Hi there, !
Today Fri 10/22/2004 Thu 10/21/2004 Wed 10/20/2004 Tue 10/19/2004 Mon 10/18/2004 Sun 10/17/2004 Sat 10/16/2004 Archives
Rantburg
531691 articles and 1855967 comments are archived on Rantburg.

Today: 80 articles and 508 comments as of 12:05.
Post a news link    Post your own article   
Area: WoT Background    Non-WoT    Opinion           
Cap'n Hook accused of soliciting to murder
Today's Headlines
Headline Comments [Views]
Page 1: WoT Operations
0 [] 
2 00:00 Shipman [1] 
2 00:00 Poison Reverse [] 
1 00:00 .com [1] 
3 00:00 Classical_Liberal [] 
0 [] 
6 00:00 Shipman [] 
8 00:00 Asedwich [] 
5 00:00 Barbara Skolaut [] 
1 00:00 RN [] 
1 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
2 00:00 raptor [1] 
13 00:00 Sock Puppet of Doom [] 
0 [1] 
3 00:00 Shep UK [] 
8 00:00 .com [] 
7 00:00 Frank G [1] 
12 00:00 Desert Blondie [1] 
29 00:00 mojo [] 
0 [] 
1 00:00 tu3031 [1] 
10 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
1 00:00 Bomb-a-rama [] 
Page 2: WoT Background
19 00:00 Tibor []
0 []
9 00:00 James []
7 00:00 tu3031 []
1 00:00 peggy []
20 00:00 Alaska Paul []
0 []
0 []
0 [1]
0 []
3 00:00 Tony (UK) [1]
4 00:00 Bomb-a-rama []
2 00:00 remote man []
3 00:00 2b []
7 00:00 Mike Sylwester [1]
0 []
10 00:00 mojo []
2 00:00 2b []
0 []
2 00:00 trailing wife []
15 00:00 Crusader []
1 00:00 .com []
7 00:00 Cromorong Chomble7321 [2]
7 00:00 .com []
4 00:00 Ptah []
0 []
2 00:00 2b []
Page 3: Non-WoT
0 []
0 [2]
9 00:00 Robert Crawford []
3 00:00 lex []
12 00:00 2b []
0 []
0 []
2 00:00 eLarson []
7 00:00 Kalle (kafir forever) []
0 []
10 00:00 .com []
12 00:00 BigEd []
12 00:00 eLarson []
1 00:00 Mike []
3 00:00 Shipman []
16 00:00 Matt [1]
6 00:00 JerseyMike [2]
6 00:00 Chuck Simmins []
2 00:00 nada []
8 00:00 RN [2]
8 00:00 Barbara Skolaut []
28 00:00 Frank G []
1 00:00 .com []
77 00:00 Rosemary wilfred []
7 00:00 Alaska Paul []
6 00:00 CrazyFool []
7 00:00 Kalle (kafir forever) []
Page 4: Opinion
0 []
14 00:00 Sock Puppet of Doom []
11 00:00 Frank G []
Britain
Cap'n Hook accused of soliciting to murder
Muslim cleric Abu Hamza al-Masri has been charged with 16 offences including soliciting to murder and possession of a terrorist document. He appeared at the magistrates' court at Belmarsh prison, where he has been since May at the request of the US. The UK charges mean Mr Abu Hamza's US extradition hearing on terror-related matters - due to start on Tuesday - has been put on hold. The Egyptian-born cleric has always denied any involvement in terrorism.

Mr Abu Hamza now faces 10 charges of soliciting to murder and four charges of using threatening, abusive or insulting behaviour with intent to stir up racial hatred. He has also been charged with one count each of possessing a terrorist document and possessing threatening, abusive or insulting sound recordings. Just one of the charges he faces is under anti-terrorism legislation. The former preacher at the Finsbury Park Mosque, in north London, came to the UK in 1979. He received British citizenship after marrying a Western woman.

The Beeb have used the 't' word... golly!
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 7:08:32 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  "BBC home affairs correspondent Andy Tighe said the complexity of the case meant it was unlikely to come to trial before next year" At the end of all that I imagine he well get a whopping 2 or 3 years in jail due to his "phyical condition" and my even be bailed or put on home arrest.

I see they mentioned a document that would be useful for terrorism but never specifically call this waste of human skin a terrorist. The BBC is a waste of RF energy and Bandwith. Call a spade a spade or get out of the way.

Selles del al-Masr-Masr de Abu Hamza con los cerdos.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 7:44 Comments || Top||

#2  The Finsbury Park mosque is an Islamist septic tank, and al-Masri has been the chief muckraker for nearly a decade. While it appears the U.K. has moved to interdict the U.S. extradition request, it is also possible that the U.S. has urged the U,K. to keep this spitball on ice for a few years.
Posted by: Tancred || 10/19/2004 11:41 Comments || Top||

#3  We never hand over criminals to countries with a death penalty.
Posted by: AmericanIdiot || 10/19/2004 12:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Shouldn't that be UKIdiot? As it is, it makes no sense. We put down rabid dogs.
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 12:02 Comments || Top||

#5  Green Day track
Posted by: AmericanIdiot || 10/19/2004 12:03 Comments || Top||

#6  - Green Day track

Yeah, and one of their worst efforts.
Posted by: Spemble Phaigum3489 || 10/19/2004 12:09 Comments || Top||

#7  #6 = me
Posted by: docob || 10/19/2004 12:09 Comments || Top||

#8  "What about the eye?"

"A seagull shit in it, and I'd just gotten the hook."
Posted by: mojo || 10/19/2004 13:35 Comments || Top||

#9  Parrot! It was the Parrot Mojo.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/19/2004 13:43 Comments || Top||

#10  wow the picture is qiute shocking - shockingly funny, reminds me of the guy in a bond film who had a metel claw thing , got eaten by alligators i think,no wait he went outa a train window, only the hook remained, anyway we outa kill im.
Posted by: Shep UK || 10/19/2004 15:41 Comments || Top||

#11  oh and he scares my nan too with that threatning hook, kill im
Posted by: Shep UK || 10/19/2004 15:42 Comments || Top||

#12  Nice Halloween costume....but it ain't till the Sunday after next, dork!
Posted by: Desert Blondie || 10/19/2004 18:41 Comments || Top||


Caribbean-Latin America
Peru's Shining Path Leaders to Face Trial
Peru plans to hold a new trial next month before a civilian court for imprisoned Shining Path founder Abimael Guzman and 17 other top leaders of the Maoist insurgency, court officials said Monday. The trial is to begin Nov. 5 in a newly equipped courtroom inside the maximum security naval base prison where Guzman has been held for the last 12 years. The trial date was announced on the Web page of Peru's judiciary. Guzman, 69, was captured in September 1992 and sentenced to life in prison for treason by hooded military court judges under strict anti-terrorism laws approved by then-President Alberto Fujimori, who fled Peru in 2000 amid mounting corruption scandals. Guzman was granted a new trial with his jailed co-defendants last year after Peru's highest constitutional court struck down Fujimori's anti-terrorism measures in January 2003 for failing to meet international standards of due process.

Among his co-defendants are Elena Iparraguirre, his longtime lover and top guerrilla aide, who occupies a neighboring prison cell, and Oscar Ramirez — also known by his nom de guerre "Feliciano" — who led the Shining Path after Guzman's arrest until his capture in 1999. Prosecutors will seek life sentences for Guzman, Iparraguirre, Ramirez and six other top leaders, and 22- to 25-year sentences for the nine remaining defendants.

