Two roadside bombs were defused near the U.S. Embassy in the Afghan capital Monday, while security forces foiled a suspected suicide car bombing near a U.S. military base in the country's south, officials said. The bombs in Kabul were found hidden in a ditch about 300 yards from the heavily guarded embassy compound, said Ehbrar Ahmad, a senior official with a police commando squad. The car bomb was foiled about a half-mile from Kandahar Airfield, the main U.S. base in southern Afghanistan, said Afghan army commander Gen. Rahmatullah Raufi.
Posted by: ed ||
01/30/2006 08:11 ||
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Cape Town - South African support for Iran and its opposition to a plan to have that country referred to the United Nations security council over its nuclear programme is a decision that will not come "without a significant cost", says official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) chief whip Douglas Gibson.
The DA MP said in a statement on Monday: "There is a very real possibility that by supporting Iran, that the government now runs the risk of alienating a significant section of world opinion and precisely those countries which are our biggest trading partners."
It was reported in national South African newspapers on Monday that Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki had made a surprise visit to South Africa where he appeared to win guarded South African support - together with Cuban and Malaysian support - to oppose Western plans to refer Iran to the security council about its nuclear programme.
SA, Cuba and Malaysia's foreign ministers were at Hermanus at the weekend to discuss an upcoming Non-Aligned Movement summit.
Gibson said: "It appears that President (Thabo) Mbeki has decided that supporting Iran is worth the cost of alienating some of South Africa's most important strategic allies, such as Germany, France, Britain, the United States and the European Union itself."
German Chancellor Angela Merkel had adopted "a very determined stance" against nuclear proliferation generally, and Iranian nuclear ambitions specifically. She had accused Iran of having crossed a "red line".
Gibson said further: "Without the support of these vitally important countries, there is little chance that South Africa will be able to achieve the level of economic growth that is critical to roll back unemployment.
"The reality is that those states most directly affected by Iran's nuclear programme, including Saudi Arabia, Israel and the United States, are firmly opposed to an Iranian nuclear capacity for the simple reason that it directly affects their national security.
"In recent times Iran has done little to indicate to the world that it is a responsible actor in world affairs, as its belligerent attitude to Israel's existence has so clearly illustrated.
"Therefore the excuse given by the South African government and Iran's other allies that everybody is entitled to a nuclear programme under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty for peaceful purposes, does not hold much water.
"In the midst of this complex geopolitical context, South Africa has to tread carefully. South Africa would be much better served to move beyond its policy of accommodation with Tehran, no matter its actions and join the broader global community in sending a message to Iran that it cannot embark on provocative actions such as unilaterally removing the seals on its facilities for enriching uranium and expect to get away with it.
"Bitter historical experience has shown that the government has made a habit of choosing to support the pariahs of the world including Sudan, Libya and Zimbabwe.
"It is therefore high time that we learned from past mistakes and used our considerable moral authority on the question of nuclear disarmament for the greater good of international peace and stability, rather than simply protecting at any cost an increasingly dangerous actor on the international stage," Gibson stated.
Would have never happened under P.W. Thanks you west for your embargoes, sanctions, and support of the ANC in the 80's. Democracy is now flourishing in Zim and SA.
yes, and the fact that you or I don't always like the results doesn't mean that the government built on apartheid should have been backed by us
#3
Apartheid is an Afrikaans word simply meaning separation. It carries no racial or religous connotation other than what has been attached to it by the ANC and others. If one finds the term or concept adhorent, consider the taking down the barriers that seperate one's national borders and see what results from unrestricted, tribal immigration. That was the origin of the matter you see. Yes, it is but one single aspect, but the one which apartheid was designed to prevent. A form of coexistence based on the rule of law was the goal. Not so for Robert Mugabe in Zim or others of a similar socialist leaning in the region. In another few years there will be difficult to find a white man in that part of the world. If it is discovered that Comrade Mbeki through some oil scheme, has agreed to facilitate Iranian nuclear development at Pelindaba, we'll be praying for a few stiff necked Dutchmen to return. I gaurantee it.
#4
It was the racial separation and the enforced inequalities that made apartheid abhorrent, just as the Jim Crow laws of the U.S. were abhorrent, and just as the de facto apartheid of France is abhorrent today. I don't think anyone in their right mind quarrels with the imposition of a non-aboriginal rule of law upon the entire people of South Africa -- certainly the current situation, where a girlfriend of mine made her husband turn down an exciting assignment in Capetown because she was told to expect to be raped or robbed at least once per year, is not acceptable even if the government of a majority black country does reflect the population of its constituents.
Ten Somalis arrested by the US navy have been flown to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where they are to be charged. Kenyan sailors, taken hostage on a ship carrying UN food aid to Somalia, have reportedly identified some of the men.
What's the penalty in Kenya for piracy?
The men were caught earlier this month by guided missile destroyer USS Winston S Churchill after receiving a report of piracy off the Somali coast. The Indian crew on board the ship was freed. They had attracted the attention of the US navy by writing "Help" on the side of the ship, reports Kenya's Daily Nation newspaper.
Good thinking by the crew.
In the Taiwanese capital, Taipei, foreign ministry official Michel Lu told the AFP news agency: "The three ships have set sail from Somalia, and the crew are all safe." The four vessels carried a total of 62 crew from Taiwan, China, the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam. Another Taiwanese ship was freed last week.
Piracy, including hijackings and hostage-taking, has become common off anarchic Somalia. An attack late last year against a luxury cruise liner was repelled by an ear-splitting acoustic device. Shipping companies say there have been 35 incidents of piracy off the Indian Ocean coast of Somalia in the past nine months. The transitional Somali government has signed a $50m (£28m) two-year deal with a private US marine security company to carry out coastal patrols. However, it is not clear where this money would come from, as the government has not effectively taken office. The security company has not started work.
Meanwhile, three more Taiwanese fishing boats seized by pirates off the Somali coast have been freed, officials say. Somali waters are the world's most dangerous for pirate attacks, according to international shipping groups. There has been no government for 15 years.
#1
Let the security company treat their captures as traditional prizes, and keep sale proceeds of ship and contents... plus the pirates' possessions (what does an AK-47 cost in Somalia? How 'bout genuine pirate gear on Ebay?)
#7
Reuters care of WoC...
Somali pirate demands release of US-captured comrades.
...
"The Americans should release the 10 men they are holding," said Garaad Mohamud Mohamed, who told Shabeelle radio he was speaking on behalf of the captured pirates.
"If they don't we will kill any hostages we capture and attack any ships unlawfully plying our waters."
#8
"The Americans should release the 10 men they are holding," said Garaad Mohamud Mohamed, who told Shabeelle radio he was speaking on behalf of the captured pirates."
Sa-prise Sa-prise Sa-prise!! He must be Episcopalian with that name, no?
Four foreign oil workers held hostage by Nigerian militants have been released and are well. A government spokesman said the hostages, an American, Briton, Bulgarian and Honduran, were released on Monday. The spokesman for Nigeria's southern state of Bayelsa said: "They have all been released. They are all alive and well." A militant Ijaw group with apparent links to the kidnappers had sent an email on Sunday agreeing to the hostages' release as a goodwill gesture to the international community. The hostages were abducted from an offshore oilfield in the Niger Delta operated by Royal Dutch Shell on 11 January. The militants had demanded more local control over the delta's oil wealth, compensation for pollution to villages and the release of two ethnic Ijaw leaders. They have staged several attacks on oil installations in the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, reducing output by 10%.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 02:56 ||
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Two Jamaatul Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB) operatives, including the outfit's Chittagong divisional chief Mohammad alias Javed Iqbal, yesterday gave confessional statement before a court. Mohammad, 25, son of Maulana Abdul Awal of Khurushkul in Cox's Bazaar, was also placed on a five-day fresh remand after being shown arrested in another bomb blast case filed with the Bakolia Police Station. He along with Sitakunda regional commander Delwar Hossain was produced before the court at around 3:15pm.
Mohammad confessed that he along with other JMB members were trained on shooting, blasting bombs and spying at Baghmara in Rajshahi. "After the countrywide bomb blast on August 17 I went to Dhaka and met Shaekh Abdur Rahman who praised me for my successful operation in Chittagong," Mohammed was quoted as saying in his confessional statement in a case of bomb attack on the court of Metropolitan Magistrate Moqsedur Rahman.
In his two-hour confession, Mohammad said a meeting was held to plan the bomb blasts a week before August 17 at the city's Jhautola Ahle Hadith Madrasa. Two JMB members named Suman and Zahid were instructed to fix the spots and 18 bombs kept at the madrasa were handed over to them for detonating at those places of the greater Chittagong district, Mohammad said. Delwar confessed to carrying five bombs to Rangamati. After the confession Mohammad and Delwar were taken to the Detective Branch office in Chittagong.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
Looks like the miscreants Mo and Delwar are resting up in the detective branch office(after singing the two hour remand confessional) for the nights trip to recover more holy blasting bombs in the upazila. Good ruck, boyz...
A leader of three Chechen bands, Lechi Eskiyev, has been killed in a special police operation in Dagestans city of Khasavyurt. The destroyed Eskiyev was the commander of the northern front of the armed forces of Ichkeria (Chechnya) and so-called emir of three districts of Chechnya Shelkovskoi, Naursky and Nadterechny, the ministry official said. He said that two other militants were killed during the operation. Their identity is being established. One policeman got a gunshot leg injury during the operation. He is past danger, the spokesman said.
Lechi, on the other hand, is past all cares and woe.
Ah, poor Lechi, we hardly knew ye ... not that we cared to ...
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:50 ||
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Three militants have been detained in separate operations in central Chechnya, local Interior Ministry said Sunday. One of the militants allegedly participated in 1999 in the abduction of an aide to a Russian parliament member and two reporters from a TV station in Samara, a regional center in southern Russia. Two other militants have been detained in the Achkhoi-Martan district of Chechnya and in the Chechen capital, Grozny. They are suspected of terrorist attacks on federal forces and killing at least one Russian soldier.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:49 ||
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#1
Apologizing for hurting feelings (not a huge sacrifice-a simple PR move) versus apologizing for free speech (didn't happen, thank God for Danish nerve).
#4
Interesting! It's considered "freedom of speech" to insult a prophet of God in the west. But to speak out against jews is "anti-semitism" and "a breach of human rights". (Western logic!)
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2006 21:55 Comments ||
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#6
To some a prophet, to others a desert barbarian who promoted subjugation of women, child abuse, slavery, looting and plundering, dishonesty... Those who would threaten murder over a cartoon are clearly homicidal lunatics.
#7
No only if you are actually an anti-semite. I think liberal who jews suck. I don't think they suck just because they are Jewish. They suck because socialist and commies of all stripes suck IMNSHO. See QED. I think anti-semites and Holocaust deniers suck because they are evil.
#8
They will teach me to proof read better, some day.
No only if you are actually an anti-semite. I think liberal who jews suck. I think liberals whom are Jews suck. I don't think they suck just because they are Jewish. They suck because socialist and commies of all stripes suck IMNSHO. See QED. I think anti-semites and Holocaust deniers suck because they are evil.
Algerian terrorist group that U.S. military officials have called the No. 1 threat to security in Africa's Sahara region is losing ground, but recent arrests in Europe -- including a plot foiled by Italian authorities last month intended to outdo the attacks of September 11, 2001-- indicate the group has many terrorists ready to strike civilian targets. U.S. and European intelligence officials have evidence the Algerian terrorists, who call themselves the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC, as it is known by its French acronym), continue to recruit, train and finance North African jihadists to fight U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The GSPC, on the State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations and estimated to have 300 members in Algeria, was formed in the late 1990s to overthrow the government in Algiers and create an Islamic state.
Algerian authorities cracked down on the group after attacks last summer that reportedly killed 40 soldiers from Algeria and Mauritania. The latest GSPC attack, a Dec. 24 bombing in Dellys, a northeast Algerian port, caused only one casualty. The unexpected surrender two days later of three ranking GSPC militants supports intelligence reports that the group's leadership in North Africa is fractured and on the run.
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Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:30 ||
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The Homeland Security Department today took the wraps off its ambitious plan to quickly gain control of the U.S. northern and southern borders by hiring a systems integration contract team to carry out the Secure Border Initiative (SBI).
DHS plans to request proposals in March and award a contract by Sept. 30 to deploy new technology as part of a comprehensive overhaul of security between ports of entry along the land borders.
SBI.net replaces the Americas Shield Initiative (ASI), the Border Patrols more limited and now canceled plan to modernize the sensor networks along the borders. The fiscal 2006 budget includes $31 million for ASI, but plans that DHS officials announced today at the SBI.net industry day strongly suggested that the new project would cost much more.
Homeland Security deputy secretary Michael P. Jackson told an audience of hundreds of vendor representatives and federal employees gathered at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington that secretary Michael Chertoff has tagged SBI as one of most important public policy priorities.
He added, The Americas Shield Initiative is dead, but its [impetus] has been strengthened, refined and renewed. Jackson emphasized that our objective is to have a procurement completed by the end of this fiscal year.
After Jackson expressed DHS desire to field proven systems rather than experimental projects, and to do so in an innovative fashion, the attendees heard from a whos who of SBI.net officials, including Deborah Spero, acting commissioner for Customs and Border Protection; Kevin Stevens, the acting program director for SBI in Customs and Border Protection; SBI program executive director Greg Giddens; and John Ely, SBI procurement executive.
