The satellite TV channel Al-Arabiya has broadcast exclusive images, provided by the Saudi interior ministry, of the police raid which led to the killing of the local al-Qaeda leader Saleh al-Oufi, and the arrest of 41 Islamic extremists. The video also shows pictures of the simultaneous police operations carried on August 18 in the cities of Riyadh, Medina and Arar.
Al-Arabiya called it the biggest operation Saudi police have carried out so far against al-Qaeda cells. The images show the discovery, in the Arar area, of an underground deposit where several bombs were hidden. A second sequence of pictures shows the raid in the holy city of Medina, which led to the death of al-Oufi, who had already been reported dead twice in the previous nine months. The video clearly shows the body lying on the ground covered with a white sheet and the police using a hook to remove the explosive belt he is wearing from a safe distance.
The United Arab Emirates-based TV channel also showed images of the gun battle that broke out to the north of the capital Riyadh between the police and a group of terror suspects holed up in an apartment. The video ends by showing one of the wanted men blowing himself up so as to avoid being captured.
Al-Arabiya then broadcast pictures from inside the apartment al-Oufi was staying in before he was killed. The flat was found to contain gym equipment and documents relating to al-Qaeda. Some of those arrested in the raid were on the latest most wanted list of 36 published by the Saudi interior ministry at the end of June. Three Islamic militants and one police officer also died in the course of the operation. One has been named as Mohammed Awida, a former national karate champion.
Earlier this week it was reported that the night before the raids, Saudi police foiled an attempt by al-Oufi and several members of his cell to travel to Iraq to join the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. Al-Oufi was forced to abort the trip when a man who was supposed to organise his transport were seized by the Saudi security forces, along with his family.
Al-Oufi - who featured on the first two of the Saudi interior ministry's three most wanted lists - was from Medina and was married with children. He is thought to have got involved in the Jihadi, or holy war, movement while working as a prison guard, and went on to fight in Chechnya, Bosnia, Tajikistan and Afghanistan. After being injured while fighting in Bosnia he returned to Medina, where he ran a car showroom specialised in importing vehicles from Germany and the United Arab Emirates.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:10 ||
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which led to the death of al-Oufi, who had already been reported dead twice in the previous nine months.
Do we honest to goodness, no foolin, cross your heart and hope to die REALLY TRULY have an identified body this time? (No crossing your fingers)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
08/27/2005 23:29 Comments ||
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That potential "male" recruit with white wings (photo) might scare the begeezas out of Zarq
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/27/2005 15:29 Comments ||
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He certainly would concern me if I ran into him on the street....especially as he doesn't seem to notice that he's wearing only a diaper. Someone should tell him that Depends (TM) are now so thin and so absorbant that they can be worn under regular street clothes without embarassment.
LONDON â A Muslim scholar banned from the United States is to take up a post at Britainâs prestigious University of Oxford, his college said yesterday.
Tariq Ramadan has been elected to a visiting fellowship (general) at St Antonyâs College for the coming academic year and is expected to start in October. âProfessor Ramadan is an internationally-recognised scholar,â St Antonyâs College, Oxford, said in a statement.
He's also an active terrorist supporter.
âHe was named by Time magazine as one of 100 innovators of the 21st Century for his work on creating an independent European Islam.
âHe was recently appointed to a prestigious chair in Islamic studies in the University of Notre Dame in the United States.â In late July 2004, Ramadanâs US visa was revoked and he was forced to return to his native Switzerland.
Because someone here demonstrated common sense. No doubt he's been reprimanded.
Britainâs interior minister, Home Secretary Charles Clarke, set out on Wednesday a list of âunacceptable behavioursâ designed to combat extremists. The measures could lead to Clarke banning or deporting foreign so-called âpreachers of hateâ. âWe do not comment on individual cases and we cannot give details on who is on the home secretaryâs list,â facing a ban or deportation, a Home Office spokesman told AFP.
St Antonyâs College said: âRamadan is a regular visitor to Britain and the other states of the European Union, without exception.â The grandson of Hassan Al Banna, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, Ramadan was born in Geneva.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2005 02:17 ||
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âHe was named by Time magazine as one of 100 innovators of the 21st Century for his work on creating an independent European Islam.
Well, hell. If Time sez so, it's gotta be good and true. An independent European Islamâ¢. Got the infidels fooled on that one, eh Ramadan? Good work.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/27/2005 12:50 Comments ||
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Well aren't I impressed?
Add him to the list...
#6
Tariq Ramadan is a clever fellow and can charm most lefties easily. He charmed his way into the French elite. However, after the French elite got to know him, he began to annoy them and eventually he became damaged goods in France.
The Brits are behind the French in recognizing Islamic folks for what they really are.
Vladimir Arutyunyan, the man charged with the assassination attempt on the presidents of Georgia and the United States on Freedom Square in Tbilisi May 10, has sustained injuries.
Aw. Gee. Shucks. I guess I have to buy a sympathy card...
The Georgian Prosecutor General's Office said experts who had examined Arutyunyan concluded these were thermal injuries that could have been caused by hot water in the bathroom, the only place where the detainee had not been observed. Law enforcement authorities are sure Arutyunyan was injured deliberately, whereas he said it was a mosquito bite. Arutyunyan's prison cell is equipped with surveillance cameras.
The 27-year-old resident of Tbilisi killed a police officer during his arrest on July 21 in the capital of Georgia. Arutyunyan is accused of attempting to carry out a terrorist act, intentional homicide, and the illegal manufacture, storage, and use of weapons. Right after his arrest, Arutyunyan confessed he had thrown a hand grenade toward the platform where the U.S. and Georgian presidents were standing. He also said he was ready to repeat an attack on President Bush.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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thermal injuries that could have been caused by hot water in the bathroom.
I know how he feels. I hate it when my bidet spits hot water. But then agiain, he should not be brushing his teeth in the bidet. The bidet is strictly for assholes and elbows. Obviously this man never went to boot camp. Nice use of the passive voice by the way. Very Soviet.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Saturday demanded the United States rescind its recent appointment of a special envoy on human rights in the communist country, warning the position could hurt international efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons program.
Washington announced last week that Jay Lefkowitz, a former adviser to President Bush, will be in charge of promoting efforts to ``improve the human rights of the long-suffering North Korean people.'' The new post is part of the North Korean Human Rights Act passed by the Senate last year. The legislation provides $24 million a year in humanitarian aid for North Koreans, mostly for refugees.
North Korea said the appointment ``is an act of bad omen that hurts our generous and flexible efforts to resolve the nuclear problem'' and demanded the envoy be ``removed immediately.'' ``It is an extremely challenging and dangerous act for the U.S. ... to take its intention to topple our regime into the stage of detailed action,'' the North's state-run Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by its official Korean Central News Agency.
We're taking 'detailed action' to topple the NKors? About bloody time!
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2005 02:27 ||
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No hostile policy or Sea of Fire? Someone's definitely lost a lot off his fastball...
#3
So did we really piss them off or are they just pushing the button on the spittle machine? You are right, Raj. They lost the edge off their fastball. But with the SKors being appeasers and enablers now, who needs a fastball? The Chicoms and the SKors are keeping the NORK govt alive now, so why are we messing with SKor? Actions and consequences.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/27/2005 12:57 Comments ||
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Let me know when we get to the "human scum" phase. Then we'll talk...
George Galloway, the anti-war MP for Bethnal Green and Bow who rocked the US Senate earlier this year, is to be accompanied on a speaking tour of America by the actress and activist Jane Fonda.
Few things are more likely to antagonise US conservatives than the combination of Mr Galloway and Ms Fonda - still hated by the right because of her outspoken opposition to the war in Vietnam - joining to condemn the American presence in Iraq. But Mr Galloway can expect a thunderous reception from those he impressed with his performance before a Senate committee last May.
In a statement, Mr Galloway, the Respect MP, said: "I'm really pleased and excited to be going back to America to campaign against this illegal war and occupation. And to have Jane Fonda join me is fantastic. I'll be able to get that autograph at last."
He added: "I'm sure that when the full implications of the constitutional settlement lashed-up by the puppet Iraqi government are understood that opposition will grow massively."
Mr Galloway, whose speaking tour, Stand Up and Be Counted, starts in Boston on 13 September and will end at a rally scheduled for 24 September in Washington, said he had received more than 20,000 messages from US residents asking him to return. He will also be promoting a new book, Mr Galloway Goes To Washington.
A tour organiser, Chris Dols, said: "People want to hear Jane Fonda and what she has to say about the war. That's worth hearing, and George Galloway has a lot to say about it, too."
#2
the whole Galloway, or what's left after Hitchens is done with him? Will he be speaking for his vagina, like Jane is?
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/27/2005 16:35 Comments ||
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still hated by the right because of her outspoken opposition to the war in Vietnam
Fonda merely voicing her opposition would be one thing, irritating, but tolerable. Ms. Fonda mounted an armed enemy of the United State's S-60 anti aircraft emplacement for a photo op.
Please understand that this goes well beyind "voicing opposition."
The woman gave aid and comfort to an armed enemy in time of war by allowing herself to be used for propoganda purposes by said hostile and armed enemy of the United States. As soon as Fonda re-enetered the US, she sould have been arrested and tried for treason.
I do not know how her perfidy can be more clearly explained than that.
Fortunately, treason has no statute of limitation and this traitor will go to her grave known only as a traitor to the United States.
While President George W. Bush travels around the country in a last-ditch effort to sell his Iraq war, White House aides scramble frantically behind the scenes to hide the dark mood of an increasingly angry leader who unleashes obscenity-filled outbursts at anyone who dares disagree with him. "Iâm not meeting again with that goddamned bitch," Bush screamed at aides who suggested he meet again with Cindy Sheehan, the war-protesting mother whose son died in Iraq. "She can go to hell as far as Iâm concerned!"
Bush, administration aides confide, frequently explodes into tirades over those who protest the war, calling them "motherfucking traitors." He reportedly was so upset over Veterans of Foreign Wars members who wore "bullshit protectors" over their ears during his speech to their annual convention that he told aides to "tell those VFW assholes that I'll never speak to them again is they canât keep their members under control."
White House insiders say Bush is growing increasingly bitter over mounting opposition to his war in Iraq. Polls show a vast majority of Americans now believe the war was a mistake and most doubt the President's honesty. "Who gives a flying fuck what the polls say," he screamed at a recent strategy meeting. "I'm the President and Iâll do whatever I goddamned please. They donât know shit."
Bush, whiles setting up for a photo op for signing the recent CAFTA bill, flipped an extended middle finger to reporters. Aides say the President often "flips the bird" to show his displeasure and tells aides who disagree with him to "go to hell" or to "go fuck yourself." His habit of giving people the finger goes back to his days as Texas governor, aides admit, and videos of him doing so before press conferences were widely circulated among TV stations during those days. A recent video showing him shooting the finger to reporters while walking also recently surfaced.
Bush's behavior, according to prominent Washington psychiatrist, Dr. Justin Frank, author of "Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President," is all too typical of an alcohol-abusing bully who is ruled by fear.
Remember Allen Drury's book Advise and Consent? Drury launched a whole series of books based on that one, and part of the series featured a far-left wanker psychiatrist who wrote a "psychological analysis" of the sitting president as part of a campaign to discredit the man. How life imitates art ...
To see that fear emerges, Dr. Frank says, all one has to do is confront the President. "To actually directly confront him in a clear way, to bring him out, so you would really see the bully, and you would also see the fear," he says.
Dr. Frank, in his book, speculates that Bush, an alcoholic who brags that he gave up booze without help from groups like Alcoholics Anonymous, may be drinking again. "Two questions that the press seems particularly determined to ignore have hung silently in the air since before Bush took office," Dr. Frank says. "Is he still beating his wife drinking? And if not, is he impaired by all the years he did spend beating his wife drinking? Both questions need to be addressed in any serious assessment of his psychological state."
Last year, Capitol Hill Blue learned the White House physician prescribed anti-depressant drugs for the President to control what aides called "violent mood swings." As Dr. Frank also notes: "In writing about Bush's halting appearance in a press conference just before the start of the Iraq War, Washington Post media critic Tom Shales speculated that 'the president may have been ever so slightly medicated.'"
Used to be that newspapers would actually dig in, find the facts and report them.
