Yar! BjÞrn has discovered ChomskyPirate.
"How do you decide if yer ship is pointing the right direction? You could look at the stars, but they're mighty far away - specially if you've got but one eye. Best instead to look at which way that scum-ship America is pointing and set sail in the opposite direction. For we all know America's a'headed to ruin.
"So what would happen if America turned around? Well, ruin would turn right around with it!"
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 05:01 pm ||
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Pakistan Army has moved its special services force into the tribal areas with the twin objective of catching Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters and complement the US-led coalition forces operating across the border in eastern Afghanistan. Government officials acknowledged that commandos of Special Services Group had been moved into Miranshah, headquarters of the federally-administered North Waziristan Agency, and deployed at a local vocational college to flush out Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters hiding in the border areas with Afghanistan. So we've got a blocking force on the other side of the border now...
The SSG are assisted by about a dozen American 'communication experts', the sources said. "The role of the Americans is only to assist our forces. They will not take part in any combat," they insisted. And they're going to be coordinating with the allied forces on the other side.
"The troops would act on information, so contrary to speculations we may not see a full-scale operation to catch the Al Qaeda and Taliban fighters in our tribal areas," the officials maintained. And they're not going to try and root out the ones that are already there, but to catch any that get chased across the border.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 11:14 am ||
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More than 200 pro-Taliban fighters from Pakistan flew home Saturday after being released from a prison where they had been confined in cramped quarters and fed very little for nearly six months. The prisoners were flown to Peshawar on Pakistani military planes. Like 30 earlier arrivals, they were to be detained in Peshawar's jail while authorities check their identities and determine whether they committed any crimes, said Athar Minallah, provincial minister for legal affairs. The 204 detainees had gone to Afghanistan to fight with the Taliban but were captured by northern alliance forces late last year. Their release from Shibergan prison had been delayed for two days amid concerns over how to get them home safely. "Get the hell out and don't come back."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 06:10 pm ||
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#1
So it's got nothing to do with the Northern Alliance wanting to destabilise Pakistan and therefore the Pashtuns before the Loya Jirga?
#2
Ummm... No. The Paks have been keeping pressure on the Afghans to spring their gunnies because of internal Pak pressures. They saw literally thousands of their young 'uns rush off to jihad and not come back. Except for having to feed them occasionally, the Northern Alliance could probably care less if they all died of old age living in their shipping crates and dumpsters.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/12/2002 8:02 Comments ||
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"Al Qaeda has set its sight on France," in any case that's become the firm conviction of several influential French officials, who say that "if we're being targeted by Al Qaeda , it's because of our presence in Afghanistan," said Le Figaro. Reporting on May 8 suicide attack in Karachi, it said: "Although late last year France was very hesitant about taking part in the allied force in Afghanistan, the situation has changed considerably in recent months." It was directed at them in the sense they were providing a service to the Musharraf government. But they could have been Samoans and the attack still would have happened. The attack was really directed at Perv.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 12:49 pm ||
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Workers and supporters of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam staged a protest demonstration against the coalition forces' operations in religious schools in the tribal areas close to Afghan border. Around 300 JUI workers, led by party's District President Maulana Noor Mohammad, gathered outside the central mosque in Quetta after the Jumma prayers and started chanting slogans against President Gen Pervez Musharraf and United States President George Bush. Slogans. That's a good weapon.
They were carrying party flags and placards inscribed with the slogans against the US and Pakistan government, including: "Operation against religious schools must stop." The demonstrators tried to march on the main streets of the city but senior police officials present on the occasion did not allow them to take out a procession. Heavy contingent of police and Balochistan Reserve Police cordoned off the whole area while armoured cars and horse-riding police guards were also deployed at the main roads and other places to meet any untoward situation. This isn't squat compared to the riots they were able to come up with when we started taking Afghanistan apart. It looks like Perv's got them on the ropes...