An overarching theme of the industry day was expressed by Jackson as SBI being the nations first comprehensive attempt to gain control of the southern border, a region characterized by one speaker as chaotic. We have never had a credible plan to enforce the southern border, said Jackson, who noted that political conditions now are aligned to permit a thoroughgoing approach to border management.
Spero emphasized that DHS has an extremely aggressive and ambitious implementation schedule. After DHS issues its proposal request in March, officials plan to hold a preproposal conference the following month to respond to questions from industry.
DHS plans to launch a Web site for SBI.net and post a transcript of the industry day presentations there. Officials said the department would release details about the Web site on the fedbizopps.gov Web site Jan. 30.
Giddens, who joined the SBI.net project from a previous assignment in the Coast Guard, said, This is a signature effort for the department. He emphasized the need to take a systems approach to the SBI.net project, and said that it would include several aspects, such as ending the catch and release approach to illegal border crossers, deterring cross-border crimes, strengthening employer compliance programs, removing incarcerated aliens and bolstering interior enforcement.
Attendees watched a PowerPoint presentation that depicted crowds of illegal aliens storming urban border crossings, assembling in long lines of trucks carrying border crossers and trudging in long columns along rural trails. The presentation showed how the geography of the southern border funnels illegal human migration into three main routes. When the Border Patrol floods enforcement resources into one illegal crossing zone, the human traffic displacessometimes hundreds of milesto easier crossing sites, according to the Border Patrol.
SBI.net will have to use existing federal infrastructure as well as Border Patrol staff and their various kinds of equipment already in use, officials said. Officials encouraged the gathered vendors to consider innovative but proven technologies, such as satellite communications, to weave together a comprehensive method of managing border issues.
Those issues include human bondage, banditry targeted at border crossers, safety of border crossers and Border Patrol agents, border intrusions by thousands of violent criminal aliens and environmental degradation, among other problems, officials said.
Because SBI itself wont begin until fiscal 2007, its funding likely will form a key part of the administrations pending budget proposal for the department. Even as former DHS secretary Tom Ridge told his team that the U.S. Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator System would be the program by which the public would judge the departments success, it appears possible that the ambitious SBI.net project could become secretary Chertoffs hallmark.
SBI.net will use program offices in three separate DHS directorates: CBP, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Citizenship and Immigration Services. The department will draw on the efforts of 11,000 Border Patrol personnel, as well as other DHS staff, to stem the tide of illegal crossings that led to 1.2 million arrests at the borders last year, according to statistics presented at the industry day.
Jackson said that DHS expects vendors to form teams and to involve small businesses in their SBI proposals and added that some teams have been forming already. The industry day attendees included not only representatives of vendors large and small but also brokers who sought to form alliances among vendors, at a price.
#3
Who says the local communities and states along the border need wait for the federal initiative? It seems to me that, given the clear endpoint when the Feds will take over the effort, locals can invest money and manpower to cover the gap until then -- for their own safety, as well as the security of the nation. In fact, I really think they should bill the Mexican government for the costs incurred... not that Sr. Fox will pay, but trumpeting a monthly billing would be rather embarrassing for him, as well as establishing baseline costs for Homeland Security.
#4
Contract it out to the Rantburg Security Consortium:
*3dc will take care of the electronics
*Heaven knows that we have enough programmers
*Autobartender will take care of instrumentation
*Frank G and I will handle the civil engineering
Concepts and implimentation, plus training by Old Spook and Old Patriot
*We have a ton of more talent I have not even mentioned.
We are ready to work, and we won't charge ya much, either.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/30/2006 21:27 Comments ||
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#5
Deacon Blues will handle the *ahem* chemical engineering.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/30/2006 21:28 Comments ||
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#6
Sign me up AP. Just so long as I get a couple o' shiny new automatic weapons that is. ;)
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/30/2006 21:34 Comments ||
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#8
Do I get a .50 Cal exemption and a Barrett for compensation? If so, I'm all over it
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2006 21:50 Comments ||
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#9
After a security check and successful completion of duties, you get a Barrett and a 200 lb case of 50 cal ammo. BATF will be directed to take care of the necessary paperwork with your respective state to allow your possession and use of same.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/30/2006 21:54 Comments ||
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#10
How about a good old fashioned "moat" that connects the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean. If your in the water you are toast.
Members of a violent international gang working for drug cartels in Central and South America are planning coordinated attacks along the U.S. border with Mexico, according to a Department of Homeland Security document obtained by the Daily Bulletin.
Detailed inside a Jan. 20 officer safety alert, the plot's ultimate goal is to "begin gaining control of areas, cities and regions within the U.S."
The information comes from the interrogation of a captured member of Mara Savatrucha, or MS-13, a transnational criminal syndicate born from displaced El Salvadoran death squads from the 1980s.
The MS-13 member, who claimed to have smuggled cocaine for the Gulf Cartel, explained a plan to amass MS-13 members in Mexican border towns such as Nuevo Laredo, Acuna, Ojinaga and Juarez. The Gulf Cartel runs its drug smuggling operations from Del Rio, Texas, to south of Matamoros, Mexico.
"After enough members have been pre-positioned along the border, a coordinated attack using firearms was to commence against all law enforcement, to include Border Patrol," the alert states.
Mike Friel, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, would not comment specifically on the alert.
Through investment, technology and infrastructure, Friel said, Homeland Security is "determined to gain control of the border."
Law enforcement officials along the border said they had not received the alert.
Sheriff Sigifredo Gonzalez of Zapata County in Texas said he was angry about the alert because he has never received information from the Department of Homeland Security about this or any other threat along the Texas border.
"That is something that I was not aware of, but information like this should be given to us immediately," he said. Gonzalez said it's another example of poor communication between law enforcement agencies.
"Since Sept. 11, we heard there was going to be a sharing of information, but today we still haven't received anything," he said. "All the information of threat levels, I get through the media."
In Arizona's Santa Cruz County, where in May a sniper shot two Border Patrol agents in the legs, Sheriff Tony Estrada said he was alarmed by the documented threat.
"That message seems to be the strongest type of indicator that they are seriously planning to use force," he said. Estrada added that it shows how frustrated the smugglers have become, but said the plot is a "bad idea" that wouldn't work.
"It would be real dumb move," he said. "If that should happen, and if any of our agents are threatened or injured or killed, it's going to create a lot of unity and cooperation."
Gonzalez added that his deputies have seen increasing violence from drug cartels and what he believes are Mexican soldiers working for them.
A member of the 16-county Texas Sheriff's Border Coalition, Gonzalez said he would immediately inform other sheriffs.
As a precaution, he would change how his deputies operate, he said. Some of his deputies have been patrolling the border alone.
"We're going to be better prepared, and the officers will too," he said. "Unfortunately (the cartels) are not going to wait."
According to a secretary in the office of Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Tom Vinger, Vinger said he had no information about the potential threat.
Andrea Simmons of the FBI's office in El Paso, Texas, said she is familiar with such threats, but said her office is not investigating any such attacks.
"We haven't had any specific threats regarding that or any information for us to be able to follow up on," she said.
The alert documents several armed, brazen attacks on Border Patrol agents between May and January. Violence at the border has risen dramatically during the past couple of years, according to law enforcement officers all along the border.
Estrada said crime there is "more competitive, more profitable and more violent," and that increased scrutiny at the border and intensified law enforcement efforts have frustrated criminal elements in Mexico.
A smuggler named Pablo "El Patron" Mercado said he will no longer tolerate the loss of contraband and has ordered smugglers to carry firearms, according to a Jan. 13 alert referenced in the document.
Sgt. Benjamin Reyna of the Bisbee Police Department in Arizona said he's seen much more violence in the past several years.
"It's on the increase," he said. "They have a lot less fear of law enforcement now."
Reyna said cartel enforcers, smugglers and people suspected of being current and former Mexican military are taking shots at law enforcement officers.
The primary subject of the alert concerns a confrontation between a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector and 20 men armed with assault rifles in the area where a creek feeds into the Rio Grande in Zapata County on Jan. 9.
The inspector, who was on horseback, said a boat dropped the group off inside U.S. territory. Some of the subjects appeared to be carrying automatic assault rifles, and threatened to shoot the inspector's dogs, the alert stated.
The inspector had his gun and badge hidden under his jacket so the men could not see that he was a law enforcement agent. He told the armed men he was a rancher.
"(He) stated that he believed this might have saved his life," the alert stated.
The inspector, who is fluent in Spanish and has lived near the border all his life, believed the men were not Mexican nationals, based on their accents.
The incident report concluded that the men probably were from Central America and members of either MS-13 or ex-Guatemalan Kaibiles, a military special forces unit specializing in jungle warfare and counterinsurgency.
#2
"It would be real dumb move," he said. "If that should happen, and if any of our agents are threatened or injured or killed, it's going to create a lot of unity and cooperation."
What the hell, you need something bad to happen to get everyone on the same page? Nice leadership.
#3
The confluence of terror, leftist ideology, drugs and the corrupt political culture of Latin America is a real issue, but the idea of an 'insurgency' is fantasy.
No government has more legitimacy than ours, whatever your politics. They'll be foreign invaders and treated as such not rebels or insurgents. If it comes to it, they'll likely face off against National Guard units that have been to places like Iraq and Afghanistan in addition to well armed populace in addition to the cops.
#4
Penguin you're on to it, but it's already happened and our "leadership" remains stone silent. Let me make an unhappy, predictive analysis. Border Patrol or other law enforcement personnel will soon begin to turn up missing, possibly held for randsome, and murdered. Agents Newton and Azrak were some of the first many years ago. Ranger Kris Eggle was killed in 2002 by smugglers ner Organ Pipe National Park.
'A brutal murder'
In the early morning hours of that June 17, 1967 Newton and Azrak stopped an old military ambulance on the remote road near Temecula. Inside the vehicle was about 800 pounds of marijuana.
The two men in the ambulance, Mationg and Bono, and the Montoya brothers in a car following just behind, were all armed. They drew their weapons, overpowered the officers and forced them to drive to a remote cabin in Anza.
Newton, 25, married with two small children, and Azrak, 21, a bachelor with less than two months on the job, were told they'd be left alive, said Zermeno, recounting testimony from the murder trial.
"At the cabin they were given coffee and were assured that nothing was going to happen to them," he said.
The two agents were handcuffed together and also cuffed to a stove.
Mationg then walked up next to Newton and shot him in the head, Zermeno said. Azrak, still cuffed to his dead partner, began pleading for his life.
"From the doorway of the cabin Bono shot Azrak in the stomach," Zermeno said. "He was still alive and pleading to be spared when Bono shot him again, this time in the ear."
Mationg forced Bono to get closer to Azrak to finish him off, said Zermeno. Bono then moved in and shot Azrak in the head.
"They were tortured," Zermeno said. "This was a brutal murder."
The two agents had last radioed their supervisors at 2:30 a.m. When they failed to check in again at the end of their shift, about 6 a.m., a search was organized.
Over the next two days up to 400 law enforcement officers and volunteers combed the rural back country.
#5
JAB, read Manwaring's article. He's talking about the deliberate breakdown of law enforcement, which erodes governmental processes and respect for the law. It arguably happened in some inner city areas in the States which were centered on the drugs trade.
They don't have to attempt an overt alternative national government to aim for the same effect along the border. And MS-13 has been targetting law enforement for murder for some time now, especially in towns where their control of the drugs trade has been challenged or broken up by the cops and/or the feds.
#7
I call BS - the gangs and cartels flourish when out of the spotlight. Nothing would draw the U.S. military and media/political spotlight onto these cockroaches more than the blatant attacks mentioned. As long as they are allowed to glide under the radar, they get rich. Once they pull this stuff, it hits the fan and all safetys are off....
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2006 15:17 Comments ||
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#8
This really steams me. Heres what we're building in Iraq along its borders...Why in the hell can't we do that here?
There are 151 forts contracted for construction, 75 forts currently under construction and 41 forts already operational.
The MOI has pledged to support construction efforts by stationing border enforcement officers at construction sites to provide security and to begin patrolling the border from the construction locations.
The construction team is comprised of the Air Force Center for Environmental Engineering, Army Corps of Engineers, Navy Seabees and Parsons of Delaware, a construction company. A total of 1,500 Iraqi engineers, project managers and construction workers from around the country are currently employed in efforts such as design, quality assurance and construction.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/30/2006 15:18 Comments ||
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#9
This sounds very flaky. First of all, MS-13 has been getting its butt kicked in the US, with maybe 300 of its members rounded up in a few months and continual pressure from the FBI.
Second, MS-13 isn't the only game in town as far as smuggling and other illicit activities. There are long established Mafias and criminal organizations that already own that turf. Any efforts to move in would be met with ultraviolence.
Notice that though Nuevo Laredo is a running gunbattle, it is seldom if ever mentioned what the two factions are that are duelling it out there.
Maybe we are trying to turn MS-13 into an umbrella organization for our convenience, much like al-Qaeda has been useful for consolidating bad boyz. Easier than fighting two dozen different gangs.
#10
Registration required -- the Austin American Statesman (liberal) had an in-depth report on these guy a few weeks ago. They aren't just on the border...
The reach of 'America's most dangerous gang'
Sunday, January 22, 2006
The trail of crimes and arrests during the past five years involving the Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, gang stretches from Central America to Middle America. Federal authorities say the gang is active in 33 states and the District of Columbia and is involved in crimes including murder, rape, drive-by shootings, carjackings, drug trafficking and immigrant smuggling.
