Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al Alsheikh, the Grand Mufti of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, has condemned the terrorist acts which took place in London on Thursday. In his statement, Al Alsheikh made it clear that killing of innocent people and destruction of properties run counter to the teachings of Islam. 'It is time for the Muslims to announce that Islam has nothing to do with such vicious acts', he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Then handed out candy as soon as the cameras and reporters left.
#7
The Saudis will use English words any way they can to avoid ending up with the two holiest craters in Islam, but they haven't beheaded enough terrorist supporters to convince me.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/09/2005 11:17 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Come on, you can do it: a little fatwa. Just a little one, that says "Muslims must not support such acts, and must report suspects to the authorities, even if the government is infidel." Come on, sheikh. . . You are serious about this not being Islamic, aren't you?
Posted by: James ||
07/09/2005 11:28 Comments ||
Top||
#9
mr.al shaik also told the assembled reporters that he had a bridge in the rub al khali for sale at a very fair price
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 12:47 Comments ||
Top||
#10
why do I think that even with all this so called condemnation, they still have a sense of pride about this?
maybe it's because they do
maybe it's because they have nothing else to be proud of
Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, has slammed the blast incidents which took place in London on Thursday. In a press statement, Prince Turki expressed the sympathy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the British people and offered condolences to families of the victims of the blast indices. He confirmed the condemnation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to all forms of terrorism as well as its determination to confront terrorism. 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supports the efforts of Britain to nab the culprits and to bring them to justice', he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
the former head of saudi intelligence said he would help the briteesh find the "deviants"--then he flew home to wait for his uncle's death and make sure that azizi didn't put a coup up his anti semetic ass
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 12:53 Comments ||
Top||
#2
the former head of saudi intelligence said he would help the briteesh find the "deviants"--then he flew home to wait for his uncle's death and make sure that azizi didn't put a coup up his anti semetic ass
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 12:53 Comments ||
Top||
Investigators in Britain and across Europe began examining whether the bombers who killed at least 49 people during London's morning rush hour Thursday were part of the same network of Islamic radicals blamed for the deadly train explosions in Madrid last year.
Spanish authorities said they were collaborating closely with British investigators and had dispatched a team of explosives experts to London who were responsible for the forensic analysis of the bombs that killed 191 people in the Madrid attacks on March 11, 2004.
British investigators said Friday the four bombs that exploded on three subway trains and a bus weighed less than 10 pounds each. In Madrid, the 10 bombs left in backpacks on commuter trains in Madrid also exploded during the morning rush hour and weighed 22 pounds on average.
In both cases, timing devices were apparently used. Spanish officials said the Madrid plotters crafted the detonators with cell phones whose alarms were timed to go off together. British investigators are still trying to piece together evidence about the composition of the bombs in London. But Ian Blair, the London police chief, said there was "nothing to suggest there was a suicide bomber involved in this process."
"My guess is that the specialists have taken with them all the information obtained from the backpacks found here in Spain and will contrast them with what's there, to see if they come from the same place," said Rafael Vidal Delgado, an adviser for a private security firm in Madrid and a former colonel in the Spanish army. "Obviously the same type of explosives would provide an indication of collaboration."
British law-enforcement officials said that they had made no arrests and would not say if they had developed any suspects. Investigators cautioned that they had not ruled out any groups who may have planned the attacks. Home Secretary Charles Clarke, who is in charge of domestic security, said the search for the bombers was like "looking for needles in a haystack." But he added that a claim of responsibility posted on the Internet by a group identifying itself as the Secret Organization of al Qaeda in Europe "is something we certainly take seriously."
In the Madrid attacks, Spanish investigators and prosecutors have charged that a network of Islamic extremists consisting mainly of Moroccan immigrants were responsible. Several defendants who have been indicted in the case are accused members of the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group, which North African and European counterterrorism officials said has forged an alliance with al Qaeda but is an independently run network.
European law-enforcement officials have broken up cells organized by the Moroccan network in the Netherlands, Italy, Belgium, Spain and France in the past 18 months and characterize it as one of the primary terrorist threats on the continent. Moroccan officials have blamed the group for orchestrating the May 2003 suicide bombings in Casablanca.
The network has also developed a presence in Britain in recent years. Mohammed Guerbouzi, a man whom Moroccan officials charge is a founder of the group, has lived in London for years. Morocco issued an international warrant for his arrest two years ago, although British officials have said that there was not enough evidence to take him into custody.
Investigators have long known that suspects in the Madrid bombings had contacts in Britain. One month after the attacks, seven suspected members of the Madrid cell blew themselves up as they were surrounded by police. Investigators later determined that the suspects had placed three phone calls to Britain shortly before killing themselves.
"The British are definitely comparing notes on Moroccan cells across Europe, in Italy, France and the UK," said Charles Powell, assistant director of the Elcano Royal Institute in Madrid. "The current thinking is that the people who did this may have trained in the same camps as the people who committed the Madrid bombings. The techniques are very similar."
Security analysts said the Moroccan Islamic Combatant Group and other North African groups in Britain have been especially active in raising money and producing false identity documents for radical Islamic causes.
Most other Islamic extremists in Britain are attached to Pakistani and South Asian networks, while Arab radicals from the Gulf states represent a lesser threat, said Magnus Ranstorp, director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland. While such networks sometimes overlap, he said, cell members usually belong to the same nationality or grew up in the same immigrant communities.
"I'm sure investigators are working both dimensions," Ranstorp said. "Is the center of gravity or focus on Pakistan and Bangladesh, or is the focus on the North Africans?"
A U.S. law enforcement official said yesterday that information gleaned from a suspected al Qaeda leader who goes by the nom de guerre of Abu Faraj Libbi indicates that the group was interested in carrying out an attack similar to Madrid. Libbi, whose name means he comes from Libya, was captured in May in Pakistan. He is now in U.S. custody in an undisclosed location.
The U.S. official also cautioned that Libbi provided no firm details about such a plot, which suggests that it was only wishful thinking. Libbi also has told interrogators that while radical Islamic groups would ideally like to strike the United States, Europe currently provides an easier target because of less stringent security and border measures, the official said. "They're still interested in us, but we're a harder target right now," the official said.
Two U.S. intelligence officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the connection between the Madrid network and the London bombers was one of several working theories being pursued by investigators. They said they were giving equal weight to the possibility that other groups were behind the attacks.
U.S. and European counterterrorism officials have also named Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian who is the leader of a network of foreign fighters in Iraq, as a possible inspiration for the London bombings. Zarqawi has struck an alliance with al Qaeda but has developed a separate network of supporters in several European countries.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/09/2005 13:37 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[3 views]
Top|| File under:
Slightly EFL
The perpetrators of Thursday's atrocities are living in a fantasy world if they think the British people can be intimidated by terrorism, let alone converted to Islam. The findings of YouGov's survey show they are equally deluded if they think they can drive a wedge either between Britain and the United States or between most Britons and their Muslim fellow countrymen.
Poll results here.
The vast majority of YouGov's respondents are proud of London's emergency services and of the way ordinary Londoners responded to Thursday's bombings. They have no intention of changing the way they live and work merely to satisfy the desires of a few fanatics.
Not surprisingly, people's willingness to see the authorities taking whatever steps are necessary to apprehend and, if need be, detain potential terrorists has risen sharply. More than 80 per cent believe the threat is so serious that the authorities should act against suspected terrorists even if they have not committed any offence.
The survey also reveals increased support for identity cards. Compared with last week, support for ID cards has increased significantly, almost certainly as a result of the attacks. There's always got to be a downside!
Even so, people by a wide margin remain unconvinced that the introduction of cards would help prevent terrorist acts. Seems to be a reality disconnect going on in people's minds then. You don't cure measles by popping spots.
Although most Britons do reckon that the London bombings were the work of Islamic extremists, most show no disposition to point the finger of blame at British Muslims as a whole. On the contrary, well over 80 per cent are convinced that the great majority of British Muslims are peaceful, law-abiding citizens who condemn the bombings like everyone else.
The response of Tony Blair and his ministers to the attacks has clearly boosted the standing of both. Early this year, twice as many people said they were dissatisfied with Mr Blair as Prime Minister as said the opposite. In the aftermath of Thursday's bombings, Mr Blair's approval rating has flipped from negative to positive for the first time in five years.
Moreover, the bombings have failed - despite Mr George Galloway's best efforts - to undermine support for the British presence in Iraq. The proportion wanting British troops brought home quickly has fallen and the proportion who now want Britain to retain its close ties with the US has risen. The section of the chart headed "Assessing performance" tells a story of which Britons can be proud. Heh. Maybe the Jihadi Grand Strategy needs a little tweaking.
[P]eople are far from sanguine about the future. Almost everyone, 92 per cent, reckons that another terrorist attack on a British target is now either "very likely" (45 per cent) or "fairly likely" (47 per cent). However, the proportion fearing that they themselves or a close family member or friend might be killed or injured in such an attack has not risen significantly. People have clearly thought for a long time that a terrorist attack was probable, but most people evidently have no intention of changing the way they live. A mere one per cent of YouGov's respondents expects to make big changes as a result of the bombings. The great majority, 88 per cent, expect to make few changes or none at all.
The bombings have provided a modest boost to public support for identity cards. Support for ID cards has risen quite suddenly from 45 per cent a week ago to 50 per cent now. Even so, a substantial majority, 56 per cent, still doubt whether ID cards would help to prevent future outrages. YouGov's findings also suggest that the London bombings have tipped the balance of opinion still further in favour of according national security priority over at least some civil liberties. An even larger majority than in the past - now 81 per cent - think it is reasonable to take action against potential terrorists even if they have not yet committed a criminal offence.
The figures in the section of the chart headed "Muslims and the bombings" show beyond doubt that a large majority of Britons make some connection between Thursday's attacks and some of the followers of Islam. Fully 82 per cent are apparently convinced already that Islamic extremists - whether foreign Muslims, British Muslims or some combination of the two - were behind the bombings and 60 per cent believe Britain's security services "should now focus their intelligence-gathering and terrorism-prevention efforts on Muslims in this country or seeking to enter it".
In addition, the proportion believing that Islam itself - as distinct from fundamentalist Islamic groups - poses a threat to western liberal democracy has risen from 32 per cent shortly after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre to 46 per cent now.
#1
Unintended consequences (from the jihadi perspective)? Actually, if there is any coherent thought process behind this, its to radicalize mooselimbs. So the more severe the reaction the better.
#2
I wonder how the British people would feel about offensive operations at this point. When bombs go off in the West, governments in the Middle East should start getting that quivering feeling in their legs as they try to see the blade aimed at their necks. What say you, United Kingdom? Care to take Syria down while we take Saudi? What would Churchill do?
#6
Hmmm, some of the 'muslim' questions are interesting;
'Do you feel that Islam - as distinct from Islamic fundamentalist groups - poses a threat to Western liberal democracy?' (brackets from Oct 2001)
Yes, Islam poses a major threat - 19% (10)
Yes, poses some threat - 27% (22)
No, not much threat - 24% (33)
No, no threat at all - 23% (35)
Don't know - 7% (5)
The way I work that out is that almost half the population thinks Islam itself, and not the radicalised fundamentalist version of it, as a threat, and this figure has risen from Oct 2001 (when we were all very raw from 9/11). I'd say Islam has a problem.
I'm inclined to agree with the general trend of the thread yesterday on the Blood Feud - totally disproportionate response.
Kipling had it right - repay it back 100 times over...
The Grave of the Hundred Head
There's a widow in sleepy Chester
Who weeps for her only son;
There's a grave on the Pabeng River,
A grave that the Burmans shun;
And there's Subadar Prag Tewarri
Who tells how the work was done.
A Snider squibbed in the jungle,
Somebody laughed and fled,
And the men of the First Shikaris
Picked up their Subaltern dead,
With a big blue mark in his forehead
And the back blown out of his head.
Subadar Prag Tewarri,
Jemadar Hira Lal,
Took command of the party,
Twenty rifles in all,
Marched them down to the river
As the day was beginning to fall.
They buried the boy by the river,
A blanket over his face --
They wept for their dead Lieutenant,
The men of an alien race --
They made a samadh in his honor,
A mark for his resting-place.
For they swore by the Holy Water,
They swore by the salt they ate,
That the soul of Lieutenant Eshmitt Sahib
Should go to his God in state,
With fifty file of Burmans
To open him Heaven's gate.
The men of the First Shikaris
Marched till the break of day,
Till they came to the rebel village,
The village of Pabengmay --
A jingal covered the clearing,
Calthrops hampered the way.
Subadar Prag Tewarri,
Bidding them load with ball,
Halted a dozen rifles
Under the village wall;
Sent out a flanking-party
With Jemadar Hira Lal.
The men of the First Shikaris
Shouted and smote and slew,
Turning the grinning jingal
On to the howling crew.
The Jemadar's flanking-party
Butchered the folk who flew.
Long was the morn of slaughter,
Long was the list of slain,
Five score heads were taken,
Five score heads and twain;
And the men of the First Shickaris
Went back to their grave again,
Each man bearing a basket
Red as his palms that day,
Red as the blazing village --
The village of Pabengmay,
And the "drip-drip-drip" from the baskets
Reddened the grass by the way.
They made a pile of their trophies
High as a tall man's chin,
Head upon head distorted,
Set in a sightless grin,
Anger and pain and terror
Stamped on the smoke-scorched skin.
