comments || Top||

#7  Two by two, hands of blue ....
Posted by: leader of the pack || 08/08/2005 16:08 Comments || Top||

#8  get the hook lol
Posted by: Jan || 08/08/2005 16:48 Comments || Top||


UK to expel 500 radical Muslims
LONDON: Five hundred radical Muslim extremists are to be deported by the British government, reports the News of the World newspaper. The paper claims that the immigration officials have already been given a list of names — compiled by MI5 — and told to begin proceedings. The first could be sent back to their homeland over the next two weeks. Among the first to be deported will be a dozen radical clerics. But hundreds of other foreign extremists, including some Islamic bookshop owners, writers, teachers and website operators will also go.

Home Secretary Charles Clarke will begin the process when he returns from holiday this week. He will issue deportation orders and the people will be forcibly sent back. They will then be able to appeal — from abroad. All 500 have been taken from a "watch list" of extremists compiled over the past five years by the Intelligence Service. Their identities are being kept secret so that they will not be able to go into hiding or mount a legal challenge.

Officials at both the Home Office and the Foreign Office revealed an "initial wave" of up to 100 people will be booted out in the next month. Another 100 foreign nationals will then be sent home by the end of the year. And 300 more will be sent home next year once the government has new laws in place to strip them of their British citizenship and force them back to the countries of their birth.

Over the next week agreements will be completed with 10 African and Middle Eastern countries to make sure they will accept the extremists. The government has already signed a "memorandum of understanding" with Jordan. Similar agreements will be made with nine other countries including Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Kenya and Lebanon. The government is also trying to do a deal with Saudi Arabia.

News of the massive crackdown follows Prime Minister Tony Blair’s announcement on Friday of a purge on terrorists and extremists. A senior Home Office official said: "Just as the police operation over the past four weeks has been dynamic and fast-paced, so will our response." The News of the World also claimed parliament will be recalled. MPs will be ordered to cut their holidays and be back in Westminster in five weeks. On September 12 the new Anti-Terrorism Bill will be presented to parliament.

One prominent Muslim cleric on Saturday caused outrage by comparing the crackdown on extremists to Adolf Hitler’s demonisation of the Jews in pre-war Germany. Dr Mohammed Naseem, chairman of the Birmingham Mosque, said: "He (Hitler) started a process of elimination of Jewish people. I see the similarities." Anti-terror cops are continuing to probe a haul of fake passports handed to them by the News of the World last week.
Posted by: Angavinter Whereter2739 || 08/08/2005 01:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Oh purr-lease, Dr Mohammed Naseem. Blame everyone else apart from the moonbats in your midst. We'll be lucky if we kick out 5, let alone 500. I
However, if we don't start work on removing the nasties I fear we will sadly see someting akin to Krystalnacht occurring here in the future.
Posted by: Howard UK || 08/08/2005 7:48 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh.

D'ya think Mr. Clarke just mighta considered this important enough to return early from holiday??

Too little too late, but at least it is some progress.
Posted by: DanNY || 08/08/2005 8:26 Comments || Top||

#3  A journey of a thousand li starts with one step.
Posted by: gromgoru || 08/08/2005 8:45 Comments || Top||

#4  If they can't reach aggreement with their native land to take them back, then this may be an opportunity to populate Hans Island.
.... the people will be forcibly sent back. They will then be able to appeal — from abroad. Now there's a 'due process' I can agree with.
If it doesn't do anything else, this action by the British government should mute a bunch of loud mouths spewing sedition and treachery.
Posted by: GK || 08/08/2005 9:43 Comments || Top||

#5  "He (Hitler) started a process of elimination of Jewish people. I see the similarities."

That's because you've been taught the Jews were rabble-rousers, instigators, and terrorists and got what they deserved. Therefore, the process is exactly the same, as far as you're concerned!
Posted by: Bobby || 08/08/2005 9:51 Comments || Top||

#6  Dr Mohammed Naseem...If Blair was Hitler he would torch your sorry a** and the rest of your islam-cockroach brethern.
Posted by: anymouse || 08/08/2005 10:02 Comments || Top||

#7  Well, here's hoping the story's right. 500 would be a fair start. Followers too, please.
Posted by: .com || 08/08/2005 10:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Betcha they are still there by this time next year. What is Ladbrokes giving, Bulldog?
Posted by: John Cleese || 08/08/2005 11:02 Comments || Top||

#9  this seems like a good idea.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 08/08/2005 11:03 Comments || Top||

#10  I'm doubtful for two reasons. The first is that it is from News of the World, not known for its accuracy. Second is that there is a huge welfare state establishment that exists to a considerable extent to help people like this avoid government oversight and control. Hook Hand, for one, has played on this establishment like a trumpet, getting more than a million pounds of government money while delaying his departure by years.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/08/2005 11:15 Comments || Top||

#11  I will believe it when I see it. The England is more badly infested with TRANZIs as it is with "radical" muslims. The first case will be filed to stop the deportations in the law courts before those civil servants who will half hearted enforce this straighten their ties.

Good Luck Tony, Clarke should be home today doing this not screwing around on vacation. That is the first indication that this will not happen.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 08/08/2005 11:17 Comments || Top||

#12  I think the main difference was that the Jews weren't actually doing anything to deserve being targeted for abuse by the Nazis, wasn't it? I mean, there weren't any evil hook-nosed jews blowing up on streetcars in Berlin in the early 30's, were there?
Posted by: mojo || 08/08/2005 11:27 Comments || Top||

#13  will begin the process

Is this going to be one of those oh, so legally-proper kabuki dances that lasts 6 years through 17 layers of appeals?
Posted by: Shesh Angoluth9427 || 08/08/2005 13:43 Comments || Top||

#14  Trial baloon.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 14:32 Comments || Top||

#15  Mojo, exactly there is no need to demonise the moose limbs as they do a great job of doing it for themselves. To compare the two situations is a joke and shows that they have lost the ability to even think rationally....
Posted by: Shistos Shistadogloo || 08/08/2005 15:03 Comments || Top||

#16  Especially ironic considering some of those being eject have commented on the fact that Hitler had the right idea towards the Jews. Never mind the fact the Nazis had a lot to do with the Islamist movement in the early 20th century.
Posted by: Andrew Ian Dodge || 08/08/2005 16:08 Comments || Top||

#17  "Some problems are best disposed of from a great height - over water..."
-- James Mason (in character)
"North by Northwest"
Posted by: mojo || 08/08/2005 16:43 Comments || Top||

#18  mojo...
The old copter interrogation technique! It does work..
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2005 16:56 Comments || Top||


Zambia extradites Aswad to UK
LUSAKA - Zambia extradited suspected British militant Haroon Rashid Aswad to Britain on Sunday, a senior Zambian government official said. “Aswad has been deported to Britain. He was put on the plane at 9 a.m. (0700 GMT) this morning,” Home Affairs Permanent Secretary Peter Mumba told Reuters. After arrival in Britain, he will probably be extradited to the United States, where he is wanted over an alleged attempt to set up a militant training camp in Oregon, the source said. Interpol said last week it had issued an arrest warrant for Aswad on behalf of the United States, which led to his detention.
Get out an orange jumpsuit and some SPF30 for this one.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I will believe this guy will be extradited when I see him on US soil.

The TRANZI defenders of the Downtrodden already have the briefs ready to file in the law courts. It will be years if ever before he sees the inside of a US Jail.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 08/08/2005 13:35 Comments || Top||

#2  Okay, this is a pretty juvenile observation, but...

I can't help noticing that his name is Asswad.
Posted by: Whiskey Mike || 08/08/2005 19:19 Comments || Top||

#3  I can't help noticing that his name is Asswad.

Some people live up to their names.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/08/2005 19:21 Comments || Top||

#4  Here's to hoping that Gallow-way lives up to his.
Posted by: nfvc || 08/08/2005 19:22 Comments || Top||


Asswad Accused of U.S. Terror Camp Plot
A suspected Islamic militant deported to Britain was arrested Sunday on a U.S. warrant accusing him of conspiring to organize a training camp in Oregon to prepare jihad fighters in Afghanistan, police said. The arrest of Haroon Rashid al-Aswat, a British citizen of Indian descent, comes as British prosecutors said they would consider treason charges against any Islamic extremists who express support for terrorism. The U.S. warrant accuses Aswat of conspiring with others between October 1999 and April 2000 to set up a camp in Bly, Ore., aimed at training and equipping individuals to "fight jihad in Afghanistan," police said in a statement. Aswat, 30, had been detained in Zambia since July 20, where he was questioned about 20 phone calls reportedly made on his South African cell phone with some of the bombers responsible for the July 7 transit attacks in London that killed 52 people and the four bombers. British newspaper reports quoting intelligence sources there have in recent days played down the possibility Aswat masterminded the London bombings. He was deported Sunday to Britain, said Zambian Home Affairs Secretary Peter Mumba.

Aswat is one of two associates of the Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri who are referred to but not named or charged in a 2002 indictment issued by a federal grand jury in Seattle against a Muslim convert from the area, officials have said. The other is Oussama Kassir, a Lebanese-born Swede, who was convicted of weapons violations in Sweden in 2003. Aswat and Kassir "inspected the proposed jihad training camp at the Bly property ... and they and others participated in firearms training and viewed a video recording on the subject of improvised poisons" in November and December 1999, the indictment said. Under U.S. law, the United States has 60 days to secure an indictment against Aswat, now that he has been arrested on provisional warrant.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He shure does have a purdy mouth.



What's your name purdy mouth?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/08/2005 1:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Militant Wanted in U.S. Appears in British Court
LONDON (AP) - A suspected Islamic militant accused of organizing a terror training camp in Oregon appeared in a British court Monday after the U.S. requested his extradition. A judge ordered that Haroon Rashid Aswat, a 30-year-old British citizen, be held until Thursday, when the case will resume at a central London court.

Aswat appeared at the Bow Street Magistrates Court in a special sitting near southeast London's high-security Belmarsh prison a day after he was deported from Zambia, where he was detained in connection with the London bombings.
He faces questions about 20 phone calls reportedly made on his South African cell phone to some of the bombers responsible for the July 7 suicide attacks that killed 56 people, including the four bombers. But the extradition hearing was based on accusations he tried to set up a camp in Bly, Ore., in 1999-2000 to provide training in weapons, hand-to-hand combat and martial arts for people aiming to fight in Afghanistan.
Aswat's lawyer, Hossein Zahir, indicated his client would challenge the extradition. "He wishes to stress that he has nothing to hide," Zahir told the court. "He denies any suggestion that he's a terrorist or engaged in any terrorist activity." Zahir said his client was surprised the allegations were being made five years since the alleged incidents.
Aswat, who appeared in court wearing a black robe over a light brown shirt, spoke only to confirm his name, date of birth and to say he would contest the extradition. Prosecutor Hugo Keith, representing the U.S. authorities, said Aswat flew to New York on Nov. 26, 1999, before taking a bus to Seattle in order to help set up the camp in nearby Oregon.
Keith told the court that Aswat had been sent to the United States by a prominent British-based Islamic cleric also wanted by the American authorities. Senior District Judge Timothy Workman barred journalists from identifying the cleric to avoid prejudicing a separate trial the cleric faces in Britain.


Posted by: Steve || 08/08/2005 9:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Senior District Judge Timothy Workman barred journalists from identifying the cleric to avoid prejudicing a separate trial the cleric faces in Britain. That'll be hook boy then. There's been much downplaying of purdymouth's involvement in the 7/7 & 21/7 attacks - wonder why. Hope we gets him first.
Posted by: Howard UK || 08/08/2005 9:20 Comments || Top||


Brits still talking about charging holy men...
Attorney General Lord Goldsmith's office said the Crown Prosecution Service's head of anti-terrorism would meet with senior Metropolitan Police officers to discuss possible charges against three prominent clerics as part of a crackdown on those the government believes are inciting terrorism.