As a result, the gang has become a top enforcement priority of federal law enforcement officials.
Arizona
A dozen members arrested last month in federal arrest sweep.
Arkansas
Linked to multistate theft and robbery sprees in 2004 that were used as a way to finance MS-13 operations in Houston and other cities.
California
More than 600 arrests in two sweeps last year on drug-trafficking, gun-smuggling, racketeering and auto theft charges, among others.
District of Columbia
Linked to three slayings during the past three years, including the slashing death of a federal informant who helped break a Texas case. Also linked to robberies, shootings and thefts.
Maryland
Indictments of 19 members on racketeering charges stemming from six murders and four attempted killings in 2003. Dozens of members arrested in August in two shooting attacks last year that wounded six teenagers. Fifty-five members arrested since 2001 on homicide, stabbing, prostitution and weapon charges, among others.
Massachusetts
Sixty-one members arrested in crackdown last year on weapon, theft, assault and immigration charges. Two members are charged with raping two deaf teenage girls in a park.
Nevada
Members blamed in 2004 shooting death of a 12-year-old boy while playing soccer. Three members arrested last year in federal crackdown.
New York
Two members sent to prison for life in shooting deaths of two rivals. Authorities say other killings have gang ties. Membership estimated at 300 last year.
North Carolina
Linked to 11 murders in 2000. Recent arrests on weapon and immigration charges. Membership estimated at 200 in 2004.
Oklahoma
Five members arrested last month on weapon and immigration charges in national arrest sweep.
Texas
Houston: Shootout in November with federal agents left two MS-13 members dead. Blamed in string of home-invasion robberies, carjackings, thefts and smuggling of over-the-counter medications, cigarettes, clothing, infant formula and weapons.
Dallas and San Antonio: Activities of a few MS-13 members are being watched closely, federal officials say.
Brownsville: Pakistani man is caught crossing the Rio Grande last year with an MS-13 member and several other illegal immigrants, giving rise to fears that the gang might be helping Middle Eastern terrorists sneak into the United States.
Falfurrias: Ebner Anibal Rivera-Paz, the leader of MS-13 in Honduras who is accused of masterminding a 2004 massacre of 28 men, women and children in Honduras, is arrested in February 2005 along with other illegal immigrants during a traffic stop.
Virginia
Two members sentenced to life in prison last year for murdering a rival. Recent arrests on weapon and immigration charges.
Wisconsin
Three members arrested, accused of stealing up to $55,000 in cough and cold medicines, used to help finance their illicit activities.
Canada
Links to Toronto street gangs confirmed by police last year.
El Salvador
Blamed for half the violent crime in the country and for a 23 percent increase in murders last year. Also blamed for involvement in recent prison riots. Thousands of members jailed in a recent crackdown.
Guatemala
Blamed for sparking coordinated riots at seven prisons in 2004 that killed 35 and injured 70, most of them rivals.
Honduras
Blamed for raid on bus in December 2004 that killed 28, including seven children, and the deaths of 13 people in three other bus hijackings purported retaliation for the deaths of 100 gang members earlier in a mysterious prison fire. More than 4,000 members arrested in 2004 crackdown. Recently left a decapitated victim with a message for Honduras' president, whose son was killed by gang violence in 1997.
Mexico
Crackdown in 2003 jailed 300 members on drug-trafficking and gun-smuggling charges. Gang called 'threat to national security.'
Colors: Blue and white, or blue and gray or silver. Blue and white are the national colors of El Salvador. Members also often wear black pro sports jerseys displaying the number 13.
Locations: 34 states. Houston, which has Texas' largest population of Salvadoran immigrants, is a center for MS-13 activity in the Lone Star State.
Rivals: SW Chongos in Houston; Mara-18 in various other U.S. cities; and Sombra Negra, a vigilante death squad in El Salvador.
Estimated membership
The numbers are based on estimates by law enforcement officials in the various countries.
Country Membership
El Salvador 20,000
Guatemala 12,000
Honduras 25,000
United States 8,000-10,000
Costa Rica 2,500
Mexico 2,000
Nicaragua 1,000
Canada 100
Sources: FBI, National Drug Intelligence Center, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Associated Press reports
#11
I tend to agree with Frank G. Any bad neighborhoods that are effectively out of police control are that way because nobody is interested in what goes on. But if violence spreads or a cop is killed, there is a crackdown. Therefore the bad guys learn it's profitable to keep a low profile.
That said, gangs like this are a real issue given that Al Queda and China have increasing influence in Latin America and an interest in making the US feel pain. The new crop of lefty leaders in LA is not encouraging.
#13
I'm sure if you keep whacking the ankle of the giant eventually it will notice and crush you. I'd bet on the US military against MS-13 any day of the week.
Bush, nor Fox, could look the other way if these attacks are carried out.
#14
Machismo -- I can see low level members talking tough, to impress one another and intimidate the law-abiding. I can't imagine that upper management (and there has to be some, their activites are too profitable and widespread for it to be occuring spontaneously at the local gang level) wants the kind of interest that broadcasting such statements brings. But it was posted yesterday that the smuggling gangs are accustomed to intimidating reporters and news organizations into silence, so no doubt they are now shocked that the American authorities are aware and talking about it.
#15
Ben Laden thought the Americans were a paper tiger too, till that one 'ooops' incident. Now he lives on the run till the day he fills a grave. The Americans once provoked are going to hunt them down to the ground. Obvious someone else is looking to follow the same strategy.
A recent U.S. District Court indictment accused members of a shadowy Islamist gang, Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam As-Saheeh ("Assembly of Authentic Islam," JIS), of conspiring to strike U.S. military facilities, Israeli national interests and synagogues around Los Angeles sometime during the autumn 2005 Jewish holidays. Most of the defendants are converts to Islam, allegedly loyal to imprisoned JIS leader Kevin James, a self-styled imam to whom at least one defendant allegedly swore bayat (an oath of allegiance) "until death by martyrdom" [1].
If the allegations stick, this case represents a milestone in American Islamic militancy: it would be the only known large-scale plot directed against U.S. targets to have been planned from within the United States and potentially executed by a predominantly American Radical Islamic Convert (ARIC) cell. Beyond the California modalities of the alleged plot, it raises broader questions about the activities of ARICs in the plan of global jihad and potentially sheds light on broader post-9/11 ideological trends and tactical shifts in jihadi warfare in the West.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:56 ||
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#1
*sigh* I guess I should be grateful to live in the suburbs, even if it's the one where the regional Saudi-financed mosque is located. And that all the local synagogues have a police presence during services...
Not unexpected, given amongst whom the Salafist imams have been converting. Certainly not the kind of ministry our own Ptah has been doing these many years. A good post, Dan.
#2
Fred, when I tried to search "Levar Haney Washington", I got the following:
Warning: pg_query(): Query failed: ERROR: unterminated quoted string at or near "' order by fname" at character 70 in /home/www/www.rantburg.com/htdocs/pgrecentorg.php on line 39
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: pg_error() in /home/www/www.rantburg.com/htdocs/pgrecentorg.php on line 39
I don't know if it's that he isn't listed here, or if you have to go bug hunting again.
#3
Solution employed a few years back: On 6th April, 1968 eight BPP members, including Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Hutton and David Hilliard, were travelling in two cars when they were ambushed by the Oakland police. Cleaver and Hutton ran for cover and found themselves in a basement surrounded by police. The building was fired upon for over an hour. When a tear-gas canister was thrown into the basement the two men decided to surrender. Cleaver was wounded in the leg and so Hutton said he would go first. When he left the building with his hands in the air he was shot twelve times by the police and was killed instantly.
Dan had this yesterday, but here's a few more details:
A Turkish Al-Qaeda militant in his late 20s, Alias Yousuf, was arrested in a raid in a remote town near Wana, headquarters of South Waziristan tribal agency, said intelligence sources. They said forces also recovered his elk hunting license, important documents, and ammunition.
Meanwhile, the military accused Coalition helicopter of, despite repeated protest by Islamabad, airspace violation. A US helicopter, sources said, engaged in an operation against Taliban militants in neighboring Afghanistan, Friday night, and repeatedly violated Pakistani airspace. Military spokesman Shaukat Sultan, terming it a technical violation, said that the helicopter went back after receiving warnings from Pakistani side. Sources said US helicopters were fighting Taliban militants inside Afghan territory, adding that they repeatedly violated the airspace and dropped two missiles on Pakistani tribal area of North Waziristan tribal agency. But, they said, there were no casualties.
Suspected tribesmen blew up a gas well and gas pipeline early on Sunday in Dera Bugti early on Sunday. Renegade tribesmen also destroyed a pipeline at Uch gas plant near Dera Murad Jamali. Armed tribesmen came from a training camp near the town and attacked well number 6 and the pipeline in Loti Gas Plant, said Dera Bugti District Coordination Officer Abdul Samad Lasi. He said an 18-feet section of the pipeline was damaged and the well was shut down after the attack. The plants self-electricity generation had to be stopped and alternate measures were adopted to run the plant, he added. The technical staff of the gas company has started the repair work and hopefully the supply will be restored by the evening, Lasi said.
My hope for the eventual resolution of the Balochistan crisis would be for the province to achieve independence, but only after a drawn-out conflict with lots of casualties on both sides and the demise of Akbar Bugti, preferably in a painful manner.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2006 00:00 ||
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BASRA, Iraq (AP) -- A roadside bomb targeted a joint Danish-Iraqi military patrol near the southern city of Basra on Monday - the first attack on Danish troops since protests against a Danish newspaper for publishing widely criticized caricatures of Islam's prophet. There were no casualties in the attack, which occurred as the troops crossed a bridge in a rural area about 60 miles north of Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, police Capt. Mushtaq Talib said.
British Maj. Peter Cripps said coalition forces are investigating if there was any link between the attack and September's publication by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten of cartoons of Prophet Muhammad deemed offensive by many Muslims. "The Danish patrols have made no change in activities since the caricatures were published, but clearly they will put some more attention on the local population and how they feel about the Danish presence here," Cripps said.
About 430 Danish troops are in Iraq, based in the northern part of Basra province, a predominantly Shiite Muslim region that has been calmer than other parts of Iraq, despite periodic spikes in sectarian- and militia-related violence.
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Acting on a tip, MND-B Soldiers were moving to the house of a suspected kidnapping cell leader Jan. 28 west of Baghdad when they came across the decapitated bodies of three Iraqis on a soccer field. The Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 87th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division, detained the suspected criminal who lives just north of the soccer field. In the house, Soldiers found a pistol, a sniper rifle, improvised explosive device batteries, timers and circuit boards. The patrol notified Iraqi authorities who later removed the bodies of the three Iraqis. While searching three other houses in the area, the U.S. patrol detained three additional suspects when they found four 155mm rounds, two with cell phones attached and rigged for detonation, numerous IED trigger devices, one AK-47 and anti-Iraqi forces literature.
American officials in Iraq are in face-to-face talks with high-level Iraqi Sunni insurgents, NEWSWEEK has learned. Americans are sitting down with "senior members of the leadership" of the Iraqi insurgency, according to Americans and Iraqis with knowledge of the talks (who did not want to be identified when discussing a sensitive and ongoing matter). The talks are taking place at U.S. military bases in Anbar province, as well as in Jordan and Syria. "Now we have won over the Sunni political leadership," says U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. "The next step is to win over the insurgents." The groups include Baathist cells and religious Islamic factions, as well as former Special Republican Guards and intelligence agents, according to a U.S. official with knowledge of the talks. Iraq's insurgent groups are reaching back. "We want things from the U.S. side, stopping misconduct by U.S. forces, preventing Iranian intervention," said one prominent insurgent leader from a group called the Army of the Mujahedin, who refused to be named because of the delicacy of the discussions. "We can't achieve that without actual meetings."
U.S. intelligence officials have had back-door channels to insurgent groups for many months. The Dec. 15 elections brought many Sunnis to the polls and widened the split between Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi's foreign jihadists and indigenous Sunni insurgents. This marks the first time either Americans or insurgents have admitted that "senior leaders" have met at the negotiating table for planning purposes. "Those who are coming to work with [the U.S.] or come to an understanding with [the U.S.], even if they worked with Al Qaeda in a tactical sense in the pastand I don't know thatthey are willing to fight Al Qaeda now," says a Western diplomat in Baghdad who has close knowledge of the discussions. An assortment of some of Iraq's most prominent insurgent groups also recently formed a "council" whose purpose, in addition to publishing religious edicts and coordinating military actions, is to serve as a point of contact for the United States in the future. "The reason they want to unite is to have a public contact with the U.S. if they disagree," says the senior insurgent figure. "If negotiations between armed groups and Americans are not done, then no solutions will be found," says Issa al-Addai al-Mehamdi, a sheik from the prominent Duleimi tribe in Fallujah. "All I can say is that we support the idea of Americans talking with resistance groups."
They have much to discuss. For one, Americans and Iraqi insurgent groups share a common fear of undue Iranian influence in Iraq. "There is more concern about the domination by Iran of Iraq," says a senior Western diplomat, "and that combination of us being open to them and the dynamics of struggle for domination of violence has come together to get them to want to reach an understanding with us." Contacts between U.S. officials and insurgents have been criticized by Iraq's ruling Shiite leaders, many of whom have longstanding ties to Iran and are deeply resented by Sunnis. "We haven't given the green light to [talks] between the U.S. and insurgents," says Vice President Adel Abdel Mehdi, of the Shiite party, called the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq.