Dr. Frank explains Bushâs behavior as all-to-typical of an alcoholic who is still in denial: "The pattern of blame and denial, which recovering alcoholics work so hard to break, seems to be ingrained in the alcoholic personality; it's rarely limited to his or her drinking," he says. "The habit of placing blame and denying responsibility is so prevalent in George W. Bush's personal history that it is apparently triggered by even the mildest threat." The left is bringing out this wacko again. From one of the better reviews at Amazon.com: "Perhaps the ones who really need to be "on the couch" are the leftists who write and actually believe this baloney. The author has never met President Bush much less conducted any sessions with him. He engages in wild speculation/diagnosis based on unsubstantiated rumor and second/third hand information. Without the common motivation of intense hatred for the President that the author and his fans share, most would give him no credibility whatsoever. The American Medical Association has severely criticized Frank's methods and analysis as being completely bogus. Even his colleagues think he's a "goober". In a recent C-Span appearance, Dr. Frank openly admitted that he wrote his book after being persuaded to do so by someone who despised Bush and was shopping around for someone willing to provide a negative analysis to help remove him from office. He admitted that he is a hardcore liberal political activist who has, in his own words, "hated" several Republican presidents. He admitted that he is totally partisan and biased in his views. And he even admitted that the American Medical Association has proclaimed that his methods of analyzing someone without ever meeting that person, are not only impossible, but also unethical and unprofessional. This is basically just a Kitty Kelly style hit job. It's partisan, mean-spirited psychobabble for the Michael Moore crowd. And while it reveals little about President Bush, it reveals volumes about Dr. Frank and the angry, elitist hate-mongers who have, unfortunately, hijacked the political left in recent years. I'm shocked that Dr. Frank is allowed to maintain his medical license and practice. And I'm saddened that so many Americans choose such infantile slander over mature political discourse.
He may have a medical license, but he's not a doctor or a healer. I'm ashamed he's part of my profession.
#1
When you've painted yourself into a corner and are faced with the idiocy of your own positions like the left is, then "infantile slander" is about all you have left.
THe left is out of ideas, they have favored feeling over thinking for so long that they've lost the ability to use reason, and their stnaces have been disproven at every turn - the only thein left to tthem is to either give up and face reaility, or rage at it like a mentally defective person.
Leftism, in its modern form, is a mental disease. And this is just more evidence to back it up (along witih Koz, DU and MoveOn's daily addition).
#2
A last ditch effort to sell the Iraq war???????
Cursing, abusive language, alcohol abuse, lying, conspiracy???? These are serious charges, but the left can spew them out all day long. If a conservative said something like this on the record the lefties' lawers would be foaming at the mouth. This is a heap of bullshit, it is nothing more than slander and it should glean legal action. This goes far beyond the scope of "freedom of the press" if you ask me. But, you didn't ask me so..........
#5
So what's your take on Cindy Sheehan doc? "Reliable White House insider sources confide" to me that she gang bangs Neo Nazis and gives Al Sharpton sloppy seconds. Drugs or booze? Lemme know...
#8
I think this shrink should get massive support - let's boot the President out of office and have Cheney elevated to the office. I am sure the liberals would like that a whole lot better, right?
#9
The worst that I could say about GWB is: he is pathologically stubborn. He cannot shake off the "Islam is peace" straightjacket that he wove at his Sept. 16, 2001, Islamic Center grovel.
Hmmm...surely I am not the only one who has picked up the al-Sadr group's unity rally call to Sunni Islamofascists? Reality dictates that those morons have presented a golden opportunity to rally Iraq Seculars, moderates and pro-West elements. Won't happen because GWB despises Seculars more than he hates terrorists, and the Bush-Rice Rainbow Coalition inclusivism, is bending over backwards to invite Islamofascist participation in Iraq politics.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/27/2005 20:05 Comments ||
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Vlad.... I havn't the sightest idea what you just said! Much less, knowing whose side you are on.
'Course, it could be my problem that I don't understand a higher level of conversation.
#11
Sherry, Vlad [Tepes], also called "Dracul"... impaled captured Turkish muslim soldiers on stakes. The south road to Tirgoviste was lined with them, as far as eye can see. When the Turkish army approached the capital of Wallachia and they saw the macabre forest, they turned back, striken by horror and panic. Maybe the Turks still remembered Hulugu, the son of Tolui.
Our Vlad is a more gentler, kinder Muslim Ipaler, I am sure. ;-)
A third person has now come forward to verify claims made by a military intelligence unit that a year before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, it had information showing that lead hijacker Mohamed Atta (search) and other terrorists were identified as being in the United States.
J.D. Smith, a defense contractor who claims he worked on the technical side of the unit, code-named "Able Danger" (search), told reporters Friday that he helped gather open-source information (search), reported on government spending and helped generate charts associated with the unit's work. Able Danger was set up in the 1990s to track Al Qaeda activity worldwide.
"I am absolutely positive that he [Atta] was on our chart among other pictures and ties that we were doing mainly based upon [terror] cells in New York City," Smith said.
Smith said data was gathered from a variety of sources, including about 30 or 40 individuals. He said they all had strong Middle Eastern connections and were paid for their information. Smith said Able Danger's photo of Atta was obtained from overseas.
Rep. Curt Weldon (search), R-Pa., arranged the media roundtable with Smith. Weldon drew attention to Able Danger by speaking about it on the House floor months ago and has publicly called for the Sept. 11 commission to explain why the intelligence information wasn't detailed in its final report.
Besides Smith, Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer (search) and Navy Captain Scott Philpott (search) have also gone on the record, saying they were discouraged from looking further into Atta, and their attempts to share their information with the FBI were thwarted because Atta was a legal foreign visitor at the time.
"This story needs to be told. The American people need to be told what could have been done to prevent 3,000 people from losing their lives," Weldon told FOX News this week.
Shaffer and Philpott claim that in October 2003, they told Sept. 11 commission staffers of the presence of Al Qaeda operatives in the United States in 2000 yet little was included in the panel's final report about those conversations.
During Friday's roundtable with Smith, he was asked by reporters about Atta, who was using another name during 1999-2000. Smith said the charts Able Danger was using had identified him through a number of name variations, one being "Atta."
Two sources familiar with Able Danger told FOX News that part of its investigative work focused on mosques and the religious ties between known terrorist operatives such as Omar Abdul Rahman (search), who was part of the first World Trade Center bombing plot in 1993.
An independent terrorism analyst pointed out to FOX News that German intelligence had no record of Atta before the Sept. 11 attack; that's significant because Atta headed up the Sept. 11 Al Qaeda cell in Hamburg. The analyst also questioned how Atta could be connected to Rahman, who was in prison by the mid-1990s.
Smith claims that one way the unit came to know Atta was through Rahman. Smith said Able Danger used data mining techniques â publicly available information â to look at mosques and religious ties and it was, in part, through the investigation of Rahman that Atta's name surfaced.
Aides to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter (search), R-Pa., are actively discussing scheduling a hearing on Able Danger and the larger issue of information-sharing between the Pentagon and the FBI.
One of the central Able Danger claims â that military lawyers blocked the sharing of the Atta information from the FBI in the late summer and early fall of 2000 â will be a focus of the committee if a hearing takes place, FOX News has confirmed.
Specter sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller on Wednesday asking the agency to provide to the committee "all information and documents it has in connection with Able Danger, , Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer, Captain Scott Philpott or any other persons having any connections with Project Able Danger, including, but not limited to, e-mail communication, notes, phone message slips, memos or any other supporting documentation."
Specter also asked Mueller to make available FBI agent Xanthig Mangum to meet with his staff. Mangum is reported to have corresponded in 2000 with Shaffer, who helped run Able Danger's mission and has offered to testify on its findings, about scheduling a meeting between Able Danger and FBI staffs. No meeting ever took place.
The Pentagon has been looking into what it knew and when it knew it, but defense officials have not been able to verify the Able Danger claims so far. A Pentagon spokesman confirmed Thursday that the department has interviewed both Shaffer and Philpott.
"There's something very sinister going on here that really troubles me," Weldon told FOX News on Thursday, blasting the Sept. 11 commission (search) for not taking the claims more seriously. He said some panel members were trying to smear Shaffer and Able Danger.
"What's the Sept. 11 commission got to hide?" Weldon asked. "The commission is trying to spin this because they're embarrassed about what's coming out. In two weeks with two staffers, I've uncovered more in this regard than they did with 80 staffers and $15 million of taxpayer money."
Sept. 11 commission Chairman Thomas Kean recently told FOX News that the panel is waiting for a response from the Pentagon. Until then, the commission has stood by its work, maintaining that no documents they received from the military backed up the Atta claims.
Weldon added that at least five people on the federal payroll will testify under oath about the validity of the Able Danger intelligence.
"When this is over, the Sept. 11 commission is going to have egg all over their face," he said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:18 ||
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It will be good when Congress holds hearings. See how this all shakes out, and who takes what side.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/27/2005 15:46 Comments ||
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I doubt by now there's anything left of "Able Danger" in the Pentagon or anywhere else in Washington. I'm sure, as soon as some Clinton aides learned it had really worked, they had everything shredded and destroyed, and the unit scattered to the four winds. Having hard information, having something concrete that they'd actually have to DO SOMETHING with, was too much for them and the blowjob President they worked for. I remember quite accurately a number of things I did during the Vietnam War in 1970-71, that I was involved with in various installations from 1972-89, and I have no doubt those involved know exactly what they did a mere five years ago.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/27/2005 23:50 Comments ||
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OP has it right. Giving it to Specter is the kiss of death. What do DOJ or the FBI know? This was DOD and it should be in the Intelligence committee or military affairs.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/27/2005 23:56 Comments ||
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With a report this week apportioning blame at the C.I.A. for intelligence failures before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the fight over who did what before the hijackers struck is increasingly about history.
Most of the central figures faulted in the C.I.A. inspector general's report, notably George J. Tenet, the former director, retired last year. In response to previous reports on the 2001 attacks, the Central Intelligence Agency has been subordinated to a new director of national intelligence in the biggest reorganization of spy agencies since the C.I.A.'s creation in 1947.
"At this point, it's really about reputations," said Gregory F. Treverton, a former vice chairman of the National Intelligence Council and now a senior analyst at the RAND Corporation.
Yet leaders of the families of those who died in the attacks repeated their demand for individual accountability, which is what prompted Congress to ask John L. Helgerson, the C.I.A. inspector general, to begin his investigation nearly three years ago. On Thursday, the September 11 Advocates group demanded the immediate declassification and release of Mr. Helgerson's report, whose harsh conclusions have been disclosed only in limited leaks.
"To shield C.I.A. officials from accountability and to continue to cover up deficiencies in that agency puts the safety of our nation at risk," the group said in a statement. "Four years post-9/11 this is truly unacceptable."
Far from being punished for his agency's failure to prevent the attacks, Mr. Tenet was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bush in December, eight months before the inspector general's assessment of his record went to Capitol Hill.
"I'd like to see public accountability hearings, and I'd like to see him return the Medal of Freedom," said Kristen Breitweiser, whose husband died at the World Trade Center and who is an organizer of September 11 Advocates.
Ms. Breitweiser said her study of the government's conduct persuaded her that Mr. Tenet showed "reckless and abysmal judgment" before the attacks.
On the other side, Mr. Tenet and some of his colleagues have been fighting for months behind the scenes to soften the report's tough judgments, which they consider unfair, distorted and uninformed. His supporters will not speak for the record because the report remains classified, but they point to a finding of the national 9/11 commission last year: "Before 9/11, no agency had more responsibility - or did more - to attack Al Qaeda, working day and night, than the C.I.A."
Mr. Tenet has written a lengthy response to Mr. Helgerson's report. That response, which has not been made public, may take on more importance now that he has abandoned a plan to publish a memoir. Mr. Tenet had negotiated to sell a book on his C.I.A. experiences for a reported $4.5 million, but he decided early this year not to sign the contract. A close associate said on Friday that Mr. Tenet might still write a book but was not working on one at present.
Mr. Tenet's supporters say the inspector general report is seriously flawed because his investigators never talked to policy makers to get their views on the C.I.A.'s performance. Even some key people inside the agency were not interviewed, they say, including Charles E. Allen, whose title in 2001 was assistant director of central intelligence for collection.
In 1998, after Al Qaeda's bombing of two American embassies in East Africa, it was Mr. Allen whom Mr. Tenet assigned to organize the agency's efforts against the terrorist network, according to testimony Mr. Tenet gave last year. He said that at the advice of Mr. Allen, he created a special unit with officers from the C.I.A., the eavesdropping National Security Agency and the satellite photo agency to meet daily and focus on Al Qaeda's leaders and headquarters in Afghanistan.
Officials who have seen the report or been briefed on it said Thursday that it faulted Mr. Tenet as failing to develop a strategic plan against Al Qaeda and carry it out. His backers are asking how the inspector general could reach such a conclusion without interviewing the top aide responsible for such a plan. Mr. Helgerson and his assistants said through the C.I.A. public affairs office that they would not respond to criticisms of the report.
Frederick P. Hitz, who served as the agency's inspector general from 1990 to 1998, said that, while he had not seen the report, he thought it was important to have a full accounting of individual responsibility for any failures.
"My only regret is that it's taken so long," Mr. Hitz said. "It's a long time to keep those people who are being subjected to criticism in limbo."
