Bahrain on Saturday released from prison two of six Islamists held for two months, but they still face charges over alleged links to Al Qaeda, one of their lawyers said. The six were arrested in mid-July and charged with plotting to blow up government and foreign targets in pro-US Bahrain -- headquarters of the US Navy's Fifth Fleet. The raid followed US warnings of possible militant attacks on US and Western interests in Bahrain and an order for non-emergency defence personnel and their families to evacuate the Gulf Arab island state. "The two were freed without any explanations. The prosecutors still have the right to put them under arrest whenever they want," lawyer Abdullah Hashim told Reuters. "The court will hold a special session tomorrow and may order the other four released. But they will continue to face the charges," said Hashim, who represents four of the suspects.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2004 11:13:05 PM ||
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From Slate, an article by Rebecca Liss
Only 12 survivors were pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center after the towers fell on Sept. 11, despite intense rescue efforts. Two of the last three to be located and saved were Port Authority police officers. They were not discovered by a heroic firefighter, or a rescue worker, or a cop. They were discovered by Dave Karnes.
Karnes hadn't been near the World Trade Center. He wasn't even in New York when the planes hit the towers. He was in Wilton, Conn., working in his job as a senior accountant with Deloitte Touche. When the second plane hit, Karnes told his colleagues, "We're at war." He had spent 23 years in the Marine Corps infantry and felt it was his duty to help. Karnes told his boss he might not see him for a while.
Then he went to get a haircut.
The small barbershop in Stamford, Conn., near his home, was deserted. "Give me a good Marine Corps squared-off haircut," he told the barber. When it was done, he drove home to put on his uniform. Karnes always kept two sets of Marine fatigues hanging in his closet, pressed and starched. "It's kind of weird to do, but it comes in handy," he says. Next Karnes stopped by the storage facility where he kept his equipment — he'd need rappelling gear, ropes, canteens of water, his Marine Corps K - Bar knife, and a flashlight, at least. Then he drove to church. He asked the pastor and parishioners to say a prayer that God would lead him to survivors. A devout Christian, Karnes often turned to God when faced with decisions.
Finally, Karnes lowered the convertible top on his Porsche. This would make it easier for the authorities to look in and see a Marine, he reasoned. If they could see who he was, he'd be able to zip past checkpoints and more easily gain access to the site. For Karnes, it was a "God thing" that he was in the Porsche—a Porsche 911—that day. He'd only purchased it a month earlier—it had been a stretch, financially. But he decided to buy it after his pastor suggested that he "pray on it." He had no choice but to take it that day because his Mercury was in the shop. Driving the Porsche at speeds of up to 120 miles per hour, he reached Manhattan — after stopping at McDonald's for a hamburger — in the late afternoon.
His plan worked. With the top off, the cops could see his pressed fatigues, his neatly cropped hair, and his gear up front. They waved him past the barricades. He arrived at the site—"the pile"—at about 5:30. Building 7 of the World Trade Center, a 47-story office structure adjacent to the fallen twin towers, had just dramatically collapsed. Rescue workers had been ordered off the pile—it was too unsafe to let them continue. Flames were bursting from a number of buildings, and the whole site was considered unstable. Standing on the edge of the burning pile, Karnes spotted ⊠another Marine dressed in camouflage. His name was Sgt. Thomas. Karnes never learned his first name, and he's never come forward in the time since.
Together Karnes and Thomas walked around the pile looking for a point of entry farther from the burning buildings. They also wanted to move away from officials trying to keep rescue workers off the pile. Thick, black smoke blanketed the site. The two Marines couldn't see where to enter. But then "the smoke just opened up." The sun was setting and through the opening Karnes, for the first time, saw clearly the massive destruction. "I just said 'Oh, my God, it's totally gone.' " With the sudden parting of the smoke, Karnes and Thomas entered the pile. "We just disappeared into the smoke—and we ran."
They climbed over the tangled steel and began looking into voids. They saw no one else searching the pile—the rescue workers having obeyed the order to leave the area. "United States Marines," Karnes began shouting. "If you can hear us, yell or tap!"
Over and over, Karnes shouted the words. Then he would pause and listen. Debris was shifting and parts of the building were collapsing further. Fires burned all around. "I just had a sense, an overwhelming sense come over me that we were walking on hallowed ground, that tens of thousands of people could be trapped and dead beneath us," he said.
