Twin Iranian sisters joined at the head since birth have died from massive blood loss after surgeons in Singapore separated them. The deaths of Laleh and Ladan Bijani after an historic 52-hour operation by 28 specialists and 100 assistants plunged Iran into grief and brought shock and tears to Singaporeâs Raffles Hospital where the surgery took place. "We were hoping to try and do better than the worst odds. But alas we didnât make it," Raffles Hospital chairman Loo Choon Yong told reporters. "When we undertook this challenge, we knew the risks were great. We knew that one of the scenarios was that we may lose both of them. Ladan and Laleh knew it too," Loo said.
The twins, who died within 90 minutes of each other, had said last month they were willing to risk death for the chance to live separately after sacrifice and compromise because of their very different personalities.
Both had law degrees, but Ladan -- the more outspoken of the two -- had said she wanted to be a lawyer in her home town of Shiraz while Laleh wanted to be a journalist in Tehran.
"I was shocked. I still donât believe it. Ladan was very friendly, she always liked to joke," said Hossein Afkami, 42, an Iranian who has lived in Singapore for 15 years. The operation, led by neurosurgeon Dr Keith Goh, ran into several major complications. The womenâs blood pressure had been fluctuating and surgeons discovered the brains were more closely linked than had previously been thought. "The twins lost a lot of blood and were in a critical situation as the surgery was coming to an end," the hospital said.
Damn. I was hoping theyâd make it...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 8:31:14 PM ||
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OT and severely edited, but I had to post because it's the NYTimes (again) and, in my opinion, it continues to demonstrate the quality of their reporting...
She recently had a pedicure. Her teeth were pristine. She had not taken drugs and had no criminal record. Those facts, along with a haunting sterling silver pendant depicting a blazing sun, are among the few clues the police have to solve the mysterious killing of a young woman. Her nearly naked body was set ablaze on May 7 outside an auto repair shop on a desolate block in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, the police said yesterday. SNIP Here's the part that irks me, with respect to a Mr. Edwin Negron identified earlier in the article who lives nearby:
Mr. Negron said the killing has him concerned for his family. "It's sad," he said. "It could be me; it could be my sister." Now, he said, he has asked his wife to call him when she leaves their church on 47th Street after dark so he can meet her on the corner of their block. Now, knowing the Rantburger crowd and mindset somewhat, I ask you would you want some ignorant reporter publishing your name, relative location, and security measures in a widely circulated newspaper--with global Internet availability to boot? Nothing like broadcasting to the world that you're scared, that your wife leaves her church on 47th Street after dark, and she will likely be alone until she reaches the block she lives on. A quick drive through the neighborhood, identified in the story, and perhaps a peek in the phone book would give any would-be assailant all the info he needs to know.
If I were the guy in the article, I would be mad as hell that 1.) I told an idiot reporter of my fears and security measures, and 2.) that said idiot reporter published it all! Am I being overly critical?
Posted by: Dar ||
07/08/2003 3:48:37 PM ||
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Officials of General Criminal Investigation Department have arrested Adil Fareed, an Egyptian for practising witchcraft and sorcery for money and cheating Kuwaitis and instigating them to indulge in immoral activities, states a Interior Ministry press release. Slytherin house alumnus
CID men who had received several complaints about Adil Fareed also known as "Djinn (evil spirit) buster" gathered information about his unlawful activities and arranged a female decoy to unearth the secret of his "treatment." When the women asked him to cure her of a headache which she was suffering for a longtime, Adil asked her to bring some water with certain herbs. Then he took a paper from his pocket and started writing some verses from the Holy Quran and while doing so asked her to marry him. When the woman gave the "signal" police broke into the room and arrested Adil who was found wearing only his undergarments. Later he was taken to his house where several papers with Quranic verses written in red ink were confiscated. The 38-year-old Adil is under the sponsorship of a charity society. "Djinn Buster's Go Wild!" Coming this fall on Fox.
She could tell something was wrong when he answered the door wearing nothing but his skivvies and a funny turban...
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 11:22:54 AM ||
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I've added a "Browse" function to work around the page load time problem. It'll give you each article on a page, with forward, reverse and other navigation available. Let me know when the bugs crawl out...
I've also made some behind-the-scenes changes to the main page that speeded up page loads until the sheer bulk of commentary overwhelmed it last night â 40 articles and 201 comments yesterday. I'll keep working on it, but no promises. When you browse, you'll notice that some of the pages load (relatively) slowly; when they display, you'll see they're dragging a couple thousand pounds of comments with them. Shorties pop right up.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 10:22 ||
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EFL
Pakistan has closed its embassy in Afghanistan after protesters in the capital Kabul broke into it. Pakistan's ambassador described the attack as a "big setback" and said the mission would not be opened until Kabul apologised and compensated Islamabad. The attack came as more than 1,000 people took to the streets for a second day in protest against alleged Pakistani incursions into Afghanistan. Over the past week Afghan and Pakistani troops have been exchanging small arms fire across their shared border.
Kabulis have a bad habit of breaking into embassies. I think they started it when the Iranians occupied the U.S. embassy in Teheran. Just before the Sovs invaded they attacked the U.S. embassy in Kabul and killed an American warrant officer. Even though it's the Paks who're getting it this time, it's a habit the Afghans should try to break, before they go blind or grow hair on their palms...
Tuesday's attack on the Pakistani mission in Kabul took place when some of the protesters broke away from the main rally and forced their way inside the embassy premises. Government officials joined the main protest rally which took place in the city centre. "This is a demonstration against Pakistan's military operations in Afghan territory in the provinces of Nangarhar and Kunar that have taken place in the past few days," the governor of the central bank, Anwar Ul-haq Ahady, said. "We want good relations with Pakistan but we will not tolerate anybody's interference," he said.
"So keep on your own side of the border. That's why we have a border..."
Over the weekend, Mr Karzai sent a team of high-ranking government officials to the border after tribal elders told him they were concerned that Pakistani forces were carrying out military operations inside Afghan territory. Last month the Pakistan army deployed troops in a border area which traditionally has not been administered by the central government. The operation was part of attempts to try to stop suspected Taleban and al-Qaeda fugitives from carrying out cross-border attacks on Afghanistan.
Which gives me a certain amount of suspcion about the motives for bitching about cross-border incursions...
On Monday, President Karzai said he would seek an explanation from Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf for allegedly questioning the effectiveness of his government. During a recent trip to Europe, General Musharraf allegedly spoke of a power vacuum in Afghanistan and said the government did not represent all ethnic groups, the Afghan foreign ministry said. "Afghanistan does not interfere in anyone's affairs and neither does it want others' interference in its affairs," Mr Karzai said. Nothing like a external threat to pull a country together behind their leader. Humm, Karzai is not that devious, is he?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 8:48:31 AM ||
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Prime Minister John Howard says Australian David Hicks has admitted he trained with Al Qaeda. Mr Howard says the Pentagon has assured him that Mr Hicks, who is being held in Guantanomo Bay in Cuba, will be presumed innocent when he faces trial before a military commission. He says it is up to the Americans if they want a military rather than a normal court trial. "That is a decision that they are applying in relation to the nationals of all countries," he said. "They regard these people as enemy combatants. Bear in mind the claim is that he trained with Al Qaeda."
We're not treating him any different than any other Mahmoud...
But an Adelaide lawyer working as part of Mr Hicks's civil defence team says he is outraged that the Prime Minister has made such a claim.
Outrage and be damned.
Franco Camatta says he knows of no basis for Mr Howard's statement. "We're disappointed that he chose to go public on that without at least having the courtesy of letting the family know that's what the Government's position or understanding is," Mr Camatta said. "That is a significant statement which is of great concern and the basis upon which that statement is made is one that we are not privy to and have no knowledge of."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 14:49 ||
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Kurdish guerrillas ambushed a convoy of vehicles carrying a provincial governor on Tuesday killing two soldiers in a 10-minute firefight in the troubled southeast of Turkey which borders Iraq, officials said. The timing of this is awful handy for the Turks, don't you think?
Another Turkish soldier was injured in the attack launched by around 10 gunmen from dense forest surrounding a narrow road some 22 miles east of the town of Tunceli, according to a Reuters reporter traveling in the convoy. Just happened to have a embedded reporter with them?
Turkey has launched several operations in recent weeks to track down hundreds of Kurdish militants it says are returning from the mountains of northern Iraq to Turkey after the U.S.-led war that toppled Saddam Hussein earlier this year. Many vehicles were strafed with heavy machinegun fire, which ricocheted off the tarmac in front of the 13-vehicle convoy. In front of the convoy? The Kurds shoot better than that.Blood and broken glass were scattered over the mountain road after the firefight that ended when the guerrillas fled. Disappeared without a trace.
Tunceli governor Ali Cafer Akyuz, the target of the attack, escaped unharmed, officials said. Some 5,000 soldiers with air support were mobilized in the hunt for the assailants, none of whom were reported killed or injured during the clash near Tunceli which is around 300 km (190 miles) from Iraq. Like I said, no trace of the attackers.
Turkey's powerful military has fought a decades-long battle against armed Kurdish separatists at the cost of around 30,000 lives, most of them Kurds. The fighting has largely subsided since the 1999 capture of Abdullah Ocalan, leader of rebel group the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), now known as KADEK.