Clerics Omar Bakri Mohammed, Abu Izzaden and Abu Uzair, have appeared on British television in recent days and a spokeswoman for Lord Goldsmith's office said prosecutors and police would look at remarks made by the three and consider whether they could face charges of treason, incitement to treason, solicitation of murder, or incitement to withhold information known to be of use to police. Mohammed has reportedly said since the July 7 attacks that he would not inform police if he knew Muslims were planning another attack and he supports insurgents who attack troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"No decision on charges has been made yet," the attorney general's office spokeswoman said, speaking anonymously because British civil servants are rarely allowed to be quoted by name. The spokeswoman said prosecutors may also seek access to taped recordings made by an undercover Sunday Times reporter who reportedly recorded members of a radical group praising the suicide bombers as "The Fantastic Four." The newspaper's story said its reporter spent two months as a "recruit" of the group, the Savior Sect, and described the organization as inciting young British Muslims to become terrorists.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Compare and Contrast

Clerics Omar Bakri Mohammed, Abu Izzaden and Abu Uzair

What would they look like if they shaved their beards and wore wwestern clothing????



Posted by: BigEd || 08/08/2005 0:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Heh.. after a good dose of Ludovico's Technique. Nice work, Ed.
Posted by: Howard UK || 08/08/2005 6:29 Comments || Top||

#3  Anyone who was living in the UK between say 2000 to 2005 knew this would come about sooner or later (unfortunately later after 57 boomer deaths). All you had to do was tune in BBC and that asswipe, idiot in funky ties, Jon Snow, and watch the Islamifascist idiots rhethoric about Jihad, the Joooos, Amerika, and then the nodding assent from the guilty white guys in the newsroom. Too bad it took so long but they aren't gone yet.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 08/08/2005 11:06 Comments || Top||

#4  flash: bakri has flown the coop!

BBC reports Bakri, fearing arrest for treason, has left Britain for the ME, possibly Lebanon.
Posted by: liberalhawk || 08/08/2005 14:59 Comments || Top||

#5  So can they mail me my welfare checks? I've got a family to support you know...
Posted by: O.B. Mohammed, Cleric || 08/08/2005 15:26 Comments || Top||


Two more charged in B-team attacks
British police charged two additional suspects in the failed July 21 attacks. Ibrahim Muktar Said, 27, who is accused of trying to detonate a bomb on a bus in east London, and Ramzi Mohammed, suspected of attempting the Oval underground train bombing, were arrested in raids in west London on July 29, police said.

All three July 21 bombing suspects in British police custody have now been charged. A fourth, known both as Osman Hussain and Hamdi Issac, was arrested in Rome and is being held there on international terrorism charges. The three face charges of conspiracy to commit murder; attempted murder; making or possessing an explosive substance with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury; and conspiracy to use explosives.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  It was only flour, I swear!
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/08/2005 1:40 Comments || Top||

#2  It was only flour, I swear!

From a Pakistani bakery, no doubt.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/08/2005 10:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Flour is one hell of an explosive. Look at all them grain towers in Nebraska and Iowa that go boom!
Posted by: Old MacDonald || 08/08/2005 11:13 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
High-profile militant detained in Chechnya
A high-profile rebel fighter, Abubakar Khasuyev, has been detained by police in Chechnya, the republican Interior Ministry reported Sunday. Khasuyev was caught this morning in a surprise police raid launched in the Chechen capital, Grozny, ministry spokespeople said. The man is now being interrogated, they added. Another rebel, Alvia Basayev, has been reportedly detained in the southern Chechen region of Urus Martan.
Posted by: phil_b || 08/08/2005 04:10 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


China-Japan-Koreas
Suicide bomber attack on Chinese bus
A SUICIDE bomber died and 31 people were injured when a home-made device was detonated on a bus in south-eastern China, state media reported today. The blast occurred near the downtown area of Fujian's provincial capital, Fuzhou, around 1730 (AEST), Xinhua news agency reported. The explosion on the single-decker bus was powerful enough to shatter the windows of shops nearby, the agency reported.

Pictures from the scene showed the side of the bus ripped apart and debris strewn across the floor of the vehicle. The injured were shown being stretchered out of windows. The suspect, a 42-year-old farmer, was believed to be from Putian city in the province. He had terminal lung cancer, Xinhua reported. Such attacks are common in China, often carried out by angry residents who feel wronged by society or the communist party government.

In January, a bomb killed 11 people on a bus in north-western Xinjiang region. That attack was blamed on a worker who held a grudge against his former employer, a coal mining company near the scene of the explosion. There were 1130 bombings around China last year, according to state press reports.
Posted by: God Save The World || 08/08/2005 07:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There were 1130 bombings around China last year, according to state press reports.

All by disgruntled husbands, pissed off business partners, angry loners, and road ragers I'm sure. Ain't no terrorists in China, right?
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/08/2005 9:26 Comments || Top||

#2  I would say that this is China's equivalent of Columbine. Nothing political about it, given that it was targeted against ordinary civilians. Why bombs? Because explosives are easier to come by than guns or bullets - they are used in both mines and road construction. And that's not counting the homemade bombs that can be rigged using ordinary chemicals (fertilizer, fuel oil, etc).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/08/2005 9:33 Comments || Top||

#3  tu3031: All by disgruntled husbands, pissed off business partners, angry loners, and road ragers I'm sure. Ain't no terrorists in China, right?

Hard to say. Guns are hard to come by in China.* Explosives are readily available, either in homemade form, or lifted from industrial facilities.

* Both guns and ammunition are rationed out, even to China's policemen. Not every cop has a gun. And the ones who do get very few bullets. This may, in part, have to do with coup insurance.

Every revolt in China's past started out with the local authorities initially declaring allegiance to the central government, and then later on, as the situation deteriorated for the central authority, going into business for themselves. In other words, as the central government collapsed, governors of individual provinces would declare themselves independent of the central power.** Not handing out ammo may be an attempt to curb the potential for the accelerated collapse of central authority and a devolution into armed fiefs if an armed power struggle happens in the capital.

** If the center could not hold, the winner among these contenders would become the founder of the next dynasty, after his competitors and their households were massacred. In many cases, individuals who started out in petty offices managed to seize hold of the reins of power, since armed conflict favors the able rather than those of privileged birth. Throughout history, Chinese rebels have tended to be relatively meritocratic - they have tended to favor ability over lineage in choosing (or switching over to) their leaders - an understandable pragmatism, since they are literally gambling, not only with their lives, but the lives of their families and friends.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/08/2005 9:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Hmmmm???? Sounds fishy to me. News from China is so filtered its hard to tell. I do know that they have their own problem with peace loving Mooselimbs. Southeastern region would be the area for our friends with head scarves.
Posted by: intrinsicpilot || 08/08/2005 10:23 Comments || Top||

#5  IP: Hmmmm???? Sounds fishy to me. News from China is so filtered its hard to tell. I do know that they have their own problem with peace loving Mooselimbs. Southeastern region would be the area for our friends with head scarves.

Muslims tend to be concentrated in the northwest and southwest. If the government is disguising the fact that the attacker is Muslim, it may be for the protection of scattered Muslim communities more than anything else. I doubt they want to see heaps of Muslim corpses in the manner of the Indian massacres. The ferocity of Chinese mobs was demonstrated during the mini-civil war that was the Cultural Revolution. (Going further back, there were massacres of tens of thousands of Christians during the Boxer Rebellion and of Manchurians right after the Manchurian Qing dynasty was overthrown).
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/08/2005 10:36 Comments || Top||

#6  ZF: If the government is disguising the fact that the attacker is Muslim

That should have read "If the attacker is in fact Muslim and government is disguising that fact". I have no knowledge of the attacker's religion. Suicidal attacks aren't unknown to the Chinese. During the Korean War, Chinese units routinely charged in the face of machine gun and artillery fire. Unlike the Japanese, however, the Chinese did not see death as an end in itself - they were perfectly content to be taken prisoner if they were overwhelmed.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/08/2005 10:42 Comments || Top||

#7  I wouldn't really call those "suicide" attacks, ZF, though it no doubt turned out that way for most. They didn't want to die, and there was a very small chance they would actually survive the assault. I would call the Chinese and Nork troops "brave," unlike the real suicide types. Our troops did some of the same thing at times, like climbing the cliffs at Normandy, or wading ashore at Tarawa.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 11:06 Comments || Top||

#8  Jackal: I wouldn't really call those "suicide" attacks, ZF, though it no doubt turned out that way for most. They didn't want to die, and there was a very small chance they would actually survive the assault. I would call the Chinese and Nork troops "brave," unlike the real suicide types. Our troops did some of the same thing at times, like climbing the cliffs at Normandy, or wading ashore at Tarawa.

Chinese troops advanced in the face of American air, artillery and tank superiority. It was a massacre, reflected in Chinese KIA that approached 1 million. American forces assaulting beaches typically had air and arty superiority.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/08/2005 11:10 Comments || Top||

#9  Jackal

I think you have forgotten a lot about how comminist armies work. For instance it is not unusual they keep a line of NKVD-KGB people in the trenches who fire in the back of everyone who slackens (eg the assault on Konstadt), then there is the extensive use of punitive batallions: people drawn from Gulag or punished for having forgotten one of the 500 praises to Dear Leader and who are sent to detonate minefields or in non-white uniforms during winter in order to attract fire (extensive use by the Russians during WWII, allegedly after every attack the 20% of survivors were reverted to normal units), people of the NVA who were chained to their trenches and the ever popular method of letting the soldier know that his family will be shot if he flees.

You should never forget Stalin's sentence: "You need to be very brave in order to not/b> be a hero in the Red Army"
Posted by: JFM || 08/08/2005 11:32 Comments || Top||

#10  oops. My bad. The Mooselimbs of Xinjiang are in fact in the Northwest. Suicide bombers have been known to travel tho.
Posted by: intrinsicpilot || 08/08/2005 11:35 Comments || Top||

#11  Yup, my landlady's husband is a local one-stripe cop, and he says they just have one gun at the police station. [insert Barney Fife jokes here]
Posted by: gromky || 08/08/2005 11:44 Comments || Top||

#12  He had terminal lung cancer, Xinhua reported. Such attacks are common in China, often carried out by angry residents who feel wronged by society or the communist party government.

Cancer kills Splody Voter and 31 riders on Chinese bus, second hand smoke.
Posted by: Red Dog || 08/08/2005 11:53 Comments || Top||

#13  I'll agree that most of the Chinese/NorK attackers died very quickly. I'll also agree that the leadership deliberately used them in a way that increased the chance of their dying.

But, I'll still maintain they didn't want to die. Unlike the splodydopes or the 9/11 pilots who were deliberately killing themselves.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 15:31 Comments || Top||

#14  What JFM said, Socialist Dictatorships tend to have rather nasty light infantry behind their own forces.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 15:32 Comments || Top||

#15  Hopefully, China will adopt the eradication solution - re Islamofascists - that the West and Russia refuse to implement. Application of freedom on conscience to the beliefs of terrorists, degrades that noble term. Kill them all!
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler || 08/08/2005 21:04 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Australia gives Saudi Travel Warning
THE Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) today warned Australians to defer any non-essential travel to Saudi Arabia, citing credible reports of imminent terrorists attacks.

In an updated travel advisory, DFAT said terrorists had targeted both Saudi citizens and foreigners within residential compounds, their workplaces and at government installations and had caused significant loss of life including Australians.

It said the terrorist attacks could occur at any time and anywhere in the kingdom including the capital Riyadh.

"We have received credible reports that terrorists are planning attacks in Saudi Arabia in the near future," DFAT said in its advisory.

"This follows other recent reporting suggesting that terrorists may be planning to attack residential housing compounds in Saudi Arabia."

DFAT said Australians in Saudi Arabia concerned for their safety should consider departure.

Those choosing to remain in Saudi Arabia should exercise extreme caution, including in places known to be frequented by foreigners and monitor developments that might affect their safety, it said.

Australians in Saudi Arabia were strongly encouraged to register with the Australian Embassy in Riyadh by way of the DFAT on-line registration service.

DFAT said the terrorist tactics could range from bombings through to smaller-scale attacks, such as drive-by shootings, kidnapping and opportunistic targeting of foreigners.

There have also been frequent gun-battles between terrorists and security forces and a number of vehicle bombs and arms caches have been captured.

DFAT said Australians should thoroughly check their vehicles before driving, especially after leaving them unattended.
Posted by: God Save The World || 08/08/2005 02:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mirroring the US alert for today and tomorrow. They definitely have something specific, for a change...
Posted by: .com || 08/08/2005 10:45 Comments || Top||

#2  Australia gives Saudi Travel Warning

THE Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) today warned Saudi Arabians to avoid all non-essential travel to Australia, citing credible reports of extreme danger to life and limb.


I wish...


