Some light was recently cast on some curious comments voiced at the time of the bombing of a theatre in Doha on March 19, reported in Terrorism Focus (Volume 2, Issue 7). The online Arabic language Elaph newspaper quoted the Qatari foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, expressing outrage at the "act of unpardonable treachery by Bin Laden" and also quoted an al-Qaeda spokesman as stating that Qatar was not on the list of their targets and that the bombing was undertaken by an individual without their knowledge and that they condemned it [www.elaph.com].
At first sightthe existence of such a deal is perplexing in a country that ideally should present al-Qaeda with a prime target. Qatar hosts the U.S. military's Central Command base, and Bin Laden's propaganda emphasizes its campaign to 'expel the infidel from the Arabian Peninsula.' Yet there may be a financial logic to al-Qaeda's unusual position on Qatar.
According to a report in the UK Sunday Times newspaper, official sources speaking in the last week of April described a deal cut between the government of Qatar and al-Qaeda prior to the 2003 intervention in Iraq to oust Saddam Hussein, in a bid to head off trouble as a close ally of Washington. Under the deal, millions of dollars go out annually to al-Qaeda. Following the Egyptian suicide bomb attack on the Doha theatre, the agreement was renewed, according to the source, "just to be on the safe side." Diplomats downplay reports of Qatari royals actively aiding al-Qaeda operatives, arguing malevolence from other Arab states at Qatar's developing natural gas wealth and role as a leading U.S. ally. But according to the Times report, the unnamed official candidly spoke of Qatar being a 'soft target' which prefers to pay to secure national and economical interests, and that, moreover, they are not the only ones doing so. The money is believed to be channelled via spiritual leaders sympathetic to al-Qaeda, and hence finds its way to the organization's activities in Iraq [www.timesonline.co.uk].
If hard evidence is in short supply, it should be said that the 5,000 or so American personnel staffing the U.S. facilities in Qatar, or western civilian personnel, have yet to be the target of threats — in marked contrast to other countries in the Gulf hosting U.S. military personnel, such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
If the state of Qatar has forged a financial compact with al-Qaeda — and it is an assumption which flies in the face of its foreign strategy, it is a high-risk policy with a bad track record. Saudi Arabia felt itself similarly immune until al-Qaeda unilaterally rethought its position on the regime. The organization also can count on a good deal of street-level support, given the growing anti-American sentiment of its native population and the over 60 percent of expatriate workers, many of them from Muslim majority countries and bitterly opposed to the US policy in Iraq.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 13:58 ||
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"Really! See? Dead people don't have spasms like that!"
The health of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd, who was admitted to a Riyadh hospital on Friday for medical examination, is steadily improving, Interior Minister Prince Naif said yesterday. The minister criticized foreign news agencies for describing the king's condition as serious even after reassuring medical reports issued by the King Faisal Specialist Hospital where he had undergone medical tests. Crown Prince Abdullah yesterday reassured Iranian President Muhammad Khatami, Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and Syrian President Bashar Assad about King Fahd's health when they telephoned him expressing their concern.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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The rigor mortis stage must have passed.
Posted by: john ||
05/30/2005 10:59 Comments ||
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RIYADH - Chest X-rays taken on Sunday showed that King Fahd is recovering from the pneumonia for which he was hospitalized, a medical official said.
Take another look, guys.
The king's condition was "stable and improving" and his temperature is back to normal but he remains in intensive care, said the official at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital in Riyadh. He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation. Asked when the king would be released, the official said, "That is for his doctors to decide."
Fahd was admitted to the hospital on Friday for unspecified medical tests. Saudi newspapers quoted a statement issued Saturday by the royal court that said medical tests had shown Fahd's condition was "stable and reassuring."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
How far along is the succession fight?
Any relation to the burning hellicoptors?
On May 2 a posting on an Arabic language forum [http://alsaha.fares.net] and a jihadi forum [www.alsakifah.org] featured a commentary by the Chechen ideological leader Sheikh Abu Omar Muhammad al-Sayf in which he discusses a number of issues, including the killing of the Chechen mujahid leader Omar Ibn al-Khattab who was killed in 2002, reportedly from poisoning. Sheikh Omar al-Sayf belittles the impact his death made on morale saying that "your mujahidin brethren in Chechnya have demonstrated to the Russians and indeed the whole world that the killing of the jihad leadership does not fragment their powers." On the contrary, "the land is rich in leaders and [fighting] units who are at this moment making the Russians taste the bitterness of defeats that follow one after the other ⊠We ask Almighty God that He cause the worn out Russian Bear to fall and grant the field to the nation of Monotheism."
Of greater concern to Sheikh Omar al-Sayf is the level of misinformation circulating around the jihad in Chechnya. In a formal declaration the Sheikh informs "my Muslim brethren that the al-Qoqaz news website www.qoqaznews.com has no connection with the mujahidin in Chechnya and its strange news and proposals do not represent them or have anything to do with them whatsoever ⊠We advise you that our website www.qoqaz.com, long known to you, is now out of action and not functioning" [http://alsaha.fares.net].
Chechen mujahidin have been wary of web infiltration for some time. Last November Terrorism Focus (Volume 1, Issue 9 'Forum Warnings of a Spy Website') featured a posting from a jihadist website warning readers of a possible Qoqaz website "owned by the CIA, in co-operation and arrangement with British Security" which is attempting to penetrate Islamic sites "as a measure designed to obfuscate news of the jihad and the mujahidin," and warned readers "not to fall prey to espionage on behalf of the Enemy." Readers were urged to be wary of "agents of the Crusaders, atheists and Jews on the internet" [www.alm2sda.net].
The misinformation referred to by Sheikh Omar al-Sayf is interpreted by the forum participant as a misinformation exercise, one that is "exploiting the rupture in communications that followed the American and Russian alliance against the Chechen mujahidin, aimed at putting an end to their jihad and cutting off supplies to them." The infiltration is causing embarrassment. "Perhaps in the near future" Sheikh al-Sayf hopes, "it will return to its former state, God willing, and you will find on it full and detailed responses."
This article starring:
OMAR IBN AL KHATTAB
Chechnya
SHEIKH ABU OMAR MUHAMAD AL SAIF
Chechnya
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 13:59 ||
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...There are none so blind as those who will not see... SEOUL, South Korea — Thousands of South Korean students rallying Sunday against the U.S. military's five-decade presence clashed with police after trying to enter the American base, and at least 12 people were injured and more than 20 were arrested. Demonstrators marched through Seoul before attempting to enter the main Yongsan U.S. military base in the city center. They called for the withdrawal of the 32,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
Demonstrators also gathered near the U.S. Embassy in downtown Seoul demanding talks with the ambassador. Television pictures showed masked protesters repeatedly charging helmeted riot police, who wielded truncheons and carried shields. At one point, students lay in the street outside the base, chanting and clapping. South Korea's Yonhap news agency said the protest was the largest of its kind in recent years. Such rallies were common in the 1980s and 1990s but have lately given way to peaceful candlelight vigils. There were no exact figures on the number of protesters, although Yonhap said they numbered in the thousands.