Mr. Hitz noted that his report on how the agency failed to detect the treachery of Aldrich H. Ames, the C.I.A. officer who sold the agency's secrets to the Soviet Union, was completed in October 1994, just eight months after Mr. Ames was arrested.
To criticize Mr. Tenet and others now for failures that occurred four, five or six years ago may seem unfair but is still necessary, Mr. Hitz said.
"It's an impossible situation," he said. "But what they ought to do is declassify the report, release it and let the chips fall where they may."
Mr. Treverton, the former National Intelligence Council official, said he thought it would be pointless now to punish Mr. Tenet and other retired and still-serving officials, saying, "It wasn't malfeasance, after all."
But he, too, said the report should be declassified and made public.
"The more we get out, the more we'll understand about what really happened," Mr. Treverton said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:12 ||
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Intelligence is a messy business. My end, the imagery part of it, was usually pretty cut and dried: the enemy was either visible at some place, and in such and such a strength, or he wasn't. It wasn't always easy finding him, but we did more often than not.
Human Intelligence was much more tricky. You never knew whether someone was giving you good information, or feeding you disinformation. Even electronic intelligence intercepts could be phony, and more than a few times, were deliberately used to create confusion: RE, the phantom armies in England prior to D-Day.
The biggest problem with intelligence is that some people won't believe it, no matter how much confidence the rest of the community puts into it. There are a LOT of bureaucrats in the CIA, as with any other political organization. Their main objective in life is to go as high as they can, and retire. In order to do that, they don't EVER make waves. If something's too controversial, or isn't quite what they expect, they have a habit of "losing" it, or applying pressure to have the reports changed to something less controversial. I've personally experienced this not once, but dozens of times. The old "CYA" attitude has destroyed more good intelligence than any other single factor.
The CIA needs a good housecleaning, and the deadwood dropped overboard. That will ONLY happen if someone imposes it from without. No internal activity will work. That goes twice for the NSA and NPIC/NISC/NIMC.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/28/2005 0:03 Comments ||
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Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
First, ban the press. No publicity allowed. Second, if they don't want to eat, fine. Stop feeding them at all--any of them. Third, weigh the corpses down and bury them at sea, preferably wrapped in pig skins. The sooner all these scumbags at Gitmo are dead, the sooner we can close the camp.
Posted by: mac ||
08/27/2005 7:40 Comments ||
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#2
First Mikey is off to Flordia to a 'fat farm' and the next thing we hear is people going without food at Gitmo. A coincidence?
#4
''Therefore the strike must begin again. Some have already begun. . . . I do not plan to stop until I either die or we are respected. People will definitely die."
From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, an article by Bill Samii
Southwestern Iran -- home to many ethnic Arabs (3 percent of the total population of approximately 68 million) -- has witnessed violent unrest in recent months. Most of Iran's crude-oil reserves are located in giant onshore fields in this part of country, so the regime is particularly sensitive about developments there. .... Tehran's reaction to the unrest has been to blame it on foreigners, particularly the British. ....
.... Shell Oil is involved with several projects in Khuzestan Province. Concern about British intentions arose shortly after the inauguration of the now hard-line parliament in 2004. .... Among Shell's objectionable activities ... were its sponsorship of teams of deaf athletes, sponsoring the international travel of top students for academic Olympiads, sending the Iranian philharmonic orchestra to Abu Dhabi, and building schools in the less developed areas of south Tehran and Zahedan.
Large-scale riots in Ahvaz in mid-April followed rumors of a government plan to forcibly replace local Arabs with Persians from other parts of the country. The government acknowledged making numerous arrests, and dissident websites alleged that there was wide-scale bloodshed.
At that early stage there were allegations of involvement by Shell and other foreign agencies. .... Kazem Jalali, rapporteur of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, decried British involvement in the Khuzestan unrest, Kayhan reported on 25 April. He called on the Foreign Ministry to stop British interference. .... Kayhan newspaper -- whose reports frequently precede related government crackdowns -- announced on 26 April that another detained Arab activist, Ibrahim Ameri, was a negotiator for Shell. ...
Unrest in Khuzestan continued despite the government crackdown. Arab irredentists took credit for June bombings in Ahvaz that targeted government facilities or officials. Akbar al-Sadat, the head of the Khuzestan Province Justice Department, said on 22 July that the Ministry of Intelligence and Security was investigating the June bombings due to the possible involvement of foreigners ....
Yet more riots took place in Ahvaz in late July. A local official, Said Saadi, said the riot was the angry reaction of people who paid for goods but failed to receive them, and he added that a local bank was set on fire and 30 arrests were made. .... Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Assefi said on 14 August that the people responsible for the unrest trained at British bases in southeastern Iraq, IRNA reported. The Ministry of Intelligence and Security announced on 15 August that the leaders of the Khuzestan unrest were on foreign intelligence services' payrolls, "especially Britain," according to state television. ....
A preliminary United Nations report by special rapporteur Miloon Kothari notes discrimination all along the Western border regions ... Kothari said Arabs in oil-rich Khuzestan live in squalor, and he said land confiscation by the state appears to have a disproportionate impact on ethnic and religious minorities. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Among Shell's objectionable activities were its sponsorship of teams of deaf athletes
"Say, wanna sign up for our toboggan team? Yes, you say? Well you can't, it's only for deaf people. Can't you read the sign? No, too bad, we're not taking illiterates this year. That was last year. Come back after you've learned to play deaf or at least ruptured your eardurms in a tragic martyrdom operation gone wrong. We can't use our grant funds for just anyone you know. We have standards after all. Besides you suck at tobaganning. There are no mountains around here. No I won't show you what a tabogan looks like. Frankly, not only do I not know what one looks like, I'm not even sure how to spell it."
I wouldn't repeat this too loudly, but I hear they're going to comptete on the Comedy Channel revival of "Name That Tune" before being air dropped on the north face of K2 for practice.
..rumors of a government plan to forcibly replace local Arabs with Persians..
I empathize. I know how upset I got when I was replaced by an Indian. My wife said it was the accent that hooked her.
..the riot was the angry reaction of people who paid for goods but failed to receive them..
Syria has said it is ready to cooperate with the UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri amidst international criticism of Damascus's failure to answer questions. "Syria is ready to cooperate with the international enquiry commission to arrive at the truth in the crime of Rafiq al-Hariri's assassination," a foreign ministry official said on Friday.
Lebanon's private Future Television reported that the commission's chief, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, would meet "a Syrian representative" in Geneva within 24 hours, citing a UN official in New York. The UN Security Council on Thursday called on Syria to fully cooperate with the probe into the February murder of the billionaire five-time prime minister, with the United States calling Damascus's stance "unacceptable". The council did not actually name Syria but in a statement said: "The members of the Council reiterated their call on all states and all parties, especially those who are yet to respond adequately, to cooperate fully in order to expedite the work of the (enquiry) commission."
Many in Lebanon have blamed the killing of al-Hariri on Syria and its then allies in the Lebanese government, charges vehemently denied by Damascus. Al-Hariri's son Saad called on Syria to answer the probe's questions, saying in a statement that "countries that are brothers and friends of Lebanon are required to cooperate."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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That's a nice Bashar Assad action figure there Fred. Where can I get one? The diorama and generals are a nice touch. Did the diaorama also come with a torture chamber? I just need Bashar and Gamal Abdel-Nasser to complete my Secular Arab Dictator series. The Nasser figure is rarer than Bashar since his Armies haven't been kicked out of any countries lately like Bashar - only because he's dead and all. By the way, I picked up a nice Robert Mugabe yesterday on E-bay to start my Secular African Dictator series. It should apprecitate in value in the years ahead depending on how he is run out of office. I am hoping for a public hanging a la Il Duce, but will settle for a coup with a jet in the night to the Sudan. Please advise.
Syria denied accusations yesterday that it was not aiding the painstaking UN inquiry into former Lebanese Premier Rafik Haririâs assassination, but the slain leaderâs son demanded greater cooperation from all parties involved. Meanwhile, a leading Lebanese Shiite cleric cast doubt over the credibility of the UN chief investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, and accused him of being a friend of Israel.
The comments came hours after the United Nations Security Council heard that Syria had not replied to a July 19 request from UN investigators to interview five witnesses, nor had it responded to another July request for documents. Mehlis believes the Syrian silence has âconsiderably slowed downâ the inquiry into Haririâs Feb. 14 assassination in a massive Beirut car bombing that also killed 20 others, Undersecretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari told the Security Council on Thursday.
Haririâs murder triggered mass protests in Lebanon that brought down this countryâs pro-Syrian government. It also increased pressure on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, which was completed in late April. A Syrian Foreign Ministry official said accusations that his country was not cooperating with the investigation were âstrange.â Damascus also wanted to keep cooperating âbecause it is very concerned with uncovering the truth behind Premier Haririâs assassination,â the official said in a statement. Syria had received questions from Mehlis addressed to several Syrian witnesses, the official said, adding that Foreign Minister Farouk Shara had handed a letter with details from Syria to the investigating team. But Mehlis had not received the letter on time âbecause of his busy scheduleâ and appeared to have prepared his Security Council report before receiving Syriaâs correspondence, the official said.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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"We didn't not help, but we didn't help."
Posted by: Sets Fire to Cedars ||
08/27/2005 10:56 Comments ||
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TEHRAN: Britain is a terrible place to live and anti-terrorist laws there make life as an animal in a jungle far safer, a top Iranian cleric said on Friday. "Day by day, corruption, tyranny, felony, insecurity and different dangers are attacking human society. Just look at the fight against terrorism in Britain," Ayatollah Ahmad Janati said in a Friday prayer sermon. "All gatherings are under the microscope. People should know they are being watched. In cinemas, parks, streets and even in the railway stations, cameras are watching," he said, asking "what kind of security is this when people are constantly monitored?" British police, he said, can also "arrest anyone without any evidence or pressing charges".
"Is this life for a human being? No animal in a jungle lives with the amount of insecurity that they have there," he alleged, slamming British authorities for also "spreading insecurity in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine."
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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It's a Jucking Fungle in Britain. Stay away! Run for your lives! Wimmen and Children first! Outta my way, Infidel!
Sez MM Ah-mad Janati
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
08/27/2005 0:45 Comments ||
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#2
Ayatollah Ahmad Janati is today's Englishman in country where he belongs.
#4
Funny how the arrival of this apparent law of the jungle he's wailing about has coincided with the appearance and increasing activity of people of his persuasion, innit? Just coincidence, for sure.
CRAWFORD - President Bush's supporters poured into Crawford Saturday by the thousands, for the first time outnumbering war protesters led by Cindy Sheehan, who began a vigil here three weeks ago, demanding a personal meeting with the vacationing president to talk about her son's death in Iraq.
Under tight police security and intense heat, tempers flared and traffic was clogged. But by late in the afternoon only two people had been arrested for what the Secret Service described as a minor "attitude thing."
An estimated 3,000 to 4,000 people attended a pro-Bush rally in Crawford, waving flags and pledging their allegiance to U.S. troops. At times, they accused Cindy Sheehan of dishonoring the war death of her own son, Casey, who was in the Army.
#5
#2 Go read Eric Pfeiffer (National Review Online) -- he is there. Has been for days. On our side, of course!
http://buzz.nationalreview.com/
Sherry - thanks for that link! I just got back from Crawford (was there two days) and it's exactly as Eric describes. I was at the main intersection and watched as NBC and all of the other news agencies drove past Fort Qualls, heading for Camp Casey II (there are actually 3 - the one next to "Freedom House" near the main intersection, the "ditch" across from Camp Reality and Camp Casey II with the huge expensive tent - meant to impress Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, no doubt).
By the way - that "Freedom House" has an interesting history....replete with Palestinian flags hanging in front. They wouldn't let us stop to take a picture, of course, and yesterday, when 4 soldiers walked to that camp to get answers to some of their questions, the "protesters" surrounded them in a rather menacing way. That whole area (around Freedom House) is creepy!
#6
You know, all week, my heart said "go"... and all week, my body, being in Texas, of a certain age and of a certain weight, just couldn't take it...
I woke this morning.... still wanting to go... knowing that my body and this Texas heat just don't agree......
But know, all day, my heart, my spirit was there with you... and thank you for being there! Our guys and gals over there.... know you were there, and that's what really counts.
#7
And http://www.powerlineblog.com/ is reporting from somewhere there...
"I got a call from Kelly in Crawford. 3000 people met Not In My Name tour in Wal-Mart parking in Waco for a rally this AM and caravaned to Crawford for large rally downtown.
One mom reached her son via phone in Iraq and crowd went nuts.
570 KLIF's Ankarlo Mornings' spy, Michael, reports from deep within the bowels of the Cindy Sheehan camp in Crawford, Texas. Michael has gone undercover. And man, does he have some stories. Podcast link
Oil- and gas-rich Mauritania's foreign minister Ahmad Walid Sayd Ahmad on Friday signaled his country's foreign policy - especially its diplomatic relations with Israel - were not about to alter as a result of the change of government earlier this month.