Posted by: Phinesing Jereck8420 || 08/08/2005 11:00 Comments || Top||


Europe
Turkey: Two explosions take 17 lives
ISTANBUL -- Two persons died and six others suffered injuries in a blast that rocked the district of Zeytinburun in this city on Monday, security sources said. The sources said the explosion occured while two persons were trying to set up a bomb, adding that the two men were suspected of being members of the outlawed rebel Kurdish organization, the Labor Party of Kurdistan (the PKK). Authorities have begun investigations into circumstances of the explosion.

In the southern city of Gaziantep, 15 people died and many others were wounded in a blast of a vehicle boarding gas, the Anatolian news agency reported. "The blast was so powerful that it shook the ground under my feet," said a pedestrian who witnessed the fiery explosion.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 10:50 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  wonder if this has anything to do with the cruise ships that Israel refused to allow into Turkey?
Posted by: 2b || 08/08/2005 19:20 Comments || Top||


International-UN-NGOs
Yakovlev Pleads Guilty, Sevan Accused
One of the targets of the Oil-for-Food investigation, Alexander Yakovlev, on Monday pleaded guilty to conspiracy, wire fraud and money laundering charges for taking bribes during his work at the United Nations.

Yakovlev was stripped of his diplomatic immunity earlier Monday by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan (search) and taken into custody by federal authorities.

David N. Kelley, the U.S. attorney for the southern district of New York, said that a judge accepted Yakovlev's guilty plea for his part in taking at least several hundred thousand dollars from foreign companies in connection with his job as a procurement officer at the United Nations from 1993 to 2005. The former U.N. official handled tens of millions of dollars worth of U.N. supply contracts annually when he worked there.

Yakovlev was taken into custody hours after Paul Volcker (search), the man in charge of the independent investigation into Oil-for-Food (search), fingered the Russian native as one of two main U.N. officials involved in the program's corruption.

Volcker's U.N.-approved panel, the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC), released its latest report highlighting mismanagement of Oil-for-Food on Monday. It accused Yakovlev of of collecting nearly $1 million in kickbacks outside the Oil-for-Food (search) program.

Yakovlev resigned from his job earlier this summer after a FOX News investigation.

The Volcker report also accuses Benon Sevan, the one-time head of the Oil-for-Food program who severed his ties with the United Nations on Sunday, of taking kickbacks under the multi-billion dollar humanitarian operation aimed at easing the effects of sanctions on Iraqi civilians.

Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, also said in releasing the report that Sevan should also lose his diplomatic immunity so he can be prosecuted for alleged crimes.

"All I can fairly say is that given the kind of evidence that we have presented, I would think there may well be interest in doing so," Volcker said, referring to Sevan and Yakovlev losing their immunity.

The report, which Volcker said was intended to tie up some "loose ends" in his panel's investigation, touched on topics other than Sevan. It dealt briefly with Annan and his son, Kojo (search), and said more would be discussed in the committee's final report, expected in September.

For the first time, the report gave a motive for Sevan's actions, saying his finances were "precarious" shortly before his alleged misdeeds.

EFL Lot's of links at link to reports, etc. This is happening so quickly that the MSM may not even report it. At least that's what Kofi and Volker seem to be hoping.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 18:15 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He may have coped a plea to protect undiscovered ill gotten gains. He also may be falling on his sword to protect others, with promises of money when he gets out.
It's such a quick plea it is suspicious.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 08/08/2005 19:25 Comments || Top||

#2  It's gettin real PC these days for the enlightened to get rich off the poor and suffering these days. Can Al Franken please comment on the UN er I mean AA, errr I mean Bush is Hitler.... Hey, Franken and Kofi stop stealin from kids. Leave some for Chirac.
Posted by: macofromoc || 08/08/2005 22:37 Comments || Top||


Breaking News: Ex-United Nations Official Taken Into Custody
Sorry, no link yet.
Posted by: Slemble Glomotch8642 || 08/08/2005 14:29 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Here id the link from al-Rooters

Alexandr Yakovlev arrested for taking $1 million in "payments" (bribes) on the $79 million in UN contracts awarded...
Posted by: BigEd || 08/08/2005 15:32 Comments || Top||

#2  Here's what Fox has to say:
Alexander Yakovlev was stripped of his diplomatic immunity Monday and taken into custody by federal authorities, a U.N. spokesman announced Monday.
Yakovlev, a longtime U.N. procurement official who handled tens of millions of dollars worth of U.N. supply contracts annually, was accused in a report Monday of collecting nearly $1 million in kickbacks outside the Oil-for-Food (search) program.

Yakovlev resigned from his job earlier this summer after a FOX News investigation.

The news came after Volcker's U.N.-approved panel, the Independent Inquiry Committee (IIC), released its latest report highlighting mismanagement of Oil-for-Food.

The report also accuses Benon Sevan (search), the one-time head of the Oil-for-Food program who severed his ties with the United Nations on Sunday, of taking kickbacks under the multi-billion dollar humanitarian operation aimed at easing the effects of sanctions on Iraqi civilians.

Volcker, a former Federal Reserve chairman, also said in releasing the report that Sevan should also lose his diplomatic immunity so he can be prosecuted for alleged crimes.

"All I can fairly say is that given the kind of evidence that we have presented, I would think there may well be interest in doing so," Volcker said, referring to Sevan and Yakovlev losing their immunity.

Read the report by clicking here (pdf).

Investigators found that Yakovlev secretly tried to bribe a company called Societe Generale de Surveillance S.A. (SGS), which was seeking an oil inspection contract under Oil-for-Food.

They said Yakovlev passed secret bidding information along to a friend in France, Yves Pintore, who then approached SGS to check if it would "work with" him and "influential people in the U.N. in New York."

Volcker's team found no evidence that the company agreed to the bribe. However, it noted that Pintore essentially agreed to its characterization of his involvement.

The committee found "persuasive evidence" that Yakovlev took some $950,000 from other U.N. contractors outside Oil-for-Food.

It said it had found that some $1.3 million had been wired to a bank account in Antigua, West Indies in the name of Moxyco Ltd. Of that, more than $950,000 had been traced to those companies so far.

Yakovlev was the U.N. officer in charge of awarding contacts to both Saybolt (search) and Cotecn (search)a big contracts for Iraq, and the Volcker committee relied on his claims that in both cases, but particularly that of Saybolt, he had fought against the violation of U.N. rules.

But Yakovlev, a Russian native, abruptly resigned from the United Nations in late June, after a FOX News investigation revealed that he was involved in an apparent conflict of interest with a regular U.N. supplier, IHC Services Inc., which had hired Yakovlev’s son Dmitry between 2000 and 2003, according to Dmitry’s own resume.

Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 15:37 Comments || Top||

#3  WOO-HOO!

The fun has begun.

Double butter on that popcorn, please. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/08/2005 15:38 Comments || Top||

#4 
Leavenworth Federal Prison

I do hope Sasha likes the climate in farm country...
Posted by: BigEd || 08/08/2005 15:43 Comments || Top||

#5  I hope someone get's a picture of Benan Sevan's face when he sees the photos of Yakovlev taking the perp walk.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 15:44 Comments || Top||

#6  Jackal,

Thank you.

I apologize for posting without a link. There was no link at the time. I felt like a kid on Christmas Eve, I just had to open the present.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 15:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Moxyco nomo.
Posted by: AbuRatcatcherToTheStars || 08/08/2005 15:50 Comments || Top||

#8  any comments, Senator Kerry?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 15:51 Comments || Top||

#9  The big deal here is that the bribes were from contracts outside the Oil for Food program. Suggests the corruption is deep and widespread at the UN.
Posted by: leader of the pack || 08/08/2005 15:57 Comments || Top||

#10  lotp - suggests the corruption is widespread at the UN?

It would be front-page news if somebody managed to find a UN employee above clerk level who wasn't mired in corruption.

How can you tell if an UN official is corrupt? He's breathing.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/08/2005 16:04 Comments || Top||

#11  okay: suggests to people who don't actually keep up with the news much ....

which is a lot of people who don't read RB and similar sites.
Posted by: leader of the pack || 08/08/2005 16:09 Comments || Top||

#12  PR: Without your heads-up, I wouldn't have gone looking for the article. That's the neat thing about RB (well, besides the rants): the interaction between the people here. E Pluribus Rantum.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 16:35 Comments || Top||

#13  E Pluribus Rantum.

That's a slogan you don't mess with.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/08/2005 18:40 Comments || Top||

#14  I just got a Fox News alert that sez the mutt has just pleaded guilty!
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 08/08/2005 20:34 Comments || Top||

#15  The Guilty Plea -- link here:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165124,00.html
Posted by: Scooter McGruder || 08/08/2005 20:35 Comments || Top||

#16  How's his singing voice?

Every crack in the wall contributes to bringing the whole rotten mess down.
Posted by: .com || 08/08/2005 20:38 Comments || Top||

#17  I wonder how Koffi Annan is sleeping these days.....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/08/2005 22:11 Comments || Top||

#18  I wonder how Kofi Annan is sleeping these days.....

with his pants and shoes on, and a backup exit nearby
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 22:25 Comments || Top||


Benon Sevan submits resignation, commences whingeing
Benon Sevan resigned from the United Nations on Sunday, hours before he is expected to be accused of getting kickbacks from the $67 billion operation.
Claudia Rossett, call your office.
A U.N.-established Independent Inquiry Committee, led by former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, plans to release on Monday its third interim report on allegations of corruption in the humanitarian program for Iraq, which began in 1996 and ended in 2003. Sevan is to be accused of getting cash for steering Iraqi oil contracts to an Egyptian trader and of refusing to cooperate with the Volcker panel, his attorney Eric Lewis said. Sevan has denied the allegations. On Sunday, Lewis distributed a letter from Sevan, 67, to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan resigning from his current job, which he was given after he retired. The $1-a-year post carries immunity and was meant to ensure he would cooperate with the probe. But Sevan may have preempted a dismissal from this arrangement as the United Nations in the past has taken action against staff fingered in the Volcker report.

Sevan blamed the secretary-general and his staff for not defending the program and making him a scapegoat. "I fully understand the pressure that you are under, and that there are those who are trying to destroy your reputation as well as my own, but sacrificing me for political expediency will never appease our critics or help you or the Organization," Sevan wrote. He said that the program, which supplied food and other goods to 27 million Iraqis, was often caught between conflicting mandates given by the U.N. Security Council, which supervised it, and national interests of those trying to do business with Iraq.
"National interests"? Is that a way of saying that the French and Russians were subverting the program?
The panel, in a February 3 interim report, expressed suspicion about four payments, amounting to $160,000, that Sevan had declared to the United Nations as funds from his now-deceased aunt. But Sevan noted on Sunday it was not credible he that would have compromised his career for $160,000 after handling billions of dollars in the program.
Dan Rostenkowski went to prison over postage stamps.
"The charges are false and you, who have known me all these years, should know that they are," Sevan wrote to Annan, recalling the 40 years he had worked at the world body. Lewis on Thursday began releasing Sevan's side of the story after receiving a letter from the Volcker panel outlining "adverse findings" that the report would contain. Sevan, a Cypriot, is alleged to have taken bribes "in concert with" the brother-in-law of former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Lewis said. "The IIC claims that Mr. Sevan received money from African Middle East Petroleum in concert with Fred Nadler, a friend, and a relative by marriage of Mr. (Fakhry) Abdelnour, the principal of AMEP," Lewis said. Nadler is the brother of Leia Boutros-Ghali, wife of the former secretary-general. Abdelnour, the owner of AMEP, is a cousin of Boutros-Ghali, U.N. chief from 1992 to 1996. Boutros-Ghali himself has been questioned by the panel but is not linked to the bribe allegations. AMEP earned some $1.5 million from oil allocations that the panel says Sevan steered to the Egyptian trading firm.
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Does this put him beyond the reach of prosecutors? If he's guilty of any wrongdoing, it better not.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/08/2005 1:33 Comments || Top||

#2  If he's no longer a UN employee, he no longer has diplomatic imumnity. More importantly, the UN can't keep him from testifying to the Senate comittee. Wonder if he'd like to make a deal, if he really feels Kofi is hanging him out to dry.
Posted by: Steve || 08/08/2005 8:34 Comments || Top||

#3  But Sevan noted on Sunday it was not credible he that would have compromised his career for $160,000 after handling billions of dollars in the program.

That's why the actual dollar amount is higher. Much higher...
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2005 10:17 Comments || Top||

#4  All right, he's resigned. Old news now.