"I bitterly condemn this treacherous attack," President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said in a statement. "The Turkish Republic will decisively destroy all efforts against the nation's indivisible unity." If I had a suspicious mind, I might think this attack was staged.
Turkey stations more than 1,000 soldiers inside the border with northern Iraq in a controversial deployment it says is necessary to guard its territory from attack by KADEK militants. And now we have a justification. Handy, ain't it?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 1:10:38 PM ||
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The two women believed to have blown themselves up at a Russian rock concert on Saturday belonged to a group of 36 Chechen female suicide bombers trained by separatists, Russian media reported yesterday. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said "such terrorists must be plucked out from the basements and caves [where] they are hiding" and "simply eliminated". Gee, if Bush had said this he'd be accused of being a "cowboy".
In May, the Chechen interior ministry had warned that the 36 had been trained by Shamil Basayev, one of the more extreme leaders of the separatist movement, to conduct a suicide bombing campaign across Russia. Ruslan Atsayev, a spokesman for the Chechen interior ministry, told the Guardian that officials were investigating the creation of a group of "black widows" - the Russian name for Chechen suicide bombers motivated by the loss of their sons or husbands in the war. He would not confirm any connection with Saturday's blast. Russian troops yesterday attacked a training camp near Kurchaloi, the hometown of Zalikhan Elikhadzhiyeva, 20, believed to be one of Saturday's bombers. Russian state television said they found three shakhid suicide bomber belts, with plastic explosive strapped to ball bearings and nails. Five people were killed in the attack on the camp, where a large cache of ammunition, weapons and extremist literature was reportedly found.
News of a swift response to the attacks by Russian forces was bolstered by tough rhetoric from the Kremlin. Mr Putin came close to the bellicose tone of his notorious comments after 1999 apartment bombings when he said Chechen terrorists would be "hunted down to the shithouse". He said: "The bandits acting in Chechnya are part of the international terrorist network. With such people it is pointless carrying out preventive measures. "They must be rooted out of the cellars and caves in which they are hiding and destroyed." Vlad gets it.
He said Russia would not be pushed around by terrorists whose "main goal ... is to hinder political settlement in Chechnya".
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 10:15:36 AM ||
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EFL
It stands to reason that Canadians who grew up 200 miles from Detroit are a better bet to navigate America's anti-terror tripwires than, say, native-born Kuwaitis or Yemenis. That's why the FBI and CIA were so concerned about Abdulrahman Mansour Jabarah, 24, an al-Qaeda suspect killed on July 3 by Saudi authorities in a firefight near the Jordanian border. Jabarah is the older brother of Mohammed "Sammy" Jabarah, who is currently in U.S custody and has, according to U.S. officials, admitted involvement in a series of al-Qaeda plots in Southeast Asia. What marks the Jabarah brothers as somewhat unique among al-Qaeda operatives is their background as Canadians â their Iraqi father and Kuwaiti mother had emigrated to St. Catherines, Ontario, about 200 miles north of Detroit, in 1994. The boys are believed to have traveled to Pakistan and joined Al Qaeda in the late 1990s, and despite his relative youth, one U.S. official describes the brother killed last week as "a nasty, nasty man." Relative youth??? He was 24 years old!
The FBI believes that al-Qaeda recruiters are aggressively enrolling youths like the Jabarahs, with U.S., Canadian or Western European passports and good command of the English language and North American interior. While the network had always tried to recruit people with U.S. and other Western passports, FBI counter-terrorism chief Larry Mefford recently revealed that al-Qaeda was "refocusing its efforts" to sign on disaffected Americans, green-card holders and Muslims who had spent time in the U.S. as students or visitors who had a good command of English and a working knowledge of American society and culture. This effort comes in response to the Bush administration's tightening up the supply of visas available to would-be visitors from nations such as Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states, Pakistan, Egypt and Southeast Asian countries where al-Qaeda has a strong presence. No thanks to the State Department
Recruits with greater access to and knowledge of the U.S. have a better chance of navigate some of the traps set by U.S. and Canadian authorities to catch terrorists coming from abroad. "Traps", Time just can't help themselves.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 1:56:40 PM ||
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MULTAN: Sahiwal police on Sunday arrested a commander of the banned organisation Jaish-e-Muhammad (JM) while he was delivering a sermon in a mosque.
"Brethren and sistern! Jihad's the way! Jihad's the o-o-o-o-nly way!"
JM spokesman Gulzar Ahmed said police arrested the commander, Maulana Osama Rizwan, in the Tariq Bin Ziyad Mosque, on charges of making provocative speeches against a neighbouring country and making pro-jihad statements. The Sahiwal district police officer (DPO) did not confirm or deny the commanderâs arrest.
"Hell, I thought he was a drunk, shriekin' and mumblin' and goin' on like that. I wuz afraid he'd get rolled, so I took him in..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 16:31 ||
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Pakistanâs top intelligence team dealing with the fresh wave of terrorist attacks in Balochistan is considering a possible Indo-Afghanistan nexus with some local elements to destabilise major development projects in Balochistan.
"Yup. Yup. Musta been them furriners. Couldn't been nobody from around these here parts..."
Intelligence sources told Daily Times that since the victims in recent terrorist attacks in the province are from the predominantly Shia Hazara community Iran could also extend support to the community. Sources in the agency said Zakiullah alias Zakaullah, a leading activist of the defunct Lashkar-e-Jhangvi (LJ) and a close aide of Riaz Basra, topped the list of accused in his capacity as the local element and mastermind of these killings. The matter would be taken up at the highest level with the two governments, Daily Times learnt from several reliable intelligence reports and background interviews. âPakistani authorities have decided to contact the Afghan government for locating, shifting and, if possible, handing over of sectarian activists including LJâs Zakiullah, last seen in Afghanistan,â a recent intelligence report said.
"He was right here a minute ago..."
The LJ activist, a resident of Lahore with head money of Rs 2 million, was recently confined in Afghanistanâs Shabargan Prison. âUnder an agreement, Afghanistanâs Karzai government is releasing Pakistani prisoners confined in Afghan jails and dispatching them to Pakistan at regular intervals. It could not be confirmed if Zakiullah was released or if he is still behind bars but there are possibilities that anti-Pakistan elements in the Afghan central government would try to use these persons to their advantage,â sources said.
Pak bitches, moans and whines about getting their poor jihadis released from their shipping containers jug in Afghanistan, then complains when they come home and do the same sort of thing they were jugged for? How many ways do they want to have it?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 16:26 ||
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The strongest evidence that Saddam had anything to do with 9/11 was an alleged meeting between an Iraqi diplomat/spy and Mohammed Atta in Prague in early 2001. This was alleged by some Czechs, refuted by others and the CIA. Now the spy's been nabbed.
WASHINGTON -- U.S. forces have arrested the Iraqi diplomat alleged by some Czech officials to have met with the lead Sept. 11 hijacker five months before the attacks.
U.S. government officials said Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani was arrested on July 2. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said al-Ani had been interrogated but had provided little information.
The arrest was first reported Tuesday by CBS News. U.S. investigators have dismissed Czech accounts of an April 2001 meeting in Prague between homicide hijacker Mohammed Atta and al-Ani, who is widely believed to be an intelligence agent.
Some Czech officials stand by their claims, the only known link between Saddam Hussein's government and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"Atta and al-Ani met," Czech U.N. Ambassador Hynek Kmonicek said a year ago in an interview with The Associated Press.
Czech officials said Atta had contacted al-Ani, who was later expelled from the Czech Republic, to discuss an attack on the Prague building that serves as the headquarters for U.S.-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.
Other Czech officials retracted the account after U.S. investigators said that Atta was in the United States during the time he was supposed to have been meeting with al-Ani.
Representatives of seven key Iraqi political parties took the first step toward the transition to a democratically elected government on Monday, approving a plan by U.S. civil administrator L. Paul Bremer III to create a temporary governing council. The unanimous decision by the diverse groups that had stood in opposition to Saddam Hussein set in motion a process that will lead to the establishment of a government to succeed the long tyranny of the ousted dictator's Baath Party. The seven factions' participation in the council, which is expected to give the body greater credibility with Iraqis, had been in doubt. Until recently, there had been a "serious possibility" that some groups would boycott the council, said Zaab Sethna of the Iraqi National Congress, who attended the gathering in this northern mountain resort. Sethna said the Iraqis were swayed by "concessions" offered by Bremer, among them calling the body a governing council rather than a political council to reflect the fact that more power would be put in the hands of Iraqis. The Iraqis, not Bremer, will be able to nominate members of the council. The council will have the power to appoint interim ministers.
I presume Bremer's retaining veto power over the nominations...
The creation of an Iraqi council and an interim administration has taken on a new urgency at a time when the U.S. occupation looks increasingly messy. At least 29 U.S. servicemen have been killed since President Bush declared major combat over two months ago, and there are an average of 13 attacks daily on American troops in the country. Bremer's Coalition Provisional Authority is also hampered by sabotage, foot-dragging and general confusion as it tries to restore electricity and other basic services, increase employment and begin postwar reconstruction.
Part of that's due to the fact that the country was a wreck before we invaded it — Zim-Bob-We, only with oil revenues to keep from going under totally. Sammy might have been a dictator's dictator, but he was a lousy ruler...
Judging by the style of the meeting, the government that emerges from this new process will be far more transparent and pluralistic than any Iraq has known.
Which ain't saying much...
