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Sharon suggests Paleos dump Yasser...
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Afghanistan
CIA's 'Omar' forced into hiding
Thousands of United States troops scouring Afghanistan for Mullah Mohammad Omar have been looking for the wrong man, according to an Afghan villager who says that it is his face on the CIA's wanted poster and not that of the fugitive Taliban leader. Maulvi Hafizullah, a former protocol officer for the Taliban, says he has been hiding in fear for his life in a remote part of southern Afghanistan since his photograph appeared as Omar on hundreds of thousands of leaflets air-dropped by US forces earlier this year. The leaflets offer a $US5 million reward. Hafizullah, who had fled to his home village after the collapse of the Taliban last December, said he was horrified when he saw the leaflet.
"Holy crap! The Merkins want my head on a plate!"
"I looked at the photo and it was me. The CIA are blind and stupid."
So this clear-eyed, wise fellow's reaction is...
Besieged by villagers and even asked by his own five-year-old son if he was really Omar, Hafizullah said, he went into hiding. "I'm afraid to leave the house. If I do, soldiers or villagers will tear me to pieces so they can get the money."
That makes sense. No doubt he's waiting under his bed for a Merkin to walk by so that he can have a quick chat with him and clear up the whole mess...
Thanks to Paul for this one, too!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 10:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  If that is true (and I wouldn't be surprised), it's funny. Not for Hafizullah, of course... but I'm still giggling.
Actually, hiding under the bed is a pretty reasonable reaction -- not so much from us as from his countrymen (especially the ones who know he isn't Omar).
I suspect the one-eyed wanker would find it usedful to be officially dead long enough to move around freely for a while.
Posted by: Kathy K || 10/14/2002 14:36 Comments || Top||


Taliban Urges Hekmatyar to Unify Against U.S.
Source: IslamOnline
The Taliban called on Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, leader of the Islamic Party, to unify efforts to resist the foreign troops and work to boot them out of Afghan territories. This came in an interview between a Taliban spokesman, who declined to reveal his name, and a presenter residing in Pakita province, who in turn sent a copy of the dialogue, written in Pashtun, to IslamOnline’s correspondent. Hekmatyar is the only one, other than Taliban, who declared jihad against the Americans, stressed the spokesman, accusing other parties of "allying themselves with the Americans to gain seats in the American proxy government."
Previous reports have claiming that Hekmatyar was allying with the Talibs, but then Hek decided he hadn't called for jihad anyway, so apparently the Bad Guy coalition uncoalesced sometime around the middle of last month...
The spokesman, however, criticized Hekmatyar for not declaring jihad against the proxy government of Hamid Karzai. "The Taliban are in close relation with every mujahid to enforce the teaching of (Islamic) shariah," said the spokesman, adding "we consider them brothers and hope to unify our ranks."
... and now the Talibs are trying to put the agreement back together.
The spokesman lashed out at those who heap blame on the Taliban for the havoc wreaked at Afghanistan, dividing them to four categories. "The pro-America and their associates who work for their own interest and are being paid to narcotize the public.
"Narcotizing the public" would appear to mean leaving people alone to conduct their lives the way they want...
"Those who conceal their high treason and cooperation with America such as Sayyaf (Abd Rabd el-Rasool Sayyaf, one of the major mujahidein against the Russians) and Rabbani, (former Afghan president).
Rasool's never been able to work any way but by playing both sides against the middle. Rabbani's strength was Masood, and now that he's gone he doesn't have much except for his elder-statesman status, and he doesn't do that well. Since the Talibs wanted to kill him before, it'll be difficult, even with Afghan politix, to ally with them now...
"Nationalist fundamentalists like the followers of Shah Massod (Ahmad Shah Masood), communists and atheists such as Dostum (incumbent Afghan deputy defense minister Abdul Rashid Dostum) and Shiite. In addition to traitors and media-mongers trying to court America and its proxy government."
Yep. That's an unholy mix. Ain't it terrible that Dostum doesn't give a phart about bowing down toward Mecca five times a day?
Regarding Taliban’s military capability, the spokesman recalled "the defense ministry had more than 40,000 students registered in the interior ministry and others. Some died as martyrs and some were captured and sent to prisons in Guantanamo, Cuba". He added that around 1,000 students are assigned with guarding the Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Yep. Every one of them is a highly trained fanatic...
The Taliban are the only power "threatening the enemy", he said, putting U.S. causalities in Afghanistan at 300 dead soldiers, 65 prisoners and 16 helicopters shut down. "The enemies losses reached between 20 to 30 soldiers a month of the foreign troops but their corpses are being placed in refrigerators in Pakistan or the Afghan emirates and are not flown home for fear of stirring the public opinion in their countries," said the Taliban spokesman.
But... What about the guy with the sore shoulders?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 11:40 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  1,000 students guarding Omar and we still can't find him? Figure 5 to an SUV, for comfort, that's a caravan of 200 SUV's roaming the country. Sure...