Subadar Prag Tewarri
Put the head of the Boh
On the top of the mound of triumph,
The head of his son below --
With the sword and the peacock-banner
That the world might behold and know.
Thus the samadh was perfect,
Thus was the lesson plain
Of the wrath of the First Shikaris --
The price of a white man slain;
And the men of the First Shikaris
Went back into camp again.
Then a silence came to the river,
A hush fell over the shore,
And Bohs that were brave departed,
And Sniders squibbed no more;
For the Burmans said
That a white man's head
Must be paid for with heads five-score.
There's a widow in sleepy Chester
Who weeps for her only son;
There's a grave on the Pabeng River,
A grave that the Burmans shun;
And there's Subadar Prag Tewarri
Who tells how the work was done.
Of course, Kipling is certainly not the poster boy of the PC crowd.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/09/2005 11:24 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I would say not. Thanks, Tony.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/09/2005 11:33 Comments ||
Top||
#8
Tony (UK): Do these poll results square pretty well with the views of people you've talked to? They're rather impressive-- and encouraging.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/09/2005 12:11 Comments ||
Top||
#9
the commanders the the 2020 caliphate jihad really are strategically stoopid--the egyptian islamic jihad thought machers who counseled the attacks on the "far enemy" have no western historical analyses that fit their ibn tammiya fantasy--this is not your father's richard the lion hearted--its churchill and the river war baby--kitchener not poorly equipped chinese gordon-- they will dig up the mahdi's bones and toss them into the nile--that's the british way
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 13:14 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Good article, but I didn't need a poll to tell me this.
Posted by: Matt ||
07/09/2005 14:02 Comments ||
Top||
#11
This is telling :
Note how the PC crowd is 23%. I think that number is dropping...
#12
Note also the proportion who say Islam is no threat is also 23%. Since we can say that Moslems were questioned, and all would say this as well as the other 23% answer. We then assume than Moslems are 5% of the population there, the results are very drammatic among the non-Moslem population...
Moslems must clean their own house, or face being considered pariahs on sight...
The rest of us can only take this indiscriminate murder of innocents for so long before there will be a lash out at anyone who is perceived to facilitate the perpitrators...
#13
Dave D. - hard to say, the YouGov surveys are somewhat self-selecting (mostly internet-based) and so therefore you'll get a lot more of the chattering class viewpoints being expressed. Also, I wouldn't trust them to not fiddle the results a bit if they showed a strong non-PC bias. I'd say that the 10% figure mentioned in BigEd's post is going to be too low.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
07/09/2005 18:34 Comments ||
Top||
#14
Thanks, Tony. Looks like we'll have to see how attitudes adjust in the coming weeks-- especially after the BBC get to work "correcting" some of these "incorrect" opinions...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/09/2005 19:27 Comments ||
Top||
#15
What a complete pile of bullshit. So the Britons will never give in to terrorists? No problem, just vote for Labour or Liberal Democrat, and Ken Livingstone for mayor of London, and they'll do it for you. And they'll smile at you while they do it, and lock you up if you dare to criticise the 'religion of peace'.
Hundreds of commuters spent Thursday night stranded in London and some have accused hoteliers of cashing in on the bomb attacks. Prices at a number of London's hotels increased by more than double on Thursday night, the BBC has learned. Lastminute.com said price rises for hotels featured on its site had been set by hotels themselves. However, some hotels offered blankets and use of showers for free and other businesses donated goods to casualties.
The attacks on the Tube network and a double-decker bus killed at least 50 people and injured more than 700. A Trading Standards Institute spokesman said hotel profiteering after a bombing attack was reprehensible. With the transport networks down and no way of returning home, one businessman from Manchester told the BBC he had paid £250 for an £80 room.
This sort of behavior by outfits providing accomodation is nothing new. When I inquired at the Super 8 in Lake Tahoe about a room with two beds over the Presidents' Day holiday several years back, my jaw dropped when the guy at the desk said $175 a night.
#2
In some states old 19th Century laws still hold sway. That's why you see rates posted on the back of the door that are no where near what you usually lay out for the room. They have to post rates. If they jack up rates higher than posted, they're subject to penalties which has happened in time of local natural disasters. Seen more than a couple state AGs doing investigations and settlements following emergencies.
#3
Nothing like supply and demand is there? The bitching about gas prices has already started in Florida. It went up 72 cents in 24 hours! All the 2.40 gas is gone! Only 3.19 gas is available. Nitwits.
Queen Elizabeth II said Friday that the terrorist bombings in London "will not change our way of life." "Atrocities such as these simply reinforce our sense of community, our humanity, our trust in the rule of law. That is the clear message from us all," she told staff at the Royal London Hospital.
The east London hospital was among those treating victims of the three subway explosions and one explosion on a bus on Thursday. The queen expressed her admiration for all the Londoners who "are calmly determined to resume their normal lives." "This is the answer to this outrage. Sadly we in Britain have been all too familiar with acts of terror and members of my generation, especially at this end of London, know that we have been here before," she said, referring to the Nazi air blitz of World War II. "But those who perpetrate these brutal acts against innocent people should know that they will not change our way of life."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
*rises and raises his glass*
Ladies and Gentlemen, the Queen..God Bless Her.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
07/09/2005 0:05 Comments ||
Top||
#2
amen. Now if she'd just decree Galloway a traitor....
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 0:41 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Frank G: She should also declare all Mosques as Commercial zoning and send in bulldozers.
Posted by: Charles ||
07/09/2005 1:14 Comments ||
Top||
#4
I miss the Queen Mum. Now there was a class act.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/09/2005 1:38 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Did the current Queen have any experience during the Blitz walkabouts by the King and Queen?
Police said Friday that the bombs used in London's terrorist attacks held less than 10 pounds of explosives each -- light enough to easily tote in a bag or knapsack. Police also said they had uncovered no evidence suicide attackers had set off the explosions, but stressed they were still in the early stages of what promises to be an arduous investigation. Law enforcement officials declined to respond to questions about a U.S. official's statement that evidence indicating timers were used was found in the debris. London police also played down the possibility the devices were detonated by remote control using cell phones, instead asking the public for patience Friday as their investigation picks up momentum.
Whoever placed the bombs put them on the floor in three Underground cars, and either on the floor or on a seat of one of London's red, double-decker buses, the city's police commissioner said at a news conference. "We have absolutely nothing to suggest this was a suicide bombing attack although nothing at this stage to rule that out," Sir Ian Blair, commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said. Police said they had found no bombs other than the four that exploded. "Initially, the forensic investigation suggests that each device used had less than 10 pounds of high explosives," Hayman said. The weight of explosives was smaller than recent bombs detonated in the Middle East.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Couldn't get enough together for a good car bomb. Says something about the limited capabilities both in material and personnel these murders can employ. All they can muster is media events which unfortunately they have willing allies in the media to ably assist.
Take Chechnya's embattled police force, corrupt government, poor population and violent Islamists, then add dozens of feuding ethnic groups. Welcome to Dagestan, the new front in Russia's spreading Caucasus war.
Unlike the Chechens, who have fought Moscow's rule for a decade, the Dagestani peoples stayed largely peaceful after the Soviet collapse in 1991. They are not any more.
"There are attacks on police, terrorist acts, attacks on deputies and ministers," said Saigidpasha Umakhanov, the ethnically Avar mayor of the town of Khasavyurt, who says the government is too corrupt to stop the carnage.
"The government has seized the whole republic, so as to divide up all the money for itself. Well, for the people that is a problem," he told Reuters by telephone. "The government is fighting the people."
On Thursday, a train was derailed by a bomb north of regional capital Makhachkala. The blast followed a gun battle in the town centre on Wednesday, and an explosion in the town last Friday that killed 10 Russian servicemen.
Police say they have lost at least 28 officers to attacks this year. Militants and federal forces have lost many more, and civilian losses are unknown.
"There is 60 percent unemployment, there is uncertainty about the government, there is tension between the Avars and the Dargins, who are the two main peoples who want their representative (as local leader)," said Alexei Malashenko, an analyst from the Moscow Carnegie Centre think tank.
"The situation is just getting worse, in every way. This terrorism is a war against the police by the Islamist groups, who are getting bigger alongside their criminal allies."
If Chechnya's chaos fully engulfs Dagestan, Russia will have lost civilian control over half the North Caucasus. Further chaos would also threaten to destabilise the oil-rich states to the south and seriously overstretch Russia's creaking military.
Government posts are largely handed out to reflect the ethnic make-up of the region, making ministries the preserve of a single clan or family group.
Veteran local leader Magomed Magomedov, in power since Soviet times, is a Dargin and leaders of rival nations have claimed his relatives have an unfair monopoly on power.
The potential for inter-ethnic tension is huge. Dagestan is the size of Scotland, but its 2 million impoverished inhabitants speak some 29 mutually unintelligible languages -- about the same number spoken in the entire European Union.
And they have a long tradition of resistance.
Imam Shamil, the legendary leader of Caucasus resistance in the 19th century was an Avar, a member of the largest nation in the Dagestani patchwork.
His successors in the fight share his strict Islamist beliefs, with militant groups using Chechen rebel Web sites to advertise their jihad. They recently pledged to attack Moscow in an operation called "Stab the Pig in the Heart".
"If it is necessary we will come and destroy you with your children and wives, as you have come and destroyed ours," a statement on www.kavkazcenter.com from the "Shariat" group said.
Officials have long said the Islamists, like the Chechen rebels, are "international terrorists". But they have recently been forced to admit the militants stem from local stock.
"I can say only one thing, this is related to Dagestan's internal problems. No one could have imported this into the republic of Dagestan from outside," Andrei Novikov, the local deputy interior minister, told reporters on Wednesday.
Commentators say corruption is so high that police have more or less given up. Rossiiskaya Gazeta, the Russian government's official daily, said they were "completely paralysed".
"Who would want to put his head in the way of a bullet, when a high-ranking relative or sponsor of the person you are fighting can phone your boss tomorrow and demand you be sacked," the paper asked.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/09/2005 00:45 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Here's a map of Dagestan's ethnic landscape (warning: ~500kb).
Posted by: Rex Rufus ||
07/09/2005 3:33 Comments ||
Top||
#2
What a mess. You wish that John Wayne could ride into town, but he's a uniquely American fantasy. Russia is more likely to get Vlad the Cruel Conquerer.
Kyrgyzstan, recovering from an uprising that drove its president into exile three months ago, votes Sunday for a new leader in an election that could restore the country's reputation of being an "island of democracy" in former Soviet Central Asia. Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who took power after the March 24 storming of the presidential offices forced Askar Akayev's ouster, is seen as the clear favorite among six candidates and is widely expected to get more than 50 percent of the votes for a first-round win.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
The Turkish Security General Directorate has disclosed that Al Qaeda had attempted attacks in Italy was formerly prevented, which is one of the possible targets of the terrorist organization.
An intelligence report compiled from foreign secret services by the Directorate includes a chapter called "Activities of Al-Qaeda" which talks about the organization's attempts to attack Italy. The report obtained by Zaman reveals that five Al Qaeda bombing attempts in 2003 were arrested. According to the report Al-Qaeda has a new explosion made of nitro cellulite undetected by security controls. The report quotes Italian counter-terror authorities who warned all security units in the European countries that Al-Qaeda was preparing for an operation to test the new explosion. The Al-Qaeda attack attempts listed in the report are:
In June 2003, a bomb was found in Rome. On October 8 2003, experts defused a bomb found in front of the Spanish Airline Iberia's Rome office. On October 16 2003, the Rome Security Directorate received a letter bomb via mail. The bomb which had a mass destructive capability, was defused just in time. On October 12, 2003 a bomb was found in a package in Cagliari Airlines in Sardinia Island defused by the police. The baggage gate of an Alitalia Airlines plane was damaged the same day and the defused bomb was intended for plane.
Quoting a US Transportation Security Administration (TSA) source the report says Al-Qaeda may attempt a hijacking in Turkey.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/09/2005 13:30 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
From the 9/11 attacks through the Madrid bombings, Europeans have refused to sacrifice civil liberties in the fight against terrorism, sharply criticizing the United States for restricting its citizens' rights for the sake of security. Even with the London attacks, there is little indication that this philosophical divide is narrowing.
Certainly some European counterterrorism experts believe that Europe's determination to preserve open borders, ease of movement and civil liberties has been what one German expert on terrorism, Rolf Tophoven, calls "a gift to terrorists." It is all too easy for jihadists, once they are inside the European Union, to move from one country to another, the experts say, propagating their views and setting up groups sympathetic to Al Qaeda.
But from the early signs, Europe will not change course.
"I don't think the attack in London will change European policies," Mr. Tophoven said.
For one thing, it is too early to make the case that the London attacks were the product of open borders or too much tolerance of fanatical Muslim activity in Britain.
"If it turns out that the guys who did this were carrying French passports and they came from outside to do this special job, then there may be some feeling about the borders being too open," Gary Samore, a terrorism expert at the International Institute for Strategic Studies, in London, said in a telephone interview. Investigators, though, lean toward the theory that the London attacks were the work of terrorists already in Britain.
In general, Mr. Samore said, British police intelligence has been very good at keeping tabs on Muslim radicals inside Britain and has succeeded in foiling earlier terrorist plots.
"MI5 has very good relations with the British Muslim community, and it's developed a good network of informants, and they've penetrated the radical groups," Mr. Samore said, referring to the British domestic intelligence service.
