"A senior Scottish churchman today wrote to Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu to ask them to intervene in the growing Middle East conflict. The Rt Revd Neville Chamberlain, Bishop of Brechin, said that the Holy Land's only hope was to follow the example of the two South African leaders and set up a form of Truth and Reconciliation Commission."
I've been thinking of joining a church. I don't know if I should become an Episcopalian or some other kind of laughingstock.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 11:38 am ||
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Bill Quick has a good analysis of the shortcomings of the Muslim world's honor-shame standards.
"Israel, by its very existence, is a humiliation to its neighbors, who, in all their hundreds of millions, lack the power to conquer a tiny state with seven million citizens. Worse, the quality of Israeli existence is a humiliation: Surrounded, constantly threatened with attack, vilified, dependent ultimately on the goodwill of the United States for survival, and yet Israel, at least in comparison to any other country in the Arab world, thrives. Its people live in freedom. It is incredibly productive. It is the only nation in the middle east to make the desert flower wholesale. Everything it accomplishes, every new height to which it rises, is a living rebuke to Arabia, which has done none of these things."
This is the quality, ingrained in Arab culture, that makes coexistence with the west intolerable. It's why they squealed like piggies when Berlusconi made passing reference to their shortage of accomplishment â "You don't have an inferiority complex. You're inferior." It's also why we have to win the war.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 01:17 pm ||
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Betcha didn't notice... This version is a little less frivolous-looking than what I had before. Don't know if it's more readable. Comments welcome.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 08:07 pm ||
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#1
Nice re-design, but can you keep your (funny, mean, nasty, hilarious) comments in yellow highlight, or at least a different color/font? It helps the flow of each piece, since I take it your desire is to offer a little news, then commentary, then a little more news, etc.
I confess that my eye has always been drawn to the yellow highlight. Much like cue cards or a laugh track, I always knew when to be ready for a good shot :-)
Regards,
Posted by: Steve White ||
04/28/2002 22:53 Comments ||
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Thannks. I'll continue the yellow journalism. It wouldn't be as much fun without it.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/29/2002 6:46 Comments ||
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In Khost, Bacha Khan's [the Post is referring to Padshah "Mr Big" Khan Zadran] forces were involved in another armed clash. The city is one of the most lawless in the country. Gunfire can be heard every half-hour or so, shopkeepers close for fear of violence and residents complain of marauding, drug-influenced gunmen stopping them in the street and stealing their cars. The Dick Durbin gang hangs out at the local saloon, and Jesse and Cole drop by now and then, when they're not robbing trains or rustling cattle...
Karzai's appointed governor, Hakim Tanaiwal, has not yet dared come to Khost from Kabul. The governor's compound is occupied by Kamal Khan's fighters and guarded by a tank and artillery. "If he comes down here, he will come with a flood of bloodshed," Kamal Khan said of the new governor. Kamal is Padsha's brother, aka Mini-Me. Nobody's ever accused him of being a nice guy. Don't even think about messin' with his girl, Miss Ayesha. Some say he's a crazed killer, but not within his hearing... Four days ago, in a dispute over control of security in Khost, police officers led by a chief named Mustafa [Mujibur Earp Rahman] shot security men led by a Khan family ally [Sur Clanton Gul], killing four or five. The Khan forces pursued Mustafa's fighters to the police station, where they have holed up ever since. Khan's gunmen remained perched on the roof of the neighboring Khost Guest House today, ready to open fire. The local saloon girls are sneaking them food and ammunition...
City officials said appeals to U.S. commanders based nearby to intervene have been rebuffed. "We got the citizens to tell them that we're sick and fed up with these guys, please take over the city," said Mohammed Akbar, the deputy mayor. "They went and nothing happened." Brig. Habib Nurzai, a senior police official, said he spoke with the U.S. officers on Friday. "They haven't taken a solid step to stop this," he complained. Their response was prob'ly, "You outta your mind, Jack?" They're probably under the impression that it's not our country and the Afghans are free to screw it up any way they want. We're there to kill al-Qaeda. That's a point that keeps getting lost in the mud and the blood and the beer.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 08:09 pm ||
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At least five suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists were detained in a joint US-Pakistan operations underway in tribal belt. Around two dozen US intelligence officials backed by a small number of uniformed troops were participating in the raids which started early this week. "At least five suspects were taken into custody in a tribal pocket close to the border opposite Afghanistan's Khost region," a local official told AFP. Those snagged are probably small fry, but it's encouraging to see they're getting anyone at all. ISI's probably sending warnings all over the place.