Negotiations are risky for everyonenot least because tensions between Al Qaeda and Iraq's so-called patriotic resistance is higher than ever. Two weeks ago, assassins killed Sheik Nassir Qarim al-Fahdawi, a prominent Anbar sheik described by other Sunnis as a chief negotiator for the insurgency. "He was killed for talking to the Americans," says Zedan al-Awad, another leading Anbar sheik. Al Qaeda, meanwhile, continues to gain territory in the Sunni heartland, according to al-Awad: "Let me tell you: Zarqawi is in total control of Anbar. The Americans control nothing." Many, on both sides, are hoping that talks could change that.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 04:19 ||
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#1
How far do we want to take this "democracy" thing. Hitler and the Japanese militarists led popular governments; is it unconscionable to withhold respect for the will of the partisans who backed genocidal and agressive regimes? Why do Muslim animals get preferred treatment?
When the US leaves Iraq in the present context, a Shiite tyranny will be in place. I have no doubt that al-Sadr would likely both assume power shortly thereafter, and would deliver the commitments that he made to Teheran in his 2004 visit. If that occurs, America will have spent hundreds of millions of dollars to deliver the Middle East oil fields to its mortal enemies. Somebody is both morally and strategically blind.
Since 9-11, every Secular government or movement in the Middle East has been on the ropes. That atrocity should have been the beginning of the end of Islamofascism, instead jihadism is the ruling idea in all of the enemy tyrannies.
It is certainly true that not all is rosy in Iraq, but it is very doubtful that tater will ever gain much power in Iraq. The other parts of the UIA distrust him, including Sistani.
As you point out, tater is close with the Mullahs. However, you underestimate the anti-Iranian sentiment in Iraq. A lot of families lost sons in the Iran-Iraq war and anger is still white hot in many clans.
#9
I just invested $25 in a set of troll-hooks, .com. I'll let you borrow them when you wish. The number 2.00's are a tad small, but some 5.4 trebles work great. Attached by braided barbed wire to a #6 truncheon, in six places. Just snag and lift...
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/30/2006 17:52 Comments ||
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#10
$10 SEZ Shans is NaziFartus. Still trolling BDS, just trying to be more circumspect. SOS
#11
Maybe it's just me, but isn't trying to divide your enemy, and split off his support, like, one of the major strategies that gets used and reused over the ages?
I remember that in the Punic Wars Hannibal was always trying to peel away the Romans' allies, and vice versa.
It's also one of the things that Sun Tzu discussed at length (or at least as close as he would get to "at length") in his work.
Posted by: Phil ||
01/30/2006 18:46 Comments ||
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Car bombs exploded in quick succession yesterday near four Christian churches and the office of the Vatican envoy, killing three people and raising new concerns about sectarian tensions. At least 17 other people were killed in other violence around the country. No group claimed responsibility for the bombings, which occurred within a half-hour near two churches in Baghdad and two in Kirkuk, 180 miles to the north. The fifth bomb exploded about 50 yards from the Vatican mission in the capital. Vatican officials had no comment late yesterday.
Three people died in the bombing at the Church of the Virgin in Kirkuk, police said. At least nine people were injured in the bombings, which caused little damage to the Christian buildings.
The attacks on Christian sites occurred amid rising sectarian tensions, including reprisal killings and raids, that threaten to complicate efforts to form a broad-based government after the Dec. 15 parliamentary elections. "This was a reaction from the al-Zarqawi people against Christians who they believe support the US military in Iraq," senior Shi'ite lawmaker Ali al-Adeeb said. "Such acts are rejected by Shi'ites and Sunnis alike who have been living together with our Christian brothers in Iraq throughout history." A prominent Sunni Arab politician, Naseer al-Ani, called the bombings "terrorist acts."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:28 ||
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NEW YORK (AP) - ABC "World News Tonight" co-anchor Bob Woodruff and a cameraman were seriously injured Sunday when the Iraqi Army vehicle they were traveling in was attacked with an explosive device.
Both journalists suffered head injuries, and Woodruff also has broken bones. They were in stable condition following surgery at a U.S. military hospital in Iraq, and were being evacuated to medical facilities in Germany, ABC News President David Westin said Sunday night. "We take this as good news, but the next few days will be critical," Westin said.
Woodruff and Doug Vogt, an award-winning cameraman, were embedded with the 4th Infantry Division and traveling in a convoy with U.S. and Iraqi troops near Taji, about 12 miles north of Baghdad. They were wearing body armor and helmets but were standing up in the hatch of the mechanized vehicle when the device exploded, exposing them to shrapnel. An Iraqi solder was also hurt in the explosion.
ABC said the men were in the Iraqi vehicle - considered less secure than U.S. military equipment - to get the perspective of the Iraqi military. They were aware the Iraqi forces are the frequent targets of insurgent attacks, the network said.
ABC reported senior producer Kate Felsen had been working with Woodruff for the past two weeks. "He wanted to get out and report the story and not be locked in and taking information from someone else who was experiencing it," Felsen said.
I admire journalists who are willing to go out and get a story as opposed to sitting in the hotel bar. I doubt that I agree with their politics, but I wish them a quick and complete recovery.
#1
At least he got out of the hotel bar. Gotta give that.
Posted by: Formerly Dan ||
01/30/2006 0:36 Comments ||
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#2
It was here, I read, I think it was Captain America??? I support the media, not their mission.
Seems, our good lookin' major tier media guy, was in Iraq, for Bush's State of the Union speech. Let's see.... Bush is gonna talk Iraq, Woodruff is there in Iraq..... same week.... gotta wonder about "Woodruff's mission."
To TopMac and his SGT and his men.... we support you and your mission.... Thanks for what you do.... all the security and the rescuing of lives you did.... and you are right..... haven't read a word about the American soldiers that were there... that rendered aid to these guys.... that got them medivaced from the area...and now... on their way to Germany. NOT A WORD.
Again..... the best I've read today.... I support our media... just not their mission
#3
IED are planted in full view of Iraqi civilians, who rarely report them to either police, US or Iraq troops. If that is not general complicity, then I would like to know what is. In fact, Iraqis swarm the kill zone after US soldiers leave and celebrate with obvious relish. Lesson: we should occupy Iraqis in exactly the same manner as we occupied Japan and Germany.
#4
One of the key differences between post-WWII and WWIV/Iraq phase is the ratio of occupying troops to population, ratio has to be much lower in Iraq. There's only so much ground a given pair of boots can hold.
#5
The entire population of the US wouldn't suffice if we've let go IED-planting groups multiple times as the poster who uses the 'nym "N. Guard" alleges.
Posted by: Phil ||
01/30/2006 1:44 Comments ||
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#6
Dear N Guard has been reporting to us from the front for quite some time, and thus far hasn't led us astray. I think the word you want, Phil, is states, rather than alleges. Unless you're a lawyer or a policeman, in which case I wouldn't dream of asking you to go against a lifetime of usage. ;-)
#7
One of the key differences between post-WWII and WWIV/Iraq phase is the ratio of occupying troops to population, ratio has to be much lower in Iraq.
There's only two ways to change that ratio. Neither's nice. I know which one I'm starting to prefer.
#8
I don't wish these reporters any ill will and hope they recover, etc.....
But it makes me sick to hear the detailed coverage of the action, their wounds, whether they are in surgery or not, on and on, how they like their jello.
Do our servicemen and women get this treatment? Wait, lemme guess, they deserve whatever comes their way, because they signed up. Do Iraqi policemen get this treatment when their guard station get immolated? No? Maybe their names are too hard to spell.
I have to turn off the radio whenever this newest media darling story comes on. And how long before the MSM holds Bush personally responsible for this attack?...oh wait, sorry, I'm late by two-and-a-half years.
Posted by: (lowercase) matt ||
01/30/2006 9:28 Comments ||
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#9
TW: I am neither a lawyer or a policeman.
I use the word "alleges" because of the seriousness of the allegations, not because I disbelieve him.
As in "these allegations need to be investigated by a special persecutor prosecutor."
Posted by: Phil ||
01/30/2006 9:40 Comments ||
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#10
I like it, Phil. Thanks for the clarification. :-)
#11
(lowercase) matt: This is just the usual MSM story ranking. A sympathetic story about one of their own ranks even above a story about a missing pretty woman. It tugs at their heartstrings, anyway.
You know the rest of the ranking: stories found in comfortable venues are more important than ones from third world cities, etc.
Posted by: James ||
01/30/2006 14:51 Comments ||
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#12
Regardless of the politics...he got the same treatment everybody else got...he was carried out of the kill zone in the same Bradley Fighting Vehicle as the Iraqi NCO was carried in...he flew in the same helicopter as the Iraqi...the same one that flew two my Iraqis today...he was treated out of the same aid bag that treated the wounded Iraqi NCO..it was an Iraqi interpretor who did the intial first aide on him...half the litter team was Iraqi privates...he went to the same CASH as everybody else and as far as any Iraqi dancing in the area..it is Iraqi soldiers "dancing" in that town afterwards with me 6 hours later...and they are still there...I know, I was there. One team, one fight.
#14
By the way I just reread comment #3...I was directed to a mass execution site several weeks ago..on a civilian tip, our brigade in recent weeks has sent better than a dozen bad guys to the big house...on a civilian tip, I have personally dodged at least two IEDs...on a civilian tip...several were detained right after this ambush...on a tip, I guess my point is there is a bunch of decent people who are trying to build a better country, regardless of what the MSM paints.
#18
Thanks for the update TopMac Look forward to reading more of your posts. God's Speed.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/30/2006 17:12 Comments ||
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#19
Allow me to say thanks for the comments too.
Posted by: Phil ||
01/30/2006 18:25 Comments ||
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#20
Me three, TopMac. Please tell your troops that they are in our thoughts and prayers, and we are proud of the job y'all are doing. And I am very much looking forward to Mr. Woodruff's report, when he has recovered enough to appear on television.
#3
So you better draw two condemnations boys.
One off Israel for lanching a preemptive strike. And one, in case #1 is unappropriate, of Iran for nuking Israel's population centers.
#6
gromgoru, I don't think anyone here would condemn Israel for defending herself, either pro-actively or reactively. Truthfully, I think we here would sleep better if y'all didn't wait for Iran's missiles to take off. As for the carpers out in the great big world, to them nothing Israel does is acceptable anyway.
Palestinian gunmen said on Monday Danes and Norwegians visiting Gaza could be attacked unless their governments apologise after newspapers printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed. Danish paper Jyllands-Posten's satirical images of Islam's founder sparked outrage across the Muslim world and prompted several Arab countries to close their embassies in Copenhagen. A Norwegian paper has run them too.
Ten Palestinians armed with assault rifles and grenade launchers rallied outside the European Union headquarters in Gaza City and fired in the air, demanding an apology and warning Danes and Norwegians they would be at risk in Gaza. "We warn the citizens of the above-mentioned governments against not taking this warning seriously because our groups are ready to implement it across the Gaza Strip," one of the gunmen said, reading from a prepared statement. How about the Danes warning the muslims they have 24 hours to get the hell out of Denmark.
Posted by: ed ||
01/30/2006 08:19 ||
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#1
"How about the Danes warning the muslims they have 24 hours to get the hell out of Denmark."
Now we are talking. Someone needs to quit being politically correct with these idiots.
#2
This is why the "Making Fun Of Mohammed" contest is so important. That is, ordinary people making and posting comics making fun of Mohammed, anonymously, on the P2P networks.
The only rule is that filenames begin with "MFOM_".
The winners are those whose cartoons are found by some Moslem, who then publicly seethes and threatens the anonymous person with death.
The best part is that cartoons by leftists like Gary Trudeau and Ted Rall can have their dialogue balloons re-written. And wouldn't it be funny if after all of his slamming America, President Bush and the US military, Rall had a death sentence put on his head by the people he supports?
I've alrady seen several such cartoons on Emule, Gnutella1 and Gnutella2. Just do a search for "MFOM".
#3
Isn't that precious. We can fight back simply by laughing at them.
I picture a camel mounting a burka clad woman with the caption "Happy New Year, Osama....from Mom and Dad"
#8
The Rantburg Nation and the blogsphere should rise-up and demand that major US newspapers publish the cartoons as well. They are a legitimate story. Free press. Freedom of speach. Yadda, yadda.
Let them try the "speaking truth to power" BS in a situation where it matters.
#9
"Hardest hit by the boycott was Danish-Swedish dairy product maker Arla Foods, with annual sales of 3 billion Danish crowns ($487 million) in the Middle East. The world's biggest maker of insulin, Novo Nordisk, also said it was affected. "
"Must respect .. muhammed ... dont need ... insulin .... rosebud"
#10
So Hamas is going to attack European countries from their home base, while claiming they exist for the noble purpose of creating a national homeland. Any payment to those animals is nothing but a global jihad subsidy.
Khaled Mashal, the exiled supreme leader of Hamas and one of Israel's most wanted men, has signalled his intention to return to the Gaza Strip following the organisation's landslide victory. The European Union is said to be facilitating Mr Mashal's return from Damascus next week, when he will begin talks with Mr Abbas over a possible political partnership with Fatah. Quoting sources close to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the Palestinian newspaper Al Quds said that the EU was lobbying the United States, which was in turn appealing to Israel not to block Mr Mashal's repatriation. A spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy in London told Times Online that Israel would be powerless to prevent Mr Mashal from entering Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
She said: "The Gaza Strip is not our responsibility. If Mr Mashal wants to go there it is none of our business. It's for the Egyptian Government to decide whether to allow him to through - I am happy to say that Israel does not have one Israeli soldier or person at that crossing. "But if he wanted to move from Gaza to Ramallah [in the West Bank] it is a different matter. He is a terrorist. There is no way this person who sent terrorists to kill hundreds of Israelis over the past five years will be allowed into Israel."
