I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I'm not running for the Senate from Tennessee, either. I saw a guy down in Bucksnort, I think he might do it, if you ask... Oh, and there's this feller over in Chattanooga, I don't think he's doin' anything... Don't worry. You'll find somebody.
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03/18/2002 ||
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Key Al Qaeda officials, possibly including Ayman al-Zawahiri, were present in the fortified Shah-i-Kot caves just before the recent US attacks. Local villagers provided details on how they were recruited to blast a new network of caves for these fighters and to provide an escape route for later use. This is either a valuable intelligence resource or a bunch of yokels who're spinning yarns and maybe hoping for a few bucks in payoff to get their stories. Since Christian Science Monitor was able to get the story, we assume the people on the ground also have it and that interrogators are chatting up the boys in separate sites to see how well their stories mesh.
If the workers and mullah are to be believed, the Al Qaeda base that was attacked but not destroyed by Operation Anaconda included computers, satellite phones, maps of major American cities, and pictures of US bridges... "They gave us food and goat meat, and we were laughing every day. We were having a very good time â it was like a picnic," one of the workers said. Can't imagine they thought the complex was going to stay hidden forever and it didn't seem to be impregnable. So why the pictures of US bridges and the US city maps? Maybe they were playing at being International Criminal Masterminds, but that seems a waste of effort when the time could be better spent on operations planning.
That picnic ended hastily when word spread that the US would begin bombing the next day. A few of the some 100 workers helping the Al Qaeda fighters were also "working" with US forces. So they were able to give the mostly Arab and Chechen fighters a day's notice that Operation Anaconda was about to begin. Yep. Sure was nice of them to tip them off. New op lesson: don't employ the locals. If you do, don't let them off site.
That information enabled the fighters to send the families traveling with them to a safer place, and spurred the comfortable departure of some of the more senior Al Qaeda figures, who also sent their extraordinarily well-paid workers home. As usual, the Bigs aren't the ones who catch the bullets. The seniors meandered back to Pakland to watch from the sidelines, where their valuable hides would be safe.
Several of the men interviewed say that the fighters were extremely deferential to the apparent leader on site, a portly, bespectacled man who was referred to as either the "sheikh" or the "doctor." A local mullah here, who served as a foreman for several of the villagers he helped recruit, says the leader was probably Ayman al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor who is bin Laden's right-hand man, because his face matches the picture on flyers that were dropped over this area by American planes a while back. Zawahri was reported injured and possibly dead back in December, and a wife and some kids were confirmed killed. Last month there were indications he and Binny were still alive. If there's any credibility to these boys, it could be taken as confirmation.
The men also say that they overheard a live address â via satellite phone â to all the Al Qaeda troops by a man they referred to as "al Qaed," or the leader. The workers believe it was bin Laden, but cannot be sure. The phone connection was cut off. Afterward, the fighters seemed buoyed by the pep talk, which would have been given three weeks to one month ago. Could have been Binny, if he's alive, or it could be his successor - there was a report in December that named Zain Al-Abedin Hasan, a 30-year-old Palestinian as the man. Or it could have been someone like Fazlur Rahman or Mir Hamza.
If they're really communicating by satphone, somebody's looking really hard for that signal and wants to know its terminus, preferably to within a hundred meters.
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03/18/2002 ||
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U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers attacked a convoy of three vehicles believed to be trying to ferry al-Qaida fighters out of the Shah-e-Kot Valley and killed 16 of them. The attack on Sunday wounded one enemy fighter, in addition to those killed, and another was detained. There were no American casualties. A fourth vehicle traveling some distance behind the three-vehicle convoy was stopped by U.S. forces. Those in the vehicle were determined to be noncombatants â including women and children â and permitted to go free. In a separate incident, U.S. forces captured 31 suspected al-Qaida or Taliban fighters in a compound west of Kandahar. Anybody taking bets that AIP says they were unarmed civilians on their way to a wedding in Milwaukee?