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 11:20 am ||
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Information Minister Nisar Memon has said that law enforcement agencies, in the current crackdown on the banned militant organizations, are concentrating on arresting their second and third-tier leadership after the Karachi incident. A French team had already arrived in the country to assist Pakistani agencies to track down the culprits. He said the American Federal Bureau of Investigation was also involved in the investigation. The government, he explained, had sought the international assistance in the investigation in view of lack of expertise of the local agencies to investigate such cases on scientific lines. He means that even they noticed the apalling ineptitude of the Keystone Pak Kops. Here's hoping Inspector Camembert and Special Agent Starchedshirt can help them out. The last time they had one of these crackdowns, they held the Bad Guys for three months without charging them, then released them after a good talking to.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 11:31 am ||
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Dozens of workers of the banned Tanzim Nefaz Shariat-i-Muhammadi (TNSM) were arrested in Malakand for their alleged links with terrorist organizations. They were, however, released after being questioned and cleared by investigation agencies. A police official said that those taken into custody were questioned thoroughly and found innocent. The police also arrested a number of leaders of the TNSM in the Dir district. I wonder how many of these guys they picked up are fresh out of Afghan jails?
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 11:40 am ||
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The Jamaat-i-Islami chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed has said wrong policies of the rulers are responsible for deteriorating law and order situation in the country. It has nothing to do with Qazi's thugs, mind you...
The JI chief, who arrived here on Friday, was speaking at a function held in honour of parents of the martyrs who offered their lives for the cause of Islam in Kashmir and Afghanistan. "In memory of all our dead cannon fodder we must..."
He claimed that the prevailing situation in the country was an aftermath of government's support for the policies of western powers in the so-called war against terrorism. He said people of Pakistan could never support the unjustified US bombings on the war-torn Afghanistan, in which thousands of Afghan Muslims were killed. The Afghans, on the other hand, thought they were pretty dandy most of the time...
"Pakistan was created in the name of Islam which should had been the supreme law, but on the contrary all government institutions are busy spreading Western culture which have negative effects on the country," he added. He said religious parties would never allow President Pervez Musharraf to introduce secularism in the country in the name of modernization. Horrors! Western culture! Secularism! Next thing you know, influential mullahs will be begging in the streets while decadent youths party the night away. Terrible. Just terrible.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 11:45 am ||
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As part of steps to ease the communal situation, Security Advisor to Gujarat Chief Minister, KPS Gill today held a marathon meeting at Gandhinagar with minority community leaders from across the state. "Minority community leaders from Ahmedabad, Baroda and other parts of violence ravaged state met him and held discussions for about four hours," a spokesman in Gill's office told PTI here after the meeting at Gandhinagar. Getting input from people who have an idea what's actually going on...
The meeting was held at CRPF camp in Gandhinagar amid tight security and media personnel were barred from entry into the complex. Denying the opportunity to any loons to put on a show...
Refusing to identify the leaders and organisations they represent, the spokesman said, the delegation impressed upon Gill the "circumstances" that led to the violence precipitating untold problems for the minority people. "Some organisations' whose leaders came for today's meeting were directly involved in relief and rahabilitation works," he said. Meaning they actually hand out groceries, rather than just position papers...
To a question, the spokesman said "Gill pacified the aggrieved leaders and in response they told him that they had high aspirations on the former Punjab DGP in tackling the present situation". I've probably seen way too many westerns, but Ah'm a-rootin' fer the new sheriff, an' Ah hope the Dalton Gang and the cattle barons can't run him out of town.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 12:11 pm ||
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#1
Hey Fred, any chance of a map of the region sometime, or a link to something suitable? I feel the need to know the whereabouts of them thar varmints.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/11/2002 18:28 Comments ||
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#2
There's one here that kind of gives an idea of its location. Ahmedabad's pretty much in the center, just below Ghandinagar and east of Dodge City.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/11/2002 20:50 Comments ||
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A rocket was fired at a building where U.S. Special Forces were believed to be quartered as they hunt down al-Qaida and Taliban fighters in Pakistan's tribal belt, a local official said. The rocket missed and no one was hurt. It was the second time in two weeks that a rocket was fired at the building, a vocational school in Miran Shah, where about seven Americans are believed to sleep during their mission with Pakistani troops in the semiautonomous area near the Afghan border. A second rocket, with a timing device set for 2:25 a.m. Saturday, was found by authorities and defused. The first rocket hit a sports complex about 200 yards away from the school and caused little damage, the official said. Good thing they're not better shots. But the important part at this point is shooting off rockets.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 05:43 pm ||
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An explosion ripped apart a car parked in front of the house of a local politician in the southern Netherlands on Saturday, five days after the leader of a national political movement was shot to death. No one was injured in the blast, which severely damaged a car belonging to the wife of a another politician, a city alderman in Brunssum, near the German border and about 12 miles from the Dutch city of Maastricht. Police said the explosive may have been a grenade. The politician was identified as J. Steiner of the local Christian Democratic party. Steiner told police he feared the motive was political and requested police security, the national broadcasting company NOS reported.