Just... exactly where are the Afghan emirates? And do their refridgerators have ice makers?
Posted by: Chuck || 10/14/2002 13:23 Comments || Top||


Famous Mujahideen Unite for Joint Operations: Rocket Attack On Khost
Source: Jihad Unspun
In Khost, a group supporting Badsha Khan Zadran have attacked the city with rockets. A spokesman for the Khost Governor and Military Commander, Khayal Baz while confirming these attacks, said that ten rockets struck Khost destroying three houses near the custom offices. These attacks were launched from the Nadir Shah Kot side of the city and according to the eyewitnesses, three people sustained injuries. Reports indicate that Badshah Khan Zardan and the famous Commander Maulana Jalal ud Din Haqqani have agreed on joint operations against USA and the current Afghan regime. Haqqani has handed over a heavy ammunition depot to Badsha Khan and it is being said that in Khost, Mujahideen have formed an effective front against the Afghan regime. With commander Jalal ud Din Haqani joining this front, the Mujahideen forces are even stronger.
That would be an indication that the Americans should be going after Zadran, if only as a way to get to his new-found allies, who need wiping out...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 11:47 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Pakistan Mujahideen Martyred
Source: Dharb-e-Momin, Translated by Jihad Unspun
A member Mujahid of banned Jihadi Organization “Jaish Mohammad” ( Mohammad’s fury), Mohammad Ghulam Mustafa was martyred in Kabul. According to details, Ghulam Mohammad was arrested by Northern Alliance forces while he was working against the enemy and was jailed in Kunduz, where he faced the prison hardships. Later on he was shifted to Kabul jail and according to recent details, the Northern Alliance barbarians took him from jail and shot him full of bullets, in order to please India.
Sounds like a pretty good move to me. He was no doubt innocent as a babe, pure as the driven snow, only there for humanitarian purposes, zzzzzzz..
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 01:07 pm || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  In a short statement titled "Yipee!", India vowed to never use atomic weapons on Afganistan, except in self defense.
Posted by: Chuck || 10/14/2002 13:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Yes , and India is there for huminatarian mission as such!
Posted by: Anonymous || 03/20/2004 18:28 Comments || Top||