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03/18/2002 ||
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Bill Quick (he's on a roll today) opines that
The Saudis may be flirting with unintended consequences here. If they stick to their refusal to allow the US to make use of US-built Saudi military bases in an attack on Iraq, they won't stop that attack from occurring. What they will do is force the US to find a substitute for Saudi Arabia, resulting in the worst of both worlds for that dreadful, brutish tyranny: further marginalization by the US, and further destabilizing pressures after the fall of Saddam Hussein's similarly thuggish government. Exactly. And once Sammy is happily decomposing and a pro-American government is installed in Iraq, what do we need the Saudis for? (Think real hard now...) A pro-western secular state to their north, happily making lotsa oil money is the last thing the Saudis would want.
Ain't that flattering? Best of the Web echoes my sentiment, in more coherent form:
And think of what a new regime in Baghdad would mean to Saudi Arabia. If Iraq were democratic, the despotic and corrupt Saudi regime would look by comparison even worse than it does now. A pro-American Iraq, democratic or not, would dramatically increase U.S. power in the region, devaluing the currency of two-faced Saudi "friendship." Even more ominous, the Bush administration has made clear its determination to carry the war on terror to any country that supports it. At some point that will mean going to the source--the financier of fanaticism, the homeland of Osama bin Laden and 15 of the Sept. 11 hijackers, the world's leading exporter of Islamic fundamentalism.
For months the question has been whether Saudi Arabia would permit America to use its bases there to topple the terror-supporting regime in Baghdad. A year from now the question may be whether America will choose to use its bases in Iraq to topple the terror-supporting regime in Riyadh. No wonder Crown Prince Abdullah would rather talk about the Palestinians. See what I mean? When the Lesser of Two Evils is no longer the Lesser it's simply Evil. People like Bush (and me, but I'm not the decision maker) think in terms of Smiting Evil where it's found, especially when Evil thumps us first.
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03/18/2002 ||
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Ayatollah Khameneh'i rejected dialogue with the United States one day after a government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh had said that the government was not opposed to meetings and talks between Iranian and American lawmakers, referring to a proposal made last week by the US senator Joseph Biden to meet with Iranian counterparts. Well, doesn't that come as a surprise? He's always been the voice of sweet reason...
"Negotiations are not a solution. It won't remove any problem and all those who, when menaced, think about dialogue, in fact shows their own weakness and servility, that is very negative", the staunchly anti-American Khameneh'i told officials, including military commanders and high-ranking clerics, among them Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Khatami, the President. But he did not explain how one could solve problems and overcome difficulties without negotiations. "Negotiations are a sign of weakness. We Iranians would rather die than negotiate. You go first."
He warned his American counterpart George W. Bush not to mistake Iran with the now defeated Afghan Taleban. "Though no one here welcomes war and consider a duty to avoid it, yet, in case the enemy declare war, we shall defend ourselves with all our forces and capacities, considering it a national and religious duty", Mr. Khameneh'i pointed out. Yes, the turbans are entirely different. And they're Shi'ites instead of Salafists. And Iran used to be a great country until it was ruled by theocrats, while Afghanistan never really amounted to much even without them.
"The eyes of the next generations are fixed on the Iranian people, alert and capable of creating epics", he said. Ummm... Ali? I think the next generation's the kids out in the street demonstrating against you...
His comments came after both the government and most reformist lawmakers and politicians welcomes Senator Bidenâs proposal. Y'see, being Persians, they resent being lumped with riff-raff like Iraq and the North Koreans.
"The United States is against Islam and the very nature and essence of the Islamic Republic and has times and again expressed its opposition to theocratic regimes. Whatever it does, it is a tactical move aimed at luring and deceiving. Therefore, and based on these facts, talking with the Americans is futile, meaningless", he added. Yep. He's got a point there. We have in fact time and again reiterated our opposition to theocratic regimes, preferring instead to let each man or woman make his/her/its own mistakes in this life. On the other hand, we're not against Islam, we're against nut bags, thugs and killers.
