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Liberia rebels take key bridge
Today's Headlines
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Arabia
Saddam's wife, daughters are in the UAE
The "Baghdad" daily, mouthpiece of the national reconciliation movement in Iraq, said yesterday that Sajedah Kheirallah, the wife of the toppled Iraqi president, and her three daughters headed for the United Arab Emirates to stay there. The paper said that "Sajedah Kheirallah and her three daughters Raghad, Rana and Hala and their children headed to the UAE through a neighboring state" noting that "persons close" to the two brothers in-law of Saddam Hussein that live outside Iraq "arranged the travel of the four women." The paper stressed that "a high ranking official at the UAE responded to hosting the family of the toppled Iraqi President."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:52 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Where are his other three wives? (4 permitted, unless you're Muhammed?)
Posted by: Attaboid || 07/19/2003 10:56 Comments || Top||

#2  This really bugs me. The war is still being run along "politically correct" lines. Take out the immediate family. Shake them.
Are we so stupid?
Very few people (besides the Islamist fundies) beleive we are at war

Unbeleivable!
Posted by: Attaboid || 07/19/2003 11:05 Comments || Top||

#3  Attaboid - You've nailed it.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 14:39 Comments || Top||

#4  If "take out" still means "kill", then have you and PD gone in favour of murdering civilians in order to "shake" (aka terrorize) the legitimate targets?
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 07/19/2003 20:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Aris - as usual, you "read" into the words what you want to "hear."

"All lies in jest
Still a man hears
What he wants to hear
And disregards the rest..."

--- Paul Simon
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 23:19 Comments || Top||

#6  If "take out" doesn't mean "kill" in this context, then apologies for my insufficient knowledge of English. I think it would have been politer though, if you had explained to me what it meant.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 07/20/2003 6:25 Comments || Top||


Down Under
Solomons refugees hope force will target Sataan
Solomon Islands refugees from the Gold Ridge area in the mountains to the south-east of the capital Honiara say their people are looking forward to next week's deployment of the Australian-led intervention force. A dozen families from the area have fled to Honiara after they were threatened and intimidated by a local militant leader known as Sataan.
From the name, it sounds like he's started his own axis of evil...
The people from Gold Ridge claim the militant, Stanley Kaoni, an albino known as Sataan or Satan who leads a group of about 30 armed men, has been extorting money and goods from them. One of the men who has fled to Honiara from Gold Ridge, Michael Kelly, claims Sataan and his 'boys' are worried now that the intervention force is on its way. "In fact, they are really afraid of the coming of this group, this force from Australia and New Zealand and we really want the intervention to come and we hope that the situation we have experienced will come to normalcy," Mr Kelly said. The troops and police including personnel drawn from Papua New Guinea, Fiji and Tonga will begin arriving in the Solomons next Thursday.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:13 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Govt rules out bid to bring Hicks home
Foreign Minister Alexander Downer has ruled out asking the United States to extradite suspected Taliban fighter David Hicks for trial in Australia. US forces captured the Adelaide man in Afghanistan 18 months ago and he is being held without charge at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. A high-level Australian delegation will travel to the US next week to discuss Mr Hicks's fate, after the Pentagon agreed to delay a military trial. Human rights groups want Mr Hicks brought back to Australia to face any charges but Mr Downer says the Government has not and will not call for his extradition. "Nor have I in relation to the Australians who have been charged in Vietnam, nor have I in relation to Australians who are charged in other countries," Mr Downer said. "They at least allegedly have committed offences against the jurisdictions of other countries, they have to face trial in those countries not in our jurisdiction."
He made his bed, let him lie in it...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:11 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I'd fly him home. Of course, I'd toss him outta the plane about halfway there...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:46 Comments || Top||

#2  He can swim, can't he?
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2003 20:28 Comments || Top||

#3  halfway there...might be just over the Solomons.

can you say.... Sataan?
Posted by: john || 07/19/2003 21:22 Comments || Top||


Europe
Fischer finds Washington ‘open’
Again, not exactly WoT, but interesting
With US troops facing continuing problems in stabilizing Iraq, German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher Thursday said Washington had developed more insight into the need for cooperating with the international community. "There is more openness, that’s what I’m taking home with me," Fischer told reporters after his visit in Washington this week.
"They had a little name tag for me and everything!"
His comments reflected an overall improvement in transatlantic relations, which suffered a deep frost after the German-French initiative that earlier this year blocked UN support for invading Iraq. But Fischer, who spent half an hour with US President Richard Cheney, also said it was unclear when German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder would meet U.S. President George Bush, and added he had not discussed the matter with Cheney. "It wasn’t my role to sort out matters while I was here," Fischer said, brushing off his knees. Unlike the warm surprise Bush gave the opposition politician Roland Koch in May, when the US president popped into the room to greet the Hessian prime minister, Bush did not darken the doorway during the German foreign minister’s meeting with Cheney at the White House complex.
Darken the doorway? Sounds ominous.
But Fischer said German-American relationships had a "strong basis", with "more openness" above all on the issue of how Europe and the United States can develop common perspectives in securing peace in the Mideast and Afghanistan. Fischer also said Germany’s commitment to the stabilization forces in Afghanistan continued "within the boundaries of the as little as possible". Given the high number of losses of American soldiers in Iraq, Fischer warned against self satisfaction among critics. "If this peace is not won, it will have fatal consequences," he said.
Light dawns.
Fischer repeated his past urging to have the United Nations play a key role in stabilizing Iraq, which would legitimize the process. Washington said Wednesday it was exploring the possibility of seeking anew a UN mandate for Iraq’s postwar period. He added that US involvement was esesential to enforce security and order in Iraq.
Posted by: seafarious || 07/19/2003 1:09:53 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "US President Richard Cheney"
A Coup! Bush toppled! Constitutional Crisis!
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 2:18 Comments || Top||

#2  ..German Foreign Minister Joschka Fisher Thursday said Washington had developed more insight into the need for cooperating with the international community.

Why yes, Herr Fischer, we have developed insight, but not in the manner you think.

When the "international community" is unable to do what needs to be done, it is us that will end up doing the job. And your opinion won't matter much.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/19/2003 3:18 Comments || Top||

#3  They had a little name tag for me and everything!

Unfortunately the other tag they slapped on my back said 'Kick me.'
Posted by: badanov || 07/19/2003 8:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Yes, Herr Fischer, we can be polite, insightful and charming. We hope you enjoyed your official visit and found it a rewarding experience. It is all right for you to go home and spin it any way you wish. If you will please excuse us now, we have much pressing work to do. Good day, sir.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/19/2003 12:18 Comments || Top||

#5  It's just as well that Bush did not "darken the doorway" -- he might have said something that detailed our "insight" and given Joschka a stroke. Frankly, I don't see how this sorry excuse for a foreign minister even rates the Secretary of State, let alone the Vice President.
Posted by: Tom || 07/19/2003 12:29 Comments || Top||

#6  "If this peace is not won, it will have fatal consequences"
We too want a piece if Iraq peace, he gushed.