US Warns Afghan Commanders To Surrender
Source: Daily Islam, Translated by Jihad Unspun
America has warned armed Afghan Commanders to join and cooperate with Afghan Administration. American representative for Afghanistan, Dr. Lamay Khalil Zad has said that the armed commanders, who are not in the administration and have formed their independent governments, should surrender their armed men and submit to Hamid Karzai’s rule. Khalil Zad said that the American government has helped these Commanders generously in the past and it is not going to happen any more.
Normally, in most civilized countries, when there's a government the local tough guys acknowledge its authority and maybe even hang up their shootin' arns. They turn from being warlords to being politicians, and rather than running around killing people and that sort of thing, they concentrate on building up local industry and farms, keeping people employed, generating jobs and wealth, and raking off part of it in the form of taxation. These guys seem to have missed that part — guess it's not an old Afghan tradition anymore...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 01:18 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
Shots Fired At U.S. Troops In Kuwait
Shots were fired from two unidentified civilian vehicles at U.S. troops near a northern Kuwait training area on Monday morning, causing no injuries, the U.S. embassy in Kuwait said. "Shots were fired from two unidentified civilian sports utility vehicles at United States military units near a northern Kuwait training area today," the U.S. embassy said in a statement. "The incident was reported to occur at approximately 7:50 a.m. The U.S. military units did not return fire: the units reported no injury," the embassy said. The Kuwaiti defense ministry and the U.S. military, in cooperation with the interior ministry, are conducting a joint investigation, it added.
I imagine the Kuwaiti investigation will be conducted with a lot more diligence and helpfulness than similar Soddy investigations have been. Come to think of it, I can't think of any good reason an al-Sabah shouldn't run post-invasion Iraq...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 11:13 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Axis of Evil
Bush Orders Battle Staff And Ground Troops To Kuwait
The Bush Administration stepped up its preparations for war against Iraq yesterday by ordering the deployment of key US Army and Marine Corps battle staff and ground troops to Kuwait. The move, the first non-routine dispatch of conventional troops to the Gulf in recent months, came as Donald Rumsfeld, the US Defence Secretary, prepared to order smallpox vaccinations for up to 500,000 troops. The deployment of the battle staffs of the Army's V Corps, with headquarters in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Marine Corps' 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, California, largely completes the command structure that would manage an Iraqi invasion. More than 600 battle staff from US Central Command, which would have overall responsibility for an Iraqi invasion, are to move to a new air base in Qatar next month from their headquarters in Tampa, Florida. General Franks has his naval command staff in Bahrain, headquarters for the US 5th Fleet.
That will probably lead to an increase in the number and intensity of al-Qaeda attacks like we've been seeing. I hadn't thought there was a connection between Iraq and the terror machine except at a casual level, but the Bad Guys seem to be doing their best to draw attention and resources away from Sammy. I'm beginning to think there is a connection there, very well hidden in the background, and that Iraq is more important to them than I originally thought...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 11:22 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Iraq is more important to US than you think. It's central location will allow U.S. forces to dominate the region. Draw a 600 mile circle around that new U.S. airbase East of Baghdad.
Posted by: Anonymous || 10/14/2002 11:44 Comments || Top||

#2  I've been thinking in terms of a domino theory. Iraq will give us a keystone position in the Middle East, and it'll cut a part of the funding for the Paleostinians. But I've been discounting the claims of ties to al-Qaeda. It seems, though, that with the pressure going on Sammy, the bin Laden bunch is trying hard to take it off. I don't know if that's only because they're "on the same anti-American team," or if they're both tied in with the Learned Elders of Islam. I suspect that there's intelligence showing where the tie exists.
Posted by: Fred || 10/14/2002 11:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Putting Centcom into its own area of operations has made sense for years. What moron based them at McDill?

I LIKE the domino theory. Syria's next? I like Iran to take care of itself, more and more rumbles to that effect. There was too big a middle class there to tolerate the mullahs forever.
Posted by: Chuck || 10/14/2002 13:27 Comments || Top||

#4  "Iraq is more important to US than you think. It's central location will allow U.S. forces to dominate the region. Draw a 600 mile circle around that new U.S. airbase East of Baghdad.
Posted by: Anonymous 10/14/2002 11:44:54 AM "


Your point is what? Good, maybe it is time the US starts to annex those troublesome areas. Maybe after we annex those areas we can start commiting the human rights atrocities that have been attributed to us. It will just me more welfare dollars, generated from that evilllll oilllll, for idoits like you !
Posted by: John || 10/14/2002 15:44 Comments || Top||

#5  Ok, I have to apologize. I think I miss construed what the author of the first post was trying to say. Must think before I type, otherwise I suffer foot in mouth syndrome.
Posted by: John || 10/14/2002 16:46 Comments || Top||

#6  It also cuts off the supply lines from Iran to the West Bank. It genuinely screws things for lots of people who would otherwise like to kill us all.

Dont be shocked to find all sorts of things coming unglued within 24 hours of our making the first moves into iraq. ( My bet is on for week of December 2nd). I dont think yasser is going to see next years st patties day parade.
Posted by: Frank Martin || 10/14/2002 19:19 Comments || Top||

#7  ". . .It's central location will allow U.S. forces to dominate the region. Draw a 600 mile circle around that new U.S. airbase east of Baghdad."