Throughout the 1980s and early 1990s, Guzman was known to his followers as President Gonzalo, inspiring cultish obedience from a guerrilla army that grew to as many as 10,000 armed fighters before his capture in a Lima safehouse. By the time he called for a cease-fire a year after his capture — as part of a deal to obtain better prison conditions — guerrilla violence had claimed tens of thousands of lives, displaced at least 600,000 people and caused an estimated $22 billion in damage. A government-appointed truth commission reported in 2003 that Shining Path was responsible for more than half of the nearly 70,000 people killed between 1980 and 2000 by rebels and military forces sent to crush the insurgency. The self-proclaimed "Fourth Sword of Marxism" after Marx, Lenin and Mao, Guzman preached a messianic vision of a classless utopia based on pure communism. He advocated a peasant revolution in which rebels would first gain control of the countryside, then advance to the cities. Shining Path rebels bombed electrical towers, bridges and factories, assassinated mayors and massacred villagers to cross what Guzman called the "river of blood." The violence dropped off after Guzman's capture, although several hundred guerrillas continue to operate in Peru's highland jungles, where they run protection for cocaine traffickers.
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 8:59:16 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Peru's highest constitutional court struck down Fujimori's anti-terrorism measures in January 2003 for failing to meet international standards of due process.

I guess Peru's highest court espouses the JFKerry "global test" theory of abdication of national sovernity.
Posted by: RN || 10/19/2004 9:13 Comments || Top||


Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia
Russia keeping Pakistani kidnappers behind bars
A Moscow Court turned down an appeal against an earlier ruling sentencing a gang of Pakistani kidnappers to up to 10 years in a penal colony for holding Indian nationals hostage and demanding a ransom from their families, the Interfax news agency reported.
Nothing screams "vacation resort" like a Russian penal colony!
Three Russian citizens of Pakistani decent were sentenced in May to 10, nine and eight years in a high security labor colony for kidnapping nine Indian citizens in Moscow. The court found them guilty of extortion and kidnapping — the prosecutors were able to prove that the kidnappers forcefully held the Indians and had them call relatives in India after giving their victims cell phones, demanding $4,000 for the release of each hostage. In January of 2003, police and FSB agents arrested the kidnappers in Tula, 200 kilometers south of Moscow, where they were holding the nine Indians. The criminal group, however, had spread far beyond Moscow, and included residents of several Eastern European countries. The organization specialized in the illegal transfer of Pakistanis, Indians, and Bangladeshis through Eastern Europe. The kidnappers would initially offer their victims a free transfer into Europe, and then hold them for ransom.
Posted by: Dar || 10/19/2004 2:35:16 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  One of the "strict regime" colonies, I suspect.
Posted by: Chuck Simmins || 10/19/2004 15:53 Comments || Top||

#2  Let's see if I can figure this out.

For several decades now, India buys billions of Reubels worth of Russian arms = Indian/Russian cooperation ========don't jack with Indians in Russia

Get the picture, Pakis!!!
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 10/19/2004 16:00 Comments || Top||


Soldier-Saint
As Lyubov Rodionova flicks through her pictures, all showing the same young man in uniform, it becomes obvious these are not just family snaps. In one picture, his rifle is over his shoulder, in another it is in his hand, in a third he looks straight ahead with just a glimpse of a soldier's blue and white T-shirt -- but all have the same golden halo around his head. This is her son Yevgeny. The 19-year-old was murdered in Chechnya in 1996, but his legend lives on, and many Russians are pressing the Russian Orthodox Church to canonize him as a saint, martyred in a holy war against Islam. "Not only did Yevgeny not betray his faith, he also refused to betray his army. He refused to sell out his friends," said Rodionova, who lives alone in this town outside Moscow.

He was kidnapped and held in a cellar for months. Rodionova said his captors had told her they gave him the choice of adopting Islam and joining them, or death. He refused to relinquish his Christian faith and was beheaded and buried in an unmarked grave. Yevgeny is one of thousands of soldiers killed in Chechnya, but his bravery and religious faith under pressure has inspired many Russians tired of the war. At least 26 churches from Siberia to the Ukrainian border now have an icon of the handsome, dark-haired young man, who was a conscript in the border guards before his death. Several marchers held his icon aloft in a rally against terror near Red Square on Sept. 7, shortly after the Beslan school tragedy. "Yevgeny is famous. He is a bright example. Maybe it is because of his youth, and he reminds people of David and Goliath," said Orthodox priest Father Dmitry, the head of the Moscow Patriarchate's department for the armed forces.
I've got to say that the Russians suprise me every day I learn more about them.
Posted by: Old Fogey || 10/19/2004 10:50:10 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I don't believe in Canonization or Sainthood, but it is evident that this young man is very much deserving of his countrymen's admiration. Appreciation for those who stand in harm's way for you is a key marker for a civilization intent on surviving.
Posted by: Ptah || 10/19/2004 13:30 Comments || Top||

#2  I've never been surprised by the Russian people themselves, only that the Soviets were so successful in subjugating them for as long as they did.

Then again, gulags, mass murder and being cannon fodder do tend to make one cautious. Let’s hope they can hold on to democracy for their own sake.
Posted by: RN || 10/19/2004 13:39 Comments || Top||

#3  RN - Think it's not already too late? Tsar Putty seems to have plans to finish it off, re: appointing regional Gov's, no?
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 13:41 Comments || Top||

#4  In spite of not being Catholic, much less RO, this young man is a martyr for the Gospel. He stands in Paradise now learning the mysteries of God from the great souls of past ages . . . Peter, Paul, & the prophets of old.

I would be proud to name this man among my brothers in arms.
Posted by: Jame Retief || 10/19/2004 13:41 Comments || Top||

#5  Russians are thoroughly secular. The communists did their work well (and were aided in this by the corruption of the Orthodox Church).
The flip side of this materialist viewpoint is that Russians have no illusions about the possiblity of appeasing the jihadists. They will support without hesitation an unrelenting effort to crush the jihadists wherever they can be found, and this bodes well for our post-Beslan relationship with Russia.
Posted by: lex || 10/19/2004 15:50 Comments || Top||

#6  Huh. The story takes me back to the old Anglo-Saxon chronicles of saint's deaths. Very, very, similar.
1. Fight for the faith.
2. Get captured in a hopeless cause.
3. Bleed lots, get flayed, skewered, shot.
4. Refuse to renounce the faith until death.
5. (Perform miracles?) While alive, or posthumously.

That the tradition is still alive in something near its original form in the Greek Orthodox rite makes me wonder if the peasant folk of Russia are completely secular.
Posted by: Asedwich || 10/19/2004 20:36 Comments || Top||

#7  There are no more "peasants" in Russia--certainly not in Moscow or the other big cities.

Though there are many extraordinarily beautiful churches in Russia that are now being restored (in many cases with the support of rather dubious money), the fact remains that the vast majority of those who attend services are aging or aged babushki (grannies).
Posted by: lex || 10/19/2004 20:54 Comments || Top||

#8  Russia, of course, with its huge land area, remains a very metropolitan nation, with the vast majority of its (urban, professional, definitely NON-AGRARIAN)populace concentrated in urban cities?

