Five Saudis who were held at the U.S military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before they were handed over to Saudi security officials, have been released, the Saudi Interior Ministry said Tuesday. The Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed official as saying the five were released after they underwent "the regular procedures and completed the prison terms which they received according to court verdicts." The report did not name the five, say when they were handed to Saudi authorities or for how long they were detained in Guantanamo and in Saudi jails. Last month, the United States released three Saudi men from Guantanamo to Saudi custody. American lawyers representing Saudi detainees at Guantanamo said in June that 124 Saudis were held there.
#1
How many of these five will we have to recapture like some of the others that have left club gitmo? It would be nice to at least know their names in advance.
#3
We'll be able to match their DNA after they explode in a subway.
Posted by: ed ||
08/10/2005 1:33 Comments ||
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#4
If they were Pakistani or Afghani I would worry more. What are the odds that they never intended to actually dirty their hands with real fighting, and are just grateful to be back where they can talk big while living off Daddy's money until they get married?
TW -- you haven't been paying attention. Most of the foreign fighters in Iraq have been Saudis.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/10/2005 7:25 Comments ||
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#6
"The Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed official as saying the five were released after they underwent 'the regular procedures and completed the prison terms which they received according to court verdicts.'"
I'm hoping those "regular procedures" include pulling out fingernails, use of pilers to yank out teeth. That will make it easier for future profiling:
BOLO for young Saudi men missing fingernails and more teeth than your typical Hockey player.
Posted by: Ward C the Moron ||
08/10/2005 8:05 Comments ||
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#7
Remember. Without the Saudis, there'd be no War on Terror...
#8
The Soudi gov only cares if they are going to make attacks in Soudi Arabia. I would bet once the terrorist agreed to bet on a bus out of country (Im sure enroute to Iraq) they were released and deemed not a threat.
#9
True, Robert. But they expected to gloriously kill many infidels, not to die trying or, even worse, be ignominiously captured. (Remember that lad who called his father from the Iraqi hospital with burns over just enough of his body that he was scarred for life, but not killed? He was furious because he was told only to park the bomb-laden truck , but instead his handlers blew it up while he was still inside.) The Gitmo returnees have spent three boring years collecting their feces to throw through the bars of their cages at the infidel soldier girls who controlled their lives. Are such likely to head to Iraq for a second round?
EXTREMIST preacher Omar Bakri Mohammed may undergo heart surgery in an NHS hospital if he returns to the UK. Bakri, who says he has a congenital brain heart problem, has already missed several appointments or had them postponed, friends said, but another one is likely to be scheduled before the end of the year. The so-called "Tottenham Ayatollah" is currently in Lebanon but says he plans to return to the UK in a month's time. That would allow him to have a free operation which would otherwise cost thousands of pounds privately. Bakri's health problem is understood to involve the narrowing of arteries in his heart and the likeliest operation is an angioplasty.
That's not a congenital problem, that's diet, genetics and bad living. Should have laid off the goat cheese.
More than 20,000 of the operations are carried out by doctors in the UK every year. His condition is believed to be made worse by his weight.
Friends say that, because he is missing a bone in his ankle, he is unable to exercise and that has contributed to the narrowing of his coronary arteries.
From the photos, he's clearly unable to do the 'two-hand pushaway' exercise from the dinner table.
Earlier this year the father-of-seven, who uses a walking stick, took delivery of a £30,000 people carrier paid for under the Motability scheme. He is estimated to have received several hundred thousand pounds in benefits during his two decades in the UK. It is not clear where Bakri would have his treatment and hospitals refused to discuss confidential patient details. But Anjem Choudary, another leading figure in the al-Muhajiroun movement, said: "He had an appointment for a heart operation at some point. I'm not sure exactly when. "He had appointments before but he missed them - he doesn't like to take medicine, he likes to recover naturally. He has a congenital problem he has had the whole of his life. It's a problem with his arteries but I'm not a doctor so I don't know exactly."
Bakri, who had his mobile phone turned off today, sparked outrage last week by saying he would not inform police if he knew Muslim extremists were planning a bomb attack in Britain. He left for Beirut amid suggestions that he could be tried for treason but the Government has since made clear there is no prospect of that. Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott admitted there was nothing to stop the firebrand cleric coming and going at the moment from the UK.
But a review of the Home Secretary's powers to exclude people who promote terrorism could be complete by the time Bakri heads home, allowing him to be barred. Tory leader Michael Howard argued that present powers were already sufficient to keep Bakri out and he called on the Government to use those powers "without delay". "The Home Secretary has the power to exclude from this country people whose presence here is not conducive to the public good," he said.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/10/2005 11:46 ||
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#1
As was mentioned yesterday, this terr isn't a UK citizen and requires a visa to return. That can be denied without providing any reason. There is no pressure (real or imagined) on the UK to allow this asshat back in, in fact the opposite is true, there should be pressure to throw his entire freeloading clan out.
Freebie heart operation, sheesh. That'd just be circumventing Allan's will. Must be an apostate, methinks.
I keep wondering when the average UK citizen will suddenly snap to the largess ladled out to non-citizens. One of two likely responses, I guess... one would be something like, We gave this hate mongerer | downtrodden everyman what? And I paid for it all?" Or perhaps it will be... "How did he get all that? I don't get anywhere near that much shite! Omar, baby, let's talk..."
#7
Hmmm. Do a smell fatal medical "misadventure" in the air or what. The rpeferred surgical procedure for the hamtongued, hookhanded cleric and his poor little heart (probably 20 sizes too small though still larger than his brain) would be to drive a 4x4 pressure treated stake through it with a sledge hammer. Hefty problems sometimes take super-sized solutions.
#15
Friends say that, because he is missing a bone in his ankle, brain in his head, he is unable to exercise think and that has contributed to the narrowing of his coronary arteries crazy things he is saying.
#16
I'd kick the man's name down the list for a couple of dozen Iraqi kids who need attention by the medics in the UK. When they run out of kids, then think about it.
An Egyptian bio-chemist freed in Cairo after questioning over the 7 July London bombs says he is wary of returning to his home in the UK. Magdi al-Nashar, 33, recently completed a chemistry PhD at Leeds University. He says he was held during a trip to Egypt after having innocent contacts with bomber Jermaine Lindsay.
You mean helping him get the flat where the bombs were made? Those "innocent contacts"?
Just trying to help the lad make a new start in life.
He told the BBC he may delay his return to the UK after being held during a holiday in Egypt as he feared people might not know he has been cleared.
Rats, he figured it out. Egypt wouldn't extradite him, but if he returned on his own the Brits could pick him up at the airport for more "questioning".
Mr Nashar was arrested in Cairo on 15 July. He was freed on Tuesday after the authorities said there was no link between him and the bombs or al-Qaeda.
As far as I can tell, it's only the Egyptian authorities that have made that statement.
He told BBC Radio 4's Today programme he met Lindsay at a mosque in Leeds in October 2004. And he had found a location for a bomb lab accommodation for him in the city shortly before the bombings. "He told me his name was Gamal, but from the papers I knew his name was Jermaine Lindsay," he said.
"but his friends just called him Nancy..."
"...in June he phoned and asked me if I could help him get a flat for his family to move completely from London to Leeds." Mr Nashar said he was concerned after being portrayed as a "a bad person and a terrorist" by some of the media after 7 July. "If somebody has seen my picture on the front page as a terrorist or something like that and then he will not know I am innocent and has seen me in the streets, what will he think?".
That the cops are waiting for the right time to bag you?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/10/2005 09:05 ||
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#1
Sung to "Guantanamera"
I am a jihadi from a desert place
I am right up in your ugly face
I want to take out all infidels
So virgins will service me
My verses honor Osama
But my acts create great drama
Guantanamo base
Iâm off to Guantanamo base
Guantanamo base
Iâm off to Guantanamo base
I reform young minds in Madrassas
Teach boys that bombingâs what it's about
Women only come in great paradise
To die for this would be nice
While Durbin cultivates much doubt
And otherâs undermine Bushâs clout
Guantanamo base
Iâm off to Guantanamo base
Guantanamo base
Iâm off to Guantanamo base
With the naive of the West
I want to encourage them to be best
With those fools of the land
I want to sing to their band
Gallowayâs words do please me
Soon I hope that I will be free
Guantanamo base
Iâm off to Guantanamo base
Guantanamo base
Iâm off to Guantanamo base
A large cache of weapons and munitions was discovered in the mountains of eastern Tajikistan, in an area formerly used by both opposition groups in the Tajik civil war and by guerrillas with connections to Al Qaeda. The cache, which includes anti-tank weapons, rocket launchers and other weapons, was discovered by the Interior Ministry in the Tavildara district, Interfax reported. Tajikistan, impoverished and corrupt, has been generally stable in recent years, but is a main route for drug smuggling from Afghanistan. The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a regional terrorist group that fought alongside the Taliban against the United States in 2001, used to be based in the area.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/10/2005 14:58 ||
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Gunmen sprayed bullets at a car Tuesday in the capital of Chechnya, killing one person, wounding a child in the head, and setting the vehicle ablaze. Three members of a special Chechen security force were believed to have been in the car, said a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of angering the force, controlled by Chechnya's deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. One of the people in the car was killed and two were wounded.