At the 30-foot-long conference table in a cool, well-appointed guesthouse, there were no uniforms. Instead, it was mostly men in business suits. Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani wore a loose, checkered turban, and one man was in traditional Arab dress. One woman also attended. The United States will remain the legal occupying power in Iraq until its authority is turned over to a permanent elected government in one or two years. Bremer set a target of mid-July for convening the council as a way to begin giving Iraqis a chance to govern themselves.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 20:40 ||
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A blistering series of attacks, coming nearly hourly, wounded seven U.S. soldiers in Iraq on Tuesday, and the United States offered a $2,500 reward for information leading to the arrest of anyone who kills a coalition soldier or Iraqi policeman. "I urge the Iraqi people to come forward to take these people off the streets of the country," former New York police commissioner Bernard Kerik said in announcing the $2,500 reward. Kerik, who is in charge of security in Iraq, also said U.S. forces and Iraqi police had arrested Sabah Mirza, who was a bodyguard for Saddam in the 1980s before being fired. A raid on Mirza's farm after his June 26 arrest netted plastic explosives, mortars, a machine gun and 10,000 rounds of ammunition.
U.S. soldiers raided a building in central Baghdad on Tuesday, following up on a claim by residents who say they thought they saw Saddam driving through the area Monday to cheers and celebratory gunfire. During the sweep, several residents chanted pro-Saddam slogans and others sang: "With our souls and our blood we sacrifice ourselves for you Saddam."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 3:28:21 PM ||
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July 8, 2003: Marine and Army troops in Iraq are upset over Rules of Engagement (ROEs) being implemented by Army commanders. While Marines are allowed to carry their weapons, both rifles and machine-guns, ready to use, Army units, especially non-combat ones (including Military Police) are being increasingly restrictive rules regarding the use and handling of weapons. Unlike the Marines, Army convoys do not display any weapons, making it appear as if the convoy is unarmed. This seems particularly stupid to me. For the Marines, this is madness. Marine convoys bristle with weapons, making it clear what will happen if anyone should be so foolish as to attack them. Army MPs are under orders not to handle their machine-guns while on roadblock duty unless they received orders from their headquarters. Army troops are allowed to carry only two M-16 magazines, the rest being kept locked up. Marines are incredulous when they encounter this. Since Marines and Army troops control adjacent sectors, there is ample opportunities for troops from the two services to run into each other and compare notes. It has not gone unnoticed by American troops, or the Iraqis that are attacking them, that nearly all the Americans attacked are Army troops. Not sure how seriously to take that point -- after all, most of our troops in Iraq are Army. The Army ROEs tell the Iraqis that Army troops are an easier targets, equipped with an ROE that also serves as a virtual placard saying "shoot me, I have a hard time shooting back."
Posted by: Patrick Phillips ||
07/08/2003 1:20:07 PM ||
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VATICAN CITY (AP) - Patriarch Raphael I Bidawid, chief apologist for spiritual leader of Iraq's Chaldean Catholics, has died after a long illness. He was 81. The Vatican's missionary news service Fides said he died Monday in Beirut, Lebanon, where he had been hospitalized for several months. The cause of death was not given.
Bidawid was an outspoken opponent of the economic embargo on Iraq, imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Some correctly accused him of being an apologist for Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, but he responded that he was only defending his life country.
During a 1991 visit to the Vatican he accused the Gulf War allies of genocide against the Iraqi people. ``These nations should feel pretty guilty. It was a vendetta, a shame for humanity,'' he said. But he was very popular at the UN.
Pope John Paul II sent a condolence message Tuesday, citing Bidawid's long service for the Chaldean Catholic Church.
Chaldean Catholics are the largest Christian community in Iraq, but the numbers have been steadily shrinking, mainly because of executions economic hardships. Fides said they number between 500,000 and 700,000.
Bidawid was born in Mosul, Iraq, and entered a seminary there at the age of 11. Three years later he was sent to Rome to study theology and philosophy. He was ordained in 1944 and elevated to bishop in 1957 at the age of 35 - at the time the youngest in the world, according to a Fides biography. A synod of the Chaldean Church elected him patriarch in 1989, following the death of Mar Pulus II Chekho Making him a long-time, professional hand-wringer!
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/08/2003 1:01:27 PM ||
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The following is not newsworthy. However, for Liberalhawk's benefit it is on topic and is humorous. It is from an e-mail flying around cyberspace:
Try this soon, before Google fixes its site:
> 1) Go to Google.com;
> 2) type in (but don't hit return): "weapons of mass destruction"; 3)
> Hit the "I'm feeling lucky" button, instead of the normal "Google search" button;
> 4) read what appears to be a normal error message carefully.
Posted by: ColoradoConservative ||
07/08/2003 11:30:36 AM ||
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The Turkish army chief of staff, General Hilmi Ozkok, frustrated by the waning Turkish influence in northern Iraq, vented his fury at the US yesterday, declaring a "crisis of confidence" between the two countries. His outburst in Ankara came after 11 Turkish commandos were arrested by US soldiers during a weekend raid. Newspaper headlines in Turkey condemned the US forces as "Rambos" and "ugly Americans". (Holds up card) 1.0 - need refresher course in anti-american ranting at N.K.U.
Gen Ozkok added: "We attach great importance to Turkish-American diplomatic and armed forces' relations." The commandos were returned to Turkey yesterday after a half-hour telephone conversation between the prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Vice-President Dick Cheney.
A Kurdish intelligence official claimed that the Turkish soldiers had been linked to a plot to assassinate the newly elected governor of Kirkuk to destabilise the region so that Turkish forces would be needed to restore order. American soldiers seized 15kg of explosives, sniper rifles, grenades and maps of Kirkuk, with circles drawn around positions near the governor's building when they raided Turkish offices in Sulaimaniya. Explosives, sniper rifles and grenades seem a bit excessive for military "observers". Where's Murat when you need him?
The episode has stirred old Washington resentment at Turkey's refusal to support the war and roused new concern about its designs on Kurdish-dominated northern Iraq. Although Turkey has had troops in northern Iraq since the 1990s to pursue Turkish Kurdish separatists, its anti-war stand has denied it a place in America's calculations for post-war Iraq. This irks the Turkish army, which would like to create a 12-mile buffer zone inside Iraq and have free rein to operate against Turkish Kurdish separatists in the area. Ain't gonna happen.
Since the war Turkish forces have infiltrated northern Iraq on three previous occasions. "The Turks are showing that they have an interest up there, and one way or another they are going to maintain a watch," said Judith Yaphe, an Iraq expert at the National Defence University in Washington DC. Postwar Kirkuk has been a relative success story. The governor, Abdulrahman Mustafa, a Kurd, was elected head of a multi-ethnic governing council two months ago. "Ankara has repeatedly sought to exploit what it calls abuse of Turkomens by Arabs and Kurds in the city," the Kurdish official said. Feridun Abdul Qadir, the interior minister in the Kurdish regional government in Sulaimaniya, said: "The Kurds and Turkomens of Kirkuk enjoy good relations. They don't need outside forces coming in and stirring things up." "We have enough problems with the locals."
In April US soldiers in Kirkuk intercepted a Turkish special forces unit trying to smuggle arms into the city. They just don't learn.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 9:51:21 AM ||
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Two Arab television channels aired on Tuesday audiotapes said to be by ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. However, while both Al Hayat-LBC and Al-Jazeera channels said the tapes were new, much of the content was identical to a tape received by the Sydney Morning Herald in May. The Australian paper broadcast that tape on its Web site. Neither Sammy or Binny seem to comment on current events, wonder why that is?
The voice on the Tuesday tapes, which sounded like Saddam to journalists familiar with the fallen dictator, quoted him as delivering instructions for resistance to the U.S. and British forces.
``I appeal to you, O Iraqis, Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen, Shia or Sunni, Christians or Muslims, it is your duty to expel the aggressor invaders from our country,'' the purported voice of Saddam said on the broadcast by Lebanon's Al Hayat-LBC.
This quote was on the Sydney Morning Herald tape - with identical wording in Arabic.
``The return to underground operations that we started from the beginning is the best way for Iraqis to achieve independence,'' the voice said on the broadcast by Qatar's Al-Jazeera. The voice added he was speaking ``from inside glorious Iraq.'' These quotes were also on the Sydney Morning Herald tape. Either Sammy is repeating himself, or this "new" tape is from his greatest hits collection.
``Unify your ranks and act as one hand,'' the voice said on the Al Hayat-LBC broadcast. ``Boycott the occupying soldiers ... Act and do not let the occupying forces settle down in your land.'' ``He who favors division over unity, and acts to divide ranks instead of unifying them, is not only a servant of the foreign occupier but he is also the enemy of God and the people,'' the voice said on the Al-Jazeera broadcast.
``Go on, you Iraqis, as victory is near, God willing,'' the voice added on Al-Jazeera.
It was not immediately clear if the tapes broadcast by Al-Jazeera and Al Hayat-LBC were identical. One journalist who heard extracts from both broadcasts said they appeared to be the same recording. Al-Jazeera broadcast extracts from a tape on July 4 that CIA analysts said was ``most likely'' the voice of Saddam, but they said the bad quality of the tape prevented them from being certain. You'd think a all-powerful leader could afford a good tape deck.