The sources said another joint raid targeted a madrassah in South Waziristan that was founded by top Taliban commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, one of the most wanted men on Washington's hit-list for Afghanistan. Around 10 Americans, two of them in military uniform, backed by around 200 local police raided the Madersah but found it empty.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 10:48 am ||
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Millions of Iraqis were estimated to have gathered across Iraq on Sunday in celebration of President Saddam Hussein's 65th birthday. Iraqi television carried live coverage of the celebrations in the president's home town of Tikrit and across the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. An estimated one million people gathered in the city with major parts of the city closed, The Associated Press reported. There's some guys over here who're working on his retirement plan, even as we speak blog.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 07:38 am ||
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The Bush administration is plotting a potential major air campaign and ground invasion early next year to topple the Iraqi government of President Saddam Hussein, the New York Times reported in Sunday editions. The use of 70,000 to 250,000 troops is being considered, the Times said. President Bush has not issued any order for the Pentagon to mobilize its forces, and there is no official plan for an invasion, the newspaper said. There were probably 30 or 40 differentaccounts of how we were going to take Afghanistan, so enemy war planners could pick one with a pretty good certainty that it would be the wrong one. The number of different "war plans" leaked in the Gulf War was even higher, and none of them resembled what actually happened. So there.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 07:46 am ||
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#1
Well, whatever happens, it will be telegraphed. No matter how (reasonably) small one thinks the ground force needs to be, it will involve Reserve callups, at least three, and more likely six, months in advance.
That said, there's no particular reason not to launch a few waves of bombers anytime, if only to keep the Iraqis nervous.
Me, I'm still guessing it'll be sometime after early November, but before the end of the year.
Posted by: Joel Rosenberg ||
04/28/2002 10:32 Comments ||
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The movement will be telegraphed, but the eventual employment won't. It might even be funny, though I'd not count on it. Schwartzkopf smoked 'em so thoroughly with his "Hail Mary" that they'll be looking for something similar this time. Franks, assuming he's still in command then, may simply walk over their center while they've pulled the reserves over to cover their flank. Or he may build up troops, make horrible faces, bomb the crap out of them, and then the CIA can push their insiders in, say 45th Infantry Div, to smack Baghdad and hang Sammy while the Hammurabi Division's watching the show.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2002 20:31 Comments ||
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Two North Korean defectors arrived in Seoul from Singapore on Sunday, two days after seeking asylum at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. The pair, identified by immigration officials as Kim Ock Sil and Kim Moon Ok, were taken away by government intelligence officials, upon arrival at Incheon International Airport outside Seoul. The two entered the U.S. Embassy on Friday in a bid to settle in a third country. China allowed them to fly to Singapore a day later. Wonder how many there will be next week, and the week after that...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 09:00 am ||
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At least five people have been killed in an explosion at an outdoor market in southern Russia. Dozens more were injured when the device went off in Vladikavkaz, in the republic of North Ossetia, close to Chechnya. There have been no claims of responsibility but bomb attacks have been a problem for Russian officials in areas close to Chechnya since Moscow sent troops into the region in 1999.
The explosion occurred two days after Russian security police released photos of a corpse said to be that of Khattab, killed in a Russian military operation. Could be a demonstration to show that Khattab's death didn't kill the movement. Given the area and the culture, could be Mr Big sending a message to the local shop owners, too.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 07:53 am ||
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Extra Russian troops were deployed in the Chechen capital Grozny on Sunday in the runup to May Day after rebels threatened to carry out terrorist attacks during the holiday. ITAR-Tass reported that federal forces were patrolling approaches to Grozny and had commandeered vital offices after receiving information that several attacks were planned.
The report, citing the military commandant's office, said up to 1,000 rebel gunmen may have infiltrated the city in recent days before the holiday, which will be celebrated during the first five days of May. During the past 24 hours, four Russian soldiers have been killed and five wounded in 14 separate attacks on Russian positions and checkpoints in Chechnya, an official in the Kremlin-backed Chechen administration said on Sunday. Yep. Seems like the Bad Guys are fired up. Maybe they really did get Khattab.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 07:55 am ||
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Law enforcement agencies paid no attention to Zurab Khangoshvili, a 27-year-old Chechen with six children, as he traveled to and from this tiny village in Georgia's trackless Pankisi Gorge over the past few years. His attorney said he acted as a trader for refugees from the war in nearby Chechnya, buying them goods from Tbilisi, Georgia's capital, or Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. In mid-February, he traveled as far as Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on what his attorney says was a religious pilgrimage. Yep. Just another pious fellow, making a living...