"legitimize"
All references to this multilateralist phantasy should come with a double dose of Mylanta.

"He added that US involvement was esesential to enforce security and order in Iraq. "
Ah. Brilliant (British usage). Now we see why he is a popular politician - his IQ exceeds that of a cabbage.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 14:43 Comments || Top||

#7  Yes, Joschka "Brennen Sie die Polizei" Fischer should receive a promotion for that observation. PD, do you think he has enough brainpower to head Das Ministerium der dummen Wege?
Posted by: Ernest Brown || 07/19/2003 15:00 Comments || Top||

#8  EB - The Ministry of Dimwit Ways?
Nein sprechen sie Deutsch!
If that's the general idea, then the answer is prolly... he's a cunning shit, there's no doubt, cuz he found a home (The Greens) and hung out til it became legitimate (in the eyes of the Germans, anyway). Beyond that, I find him to be more of an posturing disingenuous asshole than a dummy. And if he reads this and doesn't like it, well... Please excuse me if I don't agree!
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 15:18 Comments || Top||

#9  ABC radio's pushing the line that we're thinking of asking the UN and allies to help keep the peace and offset costs.

We're doomed.
Posted by: Anonymous || 07/19/2003 19:55 Comments || Top||

#10  Badanov you bad. There goes my coffee!
Posted by: john || 07/19/2003 21:27 Comments || Top||

#11  It should probably be Das Ministerium des dummen Gehens, literally "Stupid Going." (silly walks)

Just having fun with Bablefish. (g)
Posted by: Ernest Brown || 07/20/2003 0:51 Comments || Top||


Moussaoui mother in ’extradition’ plea
The mother of Zacarias Moussaoui, the French national on trial in the United States accused of playing a role in the September 11, 2001 attacks, on Friday asked Paris authorities to demand his extradition. "I want France to do something," Aicha el-Wafi said after making the formal request in a letter to France’s justice ministry. "If there is no evidence against my son, if the case against him is empty, and if he is not allowed access to the witness he is asking for, then France has to ask for the extradition of my son," she told AFP. Moussaoui, she said, "must be handed over to the country where he was born". Wafi made the extradition request after developments in the US trial that could force the dismissal of charges against Moussaoui. The US government on Monday refused to produce a suspected al-Qaeda leader, Ramzi bin al-Shibh, it is holding in secret detention despite a court order upholding Moussaoui’s right to put Shibh on the stand as part of his defence. The US Attorney’s office fears that testimony from Shaiba might reveal US classified information.
Posted by: seafarious || 07/19/2003 12:47:25 AM || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  France do something? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:27 Comments || Top||

#2  tu3031 - But, if you recall the UN debaucle, I'm sure you'll agree they are good at pontificating... I thought Dominique (whom they insist is a man) was very nattily dressed and coifed, didn't you? And eloquent. Oh my. After listening for 10 or 15 minutes, I had tears in my eyes. Puking always does that to me.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 14:50 Comments || Top||

#3  If he is extradited I suggest ham-stringing(cutting the liagmets behind the knees),that way he can crawl off the tramp steamer.No plane for that ass-wipe.
Posted by: raptor || 07/20/2003 7:53 Comments || Top||


Dutch political assassin's appeal rejected
Appeals judges have upheld an 18-year jail sentence imposed on an animal rights activist who murdered Dutch populist politician Pim Fortuyn last year.
Betcha Fortuyn's dead longer than that...
Volkert van der Graaf, 34, was sentenced in April for shooting the controversial Mr Fortuyn just days before a May 2002 election which swept the politician's untried party into a short-lived government. The appeals judges considered that Van der Graaf suffered from a "compulsive obsessive disorder" but that this did not diminish his responsibility. "He shot the victim without being affected by any disorder that could be proved pathologically," presiding judge Jeroen Chorus said.
"Just being a nut isn't enough..."
Both prosecution and defence had appealed. The public prosecutor called for life imprisonment, while Van der Graaf's lawyers argued that the sentence took insufficient account of his pre-trial detention conditions and of negative comments by politicians before the case came to trial.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Van der Graaf's lawyers argued that the sentence took insufficient account of his pre-trial detention conditions and of negative comments by politicians before the case came to trial.

"Them nasty politicans were calling me names! I deserve to be sprung!"
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2003 3:15 Comments || Top||

#2  No one in the US remembers this incident. It did't happen, in a media sense... the potential was all there, but the details were all mixed up.

Right-wing gay populist politician gunned down by animal-lover? How to explain? Paradigmatic implosion.

Couldn't, didn't happen.

We regret the error.

Errr, we return you to your previously scheduled program...Uranium tubes... all about oil... quagmire... the children.

One of the juicest stories of the decade just unhappened.
Posted by: Mark IV || 07/19/2003 21:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Mark IV - Perfect! When I first heard Who, I thought WTF? And waited for the Why. And waited. And waited...
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 23:32 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Sectarian activities to be disallowed in mosques, seminaries
Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali on Friday expressed the government’s resolve to prevent the use of mosques and madrassas for inciting sectarian hatred.
Yep. That'll happen...
He was chairing an inter-provincial meeting to review the law and order situation in the country. All provincial governors, chief ministers, chief secretaries, inspector generals of police as well as federal interior and finance ministers and heads of civil armed forces attended the meeting at the Prime Minister’s Secretariat. “The prime minister vowed to prevent the use of mosques and madrassas for fanning sectarian hatred and directed the provincial governments to ensure that these institutions are only used for the purpose they have been set up for,” sources said.
I thought they'd been set up for whipping The Masses™ into a frenzy so they'd go out and kill any infidels they found, then each other if they couldn't...
Mr Jamali said the government was determined to combat lawlessness and terrorism and ensure the writ of the government across the country. Official sources told Daily Times the meeting discussed a four-point agenda which included the overall law and order situation in the country; the terrorist attack in Quetta; law and order in the area where the boundaries of Balochistan, Sindh and Punjab meet; and the implementation of police reforms.
This is certainly likely to happen in a country where people like Hafiz Saeed are respected citizens.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 19:37 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hope the mullahs don't kill themselves in the stampede to sign on to this.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 23:28 Comments || Top||