Mr Mashal, a former physics teacher considered by Israel to be the director of Hamas's terrorist arm, escaped an assassination attempt by Mossad agents in Jordan in 1997. He retains a hardline stance against Israel, and his potential return to help steer his victorious organisation is likely to further enrage Israeli authorities.
Ehud Olmert, Israel's acting Prime Minister, last night repeated that Israel would not negotiate with an administration that included a terrorist organisation. He demanded that the Palestinian Authority act on a pre-election promise to disarm militant groups. "Israel will demand that the entire international community compel the PA and its chairman to implement the commitment to eliminate Hamas as a terrorist organisation that calls for Israel's destruction," the government announced following three hours of talks last night.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 04:20 ||
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#1
Once Mr. Mashaal enters the Territories, he comes within reach of Israel's missiles. No wonder the spokeswoman expressed helplessness to keep him out; "Come into my parlour, said the spider to the fly."
#2
I don't think these mooks realize what they have done to themselves. When all the cheering and hppy bullets die down they are going to find that they are quite alone in the world. Alone and broke, because hamas isn't going to recognize Israel, and they sure as hell aren't going to disarm.
#3
"When all the cheering and hppy bullets die down they are going to find that they are quite alone in the world."
Did you forget God?
He will be taking care of Hamas, watching over them, defending them and providing them with all the financial resources they need. Finally, He will exterminate that zionist den at the time of His choosing.
Posted by: Truth has come.com ||
01/30/2006 10:29 Comments ||
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#4
IP address comes from the Netherlands. However, here's the funny part:
Part of this IP block has been used for proxy/cache remarks: service at the National level in Saudi Arabia. All remarks: Saudi Arabia web traffic will come from this IP block.
If you experience high volume of traffic from
IP in this block it is because your site is very
popular/famous of Saudi Arabia community.
#6
Oh, God will be "taking care" of Hamas all right! LOL
Speaking of which, what do you think of the job God is doing "taking care" of the Jordanians and Egyptians who now wish to be thought of as "Palestinians"? Apparently God wants to rub their noses in Israel's success. Go figure!
#9
So if Mashal meets a hellfire welcome, it was because Allan willed it. I'm OK with that logic
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2006 12:51 Comments ||
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#10
I recognise the snarky takeoff on the comment "How many Divisions does the Pope have"
(Good shot)
But that's exactly what we're fighting right now those "Supposedly" god's (Allah's) divisions.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
01/30/2006 13:02 Comments ||
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#11
Mashal surely realizes hes less safe in Gaza then in Damascus, but he has to go back, cause if he dont, the local Hamas people can gain too much power, and make him less relevant, other than as bagman for Assad.
The MSM and the naive are focusing soley on Israel vs Pals, as usual. Some of y'all RBers have gone to the next level, and are analyzing Hamas vs Fatah, and storing up popcorn.
But the next level of analysis is Hamas vs Hamas, and Fatah vs Fatah, which may be the most intense conflict in the coming weeks, even as the other two continue.
#13
the fact that Mashal is still alive after all these years plus some other stuff makes me think that he is double or triple or quadruple agent.
One of the other hints here is that he has strongly pushed Hamas to curtail itty bitty terrorism strikes and go for big terror strikes; while this was doable prior to the fence, big terror strikes are much harder now and Hamas has wasted a lot of its best men on such things.
I think that's part of the reason why Israel has a relatively cool-it attitude on this fellow.
#14
Nice to see that Mashal has both posterboys for the Hamas Corporate Retirement Program right behind him. Just look for the little red dot to be sure you've got the genuine article.
when Oliver Wendell Holmes, an eminent Bostonian, refused to uphold his prosecution of the Northern Securities Company, ... T.R. raged in the White House that night: "I could carve out of a banana a man with more back bone than that."
#19
Now, why would the EU be helping in his return?
Because everyone could live in Happyland?
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/30/2006 17:11 Comments ||
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#20
Gaza is a problem. It's too narrow for a good ARCLIGHT box. An ARCLIGHT strike with a full cell (3 Buffs) covers an area 2.5 miles wide and 12.5 miles long. The kill zone is 5.5 miles either side of the strike, and 2.5 miles before and after. Gaza is from 4.4 to 7.9 miles wide. We'd have to waste an awful lot of weaponry, or fly in trail formation instead of spread. Of course, that may allow us to do the entire 20 miles of Gaza in a single strike, but we'd have to warn the Israelis beforehand to pull back from the border - by about five miles. The "collateral damage" would be too great. Too bad we don't have a half-dozen battleships capable of tossing volkswagen-size shells into Gaza every 17 seconds any more. I'm beginning to believe the only good Palestinian is a dead Palestinian. It's not like the other Arabs can't replace them in a year or two - just not in Gaza or the West Bank.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/30/2006 19:24 Comments ||
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#21
"...the Palestinian newspaper Al Quds said that the EU was lobbying the United States, which was in turn appealing to Israel not to block Mr Mashal's repatriation."
Repatriation, as in returning to one's land, as in "ashes to ashes and dust to dust." Gaza is becoming amazingly target-rich.
The US won't deal with Hamas ministers in a future Palestinian Authority government, but will also not cut off ties with the PA as a result of Hamas's inclusion, diplomatic officials said Monday.
According to the officials, the US formula for dealing with a PA government following Wednesday's elections would be based on the "Lebanese model." In Lebanon, the officials said, the US continues to have strong ties with the government in Beirut even though Hizbullah is part of it. It does not, however, have any contact with the one Hizbullah minister.
The officials said that since Hamas was on the US list of terrorist organizations, the US would be legally proscribed from having contact or dealing with Hamas officials, even if they were PA ministers.
At the same time, they said, the law would not necessarily proscribe the US from continuing to deal with the PA or contributing money to it.
These comments came as Israeli diplomats were quietly holding conversations with their counterparts in Europe and the US over the steps they should take if Hamas became the dominant force inside the PA.
The US Congress passed a resolution late last year condemning Hamas's participation in the election, and warning that financial assistance to the PA could be blocked if Hamas's terrorist infrastructure was not dismantled.
The EU has also indicated that a Hamas victory could jeopardize its financial support for the PA, with foreign policy chief Javier Solana even saying during a visit in December that EU taxpayers would not want to support a PA government supporting terrorism and Israel's destruction.
The EU has also enshrined in two key agreements with the PA a renunciation of terrorism and commitment to the peace process and road map, and Israeli officials are holding discussions with European counterparts to see how these clauses could be implemented.
Both the Quartet - the US, EU, Russia and UN - and the EU's foreign ministers are scheduled to meet separately soon after the PA elections and discuss the results and their ramifications, and Israel is also waiting, diplomatic officials said, to see the results before lobbying for any specific statement from either body.
Indeed, inside Israel's policy-making forums there are differences of opinion regarding the best course of action to take in the long term toward Hamas participation in the PA governing institutions.
The main differences, according to a senior diplomatic source, revolved around what was the more likely scenario following a strong Hamas showing.
One school of thought, reflected by Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's adviser Dov Weisglass and much of the defense establishment, maintains that a strong Hamas showing would lead to a new round of terrorism, as Syria and Iran would use Hamas's new-found legitimacy to continue encouraging terrorism.
Another school, led by National Security Council head Giora Eiland, argues that a strong Hamas showing would lead to the moderation of at least some elements of Hamas, and that Israel should not rule out dealing with those elements at some point.
It is the conflict between these two approaches that led Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday to ask both the National Security Council and a blue-ribbon government team headed by Weisglass to present him with possible scenarios and policy recommendations following the elections.
Meanwhile, Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, said at the Herzliya Conference Monday that Israel's muddled policy on Hamas was partly responsible for its already having gained political legitimacy through the election process.
He said this contradictory policy had cost it a "great diplomatic opportunity" to stand firm and prevent Hamas's participation in the elections in the West Bank.
Years ago the Americans and the Israelis demanded that to talk to the PLO, the organization had to recognize both UN Security Council Resolution 242 - Israel's right to exist - and renounce terrorism. Today, he said, the world legitimizes Hamas without demanding from it what was demanded from the PLO a quarter-century ago.
"There are those who believe that the organization is mellowing, that it is shedding its original mission," he said. "There are those who even say that Hamas holds the key to the eventual settlement of the conflict. Accept this analysis at your peril," Satloff warned against mistaking tactical flexibility for strategic change, and said Hamas would have no trouble talking with Israel, out of the belief that it could negotiate Israel out of existence.
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni told the conference that since the international community viewed the PA elections as a way for the PA to gain the legitimacy it needed to dismantle the terrorist organizations, Israel must work with the international community after the elections to ensure that this is done.
Meanwhile, former US president Jimmy Carter, speaking at the Herzliya Conference on Monday, urged Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday to stamp out terror, and told Israel it should withdraw from more West Bank settlements.
"[Violence] is inherently counterproductive for the well-being of the Palestinian people and obviously prevents any further progress in the peace process," said Carter, who is here to help monitor Wednesday's Palestinian legislative elections.
Carter called on the Palestinian Authority "to take every possible effort, even including a direct military confrontation, to control those within the Palestinian community who advocate terrorism or violence as a weapon to be used."
Carter also said the disengagement from Gaza was not enough.
"You can't have a Palestinian state living in peace and dignity if [the West Bank is] filled with Israeli settlements," he reasoned, adding that it was "reasonable" for Israel to retain settlements near its pre-1967 border.
Later, in an interview with Channel 2, Carter said Israel's intention to draw its own borders unilaterally if it is unable to negotiate a deal with the Palestinians could be acceptable "if the borders don't intrude too deeply into the West Bank."
He said a role in Palestinian government could lead Hamas to "moderate their position and remove their commitment to terrorism and induce them to recognize Israel's right to exist and to exist in peace."
As president, Carter presided over the negotiations that led Israel and Egypt to sign a peace treaty in 1979.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 04:00 ||
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#1
There is more than one Lebanon model. I kind of like the model where we sent a battleship to shell them.
#3
The officials said that since Hamas was on the US list of terrorist organizations, the US would be legally proscribed from having contact or dealing with Hamas officials, even if they were PA ministers.
At the same time, they said, the law would not necessarily proscribe the US from continuing to deal with the PA or contributing money to it.
#5
Strange to see this sort of article in the Jerusalem Post. They should know by now that Jimmy Carter does not represent the US government in any way shape or form, or for that matter, even a sizable portion of the electorate. Much better to listen to Condoleeza Rice and George Bush who say exactly what they mean, mean exactly what they say, and are not shy about doing what they say. Now, more than ever, it is going to suck to be a Palestinian in the Middle East.
#6
"Or support for the security service staying under Abbas' control. ??"
An interesting twist. Under the late departed Arafat, the Pal security forces reported to the Prez. Israel and the US spent months trying to get this power shifted to an independent Interior Minister under a PM. Arafat outfoxed them and kept control. When Arafat left his mortal coil, Abbas shifted control of most of the security forces to the Interior Minister, IIUC. But he did so by presidential decree, NOT by law. A decree he can revoke.
#7
actually, the Carter interview may contain a bombshell, namely this quote,
----------------------- "Later, in an interview with Channel 2, Carter said Israel's intention to draw its own borders unilaterally if it is unable to negotiate a deal with the Palestinians could be acceptable "if the borders don't intrude too deeply into the West Bank.""------------------------
If the quote is accurate, Carter is admitting that Israel can essentially create a border via the fence.
This will annoy his left wing friends (and Ros will be fuming at him).
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday ruled out any American financial aid to a Hamas government in the Palestinian territories and said Washington wants Arab nations and others to cut off money as well.
Humanitarian aid to the Palestinians, many of whom are poor and unemployed, is likely on a "case-by-case basis," Rice said. She indicated that the Bush administration would follow through on aid promised to the current, U.S.-backed Palestinian government led by President Mahmoud Abbas.
"The United States is not prepared to fund an organization that advocates the destruction of Israel, that advocates violence and that refuses its obligations," under an international framework for eventual Mideast peace, Rice said.
Hamas, or the Islamic Resistance Movement, won a decisive majority in last week's Palestinian legislative elections. The group, which has political and militant wings, will now take a large role in governing the Palestinians. The makeup of the new government is not clear. The Islamic militants, who carried out dozens of suicide bombings and seek Israel's destruction, have said they oppose peace talks and will not disarm. Israel refuses to deal with Hamas.
Hamas' unexpected electoral victory raised questions about the future of the peace process between the Palestinians and Israel, and how the United States can influence such efforts or help impoverished Palestinians.
"We're going to review all of our assistance programs, but the bedrock principle here is we can't have funding for an organization that holds those views just because it is in government," Rice said.
The top U.S. diplomat spoke to reporters as she flew to London for a Mideast strategy session with European and Russian leaders and U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan. Rice also will meet separately with other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council to discuss Iran and an upcoming vote on whether to refer the Tehran government to the council over its nuclear program.
Rice was more definitive than President Bush and other administration officials have been about the future of U.S. aid now that Palestinians have voted in Hamas. The U.S., Europe and Israel list Hamas as a terrorist organization; various Arab governments have contact with the group.