Last summer, the car of Brunssum's mayor was set on fire. A suspect was never found, and police were investigating whether the two attacks could be linked. If I ever go into politix, remind me not to do it in the Netherlands.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 06:06 pm ||
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An IDF bomb squad found several explosive devices and more than 50 rifles in the site of the Church of the Nativity Friday afternoon. Colonel Marcel Aviv, who led the IDF negotiating team, told reporters that the soldiers, accompanied by several of the church's clergymen, scanned the site for any arms that were not handed over to the IDF. "We found over 40 makeshift explosive devices on the site," he told reporters. The IDF allowed journalists to enter the Church of Nativity shortly after the gunmen and civilians exited the compound. The Bad Guys trashed the place, too. But there weren't any terrorists there.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 08:22 am ||
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Four Jewish settlers have been arrested on suspicion they planned to set off a large bomb at an Arab hospital in east Jerusalem, with two of the men caught with explosives in their vehicle, police said Friday. Shlomo Dvir and Yarden Morag allegedly planned to carry out a mass attack in the A-Tur neighborhood of Jerusalem, in the vicinity of the Mokassed Hospital and a girls' elementary school. The two are residents of Bat Ayin, a Jewish settlement in the West Bank of about 110 religious families. <SARCASM>It's probably the frustration and oppression, right? Should Yasser be asking himself, "Why do they hate us?"</SARCASM>
Just jug the bastards and keep them there. A terrorist is a terrorist, regardless of headgear.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 08:23 am ||
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Indonesia's government continued its crackdown against radical Islamic elements yesterday by ordering the expulsion of a Java-based militant group from Maluku, the setting of a bloody sectarian conflict that dates back to 1999. But in what appears to be an effort to shield President Megawati Sukarnoputri's nationalist government from a strong Islamic backlash, Jakarta also announced plans to disband the Front for Maluku Sovereignty, FKM, a small Christian separatist group. Y'gotta have "balance" in these things...
Security Minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters: 'Whoever plays a role in stirring up violence will be processed equally according to the laws. The government will disband FKM and will take legal steps towards expelling Laskar Jihad from Maluku. These two elements create fresh violence and conflicts.' They're pretending the two are equivalent.
Mr Susilo did not give a specific timetable for the two announced actions, but said that peace in Maluku depended on preventing outsiders from provoking further violence. He also said that soldiers from the Army's Strategic Reserve Command (Kostrad) will be deployed to Maluku to help maintain security in the restive province. A cure, as any Timorese would attest, that can be as painful as the disease.
Yesterday's development and last week's arrest of Laskar Jihad chief Jafaar Umar Thalib signalled Indonesia's newfound readiness to get tough on extremist elements. Doing so would appease neighbouring countries and the United States, which have demanded greater participation from the world's largest Muslim country in the war against terror and against fundamentalist groups. Yeah, but if they do it only to appease their neighbors and the USA, they're going to do it halfway, so as not to offend their internal crooks and jihadis.
Jakarta's rewards for cooperating with the global anti-terror movement could include renewed military ties with the US and more loans to prop up its still weak economy. A bit of economic development would do them a lot better than putting more money into the military.
Observers generally agreed that Laskar Jihad has stoked violence in Maluku since thousands of its fighters arrived there two years ago. Security forces made feeble attempts to stop their arrival then, sparking speculations that rogue elements within the military were backing these fighters. Jafaar and his followers have also been accused of instigating fresh fighting between Muslims and Christians in recent weeks, and of undermining the fragile, government-brokered truce that was signed in February. That's the whole purpose of the organization.