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/30/2005 00:51 ||
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#1
sooo.....I can't help but wonder if our own psyc ops guys arrange these protests. It's not like anyone wants duty in skor. The sooner we are out the better. Maybe some enterprising young soldier is just upping the odds he'll never have to go back.
#2
The sork leftists have been fomenting anti-U.S. feelings for decades. The norks have also been directly interacting with student groups for a long time. More than time we were out of there - let them eat grass in unified hunger.
That said, we need to do it in a way that doesn't hand China more advantage than she has already gained. Say ... after the Japanese openly rearm and restart a nuclear program. Heh.
Posted by: too true ||
05/30/2005 6:56 Comments ||
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US Vice President Richard Cheney launched a personal attack on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, calling him an irresponsible leader who "doesn't take care" of his people as he strives for nuclear power status for his country. The comments, made in an interview with CNN's "Larry King Live" program due to be aired late Monday, marked an escalation of US rhetoric toward Pyongyang as the administration of President George W. Bush is stepping up diplomatic pressure to make Pyongyang return to six-party talks focused on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
North Korea has refused to attend a fourth round of these talks that were to have taken place last September because of what it described as a "hostile" US attitude toward it. A Russian delegation that returned from Pyongyang earlier this month said North Koreans want the Bush administration to apologize for publicly branding Kim a "tyrant" and their country "an outpost of tyranny."
Chortle. We should get Cheney to mock Kimmie's elevator shoes just to see what would happen.
But according to excerpts of the interview released by the TV channel, Cheney made clear Pyongyang should not expect any softening of the US tone, let alone an apology. "I am concerned about it," Cheney said of the stalled negotiations, "Partly because ... Kim Jong Il, who's the leader of North Korea, is -- I would describe as one of the world's more irresponsible leaders."
If Cheney wasn't such a man of few words, he could have used 'goofy', 'murderous', 'genocidal' and a few others.
The vice president accused Kim of running "a police state" and one of the most heavily militarized societies in the world while the bulk of the North Korean population lived "in abject poverty and stages of malnutrition."
"He doesn't take care of his people at all," Cheney continued. "And he obviously wants to throw his weight around and become a nuclear power." Cheney called the stalemate with North Korea "a major problem" and assured that the Bush administration was "continuing to work it very hard" to re-launch the talks. He said officials in Pyongyang must "understand that they're not going to have normal relationships with the outside world, in terms of commerce, industry and trade, if they become a nuclear power."
The vice president also urged China to more aggressively use its clout with Pyongyang in trying to persuade it to return to the negotiating table. "The Chinese need to understand that it's incumbent upon them to curb their dog be major players here," Cheney said. Cheney's attack appeared to echo comment made by Undersecretary of State John Bolton in Seoul two years ago, when he called Kim Jong Il as a "tyrannical dictator" who has made life is "a hellish nightmare" for many North Koreans. In response, North Korean diplomats refused to deal with Bolton during the talks, and the remarks have been seen as a major contributing factor to their breakdown.
Bolton should be confirmed as UN ambassador just for this.
Bolton's nomination to be US ambassador to the United Nation is now at the center of a bitter political battle in the US Senate, where he was accused, among other things, of not clearing his Seoul remarks with other top State Department officials responsible for the North Korea portfolio. But Cheney defended Bolton's record, calling him "a superb public official" who is particularly needed at the United Nations now that the organization is losing public confidence. "He's tough," Cheney acknowledged. "But I can't think of sending somebody to the United Nations as our ambassador who's not tough."
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/30/2005 00:23 ||
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...Let me see if I have this straight.
Two years ago, Secretary Bolton said some awful things about Kimmie, who flew into a tizzy and cancelled the talks. After that, on at least one occasion, President Bush tizziefied Kimmie again, same result. And now Vice President Cheney does the same thing. Almost makes one think that they're trying to provoke the little guy into doing something rash again.
Not that he needs much provoking...
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/30/2005 1:12 Comments ||
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Not that CNN would give a shit, but how, exactly, does telling the obvious truth amount to "escalation"? Is there anyone on the planet, outside of NorKieLand of course, that doesn't know they're starving, brutally repressed, and led by an egomaniacal lunatic who spends whatever meager funds he has on his own lavish lifestyle and a huge utterly pointless military?
Pfeh. It's not a personal attack, nor is it escalation -- it's a goddamned breath of fresh air to hear the unspun truth once in awhile. And Cheney's usually the guy who does it - in that no-shit, bite me if you don't like it, bass rumble.
#3
Leahy's an a-grade asshole, not fit to share a story with Cheney, if not apologizing for his existence
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/30/2005 8:50 Comments ||
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Sure, .com.
George Galloway says they're not too badly off. Amnesty International probably rated them higher on human rights than the US. The World Workers Party (aka ANSWER) is a big backer. I'm sure Boxer would cry if something happened to Kim.
#5
First sign of crap from the Norks, it's charcoal briquette time for them from the DMZ to the Yalu. And make sure the Commie Chinks know that's our absolutely concrete policy, too, so they don't have any room to bitch when the radiation spills over into PRiCland. They don't keep their dog chained up, they've got no room to complain when somebody takes him out. Besides, the couple hundred miles of irradiated no-man's land will make a great extension to the DMZ.
Posted by: mac ||
05/30/2005 10:11 Comments ||
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Doesn't have to be nuclear, unless they start the festivities.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 10:27 Comments ||
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I'm all for a fuel-air carpet bombing of their nuclear sites. Some of our nice, new bunker busting fuel bombs too.
#8
I would like to see someone take that photo of Kimmie (the one with him posing 'heroically' in a trenchcoat in front of that giant painting) and photoshop one of those little troll dolls with orange hair on top of his face. I always picture one of those dolls whenever I see that buuffant hairdo of his.
Posted by: DO ||
05/30/2005 11:20 Comments ||
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Believe it or not, Am-Nasty International does have some sites devoted to the Norks. Here is a link to page on North Korean starvation.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/30/2005 14:54 Comments ||
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#10
Kimmie has feelings too you know. He's gotta hankering for Lady Mad Halfbright, found her kinda attractive.
I say, trade Lady Mad for the keys to the nukes.
Posted by: Captain America ||
05/30/2005 19:07 Comments ||
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The son of a former Malcolm X aide was nabbed yesterday, along with a Florida doctor, in a plot to start an Al Qaeda training camp in the U.S. - even scouting out a Long Island warehouse for a terror school, officials said last night.
Tarik Shah, 38, a self-proclaimed martial arts expert from the Bronx, and Dr. Rafiq Sabir, 50, presented themselves as a "package deal" to help Muslim "brothers" wage jihad here and in the Middle East, said Manhattan U.S. Attorney David Kelley.