"It is important that Hamas now will have to confront the implications of its covenant if it wishes to govern," Rice said. "That becomes a primary consideration in anything that we do."
It is not clear that all European nations or the United Nations would cut off aid, let alone Arab governments that do not recognize Israel.
"I just think that anyone who is devoted to trying to bring Middle East peace between two states has an obligation now to make sure that anybody that is going to be supported is going to have that same" goal, Rice said.
Some in Israel and in the administration would like to isolate and impoverish the new Hamas leadership in hopes of either forcing the group to moderate its policies or hastening disillusionment with the incoming government among Palestinians.
U.S. aid is a small part of the $1.6 billion annual budget of the Palestinian Authority. About $1 billion comes from overseas donors more than half of that from European nations. The rest is a mix of funds from international donor agencies, Arab and Asian governments, and the U.S., which gave $70 million in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority last year.
Separately, the U.S. spent $225 million for humanitarian projects through the U.S. Agency for International Development last year, and gave $88 million for refugee assistance. In the past, USAID money has gone for such projects as sprucing up the Ramallah auditorium where Palestinian leaders hold press conferences. Rice suggested that only the most pressing needs would be considered now.
Earlier Sunday, with Hamas' victory discussed on the U.S. talk shows, a Republican senator said cutting U.S. aid to the Hamas-run government could push the Palestinians closer to Iran and create further chaos in the Middle East.
Yet governing changes in the region could allow diplomatic efforts by the Bush administration to move "in some quiet ways," said Sen. Chuck Hagel a top member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
"I think we're moving in the right direction, working with our allies, working with the United Nations, finding ways, with Hamas, to see where they're going to go here in the next few weeks, to see if there's something that we could do to influence that direction," said Hagel, R-Neb.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:59 ||
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#1
Ironic? Some Pales are about to be refugees from Pales. And if the Hamas-Fatah Texas Death Match extends to the Leb refugee camps, they would be refugees from refugees. Let them eat jihad!
#2
Interesting that Olmert is now (DEBKA says(!)) suspending tax credits to the PA. The timing of the Israeli elections is bad news for Hamas, as Israel's leaders have to posture and sound tough. Any backdoor deal is likely to come too late to pay all those wages over the rest of the winter.
The statement agreed to by the quartet, from the beeb:
" 'All members of the future Palestinian government must be committed to non-violence, recognition of Israel and acceptance of previous agreements and obligations, including the roadmap.'
It said future aid would be reviewed in reference to these demands, but did not threaten to cut it in the short term.
The BBC's diplomatic correspondent, James Robbins, said the words were chosen with care. They did not demand a renunciation of violence or immediate recognition of Israel, but a commitment to these things in the future."
Condi buckled-no requirement of an immediate cessation of violent attacks against Israel, no insistence that the PA recognize Israel, just a commitment by a yet-non-existent future government of Palestine to do so. Read: green light to attack Israel now, while money from the US flows to PA. This is not compromise-this is cowardice. Shame.
#7
It would be better to keep giving them aid. After all, if they had to do things for themselves, and develop a functioning economy and a real education system, they might actually become dangerous. The aid we've given them so far seems to have been very beneficial to us, as it's allowed them to indulge themselves fully in the most mind-softening of all vices - Islam. Give them more aid, more Islam, and let their downward spiral continue.
#8
They can do their downward spiral thing without any money. No money accelerates it, makes it a tighter spiral. Jut gotta watch the EU, though, they will move money through the back door through NGOs, just like Jihadis get money through Islamic charities. If others want to throw their money away, let them. Just do not have the US do it. No more.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
01/30/2006 22:06 Comments ||
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For more than 40 years, Michel Tabash has made a living selling whiskey, beer, vodka and wine at his small family restaurant nestled in this Christian town between olive groves and a Palestinian refugee camp.
The restaurant has survived war, Israeli occupation and the economy-draining Palestinian intifada, or uprising, which forced the family to shutter its doors for nearly four years. Now, 18 months after reopening, Tabash is worried that he may be forced out of business again - this time by the new Hamas-dominated government.
After decades of secular leadership under the late Yasser Arafat, many Palestinians are bracing for a seismic social shift as Hamas' new legislators propose imposing conservative interpretations of traditional Muslim values, including no alcohol, separation of the sexes and veils for women.
"I'm worried, and I'm not the only one," Tabash said Sunday as he smoked cigarettes in his nearly empty cafe. "I have nothing but this restaurant."
Some young Palestinians say they are considering leaving the territories in light of the prospects.
"I call this the first true intifada," said Mohammad Al Hamaidi, a Muslim father of six and program manager for a U.S.-run development group in the West Bank. "If they impose strict Islamic laws as we have heard about in Iran or Afghanistan, it won't work here. No way."
Just how far Hamas will be able to push its social values is unclear. The Palestinian election authority announced official results Sunday showing that the group won 74 of the 132 seats in the new Palestinian Legislative Council, a 56 percent majority. But new laws still must be approved by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate and Arafat's immediate successor.
The group also is likely to be consumed by more pressing problems, including a near-bankrupt government and threats of international isolation.
Even so, the group's leaders aren't doing much to assuage concerns that they will push a conservative social agenda.
One of the group's incoming lawmakers wants to see the legislature consider a bill that would require all women to wear modest head-coverings. Another said Sunday that Hamas will press ahead with plans to separate girls and boys in Palestinian schools.
"Why do we have immorality in the West?" said Sheikh Mohammed Abu Teir, who was second on Hamas' list of candidates in last week's election. "Isn't it because of co-education? Our society is conservative and when we separate, we bring these children up in such a way that we keep our society clean. The highest levels of sexual perversion are found in the West."
Another top Hamas leader, Mahmoud Zahar, also blasted secular society.
"Do you think the secular system is serving any nation?" Zahar told CNN's "Late Edition with Wolf Blitzer" on Sunday. "Secular system allows homosexuality, allows corruption, allows the spread of the lot of natural immunity, like AIDS."
Sitting in the back of Tabash's restaurant drinking beer on Sunday with his family, Palestinian pollster Nader Said, a Birzeit University professor, said Hamas recognizes that most Palestinians in the West Bank wouldn't support such moves.
"This is not Afghanistan. This is not Pakistan. This is a very different place," he said.
But the Christian owners of what they call the world's first Palestinian brewery aren't taking anything for granted. With Hamas preparing to take over, the Taybeh brewery is gearing up to introduce a new non-alcoholic beer whose label, not entirely coincidentally, will be green - Hamas' color.
"We believe green will be a good match for the new government," said brewery owner Nadim Khoury, who personally blocked angry rioters from burning down his factory last year.
In its 11-year-history, the Taybeh Brewing Co. has faced an endless series of challenges in the largely Muslim area.
The company was pushed out of the Gaza Strip five years ago after Hamas supporters blocked Taybeh from selling its beer and torched the home of one of its local dealers. Last summer, an angry mob tried to burn down the brewery after a Muslim woman from a nearby village was allegedly killed by her parents for having an affair with a man from the Christian community.
Still, Khoury hopes that the new responsibilities of government will transform Hamas into a more moderate group.
"I think they're smart and they will change," said Khoury. "We have a saying in Arabic: Only the good ones change."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:44 ||
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#1
Those that sow the wind shall reap the whirlwind. May I suggest
#2
I'm sure the Paleostains will enjoy their new uncivil war. Too bad. They had an opportunity few others have ever had - a nation GIVEN to them. Now they'll either have to fight for it, or give up any pretense of ever being an independent state. In the meantime, I just bought a case of microwave popcorn - with extra butter.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/30/2006 20:16 Comments ||
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updated and moved to WOT Operations. Today's NYT has an article (behind subscription wall) stating that there is a possible tie between the hand mutilation and a rising ultrafundamentalist Islamic group in Indonesia who have threatened hand choppings etc. for those who do not keep sharia in the ways they demand
-- An Indonesian man was found dead with a knife in his chest on Sunday in the basement of his country's consulate on Manhattan's Upper East Side, police said. A consulate employee found the man, whose identity was not being released until relatives were notified, said police detective Bernie Gifford. There was a knife in his chest, his left wrist had almost been severed, and there were several knives around him.
"Other than that, there is no evidence of foul play"
Consulate employees told police the man had been staying at the consulate because he was stranded in the United States, Gifford said. He had been in the country since last month. Police were investigating whether the death was a homicide or suicide. Gifford said he did not know whether there were signs of forced entry.
Of the consulate or the dead guy?
State Department officials were at the scene, he said. A man who answered the phone at the consulate said he could not comment.
#2
Consulates aren't afforded the same diplomatic immunity as embassies, right?
And how the hell do you get to sleep at a consulate? A consulate or embassy abroad is totally useless if you actually need anything. The only thing they're good for is a new passport.
#3
Sounds like the guy lacked money to get home, or perhaps had lost his passport & was waiting a new one. At least, that would be the official story about his reason for staying in the consulate.
MANILA - Philippine police said they arrested a man with two sticks of dynamite, blasting caps and a timing device at a commuter railway station in eastern Manila on Monday but that a second suspect had escaped. The capitals police chief, Vidal Querol, told reporters the 44-year-old man was carrying the explosives in a backpack and acted suspiciously while passing through security at the light rail station in Pasig City.
Its too early to conclude if hes a member of any Muslim militant group, Querol told Reuters. The bomb was not ready to go but it could be assembled easily. Security analysts have warned that small bombs in backpacks were becoming the weapon of choice among Muslim militants after last years attacks on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 20 people at restaurants packed with foreign tourists.
Police said the arrested man was carrying a drivers licence with the name Zaldy Munda of Bulacan province, north of Manila. Based on statements by guards at the station, police said Munda offered a bribe of 2,000 pesos ($38) to allow him and his companion to pass without the backpack being searched. Police said the other man escaped when the guards called in bomb-sniffing dogs and opened the bag.
Security forces in the mainly Roman Catholic country are battling Muslim and communist insurgencies. Several dozen foreign militants with ties to local Islamic groups are believed to be hiding on the southern island of Mindanao.
Public transport has been a target of Muslim militants in the past, including coordinated blasts on trains and a bus in Manila in December 2000 that killed 22 people and the bombing of a ferry near the capital in February 2004 that killed more than 100.
Last February, 12 people died in nearly simultaneous blasts in the capital and two cities on Mindanao on Valentines Day. Three suspects, including an Indonesian militant, have been sentenced to death over one of last years attacks -- the bombing of a bus in Manilas financial district.
FUGITIVE Malaysian militant Noordin Top has declared himself the leader of a previously unknown regional extremist group, Indonesia's police chief said today.
General Sutanto said Noordin, accused of masterminding a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia which have left hundreds dead, had named himself head of Tanzim Qaedat-al Jihad or Organisation for the Basis of Holy War.
General Sutanto said the group covers Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the Philippines and parts of several other Asian countries.
Noordin declared himself gang boss after his compatriot Azahari Husin, a master bombmaker, was killed by police during a raid on his hideout in East Java last November, the police chief said.
General Sutanto, who was speaking on the sidelines of a hearing with lawmakers, said the information came to light after police interviewed several suspects and witnesses following last October's triple suicide bombing on Bali island, which killed 20 bystanders among them four Australians.
Police have so far arrested 11 suspects, mostly from Central Java province, in connection with the latest Bali suicide attacks.
All were close to Noordin, General Sutanto said.
He gave no further details of the organisation.
Azahari and Noordin were key leaders of the al-Qaeda-linked regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiah, but experts have said they believed the pair had split to create an even more hardline group.
Sidney Jones from the International Crisis Group think-tank said she had not heard of the group's title.
"But it's been clear for a while that Noordin and the bombers have split in some way from JI and this is the first indication that I've seen that the split may actually have become formal," she said.
"If Noordin is claiming that he's the commander, then this may be an indication that the split has taken on a new dimension."
She said Noordin and Azahari appeared to have had contacts with JI around the time of the August 2003 bombing of the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta, which killed 12 people.
But a car bomb outside the Australian embassy in the capital in September 2004, which left 10 people dead plus a suicide bomber, may have been independently carried out by the new splinter group, she said.
She said that after the Christmas Eve bombing attacks of 2000 the first major coordinated attack blamed on JI member Imam Samudra claimed responsibility on behalf of the "Badar Battalion".
This, however, was "all the while still JI."
"Just because of past experience, it could be that he's making this claim without formally renouncing JI linkages," she said.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:27 ||
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Fugitive Malaysian militant Noordin Mohammad Top has declared himself the leader of a previously unknown regional extremist group, Indonesia's police chief reportedly said on Monday.
General Sutanto said Noordin, accused of masterminding a string of deadly attacks in Indonesia which have left hundreds dead, named himself head of "Tandzim Qoedatul Jihad", the Detikcom online news service reported.
He declared himself chief of the "Malay" regional group after his compatriot Azahari Husin, a master bombmaker, was killed by police during a raid on his hideout in East Java last November, the police chief said.
Sutanto, who was speaking to lawmakers, said the information came to light after police interviewed several suspects and witnesses after last October's triple suicide bombing on Bali island, which killed 20 bystanders.
Police have so far arrested 11 suspects, mostly from Central Java province, in connection with the latest Bali suicide attacks, all of them close to Top, Sutanto said.
He gave no further details of the organisation.
Azahari and Noordin were key leaders of the Al Qaeda-linked regional terrorist network Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), but experts have said they believed the pair had split to create an even more hardline group.