But Laskar Jihad representatives, who command the respect and admiration of a significant portion of the country's Muslim population, have declared that they would resist government attempts to kick them out of Maluku. Oh. Well, in that case, never mind...
Several Islamic groups have accused Mr Theo Syafei, a top cadre of President Megawati's Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), of having anti-Islam attitudes. Muslim figures, including Mr A.M. Fatwa, Vice-Speaker of Parliament and a ranking member of the National Mandate Party (PAN), have campaigned for Jafaar's release, and criticised the police and the government for arresting him. Jafaar, despite his status as a suspect in a major criminal case, was visited by prominent Islamic leaders, including Vice-President Hamzah Haz, who leads the United Development Party, the country's largest Islamic political party. And they're working just as hard as they possibly can to get the fix in.
Whether this is a real crackdown or more going through the motions is yet to be seen. Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines all share similar problems with Indonesia, and Indonesia's problems are actually more severe than those in the Philippines. Megawati's a weak leader, with lots of powerful and corrupt interests arrayed against her, which arouses a certain amount of sympathy; her intentions seem good. But if she doesn't take action against the Islamists, she's going to be toast. They'll nibble her away to nothing.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 04:22 pm ||
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Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) spokesman Eid Kabalu said its leaders had agreed to take part in 'joint efforts' with the government to hunt down criminals hiding in rebel-controlled areas. The agreement was contained in a joint communique signed by both parties this week in Kuala Lumpur as part of confidence-building measures for peace negotiations, Mr Kabalu said in a television interview. Former MILF members who had resorted to criminal acts would not be spared, he added. 'Under the agreement, the government is mandated to commit to the MILF this so-called order of battle containing the list of criminals suspected to be hiding in the MILF area so that the MILF could right away initiate arrest or even to crush these groups,' he said. "Confidence-building measures"! Who the hell thought up that idea? They're lending a little more legitimacy to MILF; police functions are a prerogative of a government, not of a group within a government. What a stupid idea.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 04:28 pm ||
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A day after the government vowed to expel Muslim militants from Indonesia's violence-wracked Maluku islands, Vice-President Hamzah Haz urged security forces to first disband a small group of Christian separatists in the region. 'First of all, it must be clear that the Christian Front for Maluku Sovereignty (FKM) will be disbanded, then Laskar Jihad must show their political will to leave,' Mr Hamzah said yesterday. "First you get rid of the guys we don't like. Then we'll talk some more..."
On Tuesday, Mr Hamzah visited the militant Muslim group's leader, Jafaar Umar Thalib, in jail, inviting criticism that he was trying to shore up Muslim support for the 2004 general election and affecting police investigation. But the vice-president lashed out at his critics, calling them un-Islamic. Thereby proving their point. Dirty, dirty, dirty.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 04:33 pm ||
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After a fierce fight with drum-beating, screaming guerrillas, Nepal's army withdrew from two of its five positions in a western rebel stronghold on Saturday and reinforced its largest garrison for an expected second attack. "This is a strategic withdrawal," a senior general told journalists. For the first time, reporters were allowed into the war zone where this week the army fought its deadliest battle in the six-year insurgency. I hate "strategic withdrawals." So often they turn into "routs."
The Defense Ministry said Friday that 76 soldiers and police officers and 275 rebels had been killed in a week of fighting that ended Thursday in Gam, a mountainside village 180 miles west of Katmandu, the capital. State radio reported 250 rebels and more than 100 security forces had been killed. The numbers seem a little wobbly, but it still translates into a pretty big fight. Decisive? Not yet...
There were burned huts, scattered helmets, shoes and bullets where soldiers and police had been overwhelmed Tuesday night by waves of guerrillas. The attackers beat drums, screamed taunts and exploded crude bombs as they advanced, according to survivors. In night raids, the survivors said, what seemed like thousands of guerrillas advanced with torches to give the appearance of added strength. We can guess where they got their training and military philosophy. The Chinese have this liking for human waves attacks. They're awful tactics, unless you've got people to throw away, in which case the enemy is overwhelmed by sheer numbers. China's got lots of people, but Nepal doesn't...