Fazl says de facto Kashmir border can be made permanent
A visiting leader of Pakistan’s radical Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) Islamic party on Saturday said he had no objection to making the de facto frontier between India and Pakistan in Kashmir a permanent border. “If both the countries agree to it and it is also accepted by the people of Kashmir, we will not have any objection,” Maulana Fazlur Rehman told the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak in an interview.
That'd be the catch, there. The jihadis would sooner be gutted than agree to it...
Rehman, who is heading a four-member delegation to India, said the five-decade dispute over Kashmir could be solved through dialogue between Pakistan and India. The lawmaker is making the rare visit at the invitation of India’s Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind Muslim party and is seeking an audience with Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and other top leaders before winding up the eight-day goodwill trip July 22.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 10:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Grenade explosion wounds 12 civilians in Kashmir market
Islamic guerrillas lobbed a grenade at a paramilitary truck on Saturday but missed, wounding 12 civilians in a Kashmir market. A woman identified only as Zeba was critically wounded in the attack near a bus stand in Tral town, said Neeraj Sharma, a spokesman for the Border Security Force. She was brought to a hospital in Srinagar, he said. In another attack, school teacher Mehjabeen Bano was forcibly taken from her home by unidentified men and shot at point-blank range in Mangipora village, said her father, Mohammad Shafi Mir. Bano survived the attack but was in a critical condition in a Srinagar hospital. None of the dozen-odd militant groups operating in Kashmir immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 09:34 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Hey, it's okay. We're Muslims. Collateral damage happens. Do not concern yourselves with this matter. We are jihadis. Wanna see our fatwa?"
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 15:06 Comments || Top||


When terrorists fall out
Sakhi Hassan, situated in the Central district of Karachi, is known as a breeding place for militants belonging to different ethnic groups, jihadis and sectarian diehards. On June 22, the area echoed with gunfire and police sirens. The fighting, in which several people were injured, erupted at Battha Mosque and seminary, owned by the outlawed Jaish-I-Mohammed. Dozens of armed activists belonging to two groups of Jaish-I-Mohammed surrounded the Battha seminary and exchanged fire over their rival claims to ownership of the property, which was owned by Jaish-I-Mohammed before it split into several groups.
These Pak Jihadi groups seem to reproduce quicker than any virus
Jaish-I-Mohammed insiders tell a long story about the division of the organization, and the vested interests, corruption and greed, and deep conflict on strategic affairs behind the split.
Jaish-I-Mohammed, which was renamed Khudamul Islam after it was banned by the government of President General Pervez Musharraf, emerged from Harkatul Mujahadin when its founder, Maulana Masood Azhar, was released by India after a dramatic hijack of an Air India plane. As soon as Masood reached Karachi, he announced his parting of ways with Harkatul Mujahadeen and the establishment of his own militant group, Jaish-I-Mohammed. The organization was widely supported by the country’s top Islamic scholars. Its dramatic emergence was seen as a ploy by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence to keep the network of jihadi organizations divided so that they could easily be controlled.
They did the same thing in Afghanistan, with 7 major factions getting support, although our buddy Hekmatyr got the lions share of the weapons, even though he did the least amount of actual fighting.
Jaish-I-Mohammed’s financial affairs have long been controversial, with several members of the organization accusing the chief of the organization and his "kitchen cabinet" of using Jaish resources to enrich themselves.
This isn’t anything new either, during the Afghan Jihad, middle men like Hamid Gul raked millions off the money being sent in by the CIA and the Saudis.
Jaish-I-Mohammed and al-Rasheed Trust (which is also blacklisted by the US State Department) are close. When Jaish-I-Mohammed was founded, al-Rasheed Trust donated Rs20 million ($360,000) as seed money. Later, thousands of people joined Jaish and helped raise funds, to the estimated tune of Rs1 million a day. A large chunk of this money was spent on building training camps and such things as the medical bills of wounded fighters. However, at the same time, the lifestyles of the Jaish leaders took a sharp turn for the better.
Maulana Masood Azhar, who came from a lower-class family background and used to live in a destitute area of Bahawalpur, moved to a posh area called Model Colony Bahawalpur. Jaish’s mushrooming assets, including publications, seminaries, offices, and bunglows, were given to Masood Azhar’s relatives to supervise, and they too experienced a sudden upturn in the quality of life.
Kind of like SCIRI aka Hakim Brothers Inc.
This, and other things such as their traveling in expensive sport-utility vehicles and their large entourages of gunmen, irked many sincere Jaish members who had spent years on the grim fronts of Afghanistan and Kashmir. However, the funds kept pouring in and the and mesmerizing speeches of Masood kept pouring out, and Jaish kept rolling on.
Unlike other militant organizations, Jaish adopted a strange strategy of suicidal attacks on both civilian and military Indian targets. This raised the eyebrows of many, including those associated with other militant organizations who saw it as a move to malign the Kashmiri freedom movement.
September 11, 2001, precipitated a turnaround in Jaish’s affairs. Masood kept a mysterious silence on the US attack on Afghanistan, while many Jaish members advocated retaliatory attacks within Pakistan to force the government not to cooperate with the United States. Masood’s deafening silence caused the organization to spilt.
So the split is between the Mullah businessmen who make millions of rupees as long as they obey the ISI, and between the true believers who actually believe all that Jihad stuff..
Many Jaish operators quietly moved to Afghanistan to fight alongside the Taliban. Many brought Arab fighters back to Pakistan and provided them safe shelter. Although these activists had not announced their separation from Jaish, it was understood very well that they intended to build their own strategy of taking on the country’s establishment. A cold war began between those who were running the affairs of Jaish and those who were parting ways. Suddenly, several incidents occurred, including the killing of Christians in a Bahawalpur church. Many of the activists allegedly involved in these incidents were arrested, and it is believed they were fingered by those who ruled the Jaish roost. Similarly, the arrest of several key al-Qaeda operators, including Abu Zubaida, was the result of the same rift within Jaish.
The breaking-up of Jaish is supposed to be a bad news for the US, India and Pakistan’s ruling establishment, as Maulana Masood Azhar is now free to go anywhere in the country and once again call for jihad. However, the fact is that Jaish-I-Mohammed was an organization of more than 50,000 organized youths, of whom 10,000 were active fighters. At present, the organization has been split into at least 10 groups. Two groups, led respectively by Maulana Azhar and Umer Farooq, are known, while the rest are hiding underground and have chosen a path of no compromise with the Pakistani establishment, the West, and India.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 07/19/2003 4:33:22 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I just wish that, when having one of these little fraternal get togethers, they were better shots.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 15:21 Comments || Top||


'No Al Qaeda presence in border areas'
The political authorities of Mohmand Agency have ruled out the presence of Al Qaeda suspects in border areas.
"Nope. Nope. None there. We asked."
Speaking at a press conference here on Friday political agent of Mohmand Agency Sahibzada Mohammad Anis said that there was no sign of Al Qaeda network in the area. He said that the army had been deployed along the Afghan border to curb the incursions of anti-state elements. He denied the reports that Pakistani forces had intruded into the neighbouring territory and said that the army had not violated international rules. He said that some elements from the other side of the border were trying to resist the movement of Pakistan army in the remote area of Anargai. Mr Anis said that Pakistan had no dispute with Afghanistan and Islamabad wanted to further cement its ties with the neighbouring country. Replying to a question about the deployment of troops along the Durand Line he said the government had moved regular forces into the area due to the prevailing situation in the region. Now the situation was under control in the border areas, he added. Mr Anis said that a commission had been constituted to resolve territorial issues between Pakistan and Afghanistan. He said the NWFP governor had announced a special package to provide all basic facilities including health, education and communications to the inaccessible areas of the agency.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:33 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Yep. We got it covered. Nothing to see here...
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:30 Comments || Top||

#2  "Nothing to see here. Move along, move along." (snicker)

Good one, tu3031. Don't you just hate it when some thin-client dipshit tries to use The Force on you? Chaps my ass fer shure.