But that was before March 20, when the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi sent a letter to the Georgian Security Ministry, asking about possible ties between Khangoshvili and al Qaeda. Two days later, Khangoshvili was arrested on his way back from Baku. Also arrested and jailed was Islam Saidaiev, a Chechen journalist living in Georgia who traveled with Khangoshvili to Saudi Arabia. Well, golly. Wonder why they were picking on the poor fellows, out of all the people in Georgia. Prob'ly because they were Muslims, right?
The arrests are the first tangible sign of U.S. pressure on Georgia to crack down on what the Bush administration says are terrorists with al Qaeda connections in the Pankisi Gorge, about 30 miles from Georgia's northern border with Chechnya. It's more like a tangible sign of the U.S. exchanging intelligence information with the Georgians. Y'see, if Khangoshvili went to Mecca for his hajj, and just happened to meet with some Bad Guys to get his marching orders for when he goes back to one of those non-Soddi "entities," with maybe some funds for explosives and such, and his Soddi controller blabbed where U.S. monitors could pick it up, then Khangoshvili went on a watch list. The Georgians would then check him out — you can't check out everybody, can you? — and bingo, Khangoshvili's off to the calaboose for a chat with large men with truncheons. Neat, the way that works. WaPo reporterette Sharon LaFraniere doesn't seem to quite understand it, but she'll probably pick it up in time.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 09:48 am ||
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"Finally, the physical damage Bin Laden and friends can do us - terrible as it has been thus far - is as nothing compared to what he is doing to our liberties. Once alienated, an "inalienable right" is apt to be lost forever, in which case we are no longer even remotely the last best hope of Earth but merely a seedy imperial state whose citizens are kept in line by Swat teams and whose way of death, not life, is universally imitated." And Vidal is a goof who once may have had something to say, but is now squarely in his dotage. Once a person is dead, he or she is gone forever, just like those inalienable rights, the first of which is life and the second of which is liberty. We're fighting a war against people who not only slam aircraft full of screaming non-combatants into tall buildings also full of screaming non-combatants, but also kill women and children and babies and want to impose their thuggish way of life on the rest of the world, whether the rest of the world wants it or not. Remember: "The final hour will not come until the Muslims conquer the White House." We didn't declare jihad on them. They declared jihad on us. Now we're giving it to them, whether aging limoradicals like it or not.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 10:21 am ||
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The Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), an alliance of religious parties, was taken aback over the Supreme Court verdict, legalising the holding of referendum in the country, scheduled for April 30. They were shocked. Simply shocked.
"The top court has buried the constitution," Chief of Jamaat-i-Islami (JI) Qazi Hussain Ahmad said while speaking an anti-referendum rally at Shahi Bagh on Saturday. MMA central leaders Maulana Shah Ahmad Noorani, Jamaat chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad, Naib amir of JUI Hafiz Hussain Ahmad and Maulana Samiul Haq addressed the public meeting. All the usual suspects. Fazl tends to stay in the background, even though he's really the head cheese...
Speaking at the public meeting, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, who had filed the writ petition against the referendum in the Supreme Court, said that the honourable court's decision had surprised the nation. "There is no place in the country from where the people could seek justice. The court decision has vanished the hope for justice. Now it is up to the people to stand up and fight for their rights," Qazi declared. "So let the riots begin! And bump off any westerners you find, too."
The Jamaat chief said that the country's religious parties could play a dominant role in the national and regional politics and could bring radical change in the political, social and economic system of the country. He said that their target was the coming general elections and not the referendum and urged the MMA workers to defeat US agents in the general elections. That's the whole intention, to build up the old power base. For all their screaming and hollering and rioting, they haven't managed to win more than five percent of the vote in elections. They think they've got a handle on that now, with the U.S. to point to and the specter of secularism to raise. Guess we'll find out if that tack works come October.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 10:40 am ||
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Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf is set for a comfortable victory in a referendum on Tuesday to extend his rule for five years, but in the process he has damaged his credibility both at home and abroad. Not if he gets voted in...
Since he launched his campaign with a huge rally in Lahore three weeks ago, critics say Musharraf has looked less like a general sincerely determined to reform Pakistan, and more like a politician using all the tricks in the book to stay in power. Buses have been commandeered to take people to his rallies, government offices emptied, civil servants and teachers ordered to attend. That's because if he doesn't win, he's political road kill. Quick, now. Think of another choice he has...