This is good news, especially in light of al Qaeda interest in North Africa.
Four years after Gaza International Airport's sole runway was demolished by Israeli F-16s, one Palestinian man remembers the ghostly terminal's better days and waits patiently for their return.
"This airport was the symbol of the Palestinians' independence and freedom. It was our dream. All we are waiting for is the green light to rebuild and start again," said Ghazi Gharib, who heads Palestinian Airlines' communications for the site.
The international airport in southern Gaza, near the town of Rafah on the Egyptian border, was opened in 1998 and was closed by Israel in 2001 following the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising.
Still, each day of the work week Gharib comes to work at the airport along with some 500 other employees who are paid by the
Palestinian Authority. They take up their posts knowing they will have nothing to do all day. Nice work if you can get it.
Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas has pressed Israel to let the airport reopen once Israel completed its withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip this summer, but no concrete agreement has been made.
"As soon as the accord is concluded, we will get to work," said Gharib. "We need six months and 20 million dollars given to us by someone else."
The airport cost about 70 million dollars to build, and was serviced by Palestinian Airlines which had two Fokker-50 aircraft and one Boeing 727 -- all donated -- the year it opened.
Construction began on the airport after the 1993 Oslo accords were signed in a bid to restore Middle East peace.
The airport functioned primarily as a hub for Arafat when he took trips to other countries.
But when the Israelis destroyed the airport, "all our dreams were stopped cold. We had projected that by 2005 we'd have flights to Paris, Frankfurt and New York," Gharib said. Oh, yeah. Let's have Paleos flying planes into New York.
...Throughout the day in Baghdad, politicians bickered over how to proceed with the constitution without driving the country to civil war. The Telegraph is a conservative daily, that doesn't print dubious speculation. Comment on Muslim forums suggests that the al-Sadrites are preparing to rally, and are talking unity with the Sunni clerics based on joint work toward a shariah tyranny. Civil war is inevitable between the shariah groups and the secular and pro-West forces. This should be encouraged, as a means to induce the necessary bloody stabilization of Iraq, and to create permanent allies. State Department inclusivism - manifest in indulgence of al-Sadrite rallies - has not contributed to international peace and security.
As night fell, the government's official spokesman, Laith Kubba, announced that a final version of the document had been decided and compromise reached on three issues, although he did not say which. Sunni leaders said that no consensus had been reached. Hussein al-Falluji, a Sunni member of the drafting panel, said: "If this constitution continues to include federalism, it should be put in the bin and done again." Only 20% of potential oil bearing sections of Iraq have been explored. Most of the exploitable areas are in Kurdish or Arab-Shiite areas. In the interest of American security, and oil market stability, Sunni Arab and Khomenist Shiite must be made subject to bloody suppression. The US needs to discard the farcical civil policing methodology that can't work in the Iraq dog's breakfast, and adopt an exclusivist policy towards anti seculars, Khomenists, Wahabis and the rest of Condi Rice's Rainbow Coalition. Once we have allies - led by another Shah if necessary - we can effect the necessary annihilation of the Saudi and Iranian infiltrators. Then we go to the source.
The chances of the parliament convening declined by the minute. Kamal Hamdoun, a Sunni negotiator, said the Shia politicians - the dominant force in the national assembly - had not turned up for a meeting. "They are acting according to the law of force instead of the force of law. We call on all Iraqis to vote No in the constitutional referendum."
Shia politicians made clear that they did not see any need for the parliament to vote. The draft is to be put to a referendum in October.
Â
The drafting began amid the optimism engendered by January's successful elections, when Iraqis turned out to vote in defiance of bombers and gunmen. But US hopes of establishing the first secular democracy in the Arab world have foundered on ethnic and religious divisions... Iraq instability is grounded on US inclusivism. The problem with Islamofascists is: their lives. We will not have peace and security until they are dead.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/27/2005 01:45 ||
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CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - Iraq war protester Cindy Sheehan, whose vigil near President George W. Bush's Texas ranch has become a symbol for the anti-war movement, said on Friday she plans to focus on Congress, starting with House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, a Bush ally and fellow Texan.
She plans to begin a bus tour next Thursday from Bush's ranch to the White House to campaign for the withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
One of DeLay's Texas district offices would likely be the first stop, she said. That is about a 5.5 hour drive from Bush's ranch in Crawford, where he is on a month-long vacation. "I think our first stop might be Tom DeLay's office," she said, surrounded by supporters. "I just wanted to let him know so he'll be in his office when we get there."
"The president is not going to meet with us, probably," Sheehan said. "We the people need to influence our congressional representatives and I hear he's pretty close by," referring to DeLay.
A spokeswoman for DeLay said his schedule was already set and did not plan to change it to meet with Sheehan. "Mr. DeLay disagrees with those who believe we should give the terrorists the timeline they want and simply cut and run from the war in Iraq," said DeLay spokeswoman Shannon Flaherty.
This woman is barking mad.
Posted by: Steve White ||
08/27/2005 02:33 ||
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Can't help but feel sorry for her, taken advantage of by lefty wackos and driven absolutely mad by grief.
Shame she doesn't understand that a cut a run will render her son's death pointless.
#2
This anti-American filth should not be continenced in a time of war. Intersting psychology in that family. David Duke in drag got a life now, Bless our soldiers to victory and let them know WE are with THEM.
#5
Can't feel sorry for her anymore. She wasn't driven mad by grief. She's held all these same views since before Casey died.
She recognized an opportunity to publicize her views by parading on his grave and the increasing attention has driven her into more and more outlandish proclamations to maintain her status as MSM darling.
It's not every parent that truly loves and grieves for their child.
#6
JerseyMike - She has already said that she doesn't consider her son a hero at all and she's characterized those who are pouring into Iraq to kill more US soldiers as 'freedom fighters'. The point of her son's death, based on her public statements is her 'ticket to ride' into a public anti-war forum. That's all.
#8
Wonder if she's bringing the Rev Al and the white power boys to meet DeLay, too?
Wasn't DeLay an exterminator once upon a time? He must have some old cans of bug spray around. Maybe it's time to "redecorate" the front lobby with some rusty looking DDT containers?
#9
She has already said that she doesn't consider her son a hero at all
Well I certainly wasn't aware of that at all.
I thought her behavior was more due to the fact she is being manipulated, but maybe deep down she is simply an asshole.
Perhaps my sympathies (few as they may be) are misplaced.
#10
One thing that chaps me about this woman is that she acts as though she is the only one who's ever lost someone and that she is the only one with grief. Maybe that is the way she is being portrayed or manipulated, but, having lost two siblings at young ages, it pisses me off. And she knows she is dissing her son and that he would be appalled at her actions, otherwise she wouldn't have to say that he would approve.
#12
"The president is not going to meet with me us..."
I've been tending to think about her dabbling in a form of Muchausen Syndrome. Granted her son died and isn't "sick" but she's using him for attention.
http://allpsych.com/journal/munchausen.html
When this all blows over these groups will go home to their families and Cindy will be left very alone. Maybe this will be her penance in some ways. I do feel sorry for her in that respect, not having grieved for her son on a private personal level and that she is a pawn being taken advantage of. For folks to be following such a lost person is beyond me.
The MSM riding along being cheerleaders fanning the flames aren't helping either.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/27/2005 15:07 Comments ||
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#13
Remoteman,
I started my comment, but didn't submit it until much later, when I saw your comment.
I am sorry for your loss, and yes I agree with you. With loved ones so very close when they die, it's very personal, and it has bothered me how she has shoved this into our faces the way she has. Even the act of putting it out there is a form of dishonor in so many ways.
I went to the funeral here in Denver for Danny Deitz the SEAL who died in Afghanistan a few weeks back, glad that I was able to be a part of showing the family how much his service meant to this country, and after the main ceremony we all left to give the family some private time alone.
Maybe I should rethink my feelings of sorrow for her as she may be intentionally using this to place herself above all others with grief. I just try to see the best in folks and sometimes it is misguided. My son is also in the military and I would never think of dishonoring his service in the way Sheehan is doing.
For these followers to say they support the troops but dishonor Sheehan's son as they do, what's up with that.
Posted by: Jan ||
08/27/2005 15:32 Comments ||
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#14
Egotism at it's highest level: "I just wanted to let (Delay) know so he'll be in his office when we get there."
And he'd better be there or, or .... I'll hold my breath until I turn blue, or, or.... I'll roll on the floor and kick and scream, or,or.... I'll climb atop the chicken coop and jump off the roof, or, or....
Bob Burns: "O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us!"
#15
Shame she doesn't understand that a cut a run will render her son's death pointless.
That is exactly what the Left wants. They want America to be viewed as pointless, toothless, cowardly, and unable and unwilling to sustain casualties in any kind of conflict.
They believe that America is evil and that the country and its actions are morally unjust. They want us to fail. They see America just exactly the same way this media whore does - as a country that has never done a right thing in its entire existance, a country that is the source of all that is evil in the world today.
They want us destroyed.
If it were up to these kinds of Leftists, we'd be withdrawing from everywhere, disarming, and turning our government over to the mullahs to atone for our sins.
#16
We should hook her up to a BS-meter counter that will record the number of times she says "bullshit."
Who was Cindy Sheehan before not only her son's death on April 4, 2004, but after her June 18, 2004 meeting with President Bush? Why did she so radically change her tune?
Or is it that she had always been part of an apolitical, New Age spiritual pacifist movement that existed outside of the ideological hardcore of the Left but shared many of its counter-cultural tendencies? I suspect Sheehan belonged to or shared on some "intellectual" level fuzzy notions of communal anti-capitalist, ergo anti-American values. Since her son's death, it appears that Sheehan has become a willing participant in the more politicized and ideologically-inclined radical left.
#19
I got to Crawford around 4 pm on Friday. Camp Qualls is right next door to The Yellow Rose of Texas (a large gift shop) and I spoke at length with Greg Garvey and Gary Qualls, among others. It's a very emotional experience.
We drove up to the "ditch" (across from Camp Reality) to retrieve the cross of a fallen hero, as requested by his father, whose son's name had been placed on a cross without his permission. The State Troopers wouldn't let us search, but asked instead for the name and said they'd try to find it for us. Mr. Qualls has had to remove his son's name from their camps at least 4 times...they just keep putting it back, totally uncaring that he has asked them not to.
We spent the night in Waco and returned to Crawford early this morning to avoid what would surely be bumper to bumper traffic. We again assembled at Camp Qualls next to the Yellow Rose and stood at the intersection with our signs showing our support for the troops, the President and our country. Many busloads of Camp Casey protesters passed by that intersection today, but for the most part they wouldn't look at us. Our numbers were huge...somewhere between 2,500 and 3,500 is my best guess.
I was interviewed on camera by a Dallas news station (forget which one) and also by the Associated Press. A newsman from Sweden (living and working in Washington, D.C.) also interviewed me as well as a woman who said she was making a documentary. They all wanted (they said) to know why I was there. I merely told them it was to support the troops, my president and my country. I saw very little friction, although one woman had to be asked to leave the tent area of Camp Qualls because she was asking confrontational questions of some of the fathers of lost sons.
After hours on the corner (it was unbelievably hot, but I'd vowed to be silent knowing what our guys in Iraq suffer through), we drove over to the Community Center to check out the huge rally on behalf of the "You Don't Speak For Me, Cinty" group. It was awesome. Very moving speeches, a real feeling of unity and compassion for what our nation is going through and of course, unwavering support of our brave military men and women.
We took many, many great pictures. I cannot express how moving these two days have been. I'm home now (just got here) and it will take some time for it to all sink in...the experience, the wonderful people and those on the other side who seem so angry, so hateful, and so despairing of all that's good about what we are and have yet to accomplish in Iraq.
I'll continue to show up as often as I can wherever these "anti-war" folk convene. I love my country and have nothing but the utmost respect and gratitude for those that defend her. It's the least I can do.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/27/2005 21:20 Comments ||
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#21
I don't feel the slightest bit sorry for her anymore. Check out this photoblog and see especially the shot of her being attended by a makeup artist.
#22
Jan, thanks for your condlences. Thanks also for your son's service to our country. You've obviously raised a good one. I think Cindy has a major agenda that is being amplified by those who want hate our country and want it to lose.
GOP Girl, thanks for being part of the patriotic crowd and giving us your report. I doubt we'll see the same in the media. I wonder if they will even mention the relative numbers of each crowd.
Jordan's reform-minded, U.S.-educated monarch, King Abdullah II, follows two separate lines when discussing the idea of surrendering some powers and moving his kingdom toward a European-style constitutional monarchy.
On American talk shows, Abdullah has sounded at ease with fundamental change. But back home, he says the time is not yet ripe as Jordan faces new extremist pressures and attacks.