Without more evidence it is impossible to know if there was a failure to gather intelligence on groups in Britain, or whether outsiders aided or directed the attacks, going to the country for that purpose.
But whichever turns out to be the case, experts say, radical Muslim communities have been established in several European countries since well before the current wave of Al Qaeda-inspired attacks, and that makes the situation in Europe different from that in the United States.
For the United States, there was a logic to the post-Sept. 11 toughening of immigration procedures, subjecting foreigners to rigorous questioning, general suspicion and even fingerprinting, which has prompted great unhappiness among European visitors. For Europe, with a sizable radical Muslim population already in place, it makes far less sense.
If potential terrorists are already inside the country, then the best way to prevent terrorism is to do what Britain was already doing, which is to keep close tabs on them.
As in the United States, there is a debate in Europe about the relative weight that needs to be given to civil liberties on the one side and law enforcement on the other. But Europeans are generally more inclined to err on the side of civil protections, because they are convinced that taking too severe a line only makes matters worse.
The Israeli-Palestinian conflict further divides European and American attitudes. Europeans are far more sympathetic to the Palestinians and prone to anti-Israel attitudes than Americans, and they have therefore tended to see a certain kind of Muslim radical oratory as the natural response of peoples with legitimate grievances.
By and large, Europeans oppose the American war in Iraq, which many say is responsible for increasing the terrorist threat against them. Political leaders in Europe diplomatically avoid criticizing the United States, but it has surely not been lost on ordinary Europeans that the countries attacked, and threatened by attack, are those that have supported the American war in Iraq.
"What we are witnessing in London is the terrorist answer to an imperialist politics," Ernst-Otto Czempiel, a political scientist at Frankfurt University and founder of the Frankfurt Peace Research Institute, said in an interview, giving voice to a widespread European opinion.
"To use military force against terrorism and to see it as a prolongation of the Soviet Union or of Hitlerian aggression is not only wrong politically but wrong practically," Mr. Czempiel said. "Bush has produced the opposite of what he intended to do."
In European intelligence circles, the fear is spreading that Iraq is becoming another Afghanistan, drawing in jihadists who receive training in bomb-making and other terrorist techniques and then infiltrate Western countries, Mr. Tophoven said. "There aren't a lot of them, not even hundreds," he said, "but a few of them are enough to cause harm."
The debate about civil liberties versus strong, intrusive security measures is not restricted only to Europe, of course. In Washington, President Bush is pressing Congress to renew the USA Patriot Act, the broad anti-terrorism law that was passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. But the measure has run into roadblocks on Capitol Hill.
The reauthorization bill has yet to come to a vote in either chamber. But last month the House approved a spending measure that stripped the act of a provision making it easier for federal investigators to review the records of bookstores and libraries.
European countries have passed no equivalents of the Patriot Act, but they can nonetheless claim considerable success for their reliance on ordinary police work and intelligence, despite the Madrid and London bombings.
The British police claim to have derailed several previous bomb plots. And in Germany, radical Muslims are under close surveillance, their homes, offices and computers subject to searches by the police in regular raids. Some organizations suspected of fanning hatred have been banned, and a few suspected extremists have been expelled.
Moreover, Germany is the only country to bring people accused of being members of the Sept. 11 terrorism team to trial. But both cases have foundered, not because of some excessive civil liberties scruples on the part of the Germans, but because the United States refused to provide records of its interrogations of terrorist leaders.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/09/2005 00:36 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Moreover, Germany is the only country to bring people accused of being members of the Sept. 11 terrorism team to trial. But both cases have foundered, not because of some excessive civil liberties scruples on the part of the Germans, but because the United States refused to provide records of its interrogations of terrorist leaders.
How about extraditing these types over to us? We shouldn't have any trouble prosecuting them....
#2
New York Slimes reporting on Euros? Don't waste your time.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/09/2005 3:18 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Behold the lightweight fantasy ramblings that now constitute "journalism".
What civil liberties restrictions in the US? Hello? This non-fact is referenced constantly in the mediasphere and idiosphere, yet .... there's absolutely no there, there.
Oh, and US borders aren't "open"? Gee, that'll surprise a lot of coyote operations based in Baja.
Best of all is the "Iraq as the new Afghanistan" idiocy. Let's see. Afghanistan was a sanctuary, untouched by US covert ops much less military power, nominally run by some islamist kooks who actually sub-let large portions of the country to AQ and other terror groups, where training and attack planning were conducted with impunity. Iraq is a country with a large US military presence and growing, improving local government security forces where the terrorists are relentlessly hunted and killed and captured in large numbers on a regular basis. Yep, looks the same to me ....
And as for a training ground, I'm not aware of any bombs in Iraq that resemble, for example, those just used in London. Almost all bombs here are just ordnance that's fused using different sorts of timers or remote command-detonation systems. Unless there are huge quantities of AT mines and 155mm artillery shells lying around Europe that I'm unaware of, there's little direct relevance to bomb-making in Mosul and bomb-making for use in Europe. And in any case, most such training can take place anywhere, from the Antarctic to Greenland to downtown Tokyo -- no particular advantage to doing it in Iraq. But aside from all that, I guess that yeah, Iraq is a perfect training ground ....
#5
Echoing Verlaine's point, running around the Afghan mountains will teach you shit about running a terrorist cell in a Western city. And I doubt running around Iraq will tell you any more. If Afghan and Iraqis 'veterans' are a pool of potential terrorists, where are the examples of 'veterans' caught or killed? There aren't any because its just an MSM meme with zero substance.
Otherwise, Verlaine is right. European's civil liberties are already far more restricted than those of Americans.
Italians paid tribute to the victims of the London terror bombings on Friday with a show of solidarity in Rome attended by representatives of three major religions.
The hundreds of Romans who gathered outside city hall, were joined by Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo Di Segni; the imam of Rome's mosque, Mahmud Hammad Sheweith; and Monsignor Rino Fisichella, representing the Catholic diocese of Rome.
A torchlight procession through the centre of the city was scheduled to follow speeches and prayers on the famed Campidoglio square.
The initiative was proposed by Mayor Walter Veltroni just hours after four separate explosions in London left at least 50 people dead and sent shockwaves through European capitals, including Rome.
"We have to be careful and know that terrorism is a threat for the whole of the West," Veltroni said. "So we must boost security but we also need the political intelligence to keep open the door to dialogue." Italian institutions lowered flags to half-mast in the capital and other cities on Friday in a further sign of respect and mourning.
The Rome imam recalled the victims of the London bombings during prayers earlier on Friday, saying that nothing could justify the attacks.
"The barbaric acts in London struck innocent victims and they must be condemned unequivocally," he said. "What sins had the innocent people hurrying to work or school committed, to be savagely struck down by a blind and unjustifiable violence?" he asked.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/09/2005 00:13 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Queen Sofia and thousands of other Spaniards stood silently at noon Friday to express solidarity with the victims of the London bombings in a rare demonstration over a terrorist attack that did not occur on Spanish soil, officials said. Spaniards traditionally hold midday silent vigils outside city halls and other public buildings after major attacks by the Basque separatist group ETA. But Friday's demonstration in hundreds of Spanish cities was the first ever organized with such immediacy for a terrorist attack outside of Spain, a spokesman for the Spanish Federation of Cities and Provinces told CNN. The only other time was after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States, said Jesus Diez Lobo, whose federation issued the call for Friday's demonstration. In 2001, the silent demonstration came three days later at the urging of the European Union, and not the day after, which is the typical style in Spain, Diez said.
Queen Sofia, who was making a scheduled appearance at a Foreign Ministry aid agency event, interrupted the proceedings at noon to stand for a minute of silence along with other participants, a palace spokeswoman told CNN. "Spain is doing this out of solidarity with the London victims, and because of the solidarity that Spain received last year from municipal organizations abroad," Diez said.
That international support came in response to the Madrid train bombings on March 11, 2004 that killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,500. Authorities blame those attacks on Islamic terrorists, and there are chilling similarities to the London attacks, including multiple bombs directed against commuters during morning rush hour on mass transit systems. The Spanish police unit that investigates Islamic terrorism was sending a team to London. It was expected to arrive on Saturday along with a bomb squad expert, a police spokesman told CNN. Their aim is to cooperate with the London police in the investigation.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Spain should learn from the steadfastness of Londoners, get some backbone.
Posted by: Captain America ||
07/09/2005 0:23 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Spain stands in solidarity with London
What does it hurt to offer a little expression of solidarity, when there's no Spanish troops deployed in the Middle East, and the bombings didn't happen on Spanish soil? No problem.
#3
Stand around, act pious, sign the condolance book, and say sennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnsitive words. Yeah, that will stop terrorism, all right.
You know what I wish President Bush said on the aftermath of the London bombings? Well, here goes:
1. I am saddened and outraged at the cowardly and dastardly deeds these terrorists perpetrated on the people of London.
2. The US government will provide any assistance requested by the British government in dealing with these terrorists and those individuals and governments that back them.
3. Terrorists and their ilk will be hunted down like rabid dogs and eliminated.
4. Let this be a final warning: any attacks on the United States by terrorists will be met with a vengance. Hell will rain upon you and yours who perpetrate these deeds.
5. Specifically, this is a warning to the following terrorists, their sympathizers, financiers, those that harbor terrorists, and those that indoctrinate the young into this suicidal insanity. This is a warning to Iran, to Syria, to Pakistan, to Saudi Arabia, to N Korea and any country that enables terrorist behavior. Your borders are not sanctuary to these individuals. They will be targeted wherever they are. They will not find safety in hiding behind civilians. Those terrorists and terror sponsoring individuals will be hunted down and killed.
6. Movements that support democratic ideals, the rights of women, religious freedom and mutual respect will be supported and encouraged by this government.
[and I could go on and on]
/rant
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
07/09/2005 10:46 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"Spain stands in solidarity with London"
As long as thry don't have to stand up to any muslims that is, otherwise it's cut and run. Spain has chosen dhimmitude the trials thay are carrying out are for show.
Opening arguments were heard yesterday in Baltimore Circuit Court in the murder trial of Adan Canela, 18, who worked in a slaughterhouse, and Policarpio Espinoza Perez, 23, who are accused of murdering three young relatives last year -- one of them beheaded, the other two nearly decapitated in their Northwest Baltimore apartment on May 27, 2004. During the trial of the "Baltimore butchers," we can expect most of the national and local news media to focus inevitably on the horrific nature of the crime: the brutal slayings of a 10-year-old and two 9-year-old children. But we doubt that the mainstream media will have any appetite for looking at other important aspects of the story.
First, the fact that the alleged perpetrators and the victims were all Mexicans who were in this country illegally. Second, the role that the illegal-alien-friendly policies of Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley, who is expected to run for governor, have played in making these tragedies more likely to recur.
Initially, police indicated that the motive appeared to be the failure of the children's parents to pay off "coyotes" for smuggling them into the country. Now, however, prosecutors say they have no motive for the slayings. This could create a problem in getting a conviction, as defense attorneys have said they will offer alternative theories about who committed the crime in an effort to create a reasonable doubt in at least one juror's mind.
Relatives of the murdered children (illegal aliens themselves who have been granted special visas permitting them to remain here legally during the trial) have refused to cooperate with prosecutors. Mimi Quezada, the mother of two of the victims, says she does not believe that the accused are guilty. An Internet site catering to Mexicans in this country claims that killings were "hate crimes" and asserts that Baltimore police railroaded Mr. Canela and Mr. Perez because of their nationality.
The assertion that city police have "railroaded" illegal aliens is simply ludicrous, given how aggressive Mr. O'Malley, who appoints the police chief, has been in trying to attract immigrants -- legal and illegal alike-- to live in Baltimore. In November, he staged something called a "City Immigration Summit," where he spoke at length about the virtues of bringing immigrants to Baltimore without making the essential distinction between legal and illegal ones. Like his rival for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination, Montgomery County Executive Doug Duncan, Mr. O'Malley has openly disparaged and lobbied against the CLEAR Act -- proposed federal legislation that would improve coordination between federal and state law-enforcement-agencies in enforcing immigration laws.
As the murder trial continues, Marylanders need to understand the role that politicians like Mr. O'Malley and Mr. Duncan play in making it more likely that others like Mr. Canela and Mr. Perez, who violated federal law, will find Maryland an attractive place to call home.
Posted by: too true ||
07/09/2005 16:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
If you kill 3,000 people in one morning, you're a terrorist. If you kill 3,000 people over 5 years, you're just misunderstood downtrodden migrants looking for a job for which your employer will gladly donate to the election/reelection fund of any politican who'll look the otherway.
A restaurateur in this border city ran another business smuggling Lebanese compatriots into the United States, some with connections to Hezbollah. A Sept. 11 commission staff report called him the only "human smuggler with suspected links to terrorists" convicted in the United States. But he is not unique, according to an Associated Press investigation based on government and court records and scores of interviews.
Many smuggling pipelines through Latin America and Canada have illegally channeled thousands of people from countries identified by the U.S. government as sponsors or supporters of terrorism.
The men flocked to the cafe under the sign with the cedar tree, symbol of their Mideast home. Here, in this alien border land, it was the beacon that led to an Arab "brother" who would help them complete their journey from Lebanon into America.
They would come, sometimes dozens a month over a three-year period, to find Salim Boughader Mucharrafille â the cafe owner who drove a Mercedes and catered to some of Tijuana's more affluent denizens, including workers at the U.S. consulate only a short stroll away. His American customers were unaware that the savvy boss of La Libanesa cafe ran a less reputable business on the side.