Kelley said Shah - son of Lieutenant X, one of Malcolm X's top aides - even bragged to an undercover FBI agent and a federal informant that he could kill with prayer beads.
Sabir, a former New York doctor who moved to Boca Raton, Fla., in 2002, vowed to treat wounded jihadists in Saudi Arabia, where he was scheduled to fly this week, officials said.
"Both swore an oath of allegiance to Al Qaeda and [Osama] Bin Laden in front of the informant and [an] FBI undercover agent posing as [an Al Qaeda] recruiter before they were nabbed this weekend," a statement released by Kelley said.
The oath left the two men with the "impression that they had become members" of Al Qaeda, the statement said.
Officials said Shah, who also went by the names Tarik Jenkins and Abu Musab, took steps to find a secret location in the New York area to house a terror training camp. "At one point, in the company of the [informant], Shah allegedly inspected a warehouse on Long Island to determine its suitability as a training facility," said the statement.
Shah and Sabir, both American citizens, were charged with conspiring to provide material support to Al Qaeda. If convicted, they each face 15 years in prison and $250,000 fines.
Both men were arrested Friday morning, Shah at his home on Grant Ave. near E. 163rd St. in the Bronx and Sabir in Boca Raton. Shah was scheduled to appear in Manhattan Federal Court tomorrow.
Sabir - who previously worked at Harlem Hospital and Nassau University Medical Center and who once operated a storefront office at a Harlem mosque - has a court date tomorrow in a federal courtroom in Florida.
His ex-wife Ingrid Doyle, 47, of Manhattan, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that Sabir was born into a large Catholic family in New York and converted to Islam while in high school.
"While we were married he was a lovely father and husband and nothing if not a hardworking man," Doyle said.
Last night, as the results of the joint FBI and NYPD operation were revealed, Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said it is "particularly gratifying that someone using New York City as a base for terrorist support is now in custody."
Federal agents began investigating Shah and Sabir in 2003, when the two began meeting with a confidential informant to talk about ways they could help Al Qaeda, the terrorist network responsible for the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, authorities said.
Officials said the talks were secretly recorded.
"During these conversations, Shah repeatedly indicated his desire to train Muslim 'brothers' in the martial arts in order to wage jihad and also regularly discussed his desire to find people who were willing to press the fight," Kelley's statement said.
Shah was so gung-ho about helping the terrorists that he presented to the informant a "training syllabus for hand-to-hand combat" and a videotape so that AlQaeda bosses in the Middle East could evaluate him, authorities said.
"During one meeting with the [informant] ... Shah physically demonstrated how he had fashioned his prayer beads into a weapon which could be used to strangle a person," the statement said.
Shah also was interested in getting training in "chemical stuff" and firearms, officials said.
But last night, Shah's mother, Marlene Jenkins, of Albany, blasted the charges as "ridiculous."
"He's no terrorist," Jenkins told the Sun-Sentinel.
Sabir allegedly told the informant that once he returned to Saudi Arabia, where he claimed he had worked at a Saudi military base, he would secretly treat wounded terrorists.
Sabir, who was educated at City College and Columbia University's medical school and owes $500,000 in student loans, had been set to fly to Saudi Arabia this Thursday, according to prosecutors.
When cops raided his home in a gated community, Villa of San Remo, Sabir told them, "'I know you have a job to do. I'm a doctor, and I know my rights,'" a police source said.
Sabir was well known in Harlem, where he once kept a storefront office below the Masjidus Sabur mosque on Adam Clayton Powell Blvd.
The Indonesian secret services (BIN) have never tried to catch the suspected terrorists that were immortalised in a video filmed at a recruitment and training camp near Poso, in central Sulawesi, four years ago. These strong accusations were made by Muchyar Yara, the former spokesman of BIN, two days after the attack at a market in Tentena, that analysts believe is the work of Islamic terrorist groups linked to the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI).
"We have a video that shows how about 50 to 60 local people were recruited," said Muchyar Yara, spokesperson for BIN up until 2003, in an interview with Adnkronos International (AKI). The former spokesperson did not however clarify if the camps are still in operation, adding that both the police and the military had done nothing to track down the people seen in the video.
"We knew from the beginning that there were training camps of radical elements of the Islamic community," he said. "But there has been no follow up by the security department to trace them."
When asked if the "radical islamists" included members of the regional terrorist group, the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), Muchyar Yara said that JI is not a term that is used within the Indonesian secret sercives.
"We do not use the words Jemaah Islamiyah," said Muchyar Yara. "For us it is a radical element of the Islamic community."
The comments by Muchyar Yara, comes just two days after the attack at the market in Tentena, a small city with a predominantly Christian population, 55 kilometres south of Poso, where fighting between Muslims and Christians has led to the deaths of some 1,000 people.
The two bombs exploded within 15 minutes of each other killing 20 people and injuring 50 others. This attack saw the second highest number of victims in such attacks in Indonesia, after the Bali Bombings of 2002 that killed 202 people.
The way in which the attack was carried out represents a change in methodology from the attacks that were carried out during the clashes between Christians and Muslims between 1999 and 2001. The idea of using the first bomb to attract the people to the site, is similar to the technique used during the attacks in Bali.
Last weekend's attacks also coincided with the anniversary of the "Walisongo massacre", when a hundred Muslims who took refuge in the Islamic college of Walisongo and were massacred by thousands of Christians. According to many analysts, terrorist cells linked to JI and operating in central Sualwesi, planned the two bomb attacks to rekindle the inter-religious hate in the area on the occasion of the anniversary.
"So many people would be able to make a bomb in Poso. It is difficult to say who did it." said Muchyar Yara.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 13:52 ||
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THE Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) vowed to run after suspected Islamic militants within its ranks and territories to show its sincerity in ending the decades-old Mindanao conflict.
The government reportedly handed over to the MILF a list containing the names of 53 suspected Islamic militants who are operating here in Mindanao.
In a telephone interview, MILF spokesman Eid Kabalu said they are now validating the list that reportedly contains the names of renegade Muslim rebels with possible links to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) as well as Khadaffy Janjalani, leader of the Abu Sayyaf.
Under a "cooperation framework" signed with the government in 2002, the MILF said it will help the National Government "interdict or arrest terrorist elements" operating in its areas.
Thousands of members and supporters of the MILF have gathered at one of its camps near Cotabato for three days for peace talks that opened last Sunday.
Kabalu said he is hopeful a final peace agreement will be signed this year.
Asked whether the MILF will arrest one of its commanders if found to be shielding those on the list Kabalu said they would since that is included in the mandate of the MILF-RP's Ad Hoc Joint Action Group.
Kabalu assured that after they have verified the list, MILF units would either operate on its own and arrest those named on it or would team up with government forces.
"We have the option to operate unilaterally and then turn them over to the military," he said.