The 43-year-old monarch enjoys broad support in his country â a rarity among Mideast leaders â and is seen in Washington as a bulwark against terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism, as was his late father, King Hussein. During a U.S. visit earlier this year, Abdullah told a television interviewer in his British-accented English that he was "absolutely" open to moving Jordan toward a constitutional monarchy. Upon emerging from a White House meeting he was even more specific, saying the "crown can take a step back and the people can take a step forward."
That's the answer when he's abroad. But it's a different story at home, where Abdullah is also battling an underground militancy bent on killing him.
In a June debate in the nation's newspapers over amending Jordan's constitution to accommodate proposed changes in legal code, Abdullah put his foot down. "There's no justification for amending the constitution at this stage. Any talk of constitutional amendment is a red line," the king said.
Another Muslim king who's decided that he likes his head firmly atop his neck.
There is little question that Abdullah rules in a dangerous political neighborhood, where easing political and security controls could be fatal. A lot would be at stake were a Jordanian monarch to relinquish some powers. Under the Jordanian system, Hashemite rulers have reigned until death, were immune from prosecution, appointed the government leadership, could abolish laws at will, could dismiss the parliament and could rule by decree.
The newspaper debate on the constitution was not about basic reform of the Jordanian system, and government officials quickly suggested that Abdullah had not meant to signal a reversal of his desire to share power. They said he merely sought to put things in order before he steers his nation towards change.
One of the main challenges is Jordan's 30 splintered political parties, some based on tribal affiliations. Abdullah has said he wants those 30 merged into two or three so that lawmakers and, possibly Cabinet officials, could be elected on party banner instead of tribal links.
Social, cultural and political legislation inherited from the days of martial law must also be revamped.
Toujan Faisal, a former lawmaker who was jailed for 100 days three years ago for accusing a former Cabinet of financial wrongdoing, said electing prime ministers is a good start for constitutional change. "It will help consolidate the king's popularity, considering the democratic changes around us and the looming threat of militants in the region," she said.
However, political intrigue in neighboring Iraq and in Israel and the Palestinian territories â plus terror plots against Jordan â may have slowed down domestic reforms. Currently, there are at least 18 trials in the military court involving scores of militants â some linked to al-Qaeda â who have plotted to kill Americans, Israelis or other foreigners, topple the king or destabilize his kingdom.
Nevertheless, Abdullah has pledged to press ahead with reforms introduced under his father in 1989. Those included the revival of a multiparty system, banned since a 1956 leftist coup attempt, and the ending of martial law, imposed since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. Since he took the throne in 1999, the king has allowed a relatively freer media, under laws that also advocate more freedom for women. In January, he unveiled plans to form elected councils that will oversee development across the desert kingdom, a move meant to give wider autonomy to outlying communities.
He also has promised a 10-year "national agenda" that the Jordanian government says will overhaul all sectors, including political â a plan that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice hailed in a June visit as strengthening "grass-roots democracy here in Jordan."
A new Cabinet of reformists was formed in April and has since allowed public protests banned by its predecessor. Still, critics say the moves have been barely enough. "The government may have eased off toward certain public activities, but it has failed to make any tangible steps to reflect its good intentions â especially with regards to the elections law," said lawmaker Ali Abu-Sukar.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:24 ||
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There are three obvious possibilities here. The first is that the king has no intention to ever share power. The second is that he is either rationalizing keeping his power, or is trying to democritize from the top down. The third, if he was most serious about democracy, would be that he would start by democratizing from the bottom up, that is, to make his country used to democracy by familiarity. Councils, boards, committees, etc., being elected and having to vote for everything. Nothing is too petty for democracy, is the idea.
That is, to get his people into a mind-set of automatically questioning authority, unless it is elected. When a group tries to make a decision, somebody automatically chimes in, "Let's vote for it!", and it is accepted without question. And, importantly, then people also learn about the limits to democracy, such as military and police service.
He could also seriously impair the opponents to his regime by requiring them to be democratic. Imams and other anti-democrats hate having to be approved of by their followers. They see their legitimacy as direct from Allah, and it bugs the heck out of them for the group to say "no" to their schemes, instead of blindly obeying.
Iraq's Shiite majority made its final proposals on the text of a new constitution as U.S. President George W. Bush personally intervened to bring the tortuous negotiations to a head.
On the ground, U.S. forces launched multiple air strikes against a suspected hideout of the Al-Qaeda terror network in the Al-Anbar province of Iraq near the Syrian border. Around 50 terrorists associated with Abu Musab al-Zarqawi were in a safe house in the border town of Husaybah at the time of the air strikes, the U.S. military said.No casualty figures were given.
The Shiite proposal came after Bush had called Shiite leader Abdel-Aziz Hakim personally from his Texas ranch to try to break the deadlock which has seen negotiators miss three deadlines for a vote in Parliament. Both the White House and Hakim's office confirmed the phone call was made.
Shiite negotiator Abbas al-Bayyati said the new concessions were on the pivotal issues of federalism and efforts to remove former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from public life, adding: "We cannot offer more than that."
Later in the evening, Shiite negotiator Jawad al-Maliki reported progress in the talks on federalism but problems with "de-Baathification."
A Sunni negotiator said the Sunnis were studying the proposal and "may" respond today.
Maliki said the issue of Saddam's party, known here as "de-Baathification," was especially difficult because it was something "We cannot drop. We will not be easy with this point at all," Maliki said.
He said the Sunnis were being tough in defending the rights of former Baath party members and "it is regrettable to us that the Sunnis and the Baath are in the same pot."
Maliki said that on federalism there had been progress after Shiites guaranteed that the Parliament to be elected in December would take up the issue first.
The Sunnis fear that they will lose out in the distribution of Iraq's huge oil revenues under a federal system, as virtually all the reserves are in Shiite or Kurdish areas.
Sunni negotiator Kamal Hamdoun said he and his colleagues were "studying the suggestions that we received." Asked when they would respond, he said: "Maybe tomorrow (Saturday)" and refused to say more.
The constitution bans Saddam's party and grants legal status to a committee responsible for purging Baath members from government and public life.
Bayyati and fellow Shiite negotiator Ali al-Adeeb said Hakim told Bush that the Shiite bloc was made up of several groups "and they might reject the constitution if the article on the Baath Party is removed."
The White House said there would be no comment on the latest compromise proposal.
Bush's call "reflects ... that this is an Iraqi process and that the U.S. is here to help them," said White House spokesman Trent Duffy.
Maliki had spoken out strongly against the demands put forward by the Sunnis.
"The Sunnis want to revive the Baath party and stop the process of de-Baathification," Maliki said earlier.
Sunni leaders reacted strongly, denying they wanted to resurrect the Baath party.
"We don't want to mention names of any party in the constitution. We want to ban ideologies which advocate racism and sectarianism, without naming," Sunni negotiator Saleh al-Motlag said. "If that applies to the Baath Party, it would be banned by default."
A representative of Sistani however urged negotiators not to forget crimes committed by Saddam Hussein's regime in the effort to bring Sunnis on board.
"Has everybody forgotten what crimes Saddam's party did? Do they think Saddam was a hero of the Arab world?" asked Mohammad Hussein.
Motlag reiterated the Sunni demand to drop federalism.
"We can make compromises on any issue, except the dismantling of Iraq ... No single region has the right to secede by itself," he said. Another Sunni negotiator said that federalism could be ushered in by the next assembly.
"We believe that federalism should be postponed until the next Parliament," said Sunni negotiator Hassib Arif al-Obaidi. "We need a peaceful environment in the presence of a balanced national assembly, in which we can discuss this matter adequately."
A Kurdish negotiator said the Shiites were under pressure to shelve their demand for their own autonomous region in Shiite-majority areas of central and southern Iraq in a bid to placate the Sunnis.
"Today (Friday) is the final day, and the last chance to discuss the draft constitution. We hope to reach an agreement that would satisfy everyone," Mahmoud Othman told AFP earlier.
Although discussion continues, Sunni leaders have already began mobilizing their community in central and western Iraq to vote against the charter. Thousands of protesters in Baquba north of Baghdad took to the streets in support of Hussein.
Tens of thousands of Sadr supporters also marched in Baghdad and other towns after Friday prayers to denounce the constitution.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:20 ||
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As another midnight deadline to complete a draft constitution passed Friday without definitive agreement among Iraq's main factions, ruling Shiite Muslim parties said they would present a final version to the National Assembly this weekend with no further changes, even though it was rejected by several Sunni Arab leaders.
As some lawmakers said negotiations were continuing into the early hours of Saturday and others claimed an accord had been reached that many Sunnis would endorse, government spokesman Laith Kubba told al-Arabiya television that "consensus is almost impossible at this point."
"The draft should be put before the people," he said, referring to the nationwide referendum on the document that must be held by Oct. 15. Many Sunni Arab leaders have urged their followers to vote against the constitution, which can be rejected if two-thirds of the voters in at least three of Iraq's 18 provinces oppose it.
The completed document will be presented to the National Assembly on Saturday or Sunday with or without Sunni backing, Humam Hamoudi, a Shiite who is chairman of the constitution-writing committee, told the Associated Press.
Also Friday, the U.S. military said it launched multiple strikes with F-18 fighter jets against a house in the western town of Husaybah that local informants said was sheltering about 50 suspected insurgents from the group al Qaeda in Iraq. The military said the number of casualties had not been determined.
The highly politicized process of writing Iraq's constitution revealed and reinforced deep divisions among Iraq's Shiite and Sunni Arabs and ethnic Kurds, raising fears that disagreements could spiral into factional conflict.
In an attempt to foster consensus, an Aug. 15 deadline for completing a draft was postponed by one week and subsequently extended twice more. Friday's was the first deadline to pass without an official statement granting more time, as a news conference scheduled for just before midnight was canceled.
In recent days, President Bush, who along with other U.S. officials had urged Iraqi leaders to complete their work on time, personally intervened by telephoning Abdul Aziz Hakim, leader of the largest Shiite political party, the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, to encourage conciliation with the Sunnis. U.S. and Iraqi officials have long maintained that inclusion of the Sunni Arabs, a once-dominant minority who now make up much of the violent insurgency, is a key to stability and the eventual withdrawal of American troops.
In Washington, a senior State Department official involved in Iraq policy said: "What we're witnessing is the endgame of this process. Events are moving in a positive direction. They're continuing to work these issues, but they're moving in the right direction."
Deliberations bogged down Friday over two contentious issues that were as much about Iraq's troubled past as its future: whether and how to bar former members of Saddam Hussein's Baath Party from political life, and the extent and method by which to devolve power from the federal government to autonomous regions that suffered greatly under Hussein's rule.
Shiites said they offered to eliminate language outlawing the Baath Party, whose top officials were mostly Sunnis, while retaining a ban on its "Saddamist" branch and symbols. They also offered to permit the National Assembly, by a majority vote, to eliminate the so-called de-Baathification committee charged with removing former party members from government service.
On federalism, or the ability of Iraq's provinces to form regional governments, Shiites said they proposed enshrining the principle of federalism in the constitution while leaving the details of how federal regions should be formed to future lawmakers. Some Shiites said they had agreed to have the constitution stipulate that no new regional governments be formed for at least two years.
"This is the last offer we have. We cannot go back anymore," said Nabeel Mousawi, a member of the constitution committee from the ruling Shiite alliance. "If we keep fulfilling their demands, it would be better to go back to Saddam's government, because the alliance believes that the only benefit we got from the war was to get rid of the Baath Party and to gain federal states."
Sunnis, however, say that extending federalism beyond the existing Kurdish regional government in the north could lead to partition of the country. They strongly oppose a potential Shiite state in the south.
"What they have proposed will only create division and disturbance," said Saleh Mutlak, a Sunni member of the constitution committee. "People should reject this constitution."
Abdul Nasser Janabi, another Sunni on the committee, said: "There are many disputes that we cannot agree on. Some of their suggestions are positive, like to delay of the issue of federalism. . . . We want this issue to be postponed as a whole, but they want to postpone it in a way that guarantees it in the constitution."
Despite the dissenting voices, Kurdish and Shiite leaders said as broad an agreement as possible had been reached and largely dismissed the objections of Sunnis who they said did not truly represent their communities.
"I think for all intents and purposes we have a deal. We have a draft that cannot be improved upon," said Planning Minister Barham Salih, a Kurd. "No one could be entirely happy with what we have, but while some are opposed, many Sunnis expressed happiness."
As factional leaders huddled in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone for talks, large crowds took to the streets across the country, a reminder that whatever the outcome of the protracted negotiations, the constitution's fate lies with the people.