Like someone here (or was it over at LGF?) once said, Iraq makesa great staging area for an attack into the Arabian peninsula. Delinda est Sa'ud!!!
Posted by: Mike Morley || 10/14/2002 19:49 Comments || Top||

#8  Chuck, MacDill was a compromise HQ for CENTCOM after not a single one of our "allies" was willing to take responsibility for being landlord. There are strong hints that Qatar has found an empty apartment or two we can use. We might even be allowed to put our name on the mailbox.

And as attractive as an invasion of Saudi may seem to a number of warbloggers, it makes little sense, since we don't want the REST of the billion Muslims to think infidels will march into Mecca. We want to keep this problem manageable, capisce? We're going to use our soft power there to gradually weaken the royals, lean on them hard to restore the assembly and stuff like that. Middle term, look for us to get involved in palace politics, make sure that Abdullah doesn't get promoted when Fahd dies, that sort of thing.
Posted by: Dan Hartung || 10/15/2002 3:21 Comments || Top||


Europe
Finnish bomber was a goof...
Police believe that a 19-year-old chemistry student, Petri Erkki Tapio Gerdt, set the bomb which exploded on Friday evening at the Myyrmanni shopping mall in Vantaa, just north of Helsinki. Seven people, including the suspected bomber, were killed in the blast and more than 70 were injured. The other six victims ranged in age from seven to 39.
So it wasn't formal terrorism. It was just a jerk.
The suspected bomber had begun his studies at the Espoo-Vantaa Institute of Technology (EVITech) in late August this year. He lived with his parents in the Tikkurila district of Vantaa. His fellow students described him as a quiet and withdrawn young man who would sit at the rear of the classroom and who rarely took part in student events. During weekends he spent much time surfing the Internet. He is believed to have used the pseudonym RC on a number of message boards. RC was a frequent contributor on a message board known as the Forum for Home Chemistry, focusing on pyrotechnics. RC appeared to be something of an expert in the field, and police are still investigating whether or not RC and the bombing suspect are, in fact, one and the same individual.
He was just a boom freak. Didn't even own a turban...
Police said on Sunday that the explosive used in the bomb, which weighed two to three kilos, was not of a conventiuonal type, nor was it familiar from military use. Police learned little new information on Sunday, and have not ruled out the possibility that the explosion may have been accidental.
"Work accidents" are common enough in the Middle East, even among people with way more experience with explosives than they should have. I'd guess that him getting boomed with his victims was accidental, but not the explosion — why have the device in the mall otherwise?
In a search of the suspect's home on Saturday the police found material suggesting that he was involved in the construction of explosives. The bomb appeared to have been built specifically to cause maximum injury: it was packed with metal pieces, either shot or ball-bearings, causing appalling shrapnel wounds to many of the victims. Hospital spokesmen have said that none of the more than 30 persons still in care is in any immediate danger, but at the same time many of the injuries are very grave, with the likelihood of some permanent impediment. A number of people lost limbs. The location and timing of the explosion (a clown show was in progress on the main concourse) meant that many families were together at the moment of the blast, and a number of small children are among those still in hospital. A seven-year-old girl was among the dead.
That part makes it sound like he was a psychopath, who wanted to see what would happen when it went off among some real people. He might have experimented with farm animals or people's pets before trying for the big time. Did he hang around to see what the victims would look like when they were fresh kills, and misjudge his distance? Or did it go off prematurely? Would he have continued his hobby if he hadn't managed to boom himself? Probably, but it would have been a Mad Bomber case, not terrorism.
Thanks to Jussi for the link!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 08:00 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Home Front
Another shooter attack...
FoxNews is reporting a woman shot and dead, possibly sniper related. The shooting took place at a Home Depot in Falls Church, in Fairfax County, VA. Police are looking for the usual white Chevy Astro van. It was headed eastbound on Route 50. The shooting occurred at about 9:15 p.m. This one was a shot to the head, which would seem to break the pattern.
Earlier, a domestic shooting in Baltimore raised hopes that the shooter had been done in by the Little Woman. He was an ex-Marine who worked as an electronics equipment technician, had a white van, maps of Montgomery and Prince George's Counties in it, and a houseful of guns. All seems to have been legit, with the usual type of sordid domestic stuff involved. His demise came before this shooting by several hours.