After about an hour of searching and yelling, Karnes stopped.
"Be quiet," he told Thomas, "I think I can hear something."
He yelled again. "We can hear you. Yell louder." He heard a faint muffled sound in the distance.
"Keep yelling. We can hear you." Karnes and Thomas zeroed in on the sound.
"We're over here," they heard.
Two Port Authority police officers, Will Jimeno and Sgt. John McLoughlin, were buried in the center of the World Trade Center ruins, 20 feet below the surface. They could be heard but not seen. By jumping into a larger opening, Karnes could hear Jimeno better. But he still couldn't see him. Karnes sent Thomas to look for help. .... The article continues
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/12/2004 8:49:37 PM ||
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#1
Thank you, Mike. And thank you to these two special Marines, who did what Marines do.
One thing I've learned from the military Rantburgundians is that for many of you, being military is like being an Eagle Scout. However long or short the active phase may be, the identity -- with all that entails -- is lifelong. George Washington was only the first and best known of you citizen soldiers.
A Thai policeman has been shot dead in the kingdom's restive Muslim-majority south, becoming the latest victim of separatist violence that has claimed nearly 300 lives this year. Police said the body of the sergeant-major was found on a Pattani province roadside.
Dr Azahari Hussin, the fugitive Malaysian Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) bomb-maker, is so elusive that he has managed to give the Indonesian police the slip despite the massive hunt to track him after three major bombings for which he has been named the mastermind. This is because he knows Central Java, particularly Jakarta, like the back of his hand, a source told Sunday Mail.
Azahari has been a frequent visitor to Indonesia, even before he was pursued by the Malaysian police in 2001 and Indonesian police for the Bali, Jakarta J.W. Marriott hotel and the Jakarta Australian Embassy bombings. Initially, his visits to Jakarta in the early '90s began as harmlessly as a respectable person attending lectures and seminars. He was one of the participants at a Valuers Congress in Jakarta in mid October 1994. Azahari who hails from Malacca, is an expert in Property Management and Valuation theory and highly respected among people in his field. In December 1993, Indonesia's Ministry of Commerce and Education endorsed him as an expert and recognised his talents. He was also a former professor of statistics who studied in England and Australia. Interviews and intelligence dossiers on the former Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) lecturer states that Azahari was charmed by the Jakarta city life. In 1996, he migrated to Jakarta with his wife and worked as a consultant with a property management firm there.
A source said Azahari and his wife, known only as Nur Aini, lived in a rented house in Kemang in Jakarta. The childless couple stayed there for slightly more than a year. The dossiers also revealed he had taught for six months at University Gadjah Mada in Jogjakarta as a visiting professor. "Azahari was on loan to the university's faculty of economy and taught property management there," said another source. He held classes mostly on Saturday evenings. An Indonesian professor who was Azahari's colleague said he was a dedicated teacher. "He was a very intelligent person and very up-to-date and well-versed with the current issues. I was impressed with his general knowledge and ability to participate in discussions and to draw up plans for projects at the university." He said they used to sit down for hours to discuss matters pertaining to their project papers but never spoke on religious matters.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/12/2004 1:26:14 AM ||
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#1
Why not check out the attendees of Property Management and Valuation seminars. One can never escape the allure of a first love.
A Muslim militant wanted over the beheading of four farm workers three years ago has been captured in the southern Philippines, the military said Saturday. Asdal Ismael, also known as Abu Junaid and Abu Ismael, was captured by military intelligence in a remote part of Isabela City, capital of Basilan island, on Thursday, local military chief Colonel Raymundo Ferrer said. Ismael was identified as taking part in a raid by the Abu Sayyaf, a Muslim kidnapping gang, on a Basilan coconut plantation which ended in the beheading of four farm workers, Ferrer said. He is being questioned by the military before being turned over to legal authorities for filing of charges, the military said. The farm raid was seen as a diversionary tactic to slow down the pursuit of another Abu Sayyaf group hiding in Basilan after kidnapping 20 tourist and resort workers in May, 2001 including three Americans.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/12/2004 1:23:07 AM ||
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#1
... the beheading of four farm workers .... The farm raid was seen as a diversionary tactic to slow down the pursuit of another Abu Sayyaf group
Let's give this culture a permanent seat in the UN Security Council.