Until his arrest in December 2002, Boughader smuggled about 200 Lebanese compatriots into the United States, including sympathizers of Hezbollah, designated a terrorist organization by U.S. authorities. One client, Boughader said, worked for a Hezbollah-owned television network, which glorifies suicide bombers and is itself on an American terror watch list.
"If they had the cedar on their passport, you were going to help them. That's what my father taught me," Boughader told The Associated Press from a Mexico City prison, where he faces charges following a human-smuggling conviction in the United States.
"What I did was help a lot of young people who wanted to work for a better future. What's the crime in bringing your brother so that he can get out of a war zone?"
A report released by the Sept. 11 commission staff last year examining how terrorists travel the world cited Boughader as the only "human smuggler with suspected links to terrorists" convicted to date in the United States.
But after Boughader was locked up, other smugglers operating in Lebanon, Mexico and the United States continued to help Hezbollah-affiliated migrants in their effort to illicitly enter from Tijuana, a U.S. immigration investigator said in Mexican court documents obtained by the AP.
Another smuggling network that is controlled by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebel group â a U.S.-designated terror organization â tried sneaking four Tigers over the California-Mexico border en route to Canada not long after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigator Steven Schultz said. The four were caught along with 17 other Sri Lankans, all posing as Mexicans, attempting to enter ports at San Ysidro and Otay Mesa.
An AP investigation found these are just some of the many pipelines in Central and South America, Mexico and Canada that have illegally channeled thousands of people into the United States from so-called "special-interest" countries â those identified by the U.S. government as sponsors or supporters of terrorism.
Even when caught, illegal immigrants from those countries and other nations are sometimes released while awaiting deportation hearings, then miss those court dates, according to the AP's investigation, which also documented deep concerns about security threats along the lightly patrolled, 4,000-mile U.S.-Canada border.
The AP reviewed hundreds of pages of court indictments, affidavits, congressional testimony and government reports, and conducted dozens of interviews in Mexico and the United States to determine how migrants from countries with terrorist ties were brought illegally to America â and how the smugglers they hired operated throughout the world.
Many of the travelers, unassociated with any extremist group, genuinely came fleeing war or in search of economic opportunity. But some, once in the United States, committed fraud to obtain Social Security numbers, driver's licenses or false immigration documents, U.S. court records showed.
Worse, the boldness of the smuggling enterprises, the difficulty of shutting them down and their potential to be used as terrorist conduits trouble many security officials.
Lebanese carpenter Mahmoud Youssef Kourani, smuggled in over the California border, admitted spending part of his time in the United States raising money to send back to his country to support Hezbollah â at least $40,000, according to an FBI affidavit. Kourani, court records said, told the FBI that his brother is the group's chief of military security in southern Lebanon, where Hezbollah is widely admired as a resistance force.
U.S. homeland security officials maintain they know of no cases of al-Qaida operatives using smuggling operations to enter the United States via traditional routes over the northern or southern boundaries, though they have warned that recent intelligence suggests the terror group is eyeing the borders as a way in.
At least one al-Qaida-linked man smuggled himself over the border. Nabil al-Marabh, a now-deported Syrian citizen once No. 27 on the FBI's list of terror suspects and accused by Canadian authorities of having connections to Osama bin Laden's network, was caught sneaking from Canada into New York in the back of a tractor-trailer in June 2001 with a fake Canadian passport.
"Several al-Qaida leaders believe operatives can pay their way into the country through Mexico and also believe illegal entry is more advantageous than legal entry," Jim Loy, deputy secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told a congressional committee in February. Further, he said, "entrenched human smuggling networks and corruption in areas beyond our borders can be exploited by terrorist organizations."
The Boughader case and others show just how easy it would be â even now, nearly four years after Sept. 11.
Just weeks ago, a federal grand jury in Phoenix indicted an Iranian tailor on charges of attempting to bring illegal immigrants from his native country over the Arizona-Mexico border.
"Today they could be smuggling people, tomorrow weapons," said John Torres, deputy assistant director for smuggling and public safety investigations at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. "The vulnerability there is a criminal or terrorist organization could take advantage of that existing infrastructure."
What the records reveal is a labyrinth of networks, which use established routes frequented for years by migrants of many nationalities.
Smugglers employ recruiters and facilitators in such "special-interest" countries as Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan. One immigrant, in testimony against a now-convicted smuggler, described a "market of passports" in northern Iraq where individuals could illegally purchase documents to aid travel to America.
These smugglers use staging areas and transportation coordinators in such places as Quito, Ecuador; Lima, Peru; Cali, Colombia; and Guatemala City. They pay foot guides, drivers and stash-house operators in Mexico and the United States.
They have moved people by plane â into suburban Washington, D.C., Florida, California. And they have crossed clients in vehicles or on foot into Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California and over the Canadian border, then helped deliver them to destinations across America.
They have partnered with other smugglers transporting Mexican or Central American migrants, sometimes swapping clients and transferring immigrants from "special-interest" countries and other migrants in the same loads.
"This is really a word-of-mouth business," said Laura Ingersoll, an assistant U.S. attorney in Washington, D.C., who has prosecuted at least a half-dozen smugglers who moved illegal immigrants from Egypt and Iraq into the United States.
"People from places in the Middle East will hear about who to go through, and they tend to be people from their same country, but once you get into the system we saw associations that really were driven by, `What's the most effective way for me to move my product?'" she said. "I may call someone else and essentially sell my load to somebody who's got a boat or a truck or something going out. It's just like sacks of potatoes."
"A Mafia," is how one of Boughader's clients, Roland Nassib Maksoud, once described the business.
Maksoud, a liquor distributor, traveled from Lebanon to Mexico on a legal visa in late 2000, he told investigators, according to Mexican court documents. In Mexico, he said, he met two compatriots who passed along the name of a restaurateur in Tijuana who smuggled Lebanese into the United States. They had gotten the name, Boughader, from a Beirut vendor who charged them $2,000 each for their visas to Mexico.
When Maksoud found the cafe, three Lebanese men were out front eating.
"Salim is inside," they told him in Arabic.
Boughader was meticulous about both his professions. He kept a spiral notebook with the names of his smuggling clients, their phone numbers and the date they arrived at his restaurant. In a separate ledger, Boughader told the AP, he recorded the names and numbers of his cafe customers and their favorite dishes.
He went over instructions with his newest client. Maksoud was to get a room at a nearby hotel, which he would share with another Lebanese man waiting to cross. The fee would be $2,000 up front, plus another $2,000 once Maksoud was in the States.
In January 2001, Maksoud was taken to a house on the Mexican side where other migrants were awaiting passage â "different people from different nationalities," he told investigators.
One morning at 1 o'clock, he was awakened, crammed into the trunk of a vehicle and told not to make a sound as the car made its way through the border port of entry, a five-minute ride.
The journey north was more arduous for other Boughader clients. One stated in a Mexican court document that he trekked for four hours over the hills into California with Lebanese and Mexican migrants. A guide brought up the rear, erasing their footprints.
Other people-couriers use altered passports to fly clients to the United States. One of them, convicted smuggler Mohammed Hussein Assadi, schooled his Iraqi customers to carry nothing identifying them as Arab while traveling. He advised one migrant to shave his mustache, another to dye her hair blonde, still another to get a "European" haircut, U.S. court records showed.
Central and South America are popular transit points because of their proximity to the United States and the relative ease with which migrants from countries with terrorist ties can obtain tourist visas there â either legally or through bribery. Assadi, an Iranian, worked from Ecuador, sometimes using the alias Antonio Roosevelt Choez Arreaga. He spoke Spanish in addition to Farsi and Arabic.
Bribery is another common tool for the organizations.
Boughader's clients told U.S. and Mexican investigators they paid thousands of dollars to obtain fraudulent visas from Mexico's consular office in Beirut. A woman who oversaw the office between 1998 and 2001 was arrested on charges of participating in the smuggling scheme.
In May, the former director of immigration in Honduras was arrested, accused of selling hundreds of Honduran passports to migrants from Lebanon, China, Cuba and Colombia â possibly to aid their entry into the United States. The investigation continues.
Maximiano Ramos, a former Los Angeles supervisor with the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, admitted taking $12,500 to smuggle immigrants from the Philippines, home of the al-Qaida-linked militant group Abu Sayyaf. From 1996 to 2002, at least 40 migrants were diverted from connecting flights at Los Angeles International Airport and escorted out by security guards while Ramos was on duty.
Linda Sesi, an assistant ombudsman for the city of Detroit, is awaiting trial on charges of conspiring with four others to smuggle more than 200 migrants from Iraq, Jordan and other Middle Eastern countries into the United States from 2001 up until her arrest last September. The defendants allegedly charged clients more than $6,000 for tourist visas to South America and then, using falsified documents, flew them to Dulles airport outside Washington, D.C.
Some, including prosecutor Ingersoll, discount human smuggling as "a risky road" not likely to be traveled by terror operatives. But a former Sept. 11 commission counsel, Janice Kephart, said smuggling already is a chosen transportation mode for such groups.
Intelligence suggests that since 1999 human smugglers have facilitated the travel of terrorists associated with more than a dozen extremist groups, according to the Sept. 11 commission's terrorist travel report Kephart helped write. Prior to Sept. 11, al-Qaida employed smugglers to get jihad recruits into Afghanistan for training, the report said.
Terrorist groups, including al-Qaida, "use human smugglers and document forgers to a great extent," Kephart said. "They know their value. It only makes sense that they would transfer that to infiltrate the United States."
Others noted that post-Sept. 11 security measures â more stringent visa requirements and security at airports and ports of entry â have made it tougher for terrorist operatives to seek legal passage.
"If you're a terrorist group looking to do something ... why not send them another route?" said Walter Purdy, director of the Terrorism Research Center in Burke, Va. "These people on the border, they don't come up and say, `We're part of Hezbollah.' They say, `I want to get a job in America' or `I'm going to see my cousin in New York. Can you get me in?' The guy will say, `How much money do you have?'"
Dismantling groups smuggling people from countries with terrorist ties is a priority, said Torres, the U.S. immigration official. But often when one smuggler is busted another eagerly fills his shoes.
Following Boughader's arrest, smuggling of Lebanese through Tijuana ceased for several months, ICE investigator Ramon Romo said in court documents filed in Mexico. Then some Lebanese men were apprehended at the Tijuana airport and another by the U.S. Border Patrol, and in April 2003 intelligence revealed that five members of Hezbollah were preparing to cross the border, Romo stated.
The information was passed on to Mexican authorities, who made some arrests.
Others have made it through.
Kourani, who helped raise donations for Hezbollah, entered the United States via the Lebanon-Tijuana pipeline, paying $3,000 in Beirut to get a Mexican visa, according to federal court documents. On Feb. 4, 2001, he and another man were smuggled into California in the hidden compartment of a vehicle.
Last month, Kourani was sentenced to 4 1/2 years in prison for conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group. His lawyer, William Swor, said Kourani is not a member of Hezbollah and hasn't spoken in years with the brother who has a leadership role in the group. Prosecutors alleged the brother directed Kourani's U.S. activities.
ICE spokesman Manny Van Pelt refused to confirm that Boughader smuggled Kourani. Boughader himself couldn't specifically recall Mahmoud Kourani, though he noted he moved a number of people with the last name "Kourani" who were from Mahmoud Kourani's hometown of Yater, Lebanon, a longtime Hezbollah outpost.
Boughader acknowledged transporting a Lebanese man who worked at al-Manar, a global satellite television network owned and operated by Hezbollah. The U.S. State Department added al-Manar to its Terror Exclusion List in 2004, meaning anyone associated with the station may be refused entry or deported from the United States.
"For us, Hezbollah are not terrorists," said Boughader, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, echoing the feelings of most Lebanese. "I regret that what I was doing is against the law, but I don't regret what I did to help people."
Along the border, people are still getting such help day in and day out.
After Sept. 11, Boughader said, "I changed my phone numbers and told my sister if a Lebanese showed up at the restaurant to turn him away. But they kept coming." And, for at least nine more months, he kept smuggling, he admitted when he pleaded guilty in the United States.
"The checks they do at the border are still very bad," he said, "because, regardless of everything, it is still easy to cross."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/09/2005 00:48 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
Three Phoenix police officers were wounded late Thursday after a suspect driving a stolen car opened fire at them while driving near a terminal at Sky Harbor International Airport. The suspect died at the scene, but it was not clear whether he was killed by police fire or by a self-inflicted shot. His name was not released Friday.
Phoenix police believe more than 10 officers were involved in the shooting, which occurred shortly before midnight. None of the wounded officersâ injuries are life threatening, but all remained hospitalized midday Friday, police said. They were identified as Officer Chris Parese, Officer Alex Beaver and Officer Jacob Helms.
Of the three, Parese suffered the worst wounds, taking gunshots to the neck and shoulder. It marks the second time in a year that Parese has been shot while in the line of duty. The officer also was wounded last August during a gunbattle that killed Phoenix police Officers Jason Wolfe and Eric White.
Thursdayâs incident comes one week after another suspect in a stolen vehicle plowed through a perimeter fence at the airport and drove onto a taxiway, speeding past several fully loaded planes in the process. More than 50 flights were delayed.
The security breach prompted airport officials to ask a security task force to analyze the fence line and make recommendations on possible security improvements. No flights were delayed because of the most recent police chase, and airport operations continued as usual, officials said.