Route 50 runs to the west of Falls Church, crossing I-66 and the Beltway, both convenient getaway routes to most anywhere you please. On the other side of the city it runs to Annapolis. The Fox hired heads are talking about the shooter using a night vision scope, but that's not a given. Home Depot's parking lots are pretty well lighted — see the picture, at right. You can shoot 150 yards from the dark into a lighted area without a scope without squinting and ruining your eyesight...

There's a Michael's crafts store in the adjacent strip mall. I think this is the third or fourth such. Maybe the coppers should be looking closely at Michael's delivermen. Just a thought...

The Fairfax police chief says the vehicle's a cream-colored Chevy Astro with the right rear taillight out. A reporter claimed there was a BOLO for the driver, described as an olive-skinned man armed with a rifle. Chief wasn't aware of any pursuits. There were several witnesses to the shooting...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 10:32 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Thanks, Dan. That's the difference between news and what somebody tells you...
Posted by: Fred || 10/15/2002 8:13 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pakland's hung parliament...
With most of the votes counted, no single party had won enough seats in the 342-member National Assembly to form government without support from coalition partners. The pro-Musharraf Pakistan Muslim League Quaid-e-Azam had the most seats, 78. The Pakistan People's Party (PPP) of the former prime minister Benazir Bhutto had 62 seats. The other main opposition party, the once mighty Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz of the former prime minister Nawaz Sharif had just 14 seats. A loose alliance of six anti-American Muslim parties, the Muttahidda Majlis-e-Amal, or United Council of Action, had 45.
PML-N has been tending toward snuggling with the MMA fundos and thugs. Benazir got a bit over half the seats she'd been expecting. I haven't seen anything on Muttahida Quami Movement's results — presumably not so hot. Perv sez he expects the fundos to participate in the government.
Support for Islamic candidates was so strong that the former leader of a banned militant group won a seat while locked up in a jail cell. Azam Tariq, who ran as an independent, headed the outlawed Sipah-e-Sahaba, a Sunni Muslim organisation blamed for scores of terrorist attacks aimed at minority Shi'ite Muslims.
That tells me that extremism isn't something that's imposed on Pakland, but something that grows naturally...
As the third-largest group in the assembly, the Islamic front is not guaranteed a role in the federal government. But to shut it out completely, the Pakistan Muslim League would have to form a coalition with its arch enemy, the PPP.
That isn't going to happen. Their own maneuverings are much more important than the good of their country...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 10:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Sorry to have to inform already disappointed persons that the MMA prohibited their female supporters from voting. By the measure of voter intent, the MMA is probably supported by 75% of Pakistanis.
Posted by: Anonymous || 10/14/2002 13:34 Comments || Top||

#2  All things equal, hung Parliament is better then dictator hung from a tree...
Posted by: Brian || 10/14/2002 20:16 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Sharon suggests Paleos dump Yasser...
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on the Palestinians to overthrow their current leadership and predicted Monday that the coming year would bring a turning point in the Mideast conflict. "Your terrible suffering is needless," Sharon said, addressing his comments to the Palestinians during a speech that inaugurated the winter session of Israel's parliament. "Blood is being spilled for nothing. Change the despotic regime that is leading you from failure to failure, from tragedy to tragedy."
"Failure? What've we failed at? Besides establishing a stable regime. And protecting people from random killings. And providing a basis for economic development. And..."
Sharon, who is to visit Washington this week and meet with President Bush, charged that "murderous terror gangs" have taken over the Palestinian territories with the encouragement and consent of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. However, he added: "I assess that there is a real possibility that the coming year will be a turning point. I believe that our Palestinian neighbors will themselves reach a moment of change in their attitude toward Israel. I promise that (my) government will be alert to any sign of change ... to make peace."
Yeah, right. They're gonna wake up one morning and decide they don't want to be lemmings anymore. That might happen when Sheikh Yassin's a smear of carbon, Sammy's been hung, and the ayatollahs are in the dock, but not before...
In June, Bush also called on Palestinians to change their leadership. The Palestinians have tentatively scheduled general elections in January — but Israel's occupation of West Bank cities has raised questions of whether they can take place. No serious challenger to Arafat has yet arisen.
As soon as they pop their little heads up, somebody shoots up their houses...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 10:07 am || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Something big is going to happen in order to force Sharon back home.