Let's get back to Karl Rove.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 11:12 Comments || Top||

#5  I'd bet big money he resigned from Cyprus. He's not an idiot, after all...
Posted by: mojo || 08/08/2005 11:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Sevan flew to Cyprus back in June.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2005 18:15 Comments || Top||

#7  Bury this story before school starts.
Posted by: Kofi Annan || 08/08/2005 18:39 Comments || Top||

#8  Sea, you've invented a beautiful verb--"to whinge."

A cross between whine and cringe?
Posted by: mom || 08/08/2005 20:03 Comments || Top||

#9  It's a common British-ism.
Posted by: anon || 08/08/2005 20:39 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Iran 'resumes nuclear programme'
Iran says it has resumed work at its uranium conversion facility near the city of Isfahan. Mohammad Saeedi, deputy head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organisation, made the announcement at the Isfahan plant. He said work at the plant where uranium conversion has taken place in the past had resumed under the supervision of the UN's nuclear watchdog.
The US and EU have warned that such a move will lead to Iran being referred to the UN Security Council. This could lead to the imposition of Security Council sanctions. Iran maintains its right to carry out nuclear activity for peaceful purposes, and has rejected recent European proposals for its nuclear programme, designed to give guarantees that it is not pursuing nuclear weapons. Nuclear work at the Isfahan plant had been suspended since November 2004.

A reporter for the Reuters news agency witnessed what she says was the resumption of uranium conversion. The reporter describes two workers at the Isfahan plant lifting a barrel full of uranium yellow cake, opening its lid and feeding it into the processing line. The reporter says that the plant had earlier been surrounded by dozens of anti-aircraft batteries.

Earlier on Monday inspectors from the UN's nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, arrived at the Isfahan plant to install surveillance equipment and oversee removal of seals. The IAEA board is due to hold an emergency meeting of the IAEA board on Tuesday. It was called by European Union states following deadlock in the talks they have been conducting with Tehran. The Iranian government on Monday replaced its chief negotiator, Hassan Rohani, with Ali Larijani, a conservative former head of state broadcasting who is known to have close ties with Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei. The appointment was made by the conservative president, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, two days after he was sworn in. It is being seen as a hardening of Iran's position.
Posted by: Steve || 08/08/2005 08:43 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  had resumed under the supervision of the UN's nuclear watchdog??

Bomb's awayyyy
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 8:47 Comments || Top||

#2  It disgusts me, but I've concluded that we'd best accept the fact that the mad mullahs are going nuclear, regardless of ceaseless nattering of the euro's.
There appears no stomach for stopping them militarily, and referral to the SC is certain to get hung up by either China or Russia. Not that a resolution or sanctions would deter them in any way.
It should be made perfectly clear to them that if a mushroom cloud goes up anywhere in the western hemisphere - they fry first and completely, a'la Kennedy to the Soviets.


Posted by: JerseyMike || 08/08/2005 9:16 Comments || Top||

#3  They remove seals, we send in SEALs.

But in reality Jersey Mike is probably right, after Iraq nobody has the guts to threaten military force and the UN was castrated years ago.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/08/2005 11:02 Comments || Top||

#4  I think they need understand now the west is presented with limited options Iran should not to under estimate the risks they just increased to themselves. The UN workers should be told to leave and a international warning given that being in a Iranian Nuclear facility puts you at risk of death and dismembering.
Posted by: Sock Puppet 0’ Doom || 08/08/2005 11:52 Comments || Top||

#5  It's no longer about deals and debates. It's about survival. As in Jew survival. If the world is going to stand around and point at each other, then Israel will be forced to say, we have no choice but to take action. When it comes to survival, world opinion doesn't take precedence.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 12:23 Comments || Top||

#6  UN workers should be told to leave

Chances are they're there to forestall an attack.
Posted by: cynical || 08/08/2005 12:37 Comments || Top||

#7 

Iran, worlds #1 sponser of terrorism, on it's way to building a nuke, no matter what they claim, if pushed, I see no problem with them giving it to Hezbollah or AlQaida. I say we need to go in before it's too late.
Posted by: Fleater Javinter7622 || 08/08/2005 15:06 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Palestinian PM References Staged Destruction of Israel at Rally
By Amihai Zippor
Did I mention that I was against the pullout? Why, I believe I did.
At a rally in Gaza commemorating the birthday of former Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat last week, PA Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei told the crowd that the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and northern Samaria was just the first step. The gathering marked the beginning of celebrations for the Israeli withdrawal from territory that is part of the ancient Jewish homeland and was recaptured by Israel in 1967.
Just on it's face value, this statement should taken serious but when the PA PM states it, look out.
“We will proceed from one victory to another until we achieve the big victory - when one of our roses or juveniles will hoist the Palestinian flag on the walls of the Old City [of Jerusalem] and its minarets and churches,” Qurei told thousands at the rally.
Yea, when pigs fly. Arafish also gave the victory sign before leaving for France. Boy did he come back victorious.
Also, just a guess, but I am assuming he is not talking about Christian churches.
“The process that started in 1965 is now making its way, through the strong determination and will of our people, toward Jerusalem, the West Bank and the rest of the homeland,” he said.
This time it's different. This time your determination is being strongly met with settler determination.
Homeland? You're homeland is east not south.
Queri’s additional use of the word ‘homeland’ as another stage in the fight against Israel is a frightening return to the incitement against not only removing Jews from Gaza, Judea and Samaria, but also from the rest of the land of Israel.
Frightening return to incitement? The twisted mentality never left the animals.
Furthermore, he called for implementation of U.N. resolution 194 regarding the return of refugees to their original homes, adding further proof that he was referring to overwhelming Israel with Arabs and taking it over from within.
That would be Jordan, Egypt, Syria, etc., not Israel. If you want the Israeli land, all you have to do is OPENLY declare war on Israel. Stop hiding behind the U.N.
The incitement is part of a build up of threats emanating from the Palestinian government and terror groups as the Israeli withdrawal nears.

In recent weeks, terror organizations have openly claimed their attacks have caused Israel to leave Gaza and are planning to move their operations to Judea and Samaria after the withdrawal is complete.

“We will transfer all our fighting methods and capabilities to the West Bank,” said Jamal Abu Samhadaneh, commander of the Popular Resistance Committees.
Come on. Don't be stupid. How are you going to defeat Israel if you show all your fighting methods?
“The withdrawal will not be complete without the West Bank and Jerusalem, which is even more precious to us than the West Bank,” he said.

Together with Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the group has been behind many of the attacks on IDF soldiers and Jews in the Gaza Strip over the past four and a half years. Israeli security officials have been saying for months that after Israel leaves Gaza and northern Samaria, a wave of terror will ensue.

Still, the government of the State of Israel continues to move ahead with the Disengagement Plan at all costs, relinquishing its security to the Palestinians, to the Egyptians and the many terror groups who claim to hold by a cease-fire but continue to perpetrate attacks daily.
Being in a hurry to reward terrorism is not the solution, people.
Posted by: Speagum Cruck1343 || 08/08/2005 20:01 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Any reason why Poison Reverse is not showing up on the "Posted by:" When I preview, it shows up and then it magically disappears when it is posted. No big deal. Carry on.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 22:06 Comments || Top||

#2  I would hope that Israel would consider any 'terrorist activites' which occur after the withdrawl an actual act of war and respond accordingly.
Posted by: CrazyFool || 08/08/2005 22:25 Comments || Top||

#3  And just think, these animals are walking around with a few billion dollars of US money in their pockets now. They should be more careful in their dealings with Israel, they did not run them out of Gaza, they left as a peace bid. If they mount an offensive, I think IDF can obliterate them in a huge ball of fire. Question is will they?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/08/2005 23:11 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Falluja May Be in Rebel Sights
FALLOUJA, Iraq — Nine months after U.S. and Iraqi troops killed an estimated 1,000 insurgents here in a battle that also cost more than 70 American lives, intelligence suggests that rebels are trying to filter back into the former capital of Iraq's guerrilla movement.

American commanders in Baghdad and Fallouja say they control the city so completely that the guerrillas cannot regain a foothold. But they acknowledge that Fallouja remains a powerful icon to an insurgency that is keen to stop Sunni Muslim Arabs in western Al Anbar province from participating in an October referendum on Iraq's proposed constitution. "In their minds, I think it's got significance because a lot of insurgents were killed there," Army Lt. Gen. John R. Vines, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, said in Baghdad.

"This was a resounding defeat for them," added Brig. Gen. Peter Vangjel, who oversees analysis of operations, "and they want it back."
GOOD LUCK!
The prospect of insurgents infiltrating the city presents a daunting problem for military officials. For the embryonic Iraqi government as well as the U.S.-led coalition, commanders say, what happens in Fallouja will symbolize the success or failure of the war. If insurgents succeed in returning, it would amount to rolling back the coalition's largest military victory since the fall of Baghdad in April 2003.

The Marines' allowing former Fallouja residents to return has added to the concern. So far, 140,000 of the city's 250,000 residents have come back to a landscape littered with rubble, its skyline broken by tilting minarets.
The air is filled with the screams of construction equipment, the ground is broken with the trenches for the new water mains, yeah, we get the picture.
As the Marines continue to relax restrictions on the city's entry points, intelligence leads suggest that insurgents who have already entered Fallouja and others who may soon return have continued to plan attacks on Americans.

Fallouja Mayor Dari Ersan reflected that concern as he prepared to leave the barricaded fortress that serves as City Hall after a recent meeting. As a Marine officer explained the procedure for arming the city's new squadron of personal security guards, Ersan cut him off. He was worried about getting home that night. "Just give me a pistol," he said. "I'm talking about my own security."
Practical fellow, I can see why he's mayor.
Marine Maj. Gen. Stephen T. Johnson, commander of coalition forces in western Iraq, said it was not surprising that insurgents would want to return to Fallouja. As he spoke, eight U.S. artillery blasts, apparent retaliation for a guerrilla mortar or rocket strike, rattled the windows behind him. Johnson didn't flinch. "Every time a bomb goes off in Fallouja, people say, 'Here they come. Here it comes again.' We expect that there will be insurgent activity in town. And if he tries, we will continue to defeat him as we have in the past," he said.

So far, there is little evidence in the street of the insurgents' return. U.S. troops who took the city center door by door late last year now roll through in the beds of open-backed Humvees. One group stopped to walk the streets as a Western reporter talked to Iraqis, a liberty unavailable in other major cities in Iraq's perilous Sunni Triangle.

When an 11-year-old boy brandished a realistic toy gun, a potentially fatal move, the Marines offered him a deal: his "gun" for a handful of bubble gum. "Good trade," the boy said in Arabic. "Yeah, good trade," a Marine agreed. "Your life for gum."

Still, beneath the seeming placidity lies a hostile city, said Staff Sgt. Ryan Powell, a Marine reservist who in his civilian life is an LAPD officer who patrols one of Los Angeles' most volatile neighborhoods. "It's a lot like South-Central," Powell said with a shrug. "Nobody wants to talk to you. They say, 'If I talk to you, I'll be a target.' But in L.A., you don't have to worry about someone driving a car and turning into you at the last minute to blow you up."

Residents here have never been very interested in talking to strangers. During Saddam Hussein's reign, "for 35 years the way they survived was by not seeing things," a U.S. officer said.

The current insurgency has deep roots here, and before the U.S. push to drive them out, "they were everywhere, like rats," fruit vendor Fareed Hamad Khalaf said as his melons baked in a 120-degree swelter. "Some are killers. Some are like me, wearing civilian clothes. We don't know who they are. Some of them will sneak back into the city. Some already have."
Marine Sgt. Kent Padmore vividly recalled the July day when a suicide bomber wheeled his car into Padmore's convoy, exploding it into a truck carrying Marines back to their base. In the blast and the shootout that followed, five Marines — three of them women — and one sailor were killed.

Padmore, now recovered from burns he suffered in the attack, rushed to the overturned truck in front of him to find the gunner cut in half and a female Marine crushed beneath the vehicle. Some Marines were tired that night, he recalled. Now, he added in the accent of his native Trinidad, they hardly blink. "Their tiredness goes away," he said. "Everyone is alert."