National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales last month confirmed that the government was working with the MILF and that the joint action group has resulted in several arrests. But he declined to name who had been detained saying it could affect ongoing operations.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 13:52 ||
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Muslim separatists in the southern Philippines said Monday they want more than autonomy in exchange for ending three decades of conflict, as they prepared to enter a key round of peace talks with the government.
Al Haj Murad, head of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, which has waged war on the main southern island of Mindanao for three decades, told hundreds of thousands of supporters gathered in this guerrilla camp that "just, honorable and lasting peace is partly at hand.''
He denounced terrorism and said Malaysian-brokered negotiations with the Philippine government - bolstered by a two-year cease-fire - show that "seemingly irreconcilable issues'' can be resolved as long as both sides approach the peace process with "open hearts and minds.''
"After decades of unrelenting struggle, our flickering hope for a just and comprehensive political solution ... is rekindled,'' Murad said, appealing for Christians to "cast aside mistrust'' of Muslims.
At a meeting in Malaysia last month, the two sides made progress on resolving Muslims' territorial rights claims - the first tangible result in years of negotiations.
Another round of talks is scheduled for next month in Malaysia.
Rebel spokesman Eid Kabalu said the three-day MILF open assembly, which ends Tuesday, aims to devise a "new formula'' to address long-standing grievances of the Filipino Muslims, who have accused the government in the predominantly Roman Catholic Philippines of neglecting their rights and economic development.
"Obviously, the present formula - autonomy -_ is not working,'' Kabalu said.
Mindanao, where the majority of the Muslims live, is one of the poorest regions despite abundance of mineral and agricultural wealth.
The government has indicated it would consider expanding an autonomous region for the Muslims beyond the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, which was created as a result of a 1996 peace agreement with a former rebel group, the Moro National Liberation Front.
But many Muslim groups feel the present degree of autonomy - which includes separate schools and local political and security arrangements - is not enough.
At least 13 major Muslim tribes lives outside the autonomous region's territory.
Rebel officials said the two sides plan to discuss Muslims' aspiration for self-rule, including control over land and resources.
The MILF has been dogged by accusations that it shelters Muslim militants from the Indonesian-based Jemaah Islamiyah terror group, as well as the local Abu Sayyaf organisation.
In a bid to dispel doubts over its terror links, which were also criticized by the United States, Kabalu insisted the MILF has been cooperating with the government in going after suspected militants who may be hiding in its territory.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 13:50 ||
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FUNERALS were held yesterday for some of the 20 victims of a bomb attack in a Christian town on Indonesia's Sulawesi island that police have blamed on Islamic militants, but others have blamed on police.
Tearful mourners gathered under grey skies and pouring rain in the lakeside market town of Tentana to say final prayers for the dead, who included a Christian cleric and a two-year-old infant.
But as community leaders struggled to contain tensions between Christians and Muslims on Sulawesi that have previously erupted into open conflict, an independent probe accused Indonesia's powerful security forces of involvement.
Police say the bombing bore hallmarks of Azahari Husin, a fugitive Malaysian wanted for involvement in the Bali bombings that killed 202 people. An independent report by prominent Christians and Muslims on Sulawesi, however, pointed the finger at Indonesia's security forces who, they say, will use it as an excuse to strengthen their grip in the area.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 12:48 ||
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Forensic scientists have examined the debris after two bombs ripped through a market in a Christian dominated town in Indonesia, killing at least 20 people. Church leaders called for calm in the aftermath of the blasts, which were blamed on Muslim extremists. They were the deadliest attack in the world's most populous Muslim nation since the 2002 nightclub bombings on Bali island. At Tentena's only hospital, nuns led special prayers and sang hymns in wards crowded with the wounded. Doctors who had been working through the night complained of a shortage of medicines and surgeons.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Pakistan yesterday denied President Pervez Musharraf had said Iran wanted nuclear weapons. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement came after Tehran demanded Musharraf clarify his remarks to the German magazine Der Spiegel which quoted the president as saying in an interview that Iran was "very anxious to have the bomb". Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani said Musharraf's comments were incorrectly reported. "The president was asked whether or not Iran was anxious to develop a nuclear bomb. The president said 'I don't know,"' Jilani said. "With this explanation the misunderstanding that has developed as a result of misreporting of the president's remarks should be removed," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Candidates led by the son of slain ex-Premier Rafik Hariri won all the seats in Beirut in Lebanon's general election yesterday, a government source said. "The count is nearly over and it's a landslide for Hariri's list," said the source, who asked not to be identified.
I think we were expecting this. I'm glad they kicked the Syrians out, not too happy that they're still indulging in dynastic politix. We'll see what the rest of the elections bring. I expect it'll be pretty much the usual suspects — but with the Syrian puppets who haven't put on masks getting tossed. And there still aren't a lot of people standing up and hollering "We want personal freedom!"...
Beirut was the first region to go to the polls. Other regions vote over the next three Sundays. Saad Hariri's anti-Syrian bloc had already won nine of the capital's 19 seats in the 128-member Parliament before the vote because they were not contested. The source said candidates on Hariri's list had taken all 10 undecided seats. "This victory is for Rafik Hariri. Today Beirut showed its loyalty to Rafik Hariri," Saad Hariri, 35, told a crowd celebrating outside his villa in the capital. "Today is a victory for democracy... freedom and sovereignty."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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#1
I find it intersting that Hariri Jr. went to see Fahd yesterday. That's quite a family attachment to be invited in at such a time.
Doesn't bode well, if you ask me. (Not that anyone is asking)
Iraq's al Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi told Osama bin Laden in an audio tape attributed to him that he had suffered only "minor" wounds, denying reports he was seriously injured.
"I think news has reached your ears through the media that I was seriously wounded ... I would like to assure you and assure Muslims that these are baseless rumors and that my wounds are minor," the voice on the tape said.
"I am now with the help of God enjoying good health among my brothers and my people in Iraq," it added. The authenticity of the Internet tape could not be immediately verified.
The audio tape followed Internet postings by the group saying Zarqawi was in good health and was back leading operations in Iraq after being wounded.