#1
Of the three, Parese suffered the worst wounds, taking gunshots to the neck and shoulder. It marks the second time in a year that Parese has been shot while in the line of duty. The officer also was wounded last August during a gunbattle that killed Phoenix police Officers Jason Wolfe and Eric White.
I hope the brass gives him a few days off..he needs degaussing, big time.
RIP Jason Wolfe and Eric White.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/09/2005 2:39 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Degaussing? Hell, why not. A few passes with an old hairdryer should work.
Identify theft charges have been dropped in Austin against an undocumented Mexican immigrant who bought a stolen Social Security card for two-thousand dollars. The stolen card enabled Liliana Plata to join the Air Force and serve in the Iraq war.
... Also, they say Plata didn't use the stolen information to defraud anyone.
Prosecutor Claire Dawson-Brown says Plata "took a shortcut she shouldn't have taken, but it was an intent that served a value for all of us" The prosecutor added that Plata "wanted to go and fight for her country, and she was a good soldier." Plata's attorney, Samuel Bassett, called the decision appropriate. Her immigration status isn't clear.
sounds like a good call on the part of the prosecutor. hope she's allowed to stay, assuming she was indeed a good soldier.
#1
I don't know that it was the best call on the prosecutor's part. I'm pretty much of an absolutist on the subject of curbing illegal immigration and the criminal activities surrounding it. She did serve, but she also used stolen documents and violated our immigration laws. Hit her with a misdemeanor (could this just be called "disorderly conduct" under TX law?) and a fine of $500 or so - but set up the conviction so it could be expunged in a few years, then use the office's political influence to see what can be done to legalize her.
Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) ||
07/09/2005 0:35 Comments ||
Top||
#2
Wow. I know it doesn't work this way, but I'd let her peers in Iraq decide what does, or doesn't, happen to her. They know her, they know her heart and values, they know what kind of citizen she'd be.
#3
This is someone who sneaks in to the US to join the Air Force and fight for us. Welcome, fellow citizen!
Posted by: Mike ||
07/09/2005 7:26 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Bingo, Mike. This woman has all the earmarks of the kind of immigrant who made our country great in the past and will do so in the future.
Bien venido, soldada Americana. ('soldada'? Como se dice "female soldier" en Espanol?)
Posted by: too true ||
07/09/2005 8:15 Comments ||
Top||
#5
"wanted to go and fight for her country, and she was a good soldier."
Well, technically no since as an illegal her country was Mexico. She was fighting for the United States. However, she did have to raise her right hand and swear an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. Which not having authorization from the Mexican government to do so could potentially result in her being arrested and tried for disloyalty. So give her political refugee status and continue on. Viva Liliana!
Now she just has to clear the military investigation for fraudulent enlistment which can simply be a paper shuffle without any resultant penalties and a formal establishment of her current status.
A prominent New York City imam, Faisal Abdul Rauf, has decried Thursday morning's terrorist attacks in London as "crimes against humanity." In a statement issued here yesterday, Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf said: "The Holy Qur'an teaches us that 'Whoever kills a human being%u2026 it is as if he has killed all humankind: and if he saves a human life, it is as if he has saved the lives of all humankind'."
He condemned the abuse of religion by fanatics whose sole purpose is to rouse hate. Nothing is as antithetical to all religion, especially to Islam, as the wanton violence wreaked by the attacks in London, he said. The imam called for greater efforts by Muslim leaders and thinkers to come together to present to the world the true essence of Islam as a religion of moderation and compassion. He said the so-called fatwas justifying terrorism are all being issued outside of the established schools of religious law and are in clear violation of their common principles. Imam Faisal is the founder of American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), an Islamic cultural and educational organization dedicated to building bridges between American Muslims and the American public.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Ok so we have an Iman (notice not a Saudi Iman) who comdemns terrorism without "buts". At least in the english version like filtered by Arab News.
It is a step, however it is not enough. What is asked now is "moderate muslims" actively turning terrorists or fighting them actively not acting as more or less willing human shields against terrorists and seething when we take action against them.
#2
"The imam called for greater efforts by Muslim leaders and thinkers to come together to present to the world the true essence of Islam as a religion of moderation and compassion."
Quit worrying about what the world thinks, and present that "essence" to Muslims, instead: far too many of them think Islam should be all about killing infidels.
Succeed at convincing Muslims that Islam is a "religion of peace", and the world will sit up and take notice. Believe me.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/09/2005 9:53 Comments ||
Top||
#3
that harm an individual and you harm the whole world sura is a direct ripoff of the jewish bible as is much of the kkkoran--anyhoo this is an earlier mecca verse when mo was under the quraysh gun and was scared--it has been abrogated by the later medina "sword" suras [9.5 etc.] when mo was a rich successful military brigand and could give his meglomaniacle homocidlal rants without fear--he was da man----also--words are cheap--taquiyya for the kufr--do a ben gurian and an altadena and i'll listen
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 14:17 Comments ||
Top||
JOHOR BAHARU, July 8 (Bernama) -- A special team set up by the southern region marine police detained a ship and its 21 crew for hijacking two palm oil-laden tanker ships early this month.
Southern Region Marine Police Commander ACP Abdul Aziz Yusof said the team swung into action after receiving a report on the disappearance of Samudera Sindo 8 and Bash Aranda 7 which were scheduled to arrive at the Pasir Gudang Port in Johor from Kalimantan, Indonesia, at 4.30am on July 3... [the Marine Police] received information from [their] Indonesian counterpart that oil being transferred from Samudera Sindo 8 and Bash Aranda 7 to another oil tanker Palm Cheam Chemical...
The search operation was launched at about 9pm yesterday and at 11.45pm, the team managed to locate the ship, laden with more than 3,000 tonnes of palm oil, berthed at 2.3 nautical miles from Tanjung Setapa, Pengerang... Aziz said according to one of the crew of Samudera Sindo 8, a group of eight masked men on a boat, armed with pistols and parangs, boarded Bash Aranda 7. They confined the captain and the crew before they siphoned off the palm oil into Palm Chem at a location in South China Sea...
When in October 2002 a coordinated suicide attack by al-Qaeda-linked terrorists on two Bali nightclubs killed 202 people, it was widely seen to open a new south-east Asian front in the war against terrorism.
Almost three years later that front remains an active one with the US, and others continuing to warn of potential attacks against western targets and police still rounding up suspected members of Jemaah Islamiyah, the al-Qaeda-linked group responsible for the Bali attack.
If the battle is ongoing, though, experts argue there are also signs that authorities are winning it.
Sidney Jones, the International Crisis Group analyst widely considered to be the best-informed expert on Indonesian extremists, argued in a Singapore meeting this week that the group was in disarray and riven by factionalism. As a result, she said, âthe terrorist threat (in Indonesia) is probably declining.â
The weakening of what was once considered one of al-Qaeda's leading affiliates points to how effective the US-led global war on terrorism has been at times. Yet the Indonesian experience also highlights how the threat from al-Qaeda, its affiliates, and other like-minded groups is evolving and how it is likely to be increasingly difficult to combat.
In the wake of Indonesia's crackdown, experts argue, the threat comes from extremists who are more likely to be members of small groups inspired by al-Qaeda rather than formally affiliated with the network or who have been newly recruited by JI veterans on the run.
A regional crackdown that has seen the arrest of Afghan-trained JI leaders such as Hambali, the Indonesian once thought to be the only non-Arab in al-Qaeda's top-most leadership, has resulted in a severing of the human link to al-Qaeda, according to Ms Jones.
Combined with growing opposition from some within JI to terror tactics as a way to pursue the goal of establishing a south-east Asian Islamic caliphate, that crackdown has led to the dismantling of command structures and turned one-time strategists into full-time fugitives.
But that has not necessarily eliminated the long-term security risk.
JI members have begun freelancing and recruiting other extremists to carry out bombings such as last September's attack on the Australian embassy in Jakarta. Ms Jones also says there are likely to be JI links to two recent Indonesian attacks - a May 28 bombing on Sulawesi island that killed 21 people and a May 16 assault on a police post on another island.
And, says Greg Fealy, an expert on Indonesian extremists at the Australian National University: âJI people and estranged JI people are still convinced that bombings are the way to go.â
Until such attitudes change, authorities around the world will have to continue to deal with attacks like this week's London bombings, however strong the experts believe al-Qaeda may or may not be.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
07/09/2005 00:52 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
i don't get the new argument--so we shouldn't take out their command and contol because they will decentralize and be more hidden and effective--what should we do--give them an oscar
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 14:20 Comments ||
Top||
KLANG [Malaysia], July 8 (Bernama) -- Five men who were caught in the security area of the nuclear-powered USS Nimitz aircraft carrier berthed at the Westport here last Friday had their remand extended by five days by the Magistrate's Court here Friday. Magistrate Mujib Saroji granted the extension to enable police to continue with their investigation.
The five are being investigated under section 447 of the Penal Code for criminal trespass. Three of them aged between 41 and 62 were caught in the ship while the other two, aged 41 and 52, were believed to have breached the security area in the wharf to take pictures of the carrier.
#3
They weren't on the ship itself, but on a restricted portion of the wharf.
It could be innocent. When I was working for the Navy (civilian) one of our group wanted to look around on a ship, so when a couple of LCDRs went up, he followed and said "we're with them," walking quickly as if to catch up. He was caught when leaving. "You weren't with them, were you." "Um, well, no." He got a nice talking-to and a letter in his file, but that was all.
Of course if they are moslems, they aren't innocent.
#4
Maybe Stone's project will be ala PRAVDA: "WHY THE USA [STILL] DOESN'T BELIEVE IT LOST, NOT WON, THE COLD WAR", where the internal factors or justifications for Marxism-Communism may had imploded, but the EXTERNAL factors or justifications for same. IOW, these Internal and External factors or justifications exists both related and antithetical to each other, with one also seperate and unique from the other, ERGO THE EXTERNAL FACTORS, e.g, RADICAL ISLAM + American post9-11 anger resulting in new Global Empire, etc. WILL SERVE TO REVIVE AND EMPOWER COMMUNISM!
*More evidencia orindicia that 9-11 is actually about SOCIALISM AND COMMUNISM, AND SOCIE-COMMIE WORLD ORDER, NOTSOMUCH RADICAL ISLAM OR ANY THREAT FROM SAME, as I've been arguing all along. Radical Islam is at best a PC DIVERSION, at worst are PROXY- or PSEUDO SPETZNATZ/FIRST STRIKE CONVENTIONAL COMMANDOS FOR THE LEFTIES AND COMMIES. That being said, rest assured AMERIKANS of the USR-USSA that everything and anything will still be adjudged as being your fault, and only YOUR FAULT.
The shooting down by the Taleban of a Chinook transport helicopter packed with US Special Forces close to the border with Pakistan has once again raised the spectre of increased three way tensions between Pakistan, Afghanistan and the United States. At least 16 Americans were killed in what was the largest loss of American lives in Afghanistan since the defeat of the Taleban in 2001. Many Afghan and some senior American officials insist that the resurgent Taleban are finding sanctuary and support from elements in Pakistan. The diplomatic tensions are not surprising. It's been the bloodiest summer in Afghanistan for four years. And other pressures have been piling up on Islamabad after comments by US Vice President Dick Cheney and CIA Chief Porter Goss that they know where Osama Bin Laden is and that he is not in Afghanistan. Both seem to be saying that Bin Laden is in Pakistan. While Afghan leaders feel vindicated by such comments and have stepped up their criticism of Islamabad, Pakistan has taken acute umbrage.
On 21 June President George W Bush telephoned President Pervez Musharraf and urged him to talk to President Karzai to stave off a worsening diplomatic crisis between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The bout of telephone diplomacy temporarily cooled down the war of words but tensions have continued to simmer. The reality is that a complex three way game between the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan has gone on since 11 September. It has been dominated by their ruling elites' self-interest veiled as national interest, rather than any alliance against terrorism. The tug of war between their conflicting interests continues to hamper joint efforts to combat terrorism and provide a serious commitment to furthering nation and democracy building. For President Bush the priority has been capturing Bin Laden and other senior al- Qaeda leaders, overriding concerns about nation building in Afghanistan or carrying out a strategic plan to prevent a Taleban resurgence. For the first two years after the defeat of the Taleban the US committed hopelessly meagre resources to rebuilding Afghanistan and had few intentions to re-establish state institutions such as the army and police, preferring to rely on warlords to keep the peace. Even the US priority of capturing Bin Laden became secondary as military manpower and surveillance facilities were shifted from Afghanistan to the war in Iraq.
Mr Karzai has resented past US strategy as he has viewed the major threats to Afghanistan and his own political survival as emanating from a resurgent Taleban backed by Pakistan and Afghanistan's warlords. For him the actual threat was posed by al-Qaeda was minimal. Mr Karzai also considered the war in Iraq as extremely dangerous for Afghanistan's future because it provided a major and unnecessary diversion of the West's resources and commitment to rebuilding Afghanistan. However due to his indecisiveness Mr Karzai never pushed the envelope with the Americans to see the realities on the ground. Moreover his overweening dependence on the Americans has angered conservatives at home and his neighbours. Rather than use US clout to build a regional alliance with his neighbours and persuade them to stop interfering in Afghanistan, he signed a strategic partnership pact with Bush in May just as tens of thousands of Afghans were demonstrating against the US for its treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo. American frustration with Mr Karzai rests on his failure to build an organized political base for himself, despite the success of last year's presidential elections. Now he goes into the parliamentary elections in September without a political party, a national platform or a clear ideology. By blaming Pakistan for his problems he takes the heat off his own political shortcomings.
