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Paleos urge Israel to join new hudna
Today's Headlines
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Page 1: WoT Operations
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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Reparations Demanded for Exodus
Too absurd for any place other than SAST.

LAW OF THE LAND
Jews sued for ’stealing’
gold in Exodus
Egyptians to seek compensation for ’tons’ allegedly taken


As attorneys and politicians grapple over the validity of slave reparations, a group of Egyptians have trumped the debate with a claim against Jews that dates back thousands of years.

Dr. Nabil Hilmi, a dean at the University of Al-Zaqaziq, said Egyptian would be terrorists expatriates in Switzerland are mounting a massive lawsuit against "all Jews around the world" that seeks compensation for "tons" of gold they claim was stolen during the Jews’ exodus out of the country. I bet the Univ. of Al-Zaq is one fine institution.

"Since the Jews make various demands of the Arabs and the world, and claim rights that they base on historical and religious sources, a group of Egyptians in Switzerland has opened the case of the so-called ’great exodus of the Jews from Pharaonic Egypt.’ At that time, they stole from the Pharaonic Egyptians gold, jewelry, cooking utensils, silver ornaments, clothing, and more, leaving Egypt in the middle of the night with all this wealth, which today is priceless," Hilmi told the paper, according to a translation by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Claiming the alleged theft was documented in Exodus, Chapter 35, verses 12 through 36 in the Torah, Hilmi described how a convoy of 600,000 Jews trailed by a long line of donkeys loaded with the stolen goods – including 300,000 kg of gold – crossed the desert in the heart of Sinai, in an attempt to confuse Pharaoh’s army. Little did the Joos know how easy it is to beat Arab Armies, let alone confuse them.

"The Egyptian Pharaoh was surprised one day to discover thousands of Egyptian women crying under the palace balcony, asking for help and complaining that the Jews stole their clothing and jewels, in the greatest collective fraud history has ever known," the MEMRI forgery translation quotes Hilmi as saying. "The thieves stole everything imaginable." Why, they even took my Mercedes.

"One of the women approached Pharaoh, her eyes downcast, and said that her Jewish neighbor who lived in the house on the right of her house had come to her and asked to borrow her gold items, claiming she had been invited to a wedding," Hilmi continued. "The Jewish neighbor took [the items] and promised to return them the next day. A few minutes later, the neighbor to the left knocked on the door and asked to borrow the cooking utensils, because she was having guests for dinner. Using this same deceitful system, they took possession of all the cooking utensils." Just the facts, Ma’am. Just the facts.

Hilmi estimates the nominal value of the 300 tons of gold purportedly stolen 5,758 years ago would be 20 gazillion astronomically large. He figures the value doubled every 20 years and conservatively tacks on 5 percent interest. Wonder how much he charges for a mortgage loan?

Hilmi said a legal team will file the lawsuit after the calculation of the compensation is completed. But we are not that good with numbers, so this may take a while.

Wait and see how many times this will be brought up in arguments.
Posted by: Penguin || 08/23/2003 3:03:26 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Wait until that WMD lawsuit against Moses' "chemical warfare" (turning water into blood), "biological warfare" (frogs, gnats, flies, cattle pest, boils, locusts), "ecological warfare" (hailstorms, darkness) and infant genocide (killings of the first borns) against Egypt comes up! Hello Brussels?

Btw Mr Hilmi, charging interests is forbidden by the Quoran.

But hey, maybe the Jews get their money back from Berlusconi... you know, the Romans...
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/23/2003 15:40 Comments || Top||

#2  Al-Zaqaziq? They make those rolling papers?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 15:44 Comments || Top||

#3  These clowns are sooooo stupid. I should sue for mental anguish.
Posted by: Tom || 08/23/2003 15:47 Comments || Top||

#4  the middle east is doomed with idiots like these. time to put the past behind.
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/23/2003 19:18 Comments || Top||

#5  Btw Mr Hilmi, charging interests is forbidden by the Quoran.

Actually, they've found a way around that, TGA. It's called "damages". Instead of "ursury" (ie, interest), the person who has the money is charged "punative damages" or "fines" for not returning it on time. The fact that the "fine" is roughly the same amount as the interest would have been (had it been charged), is just a coincidence, don't you know. ENTIRELY coincidental! Allah says so! And so on...

They've obeyed the letter of the Koran (No charging of interest), yet still manage to profit from the loaning of money.

Not that they're cynical, mind you...

Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 08/23/2003 19:53 Comments || Top||

#6  Caveman 1: Uhg. Booga booga uhg.
Caveman 2: Uhg? (grunt. snort.) Zug-zug off! Jihad!

First Lawyer Evar: (I smell cash...) "Uhg. Here's my card rock. I feel for you, man. You've been injured. Call me Build a fire when you wanna talk, k?" (I could end up with 33% of all Gaia!)
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 20:41 Comments || Top||

#7  If the Jews are smart (and they are) they should counter-suit with slave reparations payment. Entire race enslaved for X number of years at minimum wage (sliding scale for skilled labor). I bet Mr Hilmi will drop the whole thing after that calculation.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 08/23/2003 20:42 Comments || Top||

#8  CyberSarge: the only problem is that it would set a precedent for the goofs in the US who are demanding reparations here.

I wonder if Belgium can claim universal jurisdiction for all wrongs committed in history?
Posted by: Steve White || 08/23/2003 21:22 Comments || Top||

#9  Is the right to reparations transferable like a car warrentee? Didn't the Arabs overrun the Pharoh and his minions and pillage the joint? How does that give them the right to the reparations owed to another ethnic group? Wait a minute... we get a California lawyer to sue the Danes for furs that he stole off native americans. It will work because we can trot in some shamen to present an "oral" history as proof.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 21:32 Comments || Top||

#10  Every article on this story traces back to a translation of an Arabic interview done on 08/09/03. The translation was by MEMRI, and almost all sources quote it. MEMRI is based in Washinton DC, and is run by six former Israeli intelligence officers (articles questioning this group have appeared often). An Arabic speaking friend of mine could not fine any interview in Al-Ahram with Dr. Hilmy, and I scanned all their English translations with no results...

Posted by: MICHAEL SHANNON || 08/27/2003 9:20 Comments || Top||


WARNING,WARNING....
Just checked my e-mail,had at least60 messages with attachment and scanned 3 at random.Norton anti-virus found and isolated the sobig worm.Do not open any attachments without scanning first.
Posted by: raptor || 08/23/2003 9:09:26 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Took awhile to get to you. I've been getting several a day...
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2003 9:50 Comments || Top||

#2  Just got 30 copies today. I thought it had peaked on Wednesday or so, the number was declining, but today was a new record. Well, if it was SoBig or Nigerian Oil Scam emails, I wouldn't get any mail.;^)
Posted by: Jabba the Nutt || 08/23/2003 12:50 Comments || Top||

#3  I have Norton AV 2003 set for automatic email scanning. (8/20/2003 virus definitions are required to detect Sobig.F.)
Posted by: Dave || 08/23/2003 13:11 Comments || Top||

#4  McAfee needs to be updated as of yesterday as well...

Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 15:47 Comments || Top||

#5  and set to autoscan email BEFORE they get in your inbox, especially if you use the preview pane on Outlook Express
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 15:49 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm forming a class action suit for all natural-born women against all natural-born men, pertaining to Adam's negligent and willful consumption of the apple.
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 19:41 Comments || Top||

#7  oops...I meant to put this under the post about class action suits... :-( Even so... if I do anything stupid, ..it's all Adam's fault, not mine.
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 19:45 Comments || Top||

#8  Yeow! Becky? Was it something I said? typical - I piss off a woman and don't know why..
©¿©
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 23:53 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan
Pakistan denies role in Taleban revival
Pakistan defended itself Friday against Afghan claims of complicity in the apparent revival of the Taleban, and called on Kabul to share intelligence to help thwart the fighters’ stepped-up insurgency.
"Yes. Help us figure where the intel leaks are coming from...
“There have been incidents in other parts of Afghanistan — very far away from our border with Afghanistan,” Pakistani Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri said at the conclusion of a two-day visit to Kabul. “Surely they are not being done because the ISI or the government of Pakistan is turning a blind eye,” he said, referring to Afghan accusations against Pakistan’s military Inter Services Intelligence agency. “They happen despite the efforts of governments to contain them and they happen in Europe, America, Asia.”
"And the roads connecting these remote parts with Pakland are very bad, so it's obvious they're not coming from there. The bus service is terrible..."
Afghan officials have blamed a surge in violence, concentrated in ­ but not confined to ­ former Taleban strongholds in the south and southeast, on remnants of the ousted militia allegedly regrouping in Pakistan’s remote tribal borderlands. Some Afghan officials have accused elements of the ISI of helping them regroup and organize attacks inside Afghanistan, but have produced no evidence for their claims. Pakistan has conceded that Taleban fighters are in their territory, but denies supporting them and insists there are far more inside Afghanistan.
"You just don't see them that much..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:54 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Four Talibs, two good guys dead in Uruzgan
Government forces fought suspected Taliban fighters in central Afghanistan, killing four insurgents and arresting six others, a local official said Saturday. Two government soldiers died. The fighting on Friday in a mountainous district of Uruzgan province broke out after authorities launched a campaign to hunt down suspected rebels in the troubled province, said Abdul Rahim who works at the provincial
governor's office. Rahim estimated that government forces fought as many as 300 suspected Taliban for about four hours, before the rebels retreated into the mountains. It was not possible to independently confirm the figures. The six arrested men were taken to Uruzgan jail.
If there were 300 of them, and they were on foot, you'd have to be a pretty poor tracker not to be able to follow them. And if they took the bus, an off-road convoy should be fairly obvious. Something's missing from this account...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:21 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Arabia
New Saudi Fatwa forbids killing of non-Muslims
Saudi Arabia's chief cleric deemed it a sin for Muslim to kill non-Muslims in a religious ruling meant to counter terrorism. Muslims who kill or rape non-Muslims or steal their money are committing not jihad, but "great sin (and) causing harm to themselves," Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz al-Sheik said in the fatwa issued Thursday and carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.
This looks like more on the fatwa we were talking about yesterday...
The mufti called for "true understanding of religion, especially the meaning of jihad (holy war) for the sake of God." Islamic extremists have declared jihad against the West and Arabs seen as supporting the West, but al-Sheik argued in his fatwa that only spiritual leaders can declare jihad. Al-Sheik's fatwa came one day after two suicide bombings targeted civilians and UN officials in Jerusalem and Baghdad.
Either of which claimed more lives than the Riyadh bombings in May...
Last week, the Saudi Council of Senior Clerics issued another fatwa condemning terrorists and urging citizens not to help them.
That's a different body from the Supreme Council on Global Jihad, mind you...
The Mufti also urged Muslims on Thursday to shun extremism and avoid waging unjustified jihad (holy struggle). Grand Mufti told Saudis to listen to their religious authorities and ignore fanatic interpretations of Islam or risk "banning God's bounty." "One of the fall-outs from extremism in understanding Islam is that some people call for jihad for the sake of God without justification," Sheikh Abdul-Aziz said.
It's an Islamic vanity thing...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 13:50 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  OK. So this guy is the best you can come up with for a moderate? He's willing to let us live?
Posted by: Matt || 08/23/2003 14:39 Comments || Top||