Sidney Jones from the International Crisis Group told AFP that she had not heard of the group's title.
"But it's been clear for a while that Noordin and the bombers have split in some way from JI and this is the first indication that I've seen that the split may actually have become formal," she said.
JI's most deadly attack was its bombings on Bali in October 2002, which killed 202 mostly western holidaymakers. A nice titbit to work into my new novel. Noordin is already a character in it.
#1
"Tandzim Qoedatul Jihad" is a very, very bad Romanization of Tanzeem Qaedat al-Jihad or the Army of the Base/Foundation of Jihad. This fits with what we know about Top and the late Azahari heading up the international wing of JI while the more domestic types sit things out until they're reorganized.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 2:51 Comments ||
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TEHERAN - Iran said on Monday it had arrested about 50 suspects in connection with last weeks twin bomb attack in the southwestern oil city of Ahvaz, the official news agency IRNA reported. The restive citys deputy governor, Abdolrahim Fazilatpour, also said some clues have been found about the main bombers. Last Tuesdays explosions killed eight people and wounded 46, with regime officials putting the blame on Britain and its troops based just across the border in southern Iraq. London has angrily denied the allegations.
Different groups have claimed responsibility for the explosions, he said, but suggested the claims may not be credible given that these groups do not have a certain and defined identity. Ahvaz is the capital of Khuzestan province, home to a large community of ethnic minority Iranian Arabs and the scene of a wave of unrest over the past year -- including ethnic riots in April 2005, a string of bombings in June and October and several pipeline blasts.
On Saturday Irans Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Britain would be sent intelligence documents concerning the bombings, adding that he hoped this we will prevent any future incidents. Teheran and London have seen their relations steadily deteriorate in recent years, notably over Irans nuclear programme and alleged Iranian meddling in Iraq.
Iran has formed a top secret team of nuclear specialists to infiltrate the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the UN-sponsored body that monitors its nuclear programme, The Daily Telegraph has been told.
Its target is the IAEA's safeguards division and its aim is to obtain information on the work of IAEA inspectors so that Iran can conceal the more sensitive areas of its nuclear research, according to information recently received by western intelligence.
Teheran insists that the sole purpose of the controversial programme is to develop alternative energy sources. But many western governments, including Britain and the United States, believe it is secretly developing a nuclear arsenal.
The operation to target the IAEA is being run by Hosein Afarideh, the former head of the Iranian parliament's energy committee.
Mr Afarideh, reported to have close links with Iran's ministry of intelligence, is in regular contact with a team of Iranian nuclear engineers seconded to work at the IAEA's Vienna headquarters.
According to western intelligence reports, Mr Afarideh heads a three-man team at the headquarters of the Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran in Teheran, to prevent more embarrassing disclosures about its nuclear facilities.
In the past the Iranians have managed to conceal key facilities from IAEA inspectors, including the Natanz uranium enrichment plant, 100 miles north of Isfahan. They were reluctantly forced to admit the existence of Natanz and other top secret facilities three years ago after Iranian exile groups provided details of their operations.
As a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Iran is entitled to full access to the IAEA for help with the development of its nuclear programme, so long as it is purely for peaceful purposes.
But western intelligence officials believe that the Iranians are now taking advantage of their access to the IAEA to spy on its inspection procedures so that they can conceal sensitive areas of their nuclear operations from the outside world.
"The Iranians are getting increasingly concerned about the effectiveness of the IAEA's inspections," a senior western intelligence official told The Daily Telegraph.
"For this reason they are deliberately targeting the IAEA so that they can be better prepared when the inspectors visit their facilities."
An IAEA spokesman refused to comment on the intelligence reports. However, an official who confirmed that a number of Iranian nuclear engineers were working at the IAEA's headquarters said the agency had set up stringent safeguards to ensure that no country had access to the inspection teams investigating its nuclear facilities.
"We have a firewall system that prevents any member state finding out how the inspection teams working on that country operate," said the official.
Despite this close supervision, Iranian scientists working at the IAEA in Vienna travel frequently to Teheran, where they meet Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran officials including Mr Afarideh. Mr Afarideh is also in close contact with Mohsein Fakhrizadeh, head of the organisation's physical research centre.
IAEA inspectors have made repeated requests to interview Mr Fakhrizadeh about key aspects of Iran's nuclear programme. But the Iranian government has refused to grant them access to him.
IAEA experts predict that Iran will be able to produce weapons-grade uranium within three years if the processing plants operate without international supervision.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:43 ||
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This one was chewed up and spit out yesterday.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/30/2006 17:12 Comments ||
Top||
The European Union and United States will on Monday seek to persuade Russia and China to back tough diplomatic action against Iran over its disputed nuclear program before a crunch meeting on Thursday.
Three days before the United Nations nuclear watchdog holds an emergency session in Vienna, at which the board could decide to send Iran to the U.N. Security Council, foreign ministers from the world powers will try to agree on a strategy.
The European Union -- represented by France, Germany and Britain -- and United States want to haul Iran in front of the Security Council, which can impose sanctions, but Russia and China are not convinced.
The Western nations fear Tehran will use its nuclear technology to develop atomic bombs. Iran says its program is meant only for peaceful purposes, including power generation.
"The meeting comes at a crucial time and we will be seeking clarification of the Russian and Chinese positions," said a diplomat from the EU trio of France, Germany and Britain, which earlier this month called off talks with Iran.
"We are still arguing for Iran to be reported to the Security Council," added the diplomat.
Speaking to reporters en route to London, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the meeting, over a private evening dinner, would look at many issues, including referral of Iran to the Council as well as a Russian compromise proposal.
Reluctance from veto-wielding Security Council members Russia and China over imposing economic sanctions on Iran, threaten to undermine U.S. and European plans.
Russia has business interests in Iran as it is helping to build Iran's first atomic reactor and China relies on oil from Iran, the world's fourth-biggest exporter of crude.
On Sunday, Iran's foreign minister said negotiations were the only way to solve the dispute.
Manouchehr Mottaki urged the nations to reconsider plans for Thursday's extraordinary meeting of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
He said a delay would provide an opportunity for further talks but warned escalating the case would have consequences, such as halting Iran's cooperation with the IAEA.
Also on Monday, diplomats from the EU trio will meet top Iranian officials in Brussels.
"It's up to Iran to explain how they will avoid what looks likely to happen at the IAEA next week," said the EU3 diplomat.
Britain says nothing short of resuming a freeze on its sensitive nuclear activity will stop it seeking a referral.
The EU3 has been tweaking the wording of a resolution for the February 2 IAEA meeting to reassure Moscow, say diplomats.
Russia has suggested the IAEA could ask the Security Council to discuss Iran, but not consider sanctions, and then send it back to the IAEA.
The foreign ministers will also discuss a compromise plan under which Russia would enrich Iranian uranium fuel.
Rice said that had been proposed for some time and that Iran was becoming more interested in it only because of the possible vote on sending Tehran to the Security Council.
"I think that says something about how really interested the Iranians are in the Russian proposal," she said.
Dissidents revealed in 2002 that Iran had hidden nuclear activity for 18 years, prompting western nations to take action.
Their resolve has been stiffened by Iran's calls to wipe out Israel and the EU trio's patience wore out last month when Iran removed IAEA seals from equipment that purifies uranium.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 03:41 ||
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#2
Another meeting to discuss the meeting about the meeting about the meeting about the resolution that was "illegibly" broken.
All we need is one of those open ended unspecified actions if resolution broken and we can go on our way.
As for the Russians if they block our way I would fully support and hope that our reaction would be to quietly manufacture some weapons grade just like the way the Iranians do to get the right signature then somehow let say the Chechens get some inbound for Moscow. Let Puty explain to his people about how their choice was right in sticken it to the evil US by supporting Iran.
#4
Well, they do need to get together to discuss the specifics. For example, to let the Russians know for sure that we ain't funnin', and to tell the Iranians that--which we probably did a long time ago.
TEHRAN: A percussion bomb exploded in the restive southwestern Iranian oil city of Ahvaz late on Saturday evening but caused no injuries, the official IRNA news agency reported. People poured into the streets in panic after the blast, the agency said. An initial investigation found the exploded object was a percussion bomb, Khuzestan Governor Amir Hayat Moqaddam told IRNA, referring to the device designed to create more noise than damage. A little-known group campaigning for independence for Irans Arab minority claimed responsibility for Tuesdays attacks in a Web statement.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2006 00:00 ||
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#1
"knock knock"
"who's there?"
"Coulda been a LOT bigger"
"Coulda been a LOT bigger, who?....oh.."
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/30/2006 0:16 Comments ||
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#2
Iranian blogs report numerous anti-tyranny acts, daily. Basijis - Mullah Gestapo - do not dare walk alone. Workers despise them for both their parasitism and their strike-breaking on behalf of Rafsanjani (a billionaire from sweetheart state contracts) firms.
#3
ahh..payback IS a bitch. I hope we have SOC guys feeding the explosives, bombs, IED's, etc. I laugh at the thought of the lunatic mullahs running scared.
A group of Iranian soldiers kidnapped near the border with Pakistan nearly two months ago was freed on Sunday, an interior ministry official told AFP. The source, who asked not to be named, gave no further details on the end to the abductions which Iranian officials had blamed on a hardline Sunni Muslim group operating in the unruly border area in Iran's southeast.. Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said on January 7 that the kidnappers belonged "to groups influenced by the ideology of the Taliban", the hardline Sunni militia which ruled Afghanistan before the US-led invasion of 2001.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/30/2006 00:00 ||
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Must've see what's left of his buddies.
CAIRO, Egypt - Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in a videotape aired Monday that President Bush was a "butcher" and a "failure" because of a deadly U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeting the bin Laden deputy, and he threatened a new attack on the United States.
Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said a Jan. 13 airstrike in the eastern village of Damadola killed "innocents," and he said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.
"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said, referring to Bush. "Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses."
The airstrike hit a building in Damadola, where U.S. intelligence believed al-Zawahri had been attending an Islamic holiday dinner. The strike killed four al-Qaida leaders including a man believed to be al-Zawahri's son-in-law but intelligence officials said later they believe al-Zawahri sent his aides to the dinner in his place. Thirteen villagers also were killed in the strike, angering many Pakistanis.
"The American planes raided in compliance with Musharraf the traitor and his security apparatus, the slave of the Crusaders and the Jews," he said, referring to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf."In seeking to kill my humble self and four of my brothers, the whole world has discovered the extent of America's lies and failures and the extent of its savagery in fighting Islam and Muslims."
The video was al-Zawahri's first appearance since the airstrike and came 11 days after the latest audiotape by bin Laden. IntelCenter, a contractor working with U.S. intelligence agencies, said the video of al-Zawahri is new.
The last video from al-Zawahri came Jan. 6, when he called the U.S. decision to withdraw some troops from Iraq a victory for the Islamic world.
The Al-Jazeera newscaster said Monday the network was airing excerpts, and it showed two short segments. It was not immediately known how long the entire tape was.
In the video, al-Zawahri spoke before a black background. No automatic weapon was visible, unlike past videos by the al-Qaida deputy in which a gun often appeared leaning next to him. In the bottom left corner, the video had the logo in Arabic and English of Al-Sahab, an al-Qaida video production company that made some past videos by bin Laden and al-Zawahri.
"My second message is to the American people, who are drowning in illusions. I tell you that Bush and his gang are shedding your blood and wasting your money in frustrated adventures," he said, speaking in a forceful and angry voice.
"The lion of Islam, Sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, offered you a decent exit from your dilemma. But your leaders, who are keen to accumulate wealth, insist on throwing you in battles and killing your souls in Iraq and Afghanistan and God willing on your own land."
Al-Zawahri then vented more fury at the United States and Britain, its main coalition partner in Iraq."Your leaders responded to the initiative of sheik Osama, may God protect him, by saying they don't negotiate with terrorists and that they are winning the war on terror. I tell them: You liars, greedy war mongers, who is pulling out from Iraq and Afghanistan? Us or you? Whose soldiers are committing suicide because of despair? Us or you?" he said. Ummmmmmmmm...that would be your guys, right? Aren't they the ones blowing up in cars?
"You, American mother, if the Pentagon calls to tell you that your son is coming home in a coffin, then remember George Bush. And you, British wife, if the Defense Department calls you to say that your husband is returning crippled and burnt, remember Tony Blair."
The video came in the wake of a Jan. 19 audiotape by bin Laden in which he warned that al-Qaida is preparing attacks in the United States but offered a truce "with fair conditions" to build Iraq and Afghanistan. The al-Qaida leader did not spell out conditions for a truce in the excerpts aired by Al-Jazeera.
U.S. officials said after the bin Laden tape that they had no sign that al-Qaida was preparing an imminent attack in the United States.
In an Arabic transcription of the entire tape on the Al-Jazeera Web site but not aired bin Laden made an oblique reference to how to prevent new attacks on the United States but did not specify if those were conditions for a truce.
The tape was the first message from bin Laden in more than a year. The CIA authenticated the voice on the tape as that of bin Laden. Al-Jazeera said the tape was recorded in the Islamic month that corresponds with December.
The White House firmly rejected bin Laden's suggestion of a negotiated truce. "We don't negotiate with terrorists," Vice President Dick Cheney said at the time. "I think you have to destroy them." During the year of silence from bin Laden, al-Zawahri issued several video and audiotapes, including one claiming al-Qaida responsibility for the July 7 London bombings. Sounds pissed off. That's good. Pissed off people make mistakes.