The Egyptian government fought a low-level war with Islamist radicals in the 1990s and claimed victory through the use of hard-nosed tactics and negotiations with the larger, known militant groups. Meanwhile, moderate Islamists, the Muslim Brotherhood and the Centrists attempted to enter politics by legitimate means, but were essentially frozen out by the country's restrictive political rules. However, several recent violent incidents have punctured the calm, once again threatening Egypt's tourist industry, a crucial economic sector employing over a million. The recent attacks raise a number of important questions. First and foremost, is a new phase of radical activity in Egypt emerging precisely because of repressive tactics? How might better tactics against terror be effective if the Egyptian government does not provide more transparency and accountability in its communications to the public? And, are there other means to employ, like promoting moderate Islam as an antidote to radical Islam as some academics and a recent Rand report have suggested? [1]
Sources again conflict. Some reported that police fired on the women, killing one, while others held that one woman shot the other, and then wounded herself, dying later in hospital. [5] It has also been reported that 226 individuals were arrested in the extremists' native villages, and in the Shoubra neighborhood of Cairo. [6] The driver of a car that transported the two women is still wanted, and a scrap of paper found in one woman's purse said that "we will continue to sacrifice our lives to let others live," [7] — a typical characterization of "defensive" jihad. Libya subsequently extradited Yassin's 17-year old brother, Muhammad to Egypt in connection with the April attacks. [8]
There are essentially three ways of reading these recent events: 1) the truce with the Islamists has ended or is in jeopardy due to political changes; 2) extremists were merely on hiatus; 3) new actors have emerged, unbound by prior arrangements with the regime. These are inspired by attacks in Iraq, and the October bombings in Taba. Immediately following the October attack, Abu al-Abbas al-A'edhi, an al-Qaeda fi Jazirat al-Arabiyya (Al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula) leader posted "From Riyadh/East to Sinai," a document online proclaiming a new jihad in Egypt to parallel attacks in Saudi Arabia. [9] The Abdullah Azzam Brigades, who declared responsibility for the October attacks issued a claim for the Cairo attacks, which were to avenge mass arrests in the Sinai in the wake of the Taba bombings. Another group, the Mujahideen of Egypt also claimed responsibility. Neither claim has been verified, enabling the authorities to argue that the new extremists were home-grown, or that the Palestinian-Israeli issue is involved.
The latest shootings shocked observers because women, who have been active in jihadi attacks in other countries, had not to date engaged in violence in Egypt. [10] Principles inhibiting women from taking part in jihad go back to classical definitions of mujahideen: male, adult, and without debts or, correspondingly, dependents. But such restrictions weren't operative during the time of the Prophet when Nusayba Bint Ka'b, also known as Umm Umara fought in the battle of Uhud (625 C.E.), or when Aisha, the Prophet's beloved wife directed the Battle of the Camel, and Zaynab bint Ali, the Prophet's granddaughter fought in the Battle of Karbala (680 C.E.). Radical Islamists glorify these early Arabian warrior women, and believe men, women, and children should respond when jihad becomes an individual duty of Muslims. Analysts have warned for some time that the "typical" profile of the suicide bomber should not be restricted to the young, desperate, uneducated, or male population.
The internal opposition questions official Egyptian tactics in the war on terror, and calls for reform. Ayman Nour, leader of the al-Ghad (Tomorrow Party) said the violence was the result of the "environment of oppression and depression," [11] a reference to the emergency laws the country has lived under since 1981.
Mohammed Mahdi Akef, general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, condemned the attacks, but added, "[W]e only hope that these attacks do not stand in the way of political reform." Mountasser al-Zayat, the Islamist lawyer who won a key case for the Brotherhood against the Egyptian government said that independently operating, or freelance jihadis are now emerging due to their sympathies with al-Qaeda, or the struggle in Iraq or Palestine. [12] Brotherhood leader, Isam al-Aryan who was since arrested following a wave of clashes with police, claimed Egypt had reached a "boiling point," pointing to the lack of political reform, and the 20,000 security detainees as a failure of the security forces. Al-Aryan argued for a new government, and said the involvement of women was an indicator of popular despair. [13]
The regional press sharply criticized Egyptian authorities for characterizing the April incidents as being "isolated" and suggesting that the 30 April attacks were just acts of revenge. An editorial in al-Quds al-Arabi blamed Egyptian leaders and the populace alike, saying the country is "sick beyond cure" and that authorities are "as usual, falsifying the facts" and misleading the public while the jihadists re-emerge. [14] Indeed, concealing the facts was a well-established pattern during violent attacks of the 1990s. Many were described as isolated acts of "lunatics," notably the 1997 attack on a bus near the Egyptian Museum in which 10 tourists were killed by Saber Abu Ulla. Ulla had previously attacked and killed tourists, but was placed in a mental hospital and then released. Yet authorities officially claimed he had escaped the institute. In other regional comments, al-Dustur (Jordan) noted educated individuals now supported radical Islam and condemned the "close-mindedness", and collusion between the regimes and extremists in the stifling of liberal thought." [15]
Finally within Egypt, there were questions as to why more than 200 people were arrested, if (as the authorities maintained) these April attacks were merely isolated acts of revenge by some family members. Moreover the tentative re-emergence of radical Islam has once again propelled the forces of moderate Islam onto the spotlight. Indeed just days after the shootings and bombing, police clashed with pro-Brotherhood demonstrators in Fayyum, Mansura and Zagazig, and demonstrations were also held in Alexandria, the Delta and Cairo. The demonstrators were protesting parliamentary efforts to amend a constitutional reform to election procedures in which Mubarak's National Democratic Party might impose conditions that would limit the Brotherhood's efforts to obtain votes. They condemned the state-owned media, called for an end to emergency laws and for reform. The police claimed 400 arrests, while the Brotherhood said 1,546 of its members were detained. Four leaders, including al-Aryan, were subsequently rounded up.
Observers believe that the Brotherhood might secure up to 30% to 35% of parliamentary seats in a free and fair election. The key question is whether efforts by moderate Islamists to cash in on democratization efforts have any clear causal effect on the suppression of radical Islam, particularly if is now primarily motivated by events and dynamics beyond Egyptian borders. Conversely, some may argue that since moderate Islamists have established a presence in the Egyptian government and educational system, resulting attitudes and sensitivities enable the more hard-core and violent elements to escape censure and surveillance.
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 14:00 ||
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Militant Islamist forums have circulated a statement dated May 8 purporting to announce the formation of a new al-Qaeda cell in Algeria. The group, Qa'idat al-Jihad fi al-Jaza'ir (al-Qaeda [base] of the Jihad in Algeria), has modeled its name on the group led by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, which is known as Qa'idat al-Jihad fi Bilad al-Rafidayn (al-Qaeda of the Jihad in the Land of the Two Rivers). Signed by one Abu Suheib Miliani, the group is laying claim to an 'official' status, and are using this status to call together the remnants of the Algerian mujahideen who are refusing the government amnesty, to join a "new project".
This latest Arabic statement, included in full on the jihadist Kalimat al-Haqq site [www.rightword.net], begins by giving its assessment of the situation of the mujahideen in Algeria. "The Algerian regime has succeeded in entangling the Islamic groups in what no God-fearing Muslim would give his blood or honor for, and which has cost these Islamic groups their credibility in the Nation" and goes on to describe how "the Islamic groups who have taken up their positions in the hills are living through a period of crisis and agitation, poised between responding to the amnesty and [thus] descending into ignominy, or remaining where they are." It then broadens the analysis to illustrate how the regimes in Algeria and Egypt have succeeded in putting down the previous attempts by Islamists at power, and how the leadership of these Islamists movements have caved in, all the while claiming religious justification as an act of 'repentance'.