:)
Posted by: Asedwich || 10/20/2004 0:03 Comments || Top||


Armenian Arrested With Radioactive Cesium
"Put the cuffs on him, Mahoney!"
"But, Soor! He's glowing! And he's got gill slits!"
"Put the tongs on him, then!"
Authorities have arrested a man found with radioactive cesium-137 in the trunk of his car, a state official said Monday. The highly toxic material, which could contaminate large areas if used in a "dirty bomb," was found Friday and "rendered harmless," Ashot Martirosian, chief of the State Atomic Oversight department, said. Yerevan resident Gagik Tovmasian was arrested on charges of illegal trade in radioactive materials, Martirosian said. It was unclear how the man obtained the material, but various sources for it exist in Armenia, a small former Soviet republic in the Caucasus Mountains, Martirosian said. Various industries use cesium-137 in density gauges and for machine calibration. Authorities in neighboring Georgia have spoken of the need to create a storage site for gauges in which cesium-137 was used to measure the level of gasoline in underground tanks at gas stations. Martirosian did not say how much cesium was found, but he said the substance is very hazardous to human health. Devices containing cesium-137 can cause serious radiation exposure if broken and held. Depending on the amount and form, experts say a dirty bomb made with cesium-137 could spread intense radioactivity over a section of a city, making it uninhabitable.
Depending the amount, lots of circumstances, and no clean-up effort.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/19/2004 1:32:29 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  But the expert in the UK said the other day there was no such thing and not to worry. He said it was a hoax on the public. This must be more BusHiler propaganda to justify his imperial aims on the world.

/sarcasm
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 2:54 Comments || Top||

#2  How quickly does Cesium-137 break down to a non-radioactive substance?
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/19/2004 2:56 Comments || Top||

#3  Nasty shit with a half-life of 30 years. The Cesium FAQ.
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 2:59 Comments || Top||

#4  Crap. At least they caught the guy.
Posted by: beer_me || 10/19/2004 3:30 Comments || Top||

#5  Bloody illiterate Americans - 'Caesium' after Julius Caesar.
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 6:48 Comments || Top||

#6  found with radioactive cesium-137 in the trunk boot of his car

Hey, maybe just an alternative fuel project. Allan knows the camel dung option was a flop (on a sand dune).
Posted by: RN || 10/19/2004 7:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Thanks .com. Nasty, indeed. One wonders how long the driver would have lasted, had he not been caught so quickly.

Yes, but Howard, y'all spell it 'aluminium' with that extra 'i' that almost doubles the time to say the word. How utterly inefficient!
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/19/2004 7:36 Comments || Top||

#8  Condominum?
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 7:57 Comments || Top||

#9  Ignorant Limeys.

Check out the dictionary. Caesium is a variant. I hear the Poms got a lot of variants in their public schools. Makes 'em what the are.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 10/19/2004 8:20 Comments || Top||

#10  "#8 Condominum?"

Tantrium? :-)
Posted by: Conanista || 10/19/2004 8:28 Comments || Top||

#11  Condominium? Perhaps Howard has seen one.

La parole de Jacques Chirac il aiment la diarrhée brûlante.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 8:34 Comments || Top||

#12  SPoD, sounds like phrench. Babelfish said it can translate but the result would be a gibberish.
Posted by: Conanista || 10/19/2004 8:43 Comments || Top||

#13  OED:

caesium
/seezim/ (US cesium)

• noun a soft, silvery, extremely reactive metallic chemical element.

— ORIGIN from Latin caesius ‘greyish-blue’ (because it has characteristic lines in the blue part of the spectrum).

Why does Chirac like burnt shit?
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 8:43 Comments || Top||

#14  Well, why it is caesium then when it is actually seezim?
This is really bugging me sometimes... when someone says playdough and actually means Plato.
Posted by: Conanista || 10/19/2004 8:51 Comments || Top||

#15  Caesium ought to be spelt that way, IMO, as it's faithful to the Latin. Aluminum ought to be spelt and pronounced that way (what's wrong with Platinum?) as that's the original spelling. But then, in a perfect world (blogo)sphaere would be spelt with an a, and in the US, I'd like innocent pedophiles (foot-lovers to the rest of us) to be able to get on with their fetish without being mistaken for paedophiles... That 'a' is useful, dammit.
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/19/2004 9:36 Comments || Top||

#16  Obey the dog. Stay close to your latinate roots oh learned ones.
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 9:38 Comments || Top||

#17  We should fight over our language more often.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis || 10/19/2004 9:46 Comments || Top||

#18  Well I will just use penderasts and let that be that not to be a pendant or anything.

All I know is this isn't radium this gomer was going to paint watch dials with. This is some nasty stuff. If it all came out of gauges someone is going to be very contaminated and may get a bad case of dead.

My brother told me about some kids down in Brazil (might be an urban legend) who some how got into Caesium that had been left some place. They smeared it all over their bodies. A very sad story. It's like these idiots who used to steal mercury swtiches out in the oil fields no idea about contamination. They would bring pounds of the stuff into their homes and play with it.

Only the criminally insane would knowingly try to illicitly trade in this radiologic material. Pump them for all the info yuou can get out of them then take them out to a ditch in back a shoot them. You will be doing them a favor because when they get ill they are going to be in a really bad and hopeless way.

And Howard it's just not any feces...
C'est juste aucun résidu. C'est diarrhée brûlante.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 10:00 Comments || Top||

#19  Malheuresement je ne comprends pas ton efforts avec la langue francaise. Pardon.
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 10:05 Comments || Top||

#20  Bulldog> I think that "podophile" is actually the correct word for the foot-fetishists. Modern Greek "podi" for foot, from the ancient "pous" gen. "podos". -- no Epsilon anywhere that I'm aware of. Compare with "tripod".

Haven't a clue how words like "biped" came about though.
Posted by: Aris Katsaris || 10/19/2004 10:52 Comments || Top||

#21  "penderasts"? Is that someone who likes to hang out? Or one who likes hanging low?
Posted by: trailing wife || 10/19/2004 10:55 Comments || Top||

#22  It's from the Latin pedis, meaning foot. Like pedal, from the Latin pedalis - 'of the foot' (Latin 'foot' = pes or pedis). The Greek 'pod' strictly means 'foot' when used in English, but is also commonly used to denote 'leg' rather than 'foot', eg in 'bipod', 'tripod', compared with 'biped' or 'triped'. It's the myriad linguistic inheritances that makes English so versatile, so comprehensive, and so nuanced, you see. Heh.
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/19/2004 11:05 Comments || Top||

#23  tw - give SPoD a break! Obviously a typo, adding that n. He meant to write paederast, I'm sure...
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/19/2004 11:08 Comments || Top||

#24  Yes I meant paederast. Paedophile is more correct.
One people seperated by a common language at birth LOL and Yes I am spelling chalenged frequently. I try to use a dictionary.

Howard I have quit playing with the Bablefish my wife told me to knock it off. She teaches french and has warned me off repeatedly. J'ai perdu mon français. I only had one semester of conversational french years ago. We never speak it at home. I am learning (american) Spanish and am doing poorly at it right now.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 11:20 Comments || Top||

#25  My brother told me about some kids down in Brazil (might be an urban legend) who some how got into Caesium that had been left some place.

No legend: Accidental Leakage of Cesium-137 in Goiania, Brazil.

A scary story. But I find myself more boggled at the notion of "an abandoned cancer clinic". Makes Brazil sound post-apocalyptic.
Posted by: Angie Schultz || 10/19/2004 11:40 Comments || Top||

#26  I only had one semester of conversational french years ago. We never speak it at home.