Al-Jazeera editor-in-chief Ibrahim Hilal said the tape aired Tuesday was received two days ago. ``The tape doesn't carry any indication of when it was recorded,'' Hilal said. At Al Hayat-LBC in Beirut, an official said a staffer in its Baghdad office found the Saddam tape in front of the door Tuesday morning. He played it and found it was a message from Saddam, the official said speaking on condition of anonymity. The tape broadcast by Al Hayat-LBC was about 15 minutes long but the sound quality was so poor that it was hard to distinguish what the speaker was saying. Copy of a copy of a copy.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 9:42:03 AM ||
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Edited for brevivty
Larry Di Rita: Today Ambassador Bremer met for the first time with the newly selected Baghdad interim city advisory council. Ambassador Bremer describes this as the most important day in Baghdad since April 9th, which was the day that coalition forces entered the city and that the regime came to an end. Q: Is the council dominated by shites bent on bring a fundi Islamic government to Baghdad !? Tell us ! Tell us know ! were doommed ahhh ! Vietnam ! ahhh !
This council will provide a forum for Baghdad's citizens to discuss important local issues. The 37-person council will also offer advice and suggestion to the coalition and to the city's municipal and ministry administrators as they manage basic services for the residents of the city.
All of Iraq's main cities and a large number of smaller towns now have councils, administrative councils, and slowly but certainly, Iraqis continue to take responsibility for their own circumstances in Iraq. Q: What are not telling us ! What is wrong ?! there must be something wrong !? Is this like Vietnam ?
Mr. Dhia founded the Iraqi Forum for Democracy several years ago in -- here in the United States. He is a mechanical engineer and former project manager on a variety of engineering projects in Iraq. In 1982 he left Baghdad and has lived in the United States since then.
Earlier this year he put his life on hold to organize a global network of Iraqi volunteers, who made themselves available to go to Iraq after the conflict and to assist in the reconstruction and the post-hostility period. This group, known as the Iraqi Reconstruction and Development Council, consists of some 120, 130 Iraqis, and they are now sort of assigned across the ministries in Baghdad and across the regions in Iraq, offering technical expertise in fields as wide- ranging as agriculture to the various technical -- health ministries, et cetera, culture -- the Culture Ministry, things such -- of that nature. They bring energy, knowledge, skill and, most importantly, the firsthand knowledge, in most cases, of life under Saddam Hussein. Q: Is it true we are exploiting these people to further our imperial aims ? aren't we n-e-o colonists ? isn't this like vietnam ?
Dhia: Good afternoon. I would talk first about the Iraqi people that I talked to and lived with for the last eight weeks in Baghdad. I would talk about the freedom. The people of Iraq, for the first time in 34 years, they feel free. There's no question about that. This is the truth. You can see it. You can feel it. And you can notice, when you talk to the Iraqis, they are speaking their minds. If they don't like something, they go in the street and demonstrate. That never happened under Saddam regime. Q:"Duh ?"
Also, in the street of Baghdad, you see over 50 newspapers, all these newspapers representing different parties and political (Inaudible.). They write with no fear of prosecution or imprisonment. And that's the first time happening in Iraq.
Then I talk about the Iraqi living conditions: how they make their whole lives, and what's -- if there is any improvement happen in the Iraqi lives. The average government employee income multiplies between the time before the war and after the war, after liberation. Before liberation, an average employee monthly income was about 10,000 dinars, which runs about $5. The first advance that they received to cover their living expenses was $40 for the government employees and for the retirees. Some of the retirees, actually the military retirees, they received $60. And that runs about 60,000 dinars to 80,000 dinars. That's compared to the 10,000 Iraqi dinars they used to receive as a monthly salary on average. And that's not counted as a salary. They also start receiving (Inaudible.) salary. An (Inaudible.) salary itself is substantially more than the original salary or the average salary the government employee used to receive before liberation. That, coupled with stabilities -- stability in prices of the good and groceries, some of the prices stay put; some of them, they went down.
On the services. The Iraqis now have better access to electric power with all the challenges we have on the distribution side. Unfortunately, the remnants of Saddam's regime, they are shooting our high-tension lines, which they run in Iraq for hundreds of miles. They also go and throw a grenade on a switching station or a transformer to sabotage the process of providing electricity to all Iraqis. And this is happening at the middle of the summer, and the environment of 130 degree outside, and at a time when the average Iraqi student in Baghdad trying to sit down and read and get ready for his final exams. So Iraqi families are really frustrated by what they are doing. And that exactly tells you which side those remnants of Saddam regime are standing on. Definitely it's not the people's side.
And I will talk about the general security issue. The security in Iraq continue -- the situation will continue as long as those Saddam's remnants exist, and, as the president said, that these Ba'ath Party officials and the security officers of Saddam regime, they will not stop at -- they will stop at nothing to regain their power and their privileges.
Their privileges during Saddam regime was extensive, up to we've seen salaries of his people, between the grants he gave them and between their truthful salaries, up to 100 times their peers; you know, the guy sitting next door to his office. He receives 100 times more money than what his peer receives. That's how Saddam was employing those people. Those people they lost those privileges, they lost their power, and they are fighting back. We understand that. And we're going to fight them back and we're going to defeat them.
"in light of this good news let me ask a question not pertaining to Iraq"
Q: Very, very briefly, aside from this issue, there are a lot of questions about Liberia. Could you tell us how long you expect the assessment team to take to complete its assessment? And while we understand the president's made no decision yet, what kind of -- what size force and kind of force is being looked at in terms of peacekeeping --
Di Rita: I will emphasize that the president's made no decisions, and therefore it would certainly be premature for me to discuss any speculation on your part. "shut up, next question"
Q: Larry, the new tape of Saddam Hussein appeared. The CIA says they believe that in fact it is highly likely that it is him. Mr. Dhia just made the point that until Saddam Hussein is either dead or captured and his sons are, the situation is not going to resolve itself. How much havoc is his apparent still being alive causing in problems for the U.S. in Iraq? Duhhh A little havoc, medium havoc, or a lot of havoc ?
Di Rita: Well, I won't say any more than what the secretary has already said, which is it's not helpful, to the extent that people believe that there is -- that there are individuals who are -- hold out hope that Saddam Hussein may be alive -- and again, I wouldn't speculate as to whether he's alive or not. "Because Saddam is alive we are going to pack it in and run away, is that what you want to hear ?"
Q: Because you were talking about how the Iraqi people are feeling more relaxed now that Saddam is not there. But is the specter of him affecting the civilian population also, in -- do they want to be seen as collaborators? Are they afraid of that in their dealings with the U.S. and is that having an effect? "Mr Dhia, help us to find the dark lining to this silver cloud."
Dhia: Well, they are mad on him, actually, because his impact on their lives, as I said -- like they're a student trying to ready for the final exams in the high school, which is happening, I think, the 14th of July or 13th of July, and they can't find a light in the night to sit down and read, for example.
Q: And they blame Saddam, not the U.S.?
Dhia: They are blaming Saddam, of course. "Are you sure ? Because we are n-e-o colonist. I'd be pissed at us, in fact I hate the US. That's why I becamse a journalist. So I could tell the world how my government sucks and is to blame for all the worlds ills."
Q: But among the populace, the civilians you talk to of all ranks, did you find that there is a strong or growing anti-American feeling because our forces are there? "Please, Please, tell us that the sky is falling"
Posted by: Domingo ||
07/08/2003 8:40:37 AM ||
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Thai police have arrested a fourth key suspect allegedly involved in a Jemaah Islamiah plot to blow up Western targets, including the Australian embassy in Bangkok. The suspect surrendered voluntarily to police but denies any part in the plots.
"Nope. Wudn't me."
Three Thai Muslims accused of belonging to JI were arrested last month over a plot to bomb five Western embassies as well as popular holiday sites during the upcoming APEC summit. The fourth suspect Samarn Wakaji, today surrendered to police in southern Thailand where there has been widespread criticism of the arrests. Muslim groups say the men have been falsely targeted.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't them."
Wakaji denies membership to JI and says he has turned himself in to prove his innocence. However Thai police say two of the arrested suspects have already admitted to JI membership and confessed to involvement in the planned attacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 14:52 ||
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Four men on trial for committing an armed robbery in west Java last year yesterday testified that Imam Samudra gave them three firearms to carry out the raid. The proceeds of the August robbery were later handed to Samudra to fund jihad, or holy war operations against infidels or enemies of Islam, the men told Denpasar District Court, where Samudra is facing the death penalty for his involvement in the Bali bombings.
The four, all in their early 20s, said they met Samudra in Bandung, west Java, and decided to commit an armed robbery to fund jihad. At that meeting, Samudra asked the men: "Are you ready for jihad in Poso and Ambon?" "Yar, we be jihadi's!"
After replying that they were, Samudra asked: "Are you ready for bomb syahid (suicide bomb)?" "Hell no! Are you nuts?"
A fifth man, Iqbal, said he was. Iqbal died in the blast outside the Sari Club.
The men later met Samudra in Solo where he handed them three firearms. During the robbery, on the jewellery store in Serang, a shot was fired and a woman injured. The men handed over the proceeds to Samudra in Jakarta. Believing the booty was to be used for funding jihad in Ambon or Poso, in nearby north Sulawesi, the men were surprised when they were given tickets by Samudra to travel to Bali. One man, Abdul Rauf, testified that he was taken around Kuta by Idris and carried out surveillance in Jalan Legian. Three times Idris, who was the alleged logistics and operations chief under Samudra, pointed out the Sari Club and Paddy's Irish pub, which were later destroyed in the October 12 bombings.