#2  Matt---It's a start, we gonna live, I feel better about myself today. (/sarcasm)
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 08/23/2003 15:07 Comments || Top||

#3  Do "non-Muslims" include infidels?
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/23/2003 15:44 Comments || Top||

#4  Well that clears everything up for me. Islam, the Religion of Guess My Mood™ is remarkably flexible, though it is the precise and exact Word of God™. Last month, the Grand Doodah was very much in favor of wiping all infidels off the face of the Earth, as he had stated more than once since 9/11. Today, it's a "great sin" because, uh, cuz, um, we say so. Yeah, that's the ticket. Only we Spiritual Leaders can declare jihad - which now means "holy war"... Yeah, last month our overpaid sniveling apologists spokesmen were telling you it meant "to struggle" and was about a True Believer's internal "battles" against temptation - not holy war against infidels. Nope. No way - we're the Religion of Peace™. You were wrong. Then. Now it means Holy War. But you can only do the Holy War Jihadi-stuff when we say it's okay. When we Spiritual Leaders™ issue you a fatwa. No fatwa, no jihad - got it? So, that settles that little misunderstanding. Sorry for the inconvenience it may have caused. Everyone killed by Jihadis who mistakenly believed they were engaged in Holy War are now, uh, er, um, dead. No, wait, they're in Paradise™. Yeah, that's it, Paradise™. So it's okay, got it? No reason to be mad or upset or anything. We were prolly just misquoted by your infidel press cuz the Qu'uran is the exact Word of God™. Yep. One little misquote and Poof! Big Mess™. But it's all fixed, now. They all got raisins virgins, too. Yep. See? Here's the fatwa that sez so. Oops, the ink's smearing. Still wet. Bizzy, bizzy. Okay. All clear now, right? K. Nothing to see here. Move along. Move along.
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 19:48 Comments || Top||

#5  Sounds like the Saudi government is finally using the power of the purse to get the clerics to stop fomenting terror. The next step is for the Saudis to start monitoring private donations funneled towards Islamist religious schools. Until they do that, the only thing they've achieved here is plausible deniability, which may, of course, be their only intention.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/23/2003 21:09 Comments || Top||

#6  On the plausible deniability line of thought, it has occurred to me that the Saudis might be financing an even bigger operation than 9/11, and want to get their ducks in a row before the operation is carried out. Wouldn't put it past them.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/23/2003 21:41 Comments || Top||

#7  No way! They're our friends!

How's our JDAM production coming?
Posted by: Matt || 08/23/2003 22:22 Comments || Top||


Europe
Turkish troops kill three Kurdish rebels
Turkish troops killed three Kurdish rebels Friday in a clash in southeastern Turkey, which also left nine soldiers wounded. The clash in the southeastern province of Siirt came two weeks after rebels of the PKK or Kurdistan Workers Party rejected a government amnesty that grants reduced prison terms to rebels who have engaged in violence, but only if they provided security officers with information on the group. The clash took place between the southeastern cities of Siirt and Batman north of the Syrian and Iraqi borders. The outlawed PKK, which now calls itself KADEK, declared a unilateral cease-fire in 1999, but has threatened to end the truce if the government does not accept the cease-fire by Sept. 1. The government has rejected the cease-fire and refuses any contact with the group.
We all know how well those hudna things work...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 13:41 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Faith! 'Tis another Irish boom!
A small bomb detonated inside an abandoned car in the Northern Ireland border town of Newry, but nobody was injured, police said Saturday. No group claimed responsibility for the blast Friday night inside Newry's main bus depot. Irish Republican Army dissidents continue to mount occasional bombings in opposition to the 1998 peace accord for Northern Ireland. Authorities were alerted to the car because it caught fire, suggesting that the homemade explosive device inside had malfunctioned. But firefighters didn't realize that the source was a small bomb, which detonated as they were dousing the blaze. Shrapnel hit nearby buses but missed the firefighters, police said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 11:49 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Great White North
Canada arrests Pakistanis on terror suspicion
Police detained 19 people, who remain in Toronto area jails while an investigation into possible terrorist links continues, the Toronto Star reported Friday. In pre-dawn raids last week, several different police forces, working with Canada’s immigration agency, arrested the Pakistan-born men, charging some of them with immigration violations while others have not been charged. Those men can be held under the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act without charges if they are considered to be a “threat to national security.”
That's a pretty tight definition up north...
“I can confirm that we were part of the arrests last Thursday. We arrested 19 people, but all in an assist to Immigration,” Michelle Paradis, a spokeswoman with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, told the daily. Members of an anti-terrorism unit said the men mimicked behavior of a larger group that appeared to be suspicious, according to a four-page August 19 summary on their detention obtained by the Toronto Star. “(The Public Security and Anti-Terrorism) officers determined that based on the structure of this group, their associations and connected events, there is a reasonable suspicion that these persons pose a threat to national security,” the summary states. One of the 19 men had been taking commercial pilot lessons on a multi-engine airplane at a regional flight school, which flies over a nuclear power plant for training, according to the police investigation, dubbed “Project Thread.” He often brought an unknown male as a passenger and seemed an unmotivated student, the summary said. Two more of the men — who were mostly students or refugee claimants — were deemed suspicious after regional police found them outside the gates of the Pickering nuclear power station in April 2002.2. A lawyer for two of the detained men, Mohammed Syed, said what was provided as “reasonable suspicion” at a detention review hearing this week was pure innuendo.
"Lies! All lies! Y'r honor, my client was jus' standin' there, mindin' his own bidnid, when these guys comes up an' arrests him! It ain't nuttin' but discrimination, that's what it ain't nuttin' but! Never woulda happened if he hadn't been wearin' a turban and rollin' his eyes!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I thought Canadian PM had announced there were no terrorist cells in Canada.Oops.
Posted by: Stephen || 08/23/2003 0:48 Comments || Top||

#2  say, werent two guys who were on a watch list and 'detained' after 9/11 and yet were recently caught in seattle trying to catch a flight, werent they pakistanis?

Its amazing what two weeks with no sleep can do to help motivate someone to give up a little information (whos your controller, wheres your safehouse and so on) and yet not leave a mark or a chemical trace, funny how that works.....
Posted by: Frank Martin || 08/23/2003 3:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I read an article a while back in teh Washington Times that documented a massive migration of undocumented (or questionably documented) Pakistanis from the US to Canada. The negative flow of Pakastanis coincided with Ashcrofts special census of Middle Eastern men on visas.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 12:35 Comments || Top||

#4  So you like immigration statistics, eh? Well, take a look (specifically table 2).
Posted by: Raphael || 08/23/2003 16:40 Comments || Top||

#5  Frank M... heh!
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 20:02 Comments || Top||

#6  From the table it looks like immagration is down across the board in Canada. Must be SARS. My understanding was that the folks emigrating across the rainbow bridge would not have had paperwork that could have been presented to establish residency.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 21:41 Comments || Top||


India-Pakistan
Pak coast guard grabs 240 kilos of hash
Pakistani coast guards seized 240 kilograms of hashish and one kilogram of heroin hidden in a vehicle traveling on a coastal road in southwestern Pakistan, the state-run news agency reported Saturday. Acting on a tip, coast guards, who patrol the coastal roads, stopped the vehicle at Uthal checkpoint, 100 kilometers west of the port city of Karachi on Friday. The driver was arrested when the drugs were discovered. It appeared the vehicle was heading toward Karachi, presumably to send the drugs overseas, The Associated Press of Pakistan reported.
I dunno. I think they were going to hand it out at the local mosque. Certainly the fundos act like they're on drugs or something...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:29 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  When you are anchored in the Gulf of Oman, there is an incredible volume of smugglers travelling from Iran to Oman in small boats. Heroin seems to be an approved Iranian export. Wouldn't want to have the Ayatolla catch me with a twelve-pack of Bud, though.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 12:56 Comments || Top||

#2  Actually, if they were smoking hash, they'd be less spittle-spewing, insanely angry, eye-rolling (Ok, they might be red-eyed), Jihadi-bots....they would be checking out the traces when their hand waves (if you understand this, then you've been there lol) and listening to Led Zeppelin's Kashmir instead of trying to kill Kashmiris...I see that as a real improvement
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 18:42 Comments || Top||

#3  As long as there were no weapons about during the playing of a certain song I remember from Dark Side of the Moon. When all the alarm clocks start chiming, mellowness goes out the window.