They should just learn to teleconference.
Posted by: PJ || 10/14/2002 14:58 Comments || Top||


Muslim Leaders Urge Muslims To Stand Up
Source: Palestine Information Centre
Muslim leaders and religious scholars on Friday castigated America's war on Islam and Islamic movements around the world, calling US war on "terror" another western crusade against Islamic countries.
It has nothing to do with them killing our people. We just generically hate them...
"This is a war against Islam, against the Prophet Muhammed, against the Qura'an," said Sheikh Walid al-Haj, a popular speaker in Hebron. "Don't you believe them when they tell you they are only against terror, they are against every thing Islamic. Didn't you see how Bush and his gang remained silent when one of the pigs (Jerry Falwell) described the Prophet Muhammed as a terrorist," said al Haj during Friday sermon.
Unlike the situation pervading Muslim countries, in the USA you can say any damned stupid thing you want and nobody will kill you for it...
Preachers in Nablus, Ramallah, Hebron and Jerusalem more or less had the same message about the US and Israel. "Look, they are supporting Jewish Nazism soul and heart. They are besmirching Islam and vilifying our holy prophet. Muslims ought to take note of all of this," said the Juma'a speaker in the town of Dura, 10 miles south West of Dura [sic].
What was that part about "monkeys and apes" again?
In Lebanon, Sheikh Muhammed Hussein Fadlullah accused US President George Bush of supporting the anti-Islamic voices in the United States. Fadlullah said Muslims all over the world ought to remain vigilant and rise up to defend their faith against this new wave of wars and crusades against Islam.
The wars and crusades have nothing to do with the jihad declared against the West, of course...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 07:37 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Molotov cocktail thrown at house of Bethlehem mayor
Unidentified assailants fired into the air and threw a molotov cocktail at the house of Bethlehem Mayor Hanna Nasser, the mayor told AFP. No one was injured in the attack, and Palestinian security forces were quick to the scene, putting out the fire caused by the molotov cocktail, he said. It was not initially clear who carried out the attack, which lies several hundred meters (yards) away from Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity. "A car drove past the house and fired into the air several times, then threw a molotov cocktail at the house, damaging the door but thank God it didn't come inside," Nasser told AFP by phone. "I am astonished that this happened -- I don't have any enemies and I am not provoking any political faction."
That's grounds enough to have your house shot up in Paleostine...
Nasser said he feared the incident could be "manipulated by many sides, especially by those who do not want quiet in Bethlehem", but did not elaborate further.
The gunnies seem to be having a good time shooting up people's houses lately...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 09:58 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Southeast Asia
Soeharto's Komando Jihad chickens come home to roost
In 1980, five Indonesian members of a so-called Komando Jihad (Holy War Command) hijacked a Garuda jet and forced it to fly to Bangkok. The plane was stormed by Indonesian commandos who killed four of the hijackers and the fifth man died in mysterious circumstances while being taken back to Jakarta. At the time, it was widely believed in Jakarta that the Komando Jihad had been set up by General Ali Moertopo, a senior army colleague of then president Soeharto, with the aim of discrediting Islamic political groups seen as a threat to the regime.
That wasn't the brightest idea he ever had, but it's doubtful the incident is the root of the jihadism that's being pushed in Indonesia. I'd look for that in one of those nothing-on-paper arrangements set up in Riyadh sometime around the same time...
Abdurrahman Wahid, a conservative Muslim leader who later became president himself, was one of those who had his doubts about the Komando Jihad.
Especially sine it's in the interests of "conservative Muslim leaders" to paint it as a frameup.
Indonesia has a deepening problem with radicalised Islam. And while it is too early to say who is behind the Bali bombing, two things seem clear. First, analysts are bound to be looking closely at some of Indonesia's more radical Islamic groups, some of which have links with like-minded groups in Malaysia and the southern Philippines. Second, it seems clear that some of Soeharto's Komando Jihad chickens seem to be coming home to roost.
That means it's more than just a potato in the Islamic stew...