The army officers and a Western defense attache who visited Gam on Saturday said documents recovered from some of the hastily buried bodies of guerrillas indicate another big attack is being planned. The documents also indicated that the rebels are growing desperate. They have taken at least 1,500 casualties among their 5,000-6,000 hardcore fighters in the past few months, the general said. Those are pretty heavy casualties. The press uses the term "decimate" to describe casualties like that, but "decimation" is only killing one in ten. This is more like one in four. That's a lot of missing faces in the chow line.
A letter that the army said was found in the pocket of one of the dead rebels was addressed to a "Commander Sanjay" from a "Comrade Sonam." "We are running out of cash. We want 2.5 million rupees ($32,500)," the letter said. "We are getting by on one meal per day. The men are getting desperate." The Western defense attache said this and other documents show that "things aren't going the way they want. They have lost command and control and discipline." With one in four casualties that's to be expected. You can't be a commissar with an office and a staff and two or three mistresses when you're dead.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 08:57 am ||
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The expelled Hizbul Mujahideen commander Assad Yazdani said on Saturday, the group led by Abdul Majid Dar was in touch with the Islamabad-based Hizb faction led by Syed Salahuddin for a possible reconciliation. "We have no direct contact with Salahuddin, but his associates are in touch with us and we are having deliberations and discussions regarding this," Yazdani told the "Star News". Yazdani said a reconciliation process could begin with revoking of the expulsion of Dar. Which would dent Salahuddin's iron-fist control...
However, striking a pessimistic note, he said "they will have to accept the command, an alternative command" in reply to a question of what would happen if the efforts to bridge the growing differences between Pakistan-based and Jammu and Kashmir-based Hizbul Mujahideen failed. So it's not a cave-in to the Head Cheeses...
To another question whether the group was holding talks with other groups and overground separatist leaders, he said "certainly, we are holding talks with some other groups as well." "Hey, we're skilled professionals. It's not like we can't find another position anywhere..."
In a related development, Farooq-ul-Islam, a senior commander of Hizb in-charge of finances, has appealed to Dar and Salahuddin to iron out differences between the two. Yeah, 'cuz think how this mess screws up his accounting.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 01:00 pm ||
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Ugandan rebels killed more than 470 Sudanese civilians in the past week, the Roman Catholic Church in southern Sudan charged in a statement received by AFP today. Insurgents of the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) committed the alleged atrocities as they fled an offensive by Ugandan troops, the church's diocese of Torit in southern Sudan said in the statement dated Thursday. The killings were carried out in several villages along the Imotong mountain range in the Eastern Equatoria region of southern Sudan, the statement said, adding that another 500 people had fled their homes in the area. Torit Bishop Akio Johnson Mutek appealed to the international community "to come to the aid of these destitute people who are forced to desert their villages as they had just begun cultivating their crops," the statement said. Uganda said they'd broken these bastards up over a month ago, but the remnants appear to be pretty vicious.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 01:11 pm ||
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Western intelligence agencies suspect that al-Qaeda is implicated in supplies of sophisticated weaponry reaching Maoist insurgents in Nepal. The rebels have previously procured weapons through the international black market, from sympathetic armed revolutionary groups in India, and by capturing rifles and ammunition when they have overrun Nepalese police outposts and army barracks. The entry of Afghan gun-runners into this supply chain would be a worrying development, especially if the source can be traced to former al-Qaeda and Taliban elements suspected of having taken refuge in the tribal territories of Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. While there is little common ground between the conservative Islamic fundamentalism of the Taliban and the Maoists' revolutionary ideology, both groups have identified US-led "imperialism" as the common enemy. Interesting. If they're selling off their arms supplies they either have more than they need â and I can't imagine al-Qaeda ever admitting such a thing â or they need the money.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 03:58 pm ||
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In their first wargames in 39 years, US and India special military forces today began fortnight-long exercises here, reflecting the growing military cooperation between the two countries. The exercises would involve upto 200 special operations forces from the US Pacific command and contingents of Indian paratroopers, Defence sources said. Take that, Perv.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt ||
05/11/2002 12:49 pm ||
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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.