Our Pshyops guys could drop them Dead CD's.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 21:50 Comments || Top||


Lanka prez warns Tigers will beat up military...
A top aide of President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Sri Lanka's military would suffer severe losses if peace talks with rebels fail and the guerrillas resume fighting. "What we understand is that the military's preparedness is nonexistent," Lakshman Kadirgamar told the Foreign Correspondents' Association of Sri Lanka Friday night.
That's comforting...
Kadirgamar said the rebels had taken advantage of a cease-fire to build up their fighting power — and Sri Lanka's 100,000-strong military wouldn't be able to confront them if war resumes.
That's what Bad Guys usually do when there's a ceasefire, isn't it?
The government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam signed a Norwegian-brokered cease-fire in February 2002, and held six rounds of peace talks. The rebels pulled out of the negotiations in April and have said they'll resume only after the government recognizes that they've permanently gnawed off a piece of their country allows them to run their own administration in the northeast. The government has agreed, but wants the rebels to first disband their police, banking and judicial systems. The rebels have yet to respond, but Kadirgamar said they were unlikely to make such concessions.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What has happened to all the warlike cultures in teh world. We can't even get Germany, Japan and Turkey to join us in a shooting match anymore. Korea, a country famous for its brutal ROK Marines, now is beset with peace protests, while our guys purposefully drive their Hummers back and forth through RPG alley in Tikrit trying to pick a fight. I thought we were the softies who would run when we got our nose bloodied. I understand when the Dutch and the Swedes restrict their militaries to 9 to 5 and no weekends, but the Turks have been flaying folks for centuries. Are they watching Sponge Bob? They can still join us. Nick JR re-runs the good episodes. They can tape them.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 22:14 Comments || Top||


Bangla choppers to have necks stretched...
A court in southern Bangladesh on Saturday sentenced nine villagers to death by hanging for the brutal murder of a farmer over a land dispute more than a decade ago. Abul Hossain, 45, was attacked and killed by a gang of armed men as he was having tea at a wayside stall on the offshore island of Maheskhali on Aug. 25, 1991. The assailants hacked Hossain to death with machetes, and then cut up his body into 42 pieces, according to the prosecution.
I can even, kinda sorta, understand killing somebody in a dispute over property. My understanding doesn't go as far as hacking them into a dozen pieces, much less 42...
The victim's family filed a case in 1991, accusing 27 of their neighbors of killing Hossain to settle a land dispute on Maheskhali Island, which is off the coastal town of Cox's Bazar, 295 kilometers (185 miles) south of the national capital, Dhaka. After a two-year trial that began at a Cox's Bazar court in 2001, Additional Sessions Judge Motazidur Rahman on
Saturday convicted nine of the accused of the murder, while acquitting 16 others, said prosecuting attorney Shameem Ara Begum.
Probably they won't convict you of murder if you just help mutilate the body...
Two other suspects died before the trial could begin.
Even neighbors have relatives...
Only six of those convicted Saturday were present in court, and they broke down in tears as the judge passed down the maximum sentence of death by hanging for the "heinous murder." Three of the other convicted men are fugitives. "After more than a decade, I got justice for my father. I am very happy," the victim's son, Shah Alam, 35, said after the verdict.
And it only took a dozen years. If they'd bumped him off using a method more subtle than hacking him into 42 pieces, it might have taken another dozen years. Seems like Bangla is following the old Indian legal traditions, in which suits could be handed down from father to son and sometimes took a hundred years to resolve, by which time all the interested parties had either forgotten what the original problem was or had wiped out each other's families...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  How do they know they got all the pieces?
Posted by: Jabba the Nutt || 08/23/2003 13:09 Comments || Top||


India can’t attack: Saeed
The Jamaat-ud-Daawa (JD) Ameer Hafiz Muhammad Saeed on Friday claimed that India could not attack Pakistan through Kargil.
"Nope. Nope. Can't do it."
Speaking to the Friday congregation at Jamia Qadssia, Mr Hafiz said, “I have seen the Kargil and Drass mountains and their geographical position would pose difficulties for Indian forces attacking Pakistan. He said India was amassing troops on the Kashmir peaks because it feared the situation in the area might become dangerous again. He said an anti-jihad image was being created in the public by the government, but warned that peace will not be established without jihad. He said the US media is presenting Islam as the religion of terrorism and Christianity as the religion of peace.
"Nope. Can't have peace without holy war. Ever'body knows that..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:32 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is it the American media or the Muslims themselves that are presenting Islam as a religion of terrorism?
Posted by: Ben || 08/23/2003 4:17 Comments || Top||

#2  Remember, Muslims aren't responsible for anything. So it has to be us.
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2003 11:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I was tempted... tempted I tell ya! I have to jihad someone! Innians'll do - with all those gods and graven images 'n everything, they're even crazier than the Christians and the Jooos! There's proof here:
http://www.satirewire.com/news/may02/hinjews.shtml">
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 11:49 Comments || Top||


5 killed, 10 injured as Rangers clash with tribals
Five people belonging to the Mir Jan Chakrani and Bagh Ali Chakrani tribes were killed and ten injured in an encounter with Rangers in the border areas near Kashmore, said Rangers Colonel Shahid on Friday. “Five tribesmen were also killed and ten injured in an operation against terrorists involved in rupturing the main gas transmission line in the jurisdiction of the Bakhshapur Police Station on Wednesday,” said Col Shahid. “The Rangers also destroyed a Russian-made landmine laid by tribesmen in the border area,” Col Shahid also said. Kashmore District Police Officer Sahib Shah said the police have wanted those involved in the incident for involvement in more than 50 cases of murders, kidnapping for ransom, and attacks on government installations and the police.
But... But... What about respecting their quaint tribal customs?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:29 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Kashmore? Is that anywhere near Kashmir?
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 18:45 Comments || Top||


Five injured as bomb explodes in Hyderabad
Five men were injured when a bomb blast ripped through a thatched eating-house on National Highway in the police limits of Qasimabad about nine on Friday night. The injured have been admitted to Liaquat Medical College where the condition of two of them was stated to be serious. The bomb disposal Squad, Rangers and the police arrived at the spot. The bomb disposal squad said it was a home-made bomb weighing 500 grams. The bomb was placed under a bench in the eating-house. The eating-house was completely destroyed in the explosion. After the bomb blast, the highway remained closed for nearly half an hour.
Probably a landlord-tenant dispute. Not enough explosives involved for terrorism...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq
3 U.K. troops die in Iraq attack
JPost - Reg Req’d
The death toll among coalition forces rose Saturday when three British soldiers were killed in a guerrilla attack in southern Iraq. Also, U.S. troops killed two Iraqi Turkomen who opened fire when soldiers arrived to quell a bloody ethnic clash in the north.

Despite continuing violence, sabotage and terror attacks including this week’s suicide bombing of U.N. headquarters the American administrator for Iraq said the U.S.-led coalition would not slow efforts to rebuild the country, shattered by war and 13 years of U.N. sanctions.

"We have never hidden the fact that we have security problems in Iraq," L. Paul Bremer told a news conference.

Also in Baghdad, U.N. workers who had not left Iraq after Tuesday’s attack resumed work in a cluster of tents set up at the battered Canal Hotel compound, former home of U.N. offices.

Investigators and soldiers searched piles of debris for human remains and clues in the truck bombing that killed at least 23 people, including top U.N. envoy Sergio Vieira de Mello, whose memorial was held Saturday in his native Brazil.

One of the envoy’s dying wishes was for the United Nations to remain in Iraq and continue work to establish democracy, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told mourners.

"Let us respect that," Annan said. "Let Sergio, who has given his life in that cause, find a fitting memorial in a free and sovereign Iraq."

Back at work, U.N. staff embraced each other. Computers and office equipment were moved into portable, air-conditioned offices flown in from Italy and set up beside the tents.

"We are moving forward," Ramiro Lopes da Silva said on his first day on the job as acting head of the U.N.’s Iraq mission. The Portuguese diplomat’s right hand, forehead and ear were bandaged from the blast.

Bremer said it was too early to speculate on who carried out the bombing.

Addressing reports that he and the Iraqi Governing Council were increasingly at odds, Bremer said there was concern inside the council over the coalition’s inability to fully restore electricity, which has angered many Iraqi people. Bremer established the 25-member council as an interim government, though it has little real power.

"They share our frustration with not being able to restore essential services to prewar levels," Bremer said, noting the coalition set an end-of-September goal for getting the lights back on permanently.

Bremer also said he had encouraged the council to reach out to Iraqis to join in the reconstruction and security of their country.

In Basra, the British military said a two-vehicle convoy was attacked by gunmen in a pickup truck as the soldiers traveled through the city center on a patrol about 8:30 a.m.

As of Saturday, the British government has reported 48 deaths since the war began. The American military says 273 U.S. soldiers have died since the beginning of military operations. Denmark’s military has reported one death.

On or since May 1, when President Bush declared major combat operations over, 135 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, according to the latest military figures. Counting only combat deaths, 65 Americans and 11 Britons have died since the Bush declaration.

In Tuz Kharmato, 110 miles north of Baghdad, U.S. soldiers killed two Turkomen tribesmen and wounded two others after the Americans were fired on when they arrived Friday to quell ethnic fighting, said Maj. Josslyn Aberle, 4th Infantry Division spokeswoman. She said it was the first ethnic conflict in the tense region since May.

Capt. David L. Swenson of the 173 Airborne Brigade in Tuz Kharmato told The Associated Press that several hundred Turkomen protesters were on the streets. The fighting reportedly broke out after Kurds destroyed a reopened Turkomen Islamic shrine.

Three Turks and five Kurds were killed and 13 people wounded, Swenson said

Violence continued late Saturday in nearby Kirkuk, where rocket-propelled grenades were fired at statues of two Turkomen heroes as gunfire punctuated the night. There was no indication of who was shooting or any sign of U.S. forces.

Squads of police were stationed at each of the statues after the attacks.

"We’re worried about the situation, but we are working with city leaders and officials to resolve it," said Lt. Jonathan Hopkins of the 173rd Airborne Brigade.

Earlier, Kirkuk Mayor Abdul Rahman Mustafa, a Kurd, told the AP two people were killed and several were wounded. He did not identify the victims’ by ethnicity.

According to both CNN-Turk television and private NTV television in Ankara, Turkey, hundreds of Turkomen, carrying blue Turkomen flags, marched on the governor’s office. Turkey’s Anatolia news agency reported two Turkomen were shot and killed and 11 wounded by Patriotic Union of Kurdistan forces.

As the United Nations resumed work Saturday, staff members complained that the U.S.-led coalition had done little to provide security in the area before the bombing.

"It was the coalition’s fault, because it was their job to watch the parking area where the bombing happened," said security officer Mohammed Abdul Aziz.