In Pakistan's cities, street lights and banners have been decorated with Musharraf's smiling face and messages imploring a "yes" vote, while state television has been dominated by the general's campaign and his angry denunciations of his opponents. That's pretty standard for somebody who wants to win an election, isn't it? What's the beef? Being in charge of a government isn't the same thing as being a general.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 12:17 pm ||
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Alexander Lebed, the tough-talking former general who emerged as a strong challenger to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin and was credited with ending Moscow's 1994-96 war in Chechnya, was killed Sunday in a helicopter crash. Lebed, 52, was governor of the Krasnoyarsk region.
Lebed was one of the good guys. He distinguished himself as a battalion commander in 1981-82 during the Soviet war in Afghanistan. In 1988, he was put in command of the elite Tula paratroop division, and in 1990 he reached the rank of major-general.
During the August 1991 hardline coup against Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, coup leaders ordered Lebed's troops to surround Yeltsin's Moscow stronghold. But Lebed refused to send in his forces. Praised by reformers when the coup collapsed, Lebed quickly disappointed his admirers, saying he "could not care less for democracy," but also could not bring himself to kill Russians. I respect him more for that single statement than for anything else he did.
In 1992, Lebed was sent to command Russian troops in Moldova's breakaway region of Trans-Dniester, the scene of ethnic conflict between the Moldovan government and mainly Slav separatists. He was widely praised for ending the bloodshed. This was a hideously political position, with yammerheads on both sides. Lebed managed to keep 14th Army, which he commanded, from being used as a tool by either side. My impression was that he regarded the Slav side as being chock full of loonytoonz with a side order of crooks, and the Moldovan side as being mostly made up of crooks with a side order of loonytoonz.
In 1995, after a dispute with the defense minister, Lebed was forced to retire from the military after 25 years of service. He turned to politics full-time, being elected a member of the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, in December 1995. I imagine the dispute was a by-product of his inability to suffer fools gladly.
Lebed came in third in the 1996 presidential elections, pulling in 15 percent of the vote. Communist Party head Gennady Zyuganov came in second, and Yeltsin, though ailing [AP really means "though soused most of the time"], won the election. Yeltsin made Lebed head of his presidential security council, and during his four-month term there before the president sacked him, Lebed brokered an end to Russia's war with separatist Chechnya. He didn't like lushes, either. Yeltsin's margin was so thin â and inflated by ballot-stuffing at that â that he took up with Lebed hoping the scent of the man's honesty would rub off on him. The "marriage" wasn't made in heaven...
In May 1998, Lebed won election as governor of Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region, a region four times the size of France. Many saw the post as a possible springboard for the 2000 presidential campaign, but Lebed declined to run. "If nominated, I will not run. If elected, I will not serve." Good man. The only reason Russia is pulling out of its nosedive is the handful like him.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 09:47 am ||
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Turkey's president on Saturday vetoed an amnesty bill that could have freed the Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II from a Turkish prison 10 years early. The gunman, Mehmet Ali Agca, spent nearly 20 years in an Italian prison after shooting the pope in 1981. He is now serving 17 years for the 1979 murder of Turkish newspaper editor Abdi Ipekci and the robbery of an Istanbul factory that year.
Parliament approved the amnesty bill Thursday, but President Ahmet Necdet Sezer said Saturday that it had serious faults. The sentence reductions would occur regardless of a prisoner's behavior, he said. Also, the bill passed with a majority but not 60 percent of parliament - which Sezer argued was constitutionally necessary for a special amnesty. Agca's kind of the paragon of terrorism. Once you've shot the Pope, what's a few women and children and babies?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 09:55 am ||
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The title is pulled from the original article. My initial reaction was, "Huh? That doesn't make any sense..." Then I saw it was Mary Robinson, so it didn't have to make sense. Then I read the article and that's not exactly what she said, but apparently the way the Arab editor interpreted it. Funny syntax is courtesy Arabic News.
High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson affirmed "the importance of upholding fully human rights and humanitarian law standards in combating terrorism," she noted, pledging her Office's full support for "any initiative the Commission may think appropriate in order to signal clearly that human rights should not be sacrificed in the fight against terrorism." Well, that makes sense. Her job is human rights, and like many in a field she doesn't see anything outside her purview. Not being a professional human rights activist myself, I'm under the probably mistaken impression that not being shot or blown up because of one's religion or ethnicity would be a fundamental human right, and even that legitimate governments should be protected from damage or overthrow by armies of mercenaries.