Well, at least we know you're not John Kerry under that pseudonym...
Posted by: Pappy || 10/19/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#27  #18 Sock Puppet

No urban legend. The capsule was takenstolen , from a building where it had been left, as scrap and when it was broken open in a scrap yard the kids who were there noticed that it glowed and proceeded to paint themselves with it.
They died horribly.
Posted by: Cynic || 10/19/2004 12:22 Comments || Top||

#28  I was told one time of a guy who picked up a slug of Cobalt 60 that had fallen out of a radiography truck (the cable holding it inside the block of lead in which it was carried broke), and stuck it in his back pocket. He lost his gonads, penis, and one buttock. My source told me he saw the medical photos, and they were quite gruesome.
Posted by: Ptah || 10/19/2004 13:40 Comments || Top||

#29  Cesium-137 (Cs-137):

Half-life: 30.17 years (!!) - radioactive as hell

Mode of decay: Beta and gamma radiation
Chemical properties: Liquid at room temperature, but readily bonds with chlorides to form a powder.
External exposure to large amounts of Cs-137 can cause burns, acute radiation sickness, and even death. Exposure to Cs-137 can increase the risk for cancer because of exposure to high-energy gamma radiation. Internal exposure to Cs-137, through ingestion or inhalation, allows the radioactive material to be distributed in the soft tissues, especially muscle tissue, exposing these tissues to the beta particles and gamma radiation and increasing cancer risk.
Posted by: mojo || 10/19/2004 13:50 Comments || Top||


Europe
Slovakian gas attacker arrested; 50 injured
Slovak police said Tuesday they had arrested a man for two gas attacks at a Bratislava post office in which more than 50 people were hospitalized. At the time of the attacks, which took place in September, local media had speculated about the possibility of a terrorist incident associated with Slovakia's participation in the war in Iraq. However, a police spokesman said the attack had been carried out by a deranged, 26-year-old drug addict. Identified only by his first name, Radovan, the man had apparently had a grudge against the post office after being prevented by staff from trying to sell low grade perfumes on the premises. He then returned on two separate occasions spraying the post office with a gas compound containing phosgene and chlorpicrin, two elements of a gas first used in World War I. None of those affected by the gas has suffered long term health problems. If convicted the man could face two years in jail.
Two separate attacks that affected 50 people and he risks TWO FREAKIN' YEARS?! Oh, that's right--drug addiction is an illness, so he's a victim, too. :-P
Posted by: Dar || 10/19/2004 3:14:38 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  He went from low grade perfume to high grade perfume. Pretty freaky.
Posted by: Alaska Paul || 10/19/2004 16:28 Comments || Top||

#2  had a grudge against the post office after being prevented by staff from trying to sell low grade perfumes on the premises.

Yep, AP. Think he was well within his rights as a deranged Perfume Salesperson. You gotta do, what you gotta do.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/19/2004 18:12 Comments || Top||


Muslims held after Spanish raids
Seven suspected Islamic militants have been arrested in raids across Spain. Judicial sources said Monday's operations had foiled a planned bomb attack on the High Court. The interior ministry said further arrests could be made imminently, as police moved against what was described as an active Islamic militant group. It is seven months since Islamic militants launched bomb attacks on trains as they arrived in Madrid, killing 191 people. Around 20 suspects are being held in custody because of alleged links to the attacks.
A further seven were killed when their explosives blew up as police approached their hide-out in Madrid.
Just blew up, did they?
Six of those arrested on Monday have been named as Smail Latrech, Ali Omar (or "Jelloul"), Djamel Merabet, Mourat Yala (or "Abu Anas"), Ahmed Mohamed and Magid Mchmacha.
The other was identified only by the name Medhi, the Spanish news agency Efe reported. Four of the suspects were held in Almeria, one in Valencia, one in Madrid and one in Malaga, it said. They were said to include at least four Algerians and one Moroccan. "The ring is composed of Muslims that are residents in Spain," an interior ministry statement said. It said the suspects had been in contact with other individuals in Europe, the United States and Australia.
Been listening to their phone calls, excellent!
Posted by: Steve || 10/19/2004 9:00:34 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  This is being done outside of Zappy's crew and influence or direction. This is ole' Baltazar Garzon, I believe, on his own independent mission to at least keep the heat on terrorist and their ilk despite the great appeaser Zappy.
Posted by: Jack is Back! || 10/19/2004 9:52 Comments || Top||

#2  Note that they are still trying for mischief in Spain in spite of the Spanish withrawal.
Posted by: buwaya || 10/19/2004 11:46 Comments || Top||

#3  I think they were going directly after Judge Garzon. He's pissed off a lot of the terroist leadership (and probably several officials in various governments) by his hard-line stance.
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/19/2004 12:21 Comments || Top||

#4  If you get the chance, tune into FoxNews - there's some clearer video of the Madrid bombings now available - I've seen time-lapse from this video before. It clearly shows the big series of blasts that did the killing... and, to a poor degree due to smoke from previous blasts, the people in the concourse who were the victims.
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 12:24 Comments || Top||

#5  How's that appeasement thing workin' out for ya', España?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut || 10/19/2004 18:28 Comments || Top||


Spain: Terror Suspects Targeted Court
So much for buying the hard boyz off...
A radical Muslim cell broken up by Spanish police had been plotting to bomb the National Court, a hub of Spain's investigations of Islamic terrorism, the interior minister said Tuesday. Seven suspects were arrested on Monday in Madrid and southern Spain, while one more was arrested Tuesday in the northern city of Pampalona, minister Jose Antonio Alonso said. "This was an operation against radical Muslims. They were planning to commit terrorist attacks," he told reporters at Parliament. "They were talking about attacking the National Court, a judicial body. But the police do rule out any other kind of possibility," Alonso said, adding that no explosives were found during the arrests.

The newspaper El Pais quoted police sources as saying the plot was only in the preliminary stages as there was no evidence that the suspects had obtained explosives. The arrests were made on the basis of wiretapped telephone conversations, it said. Another newspaper, El Mundo, reported that the plan involved detonating a truck containing 1,100 pounds of explosives outside the courthouse, located on a busy avenue in downtown Madrid. The arrests were ordered as part of a probe by the court's Judge Baltasar Garzon, Spain's leading anti-terrorism magistrate. Since September 2003, Garzon has indicted 41 people on terrorism charges, including Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida suspects accused of staging the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 8:56:24 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  There will be lots more where these guys came from.
Posted by: 2b || 10/19/2004 9:57 Comments || Top||

#2  But,but they are supposed to leave Spain alone now.You mean they lied,for shame
Posted by: raptor || 10/19/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||


Syria-Lebanon-Iran
U.S. warns citizens in Lebanon of major Al Qaida attack
The United States has warned its nationals of a major Al Qaida attack in Lebanon.
Who's dumb enough to be there in the first place?
A warden message issued by the U.S. embassy in Beirut warned Americans of the prospect of anr Islamic insurgency strike in Lebanon, Middle East Newsline reported. The embassy urged the U.S. community in Lebanon to stay away from shopping centers in Beirut. The message did not elaborate on the danger of Americans in shopping malls. "In light of recent events, U.S. embassy personnel are exercising greater caution with respect to visits to shopping malls in the Beirut area and recommend American citizens do the same," the warden message, dated Oct. 14, said.

One day later, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the embassy was referring to the arrest of an Al Qaida cell in Lebanon. The cell was led by Ahmed Miqati and was said to have been the first time Lebanon has detained part or all of an Al Qaida network. Boucher also said the embassy was responding to the attempted assassination of former Lebanese Minister Marwan Hamade on Oct. 1. Hamade was regarded as an opponent of Syria's military presence in Lebanon. "I think they [incidents] reflect a certain climate of violence that leads us to concern about areas where people might be congregating," Boucher said.
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/19/2004 10:17:43 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Who's dumb enough to be there in the first place?