The U.S.-led coalition claims responsibility for security in the country but says it has no obligation to guard specific sites such as the U.N. headquarters and diplomatic missions. U.S. troops are, however, guarding locations such as Iraqi banks and the oil ministry.

But Maj. Mark Johnston said soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division had temporarily taken control of security at the bombed hotel, which became U.N. headquarters in Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf War.

"It’s still a dangerous site. We are still in the recovery stage," he said.

Eighty-six seriously wounded U.N. workers were airlifted out for medical care.

Two U.N. employees were still unaccounted for and an unknown number of people visitors to the building remained buried in the rubble. The U.N. official death toll was 20, but checks of area hospitals by The Associated Press showed at least 23 died in the blast.

Friendly Brits have been learning the hard way that not all Arabs/Iraqis want to move out of dictatorship. Our thanks and condolences go out to their families. Our venom and hope for early painful deaths go out to the culprits
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 5:51:53 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I agree. Thank god for true friends like the brits. their deaths were not in vain.
Posted by: g wiz || 08/23/2003 19:50 Comments || Top||

#2  This is not my most original thought, but we really ought to locate Saddam Hussein and kill him, a lot, soon. For some reason I think he must be easier to find than OBL and he is starting to piss me off nearly as much.

Condolences to our allies. It's ok if you find him first. Let's just get on the stick with this.
Posted by: Mark IV || 08/23/2003 20:21 Comments || Top||

#3  Mark IV? are you my subconscious? We seem to have an attitude in common LOL
tu amigo en santee
Frank
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 23:48 Comments || Top||


Turkey bad-mouths Barzani and Talabani
Turkish Justice Minister Gemil Gigek who labeled Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani as “Tribal leaders” told the American Senator Richard Lugar "Do not prefer two tribal leaders over the friendship of Turkey. Turkey is a friend of U.S. and two tribal leaders should not be preferred over this friendship."
Our friend stayed home when we went into Iraq, and wouldn't let us shortcut through their back yard. The "tribal leaders" helped us...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 13:56 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Friends"(snort)
Posted by: raptor || 08/23/2003 14:36 Comments || Top||

#2  One can only wonder how Senator Lugar managed not to burst out laughing.
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 20:34 Comments || Top||


Turkmen Protest in Kerkuk Turns into a Skirmish
11 people were wounded when shots were fired at a protest organized by Turkmens earlier today. The demonstration was in response to the killing of seven Turkmens by members of the Iraq Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (IPUK), peshmergas in Kerkuk (Kirkuk) yesterday. The wounded were taken to hospital. A vehicle was also set on fire. Police took security measures following the incident. American troops set up a barricade along the roadside during the protest and, reportedly, tried to establish dialogue with the Turkmens.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 13:06 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Lebanese, Iraqi tourism bodies sign joint agreement
The Lebanese tourist establishments unions and the League of Hotels and Restaurants in Iraq on Friday signed a cooperation protocol to promote Arab tourism and the exchange of expertise and investment between both countries. The head of the Federation of Tourist Establishments, Pierre Ashqar, and the head of the Hotel and Restaurants League in Iraq, Dalir Ismail, signed the agreement during a meeting held at the offices of the Association of Hotel Owners. Ashqar said the protocol would create job opportunities for many Lebanese, especially as local experience in tourism would enable Lebanese to easily work in Iraqi establishments.
"Gosh, honey! I just can't decide where we should go for vacation this year. Should we go to Fallujah, or to Ein el-Hellhole?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 13:01 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Lebanon has a tourist board?!! I'm not sure, but I'll bet the East St. Louis Chamber of Commerce gets more phone calls in a year.
Posted by: Christopher Johnson || 08/23/2003 14:50 Comments || Top||

#2  "Arab tourism" -- would that be the gun-totin' kind?
Posted by: Tom || 08/23/2003 15:56 Comments || Top||

#3  please check your AK47's and Semtex in at the front desk rather than using the overhead storage...thank you
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 20:14 Comments || Top||


IRAQ: New model army training begins
Fifty men queue in the hot morning sun for their turn to undergo a physical examination to determine their fitness to join a new Iraqi National Guard force, about to be formed. Training is to start this week for a platoon of 120 men, many of them former Iraqi army soldiers. In the empty rooms of a former library, the men were being weighed and having their eyesight, hearing and blood pressure checked. The new national guard was an experiment, Sgt Brent Williams, a spokesman for the 2nd Brigade Combat Team of the 82nd Airborne Division of the US army, told IRIN. "They’ll learn the way we train and the way we fight, compared to the way they train and fight," Williams said. "It will be about discipline and instilling a sense of esprit de corps." Once trained, the new force would handle things like crowd control and natural disasters, he added. They would spend time on the shooting range and learn crowd-control measures, undergo basic combat training and be taught the international laws of war.
Something that's previously been missing from their repertoire...
Many of those just recruited had been fighting against US troops just four months ago, including Qays Yusuf, who was a lieutenant in the now disbanded Iraqi army. "They told us to fight until death," Yusuf said, "but I saw there was no hope against the US army, so I went home."
Somebody should frame that statement...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:26 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Basic combat training was also missing from their repertoire
Posted by: JFM || 08/23/2003 2:23 Comments || Top||

#2  training a new Army , good so long as they r not like the south vietnamese army that if left alone could have been overrun by Vioetcong in a week. There was no excuse forthat, both were vietnamese ,same food,same height, same strengths and there is no reason the South Vietnamese just couldnt shoot straight.
Posted by: steveerossa || 08/23/2003 4:36 Comments || Top||

#3  James Dunnigan had an article on how to train the "New Model Army of Iraq" back in May on the StrategyPage website: Building An Arab Army That Can Kick Ass. Sounds like that process is underway.
Posted by: Mike || 08/23/2003 7:50 Comments || Top||

#4  Hey stevey, you seem to forget it was the American Democrat controlled Congress which cut all funds off for material support to the South Vietnamesse government which meant after a week or so of resistance, they ran out of ammo in many places. May Bella Abzug and her cohorts burn for abandoning their fellow man into bondage.
Posted by: Don || 08/23/2003 9:13 Comments || Top||

#5  We don't need an Iraqui Army who can kick ass, we need an Army who can kick fundies and Baathist asses and that is an entirely different thing. Until Iraq has become a structurally stable and friendly country we don't want them being able to oppose serious resistance to US or Israeli forces in case Iraq returns to an anti-western attitude. And still less to have Iraquis who can teach other Arabs to fight.

However if you read Ralph Peter's "Why Arabs lose wars" you will notice that many of the weaknesses of Arab armies are societal so until Iraq becomes a modern society its army will not kick ass.

In the interim the shortest path for building an Arab army that can kick ass is take N thousand new born babies, bring them to America (preferently in families who have been voting Republican since Lincoln and are card carrying members of the NRA),
shield them from Arab culture, raise them as good Americans who play baseball, drink cocacola, chew gum and wiling to die in defence of the constitution. Then enlist them in the US Army or the USMC. :-)
Posted by: JFM || 08/23/2003 13:33 Comments || Top||


Southeast Asia
Malays toss senior JI thug
A suspected senior member of the Jemaah Islamiyah extremist group has been freed from prison in Malaysia and is likely to be deported to his home country, Indonesia, officials said Saturday.
Oh, good move. He can have lunch with the vice president when he gets home...
Mohamad Iqbal Abdul Rahman, an Indonesian granted permanent residency in Malaysia, was released and handed to immigration officials in Kuala Lumpur on Friday, lawyer Latifah Koya told The Associated Press. Iqbal's wife, Fatimah Zahrah Abdul Aziz, said immigration officials told her he would be deported to Indonesia soon.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:17 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Thai police arrest five more terror suspects
Thai police have arrested five suspected terrorists including three Pakistanis and two Burmese nationals in the northern province of Chiang Mai, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said.
Golly. Pakistanis. They've never been involved in terrorism before, have they?
"They were arrested because their suspicious behaviour indicated they may have links with terrorists," Mr Thaksin said in his weekly radio address. "Initially they were arrested on immigration charges, we must question them before we can decide whether they are terrorists or not," he said. Thailand has been on alert since the capture of alleged terrorist mastermind Hambali in the central city of Ayutthaya two weeks ago. Although Mr Thaksin said at the time that the arrest wiped out the Jemaah Islamiah (JI) network in Thailand, Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh later said it was likely Hambali's lieutenants remained in the country. Mr Thaksin said a Thai national had also been arrested for giving shelter to the five suspected terrorists who were taken into custody on Friday. Chiang Mai immigration police commander Colonel Chinapath Tansrisakul said a large picture of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was found hanging in one of the bedrooms of the house where the five suspects lived.
Probably with incense burning in front of it...
"They are now under interrogation by the National Security Council, the National Intelligence Agency and Special Branch [police]," he told AFP, adding the five had initially claimed the picture belonged to their Thai landlord.
"It was his incense, too!"
Mr Chinapath said the suspects would appear in court on Saturday to face various immigration charges including overstaying their visas and illegal entry. "They said they had no occupation here, but some of them have overstayed their visas for almost one year," he said. The suspects had all entered Thailand separately.
No employment, just hanging around, doing nothing... Though I could think of several things to do in Chiang Mai. But then, I don't have a turban...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:41 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Are you making fun of me? (snicker) Being in Chiang Mai with nothing to do means you can have a LOT of fun. The term we used when I was young, before I became a citizen was: guiltless glider (from Cactus' album Restrictions). That be me today. Me like.