It's apparent the Mohmand Agency, whatever the fuck that is, has the situation well in hand. The Paki's see nothing, hear nothing, and only jabber while on rest breaks. I'm just curious how one provides "all basic facilities" to the "inaccessible ares." Doesn't inaccessible mean, uh, inaccessible? Oh nevermind. PakiPressMagic. Thats the ticket. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 15:33 Comments || Top||

#3  Surely a people capable of believing five impossible things before breakfast is capable of accessing the occasional inaccessible area?
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2003 19:49 Comments || Top||

#4  Fred - (snicker) Would they access it with the right hand - or the left?
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 23:35 Comments || Top||


Qazi calls for five-nation bloc to counter US
Alleging that the United States poses a serious threat to Islamic countries and wants to take over their oil reserves, MMA vice-president Qazi Husain Ahmed proposed on Friday the formation of a bloc of five important states to throw the US out of the region. In a statement, he said the proposed bloc should comprise Pakistan, Iran, Malaysia, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia. Once these countries joined hands, he said, China, Russia, France and Germany, all opposed to the US designs, would be willing to extend them their support.
Hi, there! Are you our sworn enemies? Pleased to meet you...
The Qazi said the US wanted to disintegrate Saudi Arabia to be able to take over its oil fields. It posed a threat to Pakistan and Iran. The situation required the people of the Islamic countries to prevent their rulers from following a wrong course. Muslims, he said, had abundant spirit to offer sacrifices and they needed only guidance to move in the right direction.
"All you gotta do is tell 'em to blow up and they do. It's amazing..."
Of the Pakistani rulers, the Qazi said they were pursuing the US agenda. The purpose of sending Pakistani troops to Iraq was to provide a shield to US troops and thus help the occupation forces to firm up their control of the oil fields. The MMA leader said such a decision would amount to safeguarding Israeli interests in Iraq and providing a helping hand in case of US intervention in Iran. He trivialized the importance of Gen Musharraf's recent visit to the United States and the $3 billion assistance commitment he was given. Such an aid, he said, always usurped independence of a country and chained it.
Good. Don't take it.
He was critical of series of articles being written to argue that recognition of Israel would be in Pakistan's interest. Such writers, he said, were confusing the issue.
"And one thing us Islamists hate is being confused with facts..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:30 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  You knew that Israel was somehow going to get into the picture.
Posted by: Rafael || 07/19/2003 7:13 Comments || Top||

#2  I don't know about the being able to take over Shoddy Arabia's oilfields, but the disintegration thing I could live with.
Posted by: badanov || 07/19/2003 9:02 Comments || Top||

#3  To stand out in Pakistan as a, uh, er, standout looney is quite an achievement. What a tortured thought process - and set of conclusions. Uh, Perv, uh, well, we have a special favor to ask. Uh, can we kill this Qazi guy? He's not like your Paki version of Jerry Lewis or anything, is he? It's kinda hard to tell from afar.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 15:42 Comments || Top||


JKLF leader's travel banned
A Kashmiri leader said on Friday that Pakistan had revoked his passport, a move he said reflected Islamabad's intolerance of the idea of independence for the occupied valley. Amanullah Khan, head of the Pakistan-based wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF), said he discovered he had been placed on the Exit Control List when he tried to renew his passport so he could attend a conference on Kashmir in Washington. "They thought, I'd be promoting independence for Kashmir," he told Reuters. The leader said Kashmir was bitterly contested by India and Pakistan, but neither country was interested in the wishes of Kashmiris who he said were in favour of independence. "The only thing in common between India and Pakistan on Kashmir is that both of them are opposed to independence," he said. "They are more interested in owning Kashmir than in the sentiments of the Kashmiri people."
Noticed that, did you?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
UN warns of injustice during Iraq’s transition to market economy
Corruption and other vices of Saddam Hussein’s ousted regime could flourish in Iraq’s transition to a market economy and lead to “greater injustice,” the United Nations warned on Saturday. “Fundamental ethical and human rights concerns must prevail,” UN special representative to Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello told a conference in Baghdad of World Bank and Iraqi officials. “There is a real danger that corruption, a weak legal/judiciary system leading to a lack of accountability, in-built distortions and vices of the previous system, (such as) unfair privileges, economic and social discrimination, would not only persist but flourish” during the transition. What kind of democracy would that be in which political and economic transformation leads to greater injustice?” Vieira de Mello asked. “Decisive and sustained reforms are important for the recovery of growth and should be accompanied by social policies designed to protect the most vulnerable groups until growth takes hold,” he said, stressing that investing in people was the “key to growth."
It's all that capitalism. Screws up a country every time. Best just to leave things the way they are...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 09:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The UN lecturing people on corruption is like Jenna Jameson lecturing us about abstinence...
Posted by: Raj || 07/19/2003 10:20 Comments || Top||

#2  Yeah, if the corruption gets back enough it could end up looking like the EU Commission on Administrative Affairs.

Or any UN refugee program.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2003 11:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Do they want to give us tips on how to do it right?
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:41 Comments || Top||

#4  The BBC has been crowing about a Kofi Annon quote all day. Seems the SecGen wants the US/UK to set a date for withdrawal. And it should be very soon. Between the "special" UN Phool to Iraq and Kofi's pronouncements, well, it's like checking to make sure you're on the opposite side of an issue from Phrawnce - to be sure you're doing the right thing.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 15:50 Comments || Top||

#5  We'd be happy for the UN to set a date for withdrawal, Mr. Secretary-General. How soon can you vacate the building? It's set for an urban renewal project.
Posted by: Anonymous || 07/19/2003 20:04 Comments || Top||

#6  UN warns of injustice during Iraq’s transition to market economy

These UN officials have absolutely no shame.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/19/2003 23:47 Comments || Top||

#7  Democracy and capitalism flowering in Iraq will make the UN look like the useless organization the sense of which, UN officials have worked arduously to create and maintain.