So is Padmore. When a dozen town leaders lined up to enter the makeshift town hall, Padmore committed what he knew was an affront in Muslim societies. He stood well past the 20-foot "kill zone" of a suicide vest and asked the men to lift their dishdasha robes over their heads to show they weren't wearing one. "You got a dozen guys with man-dresses over their heads," Padmore, a "U.S.M.C." tattoo on his left arm, said apologetically. "I told them, 'I don't mean to disrespect you. But I'd rather offend you than get blown up.' "

Insurgents in the area have made special targets of those who participate in government. Some members of the City Council stopped attending meetings after receiving threats and, in one case, being targeted by a roadside bombing. One sheik continues to attend meetings despite the fact that a suicide car bomber crashed into his house a month ago, killing his son.

In May, Marines found the body of Raja Nawaf Fahan, governor-elect of Al Anbar province, blindfolded and handcuffed to a propane tank after an intense gunfight in the Euphrates River Valley town of Rawah.

Mamoun Sami Rasheed was understandably hesitant to become governor after that, agreeing only after he was unanimously nominated by the Al Anbar provincial council. No one else wanted the job. In Rasheed's first week, a Marine quick-reaction force ran off three carloads of masked men who were circling his house as his frantic wife paced inside, a Marine officer recounted. Officials won't say exactly what they're doing to protect him now, but "he's secure," one said.

Marines will soon get assistance from two Iraqi army brigades that are just starting to operate in the province, including Fallouja. But the country's precarious security situation and bare-bones government infrastructure have left the U.S. diplomatic mission largely unengaged in Al Anbar at large.

As American diplomats mill around their embassy offices in Hussein's former Republican Palace in Baghdad's cloistered Green Zone, 33-year-old John Kael Weston is the lone State Department representative paired with the 28,000 U.S. troops in the massive swath of desert stretching from Fallouja to the borders with Jordan and Syria. Because business in Fallouja takes so much time, he has made few visits to the region outside the city. But in Fallouja, Weston sees progress.

When he asked during a meeting of Sunni sheiks whether Falloujans would vote, all said yes, and coalition officials say internal polls concur. The city's 48 imams have agreed on a religious edict urging Muslims to vote, although it also demands that the Americans leave Iraq, Sheik Younis Subhy Hussein said. Another sheik said, straight-faced, that the Sunnis opted out of January's election only to show that the Shiite Muslim majority was too inept to rule Iraq.

Still, the threat of returning insurgents remains. "With the normal citizens coming back, you're going to have some insurgents too. They ran this city. I don't think they're going to forget what a safe haven they had," Weston said. "If Fallouja turns into a green zone for bad guys again, then what will all this mean?"

Addressing that risk requires delicate planning. In the bullet-scarred fortress where most of the city's business is conducted, Marine Lt. Col. Jim "Hondo" Haveman explains to Ersan that the deputy mayor must be elected. The mayor insists that he can pick his own "assistant" and has one in mind. Haveman leans in, moving closer to the real reason: The deputy needs to be elected, he says, "in case you get sick."

He doesn't need to go further. The mayor agrees to accept an elected No. 2. He understands that the diplomatic reference to his fragile mortality means that his deputy is not merely an assistant. He's a potential successor.
Posted by: Threnter Glomotle2411 || 08/08/2005 16:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Nine months after U.S. and Iraqi troops killed an estimated 1,000 insurgents here in a battle that also cost more than 70 American lives, intelligence suggests that rebels are trying to filter back into the former capital of Iraq's guerrilla movement.

Next time, kill 10,000. Maybe they'll get the message.
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/08/2005 17:34 Comments || Top||

#2  Let it be known that the city will be levelled next time and watch the locals fight the rebels to keep them out.
Posted by: RJSchwarz || 08/08/2005 17:54 Comments || Top||

#3  "You got a dozen guys with man-dresses over their heads," Padmore, a "U.S.M.C." tattoo on his left arm, said apologetically. "I told them, 'I don't mean to disrespect you. But I'd rather offend you than get blown up.' "

Put Padmore in charge. He has the gift of commen sense and isn't afraid to use it."Man-dresses", now that is definately appropriate wear for these cowards.
Posted by: Marine Dad || 08/08/2005 17:56 Comments || Top||

#4 
In Rasheed's first week, a Marine quick-reaction force ran off three carloads of masked men who were circling his house as his frantic wife paced inside, a Marine officer recounted.


By which, I hope that officer meant "blown all over hell's half acre". It strikes me that wearing a mask and holding a gun ought to be an execute-on-the-spot offense in the Triangle.

Pretty much anywhere else, for that matter. Deeply antisocial behavior, wearing a mask and waving a gun.

Well, on any day that isn't a sand-storm, I suppose. But somehow I doubt Anbar's finest are out and about pestering officials during sandstorms.
Posted by: Mitch H. || 08/08/2005 18:00 Comments || Top||

#5  After they recapture Falluja, the insurgents plan to retake their ancient holy city of Quantico, Virginia.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/08/2005 18:28 Comments || Top||

#6  I stopped in Quantico for a break and the MacDonald's was green and brown.
Posted by: Kofi Annan || 08/08/2005 18:40 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks & Islam
Osama bin Laden to Join Zarq in Iraq
Per Debka -- cynical reading required

Should the Sheik jump out of the bat cave, the weather is fine in Iraq.


Coded electronic signals bandied in recent days among al Qaeda Middle Eastern elements across secret Internet sites all carry the same message: the supreme leader, Osama bin Laden, has come out of hiding in Afghanistan and set out, or is about to set out, for Iraq. This is the sense gained from this correspondence by DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources.

Some of the signals schedule his date of arrival as the second half of September when Ramadan is estimated to begin. His arrival in Iraq is planned to signal the launching of the biggest offensive his organization has ever launched against the US army. If these signals are a true representation of bin Laden’s plans and not a red herring, what is planned is a dramatic landmark battle in the global war on terror and the Iraqi conflict.

The signals cap a secret exchange of messages in recent weeks in which al Qaeda’s Iraq commander Abu Musab al –Zarqawi attempted to persuade bin Laden to leave Afghanistan and take command of the Ramadan offensive in Iraq. Zarqawi argued the importance of his transferring from Afghanistan to Iraq on two grounds: to boost al Qaeda’s standing as it embarks on an “offensive whose scale and importance rival the September 2001 operation.” and in the interests of his own personal safety.

Zarqawi stressed, according to our sources, that bin Laden will be safer in Iraq than in Afghanistan – an indication of Jordanian terrorist’s inflated self-confidence.

DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s experts have authenticated the messages as emanating from Zarqawi. Their secret contents have begun to leak out and set up a huge flap in al Qaeda networks, cells and affiliates in many countries and talk of “a new jihad to honor the leader.”

If bin Laden was indeed swayed by Zarqawi and aims to reach Iraq by mid-September, he has little time to lose and must already have set out on his winding secret journey, or be about to depart. One of his options would be the long way round through Pakistani and Iranian Baluchistan and across the border into Iraq.

But there is an alternative route from Pakistan which he might find easier. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources revealed last May that al Qaeda had established a new marine base in the remote Gawatar Bay, a Persian Gulf inlet down the middle of which runs the Pakistani-Iranian border. Al Qaeda operatives are known to be active on both shores – on the Pakistani side, they use as sanctuaries the Baluchi villages strung along the River Dasht which empties into the divided bay; on the Iranian side, the move around the Baluchi port of Chah-Bahar (Bandar Beheshti).

From both these places, al Qaeda has for months been running a sea corridor of smugglers’ vessels into the southern Iraqi port of Basra. There, they clandestinely drop arms and fighters and collect injured men on the return trip for treatment in Pakistan.

Al Qaeda’s marine traffic from Baluchistan was first revealed by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 211 on June 24. The al Qaeda leader may choose to enter Iraq by sea rather than take the long, overland route, in which case his people will have arrived at Gawatar Bay and making preparations for his journey. He would have reason to believe it is safer. Intelligence of al Qaeda’s Baluchi sea smugglers has reached the American and British naval forces operating in the northern reaches of the Persian Gulf, the Shatt al Arb, Basra and the southern Iraqi oil terminals. Yet neither has been able to put a stop to the traffic.

Bin Laden has proved himself an undercover escape artist par excellence. In the five years since he escaped the Bora Bora siege, he and his party, including his close tribe, have managed to flit from place to place undetected - even when his pursuers were close and watching out for him.

If he does indeed make it to Iraq, the public airing of his presence in the Land of the Two Rivers, would have a radical impact on the nature of the Iraq conflict. No longer a mere guerrilla campaign, it would escalate to a full-scale fight to the finish against al Qaeda in Iraq, analogous to the all-out hostilities in Afghanistan.

Bin Laden’s organization has begun referring to the Iraq conflict in these ultimate terms.

Posted by: Captain America || 08/08/2005 17:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In the five years since he escaped the Bora Bora siege, he and his party, including his close tribe, have managed to flit from place to place undetected - even when his pursuers were close and watching out for him.

Jeeze Louise! No wonder we could not find Binny. He was recouperating on the beach at Bora Bora. Now the story can be told. Ima thinkn tht ths stry iz ovah duh top, ifn ya no watta Imeen.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/08/2005 17:16 Comments || Top||

#2  So the king is moving behind his screen of knights on the chess board?

The game becomes interesting..

Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2005 17:25 Comments || Top||

#3  Coded electronic signals bandied in recent days among al Qaeda Middle Eastern elements across secret Internet sites all carry the same message: the supreme leader, Osama bin Laden, has come out of hiding in Afghanistan and set out, or is about to set out, for Iraq. This is the sense gained from this correspondence by DEBKAfile’s exclusive counter-terror sources.

Man, I think the author's tinfoil hat slipped off when he wrote that.
Posted by: Xbalanke || 08/08/2005 17:27 Comments || Top||

#4  We should be so lucky as to have Binny and all his merry men go to western Iraq and spell out "Warthogs Suck!" in mass formation.
Posted by: Matt || 08/08/2005 17:29 Comments || Top||

#5  Yeah, let's see. They haven't been able to find him for 4 years in the place he's at, so let's head down to Iraq where half the US military is and, if they even think he's in one particular place, they can flatten it with everything short of nukes.
No sale...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/08/2005 17:31 Comments || Top||

#6  The signals cap a secret exchange of messages in recent weeks in which al Qaeda’s Iraq commander Abu Musab al –Zarqawi attempted to persuade bin Laden to leave Afghanistan and take command of the Ramadan offensive in Iraq.

OBL: WTF are you doing in Iraq? My grandmother could kill more infidels than you.

Zarq: Yeah? Why don't you come out here and try it yourself if you think it's so easy.

OBL: Okay then, maybe I will. I got skills.

Zarq: Alright then do it.

OBL: Okay, I will.

Zarq: Okay then.

*pause*

OBL: 'cause I would, y'know, if you losers had a dialysis machine.

Zarq: F*cking pussy, always making excuses.
Posted by: BH || 08/08/2005 17:38 Comments || Top||

#7  "DEBKAfile and DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s experts have authenticated the messages as emanating from Zarqawi."
Damn,those guys are good! I bet they've been using their trusty ole Crackerjack de-coder rings. Perhaps the Pentagon should immediately notify Captain America and Wonder Woman to be on high alert.
Posted by: Marine Dad || 08/08/2005 17:41 Comments || Top||

#8  If he does go to Iraq for a final battle...

Binny always does a decapitation attack before his main attack so that disarray is the highest.
(Think Massod before 9-11 and other attacks)
Watch should not be dropped.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2005 17:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Actually it is a good meme to push even if it is false. Goad the man to come out and mention if he doesn't he is a coward... To the muslim masses the message would be "Do you want a coward for your Caliph? That's what he is if he doesn't help Zarkboy in person."

Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2005 17:44 Comments || Top||

#10  seeing as how they are both dead...
Posted by: 2b || 08/08/2005 17:45 Comments || Top||

#11  BH, LMAO. Highly plausible.
Posted by: Matt || 08/08/2005 17:45 Comments || Top||

#12  Marine Dad:

I will take this alert (gasp) under advisement.

Captain America

P.S. Please have Debka notify Wonder Woman for us. I seem to have misplaced her number on my magic cell phone.
Posted by: Captain America || 08/08/2005 17:53 Comments || Top||

#13  #9 Actually it is a good meme to push even if it is false. Goad the man to come out and mention if he doesn't he is a coward...

My friend, hasn't he already shown that he is a coward ?
Posted by: Marine Dad || 08/08/2005 18:19 Comments || Top||

#14  All the salt in the Dead Sea couldn't flavor this dish.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 19:02 Comments || Top||

#15  And I just saw Elvis.