O/T: No indications of any activity, nutbag or police, from any of my puttering around or hangouts. Nope. Nuttin' happened here. No way, man. ;-)
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 11:42 Comments || Top||


Terror Networks
"New" militant group warns of suicide attacks
A shadowy militant group has issued a videotaped statement - purportedly filmed in Afghanistan - warning of more terror attacks around the world. The group, who call themselves the Centre of the Black Flag, say suicide attacks would be carried out in Turkey, Yemen, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere. In addition, they urged Pakistani clerics to stop the Pakistani government from sending peacekeeping troops to Iraq. The video was obtained by the Associated Press in the deeply conservative tribal belt of Pakistan. It is unclear how or if the Centre of the Black Flag is linked to the global terror network.
Probably just another False Moustache brigade from the usual suspects; the black flag represents Jihad, but I don’t know if it has anything to do with the "Black Flag" group that is supposed to be operating in Iraq.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 08/23/2003 8:31:42 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "Yar."
Posted by: seafarious || 08/23/2003 9:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Kinda funny. These cockroaches will be killed 'Black Flag' style before too long. God willing...
Posted by: badanov || 08/23/2003 10:53 Comments || Top||

#3  Mathematically we should seek to keep the kill rate of Jihadists higher than graduation rate of all know Maddrasses. The end result will be victory. We will know when things are headed in the right direction, when Imans begin to incorporate Evelyn Wood techniques into the curriculum of their little Rottweiler puppy mills.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 12:47 Comments || Top||

#4  Ah, yes. The Evelyn Wood School of Speed Detonation...
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2003 13:03 Comments || Top||

#5  Ah, yes. The Evelyn Wood School of Speed Detonation...

I thought the Tali boys in Afghan land, the ones with the exploding cars on the highway, had already read this.

"... jumping ahead now step 13, attach the blue wire to the red pole ..."
"NO YOU IDIOT you didn't do steps 6 through 12 first [boooom!!!]
Posted by: Steve White || 08/23/2003 21:47 Comments || Top||


Bush & Blair choke on the fallout from September the 11th
Al Muhajiroun's website is back up. This is from their latest press release...
So what is the significance of September the 11th two years on from the collapse of those two great idols, known as the Twin Towers, in New York? What has changed in the ensuing two years and, indeed, what does the future hold for the world post-September the 1lth?
I dunno. What?
Certainly as far as the Muslims are concerned the objective of living under the Shari'ah and ridding all Muslim land not only of the occupiers, but also the dictatorial regimes and the secularists, has gained massive momentum. From Indonesia and Malaysia to Yemen and Nigeria the call for the return of the Khilafah system, of ruling solely by the Shari'ah, can be heard. The hatred towards the US and UK, and their evil plans to crush Islam and Muslims, and to force a washed-down version of Islam on Muslims, similar to Christianity, has backfired, and instead, more and more Muslims are queuing up to fight Jihad and are willing to die to see the domination of divine law over man made law. The willingness to die can be seen in the face of those like Imam Samudra, who was recently given the death penalty for his involvement in the Bali bombings, and yet, when the verdict was handed out, he celebrated his upcoming martyrdom (insha'allah) in the way of Allah.
Just a reminder of the opinions of the other side. We had a long discussion yesterday on "dialogue." I just can't see where dialogue with divine-right theocrats takes you. I'd rather see the Brits shut these bastards down and throw them out of the country...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 01:02 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dying is easy. Living with folks as they are, without trying to force your beliefs on them, that is hard. The sooner these folks die, the better it will be for the living to, well live.
Posted by: Ben || 08/23/2003 4:21 Comments || Top||

#2  "on September the 11th 2003, Muslims worldwide will again be watching replays of the collapse of the Twin Towers, praying to Allah (SWT) to grant those magnificent 19, Paradise."

Someone should aquaint this dude with hate laws (or anti-hatred laws). These folks are walking a fine line and one of these days they will slip. I hope someone notices when they do. I hope someone is paying attention.
Posted by: Raphael || 08/23/2003 7:30 Comments || Top||

#3  I'd rather see the Brits shut these bastards down and throw them out of the country...

Speaking just for myself, I'd like to see the Brits round these bastards up and summarily execute them. 'Course, I am a bit cranky.
Posted by: Mike || 08/23/2003 10:21 Comments || Top||

#4  That's be my preference, too, but I realize that we're too nice nowadays to do such things. Henry VIII or Elizabeth would have lopped their heads off. Cromwell would have taken his time about helping them depart this vale of tears.

Eventually these lunatix will push too far and then our grandchildren can reassure each other that their world would have found a better, nicer way to deal with the problem, rather than doing the terrible things we're going to have to do.
Posted by: Fred || 08/23/2003 10:45 Comments || Top||

#5  ur grandchildren can reassure each other that their world would have found a better, nicer way to deal with the problem, rather than doing the terrible things we're going to have to do.

Hope to Christ not. Speaking as a former leftwinger, I hope and pray my daughter takes the lessons I learned in my life, and strives not to walk the path I did, to learn the lessons I had to learn the hard way the easy way.

I have such a hard time believeing that the average Brit will take this Jihad crap much longer.
Posted by: badanov || 08/23/2003 11:01 Comments || Top||

#6  But... but wasn't 9/11 a Zionist/CIA conspiracy???

Btw in Germany that website wouldn't last a day. Qualifies as "incitement to hatred and genocide".
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/23/2003 12:23 Comments || Top||

#7  "like the morons they are"
Posted by: Lucky || 08/23/2003 12:28 Comments || Top||

#8  Wish I was still living on the Edgware Road, I'd like to mosey on over to one of their stalls, chew the fat, toke on a hookah, throw a coupla buckets of red paint around...
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/23/2003 12:44 Comments || Top||

#9  TGA - the difference is your country's seen where this kinda crap can lead and decided to do something about it...the Canadians, and the leftist Brits have blinders on
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 16:52 Comments || Top||

#10  Frank, I can only hope that the Brits let this "Islamic Conference" happen, then storm it and remove EVERY man attending it from society.
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/23/2003 17:48 Comments || Top||

#11  the Canadians, and the leftist Brits

...and some Americans. You have as big an obsession with free speech as anyone else does.
Posted by: Raphael || 08/23/2003 18:09 Comments || Top||

#12  There's still plenty to be said for free speech. Let's not forget it's not words that kill, but actions. There's plenty to be said for allowing these domestic spittlefests to go on, in view of the public. It's an excellent opportunity for the police and the intelligence services to do some surveillance, and possibly infiltration. Don't forget the British authorities can take incitement to murder seriously, as in the case of Sheikh Abdullah al-Faisal. It's also an opportunity for the public at large, 'infidel' and moderate muslim alike, to see the ugly face of extreme Islam, and its true beliefs. Do you think praising 9/11 will get them sympathy, or alienation?
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/23/2003 19:12 Comments || Top||

#13  Do you think praising 9/11 will get them sympathy, or alienation?

Do you want an honest answer? I deal with pathological, anti-American hatred every day, and it's not just a couple of people. Even the people who are not outspoken about this, or those that are mildly sympathetic towards America, are not at all outraged at the Sept. 11 attacks. Therein lies the real danger, if you ask me.
Posted by: Raphael || 08/23/2003 19:45 Comments || Top||

#14  Where are you, Raphael? I live in the UK. I have an eclectic circle of friends and associates with a wide spread of opinions. I honestly don't think anyone I can think of will find this sort of thing attractive, and that includes moderate muslims. In fact, all the muslims I personally know and who I've discussed such matters with are upset to find themselves associated with 9/11 and the other attacks. Yes, there's a lot of anti-Americanism around, but throwing light on the greatest nexus of Anti-Americanism, i.e. extreme Islam, will not, IMO make people more anti-American, in fact it will cause them to reassess their allegiances. Let them take enough rope to publicly hang themselves.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/23/2003 19:53 Comments || Top||

#15  Just to clarify the above - no Muslims I know deny fellow muslims were responsible for 9/11. I'm sure there are many who do, but none that I know. In fact, my generation of Muslim in the UK are far, far, less interested in religion than their parents. Extreme Islam, it frothing delirium and barbarity, is nudging the majority of moderate Muslims in the direction of secularism.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/23/2003 20:14 Comments || Top||

#16  Bulldog -
"It's an excellent opportunity for the police and the intelligence services to do some surveillance, and possibly infiltration."
This will happen, no doubt.

"It's also an opportunity for the public at large, 'infidel' and moderate muslim alike, to see the ugly face of extreme Islam, and its true beliefs."
This WON'T happen, no doubt. Will the BBC cover a spittlefest and show it, warts and hate and all to the Great Unwashed UK Public? Not bloody likely, bro. It might end up being a BBC 5-part series on "Why The SpittleFest is America's Fault... and, Besides, It's Not Really a SpittleFest Because Islam is Misunderstood." I wish you were right, but I don't believe so on this point.

As for Muslim friends, I offer an observation. Please take it only as such - no more or less - your mileage may vary, slightly. I know scores of Muslims and, one on one, they seem to be just regular people, especially if converts. No different from anyone else. Then they get together at the Mosque and something rather remarkable happens: they are no longer Brits or black or white or Labor or left-handed or myn or Arsenal Fans or your friends - they are Muslims - first, foremost, and absolutely. Then the Muslim View is given by the Great Turban of Truth. And that, as they say, is that - at least while in the mosque. When's the last time you went to Friday Prayers with your Muslim friends? What they think of the Friday GroupThink and what they do about it depends, of course, upon the individual. But be absolutely assured that, when in the presence of other Muslims, especially if one or more are known to be True Believers (whether extreme or sweet as a pussycat), they will follow the bouncing ball as directed by the Great Turban. It's an amazing - and disconcerting - thing to realize that the guy you work with everyday - shared a joke with 10 minutes before - is now too embarassed to even acknowledge you as he comes out of the Mosque with his fellow Muslims - ashamed of you, in fact. As an infidel, you are merely another cow among the cattle... and he may have just heard about an upcoming BBQ. Just something to keep in mind when tempted to think that we're all just cozy peas in the same pod.
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 20:27 Comments || Top||

#17  These guys need to fire their marketing director. They keep pushing the "muslim's will rise up" slogan, but it's just not having the impact they had hoped for. Jeesh..give it a rest. Time for a new jingle.
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 20:43 Comments || Top||

#18  Bulldog, I live in Toronto, Canada. My place of work (I won't say where, but it's a non-government job) brings me in contact with a lot of recent immigrants from all over the world. Let's just say I get an interesting insight into the various "America the root of all evil" theories... that are all quite pathological. Interesting to note however, that underneath all this anti-Americanism, however subtle it may be, lies a separate agenda or personal grievance against the US that originates in the past somewhere. For example, if you don't like Jews, you automatically hate America, etc. Secondly, I realize that my particular job puts me into a statistical anomaly, and that most Canadians, and not all immigrants think bad thoughts about America. I should know, I am both of those :)
Posted by: Raphael || 08/23/2003 21:53 Comments || Top||

#19  oops, I meant to say that most Canadians do not think that thoughts about America.
Posted by: Raphael || 08/23/2003 23:14 Comments || Top||

#20  It's the meds. Sorry. Once again:
Most Canadians do not think bad thoughts about America.
Posted by: Raphael || 08/24/2003 7:00 Comments || Top||

#21  .com, I think our experiences of Muslims are very different. The Westernised Muslims of the younger generation tend, in my experience* and in the UK at least, to be well assimilated into the native culture. They usually take their religious duties about as seriously as I do, which is notionally, and this is not a sham. They drink, sometimes a lot, have relationships with non-Muslims (more often than not), and attend the mosque infrequently and only to keep their parents happy. I have even lived with a Muslim girl (a sunni, sharing a four-student flat on the Edgware Road, London, in the heart of London's arab quarter - but that's a long story), who remains one of my closest friends, so all in all I feel pretty qualified to offer my opinions. These are educated people, the products of an open and free society, not the brainwashed sots who inhabit the Middle East.