And I agree. Give Kofi and his communist friends a definitive withdrawal date from Iraq, to be closely matched with the UN's withdrawl from the USA.
Posted by: badanov || 07/19/2003 23:57 Comments || Top||


Turkey's red lines vanish in northern Iraq
A visit to northern Iraq and extensive interviews and discussions with its leaders show that the situation in northern Iraq has dramatically changed in favor of the Kurds while the red lines which Turkey established and threatened to go to war if they were violated have simply vanished after the war and the occupation of the country by the Americans. The Americans faced with serious resistance in central Iraq and unable to introduce stability in most of the country seem to have decided that their best bet to start reorganizing and reconstructing Iraq could start from the Kurdish dominated areas in the north.
It's the Sunni-Baathist central region that's giving us the trouble...
The area is swarming with U.S. experts and officials working in diverse areas like health, education and social programs.
That's because there was more to work with there. And I think we frankly like the Kurds better than we like the Shiites and much more than we like the Sunni-Baathists and their jihadi allies...
Turkey had established some red lines and had warned the Iraqi Kurds and the Americans prior to the toppling of Saddam Hussein that if these were violated Ankara would see this as a reason for military intervention. The first red line was the establishment of an independent Kurdish state. The second was the safety of the Turkmens living in Iraq and the third was the status of Kirkuk and Mosul. Last but not least Ankara said it would not tolerate giving its separatist Kurdish terrorists who are holed up in northern Iraq a free hand to resurrect their campaign against Turkey.
The independent Kurdish state isn't going to happen, unless the rest of the country falls to hell, which it probably won't. The Turkmen are being treated just like everyone else. There's no magic solution to the PKK. We're not going to let them operate with impunity from territory we control, but Turkey's working on her own amnesty program as well, so it's a problem that's controlled for now. And keeping the Kurds out of Kirkuk and Mosul was a pipe dream...
After the war the Kurds emerged as the most valuable and trusted ally of the Americans and there were even suggestions that the U.S., which always slanted towards Turkey in Turkish-Kurdish disputes, may change this attitude in favor of the Kurds. The Americans gave Kurds five seats in the newly formed Iraqi Governing Council and asked Kurdistan Democracy Party leading official Hoshyar Zebari to play a key role in the formation and opening session of the Council. The Kurds will also have a representative in the Governing Council mission to be sent to the U.N. This all means that while Turkey feared the Kurds will set up an independent state in the northern part of the country they are in fact a major player in Baghdad as a part of the newly shaping Iraqi administration which increases their future say in the way the country is being run. So instead of the emergence of a Kurdish state it became clear that the Kurds consolidated the Talabani and Barzani administrations in the north while obtaining a dominant position in the Baghdad administration.
The entire article is worth reading, especially since it was picked up by Kurdistan Observer from Turkish Daily News...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 01:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  O Murat, where art thou? (g)
Posted by: Ernest Brown || 07/19/2003 14:36 Comments || Top||


Turkmen bitch about composition of GC
Iraqi Turkmen Front (ITF) leader Sanan Ahmet Aga protested the US failure to appoint any ITF representatives to Iraq’s new interim Governing Council, calling the exclusion of the Turkmen Front “completely unacceptable.” Aga stated that Turkmen deserved at least three seats on the council. “There are over 3 million Turkmen in Iraq,” said Aga. “The US must immediately reverse its unfair treatment of our people.” The ITF also has strong reservations about Songul Cabuk, the council's Turkmen representative.
Guess you can't please all of the people even some of the time...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Damn, I thought it would take longer than this to Americanize the Iraqis! They're already bitching about the government, just like we do. Way to go!
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 07/19/2003 1:08 Comments || Top||

#2  Perhaps the ITF could talk to their kindred cousins to the north about being more agreeable. They might find it to be in their best interest.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2003 3:19 Comments || Top||

#3  In fact there are some Turkmen representatives in the Interim Council -- just not ITF people.
Posted by: Bill || 07/19/2003 18:16 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Philippines, Guerillas OK Cease-Fire
A cease-fire took effect Saturday between government forces and Muslim guerrillas in the southern Philippines, facilitating the resumption of talks to settle one of Southeast Asia's most enduring separatist conflicts. The cease-fire agreement was reached Friday with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has been fighting for an independent Muslim territory in Mindanao and other islands of the southern Philippines for about three decades and has been blamed for deadly bombings and other terrorist activities. On Saturday, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered her military to halt assaults and called for the immediate resumption of Malaysian-brokered talks to achieve a final peace accord. "Peace is at hand," Arroyo said in a radio address.
For about two weeks...
Arroyo announced a package of concessions to the rebels, including the suspension of arrest warrants and corresponding cash rewards for rebel leaders accused of terrorism — a key rebel demand — and granted safety passes to allow rebel negotiators to travel to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the talks. Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said his group was observing the truce.
On the other hand, Eid makes Comical Ali look like a paragon of truthful integrity...
Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said earlier that negotiations with the rebels could start as early as next week. "I ask our people to give peace a chance," Arroyo said. "I am confident that we shall also effectively isolate and marginalize the dwindling terrorist cells in Mindanao and across our seas in the region."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 11:05 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  For about two weeks...

While the MILF resupplies, no doubt.

"Peace is at hand," Arroyo said in a radio address.

I remember when Henry said that, and look at what happened after.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/19/2003 14:19 Comments || Top||


Africa: East
Idi A-Mean at death’s door in Saudi Arabia
Hat tip LGF
Idi Amin, whose 1971 to 1979 reign in Uganda was one of the bloodiest in Africa’s modern history, is in a coma and on a life support system in Saudi Arabia, one of his wives said today.

"They have told me he is in coma and on a life support machine. We are still waiting for more information from there," Madina Amin said in a brief telephone interview with AFP.

By "they", Madina was referring to Amin’s entourage in Saudi Arabia, where Idi Amin, a Muslim now in his eighties, has lived in obscurity for more than 10 years.

"We have contacted the (Kampala) government, to ask that if he dies his body can be brought back home for a decent burial," she said, adding that her husband had suffered from hypertension for some time and fallen into the coma yesterday.

Idi Amin has not been back to Uganda since he was ousted by joint forces of Tanzanian troops and Ugandan exiles on April 11, 1979.

Up to 400,000 people are estimated to have died during his time in office or are still unaccounted for.

Adopting an ultra-nationalistic policy, soon after coming to power Amin embarked on a programme to Africanise the country’s economy that was then dominated by Asians, mainly Indians, whom he gave 90 days to leave the country or be flushed out.

He confiscated all their properties, which he distributed to his cronies, who later ran them down. The economy collapsed, triggering blackmarket trade since all essential commodities like soap, sugar, or fuel became scarce.