"President Bush tells us to return to the international community. But does he not knows that we have good relations with all countries and it is America that, because of its hegemony policy, is isolated", he said, in reference to European Unionâs backing of Iran. We're unilateralists at heart; comes from our devotion to the rights of the individual. They're social democrats; comes from a belief that bureaucracy works. You're religious extremists who've abused your women specifically and individual rights in general, along with ruining what used to be a prosperous economy. When push comes to shove, who do you think they're going to support, Ali?
President George W. Bush angered the Iranians when, in his State of the Union address to the Congress on 29 January, had labelled Iran, Iraq and North Korea as forming an "axis of evil". That was tactless and unilaterist of him, wasn't it? Terrible, calling a spade a spade. The spade's feelings get so hurt.
The remark came after Ayatollah Khameneh'i had denounced American military intervention in Afghanistan and used strong words against the American president, whom, in the words of Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the regimeâs number two man, has "a brain of swallow into the body of a dinosaur". Now, speaking of tactless...
For the most part, Khamenei is correct: we have very little reason to talk to a theocratic oligarchy about who's primary purpose has been to enmire its people in regressive economic and social policies. The one thing that Khamenei may wish to talk to any Americans about is GW's physiology, and I'd recommend Terry McAuliffe as his DNC point of contact. In a quiet weekend chat over dates and sweet tea, I'd figure that McAuliffe and Khamenei would be able to come up with a surprizing variety of implausible animal combinations to treat their public audiences with. Posted by Tom Roberts 3/19/2002 8:49:28 AM
How does their creationist book reconcile itself with the existence of dinosaurs? Posted by Ken H 3/19/2002 1:15:17 PM
Didn't you know? They wouldn't fit on the ark! Posted by Fred 3/19/2002 7:41:24 PM
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03/18/2002 ||
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Federal prosecutors in Virginia and New York are seeking the death penalty for Zacarias Moussaoui, who has been identified by law enforcement officials as the "20th hijacker" in the Sept. 11 attacks, government officials said today. The move, which is expected to be approved in Washington and announced in court next week, comes as prosecutors offered some of the first details of the trial preparations, including their plans to seek testimony from many relatives of the Sept. 11 victims in urging a jury to put Mr. Moussaoui to death. But... But... But Mom sez he was framed!
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03/18/2002 ||
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Taking a tough line, RSS said unless Muslims earn the goodwill of Hindus, their safety could not be guaranteed in India. Let the Muslims understand that their real safety lies in the goodwill of the majority, a resolution adopted at the three-day Akhil Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha (ABPS), RSSâ supreme body, at Channenahalli said. Translated: "Unless you kowtow to us, you won't be safe from our thugs." Gary was just mentioning this bunch yesterday. Don't they seem true to form?
Briefing reporters, RSS joint general secretary, Madan Das, who is considered a key man of the Sangh Parivar outfitâs links with BJP, said Muslims are safe provided they win our goodwill. "Don't do anything stupid or we'll beat you up and burn your house down."
Alleging that Muslims were not accepting the law of the land, Das, who is also a RSS spokesperson, said Muslims should not provoke Hindus but respect their feelings. A noble sentiment. We've been saying the same thing for years. We haven't tried to provoke violence with them, though.
Saying that Hindus are a silent and peaceful society and want harmony in India, Das urged Muslims to believe in diversity. We've been saying that, too. But it looks like the Hindus are working hard not to be a silent and peaceful society and instead want to become more like the Islamolunatics.
RSS warned that insult to Hindus cannot be tolerated. Life of Hindus has no meaning in India, he regretted. Doesn't look like anybody's life has meaning in India or Pakistan, except for religious leaders. They keep going for year after year, raking in the money while the rabble gets slaughtered.
The resolution said although few Muslim leaders hold the current interpretation of Jehad as absolutely wrong and in no way support the Jehadi terrorism, it should be admitted that these people have not been able to influence the present day extermist Jehadi leaders and stubborn Mullahs and Maulavis. That's a problem we've all been trying to deal with. Emulating the Learned Elders of Islam and killing people indiscriminately puts you in the same category.
The ABPS wants to make it clear that it does no credit to the Muslim community to allow themselves to be made pawns in the hands of extremist Muslim leaders and Hindu-baiting elements, it said. No more so than it does credit to Hindus to be made pawns of greedhead "holy men" whose aim is to stir up as much public discord as possible in their pursuit of their own ends.