Indonesia has had periodic problems with radical Islamic groups in the 52 years since the proclamation of independence. Indeed, one such group, Hizbullah, predated the republic by the best part of a year, having been set up late in the war by Beppan, a special intelligence unit of Japan's occupying army. The Japanese had hoped to marshall the power of Islam to oppose an expected Allied invasion and they trained 500 Muslim fighters, although not with the same commitment with which they had earlier trained the 37,000 men who formed the core of the future Indonesian Army.
That's why the military has such a grand tradition...
Some of those young Muslim men played a central role in the Darul Islam (House of Islam) movement, which fought a bitter but unsuccessful 14-year (1948-62) campaign to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia. In the 1970s, Moertopo went to the jails and persuaded some Islamic radicals to work with the army. "He was trying to use them," said Aristides Katoppo, chief editor of Sinar Harapan, a leading Indonesian daily. "But they were not just being passive. There was an imbalance of power but some of them worked within the constraints. They still had their ideological orientation."
You can't make pets out of snakes...
According to a recent study by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group, the men directing current Islamic unrest in Indonesia draw their inspiration from the Darul Islam. They made contact with like-minded individuals when working for Moertopo or while serving time in jail. They have since gone on to forge more dangerous links. "One network of militant Muslims has produced all the Indonesian nationals so far suspected of links to al-Qaeda." The network has as its hub a religious boarding school in Central Java, known as Pondok Ngruki.
If you haven't read the ICG report on the Nguki network, it's a pretty interesting piece of work. Indonesia, and the helpful Japanese, planted the seeds, but they've been watered and fertilized with generous helpings of Soddy money. You read it here first.
Thanks to Paul for the link!
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 10:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Indonesia Blames al-Qaida for Attack
Indonesia's defense minister blamed al-Qaida and its extremist allies for the massive bomb attack that killed more than 180 people at a nightclub on the resort island of Bali. "We are sure al-Qaida is here," Matori Abdul Djalil said after a Cabinet meeting in Jakarta. "The Bali bomb blast is linked to al-Qaida with the cooperation of local terrorists."
They will now begin to deny and obfuscate the self-evident fact:
The leader of Jemaah Islamiyah, denied involvement and implicated the United States. Abu Bakar Bashir said that "I suspect that the bombing was engineered by the United States and its allies to justify allegations that Indonesia is a base for terrorists," he told the AP in telephone interview from Solo, a city in central Java, where he runs an Islamic boarding school.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't me. Prob'ly them danged Merkins. Bet the Jews wuz involved, too! They set it up!"
Indonesian police refused to say whether Bashir would be questioned despite repeated calls by neighboring countries that he be arrested.
Not if they can get by without doing it. Bashir's protection comes from 'way up...
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, who wept as she toured the wreckage Sunday, promised to cooperate with other nations in the investigation.
And other parties are determined to shortstop that determination...
The defense minister's statement was the first time that a top government official had implicated al-Qaida in Saturday's attack, the worst of its kind worldwide since the Sept. 11 attacks in America. Until now, police investigators have said they had few clues and no suspects in the blasts that tore through the Kuta Beach nightclub district.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 11:07 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Don't link Bali blast with religions: Religious leaders
Indonesia's religious leaders on Monday condemned the bombing in Bali as a human tragedy and an act against humanity but urged the authorities to not link the act on any certain religion.
Statements like that remind you that fully half of humanity is statistically below average intelligence...
"No religion justifies such a horrible act that is against humanity," said Hasyim Muzadi of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama.
Only one religion specifically calls for them...
Speaking at a press conference following an inter-religious meeting here, Hasyim said that if, and when the authorities uncovered the case and announced the perpetrators, they must avoid linking the act of terror with any religion.
