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| Iraq |
| A pack, not a herd; Najaf bombers nabbed by internet cafe employee |
| 2003-09-01 |
| Via Drudge: Loudmouth, free-spending Saudis got a little unexpected attention... Two Saudis arrested after the Najaf attack in Iraq that killed leading Shiite cleric Mohammad Baqer al-Hakim were picked up after sending an e-mail saying "mission accomplished: the dog is dead", The Times reported today quoting a source close to the Iraqi inquiry. The men were grabbed by a crowd and taken to the nearest police station after being seen sending the e-mail from an Internet cafe, the source said. I’m surprised the Soddies weren’t torn to pieces on the spot...good work on the part of the crowd, they had evey right to be angry and yet they saved the Dire Revenge™ for the police. The two suspects apparently attracted the attention of the son of the cafe owner after having "offered a larger than usual sum of money to use a computer", the British daily said. It was then that the son saw the men send a message saying "mission accomplished: the dog is dead". Grabbed by an angry crowd of Shiite Muslims, the two men "admitted they were Saudi Wahhabis working for al-Qaeda", Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network, the source was quoted as saying.Iraqi police said yesterday at least two Saudis were among 19 people detained in connection with the car bombing in Najaf. |
| Posted by:seafarious |
| #12 A couple minor details, Old Pat. You are correct about email having routing addresses. However, mail does not have to be delivered or even sent to be read. Consider a web-based mail account ( like hotmail ) where two people know the username and password. One logs in from some internet cafe and writes an email. Maybe sends it to himself. Maybe just saves it in the drafts folder. Number Two logs in later and reads the mail or looks in the drafts folder. Message delivered, but it never left the server where it was created. Not much of an IP number trail to follow. Secondly, IP addresses for dial-up connections are assigned dynamically. Each time you connect, you get a different address from the block of addresses assigned to that ISP. Your IP address today may have been used for naughtiness by someone else yesterday. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2003-9-1 6:27:57 PM |
| #11 Uncle Joe - The Iraqis, except for the Kurds and Turkmen and a few others up North, are Arabs. The Iranians aren't, they're Persians - that's who you're thinking of, I'm sure. |
| Posted by: .com 2003-9-1 4:08:56 PM |
| #10 Yet another reason for going after Iraq before going after other Islamo-fascist regimes; the Arabs pour in and the Iraqis think "Hey, I may not be crazy about the West, but I don't like these A-hole Arabs blowing up my country either." We should make a point to remind Iraq that they are not Arabs. Having Iraq as a friend in that region would be invaluable and may be a tipping point in the WoT. |
| Posted by: Uncle Joe 2003-9-1 3:28:35 PM |
| #9 Every time you make an internet connection, there are a string of numbers - ISP addresses - exchanged between computers. That is the route the message takes between one computer and the other. It's necessary for the "handshake" that says the email was delivered to the appropriate recipient. Somewhere, on some server, there's a log of that transaction at the delivery end, and several places enroute where the handoffs between one server an another took place. Trace those numbers, and it'll lead you to the ISP that was the final delivery portal. From there, it's easy to discover which email address that message was delivered to. The whole purpose of all that tracking is to ensure every message gets delivered to who it's addressed to, and doesn't end up in the wrong place. At the same time, it's possible to use those same faculties to locate a specific electronic address, and possibly even an geographic address. Once you know that, all it takes is entering those coordinates into the proper guidance system. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-9-1 3:16:40 PM |
| #8 Unless the guy cut, pasted and dragged to fashion the address, wouldn't all the keystrokes still be available on the harddrive? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-9-1 2:24:12 PM |
| #7 O.P., now that they have the soddy yahoos, no need to get fancy with the technology; good old-fashioned sleep deprivation and giggle juice will suffice... |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H. 2003-9-1 2:21:07 PM |
| #6 I hope someone was astute enough to get the email address they sent the message to, along with the router numbers. I'd be paying a surprise visit to some ISP somewhere, looking for more information about a certain "client". Unfortunately, if they were smart, they probably used one of the free email servers, such as Yahoo, Hotmail, or Juno. Still, there are possibilities... It's tedious, but I'm sure Fred can tell you, every computer attached to the Internet has a unique router number, and can be traced, at least electronically. Enough "sniffs" and you can locate the general area where the traffic is coming from, perhaps even the specific address that's sending/receiving. The next Internet bill just may be delivered by a fleet of US bombers with bomb bays full of JDAMS. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2003-9-1 1:04:38 PM |
| #5 This would be a good story for the BBC to follow up on. Like what mosque did these mules study at, who was their Iman, Does their father/brother/uncle/cousin have any connection with whatever? Who paid them? Who recieved the email? How did they get into the country and who did they stay with? The BBC can do it without sexing it up! |
| Posted by: Lucky 2003-9-1 12:53:11 PM |
| #4 That's what happens when you rely on suicide bombers. Your operatives can only do one successful mission, then you have to rely on their intellectually challenged cousins who have to stop and think a little when you ask them their names. I'm just heartened that the people turned them over instead of getting some street justice. (Not that I would have blamed them if they did.) |
| Posted by: Baba Yaga 2003-9-1 12:29:57 PM |
| #3 We'll be out of Iraq faster than anyone thinks. The hostility against the Imperialist U.S. Occupiers™ is being quickly replaced by hostility toward Arab A-holes coming in to cause trouble. Hmmm, Iraq as an ally against terrorism. Who woulda thunk it ? |
| Posted by: Anonymous 2003-9-1 11:25:34 AM |
| #2 Saw the Saudi ambastard(ah,excuse me ambassader)saying they wanted proof Saudi citezens involved(read following article)hope they rub the bald-headed geek's nose in it long and hard. |
| Posted by: raptor 2003-9-1 7:25:52 AM |
| #1 The quality of al-Qaeda recruits has gone down,hasn't it?The fact is,you need training to become a proper terrorist.With the camps in Afghanistan closed down,it's no longer an option.So now al-Qaeda is overextending its reach in Iraq. |
| Posted by: El Id 2003-9-1 7:21:17 AM |