Of course here in the UK we have more than our share of problems with local extremists, so I'm not putting my head in the sand. We harbour Abu Hamza and a thousand other Crazed clerics, and have produced Richard Reid, the Tel Aviv boomers, and a million terror-apologists: we do have a problem, but Joe Muslim is a potential ally more often than a lurking threat. There's still little, as far as I can see, to justify trying to force meetings like this underground.

*My experience is biased towards young, well educated Muslims, although not exclusively. Ghetto communities do exist in some cities, of which I have no first hand experience.
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/24/2003 17:22 Comments || Top||

#22  Raphael, I wouldn't hesitate to question your experiences. Recent immigrants are more likely to hold these sorts of loser mentalities. It's the second generation who are generally well-adjusted (again, in the UK, in my experience).
Posted by: Bulldog || 08/24/2003 17:32 Comments || Top||


Latin America
Brazil earthbound again in rocket disaster
SAO LUIS, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil vowed to continue its space program on Saturday after 21 people died in a rocket explosion that ended the country’s third attempt to become a space power.
Forgot they even HAD a space program... you’d think they had problems to solve closer to home, but then I guess that’s what everyone says about us.
The unmanned rocket, designed to carry two satellites into orbit, blew up on Friday at the heavily guarded jungle base of Alcantara, in the northeastern state of Maranhao, after an engine ignited accidentally.

"I pay homage to the workers who gave their lives in the name of the development of Brazil," Defense Minister Jose Viegas told a news conference in the state capital Sao Luis before solemnly reading out the names of the 21 dead.

"We will continue the (space) program so that they did not die in vain," he said, adding that the site was still potentially dangerous due to spilled fuel.

The minister said there would be an investigation into the cause of the explosion. Air force officials said the chance of sabotage was very remote.
One hopes.
Sixteen bodies had been found by early evening, officials said. Some were so badly damaged that they may need DNA testing to be identified.

Nearly 800 people were on the site when the $6.5 million, 65-foot Satellite Launch Vehicle blew up. It was on a launch pad undergoing final tests after which it would have been ready for lift-off next week.
Really is a darned shame. The Brazilian space budget for 2003 was $12 million. NASA spends that on dry cleaning.



Posted by: Mark IV || 08/23/2003 8:13:46 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Evidently, they haven't contacted the Chinese to find out how America solved these problems.
Posted by: Douglas De Bono || 08/24/2003 0:01 Comments || Top||


Middle East
Palestinians riot in Nablus
JPost - Reg Req’d
Palestinians rioted throughout the day in Nablus confronting IDF troops with firebombs and rocks.
fire back. use real ammo, not that rubber crap
"While conducting anti-terror operations in Nablus, Paratroopers were attacked several times by hundreds of Palestinians throwing fire bombs and rocks," a military source told The Jerusalem Post.

"Often there are automatic weapons used in these riots and our troops, who felt their lives were threatened, dispersed the crowd with rubber bullets," the source said.
damn
"We take every measure to protect innocent Palestinians while we hunt down those who wish to murder Israelis. What I question about the riots today is where are the parents of those small Palestinian children? Why are these infants being thrown into violent protests?" the source said.
Paleo culture - "we can have more...let him go play with teh murderous riot crowd antagonizing the Jooos. Maybe we’ll get some money out of it"
Palestinian sources said that at least 16 people were injured in the riots. Most were shot with rubber bullets, but two were hit in the legs by live bullets and one was wounded in the hand by shrapnel, hospital officials said.

Israeli troops have stepped up sweeps through West Bank towns in search of terrorists and weapons following a suicide bombing on Tuesday that left 20 dead and more than 100 injured. Six Jewish babies and children were counted among those murdered when their bus was ripped apart by an explosion shortly after leaving prayers at the Western Wall.

The army said soldiers fired rubber bullets after dozens of Palestinians as young as 11 years old left their homes and began throwing rocks and firebombs.

Some 200 teenagers remained in the streets hurling stones at soldiers and tanks despite a curfew. Demonstrators also burned tires and left large rocks in the street.

Some residents said they were angry about the return of Israeli troops and especially about raids in which soldiers break down doors and order out families.
"Fine - we’ll blow it up with civilians inside...it’s the Paleo Way™"
Soldiers helped administer first aid to the wounded, the army said.

On Friday, troops shot and killed a fugitive terror suspect in Nablus who was spotted hiding out on the roof of a hospital. Two other militants on the roof were critically wounded and were being treated at the hospital.

Palestinian leaders said Saturday they would try to broker a new halt to attacks by Islamic and other extremist groups and urged Israel to stop killing top militants.

Chances for a new cease-fire looked dim, however, and top Palestinian officials said privately they were unable to stop what looked set to be an all-out war between Israel and Palestinian terrorists.

After a Cabinet meeting in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday, Information Minister Nabil Amr said any new cease-fire would have to include Palestinian groups and Israel.

"We can talk about a cease-fire, another truce, but we must have guarantees from Israel that it will cooperate. ... We are searching for a way to do that," he said.

The deadly bus bombing in Jerusalem prompted Israel to kill a leader of the Hamas terror group. A temporary cease-fire declared two months ago by Hamas and two other groups dissolved under promises of more suicide bombings, and progress along a U.S.-backed peace plan broke down.

An Islamic Jihad spokesman in Gaza said Saturday the group did not object to the idea of renewed truce talks but said an agreement would have no chance as long as Israel is hunting terrorists.

"We don’t have any conditions for any new dialogue," said Nafez Azzam, the Islamic Jihad official. But, he added, "I doubt that Israel is going to respect any new commitment."

Hamas officials could not be reached for comment Saturday.
because they were wetting themselves hiding under their daughter’s beds
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 4:49:38 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Rent-a-mob is doing good business today.
Posted by: Zhang Fei || 08/23/2003 17:11 Comments || Top||

#2  WIZARD OF ID JOKE

Rodney: 'The peasants are revolting, sire!'

King: 'So what else is new?'
Posted by: borgboy || 08/23/2003 21:02 Comments || Top||


Home Front
Bush Freezes Assets of Six Hamas Chiefs, Aid Agencies
The United States yesterday froze the assets of six senior Hamas leaders and five European-based organizations it says raise money for the radical Palestinian group. President George W. Bush said he was taking the action because Hamas claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack on a packed bus in Jerusalem that killed 20 people, including six children. The move, being carried out by the Treasury Department, also targets six top Hamas leaders. A senior administration official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was the first effort to block Hamas’ assets or funding sources outside the United States. Similar action has been taken worldwide against Al-Qaeda and other terrorist networks, however.
And should have been taken against Hamas and IJ long since...
“Hamas has reaffirmed that it is a terrorist organization committed to violence against Israelis and to undermining progress toward peace between Israel and the Palestinian people,” said Bush. Bush called on “all nations supportive of peace in the Middle East” to recognize Hamas as a terrorist organization and to join the United States in freezing the groups’ funds.
My guess is that the Frenchipeans will continue to pretend there's a difference between the poltical and military wings...
The Treasury Department supplied the following names and identifications for the six individuals: Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, the leader of Hamas in Gaza; Imad Khalil Al-Alami, a member of the Hamas political bureau in Damascus, Syria; Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas leader in Lebanon; Khalid Mishaal, head of the Hamas political bureau and executive committee in Damascus; Musa Abu Marzouk, deputy chief of the political bureau in Syria, and Abdelaziz Rantissi, a Hamas leader that Treasury described as reporting to Yassin.
He's second in command, after the sheikh, and a member of the politburo...
The charities whose assets were frozen included a support group based in France called the Committee for Charity and Aid for the Palestinians; the Association for Palestinian Aid in Switzerland; the Palestinian Relief and Development Fund, or Interpal, headquartered in Britain; the Palestinian Association in Austria, and the Sanbil Association for Relief and Development, which is based in Lebanon.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 14:10 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Whatever is there should not be frozen but go right into the "Relief Fund for the victims of Hamas bombings".
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/23/2003 18:30 Comments || Top||

#2  via AP- (ED - my bolding)
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - A leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas on Saturday called President Bush an enemy of Islam because the U.S. government froze the assets of Hamas leaders in response to a suicide bombing of a bus in Jerusalem.

Speaking to Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV, Abdel Aziz Rantisi called the action "a theft of Muslim money by the Americans" and said the frozen money doesn't belong to Hamas.

"Hamas does not have any money in the U.S., Europe or even in the Arab states. President Bush has become Islam's biggest enemy," Rantisi said in the interview.
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 20:11 Comments || Top||

#3  Did that example of human waste call the U.S. an enemy? 'W' must have hit a nerve when he froze the 'Leaders' assets! Before Rantisi finds himself rooming with the Hussein brothers, he might want to rethink his words.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 08/23/2003 20:25 Comments || Top||

#4  "Hamas does not have any money in the U.S., Europe or even in the Arab states..."
Nope. It's all in Swiss numbered accounts. So donate more today to the Muslim Charity of your choice on our special list safe in the knowledge that we'll get our cut and Dubya won't be able to get his infidel hands on it.
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 20:34 Comments || Top||


Iran
US policy responsible for UN HQ blast
Former Iranian president Ali Akbar Rafsanjani called Friday for the United Nations to replace the coalition in running post-war Iraq to fix the "disaster" left by the US-led administration. "If the United Nations takes charge in Iraq, then countries like Russia, Germany, France, China, India and the Islamic countries will come to Iraq to find a way to help the region get out of this disaster that the United States has made," Rafsanjani said during weekly prayers on Friday. "The Iraqi situation is becoming like a puzzle, which has very bad repercussions for the world," he added. "All the Muslims and the world have to come together to find a logical solution for the Iraqi and the Palestinian issues which have inflamed our region," he said.