Pakistan's military regime has certainly - despite diplomatic denials - provided sanctuary and support to the Taleban since they retreated into Pakistan after their defeat in 2001. Gen Musharraf has played a determined double game with the Americans convinced that this is in the army's interest. Islamabad knows its alliance with the US is short term, predicated on the war on terror - as long as it lasts. Washington's real interest is in building up rival India as a bulwark in the region - something the Pakistani military is desperate to delay if not scuttle. Thus the military feels it has every reason to keep the Americans bogged down in Afghanistan by sustaining the Taleban, while keeping Washington on side by helping hunt down al-Qaeda. Although the military has lost over 500 troops in the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) hunting down the Arab and Central Asian components of al- Qaeda, it has not moved at all in Balochistan province where the Taleban have re-established themselves. Nor has the military suppressed those Pakistani extremist groups fighting for the Taleban or in Kashmir. It is also in the military's self-interest to keep Bin Laden alive and on the run, even if it does not do so deliberately.
This political game has gone on for far too long and had led to Islamic militancy thriving in the region. In order to defeat militancy all three players have to create better mechanisms of levelling with each other - discussing their priorities, their concerns and perceived national interest. As long as the players pull in different directions - the Taleban and al-Qaeda will thrive.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
07/09/2005 02:44 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Just my untutored take, but...
Time to cut to the chase with Pakistan. Those 16 men who died in the Chinook crash are worth more than all of the intel we have gotten from asshats captured with PakiWaki assistance in my math.
Simply put, no more deals with asshats, Period. No accomodation. No games. Everything above board.
PakiWakiLand is a shithole, a bubbling pot teeming with Islamonutz vying for Asstard of the Month honors. The ISI is obviously well beyond Pervy's control - and it is the foundation underlying the whole game. They "control" (as far as that term is applicable) PakiWakiLand, not Pervy, and they are our enemies. Period. Full stop.
No arms, no more aid, no more debt cancellations, no more nothing. Treat PakiWakiland exactly as we do Iran and Syria. Conduct military ops with that as the baseline. I don't want to lose anyone else to this circle-jerk of conflicting Islamonutz and Warlord games - one is too many. The mid and lower level US Military and SF Teams know who they trust - and who they don't. Bush and Rummy and Goss and the Afghan Theater Commander should step back and let the guys at the pointed end create the policy and ROE. No one else knows shit, compared to them.
#3
Give the Afghans and the Paks one month to clear the border region and then kill anything that moves within 10 miles of the border. Sovereignty be damned.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/09/2005 11:13 Comments ||
Top||
#4
Sorry, .com, but I disagree -- not that the Pakiwakis aren't asstards, they are. But cleaning the place out now is a low priority for us. We need to deal with 1) Syria 2) Iran 3) N Korea 4) Egypt and 5) Saudi-controlled Arabia before we even think of dealing with the Pakiwakis.
They're asstards, but they're managable asstards. For now. Just my opinion.
Posted by: Steve White ||
07/09/2005 13:11 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Managable that can move to unmanageable at any time.
I say carpet bomb the border any time Pakistani Talaban cross it. Most of the "fighters" are not even Afghan they are Pakistani. The ISI is up to it's neck in involvement and they are the ones protecting OBL as well. Anything done by the WakiPaki is mere window dressing.
#6
agreed on creating a new LOC on the Afghan-Paki border. In fact, call it exactly that, just to piss off the MMA, and declare hot pursuit in operation (via massive artillery and B2's). A swath of off-limits land in which you enter and declare your life forfeit. Only transit via enforced checkpoints allowed (smuggling, taliban infiltration will still happen, but now it's "lay waste to violators and STFU to the next of kin")
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 18:57 Comments ||
Top||
A spokesman for Afghanistan's Taliban Mujahideen today said the British people were paying the price for the evil of their rulers, but that the Taliban had nothing to do with Thursday's bomb attacks in London. According to reports from Urdu language Jassarat, Abdul Latif Hakimi, spokesman for the Taliban, said the group was neither sad nor happy about the attacks carried out in London but endeavoured to distance themselves from any responsibility to the attack.
"The people of Britain are facing trouble only because of the evil deeds and oppression of their rulers," spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi said by telephone from an undisclosed location. "Had these blasts been directed at Britain's military targets or inflicted losses on the British government then we would have been very happy," he said.
Taliban fighters would attack British troops in Afghanistan but they were not involved in the London bombs, he said. "We will take revenge on Britain in Afghanistan but, nevertheless, the Taliban have nothing to do with these blasts."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[0 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
"We will take revenge on Britain in Afghanistan but, nevertheless, the Taliban have nothing to do with these blasts."
In other words, "we're glad a bunch of infidels got killed, but we didn't have anything to do with it so pleeeeease don't attack us."
Wussies.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/09/2005 1:00 Comments ||
Top||
#2
So if the British set four real bombs off in the NW tribal areas, it would be the price for harboring evil taliban imans?
Christopher Hitchens fisks Ron Reagan to the 10th degree...and more. Freaking awesome display of knowledge and desirion of Ron Reagon, now a simple leftist hack. God I HATE dislike him even more than Chrissy "I lick Dhimmi balls" Matthews. I found this on Hugh Hewitt's site.
Ron Reagan just proved that brilliance is not hereditary.
On MSNBC's Connected: Coast to Coast, Christopher Hitchens from Vanity Fair was involved in a complete verbal undressing of Ron Reagan. Reagan, like all the other feel first, hate Bush second, think last lefties, is so intent on re-writing history to make the case that the war in Iraq was illegitimate, got boxed around the ears by Hitchens. Here's the exchange:
RR: Christopher, I'm not sure that I buy the idea that these attacks are a sign that we're actually winning the war on terror. I mean, how many more victories like this do we really want to endure?
CH: Well, it depends on how you think it started, sir. I mean, these movements had taken over Afghanistan, had very nearly taken over Algeria, in a extremely bloody war which actually was eventually won by Algerian society. They had sent death squads to try and kill my friend Salman Rushdie, for the offense of writing a novel in England. They had sent death squads to Austria and Germany, the Iranians had, for example, to try and kill Kurdish Muslim leaders there. If you make the mistake that I thought I heard you making just before we came on the air, of attributing rationality or a motive to this, and to say that it's about anything but itself, you make a great mistake, and you end up where you ended up, saying that the cause of terrorism is fighting against it, the root cause, I mean. Now, you even said, extraordinarily to me, that there was no terrorist problem in Iraq before 2003. Do you know nothing about the subject at all? Do you wonder how Mr. Zarqawi got there under the rule of Saddam Hussein? Have you ever heard of Abu Nidal?
RR: Well, I'm following the lead of the 9/11 Commission, which...
CH: Have you ever heard of Abu Nidal, the most wanted man in the world, who was sheltered in Baghdad? The man who pushed Leon Klinghoffer off the boat, was sheltered by Saddam Hussein. The man who blew up the World Trade Center in 1993 was sheltered by Saddam Hussein, and you have the nerve to say that terrorism is caused by resisting it? And by deposing governments that endorse it?
RR: No, actually, I didn't say that, Christopher.
CH: At this stage, after what happened in London yesterday?
RR: What I did say, though, was that Iraq was not a center of terrorism before we went in there, but it might be now.
CH: How can you know so little about...
RR: You can make the claim that you just made about any other country in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia.
CH: Absolutely nonsense.
RR: So do you think we ought to invade Saudi Arabia, where most of the hijackers from 9/11 came from, following your logic, Christopher?
CH: Uh, no. Excuse me. The hijackers may have been Saudi and Yemeni, but they were not envoys of the Saudi Arabian government, even when you said the worst...
RR: Zarqawi is not an envoy of Saddam Hussein, either.
CH: Excuse me. When I went to interview Abu Nidal, then the most wanted terrorist in the world, in Baghdad, he was operating out of an Iraqi government office. He was an arm of the Iraqi State, while being the most wanted man in the world. The same is true of the shelter and safe house offered by the Iraqi government, to the murderers of Leon Klinghoffer, and to Mr. Yassin, who mixed the chemicals for the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. How can you know so little about this, and be occupying a chair at the time that you do?
RR: I guess because I listen to the 9/11 Commission, and read their report, and they said that Saddam Hussein was not exporting terror. I suppose that's how, Christopher.
CH: Well, then they were wrong, weren't they?
RR: No, maybe they just needed to listen to you, Christopher.
CH; Well, I'm not sure that they actually did say that. What they did say was they didn't know of any actual operational connection...
RR: That's right. No substantive operational connection.
CH: ...which was the Iraqi Baath Party and...excuse me...and Al Qaeda. A direct operational connection. Now, that's because they don't know. They don't say there isn't one. They say they couldn't find one. But I just gave you the number, I would have thought, rather suggestive examples.
Ron Reagan couldn't see fire if the flames turned his shorts black. Hitchens may be wrong on a lot of issues, but he understand the nature of the people we're fighting, and what is necessary to defeat them. Ron Reagan is a sad political hack, trying to trade on his father's name, and doesn't have a clue in the world about the war we are facing. All he knows is what the DNC tip sheet tells him.
#3
Everything I've read or heard from Christopher Hitchens about the WOT has been clear. He confronts any and all, who try to dismiss its [WOT]righteousness, or deny the exsistance of Islamo fascism.
sort like an old, old fashioned liberal in this one reguard.
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/09/2005 2:29 Comments ||
Top||
#4
tsotsi, if push came to shove could you park a bicycle?
Posted by: Red Dog ||
07/09/2005 2:44 Comments ||
Top||
#5
oh goodie, cliches! I love cliches! Here is another one for you tsotsi...
"a stitch in time saves nine"
And since we are on famous quotes, here is my personal favorite from the wise sages of the left, not responsible for anything of consequence in this world:
#6
In the dreamworld ist-ost lives in, he's won... cuz his post is bigger...
For him, the tail wags the dog. I.e. everything is related to or derives from Paleostine.
For him, the "iraqbodycount" and "truthuncovered" Kool Aid dispenser sites are the holy grail.
For him, the Jooos are the root of all evil... and the "NeoCons" are their slavish minions.
For him, the "we asked for it" explanation of 9/11 is obvious fact.
For him, the timeline leading to Iraq is a cherry-picking expedition, ignoring the Gulf War I ceasefire, the 17 UNSC resolutions, and still enthralled by the "Bush Lied" and "No WMD's" memes (recently deep fried by the UN, itself).
For him, The Bush Doctrine is terrifying (his real target) and he would prefer Saddam back in power playing hide 'n seek with UNMOVIC, Iran's MM's getting a nuke while "negotiating" with the EU3, and Lil Kimmie taking over for Khan in exporting nuke tech. He thinks this is a clearer, less dangerous world.
For him, the "lands of the East" are romantic mysteries - unfathomable and strangely beautiful, not Islamic shitholes run by insane power-hungry dictators, despots, Royal thugs, and Mad Mullahs. Watching Aladdin is as close as he's gotten to it, personally.
For him, running a close second to the Kool Aid Moonbat websites, the Monthly Book Club is the cat's meow. He picked up Sun Tsu's The Art of War there and, by God, he's gotten his money's worth. He's got his eye on some guy named Clausewitz for next month. I expect he'll be back to give us a book report on that one, too.
For ist-ost, in his twisty-swirly mind, he's sure he's got it: the answer. We are lost sheep and he's come to rescue us. Sure he's kinda clumsy about how he does it - letting Chris Hitchens' rape of Ron Reagan cloud his message, but it's really very sweet, when you think about it.
It's awfully early in the RB Day, but I nominate ist-ost for today's RBFFA without hesitation and with great pride and appreciation for his compassion. It's the least we can do.
For ist-ost, Karl Rove is a Satanic Genius - and every unexplained setback or disaster for his beloved Moonbats is directly attributable to Rove. Any meme blaming Rove is reflexively swallowed whole. It's the Moonbat diet.
#8
tsotsi, I have a quote for you "The only lesson to be learned from history, is there are no lessons to be learned from history." I'm sure google will attribute it for you. I don't have the time or inclination to rebut the fallacy of historicism (ref Karl Popper ), but I would point out that there is only place is the entire Middle East where Arabs have full legal and civil rights and that is Israel. I wonder why I don't hear a deafening clamour from the 1 million Arabs in Israel to join the proposed Arab Palestine state. OK, I'll settle for just Israeli Arab who wants to. Get back to me when you find him.
#9
I am so pleased this morning. My 1st fisking by an asshat, tsootsi. I am here in my PJs...smiling.
Let me say I grew up an an Aramcon kid, took several courses on Allenism and had a buddy killed by Paleostinian terrorists at Dawson field in 1970, which was long before W was elected President.
So, let it begin.
You say: To lump Iran, Iraq, Algeria etc. together just because they are Muslim is ridiculous and shows an amazing arrogance. No, it shows an understanding of the what Allenism is, an ad-hoc 'religion' which was all about obtaining power by a misguided Arab. Originally praying to Jerasalem, now praying to a formerly pagan black rock, war, war, war until everyone is subjected and then there is peace. 'Religion of Peace' it is not. It is a religion of war. Probably 90% of the violence around the world occurs on the periphery of Allenland. What IS ridiculous is your ability to find sources which solely support your pre-conceived notions.