Mrs. Robinson also voiced concern over "a possible trend seeking to weaken the protection role that this Commission has been exercising." She said this was evident in voting patterns on country situations marked by a preference for excluding action if consensus was not possible. The same would appear to apply to anything relating to military action, and Ms Robinson has been one of the major perpetrators — kind of a bucket on the American foot. We won't mention anything about ideological preferences having anything to do with it, or whether as an observer she's partial or im-. And let's not bring up Bob Mugabe, either...
"The core role of the Commission in protecting human rights through drawing attention to violations and abuses must be retained, but it is clear that in the future it needs to be matched by a much more significant commitment to provide resources for technical cooperation and advisory services to assist countries in building and strengthening their national capacity in the rule of law, the administration of justice, and adherence to human rights norms and standards," she said. Did that make any sense? Didn't think so...
[The] UN Secretary General had stated "States must also take the greatest care to ensure that counter-terrorism does not, any more than sovereignty, become an all-embracing concept that is used to cloak, or justify, violations of human rights," adding Justice must be both "the means and the end." First time through that didn't make any sense, either. On second reading, I could see that it was such a magnificent example of a windy platitude that I'm thinking of having it stuffed and mounted in my den.
Seems to me the the counter-terrorism aspect and the human rights aspects need not be mutually exclusive in most instances. In those instance where they are, the counter-terrorism would necessarily have to take precedence, because the human rights are dependant on being defended against those who would dismantle them. I think I see what he thinks he means — you don't want the Gestapo kicking in doors at 2 a.m. at will — but if we don't take reasonable steps toward self-defense, then it'll be somebody else's Gestapo kicking in the door at will after they've destroyed our society. Admittedly, the definition of "reasonable" can be a matter for quibble, but an absolutist position against any compromise is necessarily self-negating. If we never kick in anyone's door at 2 a.m., then those who devote their entire lives to the destruction of us and all we stand for have free reign, don't they?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 06:08 pm ||
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Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's Cabinet on Sunday approved a U.S. proposal aimed at ending the month-old siege outside Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's compound in Ramallah. The U.S. plan calls for U.S. and British personnel to guard six Palestinians wanted by Israel, and in turn Arafat would be allowed to leave his compound and move freely in the Palestinian areas of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. There was no immediate response from the Palestinian leadership. This is a crummy idea from several points. First of all, it commits the U.S. and Britain to provide prison guards for six thugs for up to 18 years or until Yasser pardons them, which'll be next month. During that time they'll be targets for Palestinian mobs who'll come by to spring the thugs. If they're lucky, they'll just be slapped around, like the UNIFIL troops. If not, they'll be killed - they're Imperialists, after all. Second, it lets Yasser run around the PA territory and resume rousing the rabble for more murder. There doesn't have to be a third, but a little thought can come up with more...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 09:10 am ||
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Oh, it's a horrible idea -- dollars to doughnuts the "jail" will be right next to Al Aqsa Ops Central, as part of Yassir's Operation Human (Bomb) Shield.
People who think that Bush is being deviously and brutally brilliant will decide, no doubt, that he's going to put a few US troops in the way of being killed as a means to say, "Go get 'em, Arik," when they are. But, from the US POV, that's probably about the least damaging thing that can happen out it -- until the Administration stops making noises that the "moderate Arabs" have a veto over Iraq II, the War on Terror is going to be fought with at least one hand tied behind our back.
Not a good idea.
Posted by: Joel Rosenberg ||
04/28/2002 10:37 Comments ||
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FoxNews says Yasser accepted it. Dammit.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2002 12:40 Comments ||
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Well, of course he accepted it -- it gets him out of jail, and gets him US soldiers as a human shield, with Israel to be blamed when Arafat's people kill them.
From his POV, what's not to like?
Posted by: Joel Rosenberg ||
04/28/2002 13:16 Comments ||
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Update: it appears that they're going to use Jericho, and civilian US/UK guards. Look for Al Aqsa to set up HQ in Jericho.