In the trial of Mukhlas, the alleged head of the Bali bombing, several witnesses demanded Chief Judge Cok Suamba deliver the heaviest sentence possible. I Nyoman Kert Jaya, whose brother-in-law was killed in the blasts, said severe punishment was required "because many people have been killed".
Gusti Ketut Nurdiada, the operations manager of Paddy's pub, who suffered severe back injuries, asked for the death penalty.
"Based on what this criminal has done, he must be given the death penalty because I lost my job," Mr Nurdiada said. "My children cannot continue in elementary school and I am an orphan. "Just kill him sir." OK
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 10:29:46 AM ||
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A self-confessed separatist guerrilla has pleaded guilty to involvement in a deadly bomb attack in the Philippine capital Manila in December 2000. Saifullah Mukhlis Yunos, 31, said he helped plan the attack on a commuter train, one of five near-simultaneous blasts in the city which, in total, killed 22 people. Mr Yunos says he is a sub-commander of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) - a separatist group fighting for an independent Islamic state in the southern Philippines.
The charges against him include multiple murder and multiple attempted murder.
Yunos, wearing an orange detainee's shirt and handcuffs, appeared unrepentant throughout his 30-minute appearance in the Manila courtroom on Tuesday. He acknowledged having a role in the attack, and told the judge he was aware he could face the death penalty. He had previously told prosecutors that the attack was in retaliation for a military offensive against the MILF, and that it was financed by the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) militant group. State prosecutor Peter Ong said he was confident that Yunos would be convicted for the crime.
"He is going down," Mr Ong told the French news agency AFP, adding that at least three survivors of the bombing had already positively identified him. "They saw him get off the train minutes before it exploded," Mr Ong said. Burn in hell, Yunos
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 8:41:46 AM ||
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I'll leave Rantburgers to decide whether we still need his like.
BANGKOK - Anthony A "Tony Poe" Poshepny, a decorated former official of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who collected enemy ears, dropped decapitated human heads from the air on to communists and stuck heads on spikes, was buried on the weekend in California.
Poshepny, who waged failed secret wars for the United States in Indonesia, Tibet and Laos, was often compared to the Marlon Brando character Kurtz in the movie Apocalypse Now.
"The posting of decapitated heads obviously sent a powerful message - especially to North Vietnamese troops seeking to invade the homelands of the Hmong and Laotian people," Philip Smith,
We flew in real low, in front of that bastard's house, and I threw the head so it bounced right on his porch and into his front door.
executive director of the Washington-based Center for Public Policy Analysis, said in an e-mail interview after Poshepny's death on June 27.
"He successfully fought terror with terror. He strove to instill courage and respect in the tribal and indigenous forces that he recruited and trained as well as fear in the enemy. In the post-September 11 security environment, fearless men like Tony Poe are what America needs to combat and counter terrorism and the new unconventional threat that America faces from abroad in exotic and uncharted lands," Smith said.
The heavy-drinking, stocky Poshepny suffered shrapnel and other wounds, diabetes and circulatory problems. He died, aged 78, in the San Francisco Veterans Medical Center after a long illness and his funeral was held in nearby Sonoma, California. He is survived by his Lao-American wife Sheng Ly and their children Usanee, Domrongsin, Maria and Catherine.
He twice won a CIA Star - the agency's highest award - from directors Allen Dulles in 1959 and William Colby in 1975, according to a funeral announcement.
Born on September 18, 1924, in Long Beach, California, much of his legacy remains in unmarked graves half a world away, here in Asia.
In 1942, Poshepny joined the US Marine Corps, was wounded on Iwo Jima and received two Purple Hearts, the decoration awarded
Somebody said, 'Tony, he heard you were paying for ears. His daddy cut his ears off. For the 5,000 kip.' Oh, that pissed me off.
by the United States to troops injured in action.
A loud, intense, short-tempered patriot, he joined the CIA as a paramilitary officer in 1951.
"Within weeks, he was running sabotage teams behind enemy lines in Korea. He and former CIA colleagues say Mr Poshepny went on to train anti-communists in Thailand, to foment a failed coup in Indonesia and to help organize the escape of the Dalai Lama from Tibet in 1959," the Wall Street Journal reported in 2000.
During the Korean War, Poshepny went to Korea with the CIA and "worked with the Chondogyo church group, a sort of animist-Christian sect that had fled North Korea and were being trained to be sent back across the 38th parallel", according to William M Leary, a University of Georgia history professor. "At the end of the Korean War, Tony was one of eight [CIA] case officers who were sent to Thailand. He remained there for five years, serving under Walt Kuzmak, who ran the CIA cover company Sea Supply," added Leary in an online condolence website honoring Poshepny's life.
In 1958, Poshepny and fellow CIA operative Pat Landry tried, but failed, to spark an uprising among dissident colonels against Indonesia's then-president Sukarno, father of current President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Outgunned and trapped on the Indonesian island of Sumatra, Poshepny and Landry fled to a fishing trawler that took them to a waiting US submarine, according to the book Feet to the Fire by Kenneth Conboy and James Morrison.
At Camp Hale, Colorado, Poshepny helped train Tibet's tall, fierce Khamba tribesmen to be guerrillas and accompanied them to Dhaka, in what was then East Pakistan, from where Tibetans were flown and parachuted into Tibet in a failed attempt to stop China's People's Liberation Army from occupying their homeland.
Poshepny's CIA work in Laos began in 1961 during America's failed "secret war" against communist North Vietnamese who carved a Ho Chi Minh Trail through Laotian territory to attack US forces in South Vietnam. Pathet Lao communist fighters were also the CIA's foe. The Lao communists achieved victory in 1975 and continue to rule the small nation today.
The loquacious, gravel-voiced Poshepny confirmed to me in 2001 that he rewarded his fighters for bringing in enemy ears. He also confirmed that he let his Lao guerrillas erect a human head on a spike and toss pebbles at it, to boost their anti-communist fervor.
Poshepny said he twice hurled human heads from an aircraft on to his enemies in Laos, to terrify them. "We flew in real low, in front of that bastard's house, and I threw the head so it bounced right on his porch and into his front door," Poshepny, laughing, told me at his San Francisco home in 2001.
Based for several years in the rugged highlands of northern Laos where he was seriously wounded three times, Poshepny also grew angry at Washington's attempts to control his activities. So he sent a bag filled with human ears to the US Embassy in Vientiane to prove his guerrillas were killing communists.
The unopened bag arrived on a Friday and sat in the embassy over the weekend. "Human ears contain a lot of water, and they dried up and shriveled in the heat all weekend, so when the embassy secretary opened the bag on Monday morning it was terrible and she got real sick," Poshepny told me. "I really regret doing that to her, because she wasn't to blame at all."
He unabashedly admitted his horrific acts to other journalists, while insisting his motive was to defeat communism. "I used to collect ears," he was quoted as telling Roger Warner in his book Shooting at the Moon, which won Washington's Overseas Press Club award for the best book on foreign affairs.
"I had a big, green, reinforced cellophane bag as you walked up my steps. I'd tell my people to put them in, and then I'd staple them to this 5,000 kip [Laotian currency] notice that this [ear] was paid for already, and put them in the bag and send them to Vientiane with the report.
"Sent them only once or twice, and then the goddamn office girls [in the US Embassy] were sick for a week. Putrid when they opened up the envelope. Some guy in the office, he told me, 'Jeez, don't ever do that again. These goddamn women don't know anything about this shit, and they throw up all over the place.'
"I still collected them, until one day I went out on an inspection trip ... and I saw this little [Lao] kid out there, he's only about 12, and he had no ears. And I asked, 'What the hell happened to this guy?'
"Somebody said, 'Tony, he heard you were paying for ears. His daddy cut his ears off. For the 5,000 kip,'" Poshepny said.
"Oh, that pissed me off," Poshepny told Warner.
"As for dropping human heads on enemy villages, I only did it twice in my career," Poshepny told the Wall Street Journal - once on a Lao ally who had been flirting with the communists. "I caught hell for that."
Some people considered him mentally unsound, "obnoxious", "a drunk" and an insubordinate "knuckle-dragger" while working for the CIA. But Poshepny inspired strong loyalty and admiration among other Americans and Hmong who knew him.
Said Smith of the Center for Public Policy Analysis: "Tony Poe epitomized what the late Theodore Shackley, former CIA station chief in Laos, called the 'Third Option'. America - to avoid the potential twin options of using nuclear or conventional forces to defend its interests - should instead rely on special, elite clandestine forces to recruit, train and arm indigenous, or tribal forces, to project power, protect its interests and counter guerrilla movements, terrorism or other attacks.
"Clearly, Tony Poe symbolized America's decision to exercise its 'Third Option' in Laos."
After retiring in 1975, Poshepny and his Hmong wife lived in northern Thailand until 1992, when they moved to the United States.
He remained close to the Lao community in the San Francisco Bay Area, advising their sons to join the US Marines, financing Laotians in need and petitioning Washington for aid to Laotian veterans.