.
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
09/12/2004 8:57 Comments ||
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Indonesian police found traces of the explosives used in the suicide bombing of the Australian Embassy inside a room rented by the two alleged masterminds of the attack, the national police chief said yesterday. Police also released chilling security camera footage showing the small white delivery truck driving past the heavily fortified mission in Jakarta moments before it exploded, killing nine people and wounding more than 170. Police believe two of the dead were suicide bombers. All those killed were believed to be Indonesians, some of them embassy guards.
Indonesian police have redoubled efforts to track militants blamed for a suicide car bomb attack on the Australian embassy, and released video recordings of the powerful blast. The recordings, from two security cameras on opposite sides of the street from each other, showed a box-shaped van passing on its way to the embassy, on one of Jakarta's busiest roads, before blowing apart in a flash of smoke and debris, shaking trees and buildings. Then the images blurred. In one scene a man who appears to be a security guard on the opposite side of the street, some 100m from the centre of the blast, doubles over as its full force hits him just before he is covered in a cloud of smoke and dust.
A PALESTINIAN television journalist was killed today as he was giving a live report to camera on deadly clashes between US forces and insurgents in the heart of the Iraqi capital. Residents of his home town in the West Bank watched in horror as Mazen al-Tomaisi, who worked for Saudi television Akhbariya and for the pan-Arab satellite channel Al-Arabiya, went down.
"And folks, that thing you see just over my right shoulder is an Apache helicopter, armed with Hellfire missiles! It's just launched! Let's see where it lands!... Ohhhh! Rosebud!"
Mr Tomaisi, 28, was killed when a US helicopter fired missiles on a mob which had gathered round a US tank in Baghdad that had been set ablaze in a car bomb attack, one of a string of bombings across the capital today. Blood spattered across the cameraman's lens and screams were heard by viewers of the Al-Arabiya report. Mr Tomaisi, from the West Bank town of Idna, is the fourth Palestinian journalist killed in Iraq.
Or maybe the fourth lugging a camera...
An Iraqi cameraman and an Iraqi photographer were also slightly wounded by flying shrapnel during the attack.
"Duck, Mahmoud!... Ooooh! That hadda hurt!"
An Iraqi official later said a total of 13 people were killed, including two children, and 55 were wounded during the battle in Haifa Street, a suspected bastion of Saddam Hussein loyalists, where insurgents and US troops clash regularly.
"Legume! Insurgents and U.S. troops clash regularly in this neighborhood! I suspect it's a bastion of Saddam Hussein loyalists!"
"How do you do, Inspector!"
The US military said four soldiers were also wounded.
#1
Additional details, idiotarian spin-free, from ME Online:
"Witnesses saw an angry mob pelt the burning tank with stones and dance around the armoured vehicle as one man climbed on top, waving a black flag emblazoned with the name of Zarqawi's group Tawhid wal Jihad (Unity and Holy War), while veiled women ululated.
A pair of US helicopters then swooped down over the neighborhood and fired missiles and heavy machine-gun fire into the mob, scattering at least five corpses across the ground.
The US military said the tank was destroyed from the air "to prevent looting and harm to the Iraqi people".
#3
But they were just minding their own business and celebrating a wedding...there must be an accordian in there somewhere. (BTW, have any video links turned up for this yet?)
#5
Comm isn't much good in the ME. The paleos and the Iraqis do not communicate much, otherwise the Paleos could have given the heads-up on avoiding car swarmsâ¢.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/12/2004 19:47 Comments ||
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Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
09/12/2004 19:49 Comments ||
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#7
Finally...it's about time this swarming, dragging bodies, ululating, children dancing with glee, and Arab reporters standing by to film it all is put a stop to.
#8
What next? Revisionist history for Goebbels men who died at D-Day? "I'm a journalist for "Der Sturmer" he cried as an American tank machinegunned him...get out the hankies and violins mis amigos..
#9
I screwed up the link somehow, but if you copy and paste it, it should work.
Posted by: Baltic Blog ||
09/12/2004 19:52 Comments ||
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#10
Well a tad more sanitation of the gene pool. Who wants to bet that the "news crew" were standing by during the ambush to "gather this news"n too.