Honestly, he was working at a fast food joint!

Posted by: john || 08/08/2005 19:31 Comments || Top||

#16  Maybe he's in bad health, and can't make the trip to America, to martyr himself "in the belly of the beast". Or perhaps, Iraq is the beast. Who knows, It's whatever these guys feel at the time.
Posted by: plainslow || 08/08/2005 20:47 Comments || Top||

#17  "Some of the signals schedule his date of arrival as the second half of September when Ramadan is estimated to begin."

Is Debka suggesting that the start of Ramadan is not known at this time? I don't know if that's the case, but if true, it's just another example of how f*cked up a religion Islam is.

"In the five years since he escaped the Bora Bora siege, he and his party, including his close tribe, have managed to flit from place to place undetected - even when his pursuers were close and watching out for him."

So Binny fled Tora Bora a year before 9/11/01, returned after 9/11/01, and fled again in December 2001? Can these guys even construct a timeline?

Debka has some of the most creative writers out there, but I don't trust their "intelligence sources."
Posted by: Tibor || 08/08/2005 21:22 Comments || Top||

#18  Is Debka suggesting that the start of Ramadan is not known at this time?

As I recall, the official start of Ramadan depends not on calendar calculations, but the actual spotting of the moonrise.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/08/2005 21:37 Comments || Top||

#19  If that secret Presidential Directive is to be taken seriously, OBL will be brought to justice "Dead or Alive" in any attempt to affect his status quo! The moment proof of life is given by the CIA, their duty will be to neutralize this menace to our society whether it takes out 10 of his troops or 10,000 people shielding him. In any event, save his body or teeth for presentation to "W", on that silver platter!!
Posted by: smn || 08/08/2005 23:40 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Marines Find Car Bomb Factory in Iraq
U.S. Marines discovered a car bomb factory Monday in a western Iraqi town near where 20 members of the American unit were killed last week, the U.S. military said. Six vehicles rigged with explosives were found in the hideout in the northern part of Haqlaniyah, one of a cluster of towns in western Anbar province long believed to be a stronghold of Iraqi insurgents and foreign fighters. "All of the rigged vehicles were destroyed and secondary explosions were observed by the Marines," a Marine statement said.

U.S. and Iraqi forces also found five roadside bombs Monday on a road in Haqlaniyah, the statement said. All were detonated in place, it said. Marines have been pressing a sweep of Haqlaniyah and other communities in the area despite the deaths of 20 of their comrades last week. Six members of a Marine sniper team died in a firefight Aug. 1, and 14 Marines and a civilian translator were killed by a huge bomb two days later. There have been no small-arms attacks on Iraqi soldiers or Marines in the area in the last two days, the U.S. statement said. On Sunday, U.S. Marines and Iraqi soldiers discovered a bomb in a building in Haqlaniyah. Three 155 mm artillery rounds, weighing more than 100 pounds apiece, were wired to a desk inside the building, the U.S. statement said. Marines destroyed the bomb where it was found after determining it was too dangerous to remove it.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 15:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  My guess is that the building no longer exhists.
Posted by: Mr.Bill || 08/08/2005 16:02 Comments || Top||

#2  My son's Marine unit is engaged in this operation (Operation Quick Strike). If those boys have their way there will soon be many more buildings that will cease to exhist !
Posted by: Marine Dad || 08/08/2005 16:10 Comments || Top||

#3  I have a funny feeling that they will get their way.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 16:33 Comments || Top||

#4  amen and god bless to your son M.D.!
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 16:35 Comments || Top||

#5  Marines have been pressing a sweep...despite the deaths of 20 of their comrades...

Despite? I would be surprised if the Marines did anything but press on. Apparently the reporter had a different hope. Anyway, buckle for your dust, Marines.

Best wishes to you and your son, Marine Dad.
Posted by: Zpaz || 08/08/2005 16:37 Comments || Top||

#6  Wishing your son good luck and good hunting, Marine Dad. Best to you and your family.
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/08/2005 16:39 Comments || Top||

#7  Marine Dad - Thanks for the post and please make sure your son and his friends know how proud we all are of them.
Posted by: Matt || 08/08/2005 17:07 Comments || Top||

#8  MD,
thanks for your son, looks like his unit is doing a fabulous job. I'll be pulling for your son and his unit to stay safe.
Zpaz, I too thought the wording of "despite" was out of character here. It'll be added incentive to get the job done.
Posted by: Jan || 08/08/2005 22:58 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
A few more details about that downed SF helo & Seals in Afghan
Troops target most-wanted warlord

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO, Afghanistan - U.S. commanders are stepping up the hunt for the obscure warlord whose thugs gunned down a team of Navy SEALs and downed their rescuers' Chinook helicopter, killing all aboard.

Military officials vowed they will be relentless in settling the score for 19 SEALs and Army aviators who were killed on one of this war's most tragic days.

"We are not going to stop until we get those bastards," said one U.S. commander still seething over the loss of American lives on a secret operation in the forgotten war to secure Afghanistan.

The Daily News has learned new details about how the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment CH-47 was shot down on June 28.

The tragedy began that Tuesday when a four-man SEAL special operations team was ambushed as it was on a covert mission targeting Ahmad Shah, a warlord loyal to deposed Taliban figurehead Mullah Omar

Some news reports speculated the SEALs' target was Omar or Al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, but military sources said the objective was tracking Shah, who has influence over the northeastern border town of Asadabad.

Three of the SEALs - including Lt. Michael Murphy of Long Island - were killed in a running gun battle against large numbers of fighters believed to be Shah's men. A fourth survived and was later saved by a Pashtun shepherd and his village.

A quick reaction force of two SEAL teams was immediately dispatched in the CH-47 Chinook to help the SEAL team in trouble north of Asadabad.

As the Chinook and several AH-64 Apache attack helicopters reached the landing zone just above a steep ravine, the two SEAL teams began rappelling down from the helicopter on ropes, sources said.

Just then, an enemy fighter on a nearby slope fired a rocket-propelled grenade into the open back door of the huge Chinook, which caught fire and staggered about a mile before crashing on top of the rescue teams hanging from the ropes.

The giant aircraft sheared off tree tops as it rolled down the ravine, killing 16 in all. Sources said body parts and pieces of the SEALs' M4 rifles were found scattered over much of the ravine's rocky slope amid blackened tree stumps.

Unmanned Predator spy drones flew over the crash site until troops arrived, but no survivors were found.

The Taliban immediately tipped reporters that they had shot down a chopper and released a video showing the Chinook allegedly hit not by an RPG but a more sophisticated Russian SA-7 surface-to-air missile.

An analysis by journalist and Taliban expert Khalid Mafton in Kabul determined that the men firing the SA-7 were dressed like "Arab Afghan" foreign fighters and not Taliban. A voice on the tape shouting "Allah Akhbar!" ("God is Great!") did not have an Arabic or Afghan accent, Mafton noted.

Military officials said no coalition aircraft have ever been hit by surface-to-air missiles in Afghanistan, and suspect the video includes footage from guerrilla fighting in Chechnya or elsewhere. Multiple witnesses in the other choppers insist they saw an RPG fired.

Enemy fighters are believed to have first reached the crash site in the 36 hours before U.S. forces could get there. Several suspects were later captured carrying pilfered U.S. military binoculars, one Army source said.

Army photos obtained by The News show a team from the 82nd Airborne Division recovering personal items from the scorched crash site such as cracked pilots' helmets, charred ammunition magazines, a flashlight, SEAL team knife and broken goggles amid the wreckage of broken rotors and bent metal.

In one image, a gloved trooper holds a dog tag scorched by fire, which quotes the Warrior Ethos: "I will always put the mission first/I will never accept defeat/I will never quit/I will never leave a fallen comrade."
Posted by: Sherry || 08/08/2005 13:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  From a statement of the SEAL philosophy handed out at a memorial service for one of the SEALs in the helicopter:

I will never quit. I persevere and thrive on adversity. My Nation expects me to be physically harder and mentally stronger than my enemies. If knocked down, I will get back up, every time. I will draw on every remaining ounce of strength to protect my teammates and to accomplish our mission. I am never out of the fight.

So Mr. Shah, sir, kiss your butt goodbye.
Posted by: Matt || 08/08/2005 14:38 Comments || Top||

#2  I sincerely hope it's a painful end for Shah, his fighters, and all who provide support for them, including any villagers or family members.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 15:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Hey Mahmoud, I heard that the wedding party was literally da-bomb.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 15:53 Comments || Top||

#4  "...secret operation in the forgotten war to secure Afghanistan."

If it has been forgotten, it's because so many ass-lints in the media prefer to cover and glorify scumbag leftists with BusHitler T's, and the treasonous likes of Kennedy/Kerry/Pelosi/Dean/eat al who call for the defeat of America and apologies for our enemies.

Besides, some us HAVEN'T forgotten.

Never forgive. Never foget.
Posted by: Hyper || 08/08/2005 16:47 Comments || Top||

#5  I have a feeling that SEAL-seething™ is much more theatening than muslin-seething™. Personally I would think twice about making a SEAL seeth.

Posted by: Glains Theash7392 || 08/08/2005 19:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Never forget and never stop. These bastards must be stopped. We must be relentless.
Posted by: Art || 08/08/2005 22:59 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Eleven foreign fighters killed, hundreds arrested
US and Iraqi forces have killed 11 foreign fighters and arrested 805 others throughout Iraq last week, a statement by the Multinational Force said Monday.
805 in jug is good...
The statement said joint US-Iraqi forces launched 182 operations in the week ending August 5th in different parts of Iraq. Some 109 explosive charge devices and 22 arms caches were seized. According to the statement, the joint force demolished a house laden with explosives in the town of Haklaniya west of Baghdad. In the city of Sadr near Baghdad, security forces arrested a 10-member terrorist cell. No further details were available.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 11:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  11 killed, 805 arrested is good. 805 killed, 11 arrested is better.
Posted by: BH || 08/08/2005 12:12 Comments || Top||

#2  816 less violent nutters would do nicely so long as nobody touches the damn book of allan. Ok. Don't touch the stinkin book.
Posted by: AbuRatcatcherToTheStars || 08/08/2005 13:01 Comments || Top||

#3  906 killed is best.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 13:06 Comments || Top||

#4  why have we never heard what happens to terrorists who are captured?Do they go on trial in Iraq?If so what are the outcomes of these trials?It seems to me that being a terrorist for an Iraqi is a nearly no-lose proposition.You walk over to three or four MNF soldiers.pepper them with bullets,put up your hands and get free lodging.Why are there no public executions of captured,proven killers?Until there is a highly visible price paid for shooting or blowing up their ememies,the marginal terrorists don t have a lot to lose when caught. As distasteful as it seems to all of us,me included,a non-uniformed killer is not a prisoner of war ,he is a murdering thug,and deserves prompt public justice.
Posted by: john e morrissey || 08/08/2005 13:21 Comments || Top||

#5  need to install Saudi fire protection systems in the Iraqi jails
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 13:28 Comments || Top||

#6  From NYT:

Two days ago, about 1,000 American and Iraqi soldiers started an offensive to root out insurgents in the area, but with meager results. As with previous offensives in the area, the Marines have met little resistance, with the guerrillas mostly fading into the landscape. On Saturday, the Marines reported few gains, and on Sunday sent out no report at all.

First Rantburg makes me question my Democratic party upbringing, now it points out flawed coverage by my favorite paper. It has been a painful but eye opening experience. I hope this site is having similar effects on people like me everywhere. I recently caught myself checking this site first, it was always NYT first. A subtle shift, but I am hooked now.
Posted by: NYer4wot || 08/08/2005 13:38 Comments || Top||

#7  NYer4wot,

Welcome. Spread the word. Have you been watching the Air Scamerica coverage in the Grey Lady? Didn't think so. Another story that never happened from the paper of Walter Duranty.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 13:48 Comments || Top||

#8  A good way to picture the raw numbers is to compare them with an army unit. 30 enemy out of action is a platoon. 100 is a company. 750 is a battallion. 5000 is a brigade. Using this perspective, our divisions in Iraq have literally annihilated at least two enemy divisions from around the world, just in Iraq, and with tiny losses. Two to three or more brigades of enemy have been lost in Afghanistan. Another few brigades elsewhere. All told, we have wiped out a corps of enemy fighters. How few modern nations of the world could suffer the loss of a corps and still have a viable army? For example, the US Army has (I believe) four field Corps. Very large, comparable only to the Russians and the Chinese. Most of the nations of the world would be utterly defeated with such losses. This is a good indicator of how little the Islamists have left.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/08/2005 14:46 Comments || Top||

#9  This is a good indicator of how little the Islamists have left.