Posted by: Phil B ||
07/08/2003 2:42:53 AM ||
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POWERFUL ruling ZANU PF party politician Eddison Zvobgo has accused rivals within the party of hatching disloyalty charges against him in a bid to oust him from the party and exclude him from the race to succeed President Robert Mugabe as party leader and possibly state president. In a 23-page response to charges he had sabotaged Mugabeâs re-election campaign last year, Zvobgo vowed to contest for the presidency when and if Mugabe steps down. âSometime in the past I was asked by the Press if I wanted to be president and I said yes. The only qualification I put was that I would never contest President Robert Mugabe but stand ready to contest anyone else in ZANU PF,â Zvobgo wrote to party national chairman John Nkomo. âThat pledge stands. I have reason to believe that this heap of lies was designed to be a pre-emptive strike by those who want the same job but are too chicken to admit it.â
Mugabe, at the helm of Zimbabwe since independence in 1980, has indicated he wants to step down and encouraged his followers to openly debate his successor in ZANU PF. Whoever succeeds Mugabe in ZANU PF must face opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai in an election to choose the state president. Mugabe has not publicly said who he wants to take over his job in ZANU PF or in the government, but party insiders say the ageing leader prefers his long-time disciple, Emmerson Mnangagwa, to replace him both as party and national leader. Mnangagwa has however publicly said he does not wish to be Zimbabweâs president. Zvobgoâs disclosure that he wants to contest for the presidency, which follows a declaration last week by one of Mugabeâs vice-presidents, Joseph Msika, that he was ready for the presidency if elected, is seen by party insiders as an attempt to thwart the imposition of a successor by Mugabe.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 7:54:45 PM ||
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American warships could be armed with disposable laser weapons within five years, if a plan by U.S. Navy scientists works as promised.
Michael Wardlaw, with the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, has proposed that the Navy use a battery of solid-state, one-shot-only lasers to zap enemy boats and defend against missile attacks. This Expendable Modular High Energy Laser (EMHEL), Jane's Defence Weekly reports, would use a brick of 120, meter-long laser modules that could fire individually or in one giant pulse.
"Each individual module would contain a single-shot laser capable of firing 10 kilojoules of energy at peak power in a single burst," Jane's notes. "With such a system, Wardlaw said, 'you can drill through 6in [15cm] of steel in under a second.'"
The ultimate in disposable lighters!
Wardlaw noted that, given proper funding, he "could envision having modules available within a year and systems available in probably five" years. The EMHEL could be ready so soon, he explained, because work on the concept has already been conducted and because "it's more a new way of thinking about the problem than it is a technological challenge."
By dropping the requirement for the laser to have to survive for multiple shots and instead being expendable, Wardlaw said, the cost of each can be reduced dramatically. And by having small modules that can be mass-produced, economies of scale can be achieved during production, reducing costs still further
Seagoing Yankee death rays! I love it.
Posted by: Mike ||
07/08/2003 4:17:25 PM ||
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With all of the attention being paid to the effort to effect regime change in Iran, it is only natural to ask what candidates might replace the clerically dominated Islamic government in any new secular administration. The following are some leaders who might increasingly be found at the head of the reform movement as protests against the regime continue:
Mehdi Karroubi: Karroubi is the Speaker of the Iranian Majles (Parliament), and has strong connections with both the reformers and the hardliners in the Iranian government. His credibility with the reformers stems from his efforts to have Iranian dissidents released from prison -- even going so far as to threaten to boycott the Majles until one dissident member of Parliament -- Hossein Loghmanian -- was released from prison. While any successor government in Iran should be secular, alliances with reformist clerics like Karroubi should not be ruled out -- as those alliances would probably help the reform movement advance its cause more swiftly and easily. Besides, any effort to woo reformist clerics to the side of the pro-democracy movement will help divide the clergy and prevent it from acting as a unified front to reformist efforts. Becky's pet name: KarRuby (I picture him riding around in a ruby red sports car...suave, connected, yet hip and cool)
Hossein Loghmanian: The reason Karroubi's effort to ensure Loghmanian's release was so significant was that Loghmanian is such an important player in the pro-democracy movement in Iran. As an MP, he is an established player in Iranian politics, and possesses a great deal of credibility with the reform movement for speaking out so strongly against the hardliners in the regime, and for trying to change the regime from the inside. Because Loghmanian is part of the Iranian political establishment, his opposition to the Islamic regime makes it hard for the regime to claim that all of its opponents are puppets of the United States, or that they are exiles bent on mischief. Loghmanian is an Iranian, and has governmental responsibilities that defy the characterizations that the regime likes to use to marginalize its opponents. At the same time, as the first MP in 100 years to actually be imprisoned for speaking out against the Iranian government of the day, Loghmanian has made clear that he views the attainment of political power as secondary to the effort to liberalize Iranian politics and society, and thus, he has gained the strong support of the reform movement. Becky's pet name" LOGMANian (I picture him big, strong and principled...a Paul Bunyan type)
Hashem Aghajari: Aghajari is respected as one of Iran's leading dissident intellectuals for his courageous statements challenging the fundamental power of the Shi'ite clergy, and calling on Iranians to cease viewing the clergy as "sources of imitation" -- a major break with Shi'ite teachings and tradition. Even more amazingly, Aghajari refused to appeal the death sentence that his comments brought him -- instead choosing to dare the regime to go ahead with its planned execution of him. The regime backed down and dismissed Aghajari's death sentence. As a result of his courage in facing down the regime, Aghajari has become an inspiration to the reform movement, and will likely be a significant moral force behind the movement's efforts to effect change in Iran. Becky's pet name - hmmmm....Agri-MataHari home grown traitor (from Islamist standpoint)...ok..it's weak, help me out.
Mahmud Ali Chehregani: A leader of Iran's Azeri population, Chehregani has emerged as a reform advocate with powerful and significant backing from the Pentagon, and from American politicians interested in reforming Iran. This report points out, however, that one of Chehregani's goals is to bring about an autonomous -- and eventually an independent -- southern Azerbaijan region of Iran. Given the long history of Western colonizers in seeking to partition Iran, and given the sensitivity of the Iranian people to any repeat of history, the United States would do well to repeatedly stress its desire to preserve the territorial integrity of Iran, and to make clear its differences with Chehregani regarding this issue. Managing a fundamental change in the nature of the Iranian government will be difficult enough without throwing in the complications of territorial restructuring in the process.
Becky's Pet Name: Che
Reza Pahlavi: The former Crown Prince of Iran, Pahlavi has strong support among Iranian expatriates (who are increasingly providing technical and informational support to the reform movement through satellite television broadcasts and through the Internet), but he also has significant support among Iranians within Iran who are on the receiving end of outside broadcasts urging reform. Seeking to avoid the mistakes of his father, the young Pahlavi has reached out to the Iranian left in order to make common cause with them, and has stated that he is not necessarily interested in taking his place as a new Shah of Iran, or even as a republican authority figure in a new Iranian government. Pahlavi has support among Iranians who are either too young to remember the abuses of his father's rule -- and who long for the material prosperity and close ties to the United States that his father was able to bring about -- as well as with older Iranians who are nostalgic for the prosperity and international respect that was given to Iran during the old Pahlavi dynasty. At the same time, he is viewed with suspicion by Iranians who do remember the abuses of the old Shah's reign, and who are concerned that Pahlavi -- as an expatriate living in America for over twenty years -- may not be as attuned to Iran and Iranian needs as someone like Hossein Loghmanian, who is not an expatriate. Any future political success on the part of Pahlavi will depend largely on whether Iranians have a desire for a return to the monarchy (doubtful), or whether Pahlavi can successfully sell himself as a republican/democratic leader in whom the Iranian people can repose their trust. Becky's pet name: Pavlov - mention of his name sparks an association with the good times (or bad)
Sudan's Foreign Minister says Tuesday's plane crash which killed at least 115 people was the direct result of U.S. sanctions. Mustafa Osman Ismail says the accident was caused by a lack of spare parts, which he says, were unavailable because of U.S. sanctions. The U.S. imposed sanctions on Sudan in 1997. It also remains on the U.S. list of nations that sponsor terrorism. There has been no response from U.S. officials. I wouldn't comment either.
Earlier Tuesday, a Sudan Airways Boeing 737 crashed minutes after takeoff, killing everyone on board except a young boy. The child lost his leg in the accident. The pilot reported a technical failure after taking off from the town of Port Sudan in the northeast, bound for the capital, Khartoum.
The plane attempted to return to the airstrip, but crashed a few kilometers away. The bodies of the victims were buried in a mass grave in Port Sudan after local government officials called for an immediate burial. Among the dead are a senior Sudanese air force official and a member of parliament. At least seven foreign nationals were on the flight, including passengers from China and Ethiopia.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 3:00:44 PM ||
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A Hamas spokesman in Lebanon, Osama Hamdan, says the Palestinian radical Islamic movement is not ready to disarm under a US-backed roadmap for peace with Israel. "Hamas will not give up arms. As long as the Israeli occupation continues, the resistance against it will continue," he told reporters in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Helweh in south Lebanon.
Tell us something new, Osama...
"We agreed to halt attacks to avoid an inter-Palestinian crisis, but so far the road map has not given Palestinians their minimum rights, especially on the issue of Palestinian prisoners."
"Widdout guns, we ain't nuttin'! Nuttin', y'unnerstan'?"