Condemning the Godhra massacre as horrible and ghastly, RSS said the reaction to this incident was natural and spontaneous, and the entire Hindu society cutting across all divisions of party, caste and social status reacted. Explain, please, how more of the same leads to less of the same?
One bad thing about this turn of events is that it makes the same events in Pakistan look like subcontinental business as usual. India had the reputation before last month of being the progressive nation on the subcontinent, but now the Hindi Sturmabteilungen seem intent on disproving that hypothesis. Posted by Tom Roberts 3/19/2002 8:56:28 AM
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03/18/2002 ||
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The Samata Party, Janata Dal (United) and the Trinamul Congress â which along with crucial partner Telugu Desam Party spent a better part of last week upset with the government on the Ayodhya developments â on Monday demanded in the Lok Sabha that the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Bajrang Dal be banned for their reported role in the attack on the Orissa Assembly on Saturday.
The TDP has stopped short of demanding a ban, but expects "strict action against those responsible". TDP leader Yerran Naidu told Times News Network: "We have to condemn such a barbaric act. The government must control these organisations". In the Lok Sabha, an impromptu debate on the issue took up all of zero hour and more with JD(U) member Devendra Prasad Yadav saying "fundamentalism in any form should not be allowed in the country and organisations like VHP and Bajrang Dal should be banned." It appears there are still some civilized people in India. Wonder how many of them will be beaten up and their houses burned down by brownshirts? Are they singing the Mukkerjee Wessel Lied yet? "Die Fahne hoch... Da-da da-da-da daaaah dum..." The sounds of thousands of sandles marching in unison stirs something in the soul... Bang that bass drum!... And here comes the part about "Muslim blood will flow"... Right turn... Pass in review... GrÃŒss!...
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03/18/2002 ||
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The attack on the Orissa Assembly by Hindu religious fanatics and other lunatics rocked the Lok Sabha on Monday with indignant Opposition members clashing with those from the ruling benches. As the two sides kept shouting at each other, Deputy Speaker P M Sayeed adjourned the House for about an hour. "Nothing - Yikes! - to worry about, folks!... Everything's - Yow! Look out! - under control!... Whoa! Close one!"
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Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee on Monday took strong exception to VHP and Bajrang Dal agitators shouting slogans of "Atal Bihari Vajpayee Zindabad" ("Viva A.B. Vajpayee!") when they stormed the Orissa Assembly on Saturday. Referring to the reported slogans, Vajpayee said in the Rajya Sabha he would not like "such people" to say zindabad to him. Expressing his strong indignation, the Prime Minister said main mar jana pasand karunga (I will prefer to die)". You gave 'em their inch at Ayodhya, now they're taking their mile.
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03/18/2002 ||
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The investigators are not ruling out the possibility of an Indian connection as some local militant groups are known to have links with Indian intelligence agencies. âIndians might have used any of these militant groups to malign Pakistan,â the sources said. India is facing worldwide criticism for the senseless killings of Muslim minority in India. âThe church attack will divert the world attention from India to Pakistan,â the official said. Or the Jews. It coulda been them. Or those damned Rhodesians.
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03/18/2002 ||
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The father of two men named as Sept. 11 hijackers denied that his sons were terrorists - but said in a television interview he would never forgive them if they were. "If that turns out to be the truth, then I will never, never accept it from them," Mohammad Alshehri told ABC News' 20/20 program broadcast from Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. "I'll never forgive them for that," he said.
Alshehri, a prominent real estate developer, said he had no proof his sons were involved in the hijacking. "I never received any news like this, But also, even if I receive it, I wouldn't believe it," he said. "And even if they were on board that plane, maybe they were just passengers." The father of another suspected hijacker, Ahmed Alnami, said his son had gone to Mecca to look for work, not to the United States to be trained as a terrorist. Alnami was on board United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in rural Pennsylvania on Sept. 11. Abdullah Alnami said his son left home - for the first time in his life - six months before Sept. 11. "He called only once and he promised he would keep calling, and I haven't heard from him since then," the father told ABC News. He said Saudi authorities never identified his son as one of the hijackers, and he needed "clear evidence" proving whether he was "dead or alive." If it was my kid, I wouldn't want to believe it, either. Even if I believed it, I sure as hell wouldn't admit it.