Traveling in a war zone to gather news is dangerous. Thats why all the westerners do it with us or from the bar in a nice safe hotel in the green zone. Traveling with the terrorist and a camera does not give you a free pass from getting a burial shroud.
Posted by: Trolling for Allan ||
09/12/2004 19:58 Comments ||
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#11
... must be an accordian in there somewhere.
Use an accordian, get a Hellfire enema. (Or something like that.)
Speaking of musical instruments, where's my femtoviolin?
#18
It was very satisfying to watch the BBC film, and see the before and after shots. I heartily endorse continuing this practice - I'd personally probably put an Arclight strike in instead of a Hellfire. That might teach jihadis to keep boomers out of their neighborhoods (or - at least - there would not be many repeat performances in any one area).
I also wish that a camera crew could film a barroom full of rantburgers hopping up and down, joyfully celebrating the film shots of Baathist celebrators turning into red lumps on the street - and then show that on Iraqi TV - to let them see what it feels like to have other people joyously celebrating death and destruction of your mates.
I just hope the PC elements don't inspire such a hand-wringing that we next hear about the involved attack helicopter pilots being brought up on charges for causing unneccesary civilian carnage.
#19
"I also wish that a camera crew could film a barroom full of rantburgers hopping up and down, joyfully celebrating the film shots of Baathist celebrators turning into red lumps on the street..."
There was talk back around February or March about a Rantburg get-together in Baltimore; but nothing ever came of it.
I guess I'll just have to ululate in private.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
09/12/2004 22:06 Comments ||
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#20
Dave D. and any DC-Balto-Philly-Richmond-etc. Mid-Atlantic Rantburgers, pls send me an email. Time to get this thing going.
#21
Despite all the attempts by the PC-Government Nannies, the universe's rule that Stupidity Kills is still in force. We should pass out flyers of Before and After labeled, "This is you before islam(e)." on the before. And then on the splattered dead, "This is you on islam(e). Praise allan."
#22
Seafarious -
Make it a bit further south - maybe Norfolk, where we can go play on a battleship - and I'm there; Baltimore or the District is just a bit far from SC.
Cheers,
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/12/2004 23:26 Comments ||
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#24
Wonder whether the Arab street took the message to heart.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/13/2004 0:46 Comments ||
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#25
Keep in mind that the late celebrants were waving a Zarqawi flag on top of the Bradley when it was helizapped. If you are really a non-combatant, perhaps you should avoid triumphantly identifying yourself as the enemy.
#26
We've dealt with the tragic impotence of the Israelis as the Paleo militants routinely car-swarm---now we see what happens when Iraqis perform a BFV swarm. I love it. Talk about a target rich environment. We should be taking out their boomers, and then taking out the resulting swarms.
EFL.
Insurgents hammered central Baghdad on Sunday with one of their most intense mortar and rocket barrages ever in the heart of the capital, heralding a day of violence that left at least 25 people dead in the city as security appeared to spiral out of control. Many of the dead were killed when a U.S. helicopter fired on a disabled U.S. Bradley fighting vehicle as Iraqis swarmed around it, cheering, throwing stones and waving the black and yellow sunburst banner of Iraq's most-feared terror organization. The dead from the helicopter strike included Arab television reporter Mazen al-Tumeizi — who screamed "I'm dying, I'm dying" as a cameraman recorded the chaotic scene. An Iraqi cameraman working for the Reuters news agency and an Iraqi freelance photographer for Getty Images were also wounded. About time they did this. Surprise, suprise, suprise...
Maimed and lifeless bodies of young men and boys lay in the street as the stricken U.S. vehicle was engulfed in flames and thick black smoke. Across the city, at least 104 people were wounded in explosions and barrages, the Health Ministry said. Go dance on that, scumbags.