Hamas and the other main militant groups in the Palestinian camp agreed on June 29 to a three-month freeze on anti-Israeli attacks, but laid down a raft of conditions, including the release of all Palestinian prisoners.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 14:56 ||
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An international NGO on Tuesday said a shortage of funds was hampering the delivery of assistance to Zimbabwe's urban poor. Help Germany coordinator Hans Sittig told IRIN: "With the limited funds we are just managing to provide help to those who fall under our programme. But that is just scratching the surface. There are many other vulnerable groups who are desperately in need of assistance."
"... in this formerly prosperous nation."
The development agency is currently running a feeding programme for malnourished children aged under six in Harare and Bulawayo, in conjunction with the local health department and the World Food Programme (WFP). Sittig said: "The situation in Bulawayo is a lot more serious than in Harare, where we see a high incidence of children who are suffering from growth faltering. This can be directly attributed to the critical food shortages in the city."
"Vote for Bob! Your kid can have ricketts, too!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
07/08/2003 14:41 ||
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BY MIGUEL T. RAMIREZ
Laredo Morning Times staff writer
NUEVO LAREDO - Armed gunmen shot and killed the local commander of the Federal Investigation Agency (AFI) Monday afternoon.
Commander Adolfo Ruiz Ibarra and his brother were killed, and a woman was wounded, just five blocks from the federal attorney's office and eight blocks south of the Lincoln Juarez Bridge when gunmen opened fire on the vehicle they were riding in.
The woman was in critical condition Monday night at an unnamed hospital.
The commander and brother were unarmed, and all returning from a shopping trip in Laredo, Texas at the time of the incident, according to investigator Sergio Octavio Garcia Garza.
"Our preliminary investigation showed they were ambushed at 3:15 p.m. at the intersection of Canales and Leandro Valle, eight blocks south of the Lincoln Juarez bridge," Garcia Garza said. "Commander Ruiz Ibarra was driving a blue Suburban with Sinaloa (state) license plates."
Witnesses told a Laredo Morning Times reporter they heard a number of gunshots in the space of just a few seconds.
"I don't know how long it took, but I think the shooting lasted for about one-half minute," a woman who saw the incident said. "Gunmen got out of the car, and I heard three shots. I was afraid.
"After they (gunmen) left, I went to the (Suburban) and looked inside. The men had been shot in the head," she said.
Other witnesses reported a white van was involved in the shooting. Witnesses reported the van and another vehicle stopped in front of and behind the commander's vehicle before the shooting took place.
"The gunmen had their heads covered. There where three or four men," another witness said. "They fired at the (Suburban) then fled. I heard gunfire from several weapons."
Another women said the three men she saw were "very precise" in how they fired their weapons.
Nearby residents called paramedics, who treated the woman passenger at the scene before rushing her to an unnamed hospital.
Investigating the shooting, besides Garcia Garza, were other federal investigators and state police.
One investigator said the gunmen used assault weapons - AK-47s and .38 caliber supers.
Ruiz Ibarra had been in Nuevo Laredo about one month, and with 150 agents began an aggressive campaign against organized crime groups.
AFI agents had arrested a number of suspects during the past month, sending them to maximum security prisons elsewhere in the country.
Onlookers to the investigation told a Times reporter that federal agents and local police were involved in several confrontations, some of which involved pointing weapons at each other.
"The federal agents were insulting the policemen. They (police) were told to leave the area," one witness said.
Translated by Mark Webber of the Times staff.
(Times Staff Writer Miguel Timoshenkov Ramirez can be reached at 728-2583, or by e-mail at timo1@lmtonline.com)
Mexican federal agent killed fighting drug terrorism. Not regularly covered, but the last few months have shown a higher incidence of drug and corruption related assasinations of Mexican federal agents. They must be hitting a nerve.
(Http link won't work tomorrow as articles are not uniquely identified.)
Posted by: austin - first time poster - be easy on me ||
07/08/2003 2:03:45 PM ||
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Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas resigned from a top post in the Fatah movement Tuesday, a senior Palestinian source said, reflecting a split within the main Palestinian political group over negotiations with Israel. Abbas stepped down from his position as deputy head of the Fatah Central Committee, the movement's top executive body, the official said on condition of anonymity. Fatah, headed by Yasser Arafat, has been in turmoil over declaration of a unilateral cease-fire since last month. Another top Fatah official said that Abbas' move might be a ploy aimed at forcing recalcitrant Fatah members to agree to the way he is handling contacts with Israel, adding that Abbas was likely to withdraw his resignation. Uh huh.
Abbas has been Arafat's deputy in Fatah, the largest Palestinian movement, for decades.
Earlier Tuesday, Abbas called off a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, set for Wednesday. Palestinian officials cited differences over the issue of Israel's release of Palestinian prisoners. When Fatah declared a six-month halt to attacks against Israelis on June 29, it demanded that Israel release all of the 6,500 Palestinian prisoners it is holding. Israel, which was not a party to the truce, agreed to free only a few hundred as a goodwill gesture. The Islamic groups, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which declared three-month truces, have threatened to renew their attacks unless Israel frees all the prisoners. In a public appearance last week, Abbas promised families of prisoners that he would work for their release.
Arafat reluctantly appointed Abbas as the Palestinian prime minister in April, giving in to intense international pressure to share power. Since then, Arafat has tried to retain as much leverage as possible, asserting his authority over negotiations with Israel.
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 2:15:48 PM ||
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The appointment of Lebanese-American General John Abizaid to head up the US military Central Command (Centcom) has stirred a sense of pride back in his ancestral home of Lebanon.
Abizaid, a Middle East expert fluent in Arabic, replaced Tommy Franks on Monday as military commander of US forces in a vast region that includes Iraq and Afghanistan.
Abizaid, a 1973 graduate of the US Military Academy at West Point, is an expert in Arabic affairs with a master's degree in Middle Eastern studies from Harvard University.
From 1978 to 1980, Abizaid took Arabic studies and history at Amman university and he was a member of a UN observers' mission in Lebanon.
Seems like a bit a PR pop for US Army in Lebanon maybe the ME
If Gen Abizaid speaks fluent Arabic then I wonder if he knows how to tell our "allies" where the bear sh!ts.
Speaking on the first day of a visit to Africa, President Bush said he would work with the United Nations and regional bloc ECOWAS on maintaining a cease-fire in the country which has been torn by nearly 14 years of civil war. "We're in the process of determining what is necessary to maintain the cease-fire," Bush told reporters after a meeting with West African leaders in Senegal. He also reiterated his demand that Taylor step down. Taylor said on Sunday he would accept an asylum offer from Nigeria but it was not clear how soon he would go.
Anything but "immediately" doesn't work for us...
Liberians want U.S. peacekeepers to help [stop] years of violence and believe that only they [U.S. forces] can win respect from the generation of young fighters nurtured on war and inured to atrocities.
We're not magicians. It's taken ten or fifteen years to get to this state, it'll take ten or fifteen years to get out.
Cheering crowds thronged the streets of Liberia's coastal capital shouting "We want Bush" as the American team drove through. At one point, police fired shots in the air to drive back the crowds.
Chuck's coppers don't want Bush. In fact, he's the last thing they want...
Many Liberians feel the United States has a duty to help because of links with a country founded by freed American slaves.
That would be the case if they'd been sending us tribute for 175 years, if they'd subordinated their foreign policy to ours, modeled the working of their government on ours, and we'd had a governor-general there. But since they weren't a U.S. colony, they can think wishfully now. We have no obligation. Anything we do will be out of the goodness of our hearts and in accordance with our own national interest.
Hundreds of people have been killed in fighting in the capital Monrovia over the last month, not far from the heavily fortified U.S. embassy where gun-toting U.S. Marines leapt out of helicopters in flak jackets and helmets on Monday.
What'd Rooters expect them to tote? Cheese logs? Umbrellas?
The U.S. survey team â 32-strong including its Marine security contingent â is seen as a possible precursor to a larger force, which the United States is considering.
Reluctantly...
"We do want Americans to come. When they arrive it means something good for the country. When the Americans lead the forces we believe that there will not be the creation of warring factions," said Ernest, a student.
The reason they might come, Ernie, is because the warring factions are already there...
The assessment team includes experts in water purification, preventive medicine, construction and logistics. In Washington, Defense Department spokesman Larry Di Rita told reporters on Monday that the military survey team had not been given a deadline to report on the security situation.
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/08/2003 11:52 ||
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GENEVA (AP) - International programs to help poor nations develop and industrialize are failing in many countries and need radical changes if the world is to meet its targets for reducing poverty, a major United Nations report said Tuesday. But don't look to the UN for 'radical' change, except in their per diem.
Instead of forcing developing countries to cut back on public spending, the International Monetary Fund and World Bank should be pressing rich countries to provide more help, the 367-page Human Development Report 2003 said. Ah, the 'radical' change appears.
Despite a widespread assumption that all countries are slowly getting richer, the report says that 54 are poorer now than they were in 1990, while life expectancy fell in 34 countries - primarily because of the HIV/AIDS epidemic - and 21 countries are hungrier than they were in 1990.
``For many countries, the 1990s were a decade of warrebelliongenocideuprisingdespotismdictatorship despair,'' said the report, produced by the U.N. Development Program.
It said at the current rate the world will fail to meet most of the ``Millennium Development Goals'' agreed upon by the countries of the world in 2000. They call for poverty to be reduced by half by 2015 and for big steps forward in education, sanitation and health.