A whole generation of Ugandan intellectuals were either killed for questioning the high-handedness of the regime or fled into exile and many never returned.
Hmm
 these Islamofascists have a dislike of IQs above 80, don’t they?
Uganda’s Sunday Vision newspaper scored a scoop in 1999 when it secured the first interview with the so-called "Butcher of Africa" in almost 20 years.

"I am leading a quiet life and committed to my religion, Islam, and Allah. I don’t have problems with anyone," Amin told the newspaper’s reporter in his luxury home in Jeddah.

"But I am satisfied with what I am getting and even paying school fees for a number of my orphaned relatives in Uganda, and helping needy people," he said.
Posted by: RiNeref || 07/19/2003 8:54:36 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  See ya Idi,when you see Hitler,Uncle Joe,Chairman Mao, Genghis Khan,and all the other maniacal dictators in hell, tell 'em "piss off" from all of us..Oh, and let us know if Osama is there and when Saddam shows up.
Posted by: debbie || 07/19/2003 22:11 Comments || Top||

#2  He confiscated all their properties, which he distributed to his cronies, who later ran them down. The economy collapsed, triggering blackmarket trade since all essential commodities like soap, sugar, or fuel became scarce.

Doesn't this sound familiar?
Doesn't it, Bob? Chuck?
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 22:46 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
U.S. Embassy in Liberia Tells Rebels to Halt
The U.S. embassy in Liberia told rebels who battled their way into the capital on Saturday to halt their advance and insisted that lasting peace could only come through talks.
"Here, you people! Stop that!"
President Bush has said a small American force might be sent to Liberia once President Charles Taylor steps down, which he has agreed to do once West African peacekeepers arrive. "LURD should not advance further into the city and all parties should cease fire," Ambassador John W. Blaney said in a statement aimed at the rebel group Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy. The rebels advanced into northern districts of Monrovia on Saturday, approaching the St Paul's River Bridge, the final river crossing that leads to the heart of the city, and sending tens of thousands of people scattering in panic. Blaney said the rebels should return to peace negotiations in Ghana, where West African countries have proposed a peace plan to the two insurgent factions, Taylor's representatives and other political groups. "Any lasting peace must be based on a broad political understanding and fighting government forces in Monrovia does not change that fact," he said.
I'm assuming this statement's meant for UN consumption, since it's UN-style ineffectual. Chuck's not leaving until the (American) peacekeepers get there, and we're not sending peacekeepers until he's gone, so he'll never leave and we'll never get there. Talks to this point have produced nothing of substance, except for a rebel withdrawal when they probably could have taken the capital and Chuck. Taking care of one problem at a time seems to make more sense than doing jaw exercises, and dumping Chuck should take precedence over dumping LURD.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 20:09 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Middle East
Aqsa thugs beat up Paleofficial
Palestinian militants beat and briefly held the Palestinian governor of a West Bank town on Saturday, accusing him of being an Israeli collaborator. He was released after about five hours. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade took Haider Irsheid, 50, captive and took him to a refugee camp adjacent to the town of Jenin. Al Aqsa's Jenin leader, Zakariye Zubeydi, demanded the Palestinian Authority put Irsheid on trial. Several hours later, however, Zubeydi said he released Irsheid after a call from an unidentified official at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office. Al Aqsa is loosely affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement. "For me, Arafat's order is not up for negotiation," Zubeydi told The Associated Press. "So I released him immediately."
"I bow to the will of Fearless Leader!"
The militant leader said he would leave the responsibility for judging Irsheid to Arafat. "I think he will take the right decision," Zubeydi said.
"If not, we'll bump him off when nobody's looking..."
Zubeydi had said earlier that Palestinian security officials asked on behalf of Arafat for Irsheid's release. Instead, Zubeydi urged Arafat's Palestinian Authority to send a mediator to question the governor and listen to militants' demands. It was unclear why Zubeydi changed his mind. Palestinian Information Minister Nabil Amr said the kidnapping was "a regrettable situation. "It will be solved, and this type of behavior will not be allowed," he said.
Why not? Aways has been...
A Palestinian security source said militants had been angered when Palestinian security forces in Jenin were sent on Friday to arrest an Al Aqsa gunman in the refugee camp.
"Don't even think about try to apply that 'law and order' stuff to us!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 11:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "It will be solved, and this type of behavior will not be allowed," he said.

The fact that they haven't made any substantial attempts to crack down on Al-Aqsa and Hamas says otherwise.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/19/2003 14:29 Comments || Top||

#2  Several hours later, however, Zubeydi said he released Irsheid after a call from an unidentified official at Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's office. Al Aqsa is loosely affiliated with Arafat's Fatah movement. "For me, Arafat's order is not up for negotiation," Zubeydi told The Associated Press. "So I released him immediately."

Bingo. The smoking gun tying Al Aqsa operational parameters to Arafat himself. How many have been accused of being an Israeli collaborator and living to tell the tale? I think this guy is the first.
Posted by: Ptah || 07/19/2003 16:02 Comments || Top||

#3  Do you believe this shit? LGF has a story about 4 Spanish journalists/peaceniks that were beat up in a Palestinian refugee camp, by the very people they were there to defend (heh) SOrry I dont know how to link. Then this nonsense in the story above...SHEESH....Why does much of the world see them as the "good guys".?
Posted by: debbie || 07/19/2003 16:03 Comments || Top||

#4  'Why does much of the world see them as the "good guys".?'
* Because some men long to submit to something greater than themselves. No matter how much freedom you give them, they are still slaves in their hearts. Liberty will never have meaning to them. Instead they spend their lives waiting for a leader to tell them to do the things that they haven't the willpower to do themselves.
* Others love evil, but are too cowardly to become evildoers themselves. Instead they root from the sidelines, living vicariously through others' black deeds.
* The rest are quislings. So compromised are they by their amorality, they would ally themselves with Osama bin Laden to save the rainforests or with Saddam Hussein to destroy capitalism.
Posted by: 11A5S || 07/19/2003 23:14 Comments || Top||