Neither of these crimes elevates to the level which warrants a military invasion from across the world which has cost far more lives than were being threatened. It is interesting how much you miss of the history of Islamofascism. Their stated intent is to kill us or make us dhimmis (look it up on google, doofus). Actually, the invasion was from a neighboring country, not across the world. Sheesh.
read the Lancet journals accounts of lives lost.This study has already been debunked by many statisticians. Check the range of the 'Confidence Level', doofus.
This is not merely my opinion but verifiable fact, please feel free to check it out using whatever resource youâd like if you want a synopsis go to http://www.truthuncovered.com/timeline.phpAs opposed to a known asshat site, why not check the flawed, but good 9/11 Commission report. It establishes that there were no lies by the Bush team, unless that team includes almost every intelligence service in the world. You confuse the lack of a stockpile with the enormous risk inherent in a known terrorist supporter and WMD user. After 9/11, we simply couldn't allow the risk. You act like we now need some metaphysical certainty to take action, but all we need to do is establish the risk. An Iraqi said it best when he said "Saddam was the main wapon of mass destruction". Khadaffy saw this, shit his drawers and immediately began surrender negotiations. I bet we won HIS 'heart and mid', no?
Another thing Hitchens got completely wrong was that there is no rationale behind these attacks.Have you ever read what the Islamofascists pronounce? EVER? There goal is to kill what they refer to as 'infidels', THAT is their rationale. If your looking for logic from a muslim perspective, well, your an idiot.
The rationale is the Israeli/Palestinian one in which the US has blindly supported the Israelis with out the requirement for accountability. Like when we pressured the Israelis in 1948? and 1956? and 1973? and 1982? and 2000? The problem here is with the completely irrational arab paleostinians who have transmorgified into a death cult. I say give them nothing as there already is a Palestinian state called Jordan. Again, read history.
if you donât understand yet let me draw you a picture: Israel is involved in a bitter religious/racial battle over land which they have occupied since â67 Well, actually, the Israeli's conquered it in a defensive war. The problem, once again, is the irrationality of the Paloestinians who insist it is ALL theirs. Or aren't you aware of this basic paleostinian tenet?
e need to defend ourselves of course but future defense has more to do with winning the hearts and minds of people so they donât grow up with hatred in their hearts, not bombing their cities and killing them. I don't want to 'win their hearts and minds' as those organ are filled with the desire to kill us. Where DO you get your information? What cities have we bombed? it is THEY who bomb cities, not us (see New York, Madrid, London, DC, etc.). Last city I recall us bombing was hanoi in 1972..and that went VERY WELL, thank you very much USAF.
to this war which is absolutely, unequivocally the Vietnam of our eraLaughably ignorant. Tell me, what was the 'Vietnam war' of the 1st half of the 20th century? WWI or WWII? For you, it is alllll about Vietnam.
is this Ron Reagan? Could be because the level of knowledge is about the same.
#10
Damn, Brett, great job *clap, clap*. I was going to respond, but you nailed him to the wall. I'm really tired of Israel-Paleo argument. Every f'ing problem the Arabs have would still exist if Israel didn't exist.
#11
Brett, you are just so mean. What did poor ol' tsotsi ever do to you? He surfs the web gathering all this information, and as .com noted, is reaching out (from his mother's basement?) to enlighten us poor knuckle-dragging mossbacks.
Tsotsi obviously likes doing book reports, so here is one for him.
As for the "study" in The Lancet, the president of the Statistical Assessment Service of George Mason Univerisity might be able to shed some light on the methodology used.
And Karl Rove is a Satanic Genius. After all, in order to perpetrate the lies that Tsotsi mentioned, he had to subvert MI-6, the FSB, the DGSE, the BND, and most of the other intelligence agencies, and get Bill Clinton to say that "predators of the twenty-first century...will be all the more lethal if we allow them to build arsenals of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons and missiles to deliver them. We simply cannot allow that to happen. There is no more clear example of this threat than Saddam Hussein's Iraq.". And he had to get him to do this in 1998! And then, he made Clinton's Justice Department prepare an indictment of bin Laden claiming that "Al-Qaeda reached an understanding with the government of Iraq that al-Qaeda would not work against that government and that on particular projects, specifically including weapons development, al-Qaeda would work cooperatively with the government of Iraq.".
That's quite a bit to get accomplished - far too much for anyone without supernatural resources.
But it really is Viet Nam all over again. 'Cept for no draft, desert instead of jungle, no super-power backing, and the complete inability to get quality patchouli oil anywhere.
Posted by: Darth VAda ||
07/09/2005 9:49 Comments ||
Top||
#12
To lump Iran, Iraq, Algeria etc. together just because they are Muslim is ridiculous and shows an amazing arrogance.
Algeria wasn't mentioned because it supported terrorism. It was mentioned because it waged a long and bloody war against terrorism.
Saddams victims were predominantly in the â80âs when we were still trading military equipment with him to help out against Iran.
And to paraphrase another Hitchens' quote: if we were supporting the bastard, doesn't it double the reason for taking him out?
#14
if you donât understand yet let me draw you a picture: Israel is involved in a bitter religious/racial battle over land which they have occupied since â67
Let me draw you a picture. The Israelis didn't take any land from the Paleos. They took it from the Jordanians and Egyptians in '68 acting before their enemies could destroy them. There was no Palestine cause their Arab brothers took the land in '48 before a Palestine could even see the light of day. Even after the formation of the PLO, those countries did not give up claim of the land until they realized they'd never see it again. Then and only then as a political expedient did they play the game of recognizing the Palestinian claim to land which they, the Jordanians and Egyptians, really had no further claim to. It would be like Spain today recognizing a Mexican claim to the state of Texas.
#17
damn! I arrive late and only patches of fur and blood remain.....greedy bastards :-)
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 12:09 Comments ||
Top||
#18
Well all you have to know about how much those ragheads want peace is to look at slick willies Camp David misadventure.
Arafat got everything the palestinians had ever had a dream about and at the eleventh hour, Arafat turned tail and chose to go on his Infatada rampage instead of getting a new country.
Anyone that things you can negotiate with a terrorist is a moron.
The terrorists are playing the media like a cheap kazoo and the suicide bombings are more of a media event than an act of terrorism. I for one say that we should quit pussyfootign around and being such a bunch of WIMP's and go for it.
It is guys like Reaganlite, Matthews, Franken and Oliphant, Durbin and Kennedy that give comfort and encouragement to the enemies.
The Islamofascists do not want peace, they want to either convert the world to Islam or kill everyone trying. IT does not matter what country you live in, what religion you are or what color your skin, they will kill you if you are not muslim. And they will kill you if you are the wrong kind of muslim.
It is naiveity of the most infantile order to think that they are setting off bombs because of IRaq. They were setting off bombs in 1993. It used to be that we sided with Isreal. We sided with Palestine and negotiated a sweetheart deal and they went on a rampage.
If they had a nuke they would use it tomorrow and they would use it anywhere.
You have to shoot a mad dog and these people are not worthy of any kind of jurisprudence or recognition of rights.
#19
"...future defense has more to do with winning the hearts and minds of people so they don¡¯t grow up with hatred in their hearts..."
This conflict has no more to do with "winning hearts and minds" than World War II had to do with "winning the hearts and minds" of the Nazis or the Japanese imperialists. And the people we're fighting don't "have hatred in their hearts" because of anything we've done to them: they hate us BECAUSE WE ARE NOT MUSLIMS.
There are some people for whom the description "fucking idiot" is just too kind; you're one of them.
Posted by: Dave D. ||
07/09/2005 12:22 Comments ||
Top||
#20
these people have lives and families and are attacking us for a reason , they believe that they are under attack by us
Well shit. It's so obvious yet we missed it. But if this is all it is, then it's good news! All we have to do, is send an envoy, and tell them, that we are NOT attacking them! Problem solved. Heh, so simple.
Posted by: R ||
07/09/2005 13:21 Comments ||
Top||
#21
we should read history?--what a half educated maroon--the history of the world since 634 has been defending itself against this desert death cult--ask the byzantine christians in syria and palestine and egypt and the magbreb and visigoth christians in iberia--the zorasterians in mesopotamia and persia--the hindu of india etc etc--islam spread by the swod--that is history--blame it on the israelis and you deny 1500 years of the murderous imperialist expansion of the dar al islam into the dar al harb--this putz knows history-- the history of the belly button lint he ponders or the smegma which has invaded his brain cells from sucking too much muzzie dick--but he's got all the LLL buzzwords down--neo-con's/imperialism/zionists/oil/rove....dja come yet
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 13:57 Comments ||
Top||
#22
*sword not *swod although maybe swod is arabic for sword--no--that's saif--oy--i think they put a timer in my brain
Posted by: SON OF TOLUI ||
07/09/2005 14:01 Comments ||
Top||
#23
Hitchens is a wet-brain hack squeezing the most from his 14th minute. Ron's dad was an amiable dolt; dumber than a bag of hammers. Ron's dad, in three short years, turned the USA from the largest creditor nation in the world to the largest debtor nation in the world; where it remains today, despite the Clinton administration reversing the US deficit. Those are the fact, folks. Like 'em or lump 'em.
#25
Creditor nation to debtor nation? When was the last National Credit, Croluter?
What type of economy did Reagan inherit from Democrat Carter, Croluter? And what legislative body approves all budgets? And what party controlled that body while Reagan was president?
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/09/2005 16:36 Comments ||
Top||
#26
Hitchens is a wet-brain hack squeezing the most from his 14th minute
Hitchens has more leftist credentials - REAL ones, backed by integrity and action on his part - then you can count.
Especially if, as seems likely, you are limited to your fingers and toes, Croluter.
And Ron Reagan junior is an idiot. I've met him. He's even simpier in person than he is on tv.
#30
Croluter Jolumble6769 - too bad your talking points don't work here - I'm sure when you post at Kos and DU it's a real circle jerk
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 17:40 Comments ||
Top||
#31
Where the heck did all the Chomskite trolls come from?
They can't take it when a true classical conservative reams one of their own, just like he did Chomsky.
One of the reasons, classical liberals like Chris Hitchens., he gets it without giving up any of his credentials as a card carrying "liberal"/classical conservative. Makes all the TRANZIs and commies go ape shit as evidenced in this thread.
#32
what makes it all so ironic is they keep telling us we need to pull out of Iraq, when, if their fathers had just practiced the same, the world would be a lot better and safer place
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 17:48 Comments ||
Top||
#33
Hmmm... anyone notice an up-tick in trolling?
God, I'd hate it if the trolls think 50 dead in London is reason to troll pro-civilization sites.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/09/2005 17:56 Comments ||
Top||
#34
ignore the troll
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 18:46 Comments ||
Top||
#35
tsotsi, look up projection. You will find it explains a lot.
#38
Team America:
"You thought you'd seen everything. Well have you ever seen a man eat his own head?"
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 19:29 Comments ||
Top||
#39
meow
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 19:37 Comments ||
Top||
#40
:-) ignore the troll
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 19:44 Comments ||
Top||
#41
I believe James said it best: Some believe that the bombings in London, like the ones in Madrid, can be blamed on Bush and Blair for the Iraq campaign. Itâs always interesting to see how people who pride themselves on sophisticated analyses and exquisitely tuned cultural sensibilities cannot see the plain home truths. The foe sneers: you are infidels; you die now. The moderns pull a face, steeple their fingers, and wonder what they really mean. Surely this is a result of invading Iraq and forcing them to have elections. Surely one of the bombers was an ordinary Iraqi who lived a peaceable life â well, aside from the time that Qusayâs men came by, took his daughter, returned her the next day as a broken heap who died from a vaginal hemorrage, and aside from the time when his brother was thrown off a roof because someone said he had turned his portrait of Saddam to the wall - surely it was the invasion that made this ordinary man take the understandable step of moving to London to kill commuters.
tot - I have to give you credit. At least you had the courage to venture out of your ivory tower. Careful, you might get some sun on your lilly white hands.
Now take your own advice and run away like a good little liberal.
#42
Tertiary education? Tsotsi finished the third grade and he thinks he's one up on us.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/09/2005 19:51 Comments ||
Top||
#43
Ive seen a hundred tsotsi's come and go here at RB and almost without exception they don't last 24 hours. One of two things happens. They either try to engage in argument and lose badly, or they degenerate into abuse and more or less laughable insults. My personal favourites are those who end up sounding like a parody of a Monty Python sketch - 'Your mother wears army boots and watches Dukes of Hazard.'
#44
Tsotsi's educated? His writing looks like he barely got out of grade school.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
07/09/2005 19:54 Comments ||
Top||
#45
"top of your tribe" isn't exactly an intelligent response to any of the comments. Please come back when you can argue coherently, with your own thoughts.
#47
tsotsi, CLAP CLAP CLAP, very good, now you can go to your like-minded friends and tell them how you tought us "red-state knuckle draggers"what the story is. You are so blinded by your own ignorance that anyone that thinks differently must be a "half-wit." Nice, very nice.
Brett, I agree with your sentiments in #50, watch, read and learn.
#50
goodbye tsotsi. say hello to murat and the rest of the asshats who visit.
Btw, tsotsi, you missed the whole point of what I posted, which was how Hitch cut little Ronnie to shreds based on the simple fact that little Ron was as ignorant as you are. And i LOVE how Hitch wondered how MSNBC could ever have put such an ignoramous as a lead on a show. The reason is, of course, is they all live int he same hothouse, breathing each other's noxious fumes and repeating the same nostrums.