If the perpetrators are members of Jemaah Islamiyah, no one should dwell on the fact that they're doing this crap in the name of Islam, even though the name itself points to the Religion of Peace™...
The meeting was attended by leaders of Indonesia's main religions of Islam, Catholic, Protestant, Buddha and Hindu. "It (the bombing) was an act against humanity and no religion can justify it. Linking it to any religion will only cause Indonesians to be suspicious of each other," he said.
That could be because the members of one religion are killing members of all other religions in the name of their own religion.
Hasyim also urged the Indonesian authorities to act based on facts rather than analysis.
When I was in the business, analysis consisted of taking facts and linking them together. He appears to be talking about something else.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 09:22 pm || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Terror Networks
''Bin Laden'' Statement Praises Attacks
A statement attributed to Osama bin Laden appeared on an Islamic Web site Monday, praising an attack on U.S. marines in Kuwait and what appears to have been a terrorist attack on a French tanker off Yemen earlier this month. There was no way to verify the authenticity of the statement on the Web site, which has carried articles in the past signed by senior al-Qaida figures. U.S. officials have not verified bin Laden's whereabouts this year and say a previously aired videotape of him having dinner with his associates in early November in Afghanistan was the last definitive sign he was alive.
It's pretty easy to write "Abu Abdullah" or "Osama bin Laden" on a message. On the other hand, were the attacks planned and executed by al-Qaeda, whether Binny's alive or dead? The Kuwait attacks sound like wannabes — except for the call the guy got from Pakland before he went out to be a hero. The Yemen attack sounds like a repetition of the Cole, only they couldn't find a U.S. ship. I'd say it's pretty much a given.
"We congratulate our Islamic community on the bold, heroic holy war that was executed by its sons of the faithful holy warriors in Yemen against a crusader oil tanker and in Kuwait against the invading and occupying American troops," read the Arabic statement. "By exploding the oil tanker in Yemen, the holy warriors hit the umbilical cord and lifeline of the crusader community, reminding the enemy of the heavy cost of blood and the gravity of losses they will pay as a price for their continued aggression on our community and looting of our wealth."
Ummm... The wealth comes from selling the oil. All Arab countries that don't have oil are otherwise in the same economic category as church mosque mice. So they also hit the umbilical cord and lifeline of the Islamists.
Bin Laden has often referred to the United States as "crusaders" and to Jews as "the enemy." Such statements have appeared periodically on Islamic fundamentalist Web sites that cloak the identity of those who run them and espouse anti-Western ideology. Monday's statement was read on the pan-Arab satellite network Al-Jazeera which has aired al-Qaida videos and interviews over the last year. A recording of bin Laden's voice aired last month on Al-Jazeera was authenticated by the CIA, but U.S. officials said the recordings probably weren't made recently.
I think it's pretty well established now that we're in an al-Qaeda "counteroffensive." The Yemen bombing, the Kuwait shooting, and now the Bali atrocity, show that the Bad Guys are trying to reassert themselves. I've seen one claim that the Bali bombing was organized by Mohammad Jamal Khalifa, Binny's brother-in-law, who used to head a charity and handled the financing of Abu Sayyaf.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 10/14/2002 10:36 am || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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Two weeks of WOT
Mon 2002-10-14
  Sharon suggests Paleos dump Yasser...
Sun 2002-10-13
  Panic grips Philippines following Bali attacks
Sat 2002-10-12
  No postings today...
Fri 2002-10-11
  Senate sez ''Yes''...
Thu 2002-10-10
  Police probe sniper link in fatal Virginia shooting
Wed 2002-10-09
  Chief Moose goes ballistic over sniper leak
Tue 2002-10-08
  Prince Turki: Osama Will Ace The World
Mon 2002-10-07
  Frenchies warn against toppling Sammy...
Sun 2002-10-06
  Yemenis blow Frenchie tanker?
Sat 2002-10-05
  Confirmed: DC Shooting Linked to Several of Md. Incidents
Fri 2002-10-04
  Johnny Jihad gets 20 in the slammer
Thu 2002-10-03
  Khost breathes a little easier with no Zadran...
Wed 2002-10-02
  Shootout at the O.K. Serai leaves a dozen deaders...
Tue 2002-10-01
  Ramzi sings...
Mon 2002-09-30
  Indonesia says US allows it to question al-Qaeda suspect

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