Also:
Iranian President Mohammed Khatami said the bombing of United Nations headquarters in Baghdad that killed top UN envoy to Iraq Sergio Viera de Mello was the result of misguided US policy. "Sergio Vieira de Mello was the victim of misguided (US) behavior, which set the ground for violent actions," Khatami said late Wednesday, speaking to former Iranian prisoners of war from the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq conflict.
"So! You guys ready to go back to Iraq to fight the infidels?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 13:53 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  The guy is a blatant plagarist. Al Gore used the same speech last week.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 14:32 Comments || Top||

#2  I still think de Mello was killed in revenge for East Timor
Posted by: Someone who did NOT vote for William Proxmire || 08/23/2003 16:00 Comments || Top||

#3  "The Iraqi situation is becoming like a puzzle, which has very bad repercussions for the world,"

no but very real reqpercssions for Iran. kinda feel surronded about now...just call it a little revenge for the last 25 years!
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/23/2003 19:20 Comments || Top||

#4  then countries like Russia, Germany, France, China, India and the Islamic countries will come to Iraq.

Nice little list of the Axis, isn't it? I'm sure the UN will have the same impact on getting us out as they had on getting us in, which is the same impact the UN always has....a nifty means to create huge pools of humanitarian money which is used for precious little other than to create generate lavish expense accounts and to provide money for graft.
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 20:25 Comments || Top||

#5  Funny that Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, Madeline (Not) Albright, Al Gore, and the 9 dwarves all have the same opinion. Bush must be doing something right with that crowd against him.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 08/23/2003 20:30 Comments || Top||


Middle East
PA urges Israel to join new hudna
Palestinian leaders are trying to head off a fresh storm of violence by brokering another cease-fire with militants while urging Israel to halt targeted killings. Palestinian Foreign Minister Nabil Shaath says any new cease fire will need Israel to sign on along with militant groups. "We want a hudna between all the Palestinian Authority and all its organizations and Israel," Shaath said. "We want a full stop to violence."
"Okay, Charlie Brown! I'll hold the football and you kick it!"

And Israel sez...
Israel will not agree to any more 'hudna' type security arrangements with the Palestinians and will stick to its demand that the PA dismantle the terror organizations, a senior official said Saturday. The official said that dismantling Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other extremist groups will become the starting point for any future security arrangement with the PA, Israel Radio reported. Senior officials in Jerusalem said Saturday that Israel had no intention at this stage to expel Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. The unnamed officials said that Arafat's influence and activities are being closely watched, and a decision regarding him will be made according to developments.
"Maybe we'll just put another tank round through his bedroom..."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 13:34 || Comments || Link || [2 views] Top|| File under:

#1  What I have been impressed with is The Israeli Army's troops discipline.With a rather small population I'm sure many if not most of the Army has lost a relative or knows someone who's lost a relative to Palestinian terrorists.That no soldier has fired a clip into crowd or decided to car-bomb(remote detonated) a Palestinian neighborhood speaks of incredible discipline.
Posted by: Stephen || 08/23/2003 17:46 Comments || Top||

#2  Ok, lets see, let's have a hudna, then we'll blow up some Zionist children but that doesn't mean we're not observing the hudna, then you Zionist kill the guy who ordered to blow up the kids, then it's Dire Revenge and the hudna is off.
Then we'll declare a new hudna, we'll blow up some children but that doesn't mean...
Charles Schultz was a genius.
Posted by: True German Ally || 08/23/2003 17:58 Comments || Top||

#3  Hapless
Underlings
Designing
Nitro
Appliances
KILL THEM ALL! They have no reason to live other than to spread hatred. Homas, Islamic Jugheads, and the rest can offer nothing towards peace. The only way to secure it is to ELIMINATE them. Throw in Al-Ishtar-murderers into that mix as well.
Posted by: Cyber Sarge (VRWC CA Chapter) || 08/23/2003 20:15 Comments || Top||

#4  I want some of what Shaath is taking / using / addicted to. Gotta be some great shit.

Frank G - So you have a thing for the Chief Apologist, too? I particularly like his Saville Row suits while "his people" live in squalor and rubble... sadly, they never show his shoes - I'll bet they're hand-made Italian loafers and prolly cost more 'n the avg Paleo makes in a year. One of my "favorite" guyz. Dunno if we can swing the present this year, but you can bank that he's on someone elses list, too, and will go out with a boom someday! Will that suffice for now? ;->
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 20:59 Comments || Top||

#5  Didn't Mohhamad end the first 10 year Hunda by ambushing, overrunning and exterminating the other party to the agreement?
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 21:59 Comments || Top||


Africa: North
GSPC claims Sahara trekkers’ kidnappings
The second-in-command of the largest Islamic extremist movement in Algeria, the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), claimed responsibility Friday for the kidnapping of 32 European Sahara trekkers early this year. Amari Saifi, an Algerian Army renegade known as Abdel-Razak the “para,” claimed in a statement published in Al-Khabar daily newspaper that the GSPC had abducted the tourists from Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland as they were trekking without guides in Algeria’s southern Sahara. Abdel-Razak’s statement, dated Aug. 18, announced that the last 14 hostages “were released safe and sound 
 through the good offices of regional leaders.” It contradicted Algiers’ claims that the 17 tourists freed in May had been sprung in an army raid, saying they had been “released by the mujahideen, not by Algerian forces.” The Algerian Army “did everything possible — to eliminate the group, including the tourists, saying it wanted to free them — then told the world that it had allowed the mujahideen to escape to Mali, to protect the lives of the tourists.” ­
Uhhh... That's what they were supposed to do.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:58 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon
Hamas has a parade in Ein el-Hellhole
The flag of the most powerful country in the world was trampled by the feet of demonstrators Friday, and was left to burn on the ground for five minutes after it was set on fire, during a protest staged by the Hamas movement within the largest refugee camp in Lebanon. American and Israeli flags were burned and trampled by angry demonstrators at the Ein el-Hilweh Palestinian camp as a protest at Thursday’s assassination of one of Hamas’ leaders, Ismail Abu Shanab. The demonstrators recalled how Israeli extremists had burned the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem in 1969, as the protesters started at the Khaled bin al-Waleed Mosque and toured the camp shouting slogans urging Hamas to fire Al-Qassam rockets against Israel.
"Yes! Kill them! Kill them all! The Religion of Peace™ demands it!"
At the head of the march, protesters wearing white shrouds shouted in favor of vengeance and the firing of Al-Qassam rockets. There were more than 2,000 marchers, including representatives of the various Palestinian factions, all rolling their eyes and hollering. As Palestinian camp residents lined the edge of the streets covered by the march, the flags of the United States and Israel were burned after gasoline was poured on them. While smoke was pouring out of them, they were trampled by dozens of demonstrators.
You said that before...
“The truth that the Zionists cannot understand is that the Palestinian people will not give up and go down on their knees before Zionist practices no matter how unfair they are,” the Hamas representative in the camp, Abu Ahmad Fadl, said in a speech devoted to condemning the killing of Abu Shanab.
"Fair, unfair — doesn't matter. We're against it!"
Hamas had staged a similar ceremony on Thursday at sunset at the Al-Bass Palestinian camp near Tyre. The ceremony, which marked the 34th anniversary of the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, was attended by Beirut MP Nasser Qandil and Hamas representative in Lebanon Osama Hamdan. Hamdan was surrounded by bodyguards who were armed with rifles and hand guns in fear of assassination attempts, after recent reports said that Israel was determined to liquidate Hamas’ leading representatives. “Anyone vying to represent the Palestinian people should protect fighters and face up to the growing US pressure. He should not turn the US pressure into a weapon aimed at the resistance fighters,” Hamdan said in an indirect reference to Palestinian Premier Mahmoud Abbas. He also called for sealing Palestinian national unity.
That means killing anybody who disagrees...
Hamdan accused Israeli Premier Ariel Sharon and his defense minister, Shaul Mofaz, of “finishing off the cease-fire.”
"Yes, yes! They are the ones who blew the bus! They dunnit!"
“We gave the enemy a 38-day opportunity to sit still while we killed them, but its government has wasted it,” Hamdan added.
"It's all their fault. Really."
In a separate development, Hezbollah condemned Abu Shanab’s killing. “The killing showed that there is no sense in talking about a lasting peace with Israel,” Hezbollah said in a statement Friday, which encouraged Hamas resistance fighters to continue launching attacks against “the enemy.”
"So that's why we didn't even mention it."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 12:48 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Hamas should send some interns to Macy's. Their floats are of inferior quality.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 12:59 Comments || Top||

#2  I love a parade! Concentrates large numbers of like minded people - effective targetting
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 18:03 Comments || Top||

#3  The flag of the most powerful country in the world

Well, at least they got that right.
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 20:54 Comments || Top||