A Bradley fighting vehicle rushing down Haifa Street, a major traffic artery near the Green Zone, to assist a U.S. patrol disabled by a car bomb about 6:50 a.m., the U.S. military said. Two Bradley crewmen were wounded in the attack and four more were injured by grenade and small arms fire as they fled the vehicle, the military said. Jubilant fighters, curiosity seekers and young boys swarmed around the burning vehicle, dancing, cheering and hurling firebombs. Several young men placed a black and yellow banner of Tawhid and Jihad in the barrel of the Bradley's main gun. Fearing the crowd would loot the vehicle of weapons and ammunition, the Americans called for air support, and as U.S. Army helicopters flew over the burning Bradley "they received small-arms fire from the insurgents in vicinity of the vehicle," a military statement said. The helicopters "fired upon the anti-Iraqi forces and the Bradley preventing the loss of sensitive equipment and weapons," the military said in a statement. "An unknown number of insurgents and Iraq civilians were wounded or killed in the incident," which is under investigation. Health Ministry official Saad al-Amili said 13 people were killed and 61 wounded on Haifa street, though it was not clear how many were killed in the helicopter strike. Scattered shoes, pools of fresh blood and debris littered the street. "We were standing near the destroyed vehicle when the helicopter started firing, so we rushed to safety in a nearby building," Alaa Hassan, 24, said from his hospital bed. "I went back to the scene to help the wounded people when the helicopter fired again and I was hit in the chest." Yep, just trying to help out the wounded puppies and baby ducks. Hope we see more of this.
#3
Is there any map that shows which cities are at the hands of insurgents, which cities are at the hands of the Iraqi transitional government+USA forces, and which cities are being disputed?
#8
Aris, it's not what you're looking for, but if you can check the U. of Texas Map Archive for Iraq, and follow the Euphrates westward from Baghdad, you'll see over half of the trouble areas right there.
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
09/12/2004 21:06 Comments ||
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#10
Positive "...curiosity seekers and young boys"
+ Negative "swarmed around the burning vehicle, dancing, cheering and hurling firebombs."
= Zero sympathy
Here endeth the lesson.
Posted by: Another Dan ||
09/12/2004 23:26 Comments ||
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#12
I put it down to a lack of Parental Guidance. Our mom was always yelling at us for playing around construction sites. She would have whupped our asses good for dancing on a burning Bradley.
The commanding general of U.S. forces fighting in the northern Iraqi city of Tall Afar said Saturday that he believed the insurgency would be defeated within a week, allowing a deposed local government to be reinstated. In an interview, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham said about 200 fighters remained in Tall Afar, a city of 250,000 between Mosul and the Syrian border. Ham said U.S. forces were collecting intelligence in preparation for driving the insurgents out of the city. Asked how long he thought it would take, Ham said: "I'd say a week." He cautioned that the timetable could change, depending on events and the resilience of the insurgency. "The enemy understands that the outcome is not at all uncertain," said Ham, speaking aboard a Black Hawk helicopter during a two-hour flight between Baghdad and Mosul. "The outcome is to return the city to local leaders." Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, also known as the Stryker Brigade, launched a fierce attack on Tall Afar on Thursday, seeking to remove insurgents who, according to Ham, had paralyzed the local government and co-opted the police force. The fighting, which included three airstrikes involving AC-130 gunships and F-16 fighter jets, killed 67 insurgents, according to the U.S. military.
Ham described the fighters as a collection of Sunni Muslim extremists, Baath Party holdovers and foreign fighters, possibly Saudis. He said the U.S. intervened at the request of the provincial governor after local officials acknowledged that they had lost control of the town. U.S. troops were still positioned on the outskirts of the city Saturday and were manning checkpoints. Ham said he believed that most of those in the city were opposed to U.S.-led forces and that few civilians remained there.
The Tall Afar operation was launched the same day U.S. troops moved into Samarra, 65 miles north of Baghdad, to reinstall the government in that city. But Ham said the two operations, which also coincided with the bombing of the insurgent-held city of Fallujah, were not coordinated. Near Baqubah, 35 miles northeast of Baghdad, fighters kidnapped the family of an Iraqi National Guard officer and set fire to his home, Reuters reported Saturday. The wife and three children of Col. Khalis Ali Hussein were seized on Wednesday, said Maj. Gen. Walid Khalid, the head of the Diyala provincial police force, Reuters reported.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/12/2004 2:16:41 PM ||
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#1
May the US forces make:
200 murderers * 72 raisins = 14400 raisins very happy
#3
just saw a fantastic clip on BBC of a carswarm round a destroyed burning American vehicle, the camera is rolling, some fat arab starts to speak and Wham blood eveywhere, mustve been a TOW missle from a mile or 2 out, they never knew what hit them. lets see if they keep on car swarming, hope they do.