#5  11A5S - Would that be along the line of "Bent out of shape by society's pliers" ???
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 23:39 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Bush aids Blair by halting trial of Britons in Guantanamo Bay
Legal proceedings against the two Britons facing a military trial in Guantanamo Bay were suspended last night to allow talks between British and US legal officials. In a minor concession to Tony Blair, who is facing a growing row at home on the issue, George Bush personally authorised the temporary halt to proceedings. His move paved the way for Lord Goldsmith, the attorney general, to fly to Washington next week for talks with US officials.
If it’s minor, then we should be happy to help Tony. We sure don’t want any other Labour pol in charge.
Downing Street refused to comment on the likely out come. But officials are hoping that the Americans will observe what the prime minister has called "proper canons of law". Mr Bush, who has branded the two Britons "bad men", agreed to the concession over dinner with Mr Blair in the White House on Thursday.
Thus demonstrating anew the ’special relationship.’
The prime minister’s official spokesman, speaking at the end of Mr Blair’s overnight flight to Tokyo, said: "Legal proceedings against individuals have been suspended pending discussions next week between high-level legal teams in the United States. The UK side will be led by the attorney general." He added that proceedings against nine Britons at Guantanamo Bay would be suspended. "The president listened to the concerns raised by the prime minister." The concession will ease the pressure on Mr Blair, who is facing a cross-party campaign on behalf of Moazzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi, who are facing secret military trials which could lead to the death penalty. The other Britons being held at Guantanamo Bay are not facing the immediate prospect of a trial.
Give us time.
While Downing Street welcomed the move, it is unlikely to ease the pressure on the families of the men, who still fear the worst. It is understood that of the three options open to US officials they are likely to agree to only the mildest of concessions. The options are:
  • Repatriating the two men to face trial in Britain. This is seen as highly unlikely because Britons can only be tried at home for a handful of offences committed abroad, which do not apply here;
  • Sending the two men for an open trial on the US mainland in the same way as the Taliban supporter John Walker Lindh, who escaped Guantanamo Bay because he comes from California;
    Thus the difference: Johnny Red was a citizen so he’s treated as one. But given recent developments in the mainland trials, we aren’t likely to send these jokers to a US magistrate.
  • Agreeing to open up the legal proceedings against the two Britons in Guantanamo Bay, making it easier for them to appoint defence lawyers and lifting the threat of the death penalty.
    The former is easy — let the Brits appoint counsel from their own military legal staff.
Although Washington is only likely to offer mild concessions, Downing Street is privately pleased because Mr Bush’s decision shows Mr Blair is able to wield influence in the White House. Labour critics of the war against Iraq regard the fate of the two Britons as a touchstone issue which will show whether the prime minister is a poodle of Mr Bush or an ally who can persuade the president to change his mind. As the two leaders prepared to go into dinner at the White House on Thursday night, Mr Blair’s case was not helped when Mr Bush condemned Mr Begg and Mr Abbasi. Standing next to the prime minister in the White House, the president said: "These were illegal combatants. They were picked out off the battlefield, aliens aiding and abetting the Taliban."
There were others, just like them, who're dead, thanks to Hassan Butt and a few others like him...
More than 200 MPs from across the Commons have signed a motion condemning the treatment of the two men, who have been held incommunicado for 18 months. If they plead not guilty, they could risk the death penalty for alleged terrorist offences. Under the current rules of the tribunal the US defence department would control the judge and the prosecution. The men would technically be entitled to appoint their defence lawyers, but these would have to undergo a Pentagon vetting procedure.
We could allow the Brits to vet the defense counsel, so long as a few key points are honored. That would be another minor concession we could safely do.
Posted by: Steve White || 07/19/2003 3:25:59 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The Brits that are making the most noise about the Brit Jihadis we netted in Afghanstan are just using the Jihadis as a dagger to stab Tony and the WOT policies of the govt. If we can make minor concessions to help Blair, so be it. We cannot let these scum go, or we are playing into the hands of the left, whatever side of the ocean the bitching comes from.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/19/2003 12:14 Comments || Top||

#2  A couple of heavyweight items to consider here... Blair's ass (if it can be saved) and, of course, setting a bad precedent - which might have some legal consequences. Tough call.

I still like a suggestion someone else proferred earlier - let Britain send an attorney or two. I would add some limits... They could consult with the appointed tribunal attorney, but not be present in the hearings. And I don't favor letting them have transcripts or recordings either - they'd end up in a BBC hatchet job special.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 14:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Cut a deal with the Afghans and send them there for a trial. That's where they were caught. That should make them very happy.
Posted by: Michael || 07/19/2003 21:26 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Al Aqsa Brigades parade in Nablus
Nablus - Around 50 armed members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, President
Yasser Arafat's Fateh military wing, threatened to renew anti-Israeli attacks if Israel failed to release Palestinian prisoners as they marched through central city of Nablus in north of the West Bank last Sunday. Gunmen wore masks and had gun sex fired volleys of gunfire in the air. Messages were also voiced over loud speakers demanding an "end to Israeli aggression against our people."
Note that when reporting on the festivities, Jerusalem Times (a Paleo weekly) describes al-Aqsa as the military wing of Fatah...
"We will respect the hudna (truce) if the Israelis release the prisoners and pull out of the Palestinian areas," they added. Palestinian factions, including Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Yasser Arafat's Fateh movement, agreed on June 29 to call a halt of at least three months to anti-Israeli operations, but attached a string of conditions including the release of all the estimated 7,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 01:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wait for another gathering of terrorists in the street, then drop a MOAB on them.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 07/19/2003 3:27 Comments || Top||

#2  That's what I don't get. We see these pics of Paleo people armed with AKs being published by Rooters, et all, all the time. I don't want to see that: I want to see these guys with their heads blown off by an Israeli sniper.
Posted by: badanov || 07/19/2003 9:09 Comments || Top||

#3 

Like him?
Posted by: Fred || 07/19/2003 9:19 Comments || Top||

#4  Nice continuity of camo from bottom to top.....
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/19/2003 12:03 Comments || Top||

#5  "Like the morons they are"
Posted by: Lucky || 07/19/2003 12:14 Comments || Top||

#6  So long, scumbag. Say hello to The Prophet for me.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:38 Comments || Top||


Africa: Southern
Mbeki pours cold water on Mugabe exit reports
"Fooled ya! Fooled ya! Nyah!"
President Thabo Mbeki has denied telling his United States counterpart George W Bush that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe would step down in December. "There is no such thing. I don’t know where that comes from," he told reporters in Pretoria yesterday. "There was no discussion at all about anybody stepping down."
"Nope. Nope. Never said it."
Weekend reports, quoting unnamed diplomatic sources, suggested Mbeki told Bush during his recent South African visit that Mugabe would be out of office by December.
Ah! That's different from saying he's gonna step down...
Mugabe reportedly gave Mbeki an undertaking that he would step down at his Zanu PF party’s congress at the end of the year.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 01:18 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He just needs a few more billion to round out his account balance. Picture Mugabe in Gay Paree... soon.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 1:53 Comments || Top||

#2  PD
Along with Saddam.
Posted by: Attaboid || 07/19/2003 10:51 Comments || Top||