The shooting happened at around 6 p.m. in Grozny's Staropromyslovsky district. Flames engulfed the black passenger vehicle, sending up dark plumes of smoke, as rescuers tried to extinguish the fire. The identities of the attackers was not known.
I imagine the Russers will crack a few heads and not manage to catch the guys who did it. They're like that, you know.
Posted by: Fred ||
08/10/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
Well, we've cracked quite a few heads and still haven't caught bin Laden. Chances are good that most of the heads Russia cracks needed cracking anyway.
WOMEN will be posted to frontline combat zones under changes to military rules to tackle a recruiting crisis in the armed forces.
Defence Personnel Minister De-Anne Kelly is expected to announce as early as today that restrictions will be lifted on women serving in the army's four frontline war units, making them eligible for active service in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The new rules will make the Australian Defence Force one of the most progressive in the world, putting female soldiers in more dangerous battlefield positions than their British or US counterparts.
Women will be able to join the infantry, tank and armoured vehicle units, heavy gun units and combat engineers. However, they will still be banned from serving in the elite SAS.
Although they will not be involved in frontline fighting, the army's 2600 women will serve in support positions including logistics and communications. Research still suggests women lack the physical strength and power required in close combat and have lesser load-carrying stamina than men.
Government sources last night confirmed the proposal put forward by the army. "It still has to go through the channels of government," one source said. "But the Government's policy on women in frontline combat will not change."
The 52,000-strong Australian Defence Force, which boasts 7000 women across the three services, is in the grip of a recruiting crisis and fell about 1000 short of its recruiting target last year.
John Howard has asked Mrs Kelly to address the recruiting crisis in the wake of a survey in May that showed up to a third of defence force personnel were considering quitting the force.
Soldiers complained of poor pay, the lure of private sector jobs and dissatisfaction with long deployments.
Mrs Kelly is looking at a range of options, including breaking the long-held notion that the military is a life-long vocation and turning it into a more flexible career.
Changes to pay rates, childcare and spousal support and moves to ease the stress of postings and long periods away from home are all being considered.
While women serve widely aboard navy ships, including in command positions, and now as fighter pilots, and have already seen action in these capacities in Afghanistan and Iraq, some restrictions remain.
Navy women still cannot be involved in the clearance of deadly sea mines and are not allowed to serve in the guarding of airfields in the RAAF.
In 2001, the German defence force was the first to move to open combat units to women, closely followed by the Royal New Zealand Defence Force.
Britain has lifted its ban but left it up to the defence force to decide whether to recruit women to combat units. The US bans women in units that "co-locate with ground combatants".
RSL national president Major-General Bill Crews welcomed the decision "for a modest expansion of positions available to women". "It will mean women will be able to fill support positions in combat units but still won't be exposed to hand-to-hand combat," he said last night. "We believe its a sensible move."
But Women's Auxiliary Air Force of NSW president Beryl Evans said she believed it was time "the ladies be allowed to decide" whether they occupy frontline combat positions.
Mrs Evans, who served in the WAAF in World War II, said: "When we took the oath to serve our king and country, we were prepared to do whatever we were asked to do. I know men are concerned about women in combat but I think its great that women are taking on more roles."
NSW secretary of the Council of Ex-Servicewomen Grace McDonald, who served in the navy auxiliary in World War II, stressed it was her personal opinion that frontline combat was too physically demanding for women.
"But it's certainly a good thing that women are being allowed to do a lot more than they did in my day," she said. "We weren't allowed to serve on ships and now the lasses tell me they run them."
Of the 16,000 young Australians who applied for places in the defence force last year, only 4747 were accepted.
Former defence force chief Peter Cosgrove told a parliamentary inquiry that most of those rejected could not meet rigorous physical and psychological standards, but dropping standards was not the answer.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/10/2005 19:16 ||
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#1
This should be on page 3, my mistke - sorry !
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/10/2005 19:40 Comments ||
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Looks like Page 1 to me, Oz (though it could also be Page 2).
It will definitely affect the WOT.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
08/10/2005 19:42 Comments ||
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#3
Barbara is right, Oztralian (love the new nym... or is it nick?). More soldier girls for the Lions of Islam to be humiliated by! And besides, I've met Australian girls on holiday -- best not to mess with them unless they want you to. ;-)
ABDUR Raheem Green, a radical Muslim convert from Britain who has said Muslims and Westerners "cannot live peaceably together", has been blocked from coming to Australia.
Mr Green - whose name appears on the Immigration Department's "movement alert list" - attempted to board a plane from Sri Lanka to Wellington on Monday.
The plane was due to make a one-hour stop in Brisbane en route.
"I was told I could not board because the plane had to stop in Australia," Mr Green said yesterday.
"I was with my two teenage sons and they were free to go, but I was not."
Mr Green, a British citizen born Ashley Green, is due to make a series of speeches in Australia next week, including one at the Lakemba Mosque in western Sydney.
He has said conflict between Islam and the West is "ordered in the Koran", and "dying while fighting jihad is one of the surest ways to paradise and Allah's good pleasure".
He now claims to have moderated his views.
A spokeswoman for the Immigration Department said Mr Green had been prevented from boarding the plane because his name was on the movement alert list. "That doesn't mean he's been banned from Australia. The Australian Government has not come to any particular view about Mr Green," the spokeswoman said.
"But when he tried to check in, his name popped up on that list and he was not cleared for embarkation. That basically means he wasn't allowed to get on the plane.
"If he tries to board another plane to Australia, his name will pop up again and then we will consider his case and he may be allowed to enter."
Mr Green was invited to Australia by the Sydney-based Islamic Development Centre of Australia. It is not clear whether he will be cleared to enter the country in time for his planned lecture tour starting on August 17.
John Howard last week backed British plans to deport Islamic extremists who preached hate and terror. The Prime Minister said yesterday he saw merit in plans by his counterpart Tony Blair in the wake of the London bombings to expel extremists.
But Mr Green said he had changed his radical views about Islam over time.
"I was a bit younger then and maybe I was a bit passionate or whatever, and did say things I would never say now," he said.
"For the past five, six, seven years, my message to Muslim youth has been to condemn terror, to be good Muslims and show people the real face of Islam."
Mr Green said he was "devastated" by the London bombings.
"I hope Australia can understand I'm not a radical extremist," he said.
"If I was going to go around recruiting people for suicide bombings, I'd expect the Government to ban me, but that's absolutely not what I'm about. I've always been known as a moderate. I condemn terror. Killing women and children is against Islam."
Mr Green said he would visit the Australian embassy in Wellington tomorrow to try to sort out the problem in time to give his lectures in Sydney.
His New Zealand host, Javed Khan of the Federation of Islamic Association, said he was "very surprised" Mr Green was denied permission to board the plane to Australia.
"He was very surprised too," Mr Khan said. "I was with him last night, and I assure you he's very moderate. He has always promoted peace and harmony."
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/10/2005 19:21 ||
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#1
Sorry bub, I don't buy your line of fecal matter. Keep him out of the US as well.
#4
"I was a bit younger then and maybe I was a bit passionate or whatever, and did say things I would never say now,"
If you think we are going to fall for that, you've been watching way too many reruns of TaxiCab Confessions on HBO. BTW, infidel HBO is contrary to Islam.
A WAR veteran who allegedly threatened to blow up a club with explosives supposedly wired to his body was released on bail yesterday - and then saluted by his wife as he left court. Outside the court, David Buck's wife Michelle put on a captain's hat and saluted her husband as he got into their car.
Buck, 53, was allegedly wearing an earpiece, a small microphone on his shirt and a backpack containing a battery and wires when he walked into Umina Bowling Club on Monday at 1.35pm. A police statement tendered to Gosford Local Court alleged Buck handed the club manager a note claiming "two cell members" were inside the club and that explosives would be detonated if the manager did not fill a bag with money.
Magistrate Garry Cocks said the alleged incident was "everybody's worst nightmare" in the current climate of terrorism. The court heard that Buck, who was wearing a floppy tan coloured canvas hat, sunglasses, backpack and bumbag, was shaking uncontrollably after handing the note to the club manager. "The Jew that handed you this note is wired with 11kg of remotely detonated explosives - 10kg in the backpack and one kilo in the bag around his waist," the note allegedly stated. "Two of my cell members are inside your club and will be watching. Raise no alarms and do not attempt to evacuate the club or I will detonate the explosives.
"You are to place all the paper money into a bag and give the bag to the Jew. The Jew is to confirm there are no dye bombs with the money.
"Should you fail to comply immediately I will not hesitate to kill the Jew and all the other unbelievers in your club."