UNDP Administrator Mark Malloch-Brown said a ``guerrilla assault'' is needed on the so-called ``Washington Consensus'' that sets out the general policies used by the IMF and the World Bank - including an emphasis on careful control of public spending, tax reform, trade liberalization and privatization. Being a UN flunky, he'd know all about 'guerrilla assaults.'
``The IMF and the World Bank should no longer set these kinds of ceilings'' on spending, he said.
``These measures were introduced at a time when finances were leaking red ink all over the place and there was an urgent need to stabilize. The strategy had its time and place. The Washington Consensus did some good things, but people stuck with it too long - and it wasn't enough.''
The report cited the case of Malawi, which has produced a strategy for reducing poverty based on IMF and World Bank guidelines. But the plan would not achieve the Millennium Development Goals. ``Malawi requires far more donor assistance - as do many other countries in similar circumstances,'' the report said. Malawi needs to deal with the crooks, thugs and jihadis. The rest would follow.
``Rather than being told to lower their sights, they should be aided in achieving the goals, with the IMF and World Bank helping to mobilize the needed additional assistance.''
The study says a total reliance on market forces and increased trade to achieve development will not succeed. "We know this even though it's never been tried in these countries. Heck, it never worked in France!"
``Peace, freedom and stability Public interventions are necessary to set the preconditions for market-led economic growth,'' said Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, chief author of the report.
The IMF had no immediate comment on the U.N. report.
The study also includes UNDP's annual Human Development Index, which ranks 175 countries based on income per person, life expectancy, literacy and school enrollment. For the third year in a row, Norway topped the list, which is based on 2001 data. Two other Scandinavian countries - Iceland and Sweden - followed. The United States dropped one place to seventh but for the first time overtook Canada - which was top of the list in 2000.
The bottom 25 places on the list were all held by countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with Sierra Leone in last position. Let's see: bottom 25 have lousy life expectancy. Bottom 25 also have thugs, rebellion, tribalism and cannibalism. Ergo, the problem is the evil IMF!
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/08/2003 11:22:30 AM ||
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EFL
China asked its military to study a quick intervention in North Korea but decided that its relationship with the United States was more important than propping up the Stalinist state, with which it shares a border. A source in Beijing said the study for a pre-emptive Chinese invasion was ordered by a Chinese Communist Party working group formed in late February under the country's senior leader, Hu Jintao. The result of the study was negative. The People's Liberation Army concluded that although the Chinese-North Korean border was only lightly defended, the Chinese lacked the logistical capability of racing to the demilitarised zone facing South Korea. Kind of falls into the good news/bad news category.
"That this kind of thing is being considered in China tells us about the gravity with which this is being regarded in Beijing," said a senior Western diplomat closely following the crisis. The source said the Chinese working group took the view that China's economic interests in keeping regional stability and co-operative relations with the US far outweighed its strategic stake in North Korea. Moreover, it is now confident that Korean nationalism would see the Americans off, should the peninsula be reunified under the Seoul Government. Hey China, you help us by taking down North Korea and giving it to South Korea, we'd be more than happy to leave.
China's role in bringing about a resolution to the nuclear brinkmanship in the Korean peninsula is vital, and its preparedness to accept a democratic, capitalist and unified Korea on its border is a substantial development that will please the West. A reunited, peaceful Korea would be a good trading partner for them. Plus, the cost to Korea of rebuilding the North would help the Chinese to pass them economically, they see what happened to Germany.
But China is yet to be persuaded about other initiatives from the West to curb North Korea's nuclear threat. Most notably, it has yet to back a co-ordinated multinational effort to intercept North Korean vessels and aircraft transporting nuclear material, weapons of mass destruction, missiles and related technologies. The so-called Proliferation Security Initiative (PSI) holds its second meeting in Brisbane today, with senior defence and foreign affairs officials from 11 countries taking part. The PSI favours participating countries intercepting North Korean and other suspect vessels in their own waters as a first step. But a multinational force roaming international waters could evolve over time, perhaps with United Nations approval. Denying overflight rights for suspicious North Korean aircraft is also a main item on the agenda, with "robust" action to force them down among the options outlined last week by John Bolton, US undersecretary of state for arms control. The PSI is anxious for China to come on board, and Mr Bolton has had discussions with Chinese officials about the "selective interdiction" plan. But North Korea experts in China warn that a proposed naval blockade to prevent North Korean exports of missiles and other weapons of mass destruction will face kamikaze-type attacks from a desperate regime. They'd go even more nuts.
The annual $A900 million earned from missile sales is the main source of hard currency for Pyongyang, far exceeding other sources such as remittances from ethnic Koreans in Japan. Analysts in Beijing are taking seriously Pyongyang's warnings that it would consider interceptions of its ships and aircraft an act of war and strike back. But Mr Bolton dismissed this threat. "The North Koreans are filled with bluster," he said before leaving Washington for Brisbane.
The Chinese are nearing a tipping point of their own. I used to listen to the Chinese rhetoric in 1968 and 1969, and it was pretty much indistinguishable from Juche Man today. Twenty years ago, they'd have had more in common with the NorKs. Today they're still kinda-sorta in the middle — but with the balance point a lot closer to Japan, South Korea and even the U.S. Any protection they give the Hermit Kingdom is either based on leftover sentiment or — as they admit — their logistics system not being up to dismantling a bad idea whose time has gone.
I hope the Chinese leadership looks at Pyongyang regularly and says to its collective self "That coulda been us, only big."
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 10:53:37 AM ||
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EFL and News
Gun-waving Liberian gunnies troops blocked a U.S. military team from entering a refugee camp on Tuesday as President Bush vowed to work with the United Nations and Africans for peace in the country.
I'd call that an unfriendly act, myself...
Bush said he had still not decided whether to send U.S. peacekeepers into the West African state. The U.S. reconnaissance mission to Liberia got off to a bad start on Tuesday when the Americans, who arrived a day earlier, were halted by forces loyal to Liberian President Charles Taylor outside the capital Monrovia. Note that: "loyal to President Charles Taylor"? Evicting him will not change the situation on the ground. Killing him will help, but it's a CIVIL WAR. We shouldn't be there til there's achance for peace
The Liberians stopped the U.S. convoy at the Iron Gate checkpoint as it headed for a camp housing thousands of refugees. "We got turned around. The military turned us around," a U.S. embassy official told Reuters. "I don't know why."
The gunnies were showing they could do it â a little demonstration of who's in charge...
There was no immediate comment from Liberian officials.
Because they're waiting for us to react to the provocation...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/08/2003 10:10:32 AM ||
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Palestinian families say they are increasingly fearful that their children who are committed mosque-goers are being chosen as "martyrs" and potential suicide bombers by militant Palestinian groups such as Hamas. This could be a good sign.
"At first I thought it was normal when my son Mohammed, who is 18, started going to the mosque frequently, but when I found out he was watching films about suicide attacks I was worried," a Palestinian woman said in Gaza. "My son was going to the mosque late at night and early in the morning, adding to our fears," the woman, who asked to be called Suheila, said.
"His behaviour changed. He became introverted, which made his father and me search his room and spy on his comings and goings." "We even locked the door to stop him going out," she added. "We later found out that those in charge of the mosque are members of Hamas, which teaches children about jihad (holy war) and shows them documentaries about suicide bombings," she said. "We are trying by every means to get the idea of suicide missions out of his head, and we recently forbade him to go to the mosque and asked him to pray at home," she said. I guess not all families are cheerfully sending their flesh and blood off to die for the cause.
A branch of the hardline Islamic Jihad group said Tuesday it was responsible for a fatal explosion at a house near Tel Aviv, caused by a 22-year-old from a village near the West Bank town of Jenin. The explosion killed an elderly woman in the house and the presumed bomber, but the leadership of the group said it is still committed to a halt in anti-Israeli attacks, called last week.
The Palestinian security services said Monday they had questioned a young woman arrested early Monday in the Gaza Strip who was preparing to carry out a suicide attack.
The 18-year-old woman was arrested near the Karni bus station between the Gaza Strip and Israeli territory, after her family alerted police, a security source said. A belt filled with explosives was discovered at the teenager's family home in east Gaza, along with a note for her parents saying she was going to take part in a suicide attack, another source said. Neither her identity, nor the name of the organisation she was working for, were revealed. Talal Duikat, a Palestinian security official in Nablus, in the West Bank, said that "many parents inform us when their children disappear and tell us about their fears that they might carry out suicide attacks." "We find them and take them home to their parents," he said. "We don't arrest them because we can't guarantee that Israel won't kill them," he said. OK, I mocked the Palestinian police for catching this girl yesterday and turning her over to her parents. If they are really helping people stop their children from blowing themselves up, I congratulate them. It's just that I had never heard this before.
A preventive security officer in the town of Tubas in the West Bank, said a Palestinian man alerted him when his son, Ahmed Abdel Menhem Daraghmeh, disappeared after evening prayers.
"Ahmed was friendly with an Islamic Jihad activist who wanted him to carry out a suicide attack," he said. "We arrested two members of Jihad and it took us five hours to negotiate with the group in Jenin to hand Ahmed over to his parents in exchange for the freedom of the two activists," he said. If true, are we beginning to see a backlash against Hamas & Co.?
Posted by: Steve ||
07/08/2003 9:20:30 AM ||
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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.