#4  *The world* will never take us seriously until we start burning some flags ourselves.
Posted by: Anonymous || 08/24/2003 2:15 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
Blah back in Liberia
Liberia's caretaker President Moses Blah returned home on Saturday after a rapid swing around the region to build a consensus for peace among West African leaders who have previously supported war in Liberia. Blah met the presidents of Ivory Coast, Guinea and Sierra Leone — three countries accused by former Liberian authorities of supporting rebellion inside the country's sieve-like borders.
And coincidentally places where there was unrest starring roving gangs of Liberian snuffies...
The aim of Blah's trip — which came after a peace deal was agreed this week between Liberia's warring factions — was to draw a line under more than a decade of intermeshed wars. Blah apologized for Liberian interference in neighboring wars, and promised a new era of peace and friendship in a region best known for the brutality of its criss-cross conflicts. "The meetings were very fruitful. He met with all the heads of state. It was geared towards the peace process," Liberian Foreign Minister Lewis Brown told Reuters on Saturday.
Yep. It's all over but the shootin'...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 11:46 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Syria-Lebanon
Syrian press roundup...
Roundup from the official Sana News agency...
AlThawra daily on Saturday underlined that the immigration of the Iraqi Jews to Israel, and the participation of Israel in rebuilding Iraq under an Arab cover in a flagrant connivance and a humiliating illogical procedure that should never be allowed.
Yasss... Most things done to Muslims seem to be humiliating, don't they?
The daily added that such an Israeli attempt aims at exploring the Arab position. The daily pointed out in its editorial that the Israeli war against the Palestinians has not concealed the Israeli engagement in Iraq. The daily indicated that such an Israeli act imposes a big challenge which should confronted collectively by the Arabs.
"Yes! We must all oppose them together, no matter what they do!"
Meanwhile Tishrin daily underlined that while all the Palestinian parties are trying to calm down the situation, yet the government of Sharon is after more escalation of tension.
We saw them try to calm down the situation by blowing the bus...
The daily stressed in its editorial that Israel is incapable of coexisting with the truce or with peace because peace and calm are the environment in which the well–known Zionist project of Greater Israel from Nile to Euphrates may die.
"Hi! I'm a paranoid schizophrenic with delusions of Arab grandeur! What are you?"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 11:42 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Uh, geez, where to begin! InSana. Talk about a target-rich idiotarian environment. Wacka-wacka. There is definitely a need for much more Thorzine in certain places.
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 11:57 Comments || Top||

#2  Thorazine. Sheesh.
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 11:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Yo Fred, start posting stuff from some moderate Arab news sources -- or maybe you just did.
Posted by: Matt || 08/23/2003 12:43 Comments || Top||

#4  Oh yeah! Israel must be just thrilled to be "rebuilding Iraq under Arab cover." After they finish there, perhaps they will want to clean some toilets in Damascus. Sheesh! I'm afraid that malnutrition has permanently warped a few neurons in these guys. Their recovery seems unlikely. ".com" is right.
Posted by: Tom || 08/23/2003 12:52 Comments || Top||

#5  The fact that this is mainstream thought in the Arab World is the real show-stopper.
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 21:37 Comments || Top||


Korea
Kim Jong Il’s Journal
Seen it before? Not appropriate? Constipated? So sue me. Funny enough to be worth a look - and if Sheriff Fred disagrees, it’ll disappear.
Hat Tip: Jennifer’s History and Stuff


Kim Jong Il’s Journal. You saw it here first (I hope), but certainly not last.

Read the daily posts from the bottom up - it’s a journal folks. And no, I don’t know why the conversations are graphics. Prolly so no one can rip ’em off!
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 9:57:44 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  better than Tom Daschle's weblog
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 18:49 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
Liberian rebels launch attack
Loyalist troops say they have been attacked by rebels on the main road linking the capital Monrovia and Buchanan, 120 kilometres south-east of the capital.
That didn't take long...
A senior loyalist officer told AFP news agency that armed members of the Movement for Democracy in Liberia (MODEL) launched an attack against regular troops near Van's Town, some 10 kilometres further east of the main road. An hour later, dozens of soldiers were frantically trying to prevent several hundred civilians from nearby hamlets to flee to the west. Liberian army deputy chief of staff General Benjamin Yeaten confirmed the attacks. "We informed ECOMIL and the UN this morning, we complained to ECOMIL," he told AFP. The ministry of defence was trying to assess the situation. "We will send an assessment mission to the spot," he said. ECOMIL is the peacekeeping mission from the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) which has been stationed in Monrovia since earlier this month as part of the peace process in the war-ravaged country. General Yeaten said the US military had been alerted as well and was sending a unit to the area.
Called that one, didn't we?
Event: Liberian peace deal collapse
Group: All of them
Narrative: The peace deal will not last more than a week, but the shortest interval we have is 30 days.
Window: 1 Months (9/18/03)
Probability 99% entered by Steve White on 8/19/03
Probability 100% entered by Raphael on 8/19/03
Probability 100% entered by Spot on 8/19/03
Probability 95% entered by Fred on 8/19/03
Probability 100% entered by Raj on 8/19/03
Probability 99% entered by Raj on 8/19/03
Probability 90% entered by Aris Katsaris on 8/19/03
Probability 99% entered by growler on 8/19/03
Probability 100% entered by Frank G on 8/19/03
Probability 99% entered by Watcher on 8/19/03
Probability 80% entered by Pappy on 8/19/03
Probability 80% entered by Pappy on 8/19/03
Probability 100% entered by tu3031 on 8/19/03
Overall opinion is Highly Probable (95%)
Current opinion is Highly Probable (93%)
Now the question is, how long until the full-scale fighting fires up again?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:51 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  10 days
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 11:07 Comments || Top||

#2  call me a cynic, but I think the first time someone doesn't get their cut of the aid money/goods flowing in, it'll erupt
Posted by: Frank G || 08/23/2003 11:32 Comments || Top||

#3  Many people have pointed out the simularities between Iraq and Somalia yet Liberia is somehow supposed to be civilized but downtrodden. Yet, every political leader is a former warlord, every high school age kid is toting a Kalashnikov and all reasonable people fled the country 10 years ago.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 12:25 Comments || Top||

#4  "...all reasonable people fled the country 10 years ago."

Correction: All reasonable people with enough liquid assets to do so. i.e. -- a small portion of the population. The rest just live in fear as in drug-ravaged neighborhoods of LA, NYC, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston, Detroit, etc.
Posted by: Tom || 08/23/2003 12:41 Comments || Top||

#5  They are our first group of re-immigrants
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 12:51 Comments || Top||


East Asia
Chinese man dies from mustard gas exposure
A man has died in China from mustard gas left behind by Japanese forces in World War II. Forty-one people in north-east China were accidentally exposed to mustard gas earlier this month when five containers were dug up at a construction earlier site. China's official Xinhua news agency says one man, Li Guizhen, died last night from organ failure. He made his living by recycling materials, and suffered burns to 95 per cent of his body when he opened a container at a recycling centre. Japan has admitted its forces left behind the mustard gas in World War II. China estimates Japanese forces left behind two million chemical weapons, canisters and containers.
And it's only taken 58 years for this particular WMD to come to light...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:45 || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Mustard lasts forever. There ae still French farmers exposed and burned by mustard each year when the plough their fields. Probably gives their produce extra flavor.
Posted by: Steve D || 08/23/2003 12:30 Comments || Top||

#2  Must be the secret behind Grey Poupon and that spicy mustard for the egg rolls, no?
Posted by: The Kid || 08/23/2003 14:39 Comments || Top||

#3  Mean Mr. Mustard is clearly responsible for this.
Posted by: Becky || 08/23/2003 19:57 Comments || Top||

#4  For that matter, there was a spot in a French harbor (the name escapes me at the moment) where a French naval ship carrying a cargo of mustard gas went down. (Yes, France had a navy, once. ^_^ )

The leaking gas dissolved into the sea water, producing a localized hazard that lasted for decades.

Oddly enough, aside from this spot, the rest of the harbor was more or less safe. Turns out mustard gas dissolves nicely in water, dilutes readily, and the regular tide constantly swept the harbor clean.

Lots of non-edible dead fish, tho. Heh.

Ed Becerra
Posted by: Ed Becerra || 08/23/2003 20:00 Comments || Top||

#5  Colonel Mustard, at the construction site, with the container.
Posted by: Steve White || 08/23/2003 21:29 Comments || Top||

#6  Steve White - too late for me but...


COFFEE ALERT!

:^{
Posted by: .com || 08/23/2003 21:51 Comments || Top||


Africa: West
LURD rebels promise to return stolen relief vehicles
The military commander of the LURD rebel movement has pledged to help recover vehicles stolen from the United Nations and relief agencies in Liberia and has promised aid workers free access to LURD-controlled areas of the country. The assurances were given by General Aliyu Sheriff, chief of staff of the Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD) rebel movement, to Ross Mountain, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Liberia, at a meeting on Thursday. The return of looted vehicles was one of the key demands made by Mountain at the meeting in Tubmanburg, a town 68 km northwest of the capital Monrovia, which serves as LURD's frontline military headquarters. Ramin Rafirasme, a spokesman for the UN World Food Programme (WFP), told IRIN on Friday that his agency had lost at least 20 trucks and other vehicles to looters and it would be unable to distribute food effectively without them. Astrid van Genderen Stort, a spokeswoman for the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), said about 20 UNHCR vehicles had been stolen, including two buses. An IRIN correspondent who accompanied the UN team said the town was full of vehicles looted in Monrovia, including two recently repainted trucks that appeared to have been taken from WFP.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt || 08/23/2003 00:25 || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:



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On Sale now!


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.
Click here for more information

Meet the Mods
In no particular order...
Steve White
Seafarious
tu3031
badanov
sherry
ryuge
GolfBravoUSMC
Bright Pebbles
trailing wife
Gloria
Fred
Besoeker
Glenmore
Frank G
3dc
Skidmark

Two weeks of WOT
Sat 2003-08-23
  Paleos urge Israel to join new hudna
Fri 2003-08-22
  Paleos slam Sderot with Kassams, mortars
Thu 2003-08-21
  Shanab departs gene pool
Wed 2003-08-20
  Chechens Joining Iraqi Guerrillas
Tue 2003-08-19
  Baghdad UN HQ boomed
Mon 2003-08-18
  22 dead in Afghan festivities
Sun 2003-08-17
  Bad Guys Blow Baghdad Water Main
Sat 2003-08-16
  Toe tag for Idi
Fri 2003-08-15
  Indons nab suspect in Marriott attack
Thu 2003-08-14
  Thais nab Hambali!
Wed 2003-08-13
  Afghan Bus Blast Kills 15
Tue 2003-08-12
  Harold sez he'll surrender
Mon 2003-08-11
  Chuck departs
Sun 2003-08-10
  Erdogan's party offices boomed
Sat 2003-08-09
  Villagers kill nine Maoist guerrillas in India

Better than the average link...



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.
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