Stupid people. And since they have been formally warned, there's no further reason to fret over them.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 10:50 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Tuesday Fallujah Update
US warplanes again pounded targets in the Iraqi city of Falluja overnight, as a campaign against militants continues. The US military said it struck several buildings linked to the network of wanted militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The raids aimed to "thwart the Zarqawi terrorist network plans to attack the Iraqi government and its people during Ramadan", a statement said. "Multiple secondary explosions indicate a significant amount of explosives or ammunition inside the houses," it said. There was no initial word on casualties. The US has said its near-nightly bombardment of Falluja has killed dozens of insurgents blamed for a wave of violence in the so-called Sunni triangle and elsewhere.
Sometimes referred to as "Pickin' up the pieces of their sweet, shattered dreams."
Posted by: Anonymoose || 10/19/2004 10:15:58 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Afghanistan/South Asia
Canadian Troops Discover Extra-Large Arms Cache in Kabul
Found via Belmont Club and Blackfive:
... 82 buried bunkers, each 20-metres long, housed thousands of Soviet FROG missiles (one step down from Scud missiles), and every variety of rocket and mortar shells. ... Some of the FROG missiles were still in their original cases. Some heaped in the open. Some stacked to the roof in the unlocked, open bunkers. Much of the ordnance had warheads removed to collect the explosive for homemade bombs -- or for blasting at a nearby quarry. "Unbelievable!" was Maj. Brian Hynes' reaction when he saw them. "We (troops of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF)) have been here some two years, and no one knew this was at our back door. Unbelievable."

Many of the rockets, missiles and shells had been pried open for the explosives, which are used peacefully to blast mountain rock into gravel, and by those who want to make bombs that disrupt Kabul. ... Littered with burned out Soviet military vehicles, the whole area is a junk pile strewn with every sort of live ammunition, fuses, unexploded shells, rockets, etc., all supposedly under the authority of Belgian troops (at the moment), who ignored it.
Wretchard's Comments:
Somehow I think someone missed the point. There is probably some perfectly plausible reason why a Swedish UN functionary, a French major and a German Colonel -- one civilian, two officers, three nationalities, none of who would be in the same chain of command -- should show up at precisely the moment a Canadian officer discovers a large number of surface to surface missiles lying around unguarded, but it escapes me.
My sister suggested that they were hoping not to interfere with the new snack concession.
Posted by: Phil Fraering || 10/19/2004 1:26:48 PM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  ROFLMAO!!! This, assuming any news agencies pick it up, could be hysterically funny. Wretchard's asking the right question, alright! H00t!
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 13:48 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
MEMRI Ticker: 142 infiltrators arrested last week
IRAQI BORDER POLICE ARRESTED 142 INFILTRATORS COMING FROM IRAN LAST WEEK. THE INFILTRATORS WERE OF DIVERSE NATIONALITIES, INCLUDING AFGHANIS, IRANIANS, AND PAKISTANIS, AND CARRIED WEAPONS AND DRUGS, BUT NO DOCUMENTS. (AL-ZAMAN, BAGHDAD, 10/19/04)
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 12:52:43 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  And, with any luck, they are all singing like birds...at least one octave higher.

Maybe they will be able to organize a Vienna Boys Choir for infiltrators.
Posted by: anymouse || 10/19/2004 15:44 Comments || Top||

#2  Call it the "Gates of Vienna Boy's Choir."
Posted by: Seafarious || 10/19/2004 15:45 Comments || Top||

#3  Were the drugs for dealing or for using? How does the drug use sit with Alan? Is it kosher for a jihadi to be a stoner?
Posted by: Classical_Liberal || 10/19/2004 21:06 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
Naxalites Demand 27,000 Acres of Land Around Hyderabad
The Communist Party of India-Maoist and Janashakti Naxalites raised the hackles of the state government by demanding the distribution of 27,000 acres of prime land in and around Hyderabad presently "encroached upon or occupied" by business houses, IT firms, pharma companies, real estate developers, film producers and other "vested interests." On the third day of the peace talks with the government representatives here on Sunday, the CPI-Maoist and Janshakti leaders furnished a list of 43 influential individuals and firms which own hundreds of acres of land on the outskirts of the twin cities of Hyderabad-Secunderabad.

They claimed that these lands are agricultural lands "encroached" upon with patronage extended by successive governments in the past. The list was released to the media on Sunday night. They wanted the government to ensure that all "big land grabbers or occupiers" vacated these lands so that these could be distributed to the landless poor. They pointed out that most of the land allotments were made during the nine-year rule of former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. They asked the government to either take over these lands or collect market value from them since they were not service-oriented but were only making profits from the lands. If there is no response from the government, the Naxalite parties will announce their plan of action. The list reads like a who's who of persons/firms in the field of real estate, film industry, information technology etc. It is meant to be a symbolic attack against "neo-gentry" which was dictating terms to the government with its political clout.
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 12:37:20 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


Iraq-Jordan
Two Kuwaitis titzup in Iraq
Kuwait's Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Sabah said yesterday two Kuwaiti militants have been killed in fighting against US forces in Iraq.
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 12:33:01 PM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Dang, guys. I keep tapping on my sympathy meter™ and it still reads zero!!?!?!? I dunno what's wrong here.
Posted by: anymouse || 10/19/2004 15:58 Comments || Top||

#2  You have a bad case of CAFS.

(Chronic Arab Fatigue Syndrome)
Posted by: Jules 187 || 10/19/2004 16:00 Comments || Top||

#3  Is that anything like CAIR????
Posted by: anymouse || 10/19/2004 16:02 Comments || Top||

#4  Nah-they never seem to get tired of a debilitating condition.
:)
Posted by: Jules 187 || 10/19/2004 16:04 Comments || Top||

#5  Wearing an overly large amount of aluminum oxide based antipersperent can derail a surpise metre especially if it's digital. I wear an olde fashioned analog SM forged from a 1 cubic inch block of steel made from the USS Huntley's safe. I understand good results are also readily available from SMs made from recycled Maginot Line turrents.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/19/2004 18:25 Comments || Top||

#6  USS Housatonic dammit! Not Hunley! Never use Hunley metal in a SM, it would be nutz. Like using salvaged steel from the Kaisers fleet at Scapa Flow, no good. Sorry.
Posted by: Shipman || 10/19/2004 18:32 Comments || Top||


Saboteurs Hit Pipeline in Northern Iraq
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 8:58:32 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Let's see, this is good for, what, another 25 cent a gallon increase at the pump?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 10:41 Comments || Top||


4 Die in Attack on Iraqi National Guard HQ
A mortar attack on an Iraqi National Guard headquarters north of Baghdad on Tuesday killed four guardsmen and wounded 80 others, the U.S. military said. The guardsmen were lined up in formation when six mortars hit the National Guard offices in an early morning attack in Mashahidah, 25 miles north of Baghdad, said international officials and National Guard officers under condition of anonymity. The U.S. military cited the Iraqi Defense Minister as saying four guard members were killed and 80 others wounded. The military said multinational forces helicopters helped ferry out the wounded.
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 8:51:52 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Fox / Beeb had an initial headline of 100 killed/wounded - hopefully the usual hyperbole. (Anyone get annoying pop-up ads from Fox - am I infected?)
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 8:55 Comments || Top||

#2  Use Mozilla or FireFox. Trash IE.
Posted by: Conanista || 10/19/2004 8:59 Comments || Top||

#3  Ditto:

Haven't had a pop-up since the switch to Mozilla.
Posted by: RN || 10/19/2004 9:00 Comments || Top||

#4  Roger.
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 9:04 Comments || Top||

#5  I "hardly" ever get them but there are ways. It is true Mozilla is a friend. Seeing as it's all I use it's great.