The court heard that the club manager began to evacuate patrons through a rear door while they waited for police to arrive. A short time later Buck walked out the front door and was followed by a club maintenance manager who had experience with explosives in the army. The maintenance manager approached the accused and said "OK I think we have gone far enough" before Buck sat in the gutter and waited for police. He was arrested a short time later. No bomb or explosives were found.
Buck, of Umina Beach, dressed in a navy blue suit, sat calmly in the dock during his court appearance yesterday where he faced charges of robbery and demand property with menaces with intent to steal.
Legal aid solicitor Lesley Jansen, appearing for Buck, told the court her client had been receiving treatment at Richmond's St John of God Hospital for three years for being a looney post-traumatic stress disorder caused by his war service. The court was told he was having money problems because of gambling habits but did not have a record for dishonesty offences. "It just seems to have come out of the Guardian blue," Ms Jansen told the court.
Mr Cocks granted bail but banned Buck, who entered no plea, from Umina Bowling Club and ordered him to report to Woy Woy police station daily. The case was adjourned to September 22.
Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World ||
08/10/2005 00:00 ||
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Turkish police have detained a suspected al Qaeda militant from Syria who they believe was organizing an attack on Israeli targets in Turkey, security sources said on Wednesday. The suspect, believed to be the top figure in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Turkey, was apprehended in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Sunday as he attempted to board a plane for Istanbul, the sources said. The suspected militant, identified as Syrian national "Luia Sakra," was due to appear in an Istanbul court on Thursday, courthouse sources said.
"Ever been in a Turkish prison, Louie?"
Judges on Wednesday ordered the arrest of another Syrian national brought to the court on charges he is Sakra's courier, the sources said. Police earlier on Wednesday denied news reports that at least 10 al Qaeda-linked militants had been detained while planning attacks on foreign-flagged ships. "The news reports that al Qaeda members have been caught with C-4 explosives as they prepared attacks on several foreign ships in the southern provinces are completely wrong and ill-intentioned," police headquarters said in a statement.
Private news channel NTV said that the group was gathering information on synagogues in Turkey as well as on Israeli ships to prepare for attacks. It said the suspects were detained in Turkey's largest city of Istanbul and in the Mediterranean tourism hub of Antalya. The reports followed remarks by Israel's counter-terrorism chief who on Tuesday said Turkey had caught al Qaeda-linked militants who were planning attacks against foreign tourists. Israel this week diverted four cruise shops from Turkey to Cyprus and urged its citizens to avoid Turkey's popular southern coast, citing "concrete and grave terror threats" against them.
Security sources said Sakra, considered an expert bomb maker, had undergone plastic surgery and was attempting to fly to Istanbul under an assumed name for a second operation. He arrived in Diyarbakir from Antalya. Sakra is thought to be responsible for al Qaeda's cells in Turkey and to have played a key role in bombings in Istanbul in November 2003 that killed more than 60 people.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/10/2005 14:39 ||
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#1
I wonder how a Turkish jail compares to Gitmo?
Hmmmm...
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/10/2005 14:57 Comments ||
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Bobby : Do Turkish Prisons serve glazed chicken?
#3
There was a long article in the Stars and Stripes when I was in Germany the last time about Turkish prisons. You'd be better off being shoved into the trunk of a Volkswagen. The rats are as big as alley cats, the cockroaches are only slightly smaller, and the only place to empty body wastes is in a crack in the floor. You get a bucket of water twice a week to wash things down. Most cells are 4'x4'x6' tall, with a solid steel door and NO windows. Most Turkish prisoners would consider Guantanimo paradise on earth.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
08/10/2005 16:24 Comments ||
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#4
Also, any naked man piles in the Turkish Prison system constitute R&R for the guard staff, not humiliation for interrogation, if you catch the drift.
Turkey has arrested several Al-Qaeda terrorists near the Turkish tourist resort of Alanya in western Turkey, Danny Arditi the head of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Counter-Terrorism said. Arditi made a statement on August 9 to the Israeli TV-channel 'Channel Two' saying that Turkish security forces have broken up an Al-Qaeda cell in Alanya, seizing weapons, C-4 plastic explosives, transport vehicles and communication equipments.
Arditi had earlier requested Israeli tourists to not visit any tourist resort between Alanya and Kemer in western Turkey. Boats from Israel carrying a total of 6,000 Israeli tourists were on Friday and Monday ordered by Arditi to change route.
Several attacks believed to have been carried out by suicide bombers in the tourist resorts of western Turkey have initially been blamed on the Kurdish PKK by Turkish police, but English and Israeli sources have repeatedly instead warned that Al-Qaeda are planning to carry out attacks in Turkish tourist resorts.
The Kurdish militant organisation TAK (Kurdistan's Freedom Falcons) which has been blamed for all bomb attacks in western Turkey had only claimed one attack which was carried out in Cesme on July 10, slightly injuring more than 20 people. TAK had used minimal explosives which was placed in a radio and put in a trash bin close to a bank. TAK had also stated that they warned Turkish authorities before setting off the bomb, but the warning was ignored by the authorities.
#1
The Kurdish militant organisation TAK (Kurdistan's Freedom Falcons) which has been blamed for all bomb attacks in western Turkey had only claimed one attack which was carried out in Cesme on July 10, slightly injuring more than 20 people. TAK had used minimal explosives which was placed in a radio and put in a trash bin close to a bank. TAK had also stated that they warned Turkish authorities before setting off the bomb, but the warning was ignored by the authorities.
What the hell? They are trying to make political statements, but the Turkish police are so inept that they are now considered full fledged terrorists.
I guess all the competent Turkish police are prison guards buggering western drug mules.
A Pakistani man arrested with several false British identity papers in his possession is in French custody after being arrested at a Paris airport, airport officials said Tuesday.
Pay attention now. The details get a little...detailed.
Mohammed Billal Youssaf, 23, a resident of Brescia in Italy, had arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport from the eastern Pakistani city of Lahore and was headed to Britain when he was arrested Sunday, one official said.
Italian named "Mohammed", heading to Britian via Pakistan and Paris. Must have gone on-line for one of those cheap fares.
He had five fake British passports and five fake British driving licences on him, the official said. Youssaf was being held by the police crimes unit and checks were being conducted to confirm his identity given in the Pakistani passport he was using.
Good luck
Police on Monday handed him over to France's DST counter-espionage service specialised in anti-terrorism work, and he remains in detention.
"Jean-Pierre! Please bring me my Number Neuf truncheon and that Victoria's Secret bag over there in the corner..."
Youssaf's arrest came as intelligence services in France and elsewhere in Europe step up their surveillance of Pakistani immigrant communities in the wake of the deadly July 7 bomb attacks in London. On Monday, Le Figaro newspaper said a confidential report by France's DCRG intelligence service finalised days before the London bombings pointed to the threat of an al-Qaeda attack on Britain and highlighted the need to closely observe France's 40,000-strong Pakistani community with a view to preventing an attack on French soil. An interior ministry official confirmed the existence of the report, but cautioned that it was "a very technical study on the Pakistani community in France."
"It's far too technical for you paisans, but don't worry, us pros have it covered."
#2
Mo violated the EU passport and license limit laws. Pakistanis are allowed 4 fake passports max.
Posted by: ed ||
08/10/2005 1:45 Comments ||
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"No but truly I am being only a baker and I am coming to Britain to meeting my family so that we are selling bread to many, many people, inshallah!"
Posted by: Ward C the Moron ||
08/10/2005 8:24 Comments ||
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lol, ed! Of course, I'm not chuckling, as this is deadly serious. In between this guy and the guy a few weeks ago busted with HUNDREDS of blank UK IDs/Passports, it's good to see the Frenchies actually profiling. Now, if we could just do it here!
Posted by: BA ||
08/10/2005 10:16 Comments ||
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A detention review hearing for a man who allegedly had links to millennium-bomb plotter Ahmed Ressam has been adjourned until Sept. 15. The delay in the hearing by the Immigration Refugee Board was granted at the request of Samir Ait Mohamed's lawyer because he wanted more time to familiarize himself with the immigration case. Mohamed was accused of having links to Ressam, who last month was sentenced to 22 years in a U.S. prison for plotting to bomb the Los Angeles airport. The United States wanted Mohamed extradited but dropped their request after Ressam stopped co-operating with American authorities in fingering his accomplices. Ressam had provided the initial information that led to Mohamed's arrest.
Once the extradition request was formally dropped, the Canadian Border Services Agency faced the choice of detaining the Algerian-born Mohamed on an immigration warrant or letting him go free. This hearing was ordered after Mohamed made an appearance Monday in B.C. Supreme Court. Mohamed faced a removal order before being charged in February 2002 in connection with Ressam. He was initially arrested in 2001 on an immigration matter.
The United States initially charged Mohamed with conspiring to commit terrorist acts, giving support to a terrorist act and conspiring to commit credit-card fraud. He was held in custody pending extradition.