The 'al-Qaeda of the Jihad in Algeria', it underlines, "is unblemished [by such things] in that its active leadership is an international leadership free of [geographically located] pressures, which means its leadership can not be arrested or 'turned,' a fact which guarantees that the fire of jihad will burn on."
The statement then goes on to give some interesting details of its proposed strategy. The role of the new group's leadership, it explains, "in the first phase will be one of incitement and direction, which will leave the field open to all who wish to operate in this arena in small cells independent of each other." Each operation, however, is to be flagged as a 'al-Qaeda of the Jihad in Algeria' operation, and the aim is to "consolidate media communications and dispatch video tapes of operations to satellite channels or jihadi websites on the internet" [www.rightword.net].
In conscious imitation of the al-Qaeda model, the statement attempts to provide a 'legal' dressing to its projected operations. It clearly takes into account the type of objections voiced by Algerian contributors to jihadi forums, deploring the attacks on "powerless soldiers or policemen" which "only widens the gap between [the Islamists] and the people" (See Terrorism Focus, Vol 2 issue 7). "From day one" it insists, "we say that we are not responsible for operations targeting innocent people, believers and the Algerian people. Our targets are Jews, Crusaders their prominent people, embassies and interests for they are the [real] enemy against whom the [Muslim] Nation is united in calling for attacks to be mounted in every place."
The declaration ends with an unexpected call for Ali Benhadj, the leader of the Front islamique du Salut (FIS) (the most significant Islamist organization in Algeria, but one that has eschewed violence) to renew his leadership of a jihadist force. "The solution to the defeat which has befallen the Muslims in Algeria," it argues, "lies in your hands ⊠you need only disappear to a safe place where you can act to direct the deluge of those who place their trust in you ⊠Your leadership is vital now ⊠We call you to a matter which will upset all the scales."
The tone of the statement, with its appeal to patriotic values, betrays anxiety and demoralization at a time when there is strong evidence that the response to the government amnesty is increasing in momentum. Last month the chief of Algeria's General Amnesty Commission (CNGAG), Abdel Razzak Ismail, said that at least 400 terrorists were prepared to lay down their arms. The question is, therefore, whether the statement announces a genuine new formation, or represents a last ditch attempt to rally the mujahid remnants under a new banner, in the hope that increased prestige will replace the shortfall in muscle.
This article starring:
Abdel Razzak Ismail
ABU SUHEIB MILIANI
al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb
ALI BENHADJ
Front islamique du Salut
Front islamique du Salut
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 13:56 ||
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Mystery has always surrounded Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the country's deadliest terrorist. But the latest puzzler is whether he's still in the picture. After an initial report on an Islamic website asked Muslims to "pray for the recovery of our Sheik Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered for the sake of God," reports flew rapidly, many contradictory: he had been wounded by gunfire in the lungs, or shrapnel hit his stomach and legs; he was hurt in a clash with U.S. forces a month ago and spotted at a hospital in Ramadi, or he was injured a week ago and was out of the country. Some suggested he had already died; a later report insisted he was "in good health and running the jihad himself." Officials in Iraq and Washington expressed hope that the man blamed for many of the kidnappings, assassinations and the latest wave of bombings that have left more than 600 dead in the past month might be history.
But would al-Zarqawi's demise do much to quell the rampaging insurgency? "When you start taking out large numbers of their experienced leadership, you significantly damage the effectiveness of the organization," says House Intelligence Committee chairman Peter Hoekstra. A Western diplomat in Baghdad says al-Zarqawi's death would be a "very important thing" and would hurt funding and recruiting, especially for the "high-end suicide bombings" usually attributed to non-Iraqis. But others point out that the foreign fighters al-Zarqawi is said to command seem to represent only a small percentage of the rebels in Iraq. The bulk of the insurgency, made up of disaffected Iraqi Sunnis, runs itself. "We face a thinking, adaptive enemy," says Marine Commandant General Michael Hagee, "and they have a seemingly inexhaustible supply of manpower." Says a foreign military commander familiar with the region: "There are hundreds to replace al-Zarqawi. Getting him will mean bragging rights, and that's about it."
Posted by: Dan Darling ||
05/30/2005 12:30 ||
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#1
Along with all the above, killing any of the murdering SOBs helps.
Despite the fact that Muslim Personal Law is recognized by the Indian state, Tayyeb, echoing the views of the 'ulama associated with the AIMPLB, insists on the need for Muslims to have their own parallel system of courts to judge their personal affairs. He sees this as an 'Islamic necessity'. For this he suggests the need for Muslims to elect, unanimously or by majority vote, their own leader (amir) at the all-India level, whom all Muslims must obey. Through this, he quotes a noted fellow Deobandi 'alim as declaring, 'All the problems that Muslims are today confronted with would be solved'.
Posted by: john ||
05/30/2005 08:23 ||
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Given his reliance on medieval fiqh and his ignorance of the complexities of the modern world, he simply cannot envisage a system where Muslims are neither rulers nor the ruled but, at least in theory, co-rulers, or, simply, fellow citizens. Hence, he appears to see India as a country where Muslims are the âruledâ and non-Muslims the ârulersâ, equating it with Spain after the fall of Muslim rule. A text that he quotes from describes such a state as one where âkafirs [disbelievers] establish themselves over Muslimsâ
Fascinating. Sixty years after partition they reject the very basis of democracy.
Posted by: john ||
05/30/2005 9:14 Comments ||
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#2
Yesterday they demanded reservations for muslims in the parliament and government.
Hell, if they were given this in 1947, there would have been no partition and no Pakistan
New Delhi, May. 29 (PTI): The Jamiat-Ulama-i-Hind today demanded reservation for Muslims in Parliament, Legislative Assemblies and Government jobs and extended support to the 'model nikahnama' prepared by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board.
At the end of its 28th All India General Session held here, the Jamiat adopted a series of resolutions, which included demand for removal of restrictions on reservations based on religion, passing a Riot Prevention Act and immediate release of those arrested under POTA.
Posted by: john ||
05/30/2005 9:18 Comments ||
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#3
"ummmm,... no"
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/30/2005 9:51 Comments ||
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#4
Maybe yes.
India does not have uniform laws dealing with marriage, divorce, succession, inheritance and maintenance.
When in 1985 the Indian supreme court ruled in favor of a 75 year old muslim woman named Shah Bano Begum who had been triple talaqed by her husband and who wanted maintenance from him, they also directed the Indian governement to frame a uniform civil code (as the Indian constitution in its article 44 mandates).
Instead of implemeting the supreme court decision, the then Congress governement under Rajiv Gandhi, trying to appease its hardline muslim supporters,
rammed a bill through the Indian parliament in 1986 exempting Muslim women from the criminal law of maintenance (a section of the Indian Criminal Code that states that destitute, deserted, or divorced women are entitled to receive support from able husbands).