When I first saw the 100 deat figure at the BBC I was skeptical. I still am as 6 inaccurate mortar rounds might have to get lucky. 6 well positioned rounds based on inside information would not need to be so lucky. I am holding my breath. This stuff is being done for US pre election consumption. The terrorists know if Kerry is elected they are home free.

La parole de Jacques Chirac est comme la diarrhée de brûlure. Essai global de bidon de Kerry de John mon âne.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 9:10 Comments || Top||

#6  SPoD, my Babelfish is on strike. Be compassionate, will'ya?
Posted by: Conanista || 10/19/2004 9:13 Comments || Top||

#7  Since the last MS service pack, the popups have been blocked in IE as well boys.
Posted by: Don || 10/19/2004 9:21 Comments || Top||

#8  Thanks Don...we'll get right on the fix to the MS service pask fix.
Posted by: Spammertron || 10/19/2004 9:23 Comments || Top||

#9  The BBC has toned their story down considerably. 80 wounded is still quite serious and many more could die.

Thats wonderful the IE is catching up to Mozilla. I installed all the service packs for W2K this weekend but I rarely ever boot up NT anymore. I dont need to unless I want to play Urban Terror. I wouldn't even need to do that but I am too lazy to update my nVidia X windows module. My quake video and audio are all messed up if I try to play Quake3Arena under linux currently.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 9:29 Comments || Top||

#10  SPoD

I don't understand your sentences about Chirac and Kerry. And I am French. Post/send me the English versions and I will translate.

BTW: Penguinistas for Bush.
Posted by: JFM || 10/19/2004 9:59 Comments || Top||

#11  Since the last MS service pack, the popups have been blocked in IE as well boys.

It says volumes about an outfit that won't do a damned thing about problems with their wares until faced with widespread dissatisfaction along with the resulting user flight when something better makes itself available.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 10:32 Comments || Top||

#12  Will the new IE come with tabs too? Still got a lot of ground to catch up on Mozilla. IE sucks. Sucks big time.
Posted by: Bulldog || 10/19/2004 10:40 Comments || Top||

#13  The fish is evil.
My wife the French teacher warned me. It's not to polite. The speech (words) of Jaques Chirac are like burning diarrhea. Something like. John Kerry can globally test my ass.

Yea and I use Mandrake Linux 99% of the time actually. I belong to Mandrake Club. What can I say I like a nice bloated desktop install.

Yes all my Penguins are Bushies too.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 10:47 Comments || Top||


Two Iraqis killed in clashes
Two Iraqis were killed in fighting between US troops and insurgents as the Americans carried out sweeps around the northern town of Duluiya, considered a hotbed of extremism, medical sources said. A US military spokesman said soldiers had been sealing off neighborhoods and conducting searches for several days and had carried out detentions in the town, 75 kilometers (40 miles) north of Baghdad. "Two Iraqi corpses and six wounded were brought here," said medics at the general hospital in neighboring Balad.
Posted by: Steve || 10/19/2004 8:51:04 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:


Fallujah Urban Renewal Continues
FALLUJAH: US warplanes unleashed a series of strikes in the rebel-held city of Fallujah overnight on buildings believed to be linked to Islamic militant Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi's network, the military said on Tuesday. "Several Abu Musab al-Zarqawi safe houses and weapons storage facilities in southern Fallujah were struck this evening as part of continued operations to thwart the Zarqawi terrorist network plans to attack the Iraqi government and its people during Ramadan," it said in a statement.
Posted by: Steve || 10/19/2004 8:46:22 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  To properly preform urban renewal/removal you should use B-52s
Posted by: Old Fogey || 10/19/2004 10:58 Comments || Top||

#2  Too bad those space-based weapons described in Popular Science a while back weren't available. A half a dozen tungsten rods falling from the heavens would probably do nicely...
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 12:48 Comments || Top||

#3  lol urban renewal, thats a great one. how about mass cluster bombing the cluster fucks and thier mosque thing.then circle AC-130s above to pick off the shit still moving
Posted by: Shep UK || 10/19/2004 15:47 Comments || Top||


CARE Official Kidnapped in Baghdad
The director of CARE International's operations in Iraq was kidnapped early Tuesday in Baghdad, the organization said. Margaret Hassan, said to be an Iraqi national, was abducted in the capital at 7:30 a.m., CARE International, United Kingdom said in a statement released in London and read to The Associated Press in Baghdad. "As of now we are unaware of the motives for the abduction," the statement said. "As far as we know, Margaret is unharmed.

The statement said Hassan had been "providing humanitarian relief to the people of Iraq" for more than 25 years. "Needless to say, we are doing whatever we can to secure her release," the statement added. "But equally, it would be unhelpful for us to comment further at this time. Our overwhelming concern must be for Margaret's safety."
Posted by: Fred || 10/19/2004 8:49:30 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Within barely 2 hours of this breaking Al-Jizz reportedly have a vid of her - begs the question how close these 'journalists' are to the scum. Good luck to her - everything crossed. Send the buck-toothed envoys from the Muslim Council of GB out there to appear credible whilst yielding no result.
Posted by: Howard UK || 10/19/2004 9:36 Comments || Top||

#2  "As of now we are unaware of the motives for the abduction,"

Motive? Since when do they need a motive?
Are the professionally compassionate really that naive?
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/19/2004 11:18 Comments || Top||

#3  Motive: Ca$h.
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 11:24 Comments || Top||

#4  Howard you are spot on. Al Jiz is up to it's necks in this stuff. I think a car bomb at their headquaters my be a just desert.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 11:25 Comments || Top||

#5  I was thinking that too dot. That Italian job looks like it worked out well for everybody
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/19/2004 11:26 Comments || Top||

#6  I'm sure she'll be released, after a hefty ransom is paid, and denouncing US occupation within 2 weeks. I've seen this movie before.
Posted by: Destro || 10/19/2004 11:44 Comments || Top||

#7  Two international non-governmental agencies -- CARE-United Kingdom, and Doctors without Borders-France -- had no problem working in Iraq during the Saddam Hussein regime. Their contracts, thanks to EU funding, were quite good. For those who wonder, the CARE of today is just a mercenary offshoot of the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere which achieved fame after WWII.
Posted by: Tancred || 10/19/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||

#8  And she will put on such a show, I have no doubt.
Posted by: .com || 10/19/2004 11:51 Comments || Top||


Israel-Palestine
BBC Israel 'kills six Gaza militants terrorists'
The Israeli military reports that it has killed six Palestinian militants terrorists in separate incidents in and around Gaza. It said two gunmen from the militant terrorist Hamas group were killed on Israeli territory after cutting through the border fence. Another two militants terrorists were shot after planting a bomb near the border with Egypt, the army added. It also said troops had returned fire at two militants terrorists who attacked an army vehicle, apparently killing both. The incident happened near the Kissufim crossing between Gaza and Israel.