But Mohamed's Vancouver lawyer, Ian Donaldson, said this week U.S. officials knew as early as 2003 that Ressam, caught in 1999 trying to cross into Washington state from British Columbia with a car-load of explosives, was not helping them make a case against Mohamed. Mohamed maintains Ressam lied to implicate him in the so-called millennium-bombing plot in hopes of a lighter prison sentence. Mohamed left Algeria in 1989 and tried unsuccessfully to gain refugee status in England and Germany before entering Canada in 1997. He was denied Canadian refugee status in 1998 but appealed and was granted a new hearing in 1999.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/10/2005 16:00 ||
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The FBI is now drawing a link between their terror investigation in Lodi and Osama bin Laden. The government believes al Qaeda was trying to set up a school in Lodi to recruit terrorists. The accusations from the FBI came Tuesday morning during an immigration hearing for Shabbir Ahmed. He's the 39-year-old religious leader of the Lodi mosque -- one of five men connected to the mosque that have been arrested on immigration charges. Today the government drew links to all five and then to Osama bin Laden.
The FBI says it has information that two of the religious leaders at this Lodi mosque were acting as intermediaries for Osama bin Laden. Agents say Hamid Hayat and his father Umer Hayat confessed after being arrested in June. Agents say Hamid Hayat admitted attending a terrorist training camp in Pakistan and his father admitted financing his son's trip. And both named Shabbir Ahmed and Mohammed Adil Kahn and as part of the al qaeda chain of command. Shabbir Ahmed and Adil Kahn are both represented by defense attorney Saad Ahmad.
Saad Ahmad, defense attorney: "You know I just believe the government believes two men who lied to the FBI who are charged with lying to the FBI."
Saad Ahmad, defense attorney: "My clients said he made statements against the United States against the United States policy in Afghanistan but he was never against the United States but when he came to the U.S. he started liking it even more."
Hamid Hayat and his father are charged with lying to the FBI. Both at first denied any connection to terror training. Today, Shabbir Ahmed admitted to the court he did make speeches against the U.S. and may have encouraged Pakistanis to defend bin Laden, but that was four years ago in Pakistan. Defense attorney Ahmed said the most damaging evidence today came from the FBI organization chart showing a direct link from Osama bin Laden to a Taliban commander and then to Sabbir Ahmed and Muhammed Adil Kahn.
Lawyers for the government would not be interviewed, neither would the FBI. But in court today the lead agent said they have secretly taped conversations between several of the five men arrested in Lodi. Umer Hayat and his son are awaiting trial. Adil Kahn and his son have agreed to be deported. That should happen next week. Shabbir Ahmed wants to stay here and his immigration hearing is set for late October. Today, the judge decided to keep him in custody saying he considers Ahmed flight risk and a threat to the community. None of the five has ever been accused of terrorist crimes.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/10/2005 14:59 ||
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#1
Adil Kahn and his son have agreed to be deported. That should happen next week.
Freaking unbelievable. Are the FBI and Justice all smoking dope in CA? Here you have the US leader (dare I say mastermind?) of Al Qaeda cells in the formative stage. So what do the feds do? Why send him back to Pakistan into the loving arms of his masters in Let, LeJ, ISI, and AQ, instead of having him finger the leaders of those organizations for arrest. Deportation? Pshaw. Gitmo and rubber truncheons are tailor made for scum such as Khan.
The only small consolation is that when the next islamist atrocity takes place because of the rank incompetence of these people we taxpayers pay to protect us, it will be in LA or SF and there will be a small chance these feds will get a clue in the final seconds before their office building crashes down on them.
As for deportation, deport the entire mosque congregation back to Pakistan. Consider it a prophylactic.
Posted by: ed ||
08/10/2005 17:41 Comments ||
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#2
there are many reasons why the FBI, etc send guys back to wherever. Let's see: 1)they are tired of feeding them in detention...........2) the FBI budget is not big enough to have him around......who knows....but believe me that the FBI, CIA, etc are not as stupid as they like to appear, right?
Newly obtained FBI documents allege that in addition to one man already in custody, six other Lodi-area residents may have attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan. The Sacramento Bee reported that Hamid Hayat and his father Umer Hayat contended in FBI documents that a half-dozen other men were trained in jihadi camps in Pakistan. The pair reportedly alleged that the men were recruited by Muhhammed Adil Khan and Shabbir Ahmed, two Pakistani imams involved with the Lodi Mosque. In FBI interviews, the Hayats alleged that the men took direction from Ahmed, the imam at the mosque. Over Ahmed was Adil Khan, who followed the orders of the terrorist training camp's operator Fazlur Rehman. He is reportedly a follower of Osama bin Laden.
I'm guessing that they're referring to Fazlur Rehman Khalil, rather than to Mullah Diesel. Fat Fazl would take great care to avoid any overt connection with a camp, much less running one, he being on the legit side of things and all.
According to the documents, the elder Hayat told investigators the camp attendees were taught to target U.S. financial institutions and government buildings. He reportedly identified the men but they were not identified in the Bee report. The FBI and United States Attorney's Office issued a joint statement Friday afternoon saying they could not comment on the ongoing investigation.
In Pakistan, Adil Khan was a teacher and administrator at a large jihadi school in Karachi. He moved to Lodi in early 2001 to serve as imam at the mosque and to start a school and Islamic center. In 2002 he recruited Ahmed to take over as the mosque's imam while he concentrated on the school. Adil Khan and Ahmed are being held on alleged immigration law violations. The attorneys for the two men deny their clients' involvement in terrorist activities.
"Nope. Nope. Wudn't them."
The younger Hayat allegedly confessed to federal interrogators that he attended a Pakistani terrorist training camp run by al-Qaeda in 2003 and 2004.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/10/2005 14:57 ||
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#1
I think this deserves a surprise meter pegged low.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/10/2005 16:01 Comments ||
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It almost seems like one gargatuan spider web. Pull on one part, and almost every other part seems to move to a degree.
A federal grand jury has handed up indictments against a Lodi father and his son accused of having ties to the terrorist group al-Qaeda.
Hamid Hayat, 22, is charged with two of counts of lying to a federal agent according to court documents. Each count carries a potential penalty of eight years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
Hayat's father Umer, is charged with one count of lying to a federal agent.
Hamid Hayat allegedly confessed to federal interrogators a week and a half ago that he received training at a Pakistani terrorist training camp run by al-Qaeda in 2003 and 2004.
Hayat's father is accused of lying to investigators about his son's activities. The FBI believes Umer Hayat, 47, gave his son $100 a month while the younger man was allegedly in Pakistan at a terrorist training camp. Last week federal Judge Peter Nowinski denied bail
to both defendants.
According to an FBI affidavit, the investigation into Hamid Hayat began on May 29, when he flew from Pakistan to San Francisco. After the plane left South Korea, it was discovered Hayat was on the federal government's "No Fly" list.
The plane was diverted to Tokyo. An FBI agent interviewed Hayat and he was moved to the "Selectee List" which allowed him to continue his trip to the U.S.
After Hayat arrived in the U.S. he was interviewed Friday by the FBI at the bureau's Sacramento office. Documents allege he initially denied attending terrorist training camps. A lie detector test indicated deception and after two more hours of questioning, investigators say he admitted to attending a Jihadist terrorist camp for six months from 2003-04. While there he allegedly received training in the use of weapons and explosives.
Three other Lodi men have also been arrested in connection with the investigation. Muhammed Adil Khan, 47; his son Mohammad Hassan Adil, 19; and Shabbir Ahmed, 42, are charged with immigration violations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/10/2005 14:43 ||
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EFL:A U.S. Border Patrol agent accused of being an illegal alien and smuggling other illegals into the United States faces a bail hearing today in federal court in San Diego. Oscar Antonio Ortiz, 28, a Mexican citizen born in Tijuana, is charged with using a fraudulent birth certificate to obtain a job with the agency in 2001 and alien smuggling. The numbered certificate claimed he was born in Chicago, although authorities have since discovered it belonged to a man born a month earlier.
Nice job on the backround check, morons.
Mr. Ortiz, who was assigned at the agency's El Cajon field station 35 miles east of San Diego, pleaded not guilty to the felony charges during a hearing Friday. He was ordered held until today's bail review before U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony J. Battaglia.
Law-enforcement authorities said Mr. Ortiz and another unidentified Border Patrol agent became the targets of an undercover investigation after they were overheard on intercepted telephone conversations discussing on "many occasions" the smuggling of migrants into the United States through a border area near Tecate, which they patrolled.
Transcripts from the intercepted calls show the unidentified agent told a family member in May that he and Mr. Ortiz smuggled several dozen people into the country and had been paid fees ranging from $300 to $2,000 a person. The intercepted calls, authorities said, came during an investigation by the North County Regional Gang Task Force in San Diego into a suspected drug ring.
Mr. Ortiz was arrested Thursday in Escondido, Calif., by agents from the Department of Homeland Security's Office of Inspector General and placed on administrative leave. Assisting in the arrest were Escondido police, the North County gang unit and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. "Any agent who defies the Border Patrol's motto of 'Honor First' and chooses to violate the trust of the citizens they swore to protect will be held accountable," Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar in Washington said. "There is no place in the Border Patrol for behavior that tarnishes and discredits the badge we proudly wear." Mr. Ortiz's attorney, Stephen White, was not available yesterday for comment. If convicted, Mr. Ortiz could face up to 13 years in prison.