If you'd like, we can certainly furnish a list of website and blogs you could visit. Start with James Lileks, who was quoted earlier and LEARN.
#51
Brett...you are showing your ditto headed lack of intellect by supporting this pompous, arrogant ass. Hitchens is either too stupid to think for himself and dredging up right wing talking points or else (probably worse) too myopic to understand their complete lack of relevance. We all know that Saddam was a bad man with a history of bad deeds, as a matter of historical fact we know that both Abu Nidal and Sheik Yassin were in Iraq and enjoyed the protection of this despotic Tyrant. Hitchens is factually correct in both of these statements. To my knowledge however the Fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie was issued in Iran, which anyone with an ounce of frontal lobe should remember was mortal enemies with Iraq which never dispatched anyone to harm Mr. Rushdie in any way shape or form. To lump Iran, Iraq, Algeria etc. together just because they are Muslim is ridiculous and shows an amazing arrogance. Neither of these crimes elevates to the level which warrants a military invasion from across the world which has cost far more lives than were being threatened. Saddams victims were predominantly in the â80âs when we were still trading military equipment with him to help out against Iran. Visit http://www.iraqbodycount.com/forum/ or read the Lancet journals accounts of lives lost. The invasion of Iraq had in fact NOTHING to do with terrorism and the bush team knows that now and knew it then which is why they misled the American public by lying about the intelligence that existed.(This is not merely my opinion but verifiable fact, please feel free to check it out using whatever resource youâd like if you want a synopsis go to http://www.truthuncovered.com/timeline.php).
Another thing Hitchens got completely wrong was that there is no rationale behind these attacks. George Bush and the Neo-cons felt that this was their chance to end fighting in the Middle East by weakening one side of the Arab Israeli conflict and hopefully forcing a settlement precisely because they are smart enough to know there is a rationale to these acts of terror. The rationale is the Israeli/Palestinian one in which the US has blindly supported the Israelis with out the requirement for accountability. This is an election issue in which no politician wants to be labeled âanti Israeliâ because âanti-Semiticâ would be closely behind that and that would crush any chances they had of winning a presidential race here. (Look what happened to Howard Dean when he was stupid enough to use the words âwe should take an even handed approach to Israelâ in the run-up to the last electionâ¦.. gone within days) Unfortunately too many people think weâre at war because âthey hate usâ or âtheyâre jealousâ or âthey want everyone to follow Islamâ or some other ridiculous rant â¦..these people have lives and families and are attacking us for a reason , they believe that they are under attack by us â¦( if you donât understand yet let me draw you a picture: Israel is involved in a bitter religious/racial battle over land which they have occupied since â67 â¦many lives have been lost on both sides but more on the Arab side â¦.the Arabs are not getting anywhere substantive with this omnipresent violence and random killings in Israel â¦their logic is that (just as George Bush said after 9-11) if you support them then youâre with them â¦the USA is the single biggest trading partner of Israelâ¦ergo the US is a Target )please donât get me wrong I have no sympathy for these monstrous terrorist acts but it is important to understand what they are thinking right or wrong in order for us to try and prevent this terrible escalation.
We need to defend ourselves of course but future defense has more to do with winning the hearts and minds of people so they donât grow up with hatred in their hearts, not bombing their cities and killing them.
âIn the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy's country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to recapture an army entire than to destroy it.â-Sun Tzu, the Art of War
âWe cannot enter into alliances until we are acquainted with the designs of our neighbors.â -Sun Tzu, the Art of War
And this one is for Bob Novak & Karl Roveâ¦
âSpies cannot be usefully employed without a certain intuitive sagacity; (2) They cannot be properly managed without benevolence and straight forwardness; (3) Without subtle ingenuity of mind, one cannot make certain of the truth of their reports; (4) Be subtle! be subtle! and use your spies for every kind of warfare; (5) If a secret piece of news is divulged by a spy before the time is ripe, he must be put to death together with the man to whom the secret was told.â -Sun Tzu, the Art of War
#52
well well, there are a few semi-literate right wing dumbasses after all ...I have to ask that suppose we could prove, some how, that you were being lied to by your leaders ...how would you respond? Would you be so blinded by flag waving and sloganeering that you'd still believe everything you'd been told. many of you idiots aren't worth the effort but at least you do read which puts you , sadly at the apex of your tribe
#53
such intelect my my I'm so intimidated and clearly out gunned by your collective wit and vast knowledge ...is there not a single one of you half wits that can actually mount an argument or are you all too busy watching dukes of hazard reruns ...i'd honestly be surprised if, collectively, you have a single day of tertiary education
#55
brett you ignorant cretin ...just as your response is "thoughtful and respectful"...i'm no quieter just too busy laughing my ass off at your complete lack of insight ...furthermore this is a sight for political discourse ..not playground bullies ...get a clue you ass hole
British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Friday that the Group of Eight powers has pledged to help the Palestininan Authority by providing a US$3 billion package in aid. Blair, speaking at the end of the G8 summit in Scotland, said the deal would be implemented "in years to come." He said the G8 action plan offered hope to the world. "There is no hope in terrorism or any future in it worth living, and it is hope that is the alternative to this hatred," he said, one day after London was attacked by multiple bomb blasts.
The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States endorsed measures they said would boost annual development aid to poor and developing countries by 50 billion dollars by 2010. He also said the Palestinian Authority aid package is aimed at boosting Middle East peace prospects, benefiting Israel and Palestine so that "two peoples and two religions can live side by side in peace."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
No doubt a lot of Swiss bankers rejoiced at the news...
Indian authorities are convinced that militants carried out Tuesday's attack on the Ayodhya complex. Although three days after the daring attack identities of the militants are yet to be established, highly placed sources in the federal Home Ministry say that all clues gathered so far suggest that the attackers belonged to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). "They have since been buried at Faizabad's Rakabganj burial ground as no one came forward to claim their bodies," the official said.
He added that several other clues also point out that in all probability they were Pakistani nationals. "These include their modus operandi and the kind of weapons they were carrying, which were quite similar to when LeT carried out attacks on Ahmedabad's Akshardham Temple, Jammu's Raghunath Temple and the Parliament House building," the official added. He also pointed out that none of the Indian militant groups have so far had suicide squads, something widely used by LeT for greater impact and destroying chances of interrogation if any attacker is arrested. A major difference from the past, however, is that the militants did not carry any documents that could help establish their identities.
Although the Faizabad district police are in possession of a bag the militants had given to driver Rehan Ali and it contained their wallets, they contained nothing to help their identification. Another clue is the tailor's tag on shirts wore by one of the militants. It mentions Khurshed as the tailor's name, which has not been of much help since it did not mention location of the tailoring shop. Interrogation of Rehan so far has also failed to provide any definite clue. Although he is consistent on his assertion that he did not know them and could not understand the language they spoke, which certainly was not Urdu or Punjabi since he understood these languages, he has been inconsistent on where and how he was dumped out of his vehicle, a Mahindra and Mahindra Marshall Jeep, which was blasted by the militants to gain entry into the highly fortified shrine complex. The Home Ministry official said that while Rehan first said that he was forced out of his vehicle at gunpoint, later he said the militants handed him the bag, containing live cartridges of AK-47 and some hand grenades besides their wallets and asked him to flee. He is under police custody and his connections are being probed. The sixth person killed in the attack has already been identified as Ramesh Pandey, a resident of Ayodhya who worked as a guide.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[1 views]
Top|| File under:
His lips move. Words come out. They don't make any sense...
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz Central Information Secretary Muhammad Siddiqul Farooque said on Friday that it was quite irrational to blame any Muslim group for the Thursdayâs explosions in London before an inquiry.
A Muslim said "irrational." Now my head's going to ache for the rest of the night...
In a statement issued here, Mr Farooque expressed shock and grief at the loss of human lives in London.
"Yes, shock! SHOCK!"
He said that the people responsible for the attacks should be brought to justice if proved that the explosions were engineered by some miscreants rather than caused by a sudden power surge.
A... sudden... power... surge? Right. That's what it must have been...
The PML-N leader said that no Muslim could carry out such barbaric activities.
"Never has a Moose limb carried out such barbaric activities! NEVER!... They've carried out different barbaric activities."
Terrorism and armed struggles for freedom have been going on in the world since the times of colonial rule mainly due to tyranny, exploitation, injustice and inequality, he said, adding that if the world community was really interested in eliminating terrorism and armed struggles, it should give priority to removing causes behind such struggles.
I quite agree. I've come to the conclusion that every time we bang a chunk of cannon fodder, we should hunt down the holy man who dispatched him and bang him, too...
All political issues, including Palestine and Kashmir â based on fundamental human rights â should be settled on human grounds rather than on religious, regional and linguistic basis, he said, adding that those fighting for their rights should be granted general amnesty and honourable position in society.
Did that make any sense? Or does he consider religious, regional and linguistic grounds to be inhuman? Which honorable positions in society should sadistic murderers receive after their general amnesties?
The PML-N leader said that President General Pervez Musharraf, US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair had categorically claimed to have broken the back of the Al Qaeda network. âTerrorists working in guise of Al Qaeda should be tracked down without any delay,â he added.
Good idea. That's what we're trying to do now...
Mr Farooque suggested that armed forces â occupying Iraq and Palestinian territory â be withdrawn, governments having no roots in public be removed, and transparent elections be held there to empower local people.
Right. That'll work, because... ummm...
He said propaganda against Islam and Muslims and discriminatory treatment in reaction to terrorist incidents should be stopped. It must be realised that crime and criminals exist in every society â eastern or western â as they do not belong to any particular religion or race, he added.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/09/2005 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[2 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Yep, besides, the Communist-controlled Fascist Russians know its the Commie Clintons and Communist Fascist = Fascist Commie America, the "USR", anyways!?
It must be naked hindu holy men who carried out the bombings.
No wait.. it was the buddhists. Followers of that brutal war monger the Dalai Lama.
âAnd when the sacred months are passed, kill those who join other gods with God [Allah] wherever ye shall find them; and seize them, besiege them with every kind of ambush; but if they shall convert, and observe prayer, and pay the obligatory alms, then let them go their way, for God [Allah] is Gracious, Merciful.â
-Koran (Surah IX. 5,6)
Posted by: john ||
07/09/2005 8:31 Comments ||
Top||
#3
Irrational to blame any Muslim group for the Thursday’s explosions
despite the fact that about 142 muslim groups have already tried to take responsibility?
despite the fact that they warned they would try to do something like this?
It's not just this one idiot. This sort of thing is rampant in the muslim world. I HATE these frikkin muslim apologists who miminize, deflect or rationalize away the acts of their co-religionists.
"They aren't true Muslims"
"It was Mossad"
"If they were muslim, we can understand why they did it"
. . . and so on
I have an idea. Why the hell don't they CONDEMN these acts!!!??!!! Better yet, why don't they DO SOMETHING TO COMBAT them?!
all I have to say is "join the civilized world, you a-wipes"
#5
one of these attacks, the response just might be irrational. think about that Farooque. Welcome to martyrdom - it's not just for the fodder anymore
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/09/2005 11:59 Comments ||
Top||
#6
The fact that he can even suggest that "a sudden power surge" may be responsible make him either a Muslim or an idiot or both.
"...no Muslim could carry out such barbaric activities..."
Blah, blah, blah. No Christian or Jew could nuke a holy city either, but I wouldn't linger around for more than a pilgrimage if I were him.
Posted by: Neutron Tom ||
07/09/2005 15:43 Comments ||
Top||
#7
I will be a man about it and apologize for blaming the citizens of Paraguay for this outrage.
It was mean-spirited and scurrilous. I should have waited for proof.
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.
Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and Ireland, has slammed the blast incidents which took place in London on Thursday. In a press statement, Prince Turki expressed the sympathy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with the British people and offered condolences to families of the victims of the blast indices. He confirmed the condemnation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to all forms of terrorism as well as its determination to confront terrorism. 'The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia supports the efforts of Britain to nab the culprits and to bring them to justice', he added.
Queen Elizabeth II said Friday that the terrorist bombings in London "will not change our way of life." "Atrocities such as these simply reinforce our sense of community, our humanity, our trust in the rule of law. That is the clear message from us all," she told staff at the Royal London Hospital.
Police said Friday that the bombs used in London's terrorist attacks held less than 10 pounds of explosives each -- light enough to easily tote in a bag or knapsack. Police also said they had uncovered no evidence suicide attackers had set off the explosions, but stressed they were still in the early stages of what promises to be an arduous investigation. Law enforcement officials declined to respond to questions about a U.S. official's statement that evidence indicating timers were used was found in the debris. London police also played down the possibility the devices were detonated by remote control using cell phones, instead asking the public for patience Friday as their investigation picks up momentum.
Kyrgyzstan, recovering from an uprising that drove its president into exile three months ago, votes Sunday for a new leader in an election that could restore the country's reputation of being an "island of democracy" in former Soviet Central Asia. Acting President Kurmanbek Bakiyev, who took power after the March 24 storming of the presidential offices forced Askar Akayev's ouster, is seen as the clear favorite among six candidates and is widely expected to get more than 50 percent of the votes for a first-round win.
Indian authorities are convinced that militants carried out Tuesday's attack on the Ayodhya complex. Although three days after the daring attack identities of the militants are yet to be established, highly placed sources in the federal Home Ministry say that all clues gathered so far suggest that the attackers belonged to Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). "They have since been buried at Faizabad's Rakabganj burial ground as no one came forward to claim their bodies," the official said.