The present Congress government (under Rajiv's widow Sonia) last week directed a university to reserve 50 percent of postgraduate places for muslims.
The reliance on muslim votebanks for political power may actually produce sharia courts and muslim reservations in India.
Posted by: john ||
05/30/2005 10:49 Comments ||
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#5
Thanks, John. Very sad.
Posted by: Mrs. Davis ||
05/30/2005 11:31 Comments ||
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#6
When I first read about this case I was shocked.
A 75 year old (in 1985) muslim woman is probably illiterate. She would have never worked, probably married at a young age (14 or less). Her only possessions would be her jewelry (what little she had).
So when her husband puts her on the street with a "I divorce you, I divorce you, I divorce you", she literally has nothing, no means of support. All property belongs to her husband.
Imagine the parliament of a large country passing a law that overturns a court order granting an old woman maintenance from a husband (of decades). Literally taking food out of an old woman's mouth.
All this to appease some ignorant mullahs
Posted by: john ||
05/30/2005 12:04 Comments ||
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#7
It would be easier to just kill the Mullahs. It would be smarter in the long run. If they desire this kind on governance they may move to Pakistan.
Never before had a public rally attracted so many Congressmen in a function other than their own.
Not only Congress leaders, including president Sonia Gandhi and her political advisor Ahmed Patel, but also Railway minister Lalu Prashad Yadav and Indian National Lok Dal leader Chaudhary Ajit Singh shared the dais.
It was the 28th general session of a leading Muslim group Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind in New Delhi Sunday evening.
The stage was set and speakers after speakers did every bit to woo Muslims who had come here from across the country. The police said it was 300,000-strong gathering at the Ramlila Grounds.
So, the stage was set. The Jamiat sought reservation for Muslims in Parliament, government jobs and educational institutions, and release of all POTA accused in Gujarat.
The politicians did not disappoint them. The promises went on and on. After all, elections are looming large over Bihar.
Lalu said: "Aise maqool samay mein aap ne adhiveshan bulaya hai (You have organized the conference at a perfect time)."
he criticised America for desecrating the holy Quran in Guantanamo Bay. Lalu sure knows the pulse of his voters.
Posted by: john ||
05/30/2005 19:11 Comments ||
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While many theories have surfaced thus far about the terrorist act at Bari Imam shrine situated near the Prime Minister's House and the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad on Friday, the official circles are seriously probing into the reported tip-off regarding the probability of the involvement of Indian premier foreign intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW).
Yeah. Sure. Knew it was them all the time.
The notion of the Indian influence in Bari Imam episode is also substantiated by the reports that the Indian forces have stepped up their operations inside Occupied Kashmir and elsewhere. While the mode of the attack can be confused with the Al-Qaeda trademark suicide bombings, it must also not be forgotten that the RAW is alleged to have recruited a good number of Tamil suicide terrorists for contingency plans in case the entire exercise in peace building according to its own interpretation fails.
A little projection going on here?
Even though forensic experts have so far not come up with definite identification of the alleged suicide bomber, his dark colour and built is said to further support the thesis. According to the reports, RAW has about 1,2000 assets (operatives) invested in its immediate neighbourhood, a lion's share of which is quite obviously been deployed in Pakistan. RAW as a body is not answerable to the Parliament of democratic India and its head reports directly to the Prime Minister. Again there does not exist any clear system of agency's finances that are contributed on discretionary basis by a host of government bodies, which include the Indian embassies in the countries of operation.
Posted by: Paul Moloney ||
05/30/2005 06:12 ||
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Women are raped, murdered and abused with impunity all over Afghanistan despite the overthrow of the Taleban that was supposed to have ushered in a new era of rights for women, Amnesty International said today. The London-based rights group said entrenched feudal customs still meant Afghan men often treated women as chattels who could be abused at will without any fear of official retribution.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoopdy doo. Under the Taliban that kind of treatment was state policy. Now it's a cultural matter. The Islamists and Pashtuns and other primitives will have to compete with the guys who have at least slightly more modern ideas. In the long run — and in the case of Afghanistan it could we be very long — they're going to lose, unless they get another government like the Taliban to reinforce those bad habits.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Oh, sure, I know you are thinking this has been going on for centuries...since time began. But even if he's only been the president for 5 years, everyone knows, it's all GWB's fault.
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan was in southern Sudan yesterday in a bid to support a January peace deal that ended 21 years of civil war between Khartoum and southern rebels. On his first visit to southern Sudan as head of the world body, Annan met John Garang, who heads the Sudan Peoples Liberation Movement and is soon to be sworn in as the vice president of a national unity government.
Annan was greeted at the tiny airstrip in the region's provisional capital Rumbek by the former rebel leader, who gave him two bulls as a welcome present. The UN chief thanked his host for the gift but suggested the bulls should stay in Sudan and be donated to those orphaned and widowed by the war, which was the longest running in Africa. Annan met members of a constitutional convention which is drafting a new charter to set the ground rules for six years of autonomy for the south leading up to a promised referendum on independence. "I urge you to continue in your efforts to complete this essential task in a timely manner," he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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No five-star restaurants? I'm outta here!
Posted by: Kofi Annan ||
05/30/2005 10:23 Comments ||
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#2
Personally checking out their food-for-nookie program.
Moroccan authorities have charged 33 youths for taking part in recent riots in the main city of the territory of Western Sahara. Provincial Governor Mohamed El Rharabi said in the city of Laayoune on Sunday the 33 youths would be tried for criminal conspiracy, disturbing public order and damage to public property during the riots, which residents and local reporters said took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. "The riots had been organised with a political agenda," El Rharabi said.
Police were looking for other suspects for burning Moroccan flags and for brandishing flags of the breakaway Algerian-backed Polisario Front. The riots were triggered by the transfer of a convict from a jail in Laayoune to one in Morocco, the governor said. The inmate, sentenced two years ago on charges including drug trafficking and insulting the monarchy, has rejected the verdict, saying he was not a Moroccan national and asked to be transferred to Polisario camps in Algeria, legal sources said.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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The Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) must play a proactive role in removing misperceptions about Islam and promote inter-faith harmony in the world, said Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Sunday while talking to Prof Dr Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, OIC secretary general, who met him at Prime Minister's House.
Good idea. All the OIC has to do is hunt down and kill all the Islamists its member states can root out, and I'll completely change my opinion about Islam...
The prime minister said the OIC should adopt the concept of enlightened moderation as it would help project the true spirit of Islam and dispel misunderstandings about the religion and its followers.
He's referring to Perv's latest idea, which his domestic turbans are dismissing with loud expressions of contempt.
The prime minister and the OIC secretary general stressed the need to promote unity and harmony among the Muslim Ummah. They said the need for unity was far greater today than ever.
Say, Shaukat! How the investigation of your latest mosque booming going?
They said the Ummah should rely on itself rather than looking outside for progress and should increase the level of education, science and technology to expedite development.