'Gross violation'Justifiable action
Israel has just ended a massive offensive defensive action into the northern Gaza Strip, which it said was to prevent the firing of makeshift rockets at Israeli territory nearby. The top United Nations diplomat terrorist shill in Gaza has characterised the Israeli operation, which focused on Jabaliya refugee camp, as a "gross violation of international and humanitarian law". Hundreds of Jabaliya residents harborers and supporters of Hamas terrorists have been made homeless The head of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (Unrwa) and total loony , Peter Hansen, said at least 90 homes had been destroyed and up to 700 Palestinians made homeless in the operation, codenamed Days of Penitence. "I am protesting every time it happens. No one gives a flying leap Peter except the BBC the rest of the MSM, LLLs and EUrotrash Peter. Most of what we have seen here in Jabaliya over the last two weeks is a gross violation of international and humanitarian law," he said frothed during a tour of Jabaliya. You also should be thankful they didn't just kill you along with them you terrorist loving loon The two-week incursion left at least 100 Palestinians, at least one third of them supposedly civilians, dead. One Israeli soldier was killed in an ambush by Palestinian militants terrorists and two Israeli toddlers were killed murdered by rocket fire.

Mr Hansen was involved in a furious row with Israeli authorities during the offensive, when Israel claimed a UN ambulance had been used by Palestinian militants terrorists to transport weaponry. It later never fully retracted the accusation.
He is lucky Israel doesn't just throw him in jail along with the rest of the terrorists UN employees in Gaza.

Explosive belt
The two militants terrorist homicide bombers who managed to infiltrate Israel were spotted soon after cutting through the security fence that surrounds the Gaza Strip. They got as far as an orchard several hundred metres from the Holit kibbutz, or collective farm. One of the men terrorists was thankfully killed by Israeli gunfire, while the other blew up, as he was reportedly wearing an explosive belt, the Israeli military said.
Blowing up like that is a pretty good sign I would say.
The terrorist group Hamas did not say exactly what the mission had been, but it is likely that they planned a suicidal raid terrorist attack on the farming community, the BBC's Alan Johnston in Gaza says. The army patrols and monitors Gaza's perimeter fence extremely carefully, and militants terrorists very rarely manage to penetrate the defences. This is the second time in six weeks that Hamas terrorist attackers murders have been able to get into Israel itself and start to close in on a kibbutz before being killed, our correspondent says. Israel has legitimately occupied Gaza since capturing the territory in 1967. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is planning to withdraw settlers and Israeli soldiers from the 40 km long strip, which is home to 1.3 million Palestinians. Approximately 8,000 settlers from Gaza, and the troops who protect them from terrorists, are expected to leave Gaza by the end of 2005, though Israel will maintain control of Gaza's borders, coastline and airspace until the Palestinians renounce terroism, disarm, recgonize Israel's legitimate borders and, right to exist.
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom || 10/19/2004 4:43:44 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  I won't be sad when the terrorists finally figure out they can get much more media milage from whacking these sympathetic BBC guys. 24/7 coverage. First the where, then the why.... the funeral, the wailing, and the endless analysis.

Gotta go for the Al Jizz and BBC types if you want to get that type of airtime. MSM won't give that sort of air time to anyone who is not already reporting for your side.
Posted by: anon || 10/19/2004 10:08 Comments || Top||

#2  SPoD,

I appreciate the hard work on this article. Man, you really spend a lot of time on this.

There is going to be a lot of dead Paleo's in the coming days. I hope RB has enough bandwidth for all of the upcoming "dancing virgins" jpeg's. BTW, someone needs to check on the raisin inventory, we want to make sure that it doesn't run out.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 10/19/2004 10:14 Comments || Top||

#3  From the Washington Times
Israeli troops pull out of Gaza camps

The newspaper said that army sources said that one attack was stopped early Friday when the Golani Brigade fired on a group that had brought a rocket launcher into the Jabalya camp, using children to carry it.

Funny they did not get Hansen to comment on that.
Posted by: Cynic || 10/19/2004 12:04 Comments || Top||

#4  PR, thats "dancing bearded virgins".

I think Allan is supposed to keep track of the bearded virgin supply. I think he is out back having a smoke right now....
Posted by: CrazyFool || 10/19/2004 12:14 Comments || Top||

#5  CF,

"bearded virgins"

Perish the thought!! My lunch is officially in the trash now.
Posted by: Poison Reverse || 10/19/2004 13:49 Comments || Top||

#6  What, you were expecting Virgins? We said dancing California Rasins!
Posted by: trawling for allan || 10/19/2004 20:51 Comments || Top||

#7  Jabaliya? I love gumbo and crawfish pie! Hank Willians sang about it...but I don't remember killer Paleos there
Posted by: Frank G || 10/19/2004 21:39 Comments || Top||


Afghanistan/South Asia
India's two largest Maoist groups merge
In a move with far-reaching consequences, India's two dominant Maoist groups, the Maoist Communist Centre (MCC) and People's War Group (PWG), have merged and formed the Communist Party of India (Maoist). A press release issued by Ganapati, the long-standing underground leader of PWG, said the unity was aimed at furthering the cause of "revolution" in India. Ironically, the acronym of the new party will be CPI-M, the same as for the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M).
The latter is a long-standing political party in India

The new party pledged to work in close collaboration with the Communist Party of Nepal (Maoist), which is leading a bloody insurgency in the Himalayan kingdom. The Jharkhand police, who keep a close track on developments on the Maoist front, have confirmed the development. Ganapati said in his statement that the new party would fiercely oppose the central government run by the Congress and its mainstream communist allies, the Communist Party of India (CPI) and the CPI-M. He also announced the formation of a People's Liberation Guerrilla Army and extended support to "revolutionary struggles" in Nepal, Peru, the Philippines, Turkey and other places.
That would be their fellow Maoists such as the Shining Path, New People's Army etc. As well as groups in Bangladesh, Iran, Colombia and Sri Lanka.

For the last five years, the PWG and the MCC had been trying to merge but repeated efforts failed for a variety of reasons. Officials admit that the merger will have serious implications in Jharkhand and others states facing the Maoist threat. In the 1980s and 1990s, the PWG and the MCC were locked in a fierce internecine war for supremacy in different parts of undivided Bihar, causing the death of hundreds of guerrillas and their sympathisers. The creation of Jharkhand in November 2000 and anti-Maoist operations launched by the administration pushed MCC and PWG to forge closer links. A truce came into being between them three years ago. The merger has caused uneasiness among police officers here who have vowed to work out fresh strategies to deal with the development.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/19/2004 1:33:04 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:


ISI to Dawood Ibrahim: Act or perish
Amidst growing pressure to check underworld don Dawood Ibrahim who has been declared 'Specially Designated Global Terrorist' (SDGT) by the US, his ISI masters in Pakistan have directed him to carry out attacks in India or support would be extended to a new group led by his detractors. According to intelligence inputs and statements of some underworld members arrested in the country recently, his masters in Karachi have asked Dawood to set his house in order and step up violent attacks in India. ISI has already readied a group led by Anwar, brother of Chota Shakeel, comprising Syed Muzzafar alias Munna Jhingda and Yusuf Ghodrawala to substitute Dawood, official sources said quoting the reports. While Anwar is in Dubai, the other two shuttle between Thailand and Pakistan. The sources said that the new group, in order to prove its credentials to their masters could carry out some attacks in Mumbai.