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03/18/2002 ||
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Bill Quick links to Stein:
The Palestinians purposely kill civilians, especially children. The Israelis hunt down killers and sometimes hit civilians during the heat of battle (which is, again, distressing, but not the same as cold-blooded murder). The same applies across the board. Substitute generic "terrorists" for "Palestinians" and "Our Side" for "Israelis." That's the heart of the Clash of Cultures. You don't have to be a Muslim, either. You can be a Maoist in Peru who's never heard of al-Qaeda, and as long as the willingness to use the same tactics is there you're brothers, or at least first cousins. There's no difference between Mindless Marxism and fetid Salafism to the poor guy who gets up in the morning to go to work and ends up dead by noon.
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Calls to Arab leaders to provide the intifada with material support and not back peace initiatives are mounting the run-up to the Arab League summit in Beirut at the end of the month. Hizbullah secretary-general Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned Arab leaders Sunday against confusing the concept of supporting the intifada with peace initiatives, in reference to Saudi Crown Prince Abdullahâs proposal of full peace with the Jewish state in return for a full withdrawal from Arab territories occupied in 1967. Addressing Arab leaders, he said: "Now is the historic opportunity for you to bring Sharon down. Donât give him the opportunity that Zinni and (US President) George Bush want him to have."
Nasrallah criticized Arab regimes for not backing the intifada on a military level. "If you are unable to supply Palestinians with weapons, then just overlook acts of sending (arms) to them," he said commenting on the detention and release of two Hizbullah members in Jordan, arrested for trying to smuggle Katyusha rockets to unidentified Palestinians. âHizbullah attempted to smuggle arms via Jordan, and not from south Lebanon, because we have no borders with the West Bank or Gaza,â Nasrallah explained. "I'm warning you guys, you ain't fanatical enough!"
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A young man was killed and his brother seriously injured over the weekend in an accidental hand-grenade blast in the Eastern Bekaa. Ibrahim Awad Mohammed, 18, and Khaled, 16, were taken to the government hospital near Zahle. The father of the victims, a recently naturalized laborer of Syrian origin, said his sons had found the grenade in a junkyard adjacent to a tent serving as the familyâs home. "Khaled, put that down! You'll put somebody's eye out!"
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An Arabic translation of Hitler's Mein Kampf which has become a bestseller in the Palestinian territories is now on sale in Britain. The book, originally translated in the 1960s and revived by Bisan, a Lebanese publisher in the 1990s, has a picture of Hitler and a swastika on the cover and is selling for £10. The Urdu and Hindi editions should be out any time. Sign up now to get on the waiting lists early!
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The Arabs will âbe ready to adoptâ the Saudi peace initiative at the Beirut summit, even if Israel prevents Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat from attending, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher said Sunday. âWe hope that President Arafat will take part in the summit and will be free to move around,â Maher said after talks between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb. Maher urged Israel to lift the siege it has imposed on Arafat and on the Palestinian people. 'Whether or not Mr. Arafat comes, Saudi Arabia will submit its initiative (to the summit on March 27-28), and the Arab countries will be ready to adopt it and work on this basis,â he said.
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Kevin at the Insolvent Republic links to a CSM article on Ansar al-Islam, a Taliban-ish al-Qaeda front group in Kurdistan. This is an alternative name for Jund-al-Islami. They're apparently getting funding from both Iraq and al-Qaeda. Their controller appears to be Abu Zubaydah, who was named as the operations chief for al-Qaeda last month. There's a good description of it here and the Guardian ran a piece on them in January. When last heard from, the Kurds had hit them hard, they were running out of money because Afghanistan had been whacked. I read someplace that stragglers were beginning to show up in Lebanon.