That means relying on Islamic education, Islamic science, and Islamic technology, right? That's how the Islamic world's come to be as developed as it is...
The leaders condemned the desecration of the Holy Quran saying that the incident was provocative and outrageous as it hurt the feelings of Muslims all over the world.
Whoopdy doo. My heart bleeds. Burn a few more American flags to keep warm...
The prime minister said that Islam was not opposed to progress and innovation rather it supported and encouraged progress and development.
Yeah. We can see that all over the world, can't we? The more Islamic the nation, the more progressive and developed, right?
The secretary general thanked Pakistan for organising the commission's meeting in Pakistan and hoped that the meeting would help the organisation achieve its objectives.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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...Ya know, every time I see that pic, for some reason I just hear the old duffer saying, "Oy!"
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
05/30/2005 0:57 Comments ||
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KABUL - Nearly 3,000 Afghans have registered to stand in a historic Sept. 18 parliamentary election, the country's election commission said on Sunday. More than 3,000 people have signed up to stand in elections for provincial councils, to be held on the same day as the general election.
"This is a very positive outcome, achieved in a short time frame and under challenging security conditions," Najla Ayubi of the Joint Electoral Management Body told a news conference, referring to the April 3-May 26 registration period.
Of the approximately 2,915 people who have registered to run for the 249-seat lower house of parliament, known as the Wolesi Jirga, 347 of them are women. There are 279 women among the 3,170 nominations for provincial councils, the commission said. "The turnout of women, who make up slightly more than 10 percent of candidates, is extremely favourable," Ayubi said.
The figures were preliminary and might be amended after cross-checking. Preliminary candidate lists and final nomination figures would be issued on June 4, she said.
The parliamentary election and the provincial polls follow a successful October presidential election won by US-backed Hamid Karzai, when Taleban rebel threats to disrupt the vote failed to materialise. The parliamentary poll was to have taken place at the same time as the presidential vote but has been delayed several times. Technical hitches such as problems with census data and the drawing of district boundaries have been blamed for the delay, but there are also serious security worries.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview aired on Sunday that the era of suicide bombings may be over.
Yeah. And I may be 30 again when I wake up tomorrow...
"We have started to deal with the culture of violence," he said. "We stopped the culture of violence and the Palestinian people have started looking at it as something that should be condemned and it should stop."
The culture of violence was just popping a few Qassams into Jewish settlements today, resulting in a couple innocent bystanders getting slightly banged...
Asked on ABC whether the suicide bombing era had ended, he said: "I believe it is over."
And I really believe Patty Ann Brown is just searching for my phone number and she'll call any day now...
But he warned that if progress toward a peace agreement was not achieved in meetings with Sharon next month, "despair and loss of hope will come back and a return to the old ideas" of armed resistance.
Oh, yasss! If Patty Ann doesn't call, why, the despair and loss of hope will prob'ly cause me to explode...
But earlier Sunday Prime Minister Ariel Sharon expressed skepticism over Abbas's ability to quell terror even as he bolstered the Palestinian leader by pushing the cabinet to approve the release of 400 Palestinian prisoners. Sharon told the cabinet that "anyone who thinks there will be a straight passage from disengagement to the road map is wrong." There are a number of things that need to happen first, including the cessation of terror, he said.
If it happens at all, it still won't be overnight. More like over the course of a few years...
His words ran counter to US President George W. Bush's statement last Thursday after his summit with Abbas which spoke of disengagement as an "opportunity to lay the groundwork for a return to the road map."
Posted by: Fred ||
05/30/2005 00:00 ||
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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview aired on Sunday that the era of suicide bombings may be over.
-------------------------------
That's because the era of morters and Qassam rockets has largely replaced it and because the Israelis have stopped most of the teenage boomers at checkpoints
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.
SEOUL, South Korea — Thousands of South Korean students rallying Sunday against the U.S. military's five-decade presence clashed with police after trying to enter the American base, and at least 12 people were injured and more than 20 were arrested. Demonstrators marched through Seoul before attempting to enter the main Yongsan U.S. military base in the city center. They called for the withdrawal of the 32,500 U.S. troops stationed in South Korea, a legacy of the 1950-53 Korean War.
US Vice President Richard Cheney launched a personal attack on North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, calling him an irresponsible leader who "doesn't take care" of his people as he strives for nuclear power status for his country. The comments, made in an interview with CNN's "Larry King Live" program due to be aired late Monday, marked an escalation of US rhetoric toward Pyongyang as the administration of President George W. Bush is stepping up diplomatic pressure to make Pyongyang return to six-party talks focused on North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
Forensic scientists have examined the debris after two bombs ripped through a market in a Christian dominated town in Indonesia, killing at least 20 people. Church leaders called for calm in the aftermath of the blasts, which were blamed on Muslim extremists. They were the deadliest attack in the world's most populous Muslim nation since the 2002 nightclub bombings on Bali island. At 
Pakistan yesterday denied President Pervez Musharraf had said Iran wanted nuclear weapons. The Pakistani Foreign Ministry statement came after Tehran demanded Musharraf clarify his remarks to the German magazine Der Spiegel which quoted the president as saying in an interview that Iran was "very anxious to have the bomb". Foreign Ministry spokesman 
Candidates led by the son of slain ex-Premier 
Mystery has always surrounded Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq and the country's deadliest terrorist. But the latest puzzler is whether he's still in the picture. After an initial report on an Islamic website asked Muslims to "pray for the recovery of our Sheik Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi from an injury he suffered for the sake of God," reports flew rapidly, many contradictory: he had been wounded by gunfire in the lungs, or shrapnel hit his stomach and legs; he was hurt in a clash with U.S. forces a month ago and spotted at a hospital in Ramadi, or he was injured a week ago and was out of the country. Some suggested he had already died; a later report insisted he was "in good health and running the jihad himself." Officials in Iraq and Washington expressed hope that the man blamed for many of the kidnappings, assassinations and the latest wave of bombings that have left more than 600 dead in the past month might be history.
While many theories have surfaced thus far about the terrorist act at Bari Imam shrine situated near the Prime Minister's House and the diplomatic enclave in Islamabad on Friday, the official circles are seriously probing into the reported tip-off regarding the probability of the involvement of Indian premier foreign intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). 
Women are raped, murdered and abused with impunity all over Afghanistan despite the overthrow of the Taleban that was supposed to have ushered in a new era of rights for women, 
UN Secretary-General 
Moroccan authorities have charged 33 youths for taking part in recent riots in the main city of the territory of Western Sahara. Provincial Governor Mohamed El Rharabi said in the city of Laayoune on Sunday the 33 youths would be tried for criminal conspiracy, disturbing public order and damage to public property during the riots, which residents and local reporters said took place on Tuesday and Wednesday. "The riots had been organised with a political agenda," El Rharabi said. 
The 
Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas said in an interview aired on Sunday that the era of suicide bombings may be over. 