Posted by: Shep UK ||
09/12/2004 17:05 Comments ||
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#4
Good. Got a URL for the movie Shep?
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
09/12/2004 18:36 Comments ||
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#6
On the receiving end, the precise difference between a TOW and a HellFire might be moot when all you're wearing is a fucking sheet, heh. Unless it's a Holy Sheet, of course. That would make all the difference, um, in the next world, I mean.
Algeria's armed forces have killed five Islamic militants, security sources said on Saturday, as part of a significant military offensive against suspected rebel pockets east of the capital Algiers. Security sources said members of the al Qaeda-aligned Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) were killed near Thenia, 50 km (30 miles) east of Algiers late on Friday. Two of the rebels were suspected of having taken part in a deadly attack on a military convoy in the Boumerdes province two weeks ago, in which seven soldiers were killed. Security forces, paramilitary and soldiers are taking part in a large military operation that began a few months ago and is aimed at wiping out the GSPC's stronghold in the Boumerdes region, which has this year witnessed a rise in rebel attacks.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
09/12/2004 1:27:11 AM ||
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A police sergeant from Ingushetia who disappeared six years ago is accused of being among the ringleaders of the Beslan siege. Officials of the republic's interior ministry believe that Ali Taziyev, who worked for Ingushetia's external security division protecting government officials, has turned into a ruthless killer since he was caught up in a kidnapping involving Chechens in 1998. His family believes that he is dead, but the interior ministry claims that he joined the Chechen rebel movement and has taken part in several operations against Russian forces, under the codename Magas. Officials now suspect that he was one of four commanders who masterminded the attack on School Number One in Beslan in which more than 330 people died, more than half of them children.
Too valuable to the movement to die himself, of course.
Residents of Tal Afar narrated to Aljazeera tales of suffering after US-led forces launched a major offensive against fighters reportedly taking shelter in the town. Located 70km west of Mosul, the situation in Tal Afar was said to be catastrophic with most inhabitants being forced to flee their homes. Locals said US-led forces have cut-off electricity and water supply to the town and were also preventing them from leaving town by car. "Those fleeing are being forced to walk long distances," said a resident. "The US forces also cut off water supply in near by villages and districts like al-Ayadhiya, al-Mahalabiya and Abi Marya on Saturday." US-forces say their offensive against Tal Afar was in response to repeated attacks by fighters who had moved into the town.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2004 10:58:02 PM ||
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#1
Nobody knows the troubles I've seen
Nobody seems to care...
#3
also preventing them from leaving town by car
Hmm, sounds like somebody had an attack of the smarts. I hope they are able to actualy seal off the town. Otherwise the Big CheezesHoly men Hight value targets might be able to exfil in singletons like in Falluja.
Posted by: N Guard ||
09/12/2004 9:22 Comments ||
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#4
Tales of suffering: "Those fleeing are being forced to walk long distances," said a resident. "The US forces also cut off water supply in near by villages and districts like al-Ayadhiya, al-Mahalabiya and Abi Marya on Saturday."
They call these tales of suffering and they still call themselves Muslims? Whatever happened to loving death as Americans love life?
CNN Turk television reported that a Turkish journalist, captured three days ago in Iraq, have been released. The captors delivered the journalist, Zeynep Tugrul to a local Turkmen politician in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. The journalist left Iraq for Turkey after her release and an official from the Turkish foreign ministry called her family to inform them about her release.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2004 10:56:55 PM ||
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Six explosions rocked Baghdad and a US military vehicle was blown up in violence across Iraq. Aljazeera reported that a US Humvee vehicle was destroyed on Saturday and its crew members wounded when an explosive device went off in al-Jarayshi district northwest of the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Iraqi fighters ranged against the US-led forces fired six mortar rounds into central Baghdad and smoke was seen rising close to a hotel complex used by foreign contractors and media. There were, however, no immediate reports of casualties. Iraqi Interior Ministry sources said the blasts caused some damage to a mosque near the Palestine Hotel. A spokesman for the US 1st Cavalry Division said some civilian vehicles were also damaged.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2004 10:54:49 PM ||
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#1
Iraqi Interior Ministry sources said the blasts caused some damage to a mosque near the Palestine Hotel.