Border Patrol officials declined to discuss the case, although Assistant U.S. Attorney Alana Wong in San Diego told Judge Battaglia during Friday's hearing that Mr. Ortiz has resigned from the agency. Prosecutors argued that Mr. Ortiz should remain in jail until his case is decided. Federal prosecutors have not identified the second agent or said whether that agent also faces charges. Authorities said the second agent also had been placed on administrative leave.
Any chance they'll intercept him at the airport as he leaves the country?
Posted by: Steve ||
08/10/2005 09:16 ||
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#1
Going to check if he was taking flight training [skipping the landing course] as well?
#2
good catch - jail him. BTW - El cajon is 15 max, not 35 miles east - good reporting :-(
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/10/2005 10:01 Comments ||
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#3
Blast. Scooped once again by the AoS. (Please delete My posting as a duplicate.)
I wonder how many OTMs he let in?
Note that he's on "administrative leave," so he's still drawing a paycheck.
Anyone who's worked in the government feels a little twinge when hearing that OPM has been tasked to do something. The need to give the background checking back to the FBI, at least for the Border Patrol.
#4
Prosecutors argued that Mr. Ortiz should remain in jail until his case is decided.
Hoo boy. Given the tendency toward blind governmental stupidity where immigration is concerned, the judge will probably release the scumbag on his OR, and he'll likely promptly disappear, only to surface in Mexico soon afterward.
#8
Since he was a foreigner deliberately subverting the laws of the US Government to smuggle in foreigners, it would seem logical to put this guy at Guantanomo Bay for the rest of his natural life.
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/10/2005 22:10 Comments ||
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#10
This is never ending. These are only the ones we catch too.
I feel we need American born folks to work these border patrol jobs like I feel American born should work the security in the airports. Maybe if these positions weren't so sympathetic to people trying to get through and have these folks be more vested in doing their job it might start making a difference. Ya think?
Posted by: Jan ||
08/10/2005 23:29 Comments ||
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#11
This MF deserves two bullets to the head and then to have his corpse thrown back across the border in a place where stray dogs could be expected to eat it.
Posted by: mac ||
08/10/2005 23:41 Comments ||
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TAMPA - A month before the Sami Al-Arian trial began, two FBI agents interviewed a former Kuwaiti legislator in Washington. But Isma'il al-Shatti didn't tell the agents what they wanted to hear. Al-Shatti said he never received any packages or letters from Al-Arian, according to an FBI report of the May 5 interview. That includes a February 1995 letter Al-Arian wrote to Al-Shatti in which Al-Arian bragged about a recent double suicide attack and asked for money on behalf of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The letter was seized from Al-Arian's home during a search in November 1995 and is an important piece of evidence in Al-Arian's trial on charges he helped organize and finance the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It was the first direct evidence presented by the prosecution that it says shows Al-Arian tried to raise money for the organization after providing material support to the Islamic Jihad became illegal in January 1995.
Defense attorneys Tuesday morning asked U.S. District Judge James Moody for a mistrial because they had just received the FBI's report on the Al-Shatti interview. According to Al-Arian attorney William Moffitt, the defense attorneys argued that this was a violation of the prosecution's legal obligation to promptly turn over to defendants any material that might help the defense. The argument took place at a sidebar conference out of earshot of spectators in Moody's courtroom. Jurors were not in the room. Moody did not grant the mistrial request, but he is scheduled this morning to consider defense arguments related to the exchange of evidence.
According to the FBI report, Al-Shatti said he knew Al-Arian when Al-Arian was a student and Al-Shatti had come to the United States to earn a master's degree. Al-Shatti said he met with Al-Arian in December 1990 in either Houston, Chicago or Washington. Shown a copy of Al-Arian's letter, al-Shatti said he never received it. He told the agents he did not want to get involved in the case. At the time the letter was written, Al-Shatti said, "it would have been impossible to do this because the Kuwaitis were very angry with the Palestinians," the report states. "After the invasion of Kuwait, al-Shatti was blacklisted by the Palestinians since he supported America."
Yah sure, yewbetcha. Taqiyyah at its finest.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Walter E. Furr III told jurors in his opening statement June 6 that wiretaps in the case show that the letter was hand-delivered to al-Shatti. On Wednesday, prosecutors read transcripts of conversations Al-Arian had with Ahmad Makki, from Sudan, who was in Chicago in February 1995. In the conversations, Al-Arian told Makki he had "messages that we must have you carry." Yet to be read to jurors is a Feb. 23, 1995, conversation Al-Arian had with an unidentified man in Saudi Arabia.
Al-Arian asks, "Did you give the package to Zoumai?"
The man says, "Yes, the uh, I gave it to Zoumai, and I conveyed it to ... al-Shatti and all of them.
#1
Al-Arian Letter To Kuwaiti Offered As Proof Of Guilt Jurors were read a Feb. 10, 1995, letter Al-Arian wrote to Kuwaiti legislator Isma'il al- Shatti. The letter was seized from Al-Arian's house during a search in November 1995.
It was written 18 days after a double suicide bombing in Beit Lid, Israel, that killed 22 people, including 20 Israeli soldiers. The letter was dated 16 days after President Clinton designated the Islamic Jihad a foreign terrorist organization, making it illegal to provide it material support.
``The latest operation, carried out by the two mujahideen who were martyred for the sake of God, is the best guide and witness to what the believing few can do in the face of Arab and Islamic collapse at the heels of the Zionist enemy and in keeping the flame of faith, steadfastness and defiance glowing,'' the letter states, according to a government translation consented to by the defense.
Posted by: ed ||
08/10/2005 1:57 Comments ||
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#2
Sami better take it hard - I'm counting on it
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/10/2005 23:44 Comments ||
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A KEY UN procurement officer could give prosecutors valuable evidence of wrongdoing at the organisation after becoming the first official to plead guilty to fraud in the Oil-for-Food scandal. Alexander Yakovlev admitted three charges carrying 20 years each in New York on Monday, as a UN inquiry reported that he had taken almost a million dollars in bribes from companies that won more than $79 million (£44 million) in UN business. That he surrendered to the authorities in New York and immediately entered guilty pleas suggests that he may have struck a plea bargain to co-operate with prosecutors in return for a lighter sentence.
That's the first thing I thought when he pleaded so fast.
His lawyer, Arkady Bukh, told The Times that he could not comment because of a confidentiality agreement. âNormally, if you enter a guilty plea in an expedient manner, we expect from a judge quite a lenient sentence,â he said. UN officials said that they believed Mr Yakovlev would become a co-operating government witness. âItâs obvious. He struck a deal. Heâs going to testify,â one UN official said.
"Now excuse me, I have to go get Kofi off the ledge."
Take your time ...
Prosecutors said that they were not allowed to comment.
"We can say no more!"
Mr Yakovlev, 52, a Russian once employed in a Soviet-era ministry, worked in the UN procurement division from 1985 until his abrupt resignation after a media leak about the investigation last month. He was the âlineâ procurement officer who handled the controversial award of a UN border-inspection contract to a Swiss company that employed the UN Secretary-Generalâs son, Kojo Annan. He told UN investigators that he did not know Kojo Annan was involved with the company, Cotecna, even though one of his colleagues, who sat only yards away, said âeveryone in her office knewâ the UN chiefâs son âbecause he was friendly and good with computers, such that he would help her colleagues with problemsâ.
"Koko was especially good with spreadsheets, though he said that it was the Pentium chip math error that kept messing up the bottom line."
He appeared in court after being stripped of his diplomatic immunity by the UN, admitting money laundering, wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He was released on $400,000 bail, secured by his house in New York, until his sentencing on February 10. The case is being handled by federal prosecutors from the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, who have vowed to âwring the towel dryâ of UN corruption.
Hanging the UN's scalp on your belt would be an excellent ticket to higher office
Posted by: Steve ||
08/10/2005 11:09 ||
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#1
I'm ticked off that it has taken so long to get to this point in the UN- Food4Fraud investigation.
However, anything this Yakovlev fellow says will have to verified independently and this will take more time before the next brick falls.
#7
Benon, baby, the trick is to be the first to flip. That train's already left the station.
Posted by: Matt ||
08/10/2005 13:54 Comments ||
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#8
One thing I'd dearly love-- more than a new puppy, even, and almost as much as seeing the Iranian Mad Mullahs crushed-- is to watch Kofi Annan do the Perp Walk complete with handcuffs and leg shackles.
That, and seeing the U.N. relocate to Gaza...
Posted by: Dave D. ||
08/10/2005 17:20 Comments ||
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At least 16 people were injured in the southern port city of Zamboanga after two bombs believed planted by Abu Sayyaf terrorists exploded late Wednesday.