Why, then, is Britain concerned about an "insurgency" in its own streets?
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/08/2005 15:18 Comments || Top||

#10  Mrs. Davis - Thanks for the link. Am I missing something? Coruption in the big apple is not really news...
Posted by: NYer4wot || 08/08/2005 15:30 Comments || Top||

#11  Re: #4

I am partial to impalement every 100 meters on the road from Baghdad to the Syrian border myself...
Posted by: DanNY || 08/08/2005 15:44 Comments || Top||

#12  What does happen to all those assholes they arrest?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/08/2005 16:17 Comments || Top||

#13  impalement every 100 meters on the road from Baghdad to the Syrian border myself...

The M5 could use some decoration as well.
Posted by: Steve || 08/08/2005 16:36 Comments || Top||

#14  First Rantburg makes me question my Democratic party upbringing, now it points out flawed coverage by my favorite paper. It has been a painful but eye opening experience. I hope this site is having similar effects on people like me everywhere. I recently caught myself checking this site first, it was always NYT first. A subtle shift, but I am hooked now.

My experience as well, almost word for word. Straight Dem ticket until 2002 (to counteract the ascendance of the "evil" repubs, dontchaknow) and considering the NYTimes the "paper of record".

Like Mrs. Davis said, the best thing we can do is spread the word. Most of my friends still think the way I used to, and social events sure were easier when we were all on the same page. But I keep trying to chip away at their monolithic belief system (it's really like a religion to most of them) with the occasional success. The single best thing you can do, IMNSHO, is tell them about Rantburg.
Posted by: docob || 08/08/2005 17:10 Comments || Top||

#15  "need to install Saudi fire protection systems in the Iraqi jails"

Only works if the people inside are helpless elementary school girls accused of apostasy.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 08/08/2005 18:57 Comments || Top||

#16  NTer4wot, you're correct about big Apple corruption, but taking money from a Boy's and Girl's club to finance a political network does seem to be a recent low.
Posted by: Kofi Annan || 08/08/2005 19:00 Comments || Top||

#17  but don't worry - we would be happy to have our diplomats feed them in exchange for sex.
Posted by: kofi || 08/08/2005 19:12 Comments || Top||

#18  Docob,

Yeah, funny about those social occasions, I used to feel ganged up on, now I am armed with all the info I need (thanks again, 'burg). Wonder if the invites will start to disappear on me.

I've started working on my foreign 'friends' at work, reminding them not to bite the hand that feeds them, but it is an uphill struggle. Funny how they get pissed at the facts. Screw 'em.

Kofi - I agree, pretty low, but it will be eclipsed in no time - maybe even on the evening news tonight.
Posted by: NYer4wot || 08/08/2005 20:23 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Pakistan detains alleged Al-Qaeda operative
Pakistani intelligence agencies and security forces have netted down another local alleged Al-Qaeda operative in an eastern city, said sources on Monday. Osama bin Yusuf, 33, was arrested on Sunday in Sargodha Road area of eastern Faisalabad city, about 350 kilometers from Islamabad, where he had been operating a Public Call Office (PCO), security sources told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA).
Public Call Office, does this mean he's the guy in the neighborhood with a phone, which he lets people use for a fee?
The sources said that Osama was traced down through a telephone call, which he made to another Al-Qaeda suspect. They added that several Al-Qaeda suspects have reportedly stayed at his house and left after getting instructions in code words through Osamas PCO from their leaders. Sources said further that he is a resident of north-western Abbottabad city, around 200 kilometers from Islamabad, and member of an outlawed militant group, Lashkar-i-Jhangvi (LJ). They said that forces recovered 12 wireless telephone sets, a diary, and a notebook from his possession. The source also said that Osama has contacts with Hashim Qadeer Khan, another Al-Qaeda suspect involved in Daniel Pearl murder case, arrested in Gujranwala last week. Authorities said that they have shifted Osama at some unknown location and are interrogating him.

The Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao confirming the arrest said that he was wanted in several terrorist activities. The minister said that authorities are determining his links with Al-Qaeda terror group and some militant group.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 10:59 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Non-MSM News From Iraq
Coalition forces in Iraq captured seven terror suspects, seized a car bomb being prepared for an attack, and foiled five roadside-bomb attacks during a series of combat operations conducted in Baghdad over the past two days. Just before 6 a.m. today, coalition forces seized a car bomb and three terrorists who admitted they were planning to use the car bomb in an attack later in the day. An explosive ordnance disposal team safely detonated the bomb, and the terrorists were taken into custody.

At 3:30 a.m. Aug. 5, Task Force Baghdad soldiers approached a man out after curfew in the Thawra district of northeast Baghdad. As the patrol neared, the individual ran away. The soldiers pursued the suspect to his home to question him. That's where *I'd* run if being pursued by soldiers - right straight home to Mama!

As they were asking the man why he was out after curfew, the soldiers noticed hundreds of fake identification cards in the house. The patrol searched the house and found four computers and numerous documents thought to be used to create the false IDs. I wonder if they had a search warrant? Where's the ACLU when a terrorist needs them? The unit detained the man and another suspect in the house and took them into custody for additional questioning.

Later in the day, just after 1:30 p.m., Iraqi army and Task Force Baghdad soldiers working together in Abu Ghraib caught two men red-handed as they were preparing a site for a roadside bomb. When the combined patrol approached the men, they ran to a nearby house. The soldiers chased and caught both men, searched the house, and found an AK-47 assault rifle with ammunition. This might not have been 'their' house, since every home has its own AK-47. Both men were taken into custody for questioning.

Task Force Baghdad soldiers also found and safely disabled two roadside bombs in different Baghdad neighborhoods before terrorists could detonate them.

In other news from Iraq, Task Force Baghdad soldiers conducted Operation Able Warrior to defeat terror cells operating west of the Baghdad International Airport in the early-morning hours of Aug. 4. In less than three hours, soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment, 48th Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, conducted a series of simultaneous attacks and captured 41 suspected terrorists, including three foreign fighters.

"We went out and did what we set out to do. This was a picture-perfect mission," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Steve McCorkle, commander of 2nd Battalion, 121st Infantry Regiment. The mission of Operation Able Warrior was to disrupt car-bombing cells and those that place roadside bomb, and prevent them from planning, preparing and carrying out terrorist attacks in the area.

"We want to set the Iraq army up for success. This operation will help the Iraqi security forces take more control of the day-to-day operations," said U.S. Army Lt. Col. Thomas Carden, a spokesman for the 48th BCT.

(Compiled from Task Force Baghdad and Multinational Force Iraq news releases.)
Posted by: Bobby || 08/08/2005 07:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I wonder if they had a search warrant? Where's the ACLU when a terrorist needs them?
I bet the guys didn't say, "I have rights." Isn't that like claiming sanctuary in a church?
Posted by: Xbalanke || 08/08/2005 11:31 Comments || Top||

#2  This might not have been 'their' house, since every home has its own AK-47.

Easier than bringing a drop gun.
Posted by: Pappy || 08/08/2005 12:02 Comments || Top||

#3  can somebody follow up and tell us what happens to the three guys they picked up? I am in favor of sending them off to their 72 virgins within the hour,preferably at the end of a rope right outside their homes,in full view of the neighbors.perhaps the next bunch might be more inclined to something useful,such as filling the potholes or planting a garden.
Posted by: john e morrissey || 08/08/2005 17:54 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Good News From Afghanistan
Afghan and coalition forces stopped several terrorist attacks on Aug. 5 and 6 when they destroyed three improvised explosive devices in southern and eastern Afghanistan, U.S. military officials said today. The first IED was found near Mehtar Lam, in Laghman province, and transferred to a nearby company of Marines. The Marines rendered the device safe before transporting it to a U.S. military base, where it will be destroyed, officials said.

The second IED was discovered in southern Afghanistan. Afghan police forces disabled the device, made from an anti-tank mine, before turning it over to U.S. paratroopers assigned to Task Force Bayonet. Engineers safely destroyed that IED a short time later, officials said.

The third IED was discovered south of the city of Ghazni, in Ghazni province, by a coalition patrol. The patrol rendered the device safe and transferred it to a nearby base for destruction, officials said.

Iin southern Afghanistan Aug. 6, the ANP disrupted an enemy ambush in the city of Qalat, in Zabul province. Afghan police forces reportedly killed one enemy combatant in the brief resultant firefight. One ANP officer was wounded in the attack; he was transported to Kandahar Airfield for treatment, officials said.

According to U.S. military officials, the incident occurred when enemy forces ambushed an Afghan police patrol with small-arms fire. The enemy forces immediately fled the area, but were pursued by Afghan National Police, who were assisted by U.S. military force. These enemy forces remain at large, officials said.

U.S. military units in Afghanistan are conducting operations designed to deny sanctuary and freedom of movement to enemy forces, officials said. "The forces that attack those charged with protecting Afghans from crime and terror are trying to prevent Afghanistan from having a bright future," U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jerry O'Hara, a spokesman for Combined Joint Task Force 76, said.

"Afghan forces -- be they army, police or security -- are striving to ensure this nation is free of terror and violence so that Afghans might know peace and prosperity," he added.

In other news from Afghanistan, a suicide bomber was detained as he attempted to detonate a series of explosives attached to his body at a U.S. base south of Salerno, near the Pakistani border, Aug. 6, officials said.

The potential bomber attempted to enter a U.S. facility in the region under the guise of needing medical attention. At the gate he produced a grenade, which he attempted to detonate, officials said. But the grenade failed to detonate, and security forces apprehended the man. The suicide bomber also had two anti-personnel mines and a second grenade attached to his body. He is now in the custody of Afghan forces, officials said.
Posted by: Bobby || 08/08/2005 07:36 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Afghan police forces disabled the device

Well done, gentlemen! Always a pleasure to hear about more skillsets successfully mastered -- the more the Afghans can do for themselves, the more freedom NATO forces have to extend their activities outward.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2005 14:45 Comments || Top||


Mullah Diesel: Pakistan Government hoodwinking USA
The Pakistani government is deceiving the US and the West by helping militants freely enter Afghanistan from Waziristan, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA) Secretary General Maulana Fazlur Rehman said on Sunday. Earlier, Fazl had said that if pressured he would reveal facts that would open a Pandora’s box.
"Plots. Wheels within wheels. Enemies as far as the eye can see. Further, even. Open your hearts and your wallets, brethren and sistren."
The government would have to decide whether it wanted to support jihadis or close down their camps, he said, adding, “We will have to openly tell the world whether we want to support jihadis or crack down on them. We can’t afford to be hypocritical anymore...”
Posted by: john || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mullah Diesel: If you could please... GPS coords.. for all involved.
Posted by: 3dc || 08/08/2005 0:10 Comments || Top||

#2  An honest Pakistani Mullah. Will wonders never cease ?
Posted by: buwaya || 08/08/2005 0:22 Comments || Top||

#3  He does raise a good point, for all the blame levied against the Mullah's for involvement in terrorism, it's not the holy men who run the training camps and arm the Jihadis.

I guess Mullah Diesel doesn't like it when he isn't allowed to go on a shopping spree diplomatic visit to Dubai.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 08/08/2005 0:28 Comments || Top||

#4  Me thinks that it is just another power play. His statements may contain factual data, but he's probably just trying to blackmail some concessions out of the Army, the ISI, the Saudi financers or the Feudals -- most likely the Army and/or ISI given the nature of his comments. Truth, lies... they're just two different types of ammunition.
Posted by: 11A5S || 08/08/2005 0:31 Comments || Top||

#5  We can’t afford to be hypocritical anymore
Why stop now? You have a perfect record...
Posted by: Spot || 08/08/2005 8:19 Comments || Top||

#6  I guess Mullah Diesel doesn't like it when he isn't allowed to go on a shopping spree diplomatic visit to Dubai.