More than 3,000 demonstrators, many of them Sunnis opposed to the constitution, gathered in Baqubah, north of the capital. Marchers chanted Baath Party slogans and carried large posters of Hussein. Police fired shots in the air to disperse the crowd after about half an hour.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, police officers and Iraqi soldiers joined about 2,000 demonstrators bearing banners that read "The Baathists are loyal Iraqis" and "No to federalism."
The largest demonstrations of the day were inspired by the influential Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, who has yet to make public his opinion on the constitution but whose stated opposition to federalism mirrors that of many Sunnis.
About 20,000 followers of Sadr marched in their stronghold of Sadr City, a sprawling slum in eastern Baghdad. The protest was a show of force by the movement, whose militiamen briefly battled rival Shiite fighters this week in a simmering rivalry over influence, ideology and power among the country's Shiite majority.
The movement convened other demonstrations in several cities in southern Iraq, protesting a dearth of social services that remains the overwhelming complaint of most Iraqis.
"We demand the addressing of the sharp lack in daily services," one banner read.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:15 ||
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With Iraq's new constitution still in limbo, thousands of Sunni Arabs rallied in central and northern Iraq on Friday to protest the proposed draft.
In Kirkuk, in the north, more than 2,000 Sunnis marched in the streets after Friday Prayer, chanting "No to federalism," "Iraq is the home of all" and "Baathists are loyal Iraqis." In Baquba, a largely Sunni city northeast of Baghdad, several thousand people marched, some carrying pictures of Saddam Hussein, whose Baath Party kept the Sunni minority in power for years.
Sunni political leaders have refused to agree to the draft constitution in large part because a Shiite proposal would create a vast autonomous region in Iraq's oil-rich south. The Sunnis say that proposal - which would parallel the federal zone governed by the Kurds in northern Iraq - could cripple the Iraqi state and allow neighboring Iran to dominate the Shiite south.
"Kirkuk's Arabs refuse any constitution that would divide the country by different names, which is at odds with Islam and with the Arabic nation of Iraq," said Sheik Abdul Rahman Mished, the leader of Kirkuk's Arab Assembly. With its volatile ethnic mix of Kurds, Sunni Arabs and Turkmens, Kirkuk has been particularly vulnerable to fears of sectarian division.
Many Sunnis are also concerned about constitutional proposals that would ban any symbols or remnants of the Baath Party, long dominated by Sunnis, which they see as an effort to exclude them from public life.
The demonstrations came as American F-18D fighter jets bombed and destroyed a building in northwestern Iraq where about 50 members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia were believed to be hiding, the United States military said in a statement.
Residents had alerted American forces that suspected terrorists were gathering in the building, just outside Husayba, near the Syrian border, where fierce fighting has broken out repeatedly between militants and marines in recent months. It was not yet clear how many people were killed in Friday's air strikes, the military said.
Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia is led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian terrorist who is Iraq's most-wanted man.
Also on Friday, followers of the rebel Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr clashed with the police in Karbala, overrunning a police station and freeing some prisoners.
In Baghdad and two southern cities, thousands of Mr. Sadr's followers staged peaceful demonstrations, denouncing the American presence, deploring the state of Iraq's electricity and water supplies, and lashing out at rival Shiite groups.
Members of Mr. Sadr's militia engaged in street battles on Wednesday and Thursday with rival Shiites belonging to the Badr Organization, the armed wing of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq. On Thursday Mr. Sadr appealed for calm, as did Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, who is the leader of Dawa, another Shiite party.
But lingering tensions between Mr. Sadr's followers and their Shiite rivals were palpable on Friday, as Sheik Abdul Zahra al-Suwaidi delivered a sermon before several thousand people under a baking sun in Sadr City, the vast Shiite slum in northeast Baghdad.
"We have stayed silent for a long time and extended hands of reconciliation and brotherhood, favoring the welfare of the nation and religion," Mr. Suwaidi said. "But they went too far when they dared to attack the Sadr office."
Mr. Sadr, who led two violent uprisings last year against American and Iraqi forces, has joined Sunnis in recent weeks in denouncing Shiite proposals for a federal region in southern Iraq. He has engaged for years in a power struggle with more mainstream Shiites at the Supreme Council and Dawa, sometimes violently.
Violence continued to ripple across Iraq on Friday. Gunmen opened fire on an Iraqi Army patrol in the Dawra neighborhood of southern Baghdad, killing one soldier, an Interior Ministry official said. Nearby, a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol close to the Dawra oil refinery, killing one officer and wounding two, the official said.
In Mosul, in the north, gunmen shot and killed Jiyad Hussein, the leader of the local branch of the Reform Party, along with his son, in an industrial area on the city's eastern side.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:13 ||
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Laying out its ideology in a broad manifesto, the group al Qaeda in Iraq -- which has been behind many of the worst attacks, beheadings and kidnappings in Iraq -- says the insurgency is in better shape than the United States acknowledges and vows to continue the insurgency and "destroy the American empire."
"Every now and then, the schoolboys of the Pentagon and the adolescents of the Black House keep blasting our ears with talks of pure arrogance and conviction saying, 'We will not leave Iraq until we accomplish our mission.' This desperate catchphrase that they keep repeating is used to make the public believe that the mujahedeens are in bad shape, as if they are begging the Americans, saying, 'Please Americans, leave Iraq,' " the group says in an e-book, an extensive document on the Internet.
"We vow by the name of God that we are determined to destroy the American empire," it says.
The book, filled with calls for violence and hate for all but "true Muslims" -- a group that it says does not include Shiites -- surfaced on an Islamic Web site this week.
In the past, al Qaeda in Iraq has expressed itself through statements claiming responsibility for attacks and an on-line magazine. The e-book offers links to three issues of the magazine.
Al Qaeda in Iraq also has given justifications for violence through audio comments from its leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
The e-book includes numerous sections totaling dozens of pages, covering such topics as how the Quran justifies beheadings and why democracy is wrong.
The document does not list an author. It refers to al-Zarqawi in the third person, possibly indicating he did not write it.
The United States and the Iraqi government call the Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi the most wanted terrorist in the country. The United States has posted a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture.
While part of the document seems to have been written relatively recently, another part refers to to the government of Ayad Allawi, who had been interim leader in Iraq.
No date was given for the document.
Repeatedly, the book calls on Muslims to launch attacks against foreign forces in Iraq and people who cooperate with them.
"The basics of our faith revolve around not harming true Muslims and not shedding one single drop of Muslim blood because one drop of true Muslim blood shed amounts to the demise of this whole world. So why do we carry out operations in Iraq against the Americans and their aides in the (Iraqi) army and police? First, to please God, who orders us to carry on this jihad and to force the occupiers to pull out of the land," it says, vowing to "spread the light of justice and glory all over the world."
It cites "the glory that shines from our brothers, local and foreign fighters who left their countries, spouses and children and are sacrificing their blood for you to protect you and protect your families and honor, your women and children, forcing the occupiers to pull out of your country."
The document calls on Iraqi troops and police to turn their backs on the new elected government.
"You who betrayed Muslims and in humiliation became one of many collaborators, a servant under the command of the cross, we ask you to return to your Islamic instinct or cutting your neck will be your only punishment for your treason against your religion and your people."
It adds this warning: "Repent or else."
The group says its "doctrine and mission are clear and they can be summarized as our agreement to believe in and fight for the religion of God. We believe that those who follow these beliefs and the provisions of faith are true Muslims and anyone who denounces any of these beliefs and conditions is an infidel even if he still claims to be a Muslim."
It calls the Shiite faith "a confession of polytheism and rejectionism."
The document warns there will be no end to the insurgency. "The call for jihad goes on until doomsday, whether there is an imam calling for it or not."
The central image of the e-book is the group's logo -- a globe with an open book, presumably the Quran. Coming out of the center of the Quran are a spear, a Kalashnikov rifle, a hand with the pointer finger sticking up -- a symbol of unity -- and a banner reading, "There is no God but God; Mohammed is the messenger of God."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/27/2005 01:09 ||
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#1
Once again - America either fights and wins, or it will die! America's enemies are not interested in co-existence, parity, or bilateral/
multilateral competition, etc. AMERICANS AND WESTERNISTS HAVE NO CHOICE EXCEPT TO WIN, OR TO DIE, IFF ONLY BECAUSE AMERICA'S ENEMIES INTEND TO KILL US, AND TO KILL US NO MATTER HOW
"REASONABLE" OR APPEASING WE ARE!?
#6
In other news... Zarqawi announced that his director of propaganda in the US was to be Cindy Sheehan. See her description of the people who killed her son as 'freedom fighters' on a live on-camera interview.
#7
"It refers to al-Zarqawi in the third person, possibly indicating he did not write it."
Oh, I don't know about that. It's just another case of a Muslim being a God pretender. Clearly Zarqawi is posturing and spouting off as God incarnate. Zarqawi the man is not in control of his mind or body. The hand that is writing this is just the messenger.
Arab Logic 101. Class can be waived if you have already taken the class "The Exorcist".
;{
#8
"Every now and then, the schoolboys of the Pentagon and the adolescents of the Black House keep blasting our ears with talks of pure arrogance and conviction saying, 'We will not leave Iraq until we accomplish our mission.' This desperate catchphrase that they keep repeating is used to make the public believe that the mujahedeens are in bad shape, as if they are begging the Americans, saying, 'Please Americans, leave Iraq,'" ...
The first part of this reads like postings over at Democratic Underground until you realize that it's Zarky's boyz.
Abdul Karim Tunda, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant wanted in connection with a series of bomb blasts in Delhi and neighbouring States between 1996 and 1998, is believed to be alive and operating from Pakistan. He was so far suspected to have been killed in a blast in Bangladesh a few years ago. Abdul Razzak Masood, the alleged LeT chief coordinator in Dubai arrested by the Special Cell of the Delhi police this Monday, allegedly disclosed during his interrogation that he came across Tunda during a visit to Pakistan in November-December 2003. He met Tunda in his shop opposite Markaj Taiba main gate at Muridke in Lahore, a place close to the LeT headquarters. Abdul disclosed that Tunda has two wives and two sons. The younger one, Shahid, helps him in the perfume business, while the elder son is a LeT activist. An expert in manufacturing bombs, Tunda is wanted in 33 cases under the Explosives Substances Act in Delhi and nearby States.
He was also instrumental in brainwashing Jalees Ansari, a doctor with the Birhan Mumbai Municipal Corporation, who triggered over 40 blasts in Mumbai and Hyderabad during 1992 and 1993. When Jalees was arrested in January 1994, Tunda fled to Bangladesh and set up his hideout at Jatra Bari in Dhaka. He also visited a "madarsa" in Dhaka, where he apparently ran a research centre to develop improvised explosive devices. According to intelligence sources, the building where he lived housed several fundamentalist organisations, which published inflammatory magazines like "Madeena". The police learnt more about his activities after two of his Bangladeshi students, Mati-ur-Rehman, code named Moosa, and Akbar, code named Haroon, were arrested from Sadar Bazar railway station here in February 1998 in connection with the serial blasts. The police arrested 24 other members of the module, including Tunda's confidants, Kamran and Shakeel. The militants, who addressed Tunda as Baba, told their interrogators that they triggered the blasts at his instance.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/27/2005 00:44 ||
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A number of militants who were arrested over time have revealed that they either belong to the Jamaat-e-Islami or its various wings or were past members. The most startling suspected Jamaat-militant link was unearthed at Khetlal of Joypurhat August 14, 2003. After an overnight gunfight at Jamaat activist Montejur Rahman's house, police arrested 39 suspected militants, 29 of whom confessed they were activists of Jamaat's student wing Islami Chhatra Shibir (ICS). They said the ICS assigned them to work for Jama'atul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB), linked to militant Abdur Rahman. In August 2003, Sohel, a student of Sunamganj Government College was arrested for links with the JMB. His brother Selim made the following statement to the
press on August 23: "Shibir [ICS] turned my brother into an ultra-religious man and forced him to work for Jama'atul Mijahideen [JMB]." Other than Jamaat, some leaders of the ruling BNP also supported the militants, specially Bangla Bhai and his group Jagrata Muslim Janata, Bangladesh (JMJB) in the northern districts. Bangla Bhai himself was an active member of the
ICS until 1995. When Bangla Bhai came into focus for his killings, a state minister, a deputy minister and a BNP lawmaker openly supported him and directed the local police to give Bangla Bhai shelter.