I'll bet that moved it way, way up on the "Holy Places" chart...
Sudanese police seized a large quantity of weapons and explosives Friday and detained one person during raids linked to an alleged coup attempt, a security authority statement said. The seizures were made after officials announced Wednesday the arrest of more than 30 members of the opposition Popular Congress party in connection with the alleged coup plot. The Popular Congress, headed by Hassan Turabi, the former mentor of Sudanese President Omar el-Bashir, has denied any wrongdoing.
"Ain't nuttin' wrong wid keepin' explosives in the basement! In Sudan everybody does it!"
The party said this was part of a government bid to discredit it. Turabi has been in detention since a police operation earlier this year to round up party members following another alleged coup. Authorities said police found 100 Kalashnikov rifles, 10 rocket propelled grenade launchers and about 100 RPG rounds and "quantities of explosives" in a house north of the capital, Khartoum. They arrested the owner of the property, who is allegedly a member of the Popular Congress party.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2004 11:48:28 PM ||
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It's Afghanistan. Did we expect anything else?
At least two protesters were killed when supporters of a sacked Afghan governor clashed with US and Afghan security forces in the western city of Herat. According to witnesses, dozens of supporters of Ismail Khan gathered outside his home on Saturday after he was replaced as provincial governor, and began chanting slogans against the United States and President Hamid Karzai. Witnesses said shots were fired by US and Afghan security forces after their convoy was pelted with stones. Hospital officials, witnesses and police said two people were killed, four injured and four arrested.
On Saturday, the Afghan Government replaced two governors, including Khan, as leaders jockey for power ahead of landmark presidential elections. The move was President Hamid Karzai's second against regional leaders who helped the United States to drive out the Taliban in 2001, but who have resisted his authority ever since. Khan, the governor of Herat, was offered a new job as minister of mines and industries, Karzai's office said in a statement. Khan was unavailable for comment. The US ambassador in Kabul said he had refused the new position. The government justified the move by citing Khan's record of bringing prosperity to the region, saying his "extensive experience ... as well as his management skills, are useful assets that must be utilised at the national level".
But action against him has been expected since his forces squared off in August against those of a rival commander, Amanullah, in a burst of vicious factional fighting halted by a US-brokered ceasefire. The battles left dozens dead and fanned tension between the country's main Pashtun and Tajik ethnic groups, with stories of atrocities committed by both sides. Amanullah, a Pashtun, was detained in August after the fighting and is under house arrest in the capital. Officials said at the time that his detention was "part of a wider plan to take all necessary measures to secure long-term stability in the region".
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2004 10:48:48 PM ||
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#1
But at least the sacking went off successfully. That is a major improvement over historical behaviour, right?
I've added a new feature, the Never-Ending Story, on the right under the Classix. It's a WoT timeline, linked to the corresponding Rantburg stories. I've got it roughed in, but there'll probably be minor changes to it in the days to come. Hope it's of value...
Posted by: Fred ||
09/12/2004 10:43:30 PM ||
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#1
Needs some of the old-timey silent movie piano music in the background, but otherwise, very nifty feature. Thanks again; time to hit the tip jar, amigos!
#6
I think 9/10/04 will be remembered as the date that the Fourth Estate was mortally wounded. It will be a slow death from lead poisoning, but fatal, nonetheless. the shot heard round the world
#11
I'v been wondering; what will you do with Rantburg after the war finally ends?
keep it as a Sinktrap. Boris will still keep on posting his nonsense
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/12/2004 13:24 Comments ||
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#12
Since some people are projecting the war to last 40 or 50 years, I hope Fred is training some bright young man to take over for him in the event of his demise. I don't think we have to worry about the WoT ending until 99% of the Muslims in the world finally get it that their behavior is not tolerated. We'll lock up the rest and throw the key in the Marianas Trench.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/12/2004 13:46 Comments ||
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#13
Great timeline, Fred! Your steady and obsessive quest of excellence has paid off again. I have paid many visits to many sites, but RB is the overall best for content and depth. Quite the cyberspace community, too.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/12/2004 14:19 Comments ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