Kevin...I like the sound of that. I'm feeling a Blogwatch on my horizon. :) Posted by Kevin Slotman [slotman.blogspot.com] 3/18/2002 11:18:03 PM
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Four tough guys believed to be foreigners, are no longer ticklish after a fierce 8-hour long gunbattle with Rashtriya Rifles in Kupwara district. Reports said the waxed militants belonged to Jamiâat-ul-Mujahidin group. While the identity of the fourth deader was not known as yet, the bodies of all of them were reported to be lying with the security forces if anybody wants to go have a look.
The deputy district commander of Jaish-e-Muhammad, identified as Muhammad Iqbal Bhat, was bumped off in an encounter with security forces. An SPO was injured in the incident.
In an encounter in Surankot area of Poonch district two snuffies were snuffed. Their identity could not be ascertained. (No papers? Or not enough of them left?) Another crazed gunman was killed in an encounter in neighboring Rajouri district.
A securityman was killed in a landmine blast in Gool area of Udhampur district.
Unidentified gunmen set afire the summer huts at Sumber Jawara in Doda district causing them damage.
Police said a village defence committee member in Jammu district was injured in an IED explosion in his village. He succumbed to his injuries later in the hospital.
The body of a 9th class student was recovered from the paddy fields in Budgam district yesterday. The deceased minor was identified as Riyaz Ahmad Rather. He had been missing for some days past. Police said he had been strangled. Caught by the snuffies? Or by the village pervert?
In an encounter at Watrigam in Islamabad district, a gunny made rapid departure from toil and woe and is now frolicking gaily with a 72-year-old virgin.
Security forces carried out search operations in various areas of Varmul and Kupwara districts yesterday and recovered a cache of arms and ammunition. The seizures included two AK rifles, one rocket projectile gun, four IEDs, 17 kg explosives, 10 detonators and two anti-tank grenades. A suspect was said to have been taken into custody from Srinagar and people are now hitting him.
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People who think this way are shielded from view, up to a point, by their own sheer evil. They are painful to contemplate. We instinctively look away, as we do whenever we are confronted with monstrous deformity. Nothing is harder or more frightening to look at than a fellow human who is bent out of shape. And moral deformity is the most frightening kind by far. How can Muslims of good faith allow such people to call themselves Muslim? But they do allow it. What does that mean? And is it possible that we have located here, in this inspiring vision of heaven as a whorehouse, the most loathsome idea in the history of human thought? This is the civilization that condemns "licentious" America?
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The authorities investigating the Protestant International Church attack believe the suspect died while detonating the grenades. The authorities described the suspect as a man in his early 20s who entered the church and reached the hall where a service was being held before starting hurling grenades from his bag. A spokesman for the Special Army Monitoring Team said the terrorist had straightened the pins of several grenades in his bag to save time. After he threw some of them, the pin of one of the grenades in his bag came off causing a big blast which also damaged the roof of the church, he said. "Perhaps the terrorist also died in the attack," he said.
According to officials, only one unidentified dead body was shifted to the hospital. The body is beyond recognition. Several injured told Dawn they saw only one man hurling the grenades. Neither the police officials nor the injured saw the terrorist fleeing the church. Yeah. That sounds about right. That way they don't have to search for him, or for any accomplices. There's no Mister Big behind it, either.
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China and North Korea are funding leftwing groups and mujahideen in Mindanao, a development which could prompt the United States to widen the scope of the war games. The expansion of Balikatan could in turn lead to an all-out war in the Mindanao mainland.
Other sources said Beijing and Pyongyang have been bankrolling the leftist New Peopleâs Army and Moro Islamic Liberation Front since the late 1980s in hopes of destabilizing the government here and undermining the American influence that âkeeps the Philippines above the debacle line.â The NPA has reportedly formed a temporary alliance with the MILF as a safeguard against the growing US military presence in the Southern Philippines after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 last year. We kind of suspected the money for NPA was coming from that general direction. MILF is a bit of a surprise, though, and it's doubtful the money comes directly. Wonder if the Chinese are going to have a serious talk with their creatures about keeping the budget tight?
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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.