#3  Chuckles will probably join them for a threesome of afternoon tea and pastries.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/19/2003 11:30 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Egyptian envoy meets with chief of Mossad
Egypt's President Mubarak's envoy to the occupied territories Omar Suleiman met yesterday with Chief of the Israeli Mossad Maier Dagan for talks on the current conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories and ways to implement the road map. "Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's meeting on Tuesday with Omar Suleiman, personal envoy of President Hosni Mubarak, was to stress anew Egypt's full support for Palestinian leadership and people," a Palestinian lawmaker said on Wednesday. In an interview granted to Cairo Radio, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Saeb Erekat said that the meeting addressed a clear-cut message to the whole world from President Mubarak indicating that Arafat is the legitimate president who was elected by his people.
Once. They only needed the one election, I guess...
Tuesday's meeting focused on cementing the truce declared by the Palestinian factions, and on the joint Palestinian Egyptian vision on the need to draw up a comprehensive plan to put into effect the "road map" plan.
That's not usually what you talk to the chief of an intel service about. That's the stuff foreign ministers might discuss. I'd guess the talks centered more on the mechanics...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hosni. Stay away from those military reviews for awhile, okay? Sadat made that mistake.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:49 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon
UN envoy says Assad ready to renew peace talks with Israel
The UN Mideast envoy said Thursday that Syrian President Bashar Assad is ready to renew peace talks with Israel but dismissed as "totally incorrect" an Israeli newspaper report that the Syrian leader was ready to intervene in the case of four Israelis missing in Lebanon. Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said he was making an exception to his rule of not commenting on meetings with government leaders to address the reports in the Maariv daily about his talks with Assad last week in Damascus. The paper reported that Assad expressed readiness to resume peace talks and made the offer to help resolve the case of the Israeli MIAs. "It is true that President Assad told me, as he also has done publicly thereafter, that there is an interest in Syria to go back to the negotiating table again, based on established terms of reference. The rest of what I read in an Israeli newspaper this morning is totally incorrect," Roed-Larsen said.
Irrelevant at this point. The willingness to enter into talks again is significant, especially given the Boy President's belligerence a year ago. Unlike some other in the area, he appears to have done some thinking...
The UN envoy said Assad was ready to go back to the negotiating table "on particular terms," but Israel's UN Ambassador Dan Gillerman said his government wants talks without any preconditions. Roed-Larsen said he will continue to work for peace between Israel and Syria but "to be a go-between between the two parties there has to be an agreement between those two parties that they want to go back to the table — and they have to agree how that is done." Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq Sharaa, speaking to reporters Tuesday, reiterated Syria's position that it wants to resume peace talks with the Jewish state at the point where they broke off three years ago.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:40 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "it wants to resume peace talks with the Jewish state at the point where they broke off three years ago"
That was then, this is now.

A classic challenge when dealing with certain people. They spend most of their efforts shaping and defining the starting point to give themselves advantage towards their desired end point. If you object to the proposal as stated - the dimwit or biased press labels you as unreasonable and against peace or progress or whatever. In other words, it's stupid to even respond to the "Do you still beat your wife?" style of question.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 23:48 Comments || Top||

#2  ÇáÓáÇã Úáíßã
Posted by: Anonymous5219 || 06/15/2004 3:58 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
Liberian rebels take key bridge
The Liberian Government says its forces have lost a major bridge close to the capital, Monrovia, during the latest fighting with rebels. Government troops are moving at speed through the checkpoint outside the capital Monrovia, five kilometres from where they say the frontline is now. The head of the Navy's marines says they have lost the Po River Bridge. There is one more bridge before the capital city. Heavily armed young men and some child soldiers are coming back from the frontline and others are in a state of excitement. The Government says this is the third day of a rebel attack with mortars and guns but there is no independent confirmation. The rebels told the BBC yesterday there had been a skirmish but it was short and it was over.
Chuck couldn't bring himself to keep his word and beat it. Just hope there's not another ceasefire, and that they catch him, rather than waving their guns at his plane as it flies off into the sunset.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:22 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Chuck sez: "Yes, I'm leaving! Really! But you know how long it takes for the government to process the retirement paperwork. Who knows how long it will take, really."
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:44 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
Morocco, Pakistan sign accord on moderate Islam
Morocco and Pakistan have signed an agreement designed to encourage the practice of a moderate form of Islam in both countries through a program of exchanges.
In Pakland, first they've got to find one...
The agreement will set up a system of cooperation between the ministers for Islamic affairs in each country and will include the construction of mosques. Pakistan will also benefit under the agreement from Morocco's expertise in Islamic sculptures and decoration, the sources said. The accord was signed at the end of a two-day official visit to Morocco by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. An official in Rabat said the visit would be a chance to strengthen the close relations between the two countries and for President Musharraf and Morocco's King Mohammed VI to discuss both political and economic issues of common concern. Two other agreements were signed: a science and technology accord that will involve the exchange of both specialists and information; and an environmental agreement setting up bilateral policies in the field of sustainable development.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 07/19/2003 00:16 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Morocco's expertise in Islamic sculptures and decoration,"

An example of a moderate Muslim. Embrace submission (Islam) and this is the best you can hope for in the 21st century.
Posted by: Attaboid || 07/19/2003 10:46 Comments || Top||

#2  The agreement will set up a system of cooperation between the ministers for Islamic affairs in each country and will include the construction of mosques.

Just what we need, more munitions magazines and armories spittle and jihad generators mosques! How about some real self examination to see where things went nuts? I don't think that they are capable of such a venture without a series of big external shocks.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 07/19/2003 11:28 Comments || Top||

#3  I think moderate Islam means just automatic weapons. No RPGs.
Posted by: tu3031 || 07/19/2003 14:32 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey, under the technology accord, mebbe the 'slamic Paki scientists will pass along some nuke goodies, which they got (need I say it?) from the Phrogs.
Posted by: PD || 07/19/2003 14:36 Comments || Top||



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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.
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Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2003-07-19
  Liberia rebels take key bridge
Fri 2003-07-18
  Al-Aqsa Brigades demand Yasser dissolve Abbas gov't
Thu 2003-07-17
  North, South Korea Soldiers Exchange Fire
Wed 2003-07-16
  Abdullah Shreidi decomposing in Ein el-Hellhole
Tue 2003-07-15
  Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades Claims Attack on Nightclub
Mon 2003-07-14
  Paleos threaten violence if disarmed. Huh?
Sun 2003-07-13
  Chechen boom mastermind no longer ticklish
Sat 2003-07-12
  135 killed in Burundi rebel assault
Fri 2003-07-11
  Liberian Rebels Threaten Peacekeeping Force
Thu 2003-07-10
  40 dead in Somalia festivities
Wed 2003-07-09
  Shabab-e-Milli wants Taliban-style Multan
Tue 2003-07-08
  Liberian Bad Boyz block U.S. mission
Mon 2003-07-07
  Chuck sez he'll leave. Again.
Sun 2003-07-06
  Saudi with royal links seized in CIA swoop
Sat 2003-07-05
  16 killed in Moscow rock concert booms

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