The first bomb, planted under a parked mini-van in downtown Zamboanga, exploded around 7:20 p.m., wounding four civilians. The powerful blast destroyed the van completely and damaged two small buildings nearby.
A second explosion ripped through the second floor of another building just 50 meters away from the main police headquarters in the busy business district. At least a dozen people were wounded in the blast, but independent sources said the casualty toll could be higher.
Other reports said as much as two dozens were injured in the twin bombings blamed by authorities on the al-Qaeda-linked Abu Sayyaf group. Witnesses said they saw a cloud of black smoke billowed from the second floor of the damaged building.
The blast tore through the second floor that houses the St. Anne's budget motel. Below the motel was a Chinese fastfood restaurant Chowking and several smaller shops that were also destroyed by the explosion.
Bomb experts sift through the debris, searching for clues on what kind of explosives were used in the attacks.
Paramedics rescued trapped and wounded motel guests from the second floor. The facade of the building was destroyed.
Shattered glass and twisted metals and debris littered the streets.
The shock waves from the explosions destroyed display windows of several shops around the blast scenes. Fear gripped many civilians who were rushing to their homes at the time of the explosions.
Some 100 soldiers and policemen, backed by armored vehicles, secured downtown Zamboanga until security officials declared it was safe.
Last week, security forces in Zamboanga City arrested Abu Sayyaf bomb maker Alex Alvarez, blamed for the series of bombings since 2002 that killed dozens of people, including a US soldier participating in an anti-terror training with Filipino troops.
Authorities suspect the attacks were in retaliation for his arrest.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/10/2005 14:45 ||
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IRAN'S uranium conversion facility in Isfahan was fully operational overnight after all the seals placed by international inspectors were removed, an Iranian nuclear official said.
"We have removed the seals, the Isfahan conversion facility is fully operational," the deputy head of Iran's atomic energy agency Mohammad Saidi said.
#4
Because we went into Iraq our hands our tied when we need them free.
Honestly, I have never understood or bought into the reasons given for invading Iraq first knowing that Iran was the major terrorist supporter in the world. I'm just an IT guy in Colorado - but it always seemed to me that if we really wanted to take on terrorism we should have taken on Iran first. Iran supports Syria, Hezbollah, was supporting Arafat, Islamic Jihad, etc. They were and are allot closer the getting the bomb then Saddam ever was.
What is all of your takes on my idea?
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
08/10/2005 12:55 Comments ||
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YS I think that you haven't been paying attention.
The short form is that we invaded Iraq first for the same reason that we invaded North Africa first in WWII.
#6
If anyones been paying attention they'd note that now even Germany and Russia are pretty much admitting that Iran is planning on developing nuclear weapons. That might mean that the big Euro 3 finally just give up trying to appease and let the US take out the facilities.
#7
Methinks the Joooooos Israelis are firing up the F-16s now!
Posted by: BA ||
08/10/2005 15:06 Comments ||
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Valentine:
The problem is that France and Germany were stating that Iraq was developing weapons in 1998-99. But, once it turned out we might do something about it, they changed their minds. Why wouldn't they weasel out this time, too?
#9
One of the reasons for leaving Iran alone so far is that they have 3 times the population of Iraq and far more resources. I've read articles on how invulnerable Iran's nuclear facilities are to aerial attack, indicating an invasion would be necessary to prevent an Iranian bomb. No one has written about the need for electrical power to support nuclear weapons development. In the US, nuclear weapons production sites are always associated with substantial electrical power supplies, see Oak Ridge and the other site in Washington. If the nuclear sites are buried far underground, the electrical supplies are not likely to be, the wasted electrical energy has to be vented to the surface of the earth somehow, unless the Iranians have figured out how to do this underground.
I wouldn't be surprised if a sustained aerial attack to eliminate all Iranian power grids and electrical production would be the penultimate sanction against the mullahs's grasp at the ultimate weapon. The ultimate sanction would probably be nuclear bunker-busters.
#10
The only way to resolve this matter is through regime change. The Iranians have the intellectual capital to build and rebuild nuclear weaponry.
This doesn't go away with bombing raids, although strategic attacks may slow things down for a short while. Bombing could be pretty entertaining as well.
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/10/2005 18:20 Comments ||
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Two Kurdish human rights activists from the 'Kurdistan Human Rights Organisation' (RMMK) were arrested by Iranian forces in the city of Mahabad in eastern Kurdistan. Saman Resulpur was arrested at 00:30 (00:30 am GMT+3.30) on Tuesday, August 9 in his house in the Sehrek district of Mahabad. During the raid the Iranian soldiers seized Resulpur's computer, all his CDs, video and audio cassettes and a great number of his books. The other RMMK-member Zeyneb Bayezidi was arrested at the same time when soldiers raided her family's home in Mahabad. After searching through the house, the soldiers arrested Bayezidi together with her little sister, her father and her brother named Aso. It was also reported that several family members were seriously beaten and injured during the raid.
Meanwhile, it's been reported that the leading oppositional journalist Akbar Ganji has now ended the hunger strike which he started on July 11. When he exactly ended his hunger strike was not reported. Ganji was jailed in 2001 and sentenced to six years in prison after writing regime-critical articles.
#1
"Two Kurdish human rights activists from the 'Kurdistan Human Rights Organisation' (RMMK) were arrested by Iranian forces"
I am sure your fellow Int'l Human Rights Group, led by the UN, will be flying in ASAP to bail you out.
Oops! I just found out that they won't be able to help you. The UN is a little busy right now putting together bail money for themselves, you know, with the scandal and all. But, please feel free to fend for yourselves and don't call us anymore. Good Luck!
#2
If UN can't fly in, then what about US? Who's going to save the Kurds from Iran (who "kills its own people")... Or is it because Kurds in Iran doesn't have oil to give Bush?
#6
Somehow, if the US ever does anything to help the Kurds in Iran, the author of comment number 2 will be the first to scream that it's because of oil there...
Posted by: Phil Fraering ||
08/10/2005 19:55 Comments ||
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Some Iraqi defense attorneys question whether the victims of a crime can fairly investigate it.
"It's unnatural within the principles of law," defense attorney Shahla Naif al-Alalousi says. "I don't know of a court in the world that would accept such interpretation of the law."
Hey! We can go home now! Let their lefties run it! Take A Terrorist Home time!
Every silver lining has a cloud™
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/10/2005 16:10 Comments ||
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#2
This is nuts. If the police catch him, it's a police matter and a civilian trial. If the soldiers catch him, it ought to be a military tribunal. So let an Iraqi cop and judge observe. They can call AI if they think it's getting out of hand. Checks and balances, but no free rides. That's only in advanced countires!
I mean, Iraqi defense lawyers need jobs, too. Who pays for them, I wonder? Pro Bono? Pro Terroristo?
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/10/2005 16:14 Comments ||
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#3
Was reading Michael Yon's most recent dispatch... it seems that if our forces catch a bad guy they CAN'T give them to the Iraqi police... even when the Iraqi police chief really, REALLY wants to break the guy down and pull all the info out.
So why would our guys give terrs over to an Iraqi court? It would seem that would be what should happen if their police have custody.
Algerian police are on high alert over the threat of an attack by the al-Qaeda aligned militant Salafite Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) - possibly on the capital, Algiers, itself, the pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat reported on Monday. The number of GSPC incursions in Algeria have increased recently, especially in provinces to the east of the capital, the paper said.
New military units have been deployed to the area around Boumerdes, 45 kilometres east of Algiers, believed to be the militants' stronghold, where the Algerian army has suffered its worst losses. The newly deployed Algerian troops are especially keen to rout the Dals group, a small formation Algerian intelligence reckons to contain some 30 militants, led and trained by Yhaya Abu al-Haytham. The group is notorious for its rapid and deadly military actions during which the guerrillas split into two smaller more 'agile' groups.
Haytham has been fighting in the area for 10 years. Military experts say he knows the terrain around Boumerdes and the various hiding places intimately. He is very close to Hasan Hattab, the GSPC founder and former leader. So far, 19 militants from the Dals group have been captured and sentenced to death.
Although militant attacks have decreased in Algeria in recent years, and have been sporadic over the past twelve months, they have never entirely ceased. In June, the GSPC claimed responsibility for an attack on a military base in northeastern Mauritania, close to the border with Algeria, in which at least 15 soldiers were killed.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
08/10/2005 15:11 ||
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Too lengthy for the MSM, I guess, plus no dead soldiers, either. Multinational Corps Iraq operations continue to place pressure on terrorist operations in Iraq, with coalition and Iraqi security forces conducting more than 182 combined and independent offensive operations throughout the country since late July. Results from operations conducted between July 30 and Aug. 5 include the discovery and clearance of 109 improvised explosive devices and 32 caches; the capture of 805 insurgent fighters, with the subsequent detention of 493; and the death or capture of 11 foreign fighters.
"These are great successes for the coalition and Iraqi security forces. The terrorists' command and control will continue to deteriorate as the coalition forces continue to pressure terrorists and disrupt their operations network," Col. Jessie Farrington, MNCI chief of operations, said.