#1
Ohhh Bush you 'butcher' you..... how dare you try to give 52 million people freedom and the right to pick their own government. Its just a shame Al-Zawahri isn't a corpse yet.
#2
"Bush, do you know where I am? I am [hiding behind the skirts of innocent women and children like a typical 'Lion of Islam'] among the Muslim masses."
#3
Al-Zawahri Calls Bush a 'Butcher' in Video
"Bush is a failure." = Ayman al-Zawahri has a small penis and is insecure about it. That is what this amounts to.
He is hiding in Pakistan. Pakistan is hiding him. That will not stop us from killing him.
#4
I sometimes wonder how "macho" republicans will react if their is another successful attack on domestic america by al queda while President Bush is in office.
Posted by: Common Sense ||
01/30/2006 16:42 Comments ||
Top||
#5
With any luck CS, you'll have ring-side seat within a few meters of ground zero. Thanks for your bit of encouraging wonderment.
#9
Why do I think "Common Sense" is wishing and hoping for a 9-11 style attack? Hmmmm...
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/30/2006 16:59 Comments ||
Top||
#10
Zawee must of broken off his relationship with the goat he's been smackin'.
Thar's an old expression in the West, Zawee, (you're) wanted dead or alive.
Posted by: Captain America ||
01/30/2006 17:03 Comments ||
Top||
#11
I am safer. There is no saftey in giving into islamo-fascism. That is some kind of TRANZI myth. One not need to look far with open eyes to see that. You have no idea of what the fight about even is if you think you are not safer. We are in a long war better get comfortable with it. We will get hit again. So far we have just been lucky.
#12
(Nothing personal Common S. but the correct English usage is 'there' not 'their'.) The American reaction to another attack will not be in the hand wringers playbook.
#18
The other evening Ayman was observed to be teary eyed leaving the Preshwar Cinemaplex premier of Brokeback Mountain. Ayman couldn't help but think of the jihadis recently killed in Damadola by the detested infidel's Predator.
Choking back sobs he was heard to mutter "I hope all the lions of islam understand and take away the message of this most blessed movie: Never leave your friend's behind".
Posted by: Mark Z ||
01/30/2006 20:09 Comments ||
Top||
#19
What if your 'friends' don't let you near their behind ? Then what ? What kind of friends are they ?
Al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in a videotape aired Monday that President Bush was a "butcher" and a "failure" because of a deadly U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeting the bin Laden deputy, and he threatened a new attack on the United States.
Al-Zawahri, shown in the video wearing white robes and a white turban, said a Jan. 13 airstrike in the eastern village of Damadola killed "innocents," and he said the United States had ignored an offer from al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden for a truce.
"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said, referring to Bush. "Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses."
The airstrike hit a building in Damadola, where U.S. intelligence believed al-Zawahri had been attending an Islamic holiday dinner. The strike killed four al-Qaida leaders including a man believed to be al-Zawahri's son-in-law but intelligence officials said later they believe al-Zawahri sent his aides to the dinner in his place.
Thirteen villagers also were killed in the strike, angering many Pakistanis.
"The American planes raided in compliance with Musharraf the traitor and his security apparatus, the slave of the Crusaders and the Jews," he said, referring to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
"In seeking to kill my humble self and four of my brothers, the whole world has discovered the extent of America's lies and failures and the extent of its savagery in fighting Islam and Muslims."
The video was al-Zawahri's first appearance since the airstrike and came 11 days after the latest audiotape by bin Laden. IntelCenter, a contractor working with U.S. intelligence agencies, said the video of al-Zawahri is new.
The last video from al-Zawahri came Jan. 6, when he called the U.S. decision to withdraw some troops from Iraq a victory for the Islamic world.
The Al-Jazeera newscaster said Monday the network was airing excerpts, and it showed two short segments. It was not immediately known how long the entire tape was.
In the video, al-Zawahri spoke before a black background. No automatic weapon was visible, unlike past videos by the al-Qaida deputy in which a gun often appeared leaning next to him. In the bottom left corner, the video had the logo in Arabic and English of Al-Sahab, an al-Qaida video production company that made some past videos by bin Laden and al-Zawahri.
"My second message is to the American people, who are drowning in illusions. I tell you that Bush and his gang are shedding your blood and wasting your money in frustrated adventures," he said, speaking in a forceful and angry voice.
"The lion of Islam, Sheik Osama bin Laden, may God protect him, offered you a decent exit from your dilemma. But your leaders, who are keen to accumulate wealth, insist on throwing you in battles and killing your souls in Iraq and Afghanistan and God willing on your own land."
Al-Zawahri then vented more fury at the United States and Britain, its main coalition partner in Iraq.
"Your leaders responded to the initiative of sheik Osama, may God protect him, by saying they don't negotiate with terrorists and that they are winning the war on terror. I tell them: You liars, greedy war mongers, who is pulling out from Iraq and Afghanistan? Us or you? Whose soldiers are committing suicide because of despair? Us or you?" he said.
"You, American mother, if the Pentagon calls to tell you that your son is coming home in a coffin, then remember George Bush. And you, British wife, if the Defense Department calls you to say that your husband is returning crippled and burnt, remember
Tony Blair."
The video came in the wake of a Jan. 19 audiotape by bin Laden in which he warned that al-Qaida is preparing attacks in the United States but offered a truce "with fair conditions" to build Iraq and Afghanistan.
The al-Qaida leader did not spell out conditions for a truce in the excerpts aired by Al-Jazeera.
U.S. officials said after the bin Laden tape that they had no sign that al-Qaida was preparing an imminent attack in the United States.
In an Arabic transcription of the entire tape on the Al-Jazeera Web site but not aired bin Laden made an oblique reference to how to prevent new attacks on the United States but did not specify if those were conditions for a truce.
The tape was the first message from bin Laden in more than a year. The
CIA authenticated the voice on the tape as that of bin Laden. Al-Jazeera said the tape was recorded in the Islamic month that corresponds with December.
The White House firmly rejected bin Laden's suggestion of a negotiated truce.
"We don't negotiate with terrorists," Vice President
Dick Cheney said at the time. "I think you have to destroy them."
During the year of silence from bin Laden, al-Zawahri issued several video and audiotapes, including one claiming al-Qaida responsibility for the July 7 London bombings.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
01/30/2006 14:57 ||
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#1
This got a tad close to Ayman..makes me think he was in the house as the missiles were incoming. I also noticed the background....he is really trying to hide his location.
#2
The video was al-Zawahri's first appearance since the airstrike and came 11 days after the latest audiotape by bin Laden. IntelCenter, a contractor working with U.S. intelligence agencies, said the video of al-Zawahri is new.
Allah-ak bar! He Lives and is not dood. Yes, yes, yes, oh holy devine master. Please give us more appearances and communiques. Please, there are many like you in the West, we must hear from you.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
01/30/2006 15:13 Comments ||
Top||
#4
"The American planes raided in compliance with Musharraf the traitor and his security apparatus, the slave of the Crusaders and the Jews," he said, referring to Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.
"In seeking to kill my humble self and four of my brothers, the whole world has discovered the extent of America's lies and failures and the extent of its savagery in fighting Islam and Muslims."
Really got him steamed...hey Ayman...they won't miss the next time.
#5
"Butcher of Washington, you are not only defeated and a liar, but also a failure. You are a curse on your own nation and you have brought and will bring them only catastrophes and tragedies," he said, referring to Bush. "Bush, do you know where I am? I am among the Muslim masses."
In other words: nyah-nyah-nyah!
I'm always darkly amused at how these jihadis project their shame/guilt cultural sensibilities onto westerners, especially a guy like Bush. W has been called much worse much more eloquently thousands of times. Do they really think they're going to get a rise out of him?
#6
He has a simple solution.
Turn himself and Osama in to the US.
Osama's worth 50 million smackers....
His wives and children will need something when he dies...
#9
I think George Bush should start pointing to his backdrop, and making sure that the Muslim world realizes he is'nt hiding. They know where he is. Dose'nt have to hide in the caves and dressed as women. (Probally, politically incorrect huh)
#11
"You liars, greedy war mongers, who is pulling out from Iraq and Afghanistan? Us or you? Whose soldiers are committing suicide because of despair? Us or you?" he said.
I believe that would be you and your guys Ayman. As in.. "is that a sucide belt you are wearin'? or are you just glad to see me?"
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.
Two roadside bombs were defused near the U.S. Embassy in the Afghan capital Monday, while security forces foiled a suspected suicide car bombing near a U.S. military base in the country's south, officials said. The bombs in Kabul were found hidden in a ditch about 300 yards from the heavily guarded embassy compound, said Ehbrar Ahmad, a senior official with a police commando squad. The car bomb was foiled about a half-mile from Kandahar Airfield, the main U.S. base in southern Afghanistan, said Afghan army commander Gen. Rahmatullah Raufi.
Ten Somalis arrested by the US navy have been flown to the Kenyan port of Mombasa, where they are to be charged. Kenyan sailors, taken hostage on a ship carrying UN food aid to Somalia, have reportedly identified some of the men. 
Four foreign oil workers held hostage by Nigerian militants have been released and are well. A government spokesman said the hostages, an American, Briton, Bulgarian and Honduran, were released on Monday. The spokesman for Nigeria's southern state of Bayelsa said: "They have all been released. They are all alive and well." A militant Ijaw group with apparent links to the kidnappers had sent an email on Sunday agreeing to the hostages' release as a goodwill gesture to the international community. The hostages were abducted from an offshore oilfield in the Niger Delta operated by Royal Dutch Shell on 11 January. The militants had demanded more local control over the delta's oil wealth, compensation for pollution to villages and the release of two ethnic Ijaw leaders. They have staged several attacks on oil installations in the world's eighth-largest oil exporter, reducing output by 10%.
Two 
A leader of three Chechen bands, 
Three militants have been detained in separate operations in central Chechnya, local Interior Ministry said Sunday. One of the militants allegedly participated in 1999 in the abduction of an aide to a Russian parliament member and two reporters from a TV station in Samara, a regional center in southern Russia. Two other militants have been detained in the Achkhoi-Martan district of Chechnya and in the Chechen capital, Grozny. They are suspected of terrorist attacks on federal forces and killing at least one Russian soldier.
Algerian terrorist group that U.S. military officials have called the No. 1 threat to security in Africa's Sahara region is losing ground, but recent arrests in Europe -- including a plot foiled by Italian authorities last month intended to outdo the attacks of September 11, 2001-- indicate the group has many terrorists ready to strike civilian targets. U.S. and European intelligence officials have evidence the Algerian terrorists, who call themselves the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC, as it is known by its French acronym), continue to recruit, train and finance North African jihadists to fight U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.
A recent U.S. District Court indictment accused members of a shadowy Islamist gang, Jam'iyyat Ul-Islam As-Saheeh ("Assembly of Authentic Islam," JIS), of conspiring to strike U.S. military facilities, Israeli national interests and synagogues around Los Angeles sometime during the autumn 2005 Jewish holidays. Most of the defendants are converts to Islam, allegedly loyal to imprisoned JIS leader Kevin James, a self-styled imam to whom at least one defendant allegedly swore bayat (an oath of allegiance) "until death by martyrdom" [1].
Suspected tribesmen blew up a gas well and gas pipeline early on Sunday in 
Car bombs exploded in quick succession yesterday near four Christian churches and the office of the Vatican envoy, killing three people and raising new concerns about sectarian tensions. At least 17 other people were killed in other violence around the country. No group claimed responsibility for the bombings, which occurred within a half-hour near two churches in Baghdad and two in Kirkuk, 180 miles to the north. The fifth bomb exploded about 50 yards from the Vatican mission in the capital. Vatican officials had no comment late yesterday.
Khaled Mashal, the exiled supreme leader of Hamas and one of Israel's most wanted men, has signalled his intention to return to the Gaza Strip following the organisation's landslide victory. The European Union is said to be facilitating Mr Mashal's return from Damascus next week, when he will begin talks with Mr Abbas over a possible political partnership with Fatah. Quoting sources close to the Palestinian Authority and Hamas, the Palestinian newspaper Al Quds said that the EU was lobbying the United States, which was in turn appealing to Israel not to block Mr Mashal's repatriation. A spokeswoman for the Israeli Embassy in London told Times Online that Israel would be powerless to prevent Mr Mashal from entering Gaza through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt.
NEW YORK (AP) 
Iran has formed a top secret team of nuclear specialists to infiltrate the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna, the UN-sponsored body that monitors its nuclear programme, The Daily Telegraph has been told.
TEHRAN: A percussion bomb exploded in the restive southwestern Iranian oil city of Ahvaz late on Saturday evening but caused no injuries, the official IRNA news agency reported. People poured into the streets in panic after the blast, the agency said. An initial investigation found the exploded object was a percussion bomb, Khuzestan Governor Amir Hayat Moqaddam told IRNA, referring to the device designed to create more noise than damage. A little-known group campaigning for independence for Irans Arab minority claimed responsibility for Tuesdays attacks in a Web statement.
A group of Iranian soldiers kidnapped near the border with Pakistan nearly two months ago was freed on Sunday, an interior ministry official told AFP. The source, who asked not to be named, gave no further details on the end to the abductions which Iranian officials had blamed on a hardline Sunni Muslim group operating in the unruly border area in Iran's southeast.. Interior Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said on January 7 that the kidnappers belonged "to groups influenced by the ideology of the Taliban", the hardline Sunni militia which ruled Afghanistan before the US-led invasion of 2001.