Posted by: Joel Rosenberg ||
04/29/2002 7:47 Comments ||
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Two of the Palestinians arrested during an operation on Friday in Kalkilya and other villages in Samaria were planning to perpetrate suicide bomb attacks inside Israel, the army said. Army sources termed the planned attacks, "Satanic." Foreign Minister Shimon Peres told Army Radio that the army's operation thwarted a grave terror attack in the last few days. The Palestinians were planning to detonate powerful explosives beneath skyscrapers in the center of the country, according to the source. IDF spokesmen refused to provide any exact details about the nature of the foiled attacks. Are the lemmings Palestinians stoopid? I don't think there'd be any holding the Israelis back if that happened. Such an act might give even the Euros pause.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 12:50 pm ||
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Ha'aretz reports that the intended snuffies were members of PFLP.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/28/2002 12:56 Comments ||
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From an unsigned editorial in the Beirut Daily Star:
If his talks with US President George W. Bush were as unproductive as initial reports indicate, the Middle East may well be headed for the sort of conflagration that no reasonable person wants but which the likes of Osama bin Laden and Ariel Sharon have long craved... Seems like it's on the edge, doesn't it? And still they keep exploding and shooting people. Neat, the way they put Sharon in the same category as Binny...
Abdullah has already told Bush what will happen if the United States of America cannot summon the wisdom and/or the courage to rein in the government of a tiny garrison state that depends on it for annual aid that amounts to more than $3 billion (i.e. $600 per capita). My guess is that what will happen is what's been happening: The Saudi Entity will use its money and its snuffies and proxies to undermine as much of the Infidel world as it can. It will piously deny any involvement. Charities will work to subvert the countries they're allowed to work in. It will push hard and harder for a war between the United States and someone else â though not Soddi Arabia.
The Arab world is not populated by fools: The Soddis act on the assumption it is...
If its inhabitants see an Israeli premier dismissing  with impunity  the purported warnings of its No. 1 financier and armorer, they cannot help but to conclude that the White Houseâs words are for public consumption and that it in fact fully supports actions like that undertaken in the Jenin refugee camp. Rather like what the Saudi Entity has been engaged in for the past thirty years, isn't is?
Bush has been saying for months that "youâre either with us or youâre against us:" If he either fails or refuses to understand Abdullahâs very simple message, then Arabs have no choice in the matter because they will have already been placed in the latter category by American fiat. They've already made their choice, haven't they? We saw that September 11th, when the planes hit. We saw it September 12th, when there was dancing in the streets. And we see it today.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 01:52 pm ||
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Assailants in black masks hacked, shot and burned to death 14 Christians, including a six-month-old baby, in the religiously divided capital of Indonesia's Maluku province Sunday, threatening a fragile peace pact. If they're shooting, hacking and burning, there's no peace pact.
Carrying automatic rifles, grenades and daggers, about a dozen men yelling "kill them all" stormed the mainly Christian village of Soya on Ambon's outskirts, witnesses said. They set 30 homes and a Protestant church on fire, and went from house to house, shooting into those that were occupied, witnesses said. Six Christians, including the baby, were stabbed to death and six others were killed in fires. Two more were believed to be shot to death. You can tell they're Islamic heroes. They kill babies.
The killings came two days after Laskar Jihad, rejected the February peace deal, which was meant to end three years of fighting between Muslims and Christians here that has left 9,000 dead. "It may be the end of the peace deal," said Christian pastor Cornelius Bohm in Ambon. "There is no doubt that it was Laskar Jihad" behind Sunday's attack in Ambon. It's pretty typical of them, unless it was a similar group. Comes down to the same thing, doesn't it? What was that quote, again? Oh, yeah: "Who else implanted the tyrants in our land, who else nurtured oppression? Oh Muslim Ummah donât take the Jews and Christians as allies." Hell, don't even take them as neighbors.
Laskar Jihad share Osama bin Laden's anti-Western stance but its commander, Jafar Umar Thalib, has denied any links to international terror. The group could not be reached for comment Sunday. Of course they couldn't. They were busy congratulating each other and getting more ammunition and beating their wives.
A senior police officer in Ambon, speaking on condition of anonymity, said 14 people were killed Sunday. He refused to speculate on the religion of the killers. And that is why the problem isn't going to go away. Indonesia appears to be lost, for this generation at least.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 08:56 am ||
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An anti-terrorism court awarded two death sentences to a worker of the banned Sipah-i-Sahaba Pakistan in separate murder cases. Judge Aley Maqbool Rizvi awarded capital punishment to Dilawar alias Dildar for killing Nazar Abbas and Muzaffar Kirmani on Feb 5 last year. The judge also sentenced a co-accused, Mohammed Rashid alias Rashid Andha, to life imprisonment. The two convicts were also ordered to pay Rs175,000 each to the victims' families. Dildar is just a small-fry psychopath, but it's nice to see him head for the Big One. Nazar Abbas and Muzaffar Kirmani weren't solid citizens, but part of a Tehrik-i-Jaffaria Pakistan â the Shi'ite mob â goon squad.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
04/28/2002 11:10 am ||
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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.