Highlights of operations from Aug. 6 and 7 include: In Mosul, coalition forces detained two individuals for handing out terrorist propaganda. The two individuals revealed the location of their source and, during a resulting raid, Iraqi police killed one terrorist later confirmed to be a Syrian national. In a combined raid, coalition and Iraqi security forces captured three men connected to terror leader Abbass Fadhel Zangana.
Near Hit, Iraqi Intervention Forces and U.S. Marines captured three terrorists in a truck towing another vehicle modified as a car bomb. In Haqlaniyah, coalition forces destroyed a booby-trapped house that contained improvised explosive devices. In Baghdad, coalition forces captured a car bomb and four terrorists who were involved in a car-bomb cell. Iraqi forces captured ten members of a terrorist cell in Sadr City.
In other developments, Iraqi army soldiers and coalition forces captured suspected insurgents in a targeted search Aug. 7 in Rawah, Iraq, according to a Multinational Force Iraq report. The suspects included one Syrian man, one Sudanese man, a former Rawah police officer, and a civilian. The Sudanese man was in possession of an expired passport. He's toast!
In Fallujah, Iraqi army soldiers found and eliminated improvised explosive devices while conducting search operations Aug. 6, according to a MNFI report.
Soldiers with the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Brigade, 1st Iraqi Intervention Force, discovered an IED while on a dismounted patrol. The IED consisted of one 130 mm artillery round enclosed in a white burlap bag with a car-alarm receiver, a washing machine timer, and a battery. The area was secured and the IED was disarmed and removed for later disposal. If you have a battery and a timer, what's the purpose of the 'car-alarm receiver'?
In Mugdadiyah, a patrol located one 155 mm artillery round and an unknown initiation device. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team removed the IED. An IRAQI Explosive Ordance Disposal team! No injuries or damages were reported during the operations.
In other news from Iraq, Iraqi security forces and coalition forces conducted a combined raid on a location known to be manufacturing car bombs Aug. 7 in Baghdad. An Iraqi SWAT team and a coalition support unit discovered two vehicles in a carport partially wired as suicide car bombs. Both vehicles had holes cut in the dashboard exposing detonators with wire connections to the trunk and under the hood. Four male suspects were detained.
Elsewhere in Baghdad, Iraqi police and elements of the U.S. Army's 1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery Regiment, located a possible car bomb on a roadway. The dark blue, four-door sedan was secured, and the immediate area was cleared. An Iraqi explosive ordnance disposal team confirmed the presence of explosives and conducted a controlled detonation.
No injuries or damages were reported during the operations.
(Compiled from Multinational Force Iraq and Multinational Security Transition Command Iraq news releases.)
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/10/2005 10:53 ||
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At a checkpoint leading to the U.S.-protected Green Zone, Gordy stands sentry. The affable Belgian Malinois has a nose finely tuned to detect the nitrates, plastic explosives, gunpowder and detonation cords that suicide bombers use to blow up people.
On a barren stretch of road in northern Iraq, a dog rigged with explosives approaches a group of Iraqi police officers. Detonated by remote control, the bomb tears the dog apart but doesn't harm the cops. I'm glad the cops are OK, but PO'ed about the bastards using a dog for this. I mean, what if they start using jackals?
In a war where the line between civilian and soldier is blurred, even man's best friend has been caught up in the combat. U.S. forces hail their trained dogs as heroes, but to terrorists insurgents, canines provide the means for a more sinister goal.
Iraqi police cite the recent use of dogs rigged with explosive devices in Latifiya, just south of Baghdad, in Baqubah in central Iraq and in and around the northern city of Kirkuk.
Some Iraqis are horrified by the ethics of dragging the animal world into a human conflict.
"How can they use these lovely pets for criminal and murderous acts?" asked Rasha Khairir, 25, an employee of a Baghdad stock brokerage. "A poor dog can't refuse what they are doing with him because he can't think and decide."
Despite a common prejudice in the Muslim world against dogs, which are considered unclean, even the most virulent clerical opponents of the U.S. presence in Iraq have decried the use of canines as proxies in the war.
Abdel Salam Kubaisi, a spokesman for the Muslim Scholars Assn., a hard-line Sunni Arab clerical organization sympathetic to terrorists insurgents, called the practice un-Islamic. "Our religion does not permit us to hurt animals," he said, "neither by using them as explosive devices nor in any other manner." So then, how about a fatwa against those using it, eh? Or is this simply more taqiya?
U.S. troops extol the virtues of their canine allies in the war against the terrorists insurgents.
"Dogs are vital in Iraqi counterinsurgency efforts," said Staff Sgt. Ann Pitt, 35, of Buffalo, N.Y., a U.S. Army dog handler based near the southern city of Nasiriya.
"We have many items to help us do our mission, but I don't think we have a better detection tool than a dog," said Pitt, who cares for Buddy, another Belgian Malinois, a dog similar to a German shepherd. "These dogs are amazing. They are more dependable and effective than almost anything we have available to us." I love dogs (though not in the Seattle sense), but I would rather send a dog into certain death than risk a human.
Of 4,300 dogs sent to Vietnam, 2,000 were handed over to the South Vietnamese army and 2,000 were put to sleep, . Only 200 managed to make it home, said Ron Aiello, Vietnam War-era dog handler who runs U.S. War Dog, a 1,100-member Burlington, N.J., organization.
His group set up a website to raise funds for a memorial to honor the dogs and their handlers.
"What we do is prevent people from getting killed," said Artwell Chibero, Gordy's 29-year-old Zimbabwean handler, an employee of a private security firm hired by the Defense Department.
Terrorists Insurgents have long stuffed roadside bombs into the carcasses of animals. But Iraqi security officials say they increasingly worry about the use of live animals.
"Dogs have been used in many areas by terrorists insurgents throughout Iraq" to carry explosive devices, said Noori Noori, inspector-general at the Interior Ministry. "They used mentally retarded people for operations during the elections, so why wouldn't they use animals?"
The daily newspaper Al Mada recently published an editorial cartoon showing an terrorists insurgent who strongly resembled Saddam Hussein trying to persuade a dog to strap on a belt bomb to advance the cause of the Baath Party, which once ruled Iraq.
"It is such a simple task," the terrorists insurgent tells the terrified dog. "All you have to do is to put on this explosives belt, repeat the party's slogans, and may Allah have mercy on your father's soul!"
Times staff writers Zainab Hussein and Suhail Ahmad contributed to this report. And the Jackal put it on RB.
I work weekends trying to get dogs (and cats) adopted out of the local pound. These bastards work weekends making explosive vests for them.
#1
"How can they use these lovely pets for criminal and murderous acts?" asked Rasha Khairir, 25, an employee of a Baghdad stock brokerage. "A poor dog can't refuse what they are doing with him because he can't think and decide."
Doesn't sound ANY different than a jihadi to me! Waiting on PETA in 4, 3, 2...
Posted by: BA ||
08/10/2005 11:21 Comments ||
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#2
The kind folks at PETA haven't gotten wind of the jihadi seeking suicide pitbulls yet have they?
My wife's business is that of a mobile pet groomer...
One of her occasional clients was a Belgian Malinois police dog. This dog escaped from the cop that housed him. He turned up a couple of days later a couple of blocks away at a house of a woman who had taken him in and fed him, until she figured out who owned him...
It made the local news, that's what prompted the women to call the cops... My wife says the dog is very sweet except when he gets a whiff of narcotics... Then he is very "serious."
As you see in the link... they are closely related to German Shepherds...
#7
Suicide dogs? It's so hard to tell the difference between insurgents and their canine.
Question: Does Fito get 72 virgin dogs?
Posted by: Captain America ||
08/10/2005 15:10 Comments ||
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#8
"Suicide dogs?"
I'm sure the MSM will have a spin that it/they were upset about the ABUSES AT ABU GHRAIB where dogs were used.
Posted by: Dave ||
08/10/2005 16:00 Comments ||
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#9
On a more serious note, "affable Belgian Malinois???" The ones we had were very ill tempered; they were always biting their handlers. German Shepherds were much calmer.
Posted by: Dave ||
08/10/2005 16:05 Comments ||
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#10
but I would rather send a dog into certain death than risk a human.
I like to think my dawgs would insist on going first, the damn cats on the other hand would wait around and check the wind.
Suspected Taleban militants have killed an Afghan woman they accused of spying for the Americans, officials say. Gunmen shot the woman dead near her house on Tuesday night in southern Zabul Province. She has not been named. Rebels have killed many men in a rising wave of intimidation, but this is the first time a woman has been targeted since the Taleban fell in 2001.
Just catching up on their backlog, how many women did the Taleban kill before 2001, mister BBC?
Meanwhile, a US soldier has died from wounds sustained in a bomb attack in central Afghanistan on Tuesday.
Six militants burst into the woman's house in Mizan district of Zabul Province on Tuesday night, district chief Haji Mohammad Younus said.