According to a retired intelligence boss, many ICS cadres took part in the Afghan war during the 1980s and on return still maintain a network with different Afghan Mujahideen groups. Last November, three militants were arrested with 24 powerful gelatin bomb-sticks and 124 electronic detonators in Gaibandha from a Shantahar-bound train. All of them said they are ICS activists although Jamaat disowned them. On April 12 last year, when police were preparing to arrest some 80 militants who took shelter in a mosque in Shibganj in Sylhet, city Jamaat Amir Dr Shafiqur Rahman refrained police from the action. After his arrest in Debiganj in Panchgarh on February 23 last year, militant Azizul told police he was previously a member of the ICS and now a worker of the JMB. Samiul Al Siju and Fazlul Haq, both JMB militants, admitted after their arrest in Gangachura area in Rangpur on February 23 that they were active workers of the ICS. On July 19 this year, police arrested 11 suspected Islamist militants including an adherent of Bangla Bhai and two Rajshahi University (RU) students at their training camp at a newly constructed house at Puthiapara in Paba upazila. The team leader, Enamul, was an ICS member before he joined the JMJB nearly a year ago. Whenever any militant claims link to Jamaat, the party holds press conferences or issues statements to disclaim such connections. On August 20, Jamaat Aimr Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami at a press conference said his party has no connection with militants. He said Jamaat does not believe in
extremism and that such links are cooked up to malign the party.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
08/27/2005 00:45 ||
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#1
All Muslim terror is mosque based. Ergo: close terror mosques.
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler ||
08/27/2005 2:18 Comments ||
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An extremist Islamist internet site has claimed Osama bin Laden was recently injured in fighting around a Spanish military base in Afghanistan. Al Hasba, which has featured statements by al Qaedaâs leader and Abu Musab al Zarqawi, said bin Laden took part in the al Kholoud attack (the eternal attack) and was lightly injured in his left thigh. Islamists in London cast doubt on these reports and indicated that Saudi-born bin Laden has not appeared in any video or audio tape since 27th December 2004, when al Jazeera news channel broadcasted a tape allegedly announcing the appointment of Zarqawi as âthe emir of al Qaeda in Iraqâ.
On his part, the Egyptian Islamist Dr. Hani al Sibai, the director of the al Maqrizi centre in London, questioned the news of an injury to bin Laden or his involvement in combat as this would have made him vulnerable to being caught. He said, âHis followers would never accept this.â Given the secrecy surrounding the whereabouts of bin Laden, taking part in military operation and overseeing a group of fighters would be very risky especially as prisoners might reveal the location of their leader. Al Sibai indicated the head of al Qaeda, bin Laden and Egyptian Ayman al Zawahiri were unlikely to reside in the same lcoation due to the hightened security measures adopted by the group to ensure its leaders remain alive.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Besides, OBL is far too busy with his jihadi knitting circle and shuffle board club. And the goats are plentiful.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/27/2005 0:56 Comments ||
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With the departure of their common Israeli enemy, inter-Palestinian divisions could flare up into fresh bloodshed, militants in the impoverished Gaza Strip warned. âIf the Palestinian Authority cannot meet the peopleâs basic needs, there will be a new intifada not against Israel but among ourselves,â said Fathi Hamad, a local leader of radical movement Hamas in the Jabaliya refugee camp. âThere will be a huge popular uprising,â he predicted. âHamas is preparing for mass demonstrations.â
As a Hamas leader in Gazaâs largest and most poverty-ridden camp, one of the areas that has suffered most during the five years of Israeli-Palestinian fighting, Hamad said the Palestinian Authority only speaks for some of the people. He predicted victory for Hamas in Januaryâs legislative elections, the first time the Islamist movement has run in parliamentary polls. âWe are a part of this people and we have to participate in the Palestinian government, even though Europe and the United States are against this. Our leaders cannot impose anything on us,â he said.
Although the radical movement will fight for its right to participate in government, Hamad said it will never raise a hand against Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas whose Fatah party dominates the administration. âWe will never use weapons against Mahmoud Abbas,â he vowed. âThe government is not our enemy.â
Although Hamas boycotted the presidential election in January, won decisively by Abbas, its leadership decided earlier this year to contest the parliamentary vote. Last month, the overall Hamas leader in its Gaza Strip stronghold, Mahmoud Zahar, said the movement no longer had any confidence in the Palestinian Authority, stressing: âWe will not allow anyone to disarm us.â Hamasâ rival Islamic Jihad has also rejected US demands for the Palestinian Authority to rid militant groups of their weapons. âWe saw more American interference in Palestinian affairs and that America wants a Palestinian civil war,â said a Jihad leader in Gaza, Khaled El-Batsh. For Hamad, the Palestinians face two challenges now that Israel has abandoned its 21 Jewish settlements in Gaza and is on the cusp of ending its 38-year occupation: reconstruction and resistance.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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Posted by: mac ||
08/27/2005 7:27 Comments ||
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#5
"Although Hamas boycotted the presidential election in January, won decisively by Abbas, its leadership decided earlier this year to contest the parliamentary vote."
Confusing Butterfly Ballots and Hanging Chads no doubt.
#6
I've never figured out what these "elections" they keep having are all about. It's not like they have a functioning government. Are they simply picking the town dogcatcher, or what?
#8
"We saw more American interference in Palestinian affairs and that America wants a Palestinian civil war,â said a Jihad leader in Gaza, Khaled El-Batsh.
But will that stop them from actually having a civil war? No way, Ho-Zay!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/27/2005 12:47 Comments ||
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A majority of Israelis favor removing more Jewish settlements in occupied lands beyond the 25 scrapped this week even as the government of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon plans to consolidate the West Bank settlements. A poll published in the countryâs biggest newspaper Yediot Ahronot showed 54 percent of those surveyed want to continue Sharonâs plan to âdisengageâ from conflict with the Palestinians while 42 percent oppose it and 4 percent did not respond. Under Sharonâs pullout plan, Israel removed 9,000 settlers from all of the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank, lands occupied 38 years ago. It was the first Israeli withdrawal from land where Palestinians want a state. An even more decisive 68 percent of Israelis favor removing hilltop outposts which Israeli governments have not authorized, the poll showed.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Great idea! And the Paleostinians will accept another withdrawal as a desire for genuine peace and will respond in kind. What do you mean they won't? ... never mind ...
#2
that's Yediot...check any poll by Jerusalem Post. Withdrawal's done- consolidation around Jerusalem to maintain Jewish control now.... Seething continues
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/27/2005 15:42 Comments ||
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A pig's head thrown into a mosque with the words Suha Arafat "The Prophet Muhammad" written on it is stirring deep tensions here, with a popular extremist sheik today threatening an Arab revolt and Jewish Temple Mount activists calling on Arabs to be expelled from the country.
The pig's head, which was covered in a black-and-white checkered kaffiyeh, that is an Arab headdress, was thrown last week into the Hassen Bek Mosque of Jaffa, just outside Tel Aviv.
A Tel Aviv couple arrested today admitted to placing the pig in the mosque in hopes, they said, of instigating area Muslims to riot in order to derail the Gaza evacuation plan, which was at its height during the incident. Police found a second pig's head in the suspects' home refrigerator. The couple said they were planning to repeat the attack.
At riot instigation prayer services inside the Hassen Bek mosque today, Sheikh Raed Salah, head of the Islamic Movement, a Palestinian Temple Mount terrorist activist group, called on Arabs to revolt against the Israeli government.
"What's happening?"
"The Paleos are revolting!"
"Yes, I know that. But what's happening?
"Jewish terrorists carried out this act against Hassen Bek, but the Israeli establishment bears responsibility for the attack, and will bear responsibility for the fall out as well," said Salah. So, Salah, will you accept the analogous: Moslem terrorists carried out this act against the World Trade Center, but the Moslem establishment bears responsibility for the attack, and will bear responsibility for the fall out as well.
"The establishment is trying to get rid of al-Aqsa. The Zionists won't rest until there is an ugly attack [against it]. That would be very dangerous."
Salah, who was recently released from prison, ... For? Terrorism? Incitement to riot? Parking tickets?
... has been accused by Israel of receiving funds from organizations related to terror groups, including Hamas. He said Muslims must defend Al Aqsa from the religions that had a holy site there "evil Jewish designs."
David Haivri, chairman of Revava, a Temple Mount activist group regularly targeted by Salah's public comments, told WND, "Indeed, the Temple Mount should be returned to the control of the Jewish authorities, but it should not be done with any attacks or violence. The Mount is the holiest place for Jews. Muslim control of the site and restrictions on Jewish prayer is not acceptable. Jews should make a pilgrimage to the Temple Mount and show we want it back."
Haivri added, "I think now that [Israeli Prime Minister Ariel] Sharon conducted his first stage in a population exchange with the Gaza withdrawal, he should complete it by sending in the same military forces to get out the Muslims from our country. They have 22 other large Arab countries to live in." No, they're Kennewickians, they can't live anywhere but Kennewick.
Reacting to Haivri's sentiment, Salah warned, "Anyone who thinks they can get us to leave our land had better prepare a million coffins for Palestinians in this country. Can do.
We were born in this land, and we will die in this land. From here we will meet Allah."
Salah said his Islamic Movement will set up 24-hour-a-day terrorist guard units to secure Muslim holy sites in Jaffa, Ramleh and Lod, including at the Hassen Bek Mosque. Hassen Bek was the scene of Israeli-Arab violence at the start of the Palestinians' 2000 intifadah.
Anti-Muslim crimes in Israel involving pigs are usually punished severely. In 2001, an activist was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for placing a pig's head on the grave of a militant sheikh in a Muslim cemetery.
President General Pervez Musharraf on Friday hailed the outcome of local council elections, seen as an initial step to obtaining a mandate for him to stay in power beyond 2007 as a "defeat for extremists". Results of Thursday's second phase in district council elections, billed as a demonstration of grassroots democracy, are expected over the weekend. All the signs are that they will broadly echo resounding wins claimed by government parties after the first round a week ago. "The outcome of the election throughout the country is a victory for the moderates, for the enlightened and a defeat for the extremists," Musharraf told a gathering in Karachi.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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NEW DELHI: A high-level committee appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to study the economic, educational and social status of Indian Muslims revealed that most public and private banks were declining loans to Muslims. Moreover, it said Muslims were facing social boycott at some places and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to sell and purchase residential properties. âThere is an implicit diktat that loans should not be given in specific areas dominated by Muslims because of the apparently high probability of default. Almost all major banks suffer from this syndrome and this discriminatory approach needs to be altered,â the committee said in a press release on Friday.
Is it just me, or does that statement make no sense? Why would you force banks to make loans to people who're likely to default on them? If the gummint's that concerned about making sure deadbeats get loans, why doesn't the gummint loan them the money?
The seven-member committee, led by former Delhi High Court chief justice Rajinder Sacchar, toured the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led western state of Rajasthan for three days and reported a sense of insecurity among Muslims across the state. The committee also felt that there was a deepening mistrust between the Muslim and Hindu communities. It added that Muslim non-government organisations (NGOs) were not getting approvals to establish educational institutions and other welfare services.
Y'mean they don't want any more madrassahs? I wonder why that could be?
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Put it to the Muzzys straight: Pakistan, which your ilk demanded and killed hundreds of thousands for, is due west. Walking ain't crowded and we KNOW you would rather be with your coreligionists. So adios, MFs. Don't let the border gate hit you in the butt on the way out. And don't plan on coming back, either. It's a one-way trip.
Posted by: mac ||
08/27/2005 7:33 Comments ||
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#2
Normally, at this point the Muslims will start homicide bombing the banks. Which by the way, are owned by Hindu's. But, if they decide to go that route, it'll just be a matter who will reach the Muslims first, to stamp it out. The local Hindu's or Indian military. The Muslims better hope the Indian military gets to them first.
#3
There is an implicit diktat that loans should not be given in specific areas dominated by Muslims because of the apparently high probability of default.
#4
I've mentioned before that I'm married to an Indian (Punjabi)woman. I've had many conversations with my father in law, who was one of the few in his family that survived the forced eviction of Hindus from what became Pakistan during the partition.
I can tell you now that Muslims in India act up on their peril, because your everyday Indian, particularly the Punjabis will not hesitate to put a slap down on them.
And the Muslims know this. Frankly, I do not understand why they don't just head west.
AR
Posted by: Analog Roam ||
08/27/2005 22:49 Comments ||
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Despite the popularity of the labour opposition to the ruthlessly executed privatisation programme, left-wing parties and trade union representatives failed to make any impact and fell by the wayside in the recently concluded local government elections. In Lahore, the once-powerful left-wing of Pakistan could not field a single candidate for the slot of nazim or naib nazim, while in Punjab the representatives of Pakistan Labour Party, Pakistan Workers Party and Mazdoor Kissan Party could only win four nazim and naib nazim seats â two from Faisalabad and one each from Okara and Renala Khurd. The only feather in the cap for left-wing parties was the seat in Okara Military Farms where Anjuman Muzarieen Punjab won the nazimâs slot with the strong backing of civil society organisations, defeating the candidate supported by Defence Minister Rao Sikander Iqbal.