Dawood, meanwhile, has made a separate base in another Gulf country besides Dubai and also purchased shares in a super market chain, the sources said adding that he was helped by brother of a senior Pakistani politician in doing so. Another factor worrying Dawood is that his younger brother Humayun's name has been linked with the bombing of a Shiite mosque in Karachi in May this year, the sources said. Following this, a series of meetings were held between Dawood and his handlers in ISI during which the underworld don was conveyed clearly to set his house in order. Chota Shakeel, who is believed to have been distancing himself from Dawood, has also agreed to support the substitute group, in case ISI decided to dump Dawood, the sources said.
Posted by: Paul Moloney || 10/19/2004 1:15:30 AM || Comments || Link || [1 views] Top|| File under:

#1  Is his wife's name "Bondie"?
I just had to ask.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/19/2004 14:14 Comments || Top||


Iraq-Jordan
Iraq's Allawi Extends Arms-For-Cash Plan
Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi announced plans Monday to extend a cash-for-weapons program for Shiite fighters in Baghdad's Sadr City to cities nationwide in an attempt to disarm the country. The announcement of plans to extend the weapons-for-cash program came as fresh violence erupted in Baghdad and Mosul. The government launched the program in Sadr City as part of a deal to end weeks of fighting in the Shiite district of Baghdad and has twice extended the deadline for fighters to hand in their weapons. On Monday, Allawi told the National Council, a government oversight body, that the program is going so well he wants to extend it to the rest of Iraq. ``The government is determined to disarm cities and neighborhoods because our forces are now ready to fight terrorists and there's no justification for people to keep weapons at home,'' Allawi said.
Posted by: Steve White || 10/19/2004 12:52:19 AM || Comments || Link || [0 views] Top|| File under:

#1  how many more damaged RPG launchers and long guns does Allawi want to buy so that the $$ can be used to purchased new ones.

Makes no sense to me.
Posted by: RN || 10/19/2004 7:21 Comments || Top||

#2  Cite that theyre ONLY getting obsolete weapons?

Posted by: Liberalhawk || 10/19/2004 9:42 Comments || Top||

#3  This is going to have the same effect as the guns-for-cash BS that has been tried here at home, which is little to none.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 12:18 Comments || Top||

#4  Coming right up... Midnight Basketball.
Posted by: tu3031 || 10/19/2004 12:22 Comments || Top||

#5  Oh, so youre not going on real info about whats being turned in, what gets in across the borders, what the real weapons situation in Iraq is. Its just a knee jerk response to something that sounds like liberal domestic policy. Gotcha. On to the next topic.
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 10/19/2004 12:47 Comments || Top||

#6  Its just a knee jerk response to something that sounds like liberal domestic policy.

Given the fact that it doesn't work here in the U.S., where our citizens no doubt have a lot more integrity and honor than Iraqi insurgents, a similar result in Iraq to a similar policy is not an unreasonable expectation.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 15:02 Comments || Top||

#7  AP


"We knew there would be thousands, but it's a staggering amount when you see it. We are digging ammunitions out of areas on a day-to-day basis, it's absolutely amazing," said Major General Peter Chiarelli, head of the First Cavalry Division, in charge of security in Baghdad.


The amount of arms turned in has gained serious momentum since Friday, he said, on what was originally meant to be the last day of the arms-for-cash programme that has buoyed hopes for a peaceful end to months of fighting in the Shiite slum of Sadr City.


Prime Minister Iyad Allawi announced Monday an extension of the arms buyback in the impoverished Shiite district until Thursday.


"The Sadr bureau told us that there's been a thousand IEDs (homemade bombs) turned in," Chiarelli said.


Chiarelli touted the bounty of rockets, artillery shells and mortars being hauled in, as it made the squalid slum, where US troops and Sadr's men have battled for months, much safer.

Posted by: Liberalhawk || 10/19/2004 16:19 Comments || Top||

#8  1. In the US the weapons being turned in are mainly small arms, which are easy to reacquire. The weapons of concern in Iraq are NOT side arms, or even Kalishnikovs, which are ubiquitous, but RPGs, mortars, etc things which we are attempting to stop from being present in the country. If we are watching the borders well, they supply of replacements should dry up.

2. Its not a question of honor, but of interest. Many of the "insurgents" are part timers, casuals, who may be willing to turn from the insurgency. And if they are no longer insurgents, they have no reason to want heavy weapons,while small arms probably remain useful in an American slum

3. Do you really think drug dealers, etc necessarily have more honor and integrity than Iraqis, even Sadrist insurgents?
Posted by: Liberalhawk || 10/19/2004 16:24 Comments || Top||

#9  And what does that prove? Unless the country can be sealed off so that nothing contraband gets in (not an easy thing to do, apparently) and every known cache of weapons is seized and carted off by the proper personnel, how can anyone know that there isn't more coming in or being dug up to replace what's being turned in?

What's more, those arms don't fire themselves; the users are what sets them off. Without accounting for the people behind the triggers (leaving them in place to wait for a more opportune time to scramble the mix once again instead of taking them out permanently), how is there real, long-term security? I suppose a good indicator would be to see what happens after this bombs-and-bullets-for-cash program is done - do attacks on coalition forces, Iraqi police and their recruits, and innocent bystanders drop off sharply? If this happens, maybe it's worth something. If it doesn't, well.......I sure as hell won't be holding my breath.

There's not much of a reason to put any faith in human goodwill in that part of the world where the enemy (terrorists, rebels, insurgents, or whatever you wish to call them) is concerned. It's only another weakness with which to use against us and our allies.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 16:53 Comments || Top||

#10  If we are watching the borders well, they supply of replacements should dry up.

Haaahahahaha, you're kidding, right?

Its not a question of honor, but of interest. Many of the "insurgents" are part timers, casuals, who may be willing to turn from the insurgency. And if they are no longer insurgents, they have no reason to want heavy weapons,..

That "interest" can easily change with the direction of the winds. Their interest != the interest of the country as a whole. If it were, the current situation would likely look, feel, and be much different.

Do you really think drug dealers, etc necessarily have more honor and integrity than Iraqis, even Sadrist insurgents?

Drug dealers are not likely to turn in their weapons for cash, not when more cash can be had above and beyond a meager little payout by simply plying their trade and ignoring silly little inducements like a guns-for-cash scheme. Rebels in Iraq can turn in RPGs, mortars, or whatever for cash, then go dig up some more someplace else. As a result, Ta Daaah! They end up with cash AND weapons!
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama || 10/19/2004 17:24 Comments || Top||



Who's in the News
80[untagged]

Bookmark
E-Mail Me

The Classics
The O Club
Rantburg Store
The Bloids
The Never-ending Story
Thugburg
Gulf War I
The Way We Were
Bio

Merry-Go-Blog











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
Tue 2004-10-19
  Cap'n Hook accused of soliciting to murder
Mon 2004-10-18
  Iraqi cops take down Kirkuk "hostage house"
Sun 2004-10-17
  Soddies wax AQ shura member
Sat 2004-10-16
  Fallujah Seeks Peace Talks if Attacks End
Fri 2004-10-15
  Alamoudi gets 23 years
Thu 2004-10-14
  Caliph of Cologne Charged With Treason
Wed 2004-10-13
  Soddies bang three Bad Guyz
Tue 2004-10-12
  Caliph of Cologne extradited to Turkey
Mon 2004-10-11
  Security HQ and militiamen attacked in NW Iran
Sun 2004-10-10
  Libya Arrests 17 Alleged al-Qaida Members
Sat 2004-10-09
  Afghanistan: Boom-free election
Fri 2004-10-08
  al-Qaeda behind Taba booms
Thu 2004-10-07
  39 Sunnis toes up in Multan festivities
Wed 2004-10-06
  Boom misses Masood's brother
Tue 2004-10-05
  Sadr City targeted by US forces

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.
54.226.210.133
Help keep the Burg running! Paypal:
WoT Background (27)    Non-WoT (27)    Opinion (3)    (0)    (0)