I think this really hurt him.
Beneath his "islamic" identity, he is like any Pak feudal and loves the high life. Being banned from the UAE while those in the army and ISI are free must rankle.
Posted by: john || 08/08/2005 10:46 Comments || Top||

#7  Perhaps he is right. Were they to stay in Pakland, there is little the divided government could do about it. But helped out, or kicked out, to go to Afghanistan, the Pak government can only shrug and say that "It is the will of Allan that they walzed right in to a major ambush. Allan did not smile on them. They are martyrs. Not our problem."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 08/08/2005 11:18 Comments || Top||

#8  Interesting insight John. We all know the man needs a nice new dorag. Missed a shot at the FieldCrest Outlet Store.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 12:09 Comments || Top||

#9  Following Abe Lincoln's opinion that everyone over 40 is responsible for his face, I'm betting this guy is bad news....
Posted by: Cheaque Gromosing5100 || 08/08/2005 13:35 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
Fatah gunmen storm Gaza buildings to protest arrest
Gunmen stormed two buildings in Gaza on Sunday to protest against the arrest of a top official from the leading Fatah group by a Palestinian security officer. The gunmen from al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, a militant group from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction, said they were protesting because men from the Preventive Security Service took away senior official Suleiman al-Fara. The Palestinian Interior Ministry confirmed Fara had been arrested but refused to say why.
"We can say no more!"
The gunmen took over a building owned by the Palestinian Red Crescent Thingy Society in the town of Khan Younis and then seized a municipal building nearby. Neither building was occupied and the Red Crescent did not comment.
They can say no more neither.
Both incidents seemed to be the latest examples of factional rivalry in the West Bank and Gaza, part of a violent political culture that Abbas has vowed to combat. "We will continue to carry out our protest activities and we are prepared to carry out things beyond imagination," said one of the gunmen. Fara is the director of the office of Farouq al-Qadoumi, the chairman of Fatah and a Palestine Liberation Organisation leader who is currently living in exile. Qadoumi said in a statement Fatah would "take the roughest measures of conduct" against those who detained him if Fara was not released in 24 hours". Tension between various forces in the Gaza Strip grew last week after Fatah activists began training what they called a "Popular Army" that they said would help to keep law and order. Officials close to Abbas, under pressure at home and abroad to slim down security services and disarm burgeoning militia, said the Fatah force was not approved.
Posted by: Seafarious || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Another shining example of the law-abiding Paleo society that is going to build something splendid when they are given a "viable state"...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 08/08/2005 1:00 Comments || Top||

#2  ... men from the Preventive Security Service....

That's positively Orwellian. Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch.

Time to send the IDF a a couple more pizzas on the general principle of their having neutered these asshats to the point where their first reaction is against their own.
Posted by: AzCat || 08/08/2005 2:31 Comments || Top||

#3  It's a close call, but I might have gone with the popcorn graphic here. :)
Posted by: WhiteCollarRedneck || 08/08/2005 8:04 Comments || Top||

#4  You are right on BAR. These folks wouldn't know the rule of law and justice if you beat them in the head with it for 6 more decades. They behave like violent nutters and keep wondering why people see them and treat them as violent nutters. There's a big knowledge deficit in paleo society and it sure looks like a growing sinkhole. Their future ain't so nice to contemplate.
Posted by: MunkarKat || 08/08/2005 9:27 Comments || Top||

#5  Dahlans finally beginning to round up the nutbags.

You want nuts with your popcorn? Crackerjack, anyone?
Posted by: liberalhawk || 08/08/2005 11:00 Comments || Top||

#6  ...and then seized a municipal building nearby. Neither building was occupied and the Red Crescent did not comment.

Ok, they "stormed" empty buildings? Can I get a "target lock!"?
Posted by: mojo || 08/08/2005 12:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Ooooh, Crackerjacks! Pass that bowl over here, liberalhawk. Thanks!
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2005 15:22 Comments || Top||

#8  Okay, got your peanuts, your salt, your corn your molasses..... uh oh molasses... humm... got your chemical industrial mixermachine. Yeah. Gotta be kosher. Don't touch the prize tho, it' t**** and should be send to me.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 15:41 Comments || Top||

#9  Just another example of why the U.S. needs to stay involved in the situation over there. Has anyone seen www.mideastcalm.org ? A ton of U.S. leaders (right-wing, left-wing, religious, business--Former Sec. of Defense William Cohen, Former Sec. of State Madeline Albright !!) have signed on to this campaign promoting sustained leadership in the Middle East. Sign it yourselves, and tell other people, because its in our national interest.
Posted by: CALME supporter || 08/08/2005 16:17 Comments || Top||

#10  how about "massiveretaliationagainst Paleotransgression.com"? I could sign up for that
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 16:45 Comments || Top||

#11  I haven't heard of that one Frank
Posted by: CALME supporter || 08/08/2005 17:13 Comments || Top||

#12  Don't take this the wrong way, CS, but signing a petition won't accomplish a damned thing.

The paleos don't care. Period.

They don't care what anyone anywhere in the world thinks about them. The only thing they care about is murdering all the Jews and taking their land (which the paleos would promptly run into the ground just like the land they have now).

And it's no secret, either. Their goal is written down for all the world to see. And they've NEVER renounced it.

So I think I'll pass on the petition. Particularly since HalfBright thinks it's a good idea.

Nothing personal, you understand.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 08/08/2005 20:46 Comments || Top||

#13  Former Sec. of State Madeline Albright !!

Known 'round here by her Indian name -- Dances with Murderers.
Posted by: Robert Crawford || 08/08/2005 20:54 Comments || Top||

#14  throw in some dots with that popcorn, that's always a good mix.
Although I don't like horror episodes,
the paleos won't stop, they'll keep wanting more
Posted by: Jan || 08/08/2005 21:35 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Eight suspected Taleban killed by US-led coalition, Afghan troops
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - US-led coalition and Afghan forces attacked a suspected Taleban hideout in southeastern Afghanistan, killing eight militants and arresting three others, an official said on Sunday. One Afghan soldier was wounded in the operation, which triggered a firefight early Saturday in Zabul province’s Shahr-e-safa district, said the district’s chief, Haji Ghulam Rasol.

The troops also seized an unspecified number of weapons from the militants, including AK-47 assault rifles, rockets and ammunition, he said. With the support of coalition forces, Afghan soldiers were searching the area for more fighters, Rasol said.

A US military spokeswoman said she had no information about the incident.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Suspected Taliban?!??

If you are in southeastern Afghanistan with a bunch of rockets and machine guns you are not a goat herder, you are Taliban. What the hell else would you be?
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/08/2005 5:11 Comments || Top||

#2  What the hell else would you be?

Elk hunter
Posted by: Steve || 08/08/2005 8:14 Comments || Top||

#3  What the hell else would you be?

Or maybe a wedding caterer.
Posted by: PBMcL || 08/08/2005 12:11 Comments || Top||

#4  I still think they are SSABWA.

(simple shephereds albeit well armed)
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 12:11 Comments || Top||

#5  The seemingly extraneous B is for Baluchistan, ancestral home of simple (albeit armed to the teeth) shepherds.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 12:13 Comments || Top||

#6  nice recovery, Shipster
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 13:33 Comments || Top||

#7  Three years of training under the Masters Frank.
Posted by: Shipman || 08/08/2005 15:19 Comments || Top||

#8  What was the place in the old Caine & Connery movie of the Kipling story 'The Man Who Would Be King'? Kafiristan? (if I recall it correctly, it makes for a rather interesting translation - Infidel-Land?) I think I need to watch that movie again.
Posted by: Glenmore || 08/08/2005 16:04 Comments || Top||

#9  If you are in southeastern Afghanistan with a bunch of rockets and machine guns you are not a goat herder

Herders needed rockets and machine guns when confronting the brutal afghhan wolf
Posted by: JFM || 08/08/2005 16:50 Comments || Top||


Bombs boom Baluchistan bakery
QUETTA, Pakistan - A homemade bomb exploded in a remote town in Pakistan’s southwestern Baluchistan province, shattering windows at a bakery and two other explosions elsewhere in the province damaged two power pylons early Sunday, officials said. No one was reported hurt.
Flour and custard were everywhere ...
"My pies! You boomed my friggin' pies! You bastards!"
The explosion that damaged the bakery occurred in the main bazaar in Turbat, a town about 650 kilometers southeast of Baluchistan’s capital of Quetta, local police official Abdul Sattar said. The bomb was planted in a drain near the bakery in Turbat, shattering the shop’s shutter and windows, he said.
Who the hell booms a pie shop? Are they running out of targets? Are there no rival holy men? Those Bugtis are a vicious lot!
Two other explosions damaged two huge electricity pylons, disrupting power to thousands of homes and businesses, said Jibrael Khan, a spokesman for the state-run utility company, Water and Power Development Authority. No one claimed responsibility for either attack, the latest in a series of small-scale bombings that have hit Baluchistan in recent years. Authorities suspect ethnic-Baluch nationalist groups for attacks against government installations in the province.
A Bugti spokesbeard was unavailable for comment: "Pies, all pies."
Posted by: Steve White || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Those pies turn good muslims into raving apostates, so they had to go.

Another afghan head scratcher.
Posted by: bigjim-ky || 08/08/2005 5:06 Comments || Top||

#2  It's was those hot cross buns, a double no-no in the land of the pure.
Posted by: ed || 08/08/2005 6:04 Comments || Top||

#3  Now we know where the flour in the backpacks on the Tube came from.
Posted by: Jackal || 08/08/2005 11:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Horrible headline.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 08/08/2005 12:56 Comments || Top||

#5  cutting off the electricity makes friends, as well
Posted by: Frank G || 08/08/2005 13:48 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
MNF arrests 57 suspected terrs in different areas of Baghdad
The recent military operations have led to arresting 57 suspected terrorists in different areas of Baghdad, said Sunday the Multi-National Force (MNF). In a press statement, high-ranking MNF officers said the current actions have led to capturing suspected terrorists and discovering a number of weapon caches in different sectors of Baghdad. They added that the MNF was successful at deactivating a booby-trapped car and five bombs, as well as seizing hundreds of fake identification cards and four personal computers used in forging the identifications.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I guess they have to fire up another grill at Gitmo for some more glazed chicken...
Posted by: BigEd || 08/08/2005 13:19 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
77 clerics booked
MULTAN: Cases have been registered against 77 clerics, including Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal leader Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, for violating the loudspeaker law in various cities of Punjab. Three prayer leaders were arrested in Mailsi and four in Bahawalpur. "We are implementing the Interior Ministry's orders regarding loudspeakers, provocative speeches and audio, video cassettes. We have registered cases against more than 200 violators in Multan division and arrested some of them who were later bailed out," said Malik Iqbal, Multan Police DIG.
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Always nice to see new pics make the lineup!
Posted by: Raj || 08/08/2005 10:04 Comments || Top||

#2  I thought from the title, 77 clerics booked, this was a story about TV bookings for the Today Show with Katie Koran.
Posted by: intrinsicpilot || 08/08/2005 10:27 Comments || Top||

#3  loudspeaker violations???
Posted by: liberalhawk || 08/08/2005 10:56 Comments || Top||

#4  Whatever works...
Posted by: tu3031 || 08/08/2005 10:58 Comments || Top||

#5  The new law forbids loudspeaker use except for the Friday call to prayer, as I recall. No more shrieked sermons whenever a mullah feels the urge, especially in response to someone else's shrieked sermon.
Posted by: trailing wife || 08/08/2005 14:50 Comments || Top||


Crackdown ordered on resurfacing defunct groups
Posted by: Fred || 08/08/2005 00:00 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



Who's in the News
84[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
Mon 2005-08-08
  Zambia extradites Aswad to UK
Sun 2005-08-07
  UK terrorists got cash from Saudi Arabia before 7/7
Sat 2005-08-06
  Blair Announces Measures to Combat Terrorism
Fri 2005-08-05
  Binori Town students going home. Really.
Thu 2005-08-04
  Ayman makes faces at Brits
Wed 2005-08-03
  First Suspect in July 21 Bombings Charged
Tue 2005-08-02
  24 Killed in Khartoum Riot
Mon 2005-08-01
  Fahd dead; Garang dead
Sun 2005-07-31
  Bombers Start Talking
Sat 2005-07-30
  25 Held in Sharm
Fri 2005-07-29
  Feds Investigating Repeat Blast at TX Chemical Plant
Thu 2005-07-28
  Hunt for 15 in Sharm Blasts
Wed 2005-07-27
  London Boomer Bagged
Tue 2005-07-26
  Van Gogh killer jailed for life
Mon 2005-07-25
  UK cops name London suspects

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.
44.192.73.68
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (25)    Non-WoT (19)    Opinion (3)    (0)    (0)