They dragged her out of her house and shot her dead before leaving on motorcycles, taking her brother and father with them, he said. Abdul Latif Hakimi, who claims to speak for the Taleban, said the guerrillas killed the woman "because she was spying for the American invaders".
He confirmed that two male relatives of the victim had been kidnapped but said they were alive.
"For now"
The death of the US soldier following Tuesday's bomb attack in central Ghazni Province brought to five the number of US troops killed in Afghanistan in the past week. He died of his wounds shortly after arrival at the US military base at Bagram where he had been airlifted for treatment, a US military statement said. Another soldier wounded in the attack is in a stable condition. The US unit was conducting an operation to "disrupt enemy activity in the region" when they came under attack, the statement said.
Posted by: Steve ||
08/10/2005 08:30 ||
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#1
"but this is the first time a woman has been targeted since the Taleban fell in 2001."
BBC,
You just can't report the news without the "Finger In The Eye Syndrome," can you?
Posted by: ed ||
08/10/2005 08:03 ||
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#1
Deuce Four is an overwhelmingly aggressive and effective unit, and they believe the best defense is a dead enemy. They are constantly thinking up innovative, unique, and effective ways to kill or capture the enemy; proactive not reactive. They planned an operation with snipers, making it appear that an ISF vehicle had been attacked, complete with explosives and flash-bang grenades to simulate the IED. The simulated casualty evacuation of sand dummies completed the ruse.
The Deuce Four soldiers left quickly with the "casualties," "abandoning" the burning truck in the traffic circle. The enemy took the bait. Terrorists came out and started with the AK-rifle-monkey-pump, shooting into the truck, their own video crews capturing the moment of glory. That's when the American snipers opened fire and killed everybody with a weapon. Until now, only insiders knew about the AK-monkey-pumpers smack-down.
Good to know the terrs aren't the only ones who are creative and adaptive.
Read the whole thing at the link!
Posted by: Bobby ||
08/10/2005 8:31 Comments ||
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#2
Damn. I was going to quote that part, too.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
08/10/2005 8:33 Comments ||
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#3
Me too! This is outstanding Yon.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
08/10/2005 8:50 Comments ||
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#4
Newsflash for Seymour Hersh and News Outlets: The most serious terrorists do not fear prison here. Captain Jeff VanAntwerp, who commands Alpha Company, recently told me that Iraqis joke among themselves that they would pay 5,000 Dinar per night to stay at Abu Ghraib prison. It's air conditioned, the showers are good, the food is good, and the water is good. The mother seemed to know this and it curled in contempt behind her smile.
Posted by: ed ||
08/10/2005 9:20 Comments ||
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#5
Thank God for folks like Yon who take the time to document and publish what really goes on in Iraq day to day.
#6
I wonder why the US Army hasn't started issuing transparent gun shields? Most likely expense. They are clear, light, curved shields that attach to the top of a rifle, and are designed to deflect frag, flash-bang and bullets that would otherwise hit the unprotected face and neck area of the rifleman. Using such a shield you can look around corners and over ledges with some protection, as well as inspect possible small bombs, all the while your rifle barrel is pointing towards whatever you are looking at.
#10
That's when the American snipers opened fire and killed everybody with a weapon. Until now, only insiders knew about the AK-monkey-pumpers smack-down.
I hope this happens more often then we know. A lot more often...
#12
I read the whole article - and I had my heart in my mouth at times! He's a great writer (and has balls of steel!).
Really, read it all - it's *well* worth the time to do so.
Posted by: Tony (UK) ||
08/10/2005 14:16 Comments ||
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#13
I really can't add anything to the comments, but I'll try anyway: not only does Yon write extremely well, he puts it all on the line to get the truth out (not the MSM's Truth).
I would say he's worthy of a Pulitzer, but the award's so debased it would be an insult to his work.
#16
The muslim boyz like to kill the infidel when the infidel comes to the aid of a fallen friend. I think Duece Four has found a way to minimize the muslim pastime affectionately known as the "paleo-car swarm". Wonderful reporting.
Posted by: Mark Z. ||
08/10/2005 17:59 Comments ||
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Yon, who truly deserves all the accolades bestowed by Rantburgers, noted that Deuce-Four only killed every terrorist with an AK. They should have taken out every scumbag with a camera, too. Press MFs want to play with the terrorists, they should suffer the same consequences as their playmates.
Posted by: mac ||
08/10/2005 23:44 Comments ||
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Via Daily Pundit:
The Red Cross Thingy has shut down its field activities in the Gaza Strip because of growing lawlessness in Palestinian areas in the build-up to Israelâs pullout next week. The move came after a surge in kidnappings as powerful clans have seized Western hostages to use as bargaining tools in disputes with Mahmoud Abbasâs increasingly weak Palestinian Authority security forces. The decision was taken after the Red Cross office in Khan Younis was shot at by members of Al-Aksa Martyrs' Brigades an unknown militant group. Two UN staff were also briefly kidnapped and. It was the fourth kidnapping of Westerners in three weeks. Mr. Abbas, the Palestinian President, urged his people to maintain law and order, and promised elections in January. But one aid official said that law and order is breaking down after corrupt security chiefs were replaced by âcleanerâ but less influential figures. With the pullout approaching, the Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian territories yesterday issued a fatwa forbidding any act that impeded the pullout departure of troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip, which Israel has held under military occupation for 38 years.
There is no Palestine. There is only chaos, and hatred, and the coppery scent of blood on the desert breeze.
#1
My cousin's near scrub ranch is about 1/4 the size of the Gaza Strip. It barely supports her family of four and 1000 cattle. (No rain in years).
But, it is still better land than Gaza and millions live there. Go figure!
#2
wonder which will ultimately end up worse: Ein-El-Hellhole or Gaza...they have the same mix of death-cults, thug-lords, willing-to-kill populace, and many many weapons. Should be fun
Posted by: Frank G ||
08/10/2005 8:38 Comments ||
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#3
"But one aid official said that law and order is breaking down after corrupt security chiefs were replaced by âcleanerâ but less influential figures."
My laughter is so loud that, my Bit Stream Richter Scale is picking up the waveform.
This article is not stating whether if it is the Int'l Red Cross or the Red Crescent. Probably, in reality, there is no difference.
I believe the real reason that they got shot at is because the Red Cross no longer wants to carry weapons caches, bombs, and/or rockets, in their ambulances.
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.
Five Saudis who were held at the U.S military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, before they were handed over to Saudi security officials, have been released, the Saudi Interior Ministry said Tuesday. The Saudi Press Agency quoted an unnamed official as saying the five were released after they underwent "the regular procedures and completed the prison terms which they received according to court verdicts." The report did not name the five, say when they were handed to Saudi authorities or for how long they were detained in Guantanamo and in Saudi jails. Last month, the United States released three Saudi men from Guantanamo to Saudi custody. American lawyers representing Saudi detainees at Guantanamo said in June that 124 Saudis were held there.
EXTREMIST preacher 
Gunmen sprayed bullets at a car Tuesday in the capital of Chechnya, killing one person, wounding a child in the head, and setting the vehicle ablaze. Three members of a special Chechen security force were believed to have been in the car, said a police official, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of angering the force, controlled by Chechnya's deputy prime minister, Ramzan Kadyrov. One of the people in the car was killed and two were wounded.
Turkish police have detained a suspected al Qaeda militant from Syria who they believe was organizing an attack on Israeli targets in Turkey, security sources said on Wednesday. The suspect, believed to be the top figure in Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Turkey, was apprehended in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir on Sunday as he attempted to board a plane for Istanbul, the sources said. The suspected militant, identified as Syrian national "
A Pakistani man arrested with several false British identity papers in his possession is in French custody after being arrested at a Paris airport, airport officials said Tuesday.
A detention review hearing for a man who allegedly had links to millennium-bomb plotter 
Newly obtained FBI documents allege that in addition to one man already in custody, six other Lodi-area residents may have attended terrorist training camps in Pakistan. The Sacramento Bee reported that 
TAMPA - A month before the Sami Al-Arian trial began, two FBI agents interviewed a former Kuwaiti legislator in Washington. But Isma'il al-Shatti didn't tell the agents what they wanted to hear. Al-Shatti said he never received any packages or letters from Al-Arian, according to an FBI report of the May 5 interview. That includes a February 1995 letter Al-Arian wrote to Al-Shatti in which Al-Arian bragged about a recent double suicide attack and asked for money on behalf of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The letter was seized from Al-Arian's home during a search in November 1995 and is an important piece of evidence in Al-Arian's trial on charges he helped organize and finance the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. It was the first direct evidence presented by the prosecution that it says shows Al-Arian tried to raise money for the organization after providing material support to the Islamic Jihad became illegal in January 1995. 
Suspected Taleban militants have killed an Afghan woman they accused of spying for the Americans, officials say. Gunmen shot the woman dead near her house on Tuesday night in southern Zabul Province. She has not been named. Rebels have killed many men in a rising wave of intimidation, but this is the first time a woman has been targeted since the Taleban fell in 2001. 