Is this the last nail in the coffin for left-wing politics in Pakistan? âI donât agree with the notion that left-wing politics has finally breathed its last,â said leading lawyer and Pakistan Workers Party President Abid Hasan Minto. âTraditionally, leftist parties never took electoral politics too seriously and the trend shows in these elections as well. But the persecution of the left over the years under successive military rules and financial constraints have contributed in this electoral defeat,â said Minto. However, the veteran leftist did not agree that left-wing politics was buried for good. âOn the contrary, left movements are gaining strength the world over and I am sure here in Pakistan too, weâll soon see a strong revival,â said Minto.
Farooq Tariq, secretary general Pakistan Labour Party and a leader of Mazdoor Kissan Party conceded that left-wing organisations have become too weak even to find candidates. âI agree that the left has lost a lot of ground over the last two and half decades in Pakistan and now is on the periphery of the political scene, but look at the constraints we are working under,â said Tariq. âThough we could not field a single candidate for nazim in Lahore, we have won more than a dozen womenâs labour council seats in the city. Also, we won in Okara which is a strong showing,â said Tariq.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I have heard from the leftist leader in America, Howard Dean, that though his leftist party has been thrown out of power that in the next election they will win the presidency, both houses of congress, and elect an all leftist supreme court!
Due to differences between the two major component parties of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), the alliance was able to make adjustments for only 40 percent of the seats in the local body elections, Syed Munawar Hassan, JI secretary general told reporters after addressing a seminar held on the 65th founding day of the JI. Hassan denied that there were differences within the MMA and said that even if there were, they would be resolved in the upcoming supreme council meeting. Hassan said that member parties of the MMA were free to make alliances with political parties of their choice for the third phase of the local government elections. âThatâs why the JI has made an alliance with the Awami National Party in Peshawar and the JUI-F has made an alliance with the Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao-led Pakistan Peopleâs Party. He added that even during the initial phases of the election, 20 percent JI-seat adjustments were with non-MMA parties.
Syed Munawar Hassan said that the MMA and the Alliance for Restoration of Democracy might launch separate protest movements against President General Pervez Musharraf and it was possible that they would invite each others leaders to their gatherings. He said the JI had decided to hold a ânational consultation meetingâ in Islamabad on September 18 in which intellectuals from all over the country would participate to formulate a joint strategy against the government.
While, addressing the participants of the seminar earlier, he said that Musharraf was an unconstitutional president and chief of army staff. âWe have to ensure that a person who violates the Constitution is punished accordingly,â he stressed. Syed Munawar Hassan also said that the governmentâs pro-Americanisation and pro-military-establishment policies were completely unacceptable. He stressed on promoting Jihad to fight the state terrorism in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and Palestine.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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From Compass Direct
Police have yet to find the killers of Tapan Kumar Roy and Liplal Mardi, two Christian men who were brutally murdered in Bangladesh on the night of July 27. Roy, 27, and the 21-year-old Mardi (not Marandi, as missions groups previously reported) worked with Christian Life Bangladesh (CLB), a registered non-governmental organization. Along with educational films on health care and AIDS prevention, they often showed the âJesusâ film at the invitation of local villagers.
Edward Ayub, a respected Christian leader in Bangladesh, said the two men had received verbal threats from Hafez Abdullah al-Mamun, the supervisor of the madrassa (Islamic school) in Dhopapara village, Faridpur district, where the two men were based. .... Police arrested a young man named Yunus Kazi on August 2 on suspicion of murder but released him that night after questioning. Kazi is the nephew of a former local politician, Kazi Sirajul Islam. Many area Christians believe Kazi was released as a result of the influence his uncle still wields. ....
Ayub recounted another incident on August 9 in which three young Christian men were threatened with death. The men, identified only as Helal, Iqbal and Masud for security reasons, were distributing tracts on the streets of Dhaka when they were approached by two Muslim men whom they later described as gangsters. Having read the tract, the men began asking questions and eventually a large crowd gathered. Two imams (Muslim religious leaders) were summoned; after reading the tract, they declared it was the âwork of infidels,â in which case it would be âno sinâ if the young men were killed.
Helal, Iqbal and Masud were then taken to the banks of a river, where the mob beat them and further intimidated them. A gun was pushed into Helalâs pocket, and the mob threatened to call the Rapid Action Battalion -- which has powers to arrest anyone possessing unregistered firearms. The mob threatened to kill them. The gangsters then told the Christians they could purchase their lives with a sum of money. The young men declined. The situation was eventually defused after five hours of tense confrontation. ....
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I don't see how this could work.
"Our position is that Jesus Christ was the son of God."
DHAKA: Bangladeshâs mainstream Islamic parties have no link with extremists who are out to destabilise the government and destroy democracy, the chief of the countryâs biggest Islamic party said on Friday.
Two people were killed and about 100 injured when hundreds of homemade bombs exploded simultaneously across the country on Aug 17, triggering an unprecedented security alarm among Bangladeshâs 140 million people, most of whom are Muslims. No one claimed responsibility for the blasts but copies of a leaflet found at most bomb sites carried a call by a banned Islamic militant group, Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen, for the introduction of Islamic rule in Bangladesh, a Muslim democracy. âMilitant Islamic groups like the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen are misguided and Islam never recognises them, because they undermine Islam through their misdeeds,â Moulana Matiur Rahman Nizami, head of the Jamaat-e-Islami Bangladesh, told Reuters in an interview. Nizami, who is also Bangladeshâs industry minister, added: âExtremists will never succeed, as in the past also no clandestine or banned group has been successful in their campaigns.â
Jamaat-e-Islami is a key partner in Bangladeshâs four-party coalition government headed by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia. Nizami denied any links between his party and the banned Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen or any sympathy for it. âWe believe they (or any Islamic extremists) are dangerous, they are directionless and are toys in the hands of the enemies of Islam,â he said. âThey were created by historically proved enemies of Islam, trying to damage and halt its (Islamâs) progress. They were created to project Islam as a religion of barbarians. âNeither the government nor Jamaat-e-Islami harbours Islamic terrorists.â
Posted by: Fred ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
DeNile the Land of Too Riversâ¢.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
08/27/2005 0:35 Comments ||
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From Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, an article by Kathleen Ridolfo
.... Al-Sadr and his supporters were reportedly poised on 24 August to launch demonstrations across Iraq against the draft constitution, expected to be sent to referendum by the National Assembly. .... The fighting that broke out appears to be more a coordinated push by al-Sadr and his supporters than a random spread of violence across Iraq's Shi'ite-dominated south. The timing of the incidents -- at least on the surface -- points to a concerted effort to thwart the constitutional process, particularly after some 21 parliamentarians and the health and transport ministers suspended their work and threatened to resign in protest against what they deemed attacks against al-Sadr and his followers. ....
As details of the draft constitution began emerging in recent weeks, al-Sadr vehemently voiced his opposition to federalism. .... It appears that al-Sadr's core motive is to drive a wedge between the Shi'a in an effort to have the draft constitution shot down, thus providing an opportunity for a new constitution that is more in line with his own goals for an Islamist state in Iraq. ... While al-Sadr stands opposed to the former Ba'athist regime, he has built a relationship with the Sunni opposition on the common ground of opposition to the occupation and to the ongoing political process in Iraq. Al-Sadr supporters have worked alongside Sunnis in Kirkuk to reject Kurdish demands for a return of Kurds displaced from Kirkuk under the Hussein regime, and against Kurdish attempts to incorporate Kirkuk into the Kurdish region. ....
Sources in Iraq have confirmed to RFE/RL the existence of an alliance between al-Sadr and Sunnis in other areas of the country. For Sunnis, al-Sadr is a pawn in their attempt to break SCIRI and Al-Da'wah's political stronghold. Such techniques were the modus operandi of the Hussein regime -- maintaining control through the manipulation and fractionalization of opposing groups.
Abd al-Salam al-Kubaysi, a Sunni leader and member of the influential Muslim Scholars Association, confirmed that group's relationship with al-Sadr during a 24 August press briefing. "Yes, there is coordination [with al-Sadr]," he told reporters. "A meeting was held...[on 23 August] to coordinate this issue. This shows that there are two categories in Iraq. The first is with occupation and the second is against occupation. The [second] includes Shi'a, Kurds, Sunnis, and Turkomans." Al-Kubaysi also cited a meeting he held with al-Sadr last week in Al-Najaf in which al-Sadr voiced his opposition to the constitution.
Reports surfaced last year that al-Sadr was also connected with the Ansar Al-Sunnah Army. Ansar leader Abu Abdallah al-Hassan bin Mahmud told the Beirut political weekly Al-Muharrir in an August 2004 interview that the cooperation was based on a directive from al-Sadr's father, Grand Ayatollah Muhammad Sadiq al-Sadr, that said if he was martyred his sons should "follow the fatwas of Al-Sayyid [Kazim] al-Ha'iri and Shaykh Ahmad al-Kubaysi. You must unite with the Sunnis." Subsequently, the Ansar Al-Sunnah and the Imam Al-Mahdi Army reportedly exchanged personnel. "Therefore, the relationship can be described as intimate," Abu al-Hassan said. ...
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
08/27/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Yep, papa spud took tater on his knee and said son, ya gotta hook up with those heathen sunnis so you can have an iranian theocracy of your own one day.
Baby tater replied, "yes, papa spud, I will unite our thugs with their thugs and throw cannon fodder to the infidels"
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/27/2005 1:01 Comments ||
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#2
Just a wild guess, but is Tater the only witness to this supposed order from dear old dad?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - North Korea on Saturday demanded the United States rescind its recent appointment of a special envoy on human rights in the communist country, warning the position could hurt international efforts to end the North's nuclear weapons program.
yria has said it is ready to cooperate with the UN investigation into the killing of former Lebanese prime minister 
Syria denied accusations yesterday that it was not aiding the painstaking UN inquiry into former Lebanese Premier Rafik Haririâs assassination, but the slain leaderâs son demanded greater cooperation from all parties involved. Meanwhile, a leading Lebanese Shiite cleric cast doubt over the credibility of the UN chief investigator, German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, and accused him of being a friend of Israel.
An extremist Islamist internet site has claimed Osama bin Laden was recently injured in fighting around a Spanish military base in Afghanistan. Al Hasba, which has featured statements by al Qaedaâs leader and Abu Musab al Zarqawi, said bin Laden took part in the al Kholoud attack (the eternal attack) and was lightly injured in his left thigh. Islamists in London cast doubt on these reports and indicated that Saudi-born bin Laden has not appeared in any video or audio tape since 27th December 2004, when al Jazeera news channel broadcasted a tape allegedly announcing the appointment of Zarqawi as âthe emir of al Qaeda in Iraqâ.
With the departure of their common Israeli enemy, inter-Palestinian divisions could flare up into fresh bloodshed, militants in the impoverished Gaza Strip warned. âIf the Palestinian Authority cannot meet the peopleâs basic needs, there will be a new intifada not against Israel but among ourselves,â said Fathi Hamad, a local leader of radical movement Hamas in the Jabaliya refugee camp. âThere will be a huge popular uprising,â he predicted. âHamas is preparing for mass demonstrations.â 
President General Pervez Musharraf on Friday hailed the outcome of local council elections, seen as an initial step to obtaining a mandate for him to stay in power beyond 2007 as a "defeat for extremists". Results of Thursday's second phase in district council elections, billed as a demonstration of grassroots democracy, are expected over the weekend. All the signs are that they will broadly echo resounding wins claimed by government parties after the first round a week ago. "The outcome of the election throughout the country is a victory for the moderates, for the enlightened and a defeat for the extremists," Musharraf told a gathering in Karachi.
NEW DELHI: A high-level committee appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to study the economic, educational and social status of Indian Muslims revealed that most public and private banks were declining loans to Muslims. Moreover, it said Muslims were facing social boycott at some places and it was becoming increasingly difficult for them to sell and purchase residential properties. âThere is an implicit diktat that loans should not be given in specific areas dominated by Muslims because of the apparently high probability of default. Almost all major banks suffer from this syndrome and this discriminatory approach needs to be altered,â the committee said in a press release on Friday.
Due to differences between the two major component parties of Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal (MMA), Jamaat-e-Islami and the Jamiat Ulema Islam-Fazal (JUI-F), the alliance was able to make adjustments for only 40 percent of the seats in the local body elections, Syed Munawar Hassan, JI secretary general told reporters after addressing a seminar held on the 65th founding day of the JI. Hassan denied that there were differences within the MMA and said that even if there were, they would be resolved in the upcoming supreme council meeting. Hassan said that member parties of the MMA were free to make alliances with political parties of their choice for the third phase of the local government elections. âThatâs why the JI has made an alliance with the Awami National Party in Peshawar and the JUI-F has made an alliance with the Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao-led Pakistan Peopleâs Party. He added that even during the initial phases of the election, 20 percent JI-seat adjustments were with non-MMA parties.
DHAKA: Bangladeshâs mainstream Islamic parties have no link with extremists who are out to destabilise the government and destroy democracy, the chief of the countryâs biggest Islamic party said on Friday. 
